Friday, August 14, 2009

Random Thoughts from Planet ChockleyBlog

Chip and I are currently watching season four of The Wire, and I have to say that it is probably the best season of a television show that I have ever watched. I urge you all to watch The Wire if you haven't already! In general, I am a big fan of shows with a 13-episode season (like they do on cable, where The Wire originally aired). In fact, after two of my favorite network shows shortened their seasons, I can argue that they got much better. I think network shows are over-reaching with the 22-episode-season.

I recently listened to a podcast that debated the defining movies of the past few decades. And it was easy to pick the quintessential 80s movies, or even agree on movies everyone loved from the 90s, but they struggled with the 00s. Then Chris Connelly posited that the great movie of the Aughts was actually television- that The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Lost, etc. were what we will remember from this decade in terms of great drama. And I think I agree. I used to spend every weekend at a Malco, now I spend it watching DVDs of TV shows. I'm watching them like cinema, and I'm not missing the movies at all.




As you may know, we finally broke down and got iPhones a couple of weeks ago. Although at first I was reluctant, I now totally believe the hype. Tuesday Connor brought home a homework folder, and it contained lists of the Dolch Sight Words. I was like, The internet is so cool- I can just search for those, print off the list, and make some flashcards for the words he struggles with. Then I thought, There's probably some kind of flashcard app for the iPhone, right? He'd probably enjoy it more if it involved a gadget of some kind. Then I went to the app store, and on a whim I typed in "Dolch Sight Words." And there they were- $0.99 for an app that has the same word list in Connor's homework folder, only he can just touch the word to hear what it is rather than asking me. And he can choose what color he wants the background to be. And he has a valid excuse to "play" with my phone. And I didn't have to put in any effort at all! Totally crazy.



Wednesday night we went to Salsa Mexican Restaurant for dinner. . . and dancing. I reviewed it for Stacey over at Dining With Monkeys, if you're interested.

6 comments:

Stacey Greenberg said...

i need someone to tell me about all the awesome apps like that. nice! (btw there is an app for timing a roller derby penalty box too.)

and thanks for the review!

warren said...

I don't let the kids get their sticky paws near my Iphone

Stanfill said...

wow, that is a great way for him to practice his sight words. way to go iphone! now you'll have to look to see if they have an app for addition facts 0-10--another thing he should master by the end of 1st.

Stan said...

The Wire is SO GOOD. We obsessively watched on DVD. The last episode of each season wraps everything up nicely - I totally appreciated that. We didn't pace ourselves well, we'd get sucked in and watch 3 episodes in 1 night and be all bleary-eyed the next day.

Mrs. Katherine said...

Yeah, I need someone to tell me all the apps too. Although, I did find a very handy To-Do list app on my own!

Unknown said...

You only think season 4 of The Wire is the best television ever because you haven't seen season 5 of The Wire yet.