very simple

I briefly referenced the show last year when I mentioned attending TARCon, but I just wanted to point out that The Amazing Race is quite possibly the best show on TV. The new season started two weeks ago, and yet again, I’m completely hooked. And it’s made even better by Miss Alli’s amazing recaps over at Television Without Pity. I just wanted to make sure that anyone who stops by here checks it out early enough into the season to get hooked.

• And the best parts?
• Alison, the reality show famewhore? got booted the second week.
• It’s the only show where you can actively root against the team with the little person. Not necessarily because of the little person, but because of her incredibly whiny, annoying partner.
• Seeing people who look like your mom going down a zipline is just darn funny.
• and Phil. ’nuff said.

Oh yeah, and it won the Emmy last year. Watch it.

I know I’ve been doing the political rant think pretty consistently lately, so I thought I’d post something fun before I went away for the weekend. The other day, It was reported on Gothamist that the Beastie Boys were going to “show up” at 53rd and Broadway in connection with their appearance on Letterman that night. Now, my office is at 53rd and 6th, so clearly it became imperative that several of my co-workers and I go hang out on the corner for an hour and half in the middle of our workday. We did apparently get a better shot than most, because we ran into someone who had seen the rehearsal, and alerted us to the fact that the best vantage point was actually the subway station at the previous corner, rather than near the theater doors. We spent a while watching them mill around setting up the shot. But hey, you can see it for yourself:

I’ve circled myself and my friends in green on the left. You can’t even see me, because I’m wearing black and kind of standing behind someone from that angle, but the super-tall guy is one of my friends – he’s pretty much the only reason I could even identify our little group.

Oh, and props to the Europa Cafe (that we’re standing in front of) for keeping us in diet coke and air conditioned splendor right next to their giant picture window for the hour or so that we were waiting for anything to happen.

On Friday, I got the special box set of Freaks and Geeks, possibly one of the best shows ever on TV. I know every girl who loved the show totally thought the same way, but I was totally a Lindsay in high school (with, possibly, a little bit of Millie thrown in). I was an overachiever that really, really, wanted to be a slacker. I couldn’t really pull it off though – I was too obsessive-compulsive, so I just settled for hanging out with them (and dating one or two).

But I was totally a geek too – looking back, I realize that being on my school’s science league team might have actually pushed me over the edge on that one. I actually participated in a group that travelled from high school to high school voluntarily taking extra tests! competitively! (I was Chemistry II, by the way). Every F&G episode that mentions the mathletes and the academic decathlon actually makes me shudder. And I can’t even think about the history competition that I rode a bus to Albany to participate in. on a weekend. oh man. I’m sometimes amazed that I managed to survive high school with any sort of actual social skills…

One of my favorite things to read is a monthly feature in Conde Nast Traveler called the ombudsman. People write in with their hellacious travel stories, and the ombudsman (I love that word!) tries to get them some sort of resolution. They only publish the letters that the ombudsman thinks are causes worth championing.

In the same vein, I’ve become somewhat addicted to the A&E show Airline. Maybe I’m the only one, but I’m simply obsessive about getting to the airport early (I missed a plane once – my friend missed the exit for the old Denver airport and we had to go miles out of our way). I’ll often get their two hours early for a domestic flight, just because I like the security of being confirmed and checked in. I watch these people who show up to the airport (not even the gate, the airport) ten minutes before their flight is scheduled to leave, who then proceed to throw absolute hysterical fits about not being able to get on the plane. I just keep wanting to shout at the TV, "Lady, the airline is probably hoping that you actually live up to your threats to never fly their airline again – you’ve cost them nothing but aggravation and heartburn for hours!"

All this has, of course, gotten me thinking again about what time I have to leave for the airport when I go to Belize. my plane leaves at 5:55 in the morning. The odds of my actually going to sleep the night before are looking slimmer and slimmer…

I know – it’s my third entry of the day, which is quite a bit for me. I guess this is what happens when I finally get a day off (sort of – working from home counts as a day off, right?). I haven’t even begun to discuss current events – with Haiti and Spain in the past few weeks, it’s been a bit overwhelming. So overwhelming that I spent my day getting sucked in to the vh1 Bands Reunited marathon. Who knew that Berlin and Flock of Seagulls could be so compelling?

I also finally realized that after a number of false starts over the past few years, I’m actually going to keep this thing maintained. it’s been almost 8 months since I’ve been writing, and I really enjoy it. So today, I officially registered my site at dotmac.info, and have been somewhat deluged with new visitors. So to all of you, hello! This site is pretty random – I generally just write about the things that either interest or bother me, with little updates on my life here and there. There’s not too much of an overriding theme or purpose. as evidenced by this incredibly boring entry.

And the most depressing factoid that kept getting shoved down my throat by the TV today? That Prince has been around long enough to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I mean, Purple Rain wasn’t that long ago, was it? But the idea of a jam session with both Prince and ZZ Top is making me giggle like crazy.

I really need to start going through and removing certain shows from my TiVO season pass, because no matter how bad they are, if they’re there, I watch them. For instance: CSI Miami may be the worst show on TV (or, at the very least, the worst show that attempts to masquerade as quality TV), but I started recording it because I loved the original, and I just keep watching it every Monday night. I think I need an intervention.

Wow. I’m a little bit busy this week. Okay, so after I got all of my client’s problems resolved on Wednesday, I did take Thursday and Friday off. But Thursday was TARCon, and Friday I somehow made it to Sephora at 8:30 in the morning. Then down to Chinatown for lunch, and to Westchester for my friend’s rehearsal dinner…

And now I’ve got about 20 minutes before I’m off to get my hair done, catch a car back to Westchester, and spend the day fulfilling my bridesmaid duties for my oldest friend…all in all, pretty relaxing. Then tomorrow I’m going sailing with another friend who is in town for the wedding. That should be easy going, except for the part where I have to take the train to stanford in order to meet them.

I think the vh1/mtv juggernaut has finally run out of ideas. I mean, when they did the 100 greatest albums, or songs, or artists, or women in rock, or whatever, at least it was tangentially related to music. With the 200 greatest pop culture icons list, they’re just not even trying anymore. And I think anyone that has only come up in the industry in the past 5 (or better yet, 10) years should be automatically disqualified. Way to get some perspective – the Osbournes? Don’t get me wrong, I laughed as hard as anyone when Ozzy fell out of the chair, but I have no illusions that their 15 minutes are just about up (and frankly, I don’t think they have any illusions either, given their attempt to make as much money as humanly possible in the shortest period of time). I’m pretty sure Britney Spears in on the list too.

And they couldn’t get a better host than Kristin Davis?

Of course, its 3 in the morning and I’m still watching. and clearly, i’m going to be glued to the television when the do the we love the 70s. And, in case you’re dying to know, Oprah is number one.

It’s like crack. I know it’s terrible. but I just can’t help myself.