A different approach to life

I've recently been feeling especially wasteful of my time, money, and health. As such, I have decided to make a concerted effort to conduct my days in a more preferable way. Here's what I have in mind:

• Less television - I watch way too much crap TV. I'm talking especially about excessive amounts of Law & Order, The West Wing, Matlock, and the Food Network. I need to do a better job of turning the TV off and doing more productive things. I don't want to stop watching TV altogether, I just want to limit it to first-run shows that I really like. These include Arrested Development, Grey's Anatomy, The West Wing, Family Guy, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and maybe Law & Order. That seems like a lot, but it's only 4-5 hours per week (less if I take advantage of our DVR recording device and skip commercials).
  
• Less sleep - I estimate I get 9-10 hours of sleep every night, which is too much. I don't know much about sleep science (if that is such a thing), and the impression I get is that there isn't much known at all (or at least there is not much that is widely agreed upon). From my experience, though, I operate perfectly well with seven to eight hours of sleep. So the new rule is: no more than eight hours of sleep a night.
  
• Better eating - I eat lots of crap, and spend a lot of money doing it. I want to eat more vegetables and cook more (therefore eating out less, and getting less take-out). My goal is to make a good and nutritious dinner for myself (and whomever else is interested in eating over) at least five times per week (!). I also want to snack less, and when I do snack, eat less cookies. Additionally, I want to drink more water.
  
• More gym - Part of my aim in all of this is to get into much better shape and lose a bunch of weight. Towards this end, I want to go to the gym at least five times per week (!).
  

Sleeping less and watching less mindless television will hopefully give me more time for leisure reading and writing, as well as getting schoolwork done in a more timely manner - decreasing stress. Better eating and increased amounts of exercise will hopefully provide me with more energy and an overall healthier, better-feeling lifestyle. One of the reasons I'm posting this here is as an added incentive/motivation to follow through. Ideally I'll publish weekly progress reports in this space.

Yummy Dinner

Here's to parents coming to visit and taking you out for a nice and delicious dinner. My dad came up to Worcester this evening and took me to The Sole Proprietor, which is, in my opinion, Worcester's best restaurant. We arrived a little early for our reservation and so got a drink at the bar while we were waiting. I had a Tanqueray and tonic, my dad had Grey Goose and 7-up.

After we were seated we both started with a bowl of their delicious, creamy clam chowder. For our main course, I had the Tuna Steak Barcelona, which is a piece of yellowfin tuna stuffed with feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions, and basil on top of garlic mashed potatoes. It was awesome. My dad had fried scallops with mashed potatoes. For dessert, I had tiramisu and a double espresso. My dad had a hot fudge sundae and a cup of coffee.

So I was treated to an exceptional dinner, and got to see my dad. He left for his hotel after dinner, and was leaving from there early in the morning, but it was nice to see him for the few hours he was here. And delicious.

Idioterne

Tonight's Film Society screening was Lars von Trier's The Idiots (1998), the second Dogme 95 film from Denmark's most famous director. I hadn't seen the film before tonight (despite my having chosen it to be shown this semester), but I enjoyed it. In a squirmish, uncomfortable sort of way. It was definitely different. It's about a bunch of people in suburban Copenhagen who pretend to be mentally handicapped, both by themselves and out in public. The resulting challenges were interesting. The characters in the film were challenging social conventions and how relationships are affected by behavior. The fact that the actors were playing characters who were essentially performance artists challenged the traditional dynamic between actors and their characters. The documentary-style format of the film further complicated this dynamic. And perhaps most obvious of all is the challenge placed upon the viewer - who must watch this awful but often hilarious behavior (not to mention all of the sex and nudity).

So overall it was a good evening. Turnout was decent as well - more people showed up than I expected. It's playing again Sunday night, and hopefully many more people will show up to see a product of one the world's most innovative and creative directors.

Arrested Development

Arrested Development may just be the funniest television show ever produced. Witty and clever, it's a must see. Anyone who isn't familiar with the show should buy the DVDs and watch them. I strongly recommend watching them in order - many of the jokes reference past episodes. Seasons one and two are both on sale, and season three started this fall. As it's on Fox, the episodes have been interrupted by the baseball playoffs, but it will be back on October 31. Watch Arrested Development, Mondays at 8:00 p.m.!

This is Not the News

I've posted .pdf versions of the first four issues of This is Not the News. They can be found on the right side of this page. Enjoy!

How to Package The Simpsons

Props to Matt Groening and the folks at The Simpsons for anticipating complaints and addressing the problem before people got pissed off. I'm talking about the Season 6 DVDs, for which they decided to change the packaging from previous seasons, making it in the shape of Homer's head. Cute and everything, but very out of place next to the first five seasons. What did they do about it? They included a voucher, to be mailed in along with $2.95 for shipping costs, for a new box that matches the rest of the set. I bought Season 6 the day it came out (August 16), sent in the form a few days later, and received my new box earlier this week. So pretty, and a perfect fit next to the others.



Cute, but unacceptable.


Ah, much better.



How beautiful.

Yankees Clinch

With the Yankees's win today, and Cleveland's loss, the Yankees clinched the AL East and their eleventh consecutive trip to the playoffs. It almost makes up for my being just outside of Fenway Park as the Red Sox beat the Yankees Friday night. Not a good place for a Yankees fan to be.

In any case, go Yanks. Playoffs start Tuesday.