It was a week ago today that my six day Chuseok vacation started. It didn’t seem like I did much at all, but time sure flew by. Here’s a quick recap of what happened this past week:
- Friday: Ras had chicken and beer with Bart after work. I met up with them and we then had Baskin Robbin’s for some ice cream. I’m currently in a friendly competition with Dave to see who can get the most “Happy Points.” I’m hovering around 4500 points.
- Saturday: Ras and I went to Yongsan with Bart. Ras bought a new “car stereo.” I bought a polaroid camera. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant and Ras tried to buy and Asahi Dry t-shirt from the waiter. No luck. We considered playing miniature golf on the roof, but it looked like rain. We went home to install the new stereo and then the three of us had pizza and beer at our place.
- Sunday: Did lots of web surfing and watching of new TV shows and movies.
- Monday: Ras and I met Bart at the car wash. We washed our car, while he washed his motorcycle. I went to the park with Ras, Bart, Dave, Pete and Steve. The guys played basketball with each other and later found some Korean guys to play a full court game. I took pictures, some videos, and read a book on a bench nearby. After everyone cleaned up, we had bosaam and dongdongju near our apartment. Dave and Bart came back with us to watch a DVD quality copy of Transformers. I fell asleep… the ju will do that you me. (Ju is the Korean word for alcohol.)
- Tuesday: Ras went to the park to play some basketball and frisbee with the guys. I stayed home and lounged in all my glory. In the evening, we went over to Bart’s to try and barbecue on his rooftop. His grumpy security guard wouldn’t let us. Instead, we cooked in his apartment, the guys drank lots of beer, we watched most of Full Metal Jacket, and watched the second episode of this season’s Prison Break. Since then, I’ve vowed not to be in a small apartment with four loud, drunk guys while trying to watch any TV show I’m even slightly interested in. Please stop talking through the show!
- Wednesday: I cleaned the apartment from days of lounging, eating, and wine drinking.
New shows (to me) I managed to watch:
- Kid Nation (funny in a ridiculous way. Does it make me a bad person for laughing at kids?)
- Survivor: China
- Chuck (kinda lame, and not funny for being a comedy)
- Journeyman (Has potential. I wonder about the logistics of all his “journeys.”)
- Bionic Woman (Has potential)
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Eh. I don’t care what the reviews say, it’s no Arrested Development.)
- Gossip Girl (A teen show - I’ve got to have one TV show guilty pleasure.)
- Kyle XY (Slooooow. Plus, it’s on ABC Family.)
- Fallen (Kinda of a ridiculous storyline about fallen angels. It’s also on ABC Family.)
- The Pick-up Artist (Lame. The Master Pick-up Artist is named Mystery???)
- Californication (Very good)
New shows to start this weekend:
- Cane
- Private Practice
- Tell Me You Love Me
- Moonlight (Please Jason Dohring, carry the show with your talent and help make the show not suck as hard as the critics say it will. I’m speaking for all Veronica Mars fans here.)
Old shows that started again:
- Prison Break (This season better redeem itself from season 2.)
- Heroes (Wow! I can’t wait to see what Kristen Bell’s power will be.)
- Criminal Minds
- CSI
- CSI: NY
- My Name is Earl
I’ll let you know which ones I’m going to stick to watching this season. Which shows are you watching this fall season? Any you’d recommend?
September 28th, 2007 at September 28, 2007 - 10:09 pm
Bell didn’t appear anywhere in the season opener for Heroes. I bet they wait a few weeks before you really find out what she can do. They had another new character who was treated similarly. You know the end result of her power, but not the “how.”
(note that I’m being purposefully vague because I’m not sure if you’ve seen the episode yet, I know NBC blocks viewers in Japan from screening it on the web.)
September 28th, 2007 at September 28, 2007 - 10:36 pm
Kristen Bell’s episodes start on the 22nd of October, but you can hear her on Gossip Girls.
Don’t get attached to Journeyman, it’s ratings really fell off from Heroes’ and they were way below last year’s premiere of Studio 60. It even lost 1 million viewers from the first half to the second half of the show.
Bionic Woman, Chuck, and Reaper did well and should be around for the entire year.
Prison Break is holding its own, but K-Ville is a goner.
And what can I say about Californication other than that the little girl from The Nanny (Madeline Zima) has some really nice, um…, mammary glands.
BTW, if you saw Wonderfalls, you might want to give Pushing Daisies a chance next week.
September 28th, 2007 at September 28, 2007 - 11:30 pm
Jeff - I’ve seen all the Heroes episodes so far, so I’m pretty sure who you’re talking about. The real question is, will Kristen Bell be a good or bad guy?
John - To tell you the truth, I watched Gossip Girl just cause KB was part of it. I’ll give Chuck a couple more chances only because I know Rachel Bilson will play his love interest, but the first episode was lackluster. BTW, Madeline Zima does NOT look 16.
September 28th, 2007 at September 28, 2007 - 11:55 pm
You are a step ahead of me. I still need to watch the first 10 episodes or so, though I think I have a solid graps of what’s going on.
I wonder if KB might relish the chance to be a bad girl just to mix it up a bit?
I actually liked Journeyman quite a bit and hope they give it a few episodes to play out. It is somewhat reminiscent of Quantum Leap, except he has to deal with the effects of his trips at home and the lead can actually act (unlike Scott Bakula, who I like btw.) I really want to know the back-story on how he stole his brother’s girl.
I hate how the networks cancel shows based on a few episodes these days. Seinfeld would have never made it through a season if they did that when it debuted.
September 29th, 2007 at September 29, 2007 - 12:15 am
Jeff, Kristen Bell got her part on Veronica Mars thanks to her awesome job as a bad, bad girl who meets a gruesome and bloody demise in two episodes on Deadwood. The titles are “Suffer the Little Children” and “Bullock Returns to Camp.” They are mindblowing and will knock your socks off. You should be able to find them on-line or in torrents. Definitely watch, you won’t regret it for a moment.
Seinfeld started out as The Seinfeld Chronicles during the 1989 summer. While NBC dominated on Thurdays, they took a chance on Seinfeld because at the time they had nothing else in the pipeline to fill their nurmerous holes on Wednesdays and Tuesdays. It took 3 years and a move to Thursday nights after Cheers before it became a major hit.
Would it happen today? Look at Veronica Mars. It was given three seasons of extremely low ratings before the plug was finally pulled. And this season, Friday Night Lights and Jericho are back. So, yes, it can sometimes happen.