C is for Fruit

This one is for Kimberly, who probably can't watch this because of slow internet connections. This may be the first interview that Stephen Colbert has lost on his show.



My favorite is that their car runs on alternative energy: Imagination!

¡Soap Opera Stars!

Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Mostly, for me, the opposite of this is true. But very occasionally, I happen upon some pretty cool things.

While in Guanajuato, we happened upon a large group of people, hanging out outside the basilica Saturday night. This is a fairly unusual thing to do. Certainly, people go to chuch at night. So that wasn't weird. But these crowds were outside the church, lolling on the steps. And there were the Federales, the National police (kinda like the national guard I guess). They were hanging out too, watching the people. And there were the guys with the little doodads in their ears wearing suits... they kinda looked like Secret Service guys. Hmm, we starting thinking. Something is going on here! So we waited to see what would happen. Cuz, really, clearly something was up.

And we waited and waited and passed the time telling stories of ... well... nevermind. Lets just say we waited.

And THEN! Some people began leaving the church! By this point we had deduced that there might be a wedding (the sounds of mass giving us this idea). And the fact that there were news reporters with video cameras and microphones around led credence to this theory. So, we wondered what famous person was getting married. Clearly, someone important and interesting (and, yes, this is the long version of the story, I want you to appreciate the suspense we were under). So, FINALLY, people were leaving. And this quite attractive guy walked out (alone) and the girls started screaming 'Geraldo' really loud in that Elvis or The Beattles sort of way (and no, not that Geraldo). He posed and smiled for the cameras (everyone's cell phones were snapping photos) so we took pictures too, of course. He pushed his way through the crowd, walking right by us and touching us!! Woo hoo (granted, we had no idea who Geraldo was). A girl ran past us and grabbed him and kissed him. Clearly, he was the heartbreaker of middle Mexico.

We watched the rest of the wedding leave, the bride and groom posed for pics but weren't as popular as Geraldo. And then we wandered off to find beer and dinner (beer as the reward for finding our way home as described in this post). Later, I recounted the story (en español) to my friend from Paraguay. She didn't know who he was, but when I showed her this picture

She exclaimed 'Oh, he's from the telenovela!' So, it turns out that Geraldo is a famous soap star. Isn't that exciting?

Pick A Winner

Hi, my name is Peter. I'm addicted to television.

There, I said it.

I'm working on stopping here in the New Year, but still being unemployed doesn't help. Regardless, Sunday tv is the best. Even when football ends(which is only a few short weeks away, sob), Sunday night tv is generally really good. Last night was particularly interesting:

The Live Free or Diner
The Simpsons last night skewered the whole 'first-in-the-nation' primary thing. While it focused mostly on New Hampshire and Springfield, it was also relevant to the atmosphere here in Iowa over the last few months. The hype, the influx of press, and the rallying behind a candidate for no apparent reason, that's been all around us the last 5 months. And they got in some really good digs at some candidates, especially Kucinich and Fred Thompson

[Ever since the caucus ended last Thursday, they have stopped running political ads on TV. At one point, every commercial break was a political ad, one after another, on virtually every channel. Obama talking to the kids, Clinton being all motherly, Thompson on Law & Order (DA-DUM), Romney attacking Huckabee, Huckabee praising Jesus, and Ron Paul and Denis Kucinich being kind of invisible, it was amazing how many there were. It's kind of weird to be back to Viagra and Oxi-Clean ads.]

Gladiators, are you Ready?
I was really excited about the return of American Gladiators last night. When I was in elementary school, I used to watch it every Saturday, then go to a friends house, where we would set up our own challenges, throwing tennis balls at each other and giving bloody lips. It was the coolest show on tv. I never really realized how cheesy it was until I watched a few old episodes on classic-sports tv.

It seemed like the new show was going to be as cheesy as the original - dumb gladiator names, too much spandex, even Hulk Hogan as a host. But in the end, it disappointed.

The problem, as with most modern remakes of old classics, is that they took themselves too seriously. They took a cult classic that originally aired on Saturday afternoons, and tried to class-it-up for prime time. Too much production, not enough cheese. People were getting injured (one girl looked like her knee broke in half during the show) because the gladiators were overly intense. Too many lights. Too much stupid water.

Maybe the show was really as cheesy as the original, and my tastes have just matured. That's probably closer to the truth. But in my head, I'm still blaming tv for this one.

Thanks for ruining my childhood memories, NBC.

"Shut Up Toby"

[If you didn't watch The Office last night, and care about the show, this post might be considered a spoiler]

The Office has been pretty weak lately - I think the move to a one hour format hurt. I mean, the show is still probably the best sitcom on tv right now, but it was slow going for a little bit there. But last night was a return to form.

The whole deposition was fantastic, and classic Michael Scott. It makes me wish Jan was still the boss and Ryan was just a bit part of the show. My favorite was when the Dunder-Mifflin attorney was reading Michael's journal and asked "who is this girl Ryan? Not as pretty as Jan, but still sexy?" Then Toby started laughing hysterically. That killed me.

The Michael - Toby relationship is one of my favorite parts of the show. Something about Toby's sad-puppy face and Michael being so mean to him just gets me every time.

And the Kelly-Pam ping-pong thing was a nice side story, although I feel like Jim is enough of a geek that he would have been better at ping-pong; it wasn't surprising that Dwight is a ping-pong savant. Kelly talking smack, not trash, to Pam was priceless. It would have been better if Pam was nasty good at ping-pong and just slammed it in Kelly's face every time, totally emasculating Jim in the process.

[Quick Tangent: Due the writer's strike, it appears The Office will be running out of new shows here in the near future. Apparently, NBC is thinking of showing the original British version of the show to finish the season. I think this is a great idea, and maybe the only good thing to come of the strike ( I miss you Daily Show ). While I really enjoyed the Brit version, I think the length of the American version has allowed it to pass the Brit version. The Brit version has more painful awkwardness with the boss, but the American version has a better supporting cast. And Dwight K Schrute.]