Its a typircal summer day here in Western New York. By that, I mean only that it is really windy and gray, and although there are likely showers on the horizon, they are not quite here yet. By my estimate it only rains here approximately two-thirds of the amount it snows, which could be worse. I recall, literally, one day with truly awesome weather in the time I have lived here. There have been a number of days with okay weather, or decent tolerable weather, but only one where it was great. Admittedly, I spend much less time in the out of doors now that I no longer go there to smoke, or leave the house when I am not at work, but still. I know that the weather here isn't as nice as it is in Minnesota, we've got the Lake Effect combined with the frigid shitness coming straight out of our communist cousin to the North. There are people who will make the argument that for all our rain, snow, and general decrepitness, at least the Buffalo region doesn't encounter any significant natural disasters. Well, in some respects they are right of course, though 7 feet of snow seems to come pretty close to a natural disaster. The only good argument in answer to the driving off the fucking road because of the snow argument is the fact that alot more people die because of cold than snow, snow gets removed easily, and rarely, very very rarely, is there actually enough snow to shut anything down. While I still say Minnesota's combined tolerance of both temperature and snow quantity gives us the edge up both in winter driving and overall weather negotiating ability, I give this region its deserved props. The only convincing reason that people live here there entire lives depsite the weather is that there ain't much weather round these parts thats likely to kill ya. Normal thunderstorms, sure, some heavy snow, yeah, but no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no floods, no tidal waves, earthquakes etc. I've been through a bunch of tornadoes and they don't really bother me that much, provided they don't suck me into the air and whip me into the front of Helen Hunt's car, but if one of your life's high priorities is to avoid dying due to natural dissaster, Buffalo's not a bad town.
This whole subject ocurred to me because of what I have only recently realized is the shockingly inbred nature of Buffalo and even more so that of Lockport. Its becoming kind of strange, when I realize that alot of people in Lockport don't really consider themsleves to be living just outside of Buffalo, but in Lockport. By that I mean they don't often go there, don't conceive it as necessary. Lockport isn't just the location of the Barnes and Noble or the Perkins or the Target (this being true both because its not the suburban mentality, and because Lockport does not have a Barnes and Noble, a Perkins, or a Target) but is the place these people identify with. I don't tell people I'm from Rosemount, unless they are Minnesota people asking where in the metro I went to school, I tell them I am from the Twin Cities, or Minneapolis, or St. Paul, but never Rosemount. That is what it feels like people are doing. I suppose if you were content to shop at Wal-Mart and order your books online you could get away with never leaving this town. I had the realization when talking to some of the people at the Photo Lab that there really are townies. It seems boggling to my mind, people who are born in a small town, go to school there, get a job, get married, raise a family, and live there the rest of their fucking lives. Now, I use the term "townies" very specifically and in opposition to "areaies" because I get that. If you really liked the Buffalo area, you could get a job as a professional shiteater, because you have the lowest standards in all of human society, take your vacation to Burundi and we'll see you next week, and maybe you would end up in a suburb on the other side of Buffalo. You could see your family whenever you wanted, you wouldn't have to when you didn't, you could start your own life without leaving other people behind. I get that, makes perfect sense. If I had my choice I would never live outside the TC, its my home and I will always consider it such. But its not a town, its 100s of square miles. Living in Mac-Groveland is not the same as living in Wayzata, and because I didn't grow up there, neither is like living in Rosemount. I know its not exactly novel to critique townie mentalities, but wow, these women talking about the people they've known since high school who they still run into when they show up to pick up their pictures fucks me off.
I have no transition over to Wednesday programming, so I will simply move towards it gently. Wednesday was always a solid night for television, which was highlighted by That 70s Show, The West Wing, and Angel. That 70s Show was surprisingly sad, since I didn't really imagine things would go in the direction of Eric really leaving Donna. It didn't seem in character, it was weakly narratively justified, but was at the same time really fucking sad. I guess they just feel the need to impede a perfect relationship between the two of them until the very end of the show, which will apparently be next season. I only really watch two sitcoms on a regular basis (I guess I wasn't counting the Simpsons, maybe just two non-animated sitcoms) and I think That 70s Show somehow became one of the few really funny ones around at the moment. I know these things go through cycles, and the best writing and producing is going into hour long Bruckheimer style dramas and reality, but this is pathetic. I will grant some humor value to Everybody Loves Raymond, but I don't think any of the character Ray Romano came up with can compare with either Kelso or Fez. I would guess, and have in fact guessed in the past, that every group of friends in some way has a Kelso, and its pretty obvious who that is amongst my friends. I dig Ashton Kutcher in general, I haven't seen the Butterfly Effect, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine that Kutcher equals Kelso pretty much all the time, how can he play anyone else. The last show also had a balance that Friends, Frasier, and all the blue collar sitcoms (King of Queens-esque shows) cannot ever manage to acheive, either they are fucking melodramatic or they are funny. I can't imagine being able to find the situation Donna was in as humorous, but it was done pretty well, even the moment where Eric returns and Donna says something incredibly sappy, Fez pops out of the closet. Good shit.
The West Wing made a sudden turn in the last couple weeks of the show, but ended with its classic type of cliffhanger. I think the people who were in charge of the show post-Sorkin finally realized they needed to do something with all the plotlines he had set up a year before. I mean, they just forgot about the fact that Amy essentially called Donna out regarding Josh in the second to last episode last Spring. Finally, they have returned to that question. The choice of significant conflict to end the year on is an interesting one, but not one that had been a hot button throughout the year. I guess they are transitioning from terrorism to some argument closer to Iraq, but I really wonder if they have it figured out yet. While I still enjoy the fuck out of this program, I continue to believe that this is more due to the strength of the characters than the writing. When great TV writers are working on something you get the sense they have an idea of what the are going to do before its ever done. You don't end a season without knowing where the next year is going and you always knew Sorkin was a step ahead of you. Fuck, when Bartlett told Zoe in season 2 that she could get kidnapped the end of year four was already in the bag. I don't know that I trust the current team in the same way. You can't go certain ways with this story, they just don't work. You can't really have a Donna-Josh romance without her position changing, its not Sex in the City where you can ignore the obvious office dynamics, the whole premise of the show is the interaction between these peoples lives and what that interaction means in the world of politics. Anyway, I hope they pull it off, I think this is their first truly difficult test.
Another difficult test lay with the program I purposefully saved till the conclusion of the Wednesday night lineup. Last week was the demise of the WB's involvement with the Buffyverse, a decision which I believe will go down as one of the worst in TV history. Angel had one season left easy, more likely there were 2-3 years of good episodes there. More importantly, it was simply impossible to resolve the necessary plotlines in half a fucking season. I have mixed feelings about several aspects of the finale. I liked the stoyline, it was something Joss is pretty good at, the end of the road sort of moments. The whole Bon Jovi-esque Blaze of Glory routine sells in my store and at the very least I will give him credit for some rocking scenes and speeches. The whole Illyria business came out well, especially considering my early questions about Fred's death, and I think it was Wesley's time to go. Admittedly, this scene was fairly gut-wrentching, up there with The OC for the most touching moment of the Spring season. The significant beef is that the show ends in the dead fucking center of battle. I think Angel's final line ranks up there in the series of series conclusions ("I kinda wanna slay the dragon") but I really want to know if the gang can make it through the senior partner's raining down of hell. Maybe one would like to know a bit more about the outcome of the prophecy. No significant mention of any of the scoobies. The only reason I was not furious is that it seemed to indicate that Joss is confident some chance to continue the story will appear. I have heard all the same rumors as everyone else about the TV or theatrical movies, but until someone announces officially I will be skeptical. I guess I just have to trust that they won't leave us hanging . At some point someone will pull his or her head out of his or her gaping asshole and recognize the market that the WB is freely abandoning. Has anyon ever cancelled their best rated show at this point. Its only 5 years old, I got it if its been a decade and people want to move on. I can even understand announcing that the next season will be the last and giving them a full year to wrap up, as Boreanaz was apparently willing to do. This shit was just assinine. They renewed Charmed, the series which is singlehandedl responsible for tarnishing every fond memory the world has of Whose the Boss.
Wolves game three is manana. I'm watching the Eastern conference finals as a little warmup for tomorrow evening, when I will need to be focused and attentive to properly cheer for the T-Pups. We need one in LA and I like our chances. We can get it tomorrow night, it just has the feel of an evening when Kevin might blow the fuck up, when someone will be inspired by Darrick Martin's performance and make up the points Sam's back could cost us. I don't know what is going to happen and recognize that you can never underestimate the danger posed by Shaq and Kobe, or the possibility that Kevin will repeat Game 1. But I think he is aware that he is the MVP for a reason and he can take this thing down by pure force of will. Much love to Flipnosis, lets hope he can get them ready for the onslaught at Staples.
Finally, I just thought that I would briefly mention my dinner creation tonight. It resulted from the combination of ingredients I noticed when I hungrily wandered into the kitchen not long ago. There were potatoes, my mixer, and a big ass bulb of garlic. I baked the potatoes for a while, then cut them open and peeled the insides out, qua twice baked potatoes. I continued the mashing portion of the twice baked moment, added some garlic, and then stuffed a clove of garlic inside each of the potatoes, which i wrapped in aluminum foil and put back in the oven for a while. I know many people would not be up for that much garlic in one sitting, but for me the apartment being full of the beautiful garlicy aroma of roasting bulby goodness is one of the very few brightsides to Katie not being here. I would rather have her in Buffalo and not devour such perfecly flavored starches, but it will have to do. What shall I do for dessert. Donuts, they are a callin.
Peace,
MB-K
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