G's Up Ho's Down-Devo Weekend Edition

I've done a lot over the last weekend two. Ironically enough, very little of it has involved other people. Such is my life right now. Oh well, they can't all be winners. So without further ado:

G'S UP!(mostly) Rescue Me I wanted to begin watching a tv show, and this barely won out over Arrested Development at the local blockbuster. Over the last few weeks, I've watched the first season. It reminds me of a poor man's Wire, which happens when you're on FX instead of HBO. On the positive side, it's got Dennis Leary, the dude who played Reggie Jackson in Bronx is Burning (who oddly enough, looks a lot like Tony Gonzalez), and does a damn good job of mixing dark comedy with legitimate issues, Sopranos style. It also has a fairly real (see: bleak, dark) feel to it in how it deals with life as a post 9/11 firefighter. On the negative side, it suffers from what I like to call Boston Public Syndrome-every crisis that happens across the country in the occupation happens over the course of the first season to this specific group of people. And each episode ends with a montage cued up to Scrubs-esque emo. But still, a very good show.

G'S UP! TV in general. There's a lot of shitty tv these days, with reality tv and what not. But thanks to HBO and more specifically the Sopranos, we have been living in a golden age over the last few years. Frankly, in an era when reality tv shows are dumbing down society, there's lots of television that is just smart, good tv. This includes everything on HBO (Sopranos, The Wire, Band of Brothers) to FX shows (Rescue Me, The Shield) to even some comedies (Arrested Development, The Office, 30 Rock). Here's to you, TV.

HO'S DOWN. The Assassination of Jesse James. This may or may not have been a good movie. But 40 minutes into the flick, I remembered that I hate Westerns.

G'S UP. Be Kind Rewind. A quirkly flick, but very funny. When Jack Black isn't playing a Mexican wrestler, I'm usually a fan. This movie was no exception. Kinda odd seeing Danny Glover without Mel Gibson. Also kinda odd seeing Mos Def play a clumsy dude. White people love Mos Def.

HO'S DOWN. Saturday Night Live. Ok writers. You've had like 4 months off, and let's not pretend that you spent that entire time at your local union hall devising strategy. NFW you weren't writing jokes over the course of those four months. By that logic, every show should be producing some of its best material. And most of these shows (see: Show, The Daily) are producing top rate material. And yet, SNL was simply decent. (Note: I only saw up to Weekend Update. Nothing good has come on SNL post weekend update in 6 years.) And the best part? The topical debate stuff. Other than that, it was same ol' same ol'. Oh, and nice of Hilary Clinton to make an appearance. My campaign has a first name, it's D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E.

HO'S DOWN. GQ & Esquire. Angry White Man will have more to say about this later in the week.

G'S UP. The GM. A reporter followed Ernie Accorsi around throughout last season, his final as Giants GM. This book was outstanding and will receive its own column later this week. As an aside, I told my dad about this book and his first words were basically that Accorsi ruined this team. Upon reminding him of a certain February victory, he responded that Reese built this team, to which I responded that a certain white dude drafted Eli. In his defense, I too am having trouble adapting to a world where I have no reason to criticize the Giants. Ah, if only I were a 3 week old kid, never having witnessed a Giants Super Bowl.