Touch them once and they come to life, touch them once again and they die forever. Dying forever.. Kinda redundant isn’t it? Not if you’re Ned the Piemaker in Pushing Daisies. If only the narration wasn’t very compelling, I’d have chucked the series from the get go. The series makes for a very frustrating situation. The main character’s childhood sweetheart (one he hasn’t seen since they were children) was killed for reasons that the first (or was it the second) episode will show. The Piemaker having the gift of giving life on the first touch decided to resurrect his sweetheart feeling that she’s too cute to be dead. Unfortunately for him, he has to make sure that he doesn’t touch her again (even unintentionally) or he will send her to the great beyond forever. Can you imagine sleeping in the same room with the girl you have the hots for and not being able to err.. jump her bones?

Chuck in Chuck has a bluetooth application in his head that allowed him to download images of the US’s secrets in his brain. Not. But at least that’s the show’s intention. How can some guy download information into his head(remotely at that!) unless he has some blue tooth or infra red device stuck in his brain somewhere. Johnny Mnemonic would be ashamed.

Due to my voracious appetite for visual entertainment, I’ve been consuming DVDs at a rate that would make Pacman blush. My demand for the TV shows that I like has far outstripped the pirate lair’s supply. So despite my distaste for plunking money on shows that I’m not convinced are winners, I have to explore or risk thinking myself in a loop. Here are some hits and misses.

1. NUMB3RS – I’m an accountant so this is a natural fit for me. I also happen to like mathematics when I was still in school. Something about its ‘exactness’ lures me like a mosquito is lured by our ear canals. Anyway, the math being discussed in this TV show is just unbelievable. My brother who’s a Math professor in some far flung university swore he’s never even heard of some of the concepts talked about in this series. Very original and exciting show.

2. NEW AMSTERDAM – I just bought this yesterday and only watched the first episode earlier this afternoon and yet I liked it immediately. Amsterdam is the name of the detective in this show and he’s immortal. He can only die when he finds her soulmate. That was the small print when an Indian medicine woman he rescued resurrected him a couple of centuries back. I am intrigued by the thought of having to leave lovers because sooner or later they will grow old while the immortal stays young forever. Very watchable.

3. LAS VEGAS – Once you get over the aesthetic appeal of the main characters, the show becomes a slippery slope.

4. THE RICHES – I thought this one had potential. But there’s just no way.. argh I wasted some time trying to internalize this show.

5. RAINES – Jeff Goldblum’s wry and oftentimes funny asides can only carry my attention to a certain point. After that, it gets tired. Ho-hum.

I still maintain that laughter is still the best medicine. I grew up in a household where people would do almost anything to get a laugh. This is just one of the things that I miss when I left the province to work here, and one that I look forward to when I go home for the holidays. Here in the big bad city, as far as opportunities to guffaw go, it’s there with the komodo dragon, endangered.

As I grow older in a corporate setting, I find that the opportunity to have a good laugh becomes fewer and fewer; which is why I took it upon myself to look for alternative means to continue this dwindling activity, which is why I purchased 3 seasons of Two And A Half Men. I think in terms of silliness and wicked retorts, nothing comes close to this TV show. While other shows may elicit the occasional laughter, this one makes me laugh so hard I wake the help every morning.

For two weeks now, I have chosen to wake up really early so I can watch an episode before I hit the shower. And boy does it take away my sleepiness! Because the show relies on funny dialogues instead of antics, even if my eyes are half-closed I still couldn’t help but laugh.

It’s a very nice way to start the day, much much better I think than singing under the shower.

Work is the devil’s daughter, and deadline is its spawn.

I was eyeing the piles of newly bought DVDs on the floor as I fingered my fake Rolex watch. It was 15 minutes past 2 in the morning and I was debating with myself whether to watch another movie or not. Despite the lateness of the hour, reason prevailed and I head off to my bedroom. Another 30 minutes of staying awake and I would be the teammate from hell in the office.

The weekend was spent watching the following movies:

The Heartbreak Kid
Michael Clayton
The Bucket List
Feast of Love
Good Luck Chuck
I Could Never Be Your Woman
The Latest Episodes of House MD (Season 4)
The Latest Episodes of Supernatural (Season 3)

I like the premise of The Heartbreak Kid, life indeed would suck if a week after you marry, you meet the woman of your dreams and she happens to like you too. Gah. But what are the odds? Are you really going to spend your life passing on every flawed person to wait for somebody who might not arrive at all? Oh well. THK is a Farrelly Brothers film and they did not disappoint; comic sequences that cross the lines of good taste are spread sporadically in the movie. Why in the world would you show somebody’s fluffy snatch? I was prepared to be disappointed with this movie but weirdly enough, I kind enjoyed watching it after getting over those really gross Farrelly trademarks.

Michael Clayton stars George Clooney, and the mere mention of that surname elicits the sound of thongs dropping on the floor; the salt and pepper hair, the strong chin, those dreamy eyes… alright enough with the mancrush. Michael Clayton is an intelligent “legal” movie minus the usual staged courtroom drama. That Karen character is one scary girl (the same actress who plays the Ice Queen in Narnia). She has this whiteness that makes you think you can look through her, you know, like a fish. The ending is also worth mentioning. Very refreshing I think.

The Bucket List casts Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two old men who only have a few months to live, decide to write a list of things they want to do before they kick the bucket and managed to do them all. The End. Not really, there were some stirring sequences specially the eulogy given by Jack Nicholson. That guy can act if he wants to. These days however, Jack usually relies on his eyebrows to do the acting for him.

Feast of Love is just that. A feast on the various forms of love. Girl on girl, teenage love, twilight love, adulterous love, heck even doggy love. It’s poignant, it’s touching and it also has a lot of boob exposures. Hmmm… Morgan Freeman is again in this film. Does this guy ever stop making films? The movie is alright, if you like early Sunday afternoons. You know, staid.

Good Luck Chuck. In one of those spin-the-bottle games, Charlie was hexed by a schoolmate because he refused to show her his penis while they were locked in a cupboard. Teehehe. The curse was that anybody he sleeps with eventually finds true love—not just him. Word got around, testimonies given, and everybody wants to sleep with him, even his 200lb secretary. Oh god, somebody hex me now! Then he fell in love with Jessica Alba (who wouldn’t?) and he so wanted her to be his forever and ever ad infinitum. This is where the movie took an entirely different turn. It got corny. Darn, after a really good start the movie just went kaput. Oh yeah, to break the spell he had to look for the little goth girl who hexed him, and she turned out to be one absolutely gorgeous woman, married with a kid though. I could just drown in her big blue eyes. That’s it. Off to a good start, drowned in midstream.

I Could Never Be Your Woman. What in the world was Paul Rudd smoking when he agreed to make this movie? He tried so hard to be Jim Carey it was painful. I had to look away several times. Stick to drama and light comedy Paul, it’s safer there.

House is still House, a little bit smoother round the edges maybe, but he’s still a compelling character. Perhaps I just outgrew some of his adolescent boorishness, but nah, he still rocks.

Supernatural should be watched with the lights turned off and in the middle of the night. Very well researched show (like I would know) and their demons are very reasonable. I like the episode when Dean asked a demon he trapped what it’s like down there. The demon answered; Why do you think we want to get away from that place? Oh lord, looks like it’s not a picnic down there. Any testimonials?