Happy Birthday to Susse!!! (+ tv ramblings)

Happy Birthday cutie patootie,
Happy Birthday my little cabbage,
Happy Birthday dear Susse,
...
Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

(Work it.)

So Monday we had our Comcast DVR installed. It’s a DVR/cable box, replaced our current box. There’s a monthly fee for the service, but no cost for the box. We can now record up to two different channels simultaneously while watching a third. We can store up to 60 hours of television. (We don’t have HDTV—it’s less for high def TV.) We can pause and rewind live TV. We can (and already have) set the thing to record every single episode of “The O.C.,” “Deadwood,” "Scrubs," “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” and “Clean Sweep.” I would like to point out that I learned to do the last thing all by myself as MSH is out of town! Well, the tech who installed did provide some on-the-spot training. And we still get OnDemand and all that good stuff. Basically, I will never again stay up until 1 AM watching crap TV; I can now stay up until 1 AM bingeing on prerecorded stuff I like to watch.

Obviously, I’m pretty pleased with myself. However, I have very mixed feelings about this development. Our household keeps getting sucked deeper and deeper into TV land. I love “the O.C.” and I’m addicted to “the Sopranos” and “Deadwood,” but at this point in my life, with all the things that are truly healthy, meaningful, and fulfilling to me, I would not own a TV if I lived by myself. I know that sounds hypocritical. Probably is hypocritical. MSH is always pointing this out! "But you watch it for hours at a time," he says--sometimes until 1 AM!" True, true--but that is precisely the reason I want to drop kick the em effer into the street!! See, the TV is THERE. (Why did the Marmot watch the TV? Because it was there!) There’s NO way I could convince him to get rid of it. I’ve had to be very firm at key points to keep it out of the bedroom. I might as well be able to watch what I really enjoy. But I keep telling MSH we have to have a three-year plan to wean off of HBO once “Sopranos” and “Deadwood” are both complete. And I make it a point not to watch new HBO shows so I won’t get involved with them—-HBO shows tend to be really good. With the exception of "Entourage." HBO is expensive.

Lastnight while I was setting the DVR to record this stuff, I saw a brief ad for a new reality show on Lifetime called “I Married a Princess.” This featured a man holding a baby saying, “It’s not what it’s cracked up to be.” The man looked very like Casper Van Dien, he of the chiseled jaw (“Starship Troopers,” “Sleepy Hollow.”) A quick Google search revealed that yes, that was him; there is such a show; he is married to a Princess, Catherine Oxenberg—her mother is a Princess of Serbia and Montenegro, so I guess she’s a princess, too. She also used to be on “Dynasty.” I’m tempted to watch—after all, I have a TV, I think Casper Van Dien is a cutie patootie…but that show just sounds bad. It’s described online as being like "Newlyweds," and honey, that’s not a recommendation for this discriminating viewer!

In other news, Lebowski Fest West is this weekend in Los Angeles. Wish I could be there—as witnessed by this blog’s title, I’m a pretty big fan. But I haven’t reached that stage in my life where I can justify that kind of expense to go to an event just to meet others who share my passion for quoting from “The Big Lebowski.” But damn. There’s a costume contest, and the Big Lebowski (the other Jeffrey Lebowski, the millionaire) will be in attendance, as will Karl Hungus (you may know him from another Coen Bros. film, “Fargo,) the coffee shop waitress, and the Ralph’s checkout girl. Not to mention Jeff Dowd, the Coen Bros’ inspiration for the Dude, who actually does drink White Russians--he never misses a Lebowski Fest. Anyway, I hope the faithful have a great time. Proud we are of all of them.

Wouldn’t hold out much hope for the tape deck, though. Or the Creedence.