August 2011 Issue

What else. Falling Skies is over until next summer, if there still is TV next summer. I’m gonna miss it. Yeah, it’s seriously silly in many ways (e.g., How come the aliens don’t seem to have heard of aerial reconnaissance?), but it’s good, goofy fun. Still, this business of shows being off for a year (or longer, in the case of HBO) drives me a little nuts. I guess it’s back to Pawn Stars and Law & Order (Original Recipe) reruns at lunchtime for me.

Speaking of TV, you may know this already, but if you ever watch any of the HGTV “House Hunters” shows (House Hunters, House Hunters International, House Hunters and the Mold Pit of Doom, etc.), I have bad news. They are totally bogus. The premise of the shows is that the “house hunters” look at (and consider) three homes, apartments, whatever, agonize a bit, and then buy one. Except that they’ve already bought it, live there, and have moved their stuff out temporarily so they can “consider” buying it again. Apparently the shows have been sufficiently popular that word has spread from the neighbors of some of the supposed “hunters.” It’s one thing to script a reality show (Quelle surprise!), but when the whole premise is horse-hockey, you wonder why you’re bothering to watch it at all. Of course, around here we’ve quickly adapted to the news and now spend the show making fun of the hunters’ taste and trying to guess which house they already own.

Onward. We’ve done some number crunching with a hammer I borrowed from a neighbor, and it certainly looks like we’re flat broke here at Word Detective World Headquarters. In fact, unless the market for cat-fur lap robes bounces back big time, we’re looking at candlelight and kibble in the near future. So it would be totally awesome if some of youse guys would subscribe. We have a variety of attractive plans, from simple $15/yr subs to the $5/month Sustainer Subscription, but whatever you can afford would be an enormous help.

And now, on with the show…

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