IDWID: It do what it do

Enough with this Miley Cyrus bull$#!%

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:54:38 +0000

The overexposure is really starting to rankle my ass, and the pop-garbage media, apparently at a loss of things to talk about (but that’s why they’re pop-garbage), have latched onto the Miley Cyrus flap over her Vanity Fair photo shoot.

To the pop-garbage media: Stop it. Stop it now. (more…)

The long and busy moving week

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:00:53 +0000

From the personal files: I bought a house last week. Here’s a rundown of what moving has entailed. This does not go into details about the buying part in the month leading up to this week.

Monday, April 21: I closed on the house at 9 a.m. It only took about 20 minutes. Apparently when you finance a mortgage with a credit union it’s a lot less paperwork than with a bank. I only had to sign my name about 20 times, which is far less than many closings, my lawyer told me. I spent much of the day on the phone changing addresses and phone numbers on my credit cards and bank accounts. (more…)

All quiet on the IDWID front

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:26:08 +0000

IDWID has been less busy of late. There are a few reasons for that. The first is, of course, the return of Battlestar Galactica reviews, which will be occupying much of my writing time for the next couple of months.

The second is that I’m in the process of buying a house, which, as you can imagine, takes up chunks of time here and there, especially since I’m shopping for things that will be going into that house shortly after I move in. Next week I begin the fun process of packing, followed the week after that with moving.

Consequently, I’m not putting a lot of thought into IDWID at the moment. If a blog topic pops into mind (one actually did yesterday, but I forgot what it was before I had a chance to write it), I might be motivated to write, but otherwise things might be a little quiet in my corner of the “blogosphere” (a term that CNN has endlessly adopted and which needs to be murdered).

That’s okay, because I’m guessing most of you would rather see activity over on the Jammer’s Reviews site than here, anyway.

In like a lion, out like a lamb

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:38:23 +0000

After my frustrated complaining a few weeks ago over the unending snow and cold, the weather immediately turned around. I complained, and it hasn’t snowed since, and the weather has been consistently in the the 30s, 40s, 50s, even 60s. That’s March for you. Is winter finally over? Well, the second I say that, I’ll jinx it.

I guess I should bitch more often. It pays off.

Race to the White House: The sports event of 2008

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:08:48 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before, when it comes to watching sports, there’s only one season that really matters to me: NFL season. From September until the Super Bowl, I watch football like an addict. Two games on Sunday — maybe even three — and then ESPN analysis. SportsCenter. NFL Primetime. Basically, any knowledgeable analysis of football becomes raw nourishment for my need to understand in detail what has happened and will happen on Any Given Sunday. (more…)

Stop complaining about ‘losing an hour’

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:36:43 +0000

Daylight-Saving Time begins Sunday at 2 a.m., for which I am glad, because that means I get an extra hour of daylight in the evenings, which in turn makes it seem more like spring (even if the weather isn’t there yet) and less like this interminable winter that I’ve had to endure. (Yes, I said “I” and not “we” because, on IDWID, it’s all about me. Maybe IDWID actually stands for “I Do What I Do.”) (more…)

I’ve had it, had it, had it with this winter bull$#!%

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:38:04 +0000

I’m used to winter. We have it here every year. In the past we’ve had some mild winters and some average winters — but this winter? It has been a harsh and long, long winter. And I’ve fucking had it. (more…)

Some words before the book closes on ‘The Wire’

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:19:27 +0000

Note: This posting is safely spoiler-free. If you’ve seen all, some, or none of “The Wire,” read on.

It’s been several years since I wrote more than a paragraph about “The Wire.” Despite my unlimited adoration for the show — which is one of the best shows in the history of the medium — my mention of it has been mostly limited to occasional name-dropping. (more…)

The war officially ends today

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:07:29 +0000

After two years, the war is finally over. I’m talking, of course, about the format war between rival high-def next-generation DVD formats HD DVD (manufactured by Toshiba) and Blu-ray (Sony).

The writing has been on the wall for about a month now, as media companies — some that had remained neutral until recently — have been slowly aligning themselves into Blu-ray’s camp and tipping the scales of the stalemate. But today Toshiba made it official with their announcement that they will discontinue all manufacturing operations for HD DVD players. (more…)

A public service announcement from David Lynch

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:47:30 +0000

The Internet is the future of video, as has been proven by the WGA strike (which looks to be officially ending this week). But watching movies on the Internet is still not a particularly good option, in my opinion. It can provide a substitute in a pinch, but with current technology and bandwidth, it’s not a way I would ever choose to watch a movie, given the alternative. (more…)

Conan vs. Colbert vs. Stewart

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:43:31 +0000

Although I’m of the opinion that someone is, in some way, helping to write late-night TV despite the supposition that there are no writers during the strike (I simply have a hard time buying that everything is improvised, or that the hosts are writing all their material with no help), there is a certain amusement in seeing what zaniness can become possible when one is forced to put on a TV show while hamstrung without one’s WGA-card-carrying staffers. (more…)

Building a better mousetrap

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:00:24 +0000

The Super Bowl has become so overhyped as to become ridiculous (Fox had five-plus hours of pregame coverage on Sunday). And there’s always the overhyped halftime show, which I never give a damn about, in which some band (lately more has-beens than fresh acts) gives a performance on a stage that is rushed by an audience which is rocking out with the kind of enthusiasm that can only have been bought. Call me a purist, but I watch the Super Bowl because I truly like to watch, you know, football, not because it’s the biggest self-indulgent media event of the year. (more…)

They aren’t who we didn’t think they weren’t

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:40:56 +0000

That Super Bowl was an exciting game, with a final two drives by both teams that displayed the sort of classic drama and heroics that get repeated as sports cliches. I wasn’t expecting to be so much on the edge of my seat, but by the end of that game I was high-fiving and cheering like I was a Giants fan (which I’m not). (more…)

The FCC is a (expletive deleted) joke

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:59:34 +0000

I’ve long known that the FCC — or specifically their censorship arm — is a joke. This was especially confirmed in the months after the 2004 Super Bowl and its crappy MTV-produced halftime show starring Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake and the infamous “wardrobe malfunction.” (more…)

Better organization is costing me too much time

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:49:29 +0000

With some technology, for some reason or another, I end up being a slow adopter. This includes two of the most mainstream and useful media technologies of the past decade: RSS and DVR. (more…)