Thanks, Hollywood writers, for caving in

Life without Hollywood writers has been pretty rocky. I wasn't sure whether I'd survive. I've had to resort to watching reality TV! Oh, that's right, I watch reality shows anyway. Never mind, then. But life without good writing really is miserable.

Case in point: that new movie, Jumper. Ugh. It was like The OC trying to do SciFi. Our guess is that desperate movie producers hired 14-year-olds to write the script. It was JUST THAT BAD. I gave it two stars (out of five) on Netflix. Later realized that it didn't have enough redeeming qualities to push it to 2 stars. I need to go back and cut that rating in half.

Lost has been good so far. Better than Season 3, which was just meh.

Project Runway = GREAT! This has been a good season. It's up there with Season 1 and Season 2 (I've convinced myself that Daniel Vosovic won Season 2).

Celebrity Apprentice has been mostly blah, with the exception of one bright star. Country star, that is. And I don't even like country music! I have been nothing but impressed by Trace Adkins. He sits quietly in the corner during brainstorming, arms folded or hands together. Inane ideas float about. Then suddenly he decides to voice an idea, in his deep Southern drawl. Every time, it's this genius marketing slogan. He's like the country music version of Gandalf. I want him to win. But that doesn't mean I have to like his music. :)

Oh, important news: FINALLY, the SciFi channel is going to have an HD channel!! We're getting it in my area on 1 March. Exciting event--must party!! Ooh, yikes, I'm afraid I've become a boring person...

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Since the TV season is getting cut short...

Ah, yes. Fall television shows. Thanks to the writers' strike, they're all ending soon. Alas. I just might have to start doing productive things rather than watch TV. Anyway, here are my reviews of some fall TV:

- Kid Nation: Despite what some have said, I don't really think of it as child exploitation. It's more like a long, strange summer camp. They did have one of the worst challenges I've ever seen--chewing bubble gum, then handing it off to their team leader to create a "chew by numbers" picture!?! Yuck. And not hygienic.

- Pushing Daisies -- I love this show!! I can't even force myself to delete old episodes from my DVR. But I don't want to give anything away... so you will just have to watch it!

- Project Runway is back! No script, no writers, no strike, right? :) Anyway, one of my favorite things about Project Runway is the auction site--you can watch what people actually are willing to pay for the designs. Or you can buy them. But they only fit 6'1" size 0 women. Well... so they say. But this season's designs are telling me that I don't understand the latest fashion. This winning design would fit more than 6'1" size 0 women. It will also fit REAL women, including ones who want to dress like a pumpkin for Halloween. Top fashion? Um... okaaaaay... but if you tape eyes and a mouth to the front, you'll be a jack-o-lantern!

- In general, I'm not a fan of car shows. There is one exception: the British show Top Gear. I first happened upon this a few years ago in London. They had a race to see if it was faster to drive or fly or drive from London to a ski resort in Switzerland. It pretty much ended up a tie. Anyway, BBC America has started showing episodes. Example episode: take some arbitrary car, cut it in half, and turn it into a limo. Then drive a famous person to an award ceremony in it. Niiiice! But apparently it is also controversial.

- Bones? Yes, the acting is cheesy as ever. And the puns and other silliness. Like the tech episode featuring "Gil Bates." So creative. Yet still I watch...

- House this season is totally blah. If today's episode is as dumb as the rest of this season has been, I'm done watching it. I swear the first season... maybe even two seasons... was good. Alas, no longer.

- Heroes has been good this season... suspenseful and unpredictable. Too bad next week is the end of the "chapter"!

- Flash Gordon - This one surprised me. It started out cheesy, and is still cheesy, but it has drawn me in.

- Amazing Race - I haven't watched it for a few years. I was curious because I wanted to see how the goth couple would do. So far, they're doing well... interestingly, in the Top Dancer challenge, a group of VERY picky African villagers liked their dancing.

OK, that is enough. Time to go do something not TV-related.