What’s Keeping Kosmo Entertained?

January 17, 2010

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Our entertainment column has been on hiatus for a while, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite things to read and watch lately.  I’ve actually been watching more TV than I have in a long time – because I’ll watch in the wee hours of the morning when feeding the baby.

Monk – This was a show that my wife and I always watched religiously, until Ugly Betty popped in the same time slot for a while.  Unfortunately, the show has come to a conclusion.   I was pleased with the way it wrapped up, though.  I do have a couple of seasons on DVD that I can watch when I start going into withdrawal.

NCIS – Since I’m an aspiring crime novelist, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that crime dramas top my list of shows to watch.  I’ve eschewed CSI.  Despite the strong basis in forensics, it just doesn’t seem particularly believable and seems a bit contrived from the small bits I’ve watched.  NCIS mixes forensics with other investigative techniques, all within a military setting.  I really like Mark Harmon as an actor, and the supporting cast is good as well.  NCIS is a favorite show for me to watch on my wireless headphones while I’m shoveling snow.  The fact that it’s an hour long means that I can make decent headway shoveling during the course of a show.

M*A*S*H – When I was a kid, M*A*S*H and Wheel of Fortune competed in the same time slot.  My mom liked Wheel (and actually won something in a call-in contest through the local TV station once) and Dad liked M*A*S*H.  Personally, I thought both shows were pretty stupid.  Years later, I’m still not a fan of Wheel of Fortune, but I love M*A*S*H. I really need to snap up the DVD collection at some point. (All 11 Seasons (Amazon), All 11 seasons + Movie + Bonus Material (Amazon))

I’m also doing some reading, of course.  Yesterday, my fresh new copy of Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster for 2010
arrived on my doorstep.  This book is one of my tools for fighting the winter blahs.  Shandler analyzes secondary statistics in order to determine if a player’s basic statistical inputs accurately reflect his skill set, or are based largely on luck.  It’s a handy tool to have before your fantasy draft – did a player that you like actually have a breakout year in 2009 (and thus great things on the horizon) or was he lucky?

And, of course, I’m reading short stories by the master, Lawrence Block.  I’m currently reading One Night Stands and Lost Weekends, a collection of some of Block’s very early work.  The stories are great, but be sure to read the introduction as well – it’s as interesting as any of the fiction stories in the book.

I’m also reading a few blogs, of course.  I highly recommend all of the blogs that you see in the right column.  Today, I’ll give special attention to Living with Balls.  The author writes about sports and other manly pursuits (such as relationships and farting), with an unabashedly male point of view.  Haute couture it is not, funny it often is.  Be forewarned – if you don’t like it, you’ll probably hate it.  I can’t imagine that there is much middle ground.

2 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. Evan @ 40Tech
    Jan 18, 2010 @ 08:57:03

    It sounds like we don’t have much overlap, although my wife does enjoy a couple of crime/legal dramas (NCIS might be one- I’m not sure). I watched almost no TV, except sports, until my wife sucked me in to a few shows a while back, that I now enjoy. Here’s what we watch:

    Lost – we got into this late, watching several seasons on DVD. It became very addictive, where we’d blow through entire seasons in a week or two.

    24 – this was one of the first shows I started watching regularly. Again, we got into this one late, and maybe were even more addicted than with Lost, blowing through episode after episode on rainy Saturdays. Each season seemed to get a bit more far-fetched and over the top, but it is still enjoyable.

    How I Met Your Mother – the one sitcom we watch, and laugh out loud over.

    We’ll also occasionally watch American Idol. I finally caved in and watched a bit of it 2 seasons ago, after being condescending towards it for a while. We watched Flash Forward, too, but I’m still on the fence about that. The premise is great (everyone on the planet blacked out at the same time for 137 seconds, and saw what seems to be 137 seconds of their future, 6 months in the future), while the writing and acting could be better.
    .-= Evan @ 40Tech´s last blog ..Keep Your Contacts in Sync Across Platforms with Soocial =-.

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  2. Martin Kelly
    Jan 18, 2010 @ 10:23:39

    I guess I am just a geek. I like Big Bang Theory, Dirty Jobs (Discovery Channel) and Modern Marvels (History Channel). I watched M*A*S*H while I was growing up and liked it until Alan Alda started directing – to much focus on individual characters in each show. I will give a thumbs up for How I Met Your Mother.

    My wife is also a detective show junkie (NCIS, CSI – at al), not me. Neither of us likes the reality/talant shows, though my kids watch them.

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