GM's thread about nothing (36 Viewers)

[Aaron Rudnicki]

All it made me want to do was pick up smoking again.

Makes me want to drink at work.

 

[Marvin]

Someone want to explain the genius of Mad Men to me like I'm not very smart?

Not sure it needs to be explained. If you don't like it you don't like it.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Someone want to explain the genius of Mad Men to me like I'm not very smart?

Not sure it needs to be explained. If you don't like it you don't like it.

it's odd that people who like baseball can say a tv show moves too slow.

 

[Marvin]

Someone want to explain the genius of Mad Men to me like I'm not very smart?

Not sure it needs to be explained. If you don't like it you don't like it.

it's odd that people who like baseball can say a tv show moves too slow.

You would think that people that enjoy nuance and tiny little micro bits of drama in every "play" would get Mad Men.

 

[JaxBill]

I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.Thoughts?

Sounds like a plan with the standard poodle. Those yappy miniature ones won't let you think.

 

[Marvin]

Talking about Apollo 13 today in class. I talk about the real event and then for just a second the Tom Hanks movie.

Me: It's actually a pretty good movie. Has anybody in here seen it?

Bizarro Girl Student: I have. That's the one where they make it back but at the end the one guy gets hit with an asteroid and dies, right?

 

[Marvin]

So I'm sure you all remember that last summer I was on a team that won a big trivia contest at my alma mater (let's face it...I was THE team). Well the same former professor of mine that is team "captain" has sent out an email asking if I want to be on it again.Although I liked everyone on the team and had a good time there was a minor controversy over how many beers I drank during the competition. It wasn't that big of a deal but there were a couple of people on the team that failed to recognized the brilliance that is drunk-trivia-juggernaut Marvin. I'm tempted to actually put my own team together this year. I was thinking of composing the team of the loudest, most obnoxious drunks I know regardless of their trivial skill level. I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.Thoughts?

SLB and I will gladly join your team. Thanks for the invite, gb.

Can I be the broken green button?

Talk to Captain Marvin.

The team can have up to 10 people. The catch is you gotta come up with $35 to join.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

 

[General Malaise]

Two weeks ago, my two >40 year old buddies and I completely dominated bar trivia at the Cheerful Tortoise. I mean, we just flat out destroyed. It wasn't even close. We were getting booooed by the younger folks there.

I was a little surprised at how smart I was that night. Totally in for Tanner's trivia stuff.

 

[Stoneys]

So I'm sure you all remember that last summer I was on a team that won a big trivia contest at my alma mater (let's face it...I was THE team). Well the same former professor of mine that is team "captain" has sent out an email asking if I want to be on it again.Although I liked everyone on the team and had a good time there was a minor controversy over how many beers I drank during the competition. It wasn't that big of a deal but there were a couple of people on the team that failed to recognized the brilliance that is drunk-trivia-juggernaut Marvin. I'm tempted to actually put my own team together this year. I was thinking of composing the team of the loudest, most obnoxious drunks I know regardless of their trivial skill level. I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.Thoughts?

SLB and I will gladly join your team. Thanks for the invite, gb.

Can I be the broken green button?

Talk to Captain Marvin.

The team can have up to 10 people. The catch is you gotta come up with $35 to join.

$35 for the team to join the contest or $35 for a player to join the team?

 

[General Malaise]

Hack, you still want Brett Morell? How in the hell does he go 0-5 and score 3 runs today?

 

[Raider Nation]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

 

[St. Louis Bob]

Thus far, the training in my new job has not included sitting around and playing on the Internet all day. Hoping for better results after lunch.

Lousy, rich, Wall Street, fat cats. <_<

So I'm sure you all remember that last summer I was on a team that won a big trivia contest at my alma mater (let's face it...I was THE team). Well the same former professor of mine that is team "captain" has sent out an email asking if I want to be on it again.

Although I liked everyone on the team and had a good time there was a minor controversy over how many beers I drank during the competition. It wasn't that big of a deal but there were a couple of people on the team that failed to recognized the brilliance that is drunk-trivia-juggernaut Marvin.

I'm tempted to actually put my own team together this year. I was thinking of composing the team of the loudest, most obnoxious drunks I know regardless of their trivial skill level. I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.

Thoughts?

SLB and I will gladly join your team. Thanks for the invite, gb.

In. I'm pretty decent at history but you kind of got that covered. Unless there is a Simpsons or Cheers category, obnoxious drunk will be my main contribution.

 

[BigJohn]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

 

[Marvin]

Hack, you still want Brett Morell? How in the hell does he go 0-5 and score 3 runs today?

Hey! Hey! Hey! You watch your mouth, jerky. Brent Morel was a student of mine.

 

[Raider Nation]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

Which I bumped to test the mods' tolerance. Way to be consistent.

 

[Marvin]

So I'm sure you all remember that last summer I was on a team that won a big trivia contest at my alma mater (let's face it...I was THE team). Well the same former professor of mine that is team "captain" has sent out an email asking if I want to be on it again.Although I liked everyone on the team and had a good time there was a minor controversy over how many beers I drank during the competition. It wasn't that big of a deal but there were a couple of people on the team that failed to recognized the brilliance that is drunk-trivia-juggernaut Marvin. I'm tempted to actually put my own team together this year. I was thinking of composing the team of the loudest, most obnoxious drunks I know regardless of their trivial skill level. I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.Thoughts?

SLB and I will gladly join your team. Thanks for the invite, gb.

Can I be the broken green button?

Talk to Captain Marvin.

The team can have up to 10 people. The catch is you gotta come up with $35 to join.

$35 for the team to join the contest or $35 for a player to join the team?

$35 per player or $350 per team.

 

[Corky]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

Which I bumped to test the mods' tolerance. Way to be consistent.

and I got popped for suggesting Nigel's inbox had an STD.

 

[St. Louis Bob]

So I'm sure you all remember that last summer I was on a team that won a big trivia contest at my alma mater (let's face it...I was THE team). Well the same former professor of mine that is team "captain" has sent out an email asking if I want to be on it again.Although I liked everyone on the team and had a good time there was a minor controversy over how many beers I drank during the competition. It wasn't that big of a deal but there were a couple of people on the team that failed to recognized the brilliance that is drunk-trivia-juggernaut Marvin. I'm tempted to actually put my own team together this year. I was thinking of composing the team of the loudest, most obnoxious drunks I know regardless of their trivial skill level. I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.Thoughts?

SLB and I will gladly join your team. Thanks for the invite, gb.

Can I be the broken green button?

Talk to Captain Marvin.

The team can have up to 10 people. The catch is you gotta come up with $35 to join.

$35 for the team to join the contest or $35 for a player to join the team?

$35 per player or $350 per team.

That includes airfare right?

 

[Homer J Simpson]

So I'm sure you all remember that last summer I was on a team that won a big trivia contest at my alma mater (let's face it...I was THE team). Well the same former professor of mine that is team "captain" has sent out an email asking if I want to be on it again.Although I liked everyone on the team and had a good time there was a minor controversy over how many beers I drank during the competition. It wasn't that big of a deal but there were a couple of people on the team that failed to recognized the brilliance that is drunk-trivia-juggernaut Marvin. I'm tempted to actually put my own team together this year. I was thinking of composing the team of the loudest, most obnoxious drunks I know regardless of their trivial skill level. I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.Thoughts?

SLB and I will gladly join your team. Thanks for the invite, gb.

Can I be the broken green button?

Talk to Captain Marvin.

The team can have up to 10 people. The catch is you gotta come up with $35 to join.

Out.

 

[St. Louis Bob]

BTW, the landscapers were finishing up everything and brought a rook to help out. Rook gets polymeric sand everywhere and instead of sweeping it up really good, he goes ahead and wets it down. So basically there is super glued sand all over my new patio. Now they have to rip about 1/3 of it out and replace it. /firstworldproblems

 

[heckmanm]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

Not anymore.

 

[Osaurus]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

Which I bumped to test the mods' tolerance. Way to be consistent.

and I got popped for suggesting Nigel's inbox had an STD.

Did you ever get those CDs I sent you?

 

[Limp Ditka]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

Not anymore.

thank goodness. This place was feeling all un-godly and stuff.

 

[Corky]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

Which I bumped to test the mods' tolerance. Way to be consistent.

and I got popped for suggesting Nigel's inbox had an STD.

Did you ever get those CDs I sent you?

Yes. I have been neglectful in thanking you. Awesome and kitschy. I donated "I'm Too Sexy" to an April Fools golf event that I participate in as a prize, and then was awarded it as a prize.

 

[Osaurus]

Did the Van Halen stripper thread get popped?

But there's a 4 page thread asking your favorite prOn star?

Which I bumped to test the mods' tolerance. Way to be consistent.

and I got popped for suggesting Nigel's inbox had an STD.

Did you ever get those CDs I sent you?

Yes. I have been neglectful in thanking you. Awesome and kitschy. I donated "I'm Too Sexy" to an April Fools golf event that I participate in as a prize, and then was awarded it as a prize.

I can still hear the Spanish version in my head. Used to play it on college radio to annoy people.

 

[Guster]

I didn't know that Offdee was going to be in a terrible new show on ABC

 

[Mr.Pack]

Any other guys do yoga? I've been 3 times in the last week and I am really enjoying it. Does this mean I'm gay? The views are great in the back of the class I also noticed that I'm a lot more relaxed and have been sleeping much better since I've started...

My link

wrong

Sense of humor down?

 

[Guster]

All it made me want to do was pick up smoking again.

Makes me want to drink at work.

 

[Guster]

So I'm sure you all remember that last summer I was on a team that won a big trivia contest at my alma mater (let's face it...I was THE team). Well the same former professor of mine that is team "captain" has sent out an email asking if I want to be on it again.Although I liked everyone on the team and had a good time there was a minor controversy over how many beers I drank during the competition. It wasn't that big of a deal but there were a couple of people on the team that failed to recognized the brilliance that is drunk-trivia-juggernaut Marvin. I'm tempted to actually put my own team together this year. I was thinking of composing the team of the loudest, most obnoxious drunks I know regardless of their trivial skill level. I mean I could probably win this competition if I was on a team consisting of me, my wife, a deaf standard poodle, and an old Simon game with a broken green button.Thoughts?

SLB and I will gladly join your team. Thanks for the invite, gb.

Can I be the broken green button?

Talk to Captain Marvin.

The team can have up to 10 people. The catch is you gotta come up with $35 to join.

I'll sponsor you for $10 if you send a video from the event

 

[Disco Stu]

All it made me want to do was pick up smoking again.

Makes me want to drink at work.

Makes me want to motorboat.

 

[General Malaise]

I didn't know that Offdee was going to be in a terrible new show on ABC

See, that's what I think the networks are missing with their line-up of sit-coms. Two female roommates from disparate backgrounds cracking funny joke after funny joke with an uproariously funny laugh track backing them up.

 

[proninja]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

There's a few shows out there I don't mind watching, but nothing I'm super excited to see. I like White Collar and Burn Notice - think the Mentalist is a pretty cool show, but it's not available anywhere streaming so I don't watch it anymore.edit: I enjoyed Arrested Development more than I probably should have

 

[proninja]

All it made me want to do was pick up smoking again.

Makes me want to drink at work.

Makes me want to motorboat.

Tanner, this would have been useful information when I was asking about it

 

[Woogie Lee]

I don't watch any network television....I think most of it sucks.

 

[Marvin]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

There's a few shows out there I don't mind watching, but nothing I'm super excited to see. I like White Collar and Burn Notice - think the Mentalist is a pretty cool show, but it's not available anywhere streaming so I don't watch it anymore.

Yeah you probably wouldn't like Mad Men.

 

[SofaKings]

BTW, the landscapers were finishing up everything and brought a rook to help out. Rook gets polymeric sand everywhere and instead of sweeping it up really good, he goes ahead and wets it down. So basically there is super glued sand all over my new patio. Now they have to rip about 1/3 of it out and replace it. /firstworldproblems

Is this a euphemism?

 

[proninja]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

There's a few shows out there I don't mind watching, but nothing I'm super excited to see. I like White Collar and Burn Notice - think the Mentalist is a pretty cool show, but it's not available anywhere streaming so I don't watch it anymore.

Yeah you probably wouldn't like Mad Men.

Why not? What do you enjoy about it?

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

There's a few shows out there I don't mind watching, but nothing I'm super excited to see. I like White Collar and Burn Notice - think the Mentalist is a pretty cool show, but it's not available anywhere streaming so I don't watch it anymore.

what do you like about these shows?I've never even heard of White Collar. Burn Notice and the Mentalist look awful to me, but never spent any time trying to watch either.Mad Men is easily one of the most interesting and well made shows to come along in the past decade, IMO.

 

[Marvin]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

There's a few shows out there I don't mind watching, but nothing I'm super excited to see. I like White Collar and Burn Notice - think the Mentalist is a pretty cool show, but it's not available anywhere streaming so I don't watch it anymore.

Yeah you probably wouldn't like Mad Men.

Why not? What do you enjoy about it?

Great writing, great acting, great direction, great lighting/editing/cinematography/music, great story lines...

 

[General Malaise]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

There's a few shows out there I don't mind watching, but nothing I'm super excited to see. I like White Collar and Burn Notice - think the Mentalist is a pretty cool show, but it's not available anywhere streaming so I don't watch it anymore.

what do you like about these shows?I've never even heard of White Collar. Burn Notice and the Mentalist look awful to me, but never spent any time trying to watch either.

Mad Men is easily one of the most interesting and well made shows to come along in the past decade, IMO.

It look awful to me too. Every time I see that smug smiling face on the promo, I want to grab that guy by his sweatervest and punt him in the taint.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1891755,00.html

And then there's The Mentalist. CBS's latest crime procedural, starring hunky Simon Baker as phony psychic turned sleuth Patrick Jane, is not just the biggest new hit of the season; it is arguably the only new hit of the season. It reliably draws huge audiences, even in weeks when it has run against American Idol — as many as 20 million viewers, nearly double the audience of the nearest new contender, Fox's Fringe. (See the top 10 TV series of 2008.)

There is, at first blush, no good reason for this. There is nothing unique or distinctive about The Mentalist (which is not to say that it's a bad show — more about that in a minute). There's no cutting-edge science, no fancy camera work, no how-did-they-think-of-that hook. Every week, Jane goes out, talks to people, observes details and solves uncomplicated cases the same way Columbo did 35 years ago. We've seen this a million times before on television.

And that's exactly the point.

In today's media environment, there are two ways broadcast networks can draw a big audience, as they did in the halcyon precable days. One is by programming series, like Idol and Dancing with the Stars, that are essentially sporting events. That is, they are simple to follow, they can be enjoyed by a wide demographic and age range, and — most important — they have no shelf life. There are winners and losers, and spoilers abound the next day. So you watch them that night, as they happen — not on DVR or Hulu — or you might as well not watch them at all. And that means you watch them with commercials, without which network TV becomes a charitable enterprise.

The other way is to program TV for the shrinking, but still substantial group of people who don't want TV to change. There remains an audience unwilling to study quantum physics and comparative religion to watch Lost; who do not have a Slingbox stacked on a TiVo on top of an Apple TV; who simply want to turn on a TV set at the end of a long day and watch an uncomplicated damn TV show, in real time, on the hour, the way God intended. (See the 50 best inventions of 2008.)

This is CBS's audience — sometimes older, sometimes not, but generally more conservative in its tastes — and the network serves these people perfectly. While competitors make TV to court fickle viewers distracted by video games and the Internet, CBS — with crime shows like NCIS and sitcoms like Two and a Half Men — makes TV for people who like television. (How old school is The Mentalist? You can't even watch it online.)

That said, The Mentalist works because it's such an elegant example of its kind; if it's comfort food, it's prime-grade meat loaf. Much credit goes to the sly scripts, overseen by Bruno Heller (HBO's Rome), which take the viewer to familiar places by clever routes, providing a jocular corrective to the relentless noir gore of CSI et al. The mysteries are engaging but not byzantine; you can probably figure out the culprit just a step before Jane does. And who doesn't want a handsome man to make him or her feel smart?

But chief credit goes to Baker, and not just because he's easy on the eyes. His (mildly) reformed flimflam man takes a cool, roguish pleasure in solving murders by reading the same tells and tics he once used to con people into thinking they were talking to dead loved ones. In one episode, he offhandedly tells a suspect woman what her type is — "sporty bad boys with a hidden masochistic streak" — and when she denies it, he grins and adds, matter-of-factly, "No, that was a bull's-eye."

The joy of the scene is Jane's sheer satisfaction in figuring out what makes her tick; murder or no, he'd be glad to throw in the embarrassing revelation as a freebie. There's something creepy — but delightfully so — about how Jane looks at the rest of us as simple machines whose gears he can see whirring on the surface. CBS, which gets a 60% female audience for The Mentalist, has sold Jane as a woman's fantasy: "Finally, a man who listens." But really — and entertainingly — he's more like a superman who listens in.

At this moment, the networks are finalizing their fall slates to announce to advertisers in May. Can they bring back the glory days by cloning a dozen Mentalists? Doubtful. The audience for throwback TV is limited, and CBS has close to a lock on it. But the competition is still likely to try. As Patrick Jane knows, people are greedy and prey to temptation, and they fall into predictable patterns of behavior. It doesn't take a psychic to see that.

I think my mom likes shows like The Mentalist and NCIS. These seem like some of the most boring, unoriginal shows you can find on tv.

 

[proninja]

proninja> what shows DO you like? I honestly have no idea.

There's a few shows out there I don't mind watching, but nothing I'm super excited to see. I like White Collar and Burn Notice - think the Mentalist is a pretty cool show, but it's not available anywhere streaming so I don't watch it anymore.

what do you like about these shows?I've never even heard of White Collar. Burn Notice and the Mentalist look awful to me, but never spent any time trying to watch either.Mad Men is easily one of the most interesting and well made shows to come along in the past decade, IMO.

Truthfully, not a ton. They just don't offend me and my wife likes them. I typically surf the internet while they're on and watch out of the corner of my eye. If I had to sit through one without doing anything else I probably just wouldn't watch TV at all.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

sounds like you don't enjoy watching anything.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

The way things are going, that Trayvon Martin thread is going to pass us this summer

 

[HighBeams]

I don't feel like wading into the hockey thread so I'll make my Round 1 playoff picks here.

Rangers

Capitals

Devils

Flyers

Canucks

Blues

Blackhawks

Predators

 

[proninja]

sounds like you don't enjoy watching anything.

Maybe we've reached the real issue here

 

[Marvin]

Just saw this question posted on reddit

"Assuming cooperation, how many cats would it take to pull a 200lb human on a dogsled?"

 

[Marvin]

Just saw this question posted on reddit"Assuming cooperation, how many cats would it take to pull a 200lb human on a dogsled?"

75

The "best" answer given"200 lbs x 25% drag coefficiency @ 15 mph divided by * number of cats. Assuming the cats weigh 12 lbs apiece and each cat is capable of pulling 7.5 lbs on a surface with a 25% drag coefficiency . the number of cats as represented by "*" equals 26.6666667 cats required."

 

[shuke]

Hack, you still want Brett Morell? How in the hell does he go 0-5 and score 3 runs today?

I need some dudes. My team sucks.