the unequivocal notion

Conan O'Brien on Wine... and Sideways (the movie)

Flipping channels

Caught a minute from 30 Minute Meals w/ Rachel Ray and I didn't realize you still had to tell people that there were seeds in lemons -- every. time. you. squeeze. one.

Who says?

Who says you can't go from the Idaho Shakespeare Festival one night to the new season of Survivor on CBS the next night?

Let me just iterate that I really can't stand most all "reality tv" programming, namely because there is nothing "real" about it. That being said, my wife and I have always watched Survivor, we've watched it ever since the final episodes of the first season. It's really the only show we record and make a point to watch whenever it is on. Call me partial, but it also seems to be one of the only "reality shows" on tv that still have a tinge of "reality" to it.

Anyway season 15 took off tonight and so we are once again glued for the next couple of weeks until the 16 contestants are narrowed down to just one. Of course, the opening episodes always kind of suck as the fat is trimmed away from the core who will prove to make it towards the end. This season is taking place in China; opening scene -- a welcoming ceremony in a Buddhist temple. And because it'd just be too much to have a touch of class some contestants showed their true colors, upfront and extremely quickly. Courtney; the waitress from New York City (did I mention she was from NYC? Cause she did, like 16 times) who couldn't be bothered with the simple ceremony. And then there was Leslie; the Christian Radio Host who claimed to "not be very religious" who walked out of the Buddhist welcoming ceremony. Oy, I guess some people have never heard the whole saying about every American being an "ambassador" while traveling abroad.

As for the Shakespeare Festival -- we went and watched "Little Shop of Horrors" last night and it was great. Great music, great acting and great singers. It wasn't by far the best show we've ever seen at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, but being products of the 1980's we of course loved watching this classic.

Speaking of the Shakespeare Festival and in turn, wine; I took along a bottle of Indian Creek Winery's 2006 Pinot Noir that was just released to market this past Monday. I'm not completely sure yet, but as of now I'm leaning towards this being Indian Creek's best Pinot yet. Much more full bodied and complex than its predecessors (God, I loved that 2003 though!), and to find a good full bodied Pinot always makes me just a tad bit happy inside.

We did go out to Indian Creeks Pinot release party this past Sunday to enjoy some good wines and one of the few remaining sunny weekends with some friends. I'll also note that we saw Chef Dustan Bristol of Brick 29 Bistro out there enjoying the wines with his family and gathering some "wine intel". I asked him about adding Indian Creek's Pinot to his menu, I said if he carries it I'll at least buy it. And I'm sure that once more people have tried this phenomenal Idaho wine; they'll be buying it in bulk as well. I'd love to see it added to Brick 29's wine menu sometime in the near future, I'll be able to have it with that insanely good King Salmon w/ blackberry compote he has on his menu.

Tuesday night tunes

Set those VCR's or DVR's... If we keep getting tunes like these every week then I might have to make this a regular feature.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - Ryan Adams

Late Night with David Letterman - Mute Math

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - Bright Eyes

Think we might get "No One Would Riot for Less" from Bright Eyes? Wagers anyone?

'Tis a good week for late night tunes

So, I normally go through my TV listings on Sunday nights to try and find out who is going to be performing on the late night talk shows during the week so I can record them for later viewing. That and so I can show the really good ones over and over to those unlucky individuals who happen to make it to my domicile. This 5 minutes of my life on Sunday evenings is generally pretty uneventful and would never make it worthwhile to actually bore any readers with, that is, until now.

These are the ones that I deemed worthy of taking up valuable DVR space:

Late Show with David Letterman:

Monday - The Smashing Pumpkins (you're not kidding anyone Billy, let's just call it what it is: Zwan II)
Tuesday - Interpol (coming to Boise on Oct. 16th @ The Big Easy)
Wednesday - Spoon (amazing band)

Tonight Show with Jay Leno:

Monday - The Decemberists (last album being insanely good)
Tuesday - Silverchair (I'm indeed that old I guess)
Wednesday - The Neville Brothers
Friday - A Fine Frenzy

Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2009 can't come soon enough Conan):

Thursday - Art Brut
Friday - They Might Be Giants

I'll also note that this week on Austin City Limits there is a repeat of the Death Cab for Cutie (can't wait for the new Postal Service album Ben), and My Morning Jacket (one of the best bands out there right now) episode, which was a most phenomenal episode.

Fair and Balanced?

Eh?

Michelle "lets put all brown people in camps 'cept me" Malkin now has her own show on Fox News.

Wanna know something?

Like, why are people that watch Fox News morons? And I mean that employing the most limited generalization possible. I do dislike painting with such a large brush, but gosh-darn it... it just gets the job done a heck of a lot faster.

Well, just watch this, it's Fox News (representing America's Conservatives and Republicans) response to Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

It's gotten to the point that I almost feel bad for these people - and I do stress almost. But alas, all I can do is gently shake my head and realize that it'll only last a couple of weeks and then it will be done and they can all go back to a syndicated 24 on some cable channel.
 

Update:

Good Lord these people are stupid, no really. Just check out this second clip that they released. I think you can literally see Ann Coulter melting before your very eyes.