Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Goodbye Popeye's, Hello Broccoli

The Gold's Gym 10 Pounds in 10 Weeks Challenge has begun. I paid my $25 and weighed in today at 180.6. (I was actually hoping that four-piece dinner at Popeye's yesterday would make a bigger impact, but I guess not.) On May 10, they'll weigh me again and if I'm 170.6 or lighter, I'll split the prize money with the others who met their goal. The guy at the counter today told me that over 120 people have signed up. So if I can (1) lose ten pounds and (2) make sure the other 119 people don't lose the weight (coupons for free pizza and wings, maybe?), this contest will be pretty sweet.

I'll be happy if I can just lose the weight and get my money back.

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I got the first disc of the TV series Firefly from Netflix today and watched the first episode. People that know me well know that I rarely watch television shows, at least not during their first run. I just don't have time for it. But if I hear that a show is good from people whose opinions I respect, I'll watch it when it comes out on DVD. That way I don't have to adjust my supremely busy and important schedule to keep up with any shows.

I wonder how many other people are doing this? The vast majority of the Top 100 DVDs sold on Amazon are television shows. What you don't know is whether or not a DVD purchase of a season of a TV show indicates a buyer's first or second (or more) viewing of that season.

I also wonder how that will affect what initially airs on TV. Just from watching one episode of Firefly, I think it's a pretty good show. Apparently the ratings weren't that good when it first aired – it only lasted one season. But now the season is a huge seller on DVD. Does a studio face up to the embarrassment of giving a show a second chance? Interesting problems for the folks that work through the little screen.

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Pretty good day of writing. Nearly 5,000 words on the novel.

Now Playing = Rabbit Fur Coat – Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
Still Reading = Air – Geoff Ryman
The Shadow at the Bottom of the World – Thomas Ligotti
Watching on DVD = Firefly (2002)

3 comments:

John said...

Wow--5,000 words. Way to go, Andy. You deserve all the Popeye's you can stomach.

Dr. Phil (Physics) said...

If you are watching the Firefly DVD's, then you are seeing the shows in order. When FOX-TV, who courted Joss Whedon mightily to do something for them post-Buffy, ran them, they ran them (a) out of order and (b) on a real ragged schedule which kept pre-empting it. As a result, not all of the one season's shows were even aired. And the two-hour pilot, which explains what the hell is going on, wasn't even aired first! Instead, I think the first episode they aired was the train robbery show. WTF? Very badly managed.

I saw part of one episode during its original run, but the next two weeks it wasn't on, so I gave up trying to figure it out. Then we were lent the set by some diehard fans and saw them in order. Loved it, flaws and all. The movie Serenity fits in effectively after the DVDs of Firefly.

Dr. "You Can't Take The Skies From Me" Phil

Anonymous said...

Firefly is a great show. Better than Buffy, in my opinion. Whedon has a gift for interesting and well-developed characters

I also like how he takes cliches and he goes that little extra step to breathe fresh life into them.

You should check out the new Battlestar Galactica on DVD (starting with the mini-series before the television show). That's another great Sci-fi series.