What’s going on in the Great Falls blogosphere here in Montana? AJ is back, after a brief hiatus, and is no longer quite as “raving” as he once was when he was The Raving Norseman. Mose continues to post some cool pix from his near-daily runs; he runs in cold, snow, wind, you name it. Zen Panda has gotten hooked on a new TV medical drama. Best Buddie has a new favorite toy for the new year, and also just celebrated her first blogiversary. GeeGuy is in a bit of a self-described lull right now, but that doesn’t stop him from asking some good questions about local politics. Firefly has a cute joke (that took me longer than it should have to “get”).
And since we’re talking about Montana…if you’re wondering about the weather: we got up to a high temperature today of about 1 degree. The drive home from work at 5:00 pm was -9, and our wind chill was below -20.
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That’s me, just hanging out with some of my goose friends.
And if you’re wondering: those are Canada Geese!
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Over the last several years, my interest in network TV has faded into near-obscurity. Most of my TV watching is either cable news, movies, or animated fare (Simpsons, Family Guy, Drawn Together). I got a little excited over “Heroes” at first, but quickly became bored with the time-traveling and the ever-growing cast of characters. But I stumbled across something this week that riveted me to the screen: “Pushing Daisies.”
I had never even heard of it, but while flipping channels I came across it and was instantly mesmerized. It is visually stunning, but even better are the characters and the premise. In a nutshell: the lead character, Ned, has the ability to revive dead people…but if one of his re-animated people stays alive for more than one minute, someone else will die in their place (sort of a “balanced universe” approach). And once he brings someone back to life, he can never touch that person (or animal!) ever again - for one touch will cause the person to die permanently. Yeah, it sounds like a one-trick gimmick, but then you add in to the mix a cynical but good-hearted private investigator (played by one of my favorite actors, Chi McBride), Ned’s once-dead-but-now-living childhood sweetheart, and their intention to solve crimes by re-animating murder victims for one minute to learn the identity of the victim’s killer…well, it’s quirky, sure, and definitely has long-term potential.
And did I mention the visuals? It’s hard to describe, but it is unlike any TV show that I have ever seen: vivid - crisp - lush. And the wonderful, rich narration, courtesy of one-time Disney actor Jim Dale? And the whimsical nature of the characters and the script? As commenter Stu Borken said over at Televisionary:
What a wonderful show. The actors portray characters you want to watch. The leads are very attractive. The premise is quirky. The supporting characters are just wonderfully wierd. The writing is smart. The color pallete has laser like sharp colors. I sat with a smile on my face for an hour.
Yeah - what he said. If you haven’t seen this show yet, give this “forensic fairy-tale” a shot. Nothing else like it that I’ve ever seen on TV.
Click the pic to see some great screenshots from the pilot (”pie-lette!”) episode:
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My very first blog entry:
thursday, october 5
October 5, 2000: My first Blog! Very cool…hope it works.
OK - tomorrow is the day that “summer” should be OVER (finally)! A strong cold front is due to arrive tomorrow sometime around noon or shortly thereafter. Temps this weekend shouldn’t exceed 70 degrees. We’ll see…
posted by david sherman at 12:16 PM
Of course, I was living in South Texas at the time, so “cold front” didn’t mean what it means here in Montana!
For those of you keeping score at home, that means that Better Living Thru Blogging is now seven years old! And I still love blogging…no plans to stop, so brace yourself for Year Number Eight, which will feature Even More Riveting Commentary, Amazing Action, Side-Splitting Funny, Stunning Revelations, and Super-Awesomeness Of A Previously Unimagined Scale!
Well. I’ll give it my best shot, anyway. And I’d like to thank you - yes, YOU, the one reading this right now. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to stop by my tiny little corner of the intarwebs. I really appreciate it. And now…on with Year Eight!
ps - as always on this occasion, I’d like to tip my hat to Charles, who on October 5, 2000 had already racked up over 40,000 visits to his site. He has been blogging for more than 11 years now, and remains one of the very few “must read” blogs.
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Kudos to AJ Tooley and Janna for creating their own Blogtober images! Go visit ‘em and say hi!
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The funniest, raunchiest, craziest show on TV will kick off a new season tonight (Thursday)! If you haven’t seen “Drawn Together” yet — and you think that “South Park” is too tame — then you need to watch it. Check out some clips from previous episodes, and prepare to be offended! Here’s a quick summary that I posted last year:
 The premise, such as it is: several stereotypical cartoon/comic characters are locked together in a large house, a la “Big Brother.” The situations are absurd, the “plot” exists only in theory, as the characters rarely get involved in reality-TV challenges, and there are no sacred cows: everything gets skewered. The characters represent different types of cartoons and styles, but each one has a repressed and/or bizarre trait that runs counter to their “real-life” inspiration: Captain Hero is modeled after Superman, Captain Marvel, and such; Xandir is loosely based on epic tales of quest and the standard rescuing-the-princess video games; Princess Clara is, well, a Princess; Wooldoor Sockbat is some sort of goofy Spongebob-like creature; Toots Braunstein is a way-past-her-prime incarnation of Betty Boop; Spanky Ham is based on an obnoxious internet video character; Foxxy Love is a take-off on Josie & The Pussycats mixed with some Scooby-Doo elements; and Ling-Ling is an homage to Pikachu and Japanime.
My favorite character - tough to choose! - is probably Ling-Ling, ‘cuz he’s just as cute as Pikachu, and I love it when he uses his magic battle powers for mundane tasks, such as putting a coin in a vending machine.
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I bet that many of you are often met with blank stares, derisive sneers, or wide-eyed ignorance when you tell friends that you are a blogger. Or that you read blogs. Non-bloggers frequently don’t understand that blogging is a hobby just like collecting stamps or following Major League Baseball or other such fun activities. So here - as part of Blogtober - is a mild defense of Blogging As A Hobby that I posted back in February:
How many of you have a hobby? Or two, or even three? Let’s see…I’d wager that most of you enjoy at least one of the following hobbies: hunting, skiiing, reading, exercise, outdoors, model trains, baseball cards, watching sports, working on your car, home repair, sewing, shooting, photography, bowling, gardening, community service…you get the idea. The point is, there are lots of hobbies out there. Hobbies are something that a person does for enjoyment; a hobby can be defined as: “An activity or interest pursued outside one’s regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.” So how come so many people seem to not “get” that blogging can be a hobby just like any other?
A hobby: that’s precisely what it is, for many of us. It’s not simply typing a bunch of random words for hours on end for no reason or purpose. I spend time surfing lots of websites, looking for new bloggers, reading all types of local publications and sites, noticing things around Great Falls, taking pictures, and chatting with plenty of people in order to create entries on this blog (and my other sites). I also spend time learning about new developments in the blogging community: tweaking templates and files, understanding what brings people to the site, trying to figure out how to make it visually appealing, and so on. It’s not exactly “work,” so I’d say that the time that I spend working on GreaterFalls.com qualifies as a “hobby.”
So I’m a bit puzzled when a local newspaper columnist says: “How people are able to devote the time to keeping up their blogs is beyond me, but it’s clearly a popular phenomenon.” He’s not being critical - this columnist was one of the first MSM folks in our community to notice blogs, several years ago, and even did a pleasant phone interview with me at the time.
But I’ve heard similar comments from lots of people: “Where do you find the time to blog?” You probably have, too, if you talk about blogging to your non-bloggy friends. My reply to them: don’t you spend any time at all on a hobby of some sort? I’m not offended by their question - just curious. I am able to devote time to maintaining my several websites the same way that your next-door neighbor is able to “devote the time to keeping up” with developments in NASCAR; and your co-worker is able to “devote the time to keeping up” with her gardening, and your boss is able to “devote the time to keeping up” with his hiking and subsequent journaling. See? My hobby is just like their hobbies: it occupies my time, takes some effort, and I enjoy it. It’s really that simple.
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