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carpeaqua

carpeaqua is written by Justin Williams. Justin Williams is the crew chief of Second Gear, the creator of such fine Mac applications as Today and Check Off. He currently resides in southern Indiana.

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Aug 25

I can honestly say I watched more television in the past two weeks than I have all summer. It seemed like each night of the Olympic games was must see television for me. I found myself being captivated by race walking, handball and volleyball: sports I wouldn’t be caught dead watching any other night out of the year.

Part of my two week obsession with the summer games involved my sleep schedule taking a backseat to late night coverage on one of the 7 networks covering the games. While I’m usually one to wake up around 8 each morning and retire at 11, I was routinely heading to bed at 3AM and then waking up around 10AM. Not exactly the schedule of champions.

Now that the Bejing games have ended, I’m feeling a bit of withdrawal. While my sleep schedule will hopefully get back to normal, I’m going to be lost when it comes to finding something as captivating to watch each night on television.

Sports is the ultimate reality television. Michael Phelps’s quest for eight gold medals is far and away more captivating than any season of American Idol or any trite Mark Burnett production. The story of the US men’s basketball’s team’s path to redemption after reaching its low point in 2004 is impossible to match by sticking 12 people in a house and recording their interactions.

Aug 24

I was listening to NPR’s Fresh Air this morning and happened to hear an interview with the curator of a digital museum called The Living Room Candidate. The site is a complete archive of television commercials used in presidential campaigns since 1952: the first year television was seen as a viable advertising medium.

Looking through most of the archives, there is an obvious decline in the advertising quality and content. While the idea behind the attack ad exists in 1952, they are nowhere near as vicious as today’s election.

Another major difference seems to be the complete lack of interest and innovation in the campaign ads. Rather than creating fun, engaging ads that make you proud to get behind a candidate, we’re treated with the reasons why the opponent is evil backed with ominous music followed by how wonderful the candidate is to the tune of horns and triumph. It’s formulaic and only going to get worse.

I can’t imagine Don Draper being proud of what political ads in 2008 have become.

Jan 31

“ Joe Scarborough seemed like a poor man’s Bill O’Reilly on his old prime-time MSNBC show, Scarborough Country. When the cable net moved him to the morning shift, it seemed like a desperate stopgap in the wake of Don Imus’ sudden ouster. Then a funny thing happened: Scarborough lightened up.

—

TVGuide - When Don Imus was fired for that dumb little spat last year, I was without anything to watch in the morning, but I’ve been watching Morning Joe for the past few months and really enjoying it. I rarely watched Scarborough’s evening show because it felt like a Republican Talking Points hour, but towards the end of his run when he started lightening up the show and showing his personality, it became semi-watchable.

Morning Joe is a lot more of that and the dynamic between Joe and Mika Brzezinski is much more enjoyable to watch than the happy-go-lucky garbage on Fox or the suit-and-tie stuff on CNN.

Jan 30

One of my all-time favorite scenes from The Wire. I like it because it uses so few words, but you you’re right there with what’s going on. Brilliant.

Jan 29

Clay Davis can be to blame for my increased usage of the word shit.

Dec 14

I just finished up the first season of The Wire after many people telling me how great of a show it is. They were right. I decided to go out and purchase all four seasons on DVD at Best Buy this evening since they were $40 a piece.

I always complain about how great shows are cancelled because they’re too smart: Arrested Development, Studio 60 and probably soon to be 30 Rock. I give HBO credit for keeping this show on the air for five seasons. From what I’ve read, it has never found an audience, but the critical acclaim was more than enough to warrant letting the creators finish the story.

Whether or not I can get through another 39 episodes before January 6’s premiere remains to be seen, but I’m trying!

Dec 13

“ He told me his name was Wendell O. “O” as in “Oh, shit I tried to sell shit to an undercover officer.

— Troy Wiggins - The Wire

Dec 05

» G4 - Ninja Warrior

I tend to become easily addicted to TV shows, so finding Ninja Warrior on G4 while channel surfing at Jenna’s the other day was not a good thing.

The Japanese import is an insane obstacle course that a hundred people try to complete in four stages. There are real athletes, japanese celebrities and then the oddities. The transexual and the old guy with the octopus are my favorite.

I’m not sure what I found so intriguing about the show other than the fact that I can just shut my brain off for an hour and just watch.