American Idol, Get a Tivo, Adrienne

It’s finally over. It seemed like American Idol has been going on forever, maybe that is because it has. Fantasia won and she deserved to. Her “yea, yea, yeas…” that she works into every song is annoying and having a 19 year old with a 3 or 4 year old kid isn’t exactly textbook for what we would want kids to aspire to. But she is a good performer and sings great so she deserved to win. Every year they squeeze more and more shows out of the process, I wonder when it is going to crest and lose it’s popularity. I think as long as they keep the same judges it will remain popular. The 2 hour show was ok. One of the most memorable moments for me was seeing the Fonz sitting in the audience. He looked like shit. Seeing the Fonz with a triple chin, gray, receding hair and all fat sucks.

I mention Tivo on here often. It really is an awesome device. Let me give some examples from last night alone. The AI finale started at 8. We had it set to record on Tivo. So instead of having to stop what we were doing right at 8 we let the Tivo get a headstart. Then around 8:45 or so we start watching. Giving it a headstart allows us to zip right through the commercials and/or boring parts and spend a little more than an hour watching a 2 hour show. It actually enables you to spend LESS time watching TV. Instant replay is useful. During one part of the show Simon said something that appeared to be funny but we couldn’t make it out. No problem, pause it, rewind a few secs and play it again. This also is a great thing for sporting events, no need to rely on the network to give you an instant replay. During the show someone calls, argh, how annoying! Not with Tivo, hit the pause button and whatever is on will freeze. You can freeze it for up to a half an hour and not lose a beat. Finally there is the set it and forget aspect of recording. The Tivo updates it’s schedules nightly so if an episode is scheduled to start at an odd time, the Tivo knows it and will adjust itself. Finally, the Tivo also uses the stuff you watch normally to help it record things on it’s own that you may also find interesting. For example if you are into cars and have previously watched or recorded some car shows, the tivo will search the listings to find similar shows and record them for you if it is not busy. You can also manually give certain shows thumbs up or thumbs down ratings to further tailor what the Tivo records.

Now on the downside, of course all this stuff isn’t free (unless you hack one) You can get a brand new box for around 150 bucks, you can get a used for less off ebay. The service costs either 12.95 a month or a one time 299 charge that covers the subscription for the life of the unit. Sometimes the Tivo can be too much of a good thing. For example my wife has too many shows set to record than she can reasonably watch, so our living room tivo is full of shows she will never get around to viewing. But the bottom line is even if you only watch a relatively small amount of TV, the Tivo can give you flexibility that is otherwise impossible. I have never heard of anyone that got a Tivo that was disappointed. End of infomercial. 🙂

Remember Adrienne Barbeau? Back in the 70’s and early 80’s she was a sex symbol. I remember thinking she was extremely hot. My co-worker gave me a copy of Swamp Thing where she had a starring role. It was an incredibly silly movie. But what I noticed was how she didn’t seem that hot. That afro hair was nasty and she wasn’t incredibly pretty. Apparently it was all about her body. Just like the Fonz, the years have been rough on her, check out a picture from then and now. Here is one from way back, not bad there. I think the movie that she looked the best to me was Cannonball Run.