The Summer of Catching Up and Branching Out

Summer seems to be my New Year's Eve. It's the time that, as it rears its muggy, warm head every year, I decide I'm going to start anew. I'm going to do x, y, or z and finally, for once in my miserable existence, follow through on it.

This comes from being a teacher's kid. I know it has to. Summer is the time of renewal in a life centered around school. It's the three months where, in my head, you go on vacation, read a lot, catch up on TV and stuff you might have missed and then pray that August doesn't come too quickly.

So, this summer, albeit a little late, I've found myself doing the same thing. TV shows I want to catch up on, exercise I want to start doing. I'm hoping to keep myself a bit accountable for it on here, but, seeing as my last post before this was in April, who knows if that will actually happen.

So, hopefully this summer you'll get to see my progress on this blog. And on Facebook and Twitter. And Pinterest. And all storts of things.

Wish me luck.

I'm Half Awake...Here's Some Stuff.

So, I just woke up and got to my Google Reader. Let's get started...

So, this was the first thing I saw. Not sure how I feel about it. I think OK. By the way, Katy was at the Kids' Choice Awards. Remember those? Hence the green outfit and orange carpet.

And here I was thinking there were only a few TV shows and movies based on Easter. The AV Club enlightened me.

Since Instagram isn't available for Android yet and I'm holding strong (most of the time) as an Android fan, here are seven alternatives.

Recently, the Encyclopedia Britannica printed its last edition, due to lack of sales. Well, like all "going out of business" sales, the edition had higher sales than its predecessors. Keep in mind, now, that the books from this year will be extremely rare.

It's time for the PINTEREST PLUG! So, when I give this plug in the blog post, it usually means that, in the course of things, I posted something to Pinterest. I post a lot over there in the course of the day, so it's fun. Food, TV, Doctor Who, all sorts of stuff. Check it out, please.

The documentary Bully I mentioned last week made some nice bank at the box office. Good for it. 

The Today Show (which I think  technically just wants to be referred to as Today, but that makes it virtually impossible to mention in normal conversation without people being completely confused) was promoting the fact that they were going to bring back a "Today Show Legend" on Monday. This was all to combat the fact that former news pixie and America's former Sweetheart Katie Couric is co-hosing Good Morning America, perhaps solidifying a change in the ratings for GMA. However, the legend they were GOING to bring in? An old monkey. They've abandoned the idea and are looking at alternatives, including having Sarah Palin come in tomorrow to co-host.

NO LINK, JUST A REMINDER: Bones returns tonight. Stinks for those people with DirecTV. Cutting that cord and just downloading stuff doesn't look so bad now, does it, Mom and Dad?

That's it for now, kids. I'll probably be back later with more, but what else do you want from me?

Some Hunger Games Fans are as prejudiced as a NY Jewish School...and other news in the world.

Let's get one thing straight: The Hunger Games was fantastic. It was better than the book and cut out all the crap that I didn't care about. It added what needed to be added. Fantastic. But, now some nimrods are complaining that characters that are all but explicitly stated as black in the book are portrayed as black in the film. Ridiculous.

In other news...

Comcast solidified its status as one of the worst companies in America by charging people in a community that had been ravaged by a tornado a fee for being unresponsive.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's character in Can't Hardly Wait, Amanda Beckett, was named the top movie party girl in this list. Weird critera and not sure I would call her a "party girl." More like a, you know, girl at a party.

Here's a fascinating slideshow of how cartoon characters got their names. Huey, Dewey, and Louie is probably the best.

I was done reading this list of TV nerds after Chloe from 24 and Chuck Bartowski were on the first page. Done and done.

PINTEREST! www.pinterest.com/philwrighthouse DO IT!

Crazy author Chuck Pahalniuk survived a car crash where, while sitting in a parked car in a lot, a semi trailer ran into him. Insane.

I posted this story on my FACEBOOK but it bears repeating: A Jewish school in NY is threatening to ban students if they don't get rid of their Facebook accounts. This makes me ill. The school, as much as they might fight it, has no power once the student leaves school grounds UNLESS that student is facing an unsafe situation at school. The institution in question has made it clear that they don't care about the safety of the students, but more the fact that the girls at the school may...SHOCK...talk to BOYS on there. Problems with religion AND old-school thought AND education all wrapped into one messed up story.

That's all for now. I'm tired and I want to sleep. PEACE!

Long Time, No Post.

At some point soon, I'll post about my life and all it entails at this point, but right now, I've been productive and am winding down with some links so, here they are (with witty remarks, of course!)

Sirius XM is suing the non-profit that they usually license their music from, saying that have a monopoly on music rights. This is one of those things that sounds really serious (or Sirius haha) but probably won't be an issue in the long run. Sirius knows that without music, they would die. They also know how to be a monopoly soooooo...SNOOTCH!

So, remember when Netflix was going to separate into streaming and DVD distribution services and then scrapped that plan. Well, it's back. Except, now, without the horrible Quikster name. And, this article suggests, it might help everyone in the long run. We stopped doing the whole DVD part of Netflix a while ago, when Inception sat forever only to be replaced by season three of The Big Bang Theory sitting even longer.

Fans of Bones have been missing it. I know I have. Here's an interview with two of the people behind it about its return NEXT WEEK!

PINTEREST PLUG! Visit my Pinterest. It's delicious and funny, in that order.

Speaking of the hottest new social network, some guy is making a living off of it. Nice work, but he's technically a spammer, and therefore he is Satan.

A lot of people, like my wife and I, don't have a landline. I don't however, think that they should be banned, like the Ohio Senate is proposing. I guess I don't understand the point in it. Seems about right for lawmakers.

If you haven't heard, there's a new documentary called Bully. You're going to be shocked, but it's about bullies and their victims. It's been the source of controversy because tof the very natural, realistic profanity used in the film. It's lead to the Weinstien Company releasing the uncut, unrated version of the film instead of allowing the MPAA to cut it. AMC Theaters is now pushing it even farther by letting kids in with parental consent. Since it's meant for kids, this makes sense, right? Love this idea.

British citizens in one small town are regretting their lack of investigation into the man they elected. It turns out he thinks his mom...sorry, Mum...is an alien.

I'm not really interested in books about the war and the military. However, I am interested in Rachel Maddow, so her new book might be a read for me. It's all about, I think, the way war has changed over the years as politics has come more into the fold. Intriguing.

So, apparently, there's a site called Notesy, in which people can leave password-protected secret notes for people online. Odd. Can anyone think of a use for this?

Nice to hear that talented, cool people get promoted every once in a while. Joe Levy, who you probably have either read or seen talking about music and pop culture, is now the editor of Billboard magazine, a magazine I read once in 1999. No joke.

When you think Mad Men, you think that the natural extension of the creative mind behind it is...a buddy slacker comedy, right? Well, it looks like it's happening, with good people at least. Keep in mind that Matthew Wiener worked on The Sopranos. Slacker comedy. Discuss.

I haven't seen Thor yet, but heard that Kenneth Branagh did a pretty good job at directing a big action flick. Which is good news for my mom, since he's probably taking the helm on a reboot of her beloved Jack Ryan franchise.