Daytime Television Woes

During my period of unemployment followed by mommyhood, I fell in love with the Ellen Degeneres show. Ellen is hilarious, I adore her monologues and she is very good at interviewing her guests and involving her audience in her show. Her show used to be on NBC here, at 11am. Now I guess she's moved networks or something, because her show has been replaced by the Megan Mullally show.

Now, I think that in my book, Megan had a strike against her to begin with since her show moved the Ellen show, but even if that weren't the case, I think her talk show is just AWFUL. First of all, she rips off Ellen daily, from having her mom in the audience to having an audience talent show to having a showtune show. But, aside from that, she always seems like she's waiting for something to happen - it just doesn't come naturally to her. She's had some great guests, but she just somehow drops the ball with each one.

It's a shame really, because I liked her character Karen on Will and Grace, she's shone on broadway, and I've heard her sing (not live) - she has a great range and a multitude of musical styles. Most of what she does is covers of other people's music, but it's still entertaining. As for her stint as a talk show host, I guess she may have just pushed her talent threshold...I don't think she's going to emerge as a talk show queen. She lacks Oprah's ability to suck her audience in (like it or not) or Ellen's ability to constantly entertain throughout her show. In addition, she doesn't have a natural rapport with her guests, even those that are old friends with whom she routinely spends time (Will Farrell). All I can say, is bring Ellen back! (I'm just whining because I have to pick up the darn remote control and exercise my thumbs).

As a final note, how sad is it that my world has come to this? From a brilliant budding scientist (no ego problems here, eh?) and mother to an unpaid daytime talk show critic in the period of a year. Pathetic? Yes. Bottom of the barrel? Hopefully. It can only go up from here...

Sad Anniversary

It's the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and I find that I am surprised by how much this anniversary has affected me. We were personally touched by this tragedy in many ways, ranging from knowing someone who worked in (and thankfully escaped) the world trade center on that day, to knowing someone who was killed defending our nation against further attacks from cowardly terrorists. I am sad because I think that as a country we've become somewhat complacent about the attacks, partly due to the length of time that has passed since the tragedy, but most likely due to the current administration's obscene mishandling of our resources and military prowess since the attacks. Granted, it's easy for me to be an armchair quarterback - I have no idea what I would do if I was the president to try to protect our country and assure that something like this wouldn't happen again. Nevertheless, I know that it would be vastly different from the ineptitude of Bush's White House.

But I digress...and this is exactly my point. The remembrance of the events that occurred five years ago today should not be marred by thoughts of revenge or of disappointment in our government. It should be about reflection on the people who died just doing their jobs or going about their life. I was thinking today about what it would be like to see my husband off to work as I do every day, only to learn that he'll never come home due to attacks by a small group of misguided individuals who resent the freedom that we relish in the country. It would be devestating and hard to understand. Also, at the time of the 9/11 attacks, my parents lived in the LA area - what if I had decided to go visit them, and was on one of those flights from Boston to LA that day? My sons would never have been born, and life for my husband and family would be quite different. It's all very depressing.

Of course, I instantly realized that I can't go about the day (or life for that matter) thinking like this...it's completely counterproductive. Instead, I chose to take a walk with my newborn son today, and to be thankful for the beautiful day, the freedom that I have, and the fact that I still have my husband, my family, and the ability to be here to go through this whole mess of emotions. As Kurt says in his Blog, Never Forget.

Local Flavor

We live in a very small town, and we have a weekly paper that keeps us up to date on the local happenings. To be completely truthful, I really only get the paper to read the police logs - they're my entertainment for the week. Here are some excerpts from this week police log...you can't make this stuff up:

12:32am., a resident reported possible gunshots. Police found that a resident had put fireworks into a bees' nest to get rid of it.

4:16pm., a resident reported that loud polka music had been coming from a residence for the past two days. Officers advised the music listener to turn down the volume.