TV is Superior to Movies - Rome

I'm pretty sure this is going to be the best evidence to date that I am indeed Uncool so here goes... TV is superior to movies example this month: ROME

Without A DOUBT, when done correctly, the best of television is far superior to the best of movies. Period. End of story.

The best novels are better than the best short stories... the best pro is better than the best college... It's all physics.

Think about it. How well can you tell a story if you have 22 hours versus two hours? Sure, the pacing is different and there's more hit-or-miss and there's clearly art going on during a concise two hour flick but... please.

Let's look at characters: In a well made television show, you can develop real characters over time. Changes and arcs are more realistic and believable and true to life. You can show many, many more characters to minimize the use of the dreaded 'composite' character. Your characters can interact more realistically and without having to rely on character who serve contrived story purposes. The stakes for characters are greater because we have more sympathy and investment. More characters are truly dynamic.

Let's look at story: Plot can unravel at different, realistic paces. You can have multiple arcs that are more complex and layered. With a TV show, you can have true epic proportions for even a small story.

An example is one of my favorite shows...

Title: ROME
Episodes: 2 seasons, 22 episodes
Status: Cancelled

How else can you truly tell the epic tale of ancient Rome's transition from republic to empire? How can you possibly tell this story in a two hour slug fest. Like a fine novel unfolding, we see the complex relationship between Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and Augustus Caesar and all of their families, soldiers and enemies.

Too expensive to continue, too quick to die. For an absolute treat on a grand scale, ROME.

Twinkies: Robot Twinkie

The Best Gift of All: Socks

Nothing pleases a father like getting a new bag of fresh socks for Christmas. As a child, nothing would have repulsed me further than to get any item of clothing for Christmas. The child mind filters out any item of clothing and never quite connects "clothing" with "gift" on any level. As a kid, if I had received $5,000 worth of suits, clothes, shoes and one small toy I would have remembered that Christmas as the one where I got only a small toy.

Fast forward to my manhood. I'm not sure when the switch happened. I'm thinking sometime around the time when I had to buy my own clothes that I started to 'value' getting socks for Christmas. Then somewhere along the line... I started to 'like' getting underwear and socks for Christmas. Now it is one of the highlights of my year.

That whole week after Christmas, there is no bigger smile on my face than when I pull a fresh pair of socks out of that resealable back and put that virgin cotton on my size 12's. Oh, life gets no better. I always said if I won the lottery, one of big extravagances would be that I would wear new underwear and socks every day. I may try to figure out a way to make that happen without the whole lottery thing.

Jeff's New Star Trek movie - Blu Ray

This past spring, I got pretty excited about going to see the new Star Trek movie so it is no surprise that I wanted to get the new movie on DVD.

My lovely wife splurged for me and got the whole thing on Blu Ray. Now every blood curdling scream and every beep and blip is in crisp sound. I'm already annoying the entire family by cranking the volume up every time they transport down to the planet. I'm not going to be geek enough to review the movie or the DVD I am geek enough to grasp it close to my chest and scream, "don't touch!"

Jack Purcell RED Ox

As part of the Christmas wrap-up, I have some really cool things I received as gifts. Time to start showing off the wares...

One of my fancy-pantest gifts came from my well-connected Hollywood pal who know's of my love for the Jack Purcell and happened upon this particular pair of Jack's at the world famous Undefeated sneaker store. These are the Jack Purcell RED. I encourage you to read about RED, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, which I knew nothing about until I got these sneakers.

Every bit of the packaging, from the top of the box to the tissue paper inside, to the tags, is all tricked-out in the RED logo/branding. I'm kind of a sucker for this kind of complete branding so it was just fun going through all of it.

These will be 'saver' sneakers that I can now have in reserve for an important meeting/occasion/event. I am now well loaded on the 'saver' front. Pictures below...

Jeff's New Guitar Game Controller

As part of the Christmas wrap-up, I have some really cool things I received as gifts. Time to start showing off the wares...

Without a doubt, my sexiest and probably most Uncool present to receive was a new guitar/game controller for my various games. My old Rock Band guitar died last summer and that created a problem. Mainly, we could no longer play Rock Band very well with just drums and a microphone. Hence, my "career" was over just as it was getting pretty good.

Then a series of miracles happened. First our old Guitar Hero 2 game, which until this time had been damaged beyond all repair, suddenly started working again. The family referred to this happy event as the 'Christmas Miracle' and the two weeks leading up to Christmas were filled with me and the boys a rockin'! Then on Christmas Eve, Santa awoke me from my egg nog induced slumber and handed me my new ax.

"Here you go my son," said Santa. "You must rock!"

It's a thing of beauty:

*Size and weight comparable to a real guitar
*Cordless
*Special adapter for use with Rock Band AND Guitar Hero on Playstation 2 & Playstation 3

Another Christmas miracle. Now time to rock...

Jeff's Uncool Predictions for 2010

Every year beginning with this one, I have issued an annual list of predictions for the coming year.

Prediction #1 - I will NOT watch American Idol

Prediction #2 - I will NOT watch 'The Oscars', 'The Emmy's', 'People's Choice Award', 'MTV Music Awards', 'MTV Movie Awards', 'BET Awards', 'The Tony Awards', 'Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards', 'The ESPY's', etc. There's always a chance, so I never say never, but my record has been pretty strong the past five or six years at avoiding all of this.

Prediction #3 - I will turn up on television someplace this year. I have one thing shot that I'm pretty sure will air and there's a good chance I'll be on but I'm thinking this might another banner year.

Prediction #4 - My ice maker in the freezer will continue to only make one batch per day until March when it will stop even doing that.

Prediction #5 - I will forget I made any of these predictions by next week.