Daily Grit by Wes Thorp

I remember when my son and I auditioned for Amazing Race in 2005

Tonight my wife and I watched the final round of Amazing Race.  It's a program that we are drawn to because of the different locations worldwide with all the on location videos where contestants perform various chores.

It was eight years ago that my son Justin and I submitted an audition tape for the show.  It was a last minute thought and we didn't get to first base, but we had fun doing it.

Check out my post from that experience.

Here's how I got to know Claire Danes from the television show Homeland

I need to fess up about getting together with Claire Danes every week for lunch.  She's the key actor on the television show Homeland.  She plays a character named Carrie Mathieson who is a CIA agent during these turbulent times.  She is also bi-polar and deeply involved in unravelling plots that involve Middle East terrorists.

This rendevous with Claire started with my friend Ken who I have lunch with every week.  We eat, talk and then usually watch an episode of a carefully-picked television series.  We've watched every episode of Prison Break, Oz, 24, some minor ones and now Homeland which has been one of the more compelling.

I've often wondered how many retired baby-boomers have a weekly lunch date with a friend.  Ken and I have been doing it for almost seven years.  Anybody longer?

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What would Jesus says about ABC's new show based on "Good Christian Bitches"

I'm offended by ABC's new Sunday night show called G.C.B. based on a book titled Good Christian Bitches.  It totally puts down Jesus Christ and anybody who believes in Him.  Am I overreacting?  Take a look.  Newt Gingrich described it as anti-Christian and suggested that a show like that would never happen if Muslim was substituted for Christian.  

God has to be unhappy with us.  Look in the Bible at see how he dealt with nations that engaged in similar behavior.  There wasn't a good outcome.

 

Check this: Dallas, the old television show, is coming back and will take place in present time

When our kids were little and during the time when they would be in bed by 8 p.m., my wife and I would take Friday nights as an in-house date night where we would watch the old television series Dallas.  We'd get a small pizza delivered from Dominoes and a bottle of Lambrusco wine.

We would take in all the exploits of J.R. Ewing and his well to-do family.  Watching it became a ritual.  Well, it's coming back to television on TNT with many of the same actors playing their characters in the present time.  We'll be watching.

Can Dallas attact a sizable audience?  Can you bring an old tv show like that back and make a seamless transition to the present day?  What do you think?

I'll be watching ABC's "Expedition Impossible" tonight

 I just ran across this promo for ABC's premiere of "Expedition Impossible" at 9 p.m. tonight.  Count us in.  We are watching.  Super-wife and I are both longtime fans of Amazing Race.  The 15-minute promo of this new show seems to take the concept to a new level.

The contestants in this race are put through extreme tasks and conditions around the world and are faced with the choice of giving up.  I like watching and reading about how people react to the big life challenges.  

If you watch, comeback and leave a comment with your reaction.

We will be watching MSU beat Iowa this afternoon

We will be watching MSU this afternoon when it plays Iowa. Will my alma mater be able to continue its winning streak? Here's a link to the Detroit Free Press story about the game: The Detroit Free Press on the MSU v. Iowa game today

This is part of my continuing test to see if I can use my iPad as my primary computing device. Here's I tried inserting a link using the app BlogBooster. It was made for the iPhone but can be used for the iPad

Our new "Apple TV" could wean us off Comcast cable

We got our new Apple TV device yesterday and hooked it up, configured it and had fun playing with its different features.  We really like it so far and we are finding that it could get us to drop Comcast for a more cafeteria stye paradigm for watching television.

Here's what we did with this new device:

1. Streamed Netflix videos right to our television.  We watched Kite Runner and part of the musical Annie.  That leaves us with about 10,000 additional choices.
2. Watched YouTube videos I had posted with my Flip video camera.  I've uploaded more than 500 video snippets and it was fun watching our grandson on our tv, as well as video from various vacations and events.
3. We watched a video podcast from Ada Bible Church.  We watched the first portion of a sermon by Jeff Manion on Ephesians.  This is a great way to review or to catch-up.
4. We viewed some of my 8,000 pictures posted on Flickr.  This was a hoot to look at the old photos.

I know there's more that it can do.  We are happy with our $99 purchase so far.  We will review what we want from tv and see how well we can get that from this device and from the various offerings on the Internet.  Here's a video of what it looks like as I take it out of the box:

 

PBS series on baby-boomers, Life-Part 2, looks like a must see

Are you a baby-boomer, somebody born between 1946 and 1964 and somebody who is looking at life through a different lens maybe the bottom of an Aleve bottle? 

As member of the first class of baby-boomers born in 1946 who retired at age 58 who has been searching for more understanding of this period of life, I will be watching the PBS Series, Life-Part 2, which starts on Sep. 16. 

The topics covered in each show seem relevant in looking at boomers and marriage, finding purpose, dealing with the generation gap, dealing with doctors and dealing with your spirituality.

I learned this from an e-mail I received yesterday from Nick Watts of Twin Cities Public Television where the series is being produced:

"I’m writing from the national PBS series Life (Part 2) which premiers nationwide this fall. (check local listings.)  Our series connects with the 78 million strong baby boomers who are unlike generations before them.

"They are fitter, will live longer, will look better, will earn more, and will be more active than any generation before them. But are they ready for Life (Part 2)?

"How they are dealing with aging, and how they can overcome the societal, physical and financial obstacles that come with it to live a vibrant and fulfilling second part is the focus of this timely and groundbreaking series."

First part of the series this season will be shown on Sep. 16.  I called our local PBS station, WKAR in East Lansing, and they couldn't confirm it would be shown locally.

For more info, heres:  The show's Facebook Fan Page, it's Twitter page and its website.

Here's a promo from YouTube:

Detroit Free Press column on today's television shows

Look at Detroit Free Press television columnist Mike Duffy's list of 12 family-friendly tv shows.  It's linked to his column on the struggles faced by parents trying to put boundaries on their kid's media habits.

His column points to one family in Rochester Hills, MI where the 15-year-old daughter likes to watch Law and Order SVU.  Ever watched that?  It's a constant barrage of violent sexual crime.  My wife and I watched three segments, back-to-back, on cable and we both felt like we need to wash our hearts out with soap after watching.

The family that Duffy points to seems to be engaged in their kids' viewing habits in a pretty positive way.

But what distrubs me...