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As spring melts into summer, it’s finally time for me to back up the ol’ TiVo and clear off some space. Apparently I’m a pack-rat of all things including media. I imagine it’ll be like a time capsule in a few years to see some old show on TV accompanied by the commercials (sometimes).

I also finally deleted the old season passes since I probably won’t bring my TiVo back to Michigan anytime soon. But my desire to archive and remember weird things continues. So here’s my season passes from Michigan (second edition). I was on Charter Communications line-up.

This might seem silly, but I think it’s part of moving on.

1. Talking to Americans (CBC-CBMT 16) — Wish list for the best production ever from Rick Mercer. Another take: Americans say the dumbest things. The TiVo was supposed to record it over Christmas, but it didn’t work out.
2. Coupling (Wish list) — I was hoping that NBC would burn off the remaining episodes of their failed import of the classic UK series. Alas, it never happened.
3. Angel (WBMK2 24) — A vampire with a soul trying to purge LA of evil? I’m so in.
4. This Hour Has 22 Minutes (CBC) — Sketch comedy show that was like a 30-minute extended version of Weekend Update. Featuring Mercer, Mary Walsh, Greg Thomey and Cathy Jones (and more).
5. Made in Canada (CBC) — AKA The Industry in the U.S. Rick Mercer’s merciless take on the dunderheadedness of the film and TV industry.
6. Star Trek: Enterprise (WMQF 14) — It was nice to not miss it, but season three was probably the best of these voyages. Dislikes — most annoying theme song ever.
7. Arrested Development (WMQF) — The show makes fun of an eccentric rich family in Southern California. Of course, it’s on my list.
8. The Simpsons (WMQF) — For new episodes. Historical note — I received two FOX affiliates (WMQF and WLUK from Green Bay) and I had to turn to the Great White North for my daily Simpsons fix at 5 p.m. Thanks CBC!
9. Stargate SG-1 (WBKP 5-10) — Sure the syndicated run is two seasons behind SCI-FI, but it’s a goofy bit of fun from this ABC affiliate.
10. Scrubs (WLUC 6) — It’s like M*A*S*H, but funny! Just kidding, Alan Alda. I do like how zany the hospital is in this NBC sitcom, but it’s not too zany.
11. Making the Cut (CBC) — Congrats to the six guys “drafted” to try out at the six Canadian NHL teams’ training camps. Next, we’ll try to have a season for you all.
12. Veronica Mars (WMQF) — A fun take at the high school mystery genre.
13. The Tournament (CBC) — A short-run series looking a dad’s attempt to live off of his son’s talent.
14. Walter Ego (CBC) — An hour-long pilot starring Peter Kelleghan as a cartoonist. I think it might have been funny, but I accidentally recorded over it with The Greatest Canadian (Tommy Douglas, BTW).
15. Rick Mercer’s Monday Report (CBC) — Rick Mercer making fun of current events. Gee, that’s unique on this list.
16. Saturday Night Live (WLUC 6). Because I’m usually out on Saturdays.

That’s it. After backing up the TiVo, it’s on to bigger and better things. All right, it’s the same list (on different channels), minus the seven CBC shows and adding Battlestar Galactica. Happy?

I thought I’d see how my cell phone does at recording loud noises (uh, brilliantly performed music). As you can see, it didn’t really cut the mustard.

Maybe CNET or someone could use the “marching band test” for cell phones. Remember, I’ve got prior use! 😉

Still, it was cool to hear “We’re not going to take it” with a mosh pit flailing about in front.

I could only capture a brief snippet of the insanity that is Beginnings, as performed by the Leland Stanford Junior Marching Band (with the backup of hundreds of musicians). This year’s performance lasted 34 minutes. Which is slightly above par, IIRC.

Heading toward Chico at 75 miles per hours. Trilling, Really.

OK, so I was a little peeved that I had to wait at home in the middle of the day for a UPS delivery — especially because I didn’t know what it was (I hadn’t ordered anything lately). I getting a little anxious when the UPS guy shows and a small box into my hands.

I quickly open it up and, to my utter surprise, it was a silver Apple iPod mini. Apparently I was one of the winners of the latest Pepsi-iTunes giveaway where they were giving an iPod away every hour for two months. I was mainly using the promotion to score “free” songs when I buy a soda.

Now, I have something to put my tunes on. It says it can hold about 1,500 songs (for 100 hours worth of music). Bah, I can load up my episodes of This American Life — 430 hours worth (almost 18 days!).

The offer of an iPod shuffle was too tempting for me while I was looking for cell phone service. The camera phone that I got along with the plan was just an added bonus and the two months of “free” data services are nice. However the camera’s got the potential to be some fun, especially in Davis in two weeks.

I’ve set up a “moblog” to showcase my latest technological acquisition. It’s certainly going to be an interesting next two months and you can check out currycrazy.textamerica.com for the latest.

Below is the first image from the phone (well, it’s a script to show the five latest images, but I only have one thus far.):

Just a heads up to everyone who might still be reading this blog (I know there’s at least two of you). I’m still alive in Chico. My blogging took a bit of a hiatus because I got cable Internet at home (Comcast) but I didn’t have a desk for my computer.

I had my iMac perched on a WWE-style folding chair while the keyboard was cradled in my lap. The mouse rested atop a box. Needless to say, writing was extremely uncomfortable and I kept typing to a minimum. But that’s changed with the contribution of a old desk contributed by co-worker Roger. I’m now sitting in the chair and it’s great.

More to come.

I joined a gym and got my first library card in four years. I feel like a more productive member of society already. :-p

I’m not typically a person to go without a library card, but it cost $50/yr. to access the Portage Lake District Library (because I lived outside the district). It would probably have been a good service, but I loathe paying annual fees for the most part.

I didn’t go to the final screening at the El Rey tonight, but I was drawn to the theater when I saw a police car, fire engine and an ambulance parked in front of the theater with their lights on.

Quickly (and safely) pulling into an open parking spot, I spring to action and ask a woman about to head out from under the sundered theater’s marquee with her camera clutched in her hand. According to her, one gentleman apparently decided to celebrate the theater’s closing in high style by drinking. While the emergency vehicles pulled away, she pointed to a young man in a black T-shirt being helped across Second Street by a similarly young woman.

She said he was fine at first, laughing along with the rest of the audience, but then he got obnoxious. Then he got quiet. When the lights went up at the end of “Sideways,” people snapped their final photos of the house and noticed the man passed out in his seat. Apparently, he had a bottle of alcohol in a paper sack that he was sipping from during the movie.

I desperately wanted him to be drinking pinot noir to coincide with the wine tour depicted in the film, but she didn’t know what he was drinking. Although the woman wanted tighter screening so people can smuggle booze in, she said it didn’t detract from the last lighting of the El Rey.

As the woman is about to head across the street, she said the closing of the theater was a sad occasion. I relented from my inquisition as she walks across the street and away from the theater one last time.

The theater will be renovated into an office/retail location and renamed The Majestic, one of its former incarnations.

I went to see the movie Sideways tonight at the soon-to-be closed El Rey theater in downtown Chico. The theater is due to be closed on Thursday to make way for its transformation into an office-retail complex with perhaps more importantly public parking in the rear of the building.

Being my first, and probably last, time in this theater, I’ve naturally got a few mixed feelings. I’ve grown up in an era with multiplexes. The one or two one-screen theaters I saw films in quickly fell by the wayside. Although seeing movies like Harry Potter at The Pic in Hancock was a joy, it was a rare occasion that brought me there.

In Chico, the old theater’s glory seems to be as faded as some of its interior murals and montages. Some portions of the mural seemed to have been ravaged by the intrusion of water. Still, there’s no denying the grandeur of the large bowl that constitutes the house. The walls are surrounded by what appears to be dancing water nymphs across a pale blue forest. I imagine such lurid depictions would be passe in these times of “outrage.”

There was some stadium-style seating that apparently was there before it became vogue in movie theaters. The seats in the center aisles were replaced with newer models that don’t seem to replicate the big, springy goodness of the older seats that still haunt the fringes. I noticed that most people tended to stay in the newer seats.

So what role does a gigantic, one-screen theater play in a world that has endless entertainment options available 24/7 without even the discomfort of leaving your own rocker-recliner? I’m not sure, but it would’ve been nice to see at least one more film in the old Majestic (its former name).

The thing that these old, one-screen theaters provided is a sense of community on a large scale. As we slowly lose that sensation to evolution and destruction, I hope there’s something that define who we are in the modern era.