The Raging Tech

Her Side of Television

Weeds: A Showtime Series

I am normally pretty strongly against watching dramas and series on Showtime and HBO, and it’s been easier to avoid them since I moved out of my mom’s house because I don’t have those channels. I watched the first couple seasons of the Sopranos, and four seasons of Oz back when that was on. But then I just sort of lost the taste for the foul-mouthed and edgier shows that can’t air on regular television.

I read the premise of this comedy, Weeds, that airs on Showtime, and decided to add season one to my Netflix queue. Basically, it’s the story of a recently-widowed mother with two sons in the suburbs. Between soccer matches, PTA meetings, and other aspects of an otherwise dull life, she turns to dealing pot to pay the bills. Weeds is compelling because we get to watch the main character balance life as a full-time single mom with being a full-time “entrepreneur.” I’m about four episodes in, and so far it’s pretty enjoyable. The language is crude, and some of the topics are very mature, not to mention obvious drug content. I don’t recall any nudity or strong violence so far, but it’s definitely not family-friendly.

So, my overall opinion is - it’s hilarious, but vulgar. Watch with discretion, and if you get further along than I do in the series and it’s too offensive, just turn it off. It’s that simple. I’m still not set on watching the whole thing. They’ve put out three seasons so far.

My Thoughts on Blue-Ray and the PS3 So Far

As I’ve written before, I recently purchased a Sony Playstation 3 with my income tax refund. I must say, it’s completely awesome. It’s everything I expected it to be, and I only wish there were more hours of the day for me to play with it.

I purchased several downloadable games including PAIN, Everyday Shooter (most mellow Asteroids-like game ever), Rampage, and Stardust HD. I also bought Call of Duty 4 from the store but haven’t had a chance to play much through the single-player. Multiplayer is a lot of fun though!

My PS3 has been my initiation into the Blu-Ray world. Since watching Spiderman 3 (the movie that came in the package when I bought the console), I’ve watched “Die Hard” and “War” in Blu-Ray, and the quality is just outstanding. The features are neat, but not necessarily show-stoppers.

They certainly aren’t worth $30 a movie, which is what most places are charging. So that’s why I was thrilled to learn that NetFlix offers Blu-Ray movies, and it doesn’t increase the cost of your subscription. I upgraded my account last week, and now I can have 4 of any combination of DVD and Blu-Ray discs out at a time.

I’m also thinking about opening up a basic GameFly account so I can rent PS3 games on the cheap.  They seem to have the latest stuff, and I’m excited about renting Gran Tourismo 5 - so I think when I get paid on Monday I’m going to start an account with them.

This Made Me Chuckle, And TV’s Back, Sort Of

This morning I came in to the office, and after checking work e-mail I pulled up my personal G-mail account and this is what I saw:

So, yeah - that made me laugh. I’ve just recently started using Netflix - I’m a little concerned they only said they received one movie back, but hopefully later in the day they’ll say they’ve received the other. I really enjoy using these online rental services - sometimes I just can’t justify it in my budget. Netflix, however, does have the cool online “Watch Instantly” feature. With my two-at-a-time plan, I get unlimited instant watching time.

Which incidentally, means I’ve been watching most of season 1 of 30 Rock online. Last night I think I may have watched 30 Rock for the first time on an actual TV while it was happening, and not just DVR’d for later. Also, My Name is Earl was back on with a new episode. I was getting kind of bored with that show, but they made Earl have a crisis of his faith in karma. I won’t ruin the end for you in case you have it DVR’d and haven’t watched it yet, but it has a pretty twisted ending.

Never Let Tracy Morgan Into Your Home

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Tracy Morgan behave as though he has his sanity. I know he’s just an actor. I know he’s a very funny man. But I would not let him near my kids. You know, if I had kids. Still, don’t let him into your home. There is no telling what he’s going to do.  I’ve been watching him on 30 Rock on my “Watch Instantly” thing on Netflix, and he’s hilarious.

One of the episodes he spends trying to convince Tina Fey (insert wolf whistle here) that he is completely illiterate. She tries to trick him into giving himself up by printing up a flyer that advertises the show they work for, but the words on the flyer say something embarrassing about Tracy. He agrees to let her have them printed up and posted all over the city.  She catches him reading a tabloid in the elevator and figures out he can read. To catch him in the act, she puts up a sign on a room door that says “Hot Lesbian Auditions,” which he of course comes in and says “Where are all the hot lesbians?” and then explains he really can read.