it’s Monday, and it’s March, and i’m chiming in like a lion… well… i’m chiming in anyway… i’ve been “under the hood” on and off, redesigning and now, rebuilding, the front page, and i hope to have that all functioning soon, but there is still a lot to be done on that front – plenty of restructuring content, redoing how it’s all stored and displayed, you know, nerdy little details that don’t matter to anyone else unless they don’t work..

regardless, since that’s still a ways off, and i haven’t been putting too much out there in the way of new content, i wanted to go ahead and unveil one of the new things that i’m looking forward to making a regular feature… something i’m calling “Monday Morning Mashed Potatoes” (MMMP)… basically, this will become a weekly sounding board for me to talk about five or six things that will be on my radar in the coming week and why… sometimes more, sometimes less, but it should be fun… since this is the first one, i’ve got a lot in the list, so i’ll be breaking it up into a series seperate posts based on the type of media involved… first up, television…

YOU’LL SHOOT YOUR EYES OUT, KIDS
- now watching: Mens Hockey: Gold Medal Game – USA vs Canada

So the Winter Olympics are (FINALLY) over and, aside from a few shining moments – the 3 US Gold night, being one – it was utterly lackluster for me… i lost interest early and often in all the events and was entirely sick of NBC’s “Oprah” approach to Olympic coverage… it seemed that each event was buried by hours of docu-drama footage and i honestly don’t want to know that much about the people competing… i certainly don’t want the folks over at the network manipulating my emotions and subversively telling me who i should be supporting… this seems to be the new MO of “reality” television in general and i suppose it works on some level, but i don’t like it one bit…

Anyway, one positive note is that the Olympics saved the best for last… yesterday was the final event, the gold medal game in men’s hockey… the set up took care of itself (as it should)… the US underdogs upset Canada a mere week before, leaving a taste for vengence up North and a sense of hope for the Americans… and they clashed again, in what was an epic battle chock full of heart-stopping moments and nail-biting scenarios… if you’ve managed to avoid the results thus far and are still looking forward to watching this game on your DVR or whatever, i’ll spare you the spoilers, but that, was easily the best event of the entire Winter Games… even people who never watch hockey (ie. 95% of America) were glued to the coverage…

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULAR SCHEDULE…
now playing: Welcome Back – Theme from Welcome Back Kotter

piggy-backing on the end of the Olympics, is the return of normalcy during primetime… this means that my DVR will finally have more than episodes of LOST and American Idol for me to watch… i’m specifically happy to see Chuck and The Office return to the schedule, but i’m also looking forward to checking out Parenthood and The Marriage Ref to see what they have to offer… i kind of missed the sneak preview of the Marriage Ref last night, but it looks like it will be a fun show, and i really like the tagline (official or unofficial) “Thank you for letting us into your marriage – it’s worth fighting for”… talk about counter-culture…

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE…
now playing: I’m Not Who I Was – Brandon Heath

and to wrap up this extended television, um, set… i’d like to talk about a new show that i have been watching and, thus far, enjoying… the show is called Undercover Boss and the premise is downright intriguing… a corporate big wig dons the life of an Average Joe for one week and tries out the blue collar functions that fund his or her high life…

this, of course, is filmed and edited down into fun soundbytes where the big boss’s new bosses say things like, “You don’t have much of a future here” and “Maybe you should look into a different type of work”… What’s really cool about the series, though, it exposes the ever-growing gap between workers and managers, shedding light on the utter disconnect and often amusing discoveries… for instance, is it possible that the CEO of Hooters was really surprised to learn that the general public doesn’t think his restaurants are family-friendly?…

overall, this show provides a really fun look into the corporate world and offers the premise of improving the work environment for all… currently airing on Sunday nights, this show rivals Extreme Home Makeover for feel-good reality television, though i can also see this as a short-lived experiment… time will tell, but i like what i’ve seen so far…

FIN.

that’s all from the world of television for this week… stick around for mashed potatoes from movies, books, music, and more… soon…

peace… love… bdg…