Pop Culture Review

My new favorite comedian is a guy named Jim Gaffigan. You may not recognize the name, but you'll recognize his face from at least one of the hundreds of commercials that he has been on, whether it's Siera Mist, Saturn, ESPN, or Rolling Rock. He recently did the Gator Growl (University of Florida Homecoming pre-game festival) this past Saturday, and I wish I had known so I could have gone.

Click play below to listen to one of Gaffigan's best bits, as he talks about "Hot Pockets."

I'm not much of a television watcher, but that which I do watch I watch religiously.

My favorite show right now is by far NBC's The Office, with Steve Carrel. If you like to laugh but don't appreciate standard sitcom humor ("Look, the husband has done something dumb again ... that's so funny"). OK. Now, you know when you here from like half a dozen people that something is "SO FUNNY," and you're not sure, so it makes you stay further away from watching it for some reason, and then one day you tune in on your own & you discover that it REALLY IS funny? THIS is THAT show. So if you've never watched The Office, give it a try. And I recommend that you start from the beginning ... go buy it on DVD. You will love it; I promise.

The BEST show you aren't watching.

OK, to preface what's coming next -- I am a man, and I am indeed heterosexual. One of my favorite shows is Gilmore Girls. I've really been disappointed with the trajectory of this show over the last several seasons, however. When it first began, Lorelai was eye candy, Rory was the innocent girl that reminded you of all that's right with women, & Luke was the one normal guy on television who was a good guy and who always came through in the clutch. Now, Lorelai is still eye candy, but is aging. Rory lost her virginity on the show and has never been the same and is slowing becoming all that is wrong with women. And the writers have made Luke into sort of a jerk. I just watched my first episode of the season last night, and it was a rather joyless experience. But I've invested myself into the first 6 seasons, I've gotta watch this last one, right? Maybe. We'll see ...

Those were my only two until I recently discovered ABC's new drama, Six Degrees. It is everything that is right with TV -- beautiful women, excellent plot development with believable writing, & likeable characters (with solid character development). I've been very impressed so far. If you haven't seen it, and are interested, you can catch the first three episodes in full on-line at ABC.com for free.

In music, I'm really excited, and unsure, about a new rock band: Hinder. I love pure rock & roll. Not head-banger stuff. Not punk rock. Not pop rock. ROCK. And Hinder has said publicly that they are making it their mission to bring rock back. I'm so happy about that. They also say they want to bring back the "Sex & Drugs" element back with it. I'm not sure if they're joking or serious. So, tread lightly there. But their music seems pretty good so far.