[Please, excuse what is babbling on my part, I've had about a 3-4 hr nap in the last 24 hrs, yesterday evening actually, so I'm a bit tired]

I found out that Syfy has a bit of a weird programming issue. Originally I thought the new series Haven was gonna end its freshman season with a 2 parter on Sept 24 (starting at 9pm, against the premiere of the CW’s Supernatural.) I had already made my mind to watch the one true best TV show ever, Supernatural, and catch Syfy’s Haven in a late night encore. Turns out, Haven will be new through Oct. 8 and will remain in the 10PM timeslot. So, yay, I can still watch the CW (Smallville returns for a final season starting the 24th of September, leading into Supernatural‘s 6th season return), then flip and watch Haven. Then after Oct. 8th, I only have 2 shows to watch on Fridays. But the issue is, Smackdown starts on Oct. 1 and will be a new lead-in for Haven, with only 2 eps to go at that point. And the 2 eps before those will be on after, I believe, Warehouse 13 repeats, because its current lead-in, Eureka (another fantastic series), has its summer finale on Sept. 10th. This leaves a freshman series on its own for 2wks and then with a new lead-in (which, based on the wrestling show Syfy stupidly still airs, WWE NXT, which sees a little over a million viewers, it makes sense that Smackdown will be a poor lead-in). This means, the last 4 eps of Haven in the series will see a major ratings drop. I hope Syfy understands that enough that they’ll still renew it and consider keeping it paired with Eureka in some way. What I don’t get, is if Warehouse 13 only got a 13 episode renewal, why not have had it paired so they would’ve been new together and there wouldn’t have been some lead-in change up toward the end of Haven and Eureka could’ve been on Tuesdays before WWE NXT, but I’m just a viewer, what do I really know about programming.

So, really, this post is my way of advertising a pretty good series Syfy has now, Haven, that now looks to stand a possible cancellation if that ratings drop occurs b/c of their great programming. I like it better than Warehouse 13, Stargate Universe, and Caprica.

Speaking of Caprica, remember it debut its 1st season back in January of this year, ran through, I think, March for its spring finale. Well, it was supposed to have returned in the fall, but Syfy felt it necessary to damage its ratings more by not airing the 2nd half of its still 1st season until, well, January. 9 months between episodes is a LONG time. Only premiums can really get away with that. I still stand by that the 9-10 month hiatus ABC had for Pushing Daisies b/c they failed to order post-strike episodes to keep some episode flowing in April and May of that 2007-2008 season, is what killed its ratings enough to cancel it. As well as NBC doing the same thing to Chuck which caused what was a no-brainer renewal for it in its 1st season to on-the-bubble status since. Luckily, NBC had ratings fails with Heroes and others that Chuck managed to make it to a 4th season.

And Syfy isn’t the only cable net doing weird things with a freshman series. Because White Collar has a 16 episode 2nd season, it’ll be split, so it’s summer finale airs on Sept. 7th, while Covert Affairs will still be on for another week, with a 2-hr finale (it had an 11 episode order, apparently) on Sept 14 (so it’ll be on at 9PM). Now, Covert Affairs has the luxury to have built on its White Collar lead-in, seeing about a million more viewers actually. So, it’s not in trouble, but it could still see a hit if a good portion of those viewers watched because it was on after White Collar. Another thing, this 2-episodes on the 14th puts it in the 9pm hour where CW will premiere Life Unexpected (yes, I do like watching that, shut up). Not to mention the fact that Warehouse 13 will also still be new. Not that those two shows could dent Affairs, its just, it makes my TV schedule crazier than it already is.

But probably the one that annoys me, and this affects Eureka and True Blood (I know, completely different shows). Labor Day Weekend. Syfy and HBO aren’t showing new episodes, so that makes 1 week between the penultimate episode and the finale (in Eureka‘s case, a midseason finale, but the rule still applies). I don’t like a week in between the last two eps of a season (or midseason, whatever). It’s ANNOYING. And it was exactly the same last year on HBO, so start True Blood a week earlier next year, so the finale occurs before Labor Day Weekend (then you can have a marathon of the whole season or something, during). Also, it would make there be 4 new episodes in the beginning of the season before the 4th of July Weekend (another weekend without new eps), instead of just 3.

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EDIT 9/14/10 – it’s getting weirder, Syfy has decided to bring Caprica back a little sooner (Oct 5 at 10pm) pushing the return of Sanctuary to Friday Oct 15 at 10pm. So those of us looking forward to a new season of Sanctuary have to wait a little longer, while Caprica fans who were already aware of a January premiere, get it sooner? (wouldn’t it have made sense for Caprica to take the Friday 10pm spot. Afterward, Syfy tweeted that it’s a good thing for Sanctuary fans, then they can promote it longer. They barely promote it now, but it didn’t take long to promote the quick return of Caprica, just a note.

I managed to watch the first hour, but at 9pm, I had actual TV to watch (Leverage on TNT, and True Blood on HBO), so I tuned away. Then I returned back at 10pm, but muted the volume so I could watch The Pillars of Earth finale re-broadcast thanks to Netflix having Starz Play (great mini-series, BTW).

First presented category was a huge let-down, as Neil Patrick Harris was once again robbed of Emmy gold. Fortunately, they aired the winners of the Creative Arts Emmy (which were announced over a week ago) for Guest actors, in which NPH did win for his guest stint on Glee (which was the only ep I watched; two reasons: NPH was a guest and the great Joss Whedon directed). Though it is great for new blood to win, thanks to Modern Family and Glee, but overall, it was standard. When it came to mini-series, if it’s on HBO, it’ll win (The Pacific), same for TV-movies. Meaning, no Supporting Actress win for Kathy Bates, b/c it was for a Syfy miniseries (Alice). But, this is typical, it’s expected.

In the whole night (not counting what was previously announced, the Guest Actors), Modern Family won the Outstanding Comedy, and that was who I was pulling for. (Take that 30 Rock!). Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien lost to Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which kind of sucks (it would’ve been so nice to say something like “suck it NBC,” but him getting nominated was still more than Leno ever did for the show, so we can still say, “suck it NBC.”) But, Mad Men winning for drama is getting annoying. I don’t watch the series, thought about it, but it just doesn’t look appealing. Though I was pulling for True Blood, I was being realistic and knew it wouldn’t win (it actually won nothing this year, not even any one of the 4 Creative Arts Emmy [BTW, that's just a fancy way of acknowledging technical nods]. So, I was then pulling for Lost, only because I did use to love watching it, and it was the last season, but Lost got completely snubbed this year.

But, as I said, it’s expected. You’re not gonna have sci-fi/fantasy series make any kind of Emmy sweep, but what they do usually get are technical nods. But I looked into the winners for this year, and not much there neither. There were 12 nods, including major ones (Drama series, Lead Actor (Matthew Fox), 2x for Supporting Actor (both Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn), Guest Actress (Elizabeth Mitchell), plus for Directing and Writing), but it didn’t even win the technical nods (nothing on Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Picture Editing, Music Composition, and Art Direction). I thought sci-fi/fantasy series would be easy wins for at least technical nods. I was wrong.

In the past, yes, even Smallville has won for Sound Editing a few times, but it has lost as well, and this year, no nod (nothing from the CW was actually nominated, including Supernatural, despite buzz). Here is one technical category that annoys me: Special Visual Effects. This year it went to, no not Stargate Universe (which had 2 entries), no not Caprica, no, not V, no, none of the shows that have space crafts and use special effects on an epic scale, nope, it went to, get this…CSI. Yep, more reason to hate the Emmys, sci-fi series can hardly win for technical categories which they utilize more than most dramas out there. I mean, come on, space shows losing a special effects nod is like Metallica losing the first Heavy Metal Grammy to Jethro Tull (oh wait, that DID happen). So, I could go on and on about the injustice of award shows, but that would take forever.

Here’s another: Prosthetic Makeup, in which the nods were The Pacific (WWII mini-series), Grey’s Anatomy (medical drama), Nip/Tuck (plastic surgeon drama), Castle (detective series), and True Blood (supernatural series). Of those, and I love Castle and used to watch Nip/Tuck, one sci-fi/fantasy series is nominated (and lost), but the only prosthetic I can remember for the particular episode (“Scratches”) is the maenad scene (clawed hand scratching Sookie). As for the others, I understand use of prosthetic makeup for creating dead bodies and stuff, but wouldn’t sci-fi/fantasy series (such as, IDK, Sanctuary) use more when creating say a bigfoot like character? BTW, the winner was a tie between The Pacific and Grey’s Anatomy.

Let’s go back to Sound Editing, that’s a popular one for shows I watch (Stargate Atlantis and Smallville have both each won in the past, and True Blood and Supernatural each have exactly one nomination under their belts). Apparently, shows I watch have great sound, and this year it went to 24 (which I did watch, up until the end), and on the losing side: Lost, Breaking Bad, Fringe (another one I watch), and True Blood (yes, I love this show). So five nods, three are sci-fi/fantasy, but none of those won. Going back, Fringe makes good use of prosthetic makeup as well, wonder why that didn’t get recognized? Oh yeah, sci-fi/fantasy, I guess it’s too obvious of a win?

Whatever the reason for sci-fi/fantasy series having hard times at the Emmys, even in technical categories, the few wins in the past for them (Patricia Arquette winning her 1st year for Medium and Kristin Chenoweth winning last year for Pushing Daisies, and the 9 wins Lost has gotten in the past, including Drama Series in the 1st year), aren’t opening any doors for the Emmys to wake up and see that there is a whole world of imagination out there. Lost deserved a win because, even though I stopped watching in the middle of the third, I can’t deny what it did for television. The risk ABC took for a series with a huge, heavy mythology and large cast, may never again be copied. Networks can try all they want, but Lost was in a category of its own. 12 nominations and not a single win for a truly groundbreaking TV series is a huge error on the Academy’s part, and hopefully the Golden Globes will make up for it.

And I know I’m not the only one that thinks that maybe the Emmys should do more than just change their voting ways (which didn’t work) or add an extra nod to their Outstanding Drama and Comedy series categories (that just added an extra loser), they need to re-work it. It’s no secret that cable and premium shows have a better edge over broadcast networks. They could separate Broadcast nets (shows of ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and if it ever could happen, CW) from cable (USA, TNT, F/X, AMC, and again, if it ever could happen, Syfy, among others) from premium (HBO, Starz, Showtime), only for major categories (drama/comedy series, lead and supporting actor/actress nods, and maybe directing and writing as well). Or, instead, being there are shows like Chuck and Leverage that Emmy voters have issues classifying (comedy/drama/actions are just difficult to categorize), have a Action as well as a Sci-Fi/Fantasy category, at least with majors (for Series, and at least Lead Actors/Actresses), that way they can recognize outstanding achievements in all aspects of TV, not just the typical The Closer and Mad Men and any mini-series/movie-HBO-airs of the world.

So maybe next year, I won’t even bother tuning in for one minute, even if someone good hosted (I loved NPH last year and Fallon did alright this year). Because, why bother, anything I REALLY like is never even gonna get considered.

Not saying I’ll make a regular thing out of this, though I got some other products I find ridiculous, but I saw an ad for this one product last night (twice) on GSN, and it just baffles me people would waste money on this.  It’s that No-Touch Soap Dispenser by Lysol.  The ad tries to make a point in that a regular soap pump would harvest tons of icky bacteria.  Not a surprise, since you need to wash for hand of germs, so the first thing you touch is the top of that pump, so yeah, most likely germs are gonna have a party on it.  Okay, I get that.  But…here’s the thing.  You.  Are.  About.  To.  Wash.  Your.  Hands.  Anyway.  Sorry, for separating those out like that, but I was trying to make a valid point.  True, lots of germs, but unless you feel the need to touch the top of that pump after you washed your hands of all those germs, you don’t have a problem.

I had to go find video of this, so I hunted one on YouTube:

After watching it though, I though of something else.  They show the hand go to the No-Touch System, but not when they turn the faucet on.  Turning the faucet off, is the last thing you touch.  Think about that.

I think I’ll just stick with my regular old soap pump.  And after looking at the comments for the YouTube clip, I am not the only one who seems to acknowledge this.

I currently work at a small little (well, not small small, but just not a chain store of any kind) retail store. No, not saying what store and where (I’m not stupid), but it sells home decor stuff and bedding, but after 2008, along with actual merchandise, the owner acquired shit from like those liquidation people (stores have a bunch of shit people don’t buy for a reason, yet there are companies that buy off stuff from them and re-sell to dumbasses. These “seconds” aren’t always bad (such as the extra random fabric he got, or some decent mirrors, etc), but when it just random stuff thrown into boxes, you’re talking broken stuff, half-emptied bottles, or just completely leaked chemicals that got on everything, so nothing is even sell-able. The store has gone down the toilet. Now of course, it’s going out of business, since people with money decided to not buy stuff, causing people trying to work for a living, to either get laid off or have their hours cut (thanks, BTW).

Of course, we get these people who say, “oh, I’m so sorry you’re going out of business,” or even, “I like coming in here to look around,” which makes me want to say, “yeah, well, looking around doesn’t pay the bills.” It’s bad enough that I have been working in retail (and I know I’m not the only one who has to put up with the stupidity of customers, found a great little site nicely called Retail-Sucks.com). But what sucks, is that we’re going out of business, and it was decided months after he opened a similar, yet much smaller, and more beachier, store, only about a 15min drive from the “main” store. They did well in the summer, but, in the off-season, saw a few days where they did even make any money (had some sales, but more returns). They’re staying open. Now, it’s spring-time, and we’ve been going out of business for about 4 months now, and they have only just started to pick up decent numbers, yet he’s not hiring any extra help. I feel sorry for them, working 50-60 hours in a week, because there are only 2 full-timers there, and 2 part-timers. While at our store, there’s 4 of us full-timers, and 2 part-timers (one of which has really low hours, and the other who has to go pee a lot, seriously). We have a manager who doesn’t always show up on time, and another who talks on the phone A LOT (mostly on her own cell phone). The other one sometimes uses the store phone, and has to take a cig break at least every hour. Not saying I’ve always came into work on time (5-15 min late, not a morning person), but I take no breaks, and lately, with business seeing some busy days, I sometimes don’t even get a lunch break, and if I do, it’s 10-15 min, just enough to eat a sandwich.

But back to what is sucking, and that is trying to find a job. I’m trying to look for higher paying jobs, or at least those similar to what I make now (~20,000 a year), but come up empty. The problem, there are TOO MANY damn restaurants now in the area, not that many places to shop, so staying away from restaurant jobs (which I’m reluctant to go back to) and finding a possible retail store where I may do some of the same stuff I do now, is hard. So, as for higher paying jobs, I’ve been looking into government jobs, but experience is a factor (I have an Associates in Internet Technologies, so I was looking at some tech jobs, but typically, that doesn’t seem to be enough).

I thought of maybe adding an ad to this blog, but if anyone actually views this and clicked on it, it wouldn’t be enough (though still, I’ve considered LinkShare, since they do the affiliate links with iTunes). I hate ads, but I may need to start monetizing this blog (the main site has some affiliate links, as does this blog already, from Zazzle, but I am having a hard time thinking of something truly original for a design to go on shirts and mugs that people may actually want to buy). If I can finish writing my story ideas, I thought of seeing if I have a writing future, but, as evidence of this blog, I don’t think I’m much of a writer.

Come to think of it, I don’t know what it is I’m really good at, except for watching a bunch of different TV shows, but I feel there are enough TV bloggers out there, and I think I’ve been real good about lessening TV talk on this blog. Although, I’ve been using this blog less and less now.

Oh well, felt the need to vent a little, plus my arm is tired and I need to finish Legend of the Seeker from my beautiful DVR that makes it possible for me to watch the amount of shows I do.

Oh, did I mention that job sites like Monster and HotJobs are useless, since I live in a tech-challenged county that are least likely to post job openings online.

Health care reform has passed, and signed into law. But those pesky Republicans want to repeal it (or at least try to). But why? Sure, I wouldn’t mind that one provision requiring all citizens to have insurance (of course, if that public option were in there, maybe it would be easier to do, or if it was more like a tax credit to those that do, then it’ll be okay), but everything else is badly needed. Insurance companies have completely lost their purpose. Insurance is there so when a person gets sick, they can get treated, not DROPPED. It’s sad that Republicans don’t like for kids who had cancer, got treated and now as adults, can’t get their own insurance, b/c of the RISK factor involved.

It pains me, there are people who support Republicans who actually want old people to die, since they don’t want to help seniors pay for their medication (this whole Donut Hole thing). Simply put, senior citizens, once they fell into this hole, felt the need to cut their pills a make a refill last, since it was simply too costly to take their meds as prescribed and refill when needed.

Do Republicans want our children to die? Because, if they are against this, then they do, as this reform is there to help cover children and make it illegal for insurance companies to not cover treatment for a pre-existing condition. (That has been said a lot, pre-existing condition). Now, it’s not a perfect law (Gap in health care law’s protection for children), but that’s what amendments are made for.

I may not know much into this, I do watch Rachel Maddow almost everyday though, and I have got to say, Republicans look pretty dumb on this. Do they really want to be known as those opposing HEALTH CARE reform? You have those that say there are Americans that don’t deserve help because they are obese. Sure, people who eat at Burger King everyday are a heart attack waiting to happen, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to die from a lack of care. (Maybe there should be laws on food companies to lower use of ‘bad stuff’ and help make food that’s actually good for you a little more affordable (seriously, those little Healthy Choice frozen dinners are tiny and cost more than those Hungry Man dinners, which I eat).

Now, I don’t have insurance, so again, maybe my opinion doesn’t really matter. I simply can’t afford it, haven’t been to a doctor, in, well, about 18 years (yeah, before I went into Kindergarten, seriously). I have had some dental stuff done, which has always been out of pocket, because as I was in 12th grade I was under my dad’s plan, but it didn’t cover dental. But, December I stopped going in for teeth cleanings, and can no longer think of getting some partial crown. It doesn’t help that where I work now is going out of business, and there aren’t many job openings (believe me, I look). I blame the shitty high school I went to. There wasn’t one career counselor, and never a career day. They only thing they were concerned: getting kids into college, not necessarily what the fuck they were gonna do when they got out. That’s how people with four-year degrees are probably flippin’ burgers. I have another beef. I was an honor student (BTW) yet only went to a Community College, whereas a bitch (spoiled rotten) cheated off everyone and managed to get into a 4-yr University. And, BTW, she weren’t too bright, she just had a rich dad. Is it my fault the rich are favored over people with brains?

I know I’m not the only one who feels the same (or similar).

Now, if only the Republicans can do what they were elected to do, and work with the Democrats, on a jobs bill. No more shouting “Baby killer” during a session, or obviously pushing people who favor you to through bricks into Democrat offices, or to ‘RELOAD.’ All this hate (let’s not forget the racial and homophobic slurs protesters shouted during the whole health care session on Sunday (well, outside the building), and no Republican saying anything about how distasteful that is. (The ‘baby killer’ thing is like the ‘you lie’ thing, it’s childish, and can only hurt your chances for re-election if up for it, the ‘Reload’ thing: Palin hunts people, figuratively – MSNBC, is just Sarah Palin being, well, Sarah Palin.)

And what is wrong with a near Universal Health Care system? The US has the most costly health care system, yet it underperforms that of countries that do have such a system. Hmmm? Mirror, Mirror on the wall: International Comparative Performance of American Health Care

I remember growing up without any cable TV networks, including MTV. But, whenever I was at my grandparents, MTV was a network we’d watch (now this is the early 90s, they still showed videos then). The only non-music program we watched was Beavis and Butt-head (and that even had them, I guess you can say, do commentary to shortened music videos). Even earlier in the 90s, or really late 80s, for me, when we visited my mom’s family 400 miles away, we stayed at my great-grandmother’s apartment, and from time to time, watched MTV (yes, my great-grandmother would watch MTV too). I remembered they didn’t restrict themselves to the newest videos, as I remember “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which at that time, was easily 3 years old. I remember 1990, with Aerosmith “Janie’s Got A Gun,” and Jon Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory” (loved that video as a little 5 year old).

The point is, I loved music videos. We had the VHS tapes for Def Leppard Hysteria videos (which wasn’t just Hysteria, also had Pyromania ones as well) and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet the videos, so those were the only way for us to watch videos. NBC used to have Friday Night Videos (YEAH, I remember that), which became our only source for music videos, being an antenna family.

But in 1995, we got Primestar, a satellite dish company, but MTV wasn’t part of our lineup (or, wasn’t available to Primestar, I was only 10), but I remember when we got it, in Oct. ’95, it was available to us, and right when I got home from school, I tuned to it, and Bush “Comedown” was on. That’s how much I loved having the station. They played videos in the afternoon, so everyday we’d tune to it after school, caught the likes of Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know,” and more from the likes of U2, REM, as well as the shit being played at that time (Rap, not a fan of it) which there’s a ‘Mute’ button for. And, of course, Beavis and Butt-Head, which eventually even my parents ended up liking.

But the late 90′s became a problem. Right after school, this stupid video countdown was on (TRL, Which I believe stood for ‘Total Request Live,’ but it wasn’t a pure ‘request show,’ just more of a voting of current videos into a countdown, so MTV failed to understand one concept). And that was an hour of videos, MTV increased how often Real World and Road Rules was shown, and even when videos came on, the new shit playing (the Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys) was enough to want your ears ripped off. And they were also more strict to new videos, rarely anything older than 6 months, it seemed. Tom Petty used to be the one artist MTV showed and honored, but they swept him under the rug for young assholes, there is no nice way to put it. Music Television was for all music, not just youthful. (Which is why we have VH-1 Classic, but, eh they have been showing some of those ’100 whatevers’ VH-1 loves, but the good thing is they are all MUSIC RELATED, so far).

As the years progressed, TRL wasn’t in the afternoon, and the only time blocks of videos were played were in the wee-hours of the morning, and for only a few hours at best. Now, with more shit like Jersey Shore airing, videos are compressed to near nothing (maybe once a week there is an hour block, maybe).

For over ten years, MTV has been increasing non-music programs, but continued to refer to themselves as ‘Music Television,’ while the masses, people like me, lean more towards ‘Moronic TV,’ or ‘Meaningless TV.’

Now that’s changing, MTV is officially re-branding their logo, removing the ‘Music Television’ tag-line. Unfortunately, the general manager, Stephen Friedman, is still blind and believes that “”Music is still at the center of so much of what we do, but we’ve really expanded what that means. We needed the logo to be flexible enough to have the artists within it but also the stars of our shows.” (AdAge.com).

When was the last time you remember anything MTV has done with music at its center?

MTV drops ‘Music Television’ from official logo – LA Times

What’s the ‘M’ in MTV for? – BuddyTV

MTV Finally Gives Up on Music – TV.Com

Small opinion:

Now, VH1 (the ‘VH’ is supposed to be ‘Video Hits’) should follow, as they don’t showcase ‘videos’ much no more as well, neither does MTV2. Also, Cartoon Network needs to adjust their logo, as they have strayed from actual cartoons several times. Even TNT and TBS switch their roles, ’cause I remember a few occasions where TBS is showing something more on the drama side than comedy, despite TBS’s tagline is ‘Very Funny,’ and TNT’s is ‘We Know Drama.’ Seems like networks just can’t stick to one thing, since Sci-Fi Channel showed wrestling and they rebranded last year to Syfy, so they can justify showing wrestling, but other than that, all the programming is still consistent in the sci-fi/fantasy realm.