The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism

I don’t even know which information source got me to do it, but this week I recorded Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I’ll be damned if the topic wasn’t about the conscience of American capitalism. Something that, when I’m not thinking about… you know… tv shows, I think about way too frequently. Bill Moyers’ guest, John Bogle, was voicing the thoughts that have been going on in my head for a long time now. Okay, well, he has a far more knowledgeable take on it, but we arrive at the same conclusion. He is the author of “The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism” and it was both heartening and disturbing to hear what he had to say. I’ve put a hold on his book at my library and look forward to perusing it. I’ve got Greenspan’s book on my library list too.

Money has been becoming a larger concern and it just blows my mind the way I see some people spend it. It was reassuring to me when some of my like-minded friends vented about the same thing when we were driving somewhere last week. It’s not just me who is frustrated by the indiscriminate way that some people handle their money while other hard-working people end up paying for the others’ actions in the long run. Will those people get their comeuppance? Is that mean of me to say?

I am trying to become a smarter consumer and more frugal person. I get some help from The Consumerist on that, but it still worries me to hear some of these rich old men raising red flags about the economy. How can you feel comforted when the president says, “You know, you need to talk to economists. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible with the people’s money.” What a tool. I don’t think that Bush should be allowed to use the words “fiscally responsible” without first saying “My administration is not”.

Grey’s season premiere

The Grey’s Anatomy season premiere was mildly entertaining, but somewhat of a letdown.

Lame:

• Lacey stopping Meredith on the way into the hospital with a trauma to tell her that she’s her sister. And everyone stops to react.
• Lacy running around the hospital telling everyone that Meredith is her sister.
• I like the actress who plays Torres, but her character is hard to like the most of the time. Shonda and Betsy like to beat up on her a lot.
• lamest of all: saving Bambi. Seriously. The whole thing was completely ridiculous. I was rolling my eyes right along with the interns. Why do they keep giving Katherine Heigl these stupid plot lines?
• The patient eating metal poky objects to curb his hunger. Why not eat a pillow case instead of, I don’t know, scissors?
• The cleanly severed arm. It looked like the elk shank Brian prepared in the Top Chef episode this week.
• All the women who bitch to George about how their lives suck whenever he tries to talk to them about what a hard time he’s having.
• Time from first contraction to delivery of the baby: 29 seconds. And the baby shouldn’t cry immediately and look like it’s 3 months old. I’m just saying.
• George and Izzy. I like George. I like Izzy. I don’t like Gizzy. And he’s married, so figure it out! I don’t feel sympathetic for people who cheat on their spouses, even emotionally.

Cute:

• “I’m not pregnant. I just… I mean I might be pregnant. Yeah, my boobs are a little sore.”
  
• When Christina, Izzy, Alex and George are together while Meredith cleans the severed arm. There was good writing and chemistry in that whole scene.
• The kind of gay moment when McSteamy told Derek that he came to Seattle to get him back. Heh.

Awesome:

• Sandra Oh. Sandra Oh. Sandra Oh. She made the end worth waiting for. The story line about the man with the severed spine was sweet and very well acted by everyone involved. A little sledge hammery with the metaphor of her and Burke, but sweet all the same.
  
• Despite the ridiculousness of such a cleanly severed arm in an auto accident, the acting between that patient and Meredith, I thought, was very good. A sweet exchange between them before the patient finally agreed to sedation.
• Bailey, as always.
• Derek telling McSteamy not to talk to him about Meredith because McSteamy does not know what he’s talking about.
• Alex and Christina on the tunnel gurneys. Those two, actually showing emotion despite their façades. And the smile at the end when Alex asks Christina if she wants some money.
  
• Meredith and Derek breaking up (again). It was a great scene and I’m glad that she’s doing it for all the right reasons.

Shonda, please don’t have Bambi plots anymore. Do it for the children with puppy dog eyes!

Private Practice, Top Chef, and Life

Last night was all about the television. First up was Private Practice, the much talked-about spin off of Grey’s Anatomy. Meh. I love Kate Walsh and her lovely mouth and eyes and… everything else. I also like Amy Brenneman and Taye Diggs. The show was like a bad episode of Grey’s. Salespeople calling a therapist to the store for a troubled woman and she has a psychological breakthrough? And who didn’t see the emergency surgery c-section coming the moment Addison’s buddy said “Everything but c-sections” about the birthing room. Please. I’ll watch again because I like the cast, but I have little patience and a lot of tv on my schedule, so please, Betsy Beers and Shonda Rhimes… make it work!

So next I flipped over to Top Chef. It’s the first part of the finale. The finalists seem genuinely friendly to each other and I have to say that the lack of contestant on contestant assaults is refreshing! I am rooting for Casey and have been since she seemed like a sweet girl back when Lia left. I prejudged her and got it wrong. She’s my girl now and I want a female Top Chef! Actually, “Anyone but Hung” is my mantra. He says he’s cooking only for the judges and poo on the cowboys (maybe I’m paraphrasing a bit) and then gives a line at judging table. His arrogance and superiority complex are a real turn off for me. He’s good, but he needs to try a little humble pie. I loved it when the judges told him that he was technically the best chef left. He got a huge grin on his face until Tom repeated, “Technically,” to let him know that that doesn’t mean he is the best chef overall. I love deflated Hung. The judges think he lacks “soul” in his food, but they keep telling Casey that her food has soul and heart and all that razzmatazz. What the heck does that mean, anyway? As a non-foodie I think it’s bunk, but what do I know? As long as it gives Casey an edge, I’m happy. Oh, by the way, they are having three finalists this season, which I love because I think Casey would have been eliminated too. I love the comradery between the chefs this season. I just wish Hung wasn’t such a dick.

I recorded Life on my computer. Haven’t watched it yet, but I am looking forward to watching it. Again, I am a fan of the cast. Captain Winters from Band of Brothers is the lead and Carmen from the L Word is the partner. Good actor + good actor/eye candy will get me to watch every time. I hate the networks for scheduling all the good shows on two nights. All that plus The War on PBS. I am running out of hard drive space and time to watch and listen to all my entertainment!

Thank you, Amazon

I like iTunes. It’s a handy thing, but I hate that there is Digital Rights Management all over the content. It hasn’t stopped me from shopping there, but it’s just kind of a thorn in my side. When iTunes introduced iTunes Plus, I went with that. You get music at a higher bit rate at a 30% higher cost ($1.29 per track), but no pesky DRM. I am a believer in not pirating music. I don’t download music illegally. I don’t distribute music illegally. It just bothers me that it’s there. I think it’s stupid… just as stupid as having music in an AAC format rather than mp3 (which, in fact, bothers me as much as the DRM).

Well, yesterday Amazon rolled out an mp3 store which has tracks and albums available at a lower price. All mp3 format. All DRM-free. All 256kbps bit rate. Cue the angel chorus here. I don’t like the store format as much and they have somewhat fewer selections (presumably because there are certain labels *cough*Sony*cough* that just lurve the DRM). I also wish they had the option to shop with a shopping cart, not download each track as an individual purchase. iTunes makes it very easy to shop with their recommendations, flashy front page and free music Tuesdays. Will I stop shopping iTunes? Nope. But I won’t simply buy from them to buy from them. I am not a mac fangirl and I will go where I can get the best deal for my money without having my purchases locked up in a secret envelope. So thank you, Amazon.

Simple Living Manifesto

I stumbled across this little gem today:
Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life
Okay, I didn’t really stumble across it… To give proper credit, it was linked to by swissmiss, whose blog I subscribe to via RSS. Google reader will be the death of me.

Anyway.

I love it! 72 is a lot, but just glancing over them, I see that it’s something I need to read and take to heart. First on the list is filtering through all the useless stuff I do online. Although it was through some useless stuff that I do online which led me to the manifesto in the first place…

I have a confession

Confession with a small “c”: I am wearing farty shoes today. With each step I take, my heels in my boots say “poot, poot” and I can’t help but worry that people around me think that I have uncontrollable flatulence. So I do that little trick where I make sure that every step makes the noise so people know. Then the sole of my boot, if I drag it the wrong way, makes a pretty obnoxious noise too. I can’t always duplicate that noise though. I hate walking out the office and having that be my goodbye noise.