Jonathan's blog

• Secrets of Jerusalem's Holiest Sites, Tue, Dec 19, 10 PM, National Geographic Channel
• After Jesus - The First Christians, Wed, Dec 20, 7 PM, CNN
• Christmas in Yellowstone (trailer), Sun, Dec 24, 8 PM, PBS

After losing in the first round of the playoffs last week, I assumed my season was over. Tonight I realized that I had a meaningless game this week. Needless to say, I hadn't adjusted my line-up from last week. It turned OK, though, as I eeked out a victory by less than a point.

A carjacking was big news in Midland this week. Relatively speaking, crimes like that are rare around here (comparison to national average). A suspect was arrested the next day. What really got me was this (from an article by Kelly Nankervis in the Midland Daily News):

As he took off across the parking lot, she kept trying to unlock her door to get out. Eventually she got the door open. He grabbed her hair, but she fell out as he turned the corner onto Joe Mann Boulevard. One man, a Meijer store employee, saw the events and came to the woman's rescue. "He was the only one," she said, beginning to cry. "He's really a hero."

Lane pointed out that crimes like this show Midland is changing, and it's up to citizens to be vigilant in order to maintain a low-crime community. At least two motorists drove their vehicles around the woman while she was lying on the pavement in the Meijer parking lot, Lane said. "That disappoints me, people not willing to help anybody. It's sad, it really is."

Tonight we watched Brokeback Mountain (2005,R) (Screen It! Review). From Wikipedia:

Brokeback Mountain is an acclaimed and controversial Academy Award-winning 2005 film that depicts a complex emotional, sexual, and romantic relationship between two men in the American West from 1963 to 1983.

I give it 4 out of 5.

The other night I was watching Hardware on BBC America. It caught my attention because it was recommended by The Week and features Martin Freeman (who I enjoyed in the original version of The Office and The Robinsons). I realized that I didn't like Hardware at all. I realized that I didn't like it because of the laugh track (or that it was a laugh-track type of show). I grew up on sitcoms like everybody else, but I've apparently evolved to the point that I can't take a laugh track. I started to think about the other shows I watch, and it's pretty much true. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report...but those are real laughs, not a track. I watched the first season of Lucky Louie, but that's was the only example I could remember.