TV and Book Round-Up

I blabber from time to time here about movies and music that I like, but television shows I watch and books I read tend not to get really mentioned here. Let's reverse that trend for a day:

Incredible Television Shows that You Should Be Watching [Because I Do]:

• The Simpsons: What do I have to say about this? TV's best sitcom, hands down.
• Family Guy/Futurama: These re-runs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim remind us that Fox executives have their collective heads in their collective asses sometimes. Genius shot down before its prime.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force/Sealab 2021: While we're on the subject of Adult Swim, these two original series are well written and pretty damned funny.
• Arrested Development: In my mind, the funniest show on television. It's the "Royal Tenenbaums" of the TV world. Arty, smart, and downright funny. Ron Howard is a genius.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm: CYE is "Seinfeld" as it should've been. It's uncensored, more neurotic, and just a hell of a lot funnier.
• Sex and the City: I know it's over now, but this was a pretty damned good show. Catching reruns on TBS [while missing the er, "steamier" parts] is still a good waste of half an hour or so.
• MXC [Most Extreme Elimination Challenge]: The SpikeTV favorite where American announcers hilariously dub voices over an old Japanese game show. Some of the writing in this show is pure comedic genius. Good mindless filler, always puts a smile on my face.
• Numb3rs: A show still in its infancy [and one I'd never see without TiVo - come on CBS, Friday night?] I have to say I've really fallen for this show. Mathematics is used to solve problems for the FBI. Sounds dull? It's not. Brilliantly acted, great cinematography. It really holds your interest.
• Deadwood: Another HBO Original Series, this one was reviled for its rampant foul language and its less-than-favorable depiction of women in the Old Wild West. Though a little slow-moving in the first few episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season and am eagerly looking forward to the second.
• Carnivale: An HBO show that I've just gotten into. Dust bowl-era fight between good and evil - that's how I'd describe it. Very weird but very good. I can't wait to finish the first season and move on to the 2nd season [currently airing].
• The Sopranos: While we're listing all the good HBO series, how could I forget the best of them all? What a great show. All good things have to come to an end, and the coming season will be the last. Hope it's a good one.
• Gilmore Girls: Stop laughing. This show has great dialogue, cute girls [Lauren Graham! Whoo!] and is just overall entertaining. It seems smarter than the average show, but in a covert way. I enjoy it.
• Trashy Shows I Watch: Real World: Philadelphia, Celebrity Fit Club, Strange Love with Brigitte and Flav, The Surreal Life - they're all trashy, but a good waste of time.
• Around The Horn / Pardon the Interruption: The only two shows that have truly become a daily ritual. At 5pm every day I try to be in front of the tube so I can flip on ESPN and hear the best hour in sports-talk television. ATH is brilliant in concept - sportswriters are given points based on the strength of their arguments and compete for 30 seconds of air time. PTI is two great sportswriters (Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon) yapping like a married couple about all sorts of issues. Both are irreverant, have their funny moments, and do a better job recapping the day in sports than SportsCenter does.
• Lost: This show has some of the best characters I've ever seen. The story is intriguing, and it keeps me tuning in week after week. Just finish the freaking season though already. This 2 weeks between new shows bit pisses me off.
• The Amazing Race: The only reality show worth watching. Damn, I want to be on this show.
• South Park: Well, whenever new episodes roll around. The most irreverant show on TV is still the funniest.
• Shorties Watching Shorties: Initially I wasn't too thrilled with this show, but as they started putting better stand-up shorties on from better comedians, I grew to like this show. The animated version of Dane Cook's "Kool-Aid, Oh No!" skit made me laugh my ass off. Seriously. My ass is now over there in a pile [points].

Damn, that's a lot of TV. I don't really watch all that much TV in a week, but I watch a fair amount.

Books. I usually don't read a lot of books. Though when I get on a kick, I read books by the pound. I read 20 Discworld novels in a semester and a half at Georgia Tech, and recently I read "Angels and Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. Much publicized for a good reason, I enjoyed Mr. Brown's books. I'd highly recommend them to anybody.

Oh, and I beat The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on GBA today. Next game for me to beat: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons [GBC].

Two other random points: More people should use Audioscrobbler. Drew Magee's band is really good.

Oh, and Valentine's Day is just another day if you're single. Nothing to get down-hearted about, just another day. My day was wonderful - I found "Tone Soul Evolution" by The Apples in Stereo in the used CD bin at my local CD Warehouse.