Sunday reading

... I just "elfed" myself ... Check this out.

Here's some of the good reads that caught my eyes this week ...

Sports & Baseball ...
a On the Mark: Pats flat-out dominant
a Cubs to miss savvy McDonough
a McDonough's successor? Cubs let new owner decide
a He can't lose, but can he win?
a Glavine Returns to Braves With $8M Deal ... Good for him. I never thought he should have left the Braves in the first place ...
a Voting for MLB awards needs to change hands ... This guy's Colorado bias aside, the lack or Rockies winning postseason awards just isn't right.

TV ...
a A Looser Lucifer: Ray Wise Is Having A Helluva Good Time Playing the Devil ... Ray Wise does play a good devil. Although, I removed "Reaper" from our DVR a couple weeks ago, thinking I've seen enough and the show wasn't going anywhere. Sure the adventures were sort of amusing, but, to me, none of the episodes I was seeing were as good as the pilot. I saw it turning into the same thing week after week. And I couldn't take anymore of watching poor Sam agonizing over Andi ... I may return to the show some day. But for now I'd rather spend my Tuesday nights doing other things ...
a Prime Time for Reading? Survey Looks at Viewers' Plans During Strike ... Personally, I'm enjoying the writer's strike for the reprieve from constant TV-watching. I've been able to catch up on some reading and enjoy a whole lot of music ... If only it were so easy to turn off the TV without a writer's strike ...

Music ...
a Neil Diamond reveals 'Sweet Caroline' is about Kennedy daughter ... Arguably the most amusing news of the week ... I long for the day I get to experience singing this song among the Red Sox Nation at Fenway ...
a Music Q&A: Colbie Caillat gets 'Bubbly' ... Kates thinks she'll be a one-hit wonder. I guess we'll see ...

The Internet ...
a Educators weigh merits of social network sites
a Heads are turning to Facebook
a How to punish a cyber-bully

Politics & media ...
a 'Daily Show' host doomed to relive past ... The Musharraf interview still ranks as one of the more memorable things I've seen on The Daily Show ... ah, well.
a In San Jose, Downsizing With Dynamite
a Web Sites Tear Down That Wall
a Neatness counts ... Brian Williams' post and quips on the subsequent broadcast were pretty amusing too ...
a Drew Peterson case: Bright lights, big hassle for neighbors
a In a Watched Society, More Security Comes With Tempered Actions

TV talk

Ok. So I just finished cleaning off the DVR and watching the first round of premieres. This is a rare year for TV: I haven't been overly impressed or blow away with anything I've seen this time around; Or maybe I'm just becoming jaded and more picky in my old age ...

Here's a rundown of the few highlights ...

Reaper. I never would have imagined watching this one. I saw it on a what-not-to-watch list. It looked terribly cheesy. And it's on the CW. But my friend Liz said she wanted to watch it and suggested I might actually like it ... The plot revolves around Sam, a 20-something guy who works with his buds at a Home Depot-like improvement store. He discovers that his parents sold his soul to the devil after he was born and now must do the devil's work by capturing the bad guys ... It turned out, the more I watched the premiere, the more I got into it -- and the more I caught myself laughing out loud -- although I could've done without the blood and gore of the guy getting sucked up by the Zamboni. But the writing is smart, the character chemistry is charged and the hilarity of Sam having to use a Dirt Devil as his "vessel" to suck up the fire-throwing arsonist, and then having to go to the DMV /"Hell on Earth" /The Portal to turn in the vessel, was beyond comical. The icing on the cake is Tyler Labine as Sock; loved him in the dearly-departed Invasion and I think I'm gonna love him in Reaper ...

The Big Bang Theory. Also didn't expect to be watching this one, but I figured CBS put it in with their Monday night sitcoms -- there has to be something to it. So I watched -- and I liked it ... It's about a group of science geeks and their trials and travails in life and relationships. The episodes are way overloaded with nerd talk and science-geek references (We get it! They're nerds!) ... But the chemistry and banter among the characters is strong enough to keep me entertained. I found myself doing double-takes at Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons -- his character is reminiscent of David Hyde Pierce's Niles on Frasier, and I love it! And Kaley Cuoco as Penny, the girl across the hall, is surprisingly good, mature and fun to watch, far from the eldest daughter she played on 8 Simple Rules ...

Pushing Daisies. Talk about huuuuuge expectations ... I'm a sucker for anything that's as wildly colorful and whimsical as this show -- it reminds me of "Big Fish" ... More great character chemistry! Lots of potential! I'm in ...

Cavemen. Call me crazy, but I expected a little more out of this one ... It was awful. I stopped after the first commercial.

Private Practice. Ok, so I said I was boycotting it ... But I had to watch the first episode, just to be sure. Yep. I'm sure now. It's nonsene. And I'm not watching it ...

And the old favorites? ...

Survivor ... Eh. I'm not really digging the whole China thing, or this season's cast for that matter ...

Grey's Anatomy. I've settled on the notion that it's never going to be as good as the first season ... But I think Lexie's gonna grow on me ...

Heroes ... It's still mystifying, but the lust is wearing off this one too ... especially after that anti-climatic season finale last May ...

How I Met Your Mother ... still good. Mandy Moore in the premiere?! I'm set for another season ...

Two and a Half Men. Sorry guys. It's been fun ... but after watching the premiere, I have to say the jokes are wearing thin, and Jake has grown beyond them. Kates and I have removed it from our DVR ...

The Office ... Jim & Pam are dating! Dwight killed Angela's cat. And Michael hit Meredith with his car. Good stuff!

But my thing with The Office is this: As a whole, I don't think it's consistently funny. Rather, it's individual scenes that make it so good; they're instant classics. So in honor of the HA-larious-ness that is the The Office, I give you my three favorite Office scenes of all time ...

Enjoy.