Radiolab - Quicksand!

Radiolab is amazing.

For many of us, quicksand was once a real fear – it held a vise-grip on our imaginations, from childish sandbox games to grown-up anxieties about venturing into unknown lands. But these days, quicksand can't even scare an 8-year-old. In this short, we try to find out why.

As soon as this episode started all these memories of quicksand came rushing back to me. At one point in my childhood quicksand was one of my biggest fears right along with Freddy Kreuger and the critters from the movie Critters. Up to this point in my life I haven't encountered nearly as much quicksand as my younger self imagined I would. In fact, I haven't even thought about quicksand for years, but thankfully Radiolab was there to remind me.

➔ Quicksaaaand! - Radiolab

Parks & Rec To Go On Hiatus

It looks like Parks & Recreation is getting put on hold for a bit this fall, but should be back again in 2014.

Why shuttle Parks away? It seems that NBC’s goal is to boost the ratings for Sean Hayes’ much-hyped, little-watched Sean Saves the World; specials may be able to do what Parks — a comedy with loyal core viewers but little power as an anchor — couldn’t.

I don’t necessarily have a problem with them putting Parks & Rec on hiatus, it has been pretty rocky so far this season. However, I am in favor of nothing that is done in the interest of a Sean Hayes television show.

➔ NBC has put ‘Parks and Rec’ on hiatus | Inside TV | EW.com |

New Fall TV: Sleepy Hollow

Over the last few days I’ve been checking out some of the many new tv shows that came out this fall. There is no way I will watch them all, but I try to at least catch the pilots for all the brand new stuff. First up, Sleepy Hollow.

Sleepy Hollow is an ambitious show. They are essentially telling the same old story of Ichabod Crane, but setting it in modern times. They didn’t take the easy way out of just making all the characters from present-day. They went to the trouble of having Ichabod and the Headless Horseman travel through time from colonial Sleepy Hollow and appear again in modern-day Sleepy Hollow.

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Justified Season One

Over the last couple years I have heard a lot of good things about the FX show “Justified”. I wanted to check it out. When I cancelled cable last year I was even considering using some of that money I saved each month to buy the series on dvd or iTunes. I had enough other stuff to get caught up on and I didn’t pull the trigger. I’m glad I waited because seasons 1–3 of the series became available on the Amazon video streaming service for free with a prime membership.

I finished up the first season last week, and it is good. Timothy Olaphant does a great job as Raylan Givens. He is at the same time badass and broken. There were plenty of interesting supporting characters as well, but Raylan is what makes the show so good.

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Field Notes Drink Local

I grew up on a dairy farm in Indiana. My father would get these little notebooks from various seed companies or other farm related products and services. He'd carry them around in the truck and use them to write things random things down. As a kid I'd take some of the nobooks and draw my little pictures.

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Oliver Stone on the Breaking Bad Finale

Oliver Stone on the Breaking Bad finale…

Nobody could park his car right then and there and could have a machine gun that could go off perfectly and kill all of the bad guys! It would be a joke,” he insisted. “It’s only in the movies that you find this kind of fantasy violence. And that’s infected the American culture; you young people believe all of this shit! Batman and Superman, you’ve lost your minds, and you don ‘t even know it! At least respect violence. I’m not saying don’t show violence, but show it with authenticity.

One thing I always loved about Breaking Bad was how the universe felt… real. It was an insane story, but it was believable. They seemed to go to great lengths to make sure their science was accurate and it all made sense. As the series went on we got further away from that attention to detail. We used to get to see the entire process of how Walt got things done.

By the end of this final season we were all over the place. One minute we were bored to death in a cabin and the next minute we were procuring weaponry and affixing it to garage door motors and rigging them to oscillate. Things got to be a little much, and we didn’t get to see the details. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the finale, but down the stretch Breaking Bad seemed to become a little full of “shit”.

➔ Oliver Stone Calls The ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale ‘Ridiculous’ - Forbes

A Generation of Yuppies

As as a member of Generation Y, I am working every day to lower my expectations for myself.

“Sure,” Lucy has been taught, “everyone will go and get themselves some fulfilling career, but I am unusually wonderful and as such, my career and life path will stand out amongst the crowd.” So on top of the generation as a whole having the bold goal of a flowery career lawn, each individual GYPSY thinks that he or she is destined for something even better…"

I actually feel like I’m a little older than the people this article is talking about. Or maybe that is just another delusion I am creating in my head and this article is pointed squarely at me. Either way, I don’t think we should take anything it says too seriously. I mean, how can you criticize and entire generation of gifted individuals?

➔ Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy | Wait But Why 

Breaking Bad - Felina

I tend to have problems with the ending of shows. I get so invested into the story line that my expectations of the themes and characters can never be satisfied by the actual outcomes. To a certain extent, this was true with Breaking Bad. I really enjoyed the last episode, but I can’t help but feel like we should have gotten something more. Considering the themes of the show and the “lessons” we are supposed to take away from it, I perceived some inconsistency. Whether we are supposed to believe in karma or not, the tide changed for Walt, as shown by his prayer at the beginning and the appearance of the car keys in the visor. For some reason, things started going his way again… up to a point.

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