Commercial Break, Whew

I haven't had enough to eat today. I grabbed a yogurt & some granola, but I don't know. I'm kind of feeling "steak"...

This is What We Were Expecting

Jack has got to outrun automatic weapons, rocket launchers, and fight off about what, 18 guys?

Go, Jack! This is nothing compared to some of the jams you've been in before!

Ah, Here's Jack's Opportunity to Act All Redeemy

He can't leave now.

And the sad thing is, stuff like this has gone on in the world. I'm sensing some homework I'm gonna have to do about Sudan and Somalia between now and the beginning of next season.

Last Minute Presidential Power Grab

I hope W doesn't do this to Obama!

We have enough issues out here in real life, and with our real wars, to not be initiating any secret ones.

2 Hour Format - more complaints

How are we truly going to be able to tell who is stupid and who is evil?

Son of the new president's girlfriend? Evil
New President Cherry Jones? Hmmm. Apparently stupid.

Evil Veep, I forgot that you're the president! (outgoing.) Since last season, I've watched all of Deadwood on Netflix. I know that your face actually moves: you were awesome on that show!

World of Pain

Poor Jack, he's in a world of pain.

But I'm not worried. It is called "Redemption", they can't vote him off the island this early in the episode without showing some redeeming action.

Kill count still equals 0. It can't stay that low for long!

Jon Voight?

Maybe Angelina Jolie will be on, too!

Shouldn't it be Called "2"?

How is Jack going to redeem himself in 2 hours?

Didn't he kill his own father? Or was it his son? Or was it his boss? (I hope I don't have to waste 6 days of my life watching Netflix reruns of Jack to remind me of who is dead and who isn't.)

(Especially since some of the people who were dead will apparently be back. Didn't "M" and I call the return of Tony? Were the writers reading our blog during the writer's strike? If you're reading, bring back Eggar, s'il vous plait.)

"M"? "M"? Are you there?

It is time to start live blogging 24 again!

"M" has a bad cold, so I don't know if I'm flying solo or not. I think we figured out how to be back online again.

Welcome back, I hope that all 8 of our old former friends are out there somewhere in TV land!

24:Redemption!

Finally Jack is back. I'm excited to see that Jack is going to be saving "innocent children"!! "A" and I will be watching :-)

http://www.fox.com/24/redemption/

Veteran's Day, 2008

And on a more serious note, we salute the Veterans -- past, present and future; at home or abroad -- who selflessly serve our country.

(Even when we're not always in complete agreement with what our country asks of them.)

God Bless America.

(Light Seen Through American Flag from Flickr's Edu-Tourist, used under Creative Common's License.)

Like Jack, We've Been In A Self-Imposed Exile

Dear readers, we've had more commenters than posts since our dear friend Jack "went dark".

It was extremely tough to remember how to login to Blogger, and I haven't been able to get "M" back in yet. I wonder if Chloe can help us to hack in...(Chloe isn't dead, is she? I'm gonna need to review the scorecard.)

I may need to see if I can deadhead on a cargo plane to Chicagoland for the special on the 23rd.

"M" and Hubby's son "J" was an infant when we last saw Jack, and none of us worried about his little brain cells being affected by being cuddled in front of some extremely violent TV.

And he seems none the worse for the wear today, no violence (necessary or otherwise) against sock puppets, tiny little cars, or his cousins.

But alas, he's too old now to share our addiction to Jack. I'm telling "M", send him to Grandma and Grandpa's on Jack nights!

We'll see.

In Good Company - the complusively addicted

In a recent interview, Kate Beckinsale stated that she is "compulsively addicted" to '24' and would like to have a cameo on it. She suggested the head of CTU. Now my question, would she be stupid or evil?

I think that we could be Kate's assistants in 24! So with our compulsion being held off, we will just have to continue to think about what NEXT January will be like. I wonder if we will ever see the start of the "forgotten" season (writer's strike caused them to stop production.)

Keifer, Keifer What were you thinking?!?

Jack would kick your ever-lovin' arse if he knew you were up to such stupid behavior! Personally I think that jail time isn't enough. Perhaps Keifer should have to produce some PSA regarding anti-drunk driving and pay for the air time during prime time! Shame on you Keifer. If I may speak for the blog, we still love you but we are very disappointed. However we are glad to see that you will be getting help. It doesn't look like he will get the Paris Hilton treatment. The plea agreement says 48 hours in the pokey without the possibility of being release to electronic monitoring. In his statement, it does sound as if he has regret and remorse. There is hope :-) Good luck Keifer!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_en_ce/kiefer_sutherland

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. Or Jack Bauer will Kick Your Ass

24 has gone green.

Yes, in an effort to green the Fox Network, the production of 24 will work to achieve carbon neutrality.

Last month, the Washington Post reported on Hollywood efforts to educate the public about global warming:

One of the latest initiatives: Cool Change, Fox's company-wide program to reduce the network's impact on global warming. As part of that effort, the seventh season of "24" will take steps to reduce and offset the carbon emissions from the show's production, with the goal of having the season finale be entirely carbon-neutral.

I'm personally skeptical about purchased carbon offsets -- there's a lot of room for voodoo economics in the current market offerings -- but I love this.

Green is the New Black. Jack Bauer is the new Al Gore.

24 is in the News

Let's give a warm welcome to Janeane Garofalo. She is going to be joining the CTU team as a Systems Analyst. I really hope that she will bring levity to the bunch to offset the dour but pregnant Chloe! Will Janeane be evil or stupid? Hopefully she will be FUNNY.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070822/ap_en_tv/tv24_garofalo

ManPurse returns from vacation!

We are back and ManPurse had more adventures. Stay tuned, we will have the photos downloaded from the camera soon. In the meantime, here is an interesting factiod from Idealbite.com -- Men are more likely to drop the big bucks on a luxury label man purse than women!

Ideal Bite -- a sassier shade of green -- is an interesting site with handy tips for greener living. http://www.idealbite.com/

Language Arts

One morning this week, I was listening to the radio and heard one of our government officials talk about threats on "the homeland".

Maybe because I just finished reading a novel about Nazis in World War II, the phrase "the homeland" really bugged me. I know we've been using this phrase for years, but for some reason it stuck with me.

I went out to the web today to see if I could find out who said it. Everyone appears to have said it. Well, many people currently in leadership. (Including President Bush, in an early July visit to Cleveland.)

(I also wound up on a page exhorting me to join the GOP. When I hit the back arrow to go back to the google search that landed me there, I couldn't. Can the GOP (or, more accurately, extremist factions thereof) disable the back arrow on my web browser, too? But I digress.)

I am not a citizen of The Fatherland. I mean, The Homeland. I am an American.

(And on another note, a yoga teacher friend told me that 24 will have a female president next season. Hmmm. Will she be stupid, or evil?)

Blonde Toady Sighting

Well, since 24's inauspicious season finale, I haven't been watching much TV either.

However, last week I had a pretty bad bug and wound up on my sofa in front of the TV for 3 days, mostly asleep. Other than catching up on General Hospital (which was much better back in the day of Rena Sofer!) I was also awake late at night when Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip came on.

I watched maybe one episode of The West Wing (also created by TV auteur Aaron Sorkin); that rapid repartee and feel-good White House staff just didn't hook me.

Studio 60 probably wouldn't hook me either. I was too sick to move off the sofa, and quite awake having slept probably 18 of the prior 24 hours.

I wasn't too sick to operate the remote. But I got sucked in when I spied the Blonde Toady, also playing an attorney -- and one with connections to a Blackwater like security firm that might swoop in and rescue the kidnapped brother of one of the show's TV stars.

Maybe she was given witness protection and transferred to another network?

The Adventures of ManPurse: Jury Duty Part 1

Yes, ManPurse and I traveled to downtown Chicago yesterday for Jury Duty. As I walk into the Dirksen building I see many many TV crews and cameras. I walk and think to myself, "ARGH, why don't you read/watch the news "M"? Why? Why? Why?" Each "why" is punctuated with a heel of my palm slapping my forehead! Once in the Juror's Lounge, I start to eavesdrop since evidently some major trial has begun or is about to begin. I hear a fellow at a table near by mention Joey "the Clown" Lombardo of the Chicago Outfit. Mr. Lombardo is known as "The Clown" for his quick wit. (Side note: please don't call us "M" the clown or "A" the clown. Clowns scare me even if we are darned witty if we say so ourselves! And this was the extent of my research. I have no idea what this clown is accused of nor do I wish to find out!)

So I sit there thinking, "I'm so sequestered in this jury." It's 9:30 AM. I keep quiet and mostly to myself while reading Janet Evanovich. She mentions Jimmy Curtains (a fictional mob boss) in the book, you see Jimmy, it's curtains for you!. I can't get this Clown guy out of my head. They call names... phew "m" isn't called in that lot of people. I continue to read and read and play with my crackberry. I e-mail The Hubby, I e-mail "A", I e-mail work, I e-mail Mom. The worst part about the waiting -- there is no one with whom I'm comfortable sharing my witty comments. I had several. Sigh. I let the witty comments pass and I chuckle softly to myself. I start reading again and realize that I'm going to finish this book by lunch if I don't play with my crackberry some more. I e-mail Mom to ask if she would be willing to get me #8 in the Stephanie Plum series. She says yes. MOM ROCKS!

The next group is getting called. I'm juror #9 or so. We go to the court room and I'm looking at the defense table. I see a man that looks like a scarier version of the Dearly Departed Dad from Six Feet Under and think it's possible that is a mob guy. I think that I'm going to be swimming with the fishies in some new cement boots! Luckily the judge states that the case is for a bank robbery. And the mob guy turns into a defense attorney. Phew. To make this long story a little shorter.... They ask questions... Do you work for a local, state or federal police department? I raise my hand. Any family members police officers or were they in the past? I raise my hand. Any other time constraints? I raise my hand. Needless to say I think that my extensive police knowledge got me out of it. PHEW. I am dismissed for the day

One guy got out of jury duty by saying his wife is an attorney and he is now cynical. The Judge stopped him and was disgusted by this man. He basically called him a bad citizen. I found myself not wanting the judge to be disappointed in me. So when he asked me if I could be impartial even though work with the PD, I respond with "I think I can." I didn't want to be called a bad citizen! What is silly is it wasn't the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I'm looking at the accused and thinking that he made some really bad choices and that is how he ended up there. Therefore, I have already thought that he is guilty. Sigh. I'll try to be less judgemental if I go back.

After I got dismissed, ManPurse and I went to PotBelly's for lunch. After that we went to the Bean in Millennium Park and to visit the Lions at the Art Institute of Chicago. We didn't have time to go in since I wanted to catch the train to get home before the storms came.

Here is an article I just found... http://dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=324042 Apparently I'm not out of the woods yet. But I'm not reading up on the trial just in case something happens and I have to return on Thursday or Friday! I think know that ManPurse will keep me safe. If not, call The Hubby or Jack Bauer if you don't hear from any of us by Friday and tell them to bring a jack hammer to get my new cement booties off!! LOL Also made an important note to myself: If you stop at the 7-11 to get the Double Big Gulp, hit the potty BEFORE you get to the court room. Yes, that commercial Gotta Go Gotta Go Gotta Go that features the woman with the overactive bladder was running through my head as they were interviewing the 40 prospective jurors! Better yet, skip the 64 ouncer and get the 32 only! I am learning!

Again Thanks to the Momcierge for getting the book. I finished the one I had and am starting the one you got me tonight! :-D