It’s that time of year again, when the sun seems to be so close it’s cruel, and the temperatures are so hot that economy of movement is a necessity rather than mere laziness. It’s the week that my month starts (other people may celebrate their birthdays for a single day, but I lay claim to the entire MONTH of August…though I share it happily enough).

As if they’re doing it just for me, the Discovery Channel offers their annual tribute to sharks. Yes, Shark week begins tonight with a two-hour Mythbusters extravaganza.

Who can resist?

Over the last two and a half weeks, Fuzzy and I have worked our way through the entire too-brief run of Jericho, thanks to the superpass at Blockbuster that allows you to take out a movie, and keep swapping it for other movies and/or games for one monthly fee.

Those who know me will understand why I resisted watching it when it was on: Other than the fact that it conflicted with Project Runway at least some of the time, I have issues with movies and shows that involve people being tired, cold, scared, hungry, dirty, or lacking toilet paper. It is for this reason that I stopped watching Battlestar Galactica, and it is for this reason why the Underworld movies, which premise I like, did not appeal.

I have no problem with dark subjects, blood and guts, or violent scenes as long as they move the plot forward, and as long as they also involve the main characters getting to go home to a warm dinner, a hot bath, and bunny slippers after they’re done saving the world or fighting for injustice.

Nevertheless, once we were fifteen minutes into Jericho, I was wishing we had a living room with surround sound and home theater seating, because I was hooked. It helped, I think, that some of the writers had worked on one of my favorite shows, The West Wing, and that the producer, John Turtletaub was also involved with the National Treasure movies, which I think are lovely escapist entertainment.

So, this post sees me standing corrected. Jericho rocks, and I’m sorry I didn’t watch it when it was actually, you know, on.

I’ve spent the weekend in a sort of “radio silence” mode - the mental equivalent of a colon cleanse - writing and sleeping and listening to short stories on NPR (yesterday) and breaking during meals to watch things like the Tony Award Nomination Concert tonight.

I’ve got TiVo set to record the Tony’s as I’m feeling very tired just now, and want to rest. They are the only award show I have any interest in. Live performance has some magic that no other medium can provide. It doesn’t matter if it’s a fully produced Broadway musical or a mother reading a book to her child and doing all the voices but the spoken word connects us.

Madeleine L’Engle reminded us that even the Judao-Christian view of God is bound in Story, but I don’t have the energy for philosophical discourse just now.

Words written and spoken, stories told, songs sung, dreams taking flight.
This is my world right now.

In just a bit more than 24 hours, season four of Bravo TV’s Project Runway will begin, and some fashionista friends and I are going to blog the experience. We’ll be discussing the designers themselves, the designs, the judges, the challenges, and of course, the models, and we’ll also be trying our best to pick the winner.

Where will all this happen? At Electric Tangerine of course.

So, grab your score cards and your snarkiest attitude, slip your feet into a killer pair of shoes, and strut down the runway with us.

All are welcome.

Even if you don’t wear pink.

Over lunch today I caught up with the last two (ever) episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, actually getting teary-eyed over the father-son reunion that took place during the final episode. I also had to laugh, however, because Carson was pitching gift cards as the best present to get when you’re not completely certain of someone’s taste.

I’m not one to argue with Carson Kressley, but even if I were, I wouldn’t argue with his assessment of gift cards. Not only do they always fit, and always come in the right color, but the ability to buy gift cards for stores as varied as Nordstrom and The Sharper Image has saved my life - or at least my sanity - more than once.

One year, when, as an experiment I did all of my Christmas shopping online in two hours, I was even able to buy gift cards online, something I still do throughout the year, when I want to spring a surprise on my friends, or offer a giveaway on my blog.

Now, I realize that it’s only November 1st, but let me tell you, it’s never too early to buy a gift card. Carson says so.

I’ve been watching the second-season DVD’s of Forever Knight this week, and really enjoying the commentary from James Parriot, Geraint Wyn Davies and Nigel Bennett, especially the latter.

Bennett, in commentary, seems to be enjoying the show as much as his character, Lucien LaCroix ever enjoyed biting into a pretty girl’s neck, and his insights go beyond things like direction and casting to talking about things like how the crew used to like keeping the camera angles off-level (he called it “wonkizing” - making everything wonky) and how they seemed to enjoy lighting just little bits of his face during the radio booth scenes where he would be uttering a Nightcrawler monologue.

He also mentioned that when the show was canceled, they auctioned off the set pieces, and he now owns three of the torch lamps from the alternate version of Natalie’s apartment used in the Alice in Wonderland tribute episode, “Curiouser and Curiouser.”

Is it wrong that I enjoy the commentary more than the actual episodes, sometimes?

It’s been an incredibly long day, and I’m exhausted, despite not having really done much. I’m also starving, which I think isn’t so much because I haven’t been eating, but because I haven’t been eating the right foods. Today was a day of tea and toast, not because I’m sick, but because I was tired, and busy, and kept getting distracted.

I finally tumbled into bed around three last night, after making sure our bedroom and office were ready for the impending arrival of the AT&T Uverse installation guy, who wasn’t supposed to come today. Well, he was, but then he wasn’t and…

Okay, here’s what happened. A couple weeks ago, it was a lovely Tuesday and the temps were only in the high seventies, and two Uverse sales guys came to my door. I don’t generally have the patience for such folks, but the stars must have been aligned in a particularly lovely way, because I listened, and even ordered the service. Pre-ordered. I hadn’t committed.

I sat down and did the math, and then called Fuzzy in California, and he grumbled tiredly at me, so I waited for him to come home, explained all the math and then called the Uverse folks back and said, “We want to go forward, but we need to add a fourth box.”

They said they couldn’t find my order.

I called the door-knocking guy back, and he came back and sat with me, and they determined that the order was corrupted, and that we’d have to start over, and they tried to cancel everything in the system, and it had a to-be-canceled flag, but wouldn’t die, and finally we did a new order in Fuzzy’s name.

Then yesterday I got a message they were coming this morning.

And then today at 8:03 a phone call. I told the tech the whole story, and he said, “well, I’m here, let me do the cross connect and I’ll fix the rest.” And he did.

And so, we now have a canceled order for Fuzzy, and working internet and television on the Uverse platform, and I even managed to make TiVo work on the two sets we moved the TiVo boxes to, because the main tv now sports the Uverse DVR that can record four standard def shows at once.

I took a nap with Fuzzy, who has moonlight maintenances all week.
I watched MissCleo chase geckos and frogs around the yard.
I had cocoa, because sometimes you just have to.
I blogged and wrote an article for work.

And I’m tired.
And hungry.

And I think I’ll go make a sandwich or something.

And then go to bed.

And tomorrow, aside from writing a lot, I will begin to learn where all the channels are on this new system.

Mmm. Sleep.