Having one of those days where all I want to do is lay out in the sunshine. Or walk in the water with a fishing pole in hand. Or drive for hours to see some of nature’s wonders.

They call it “cabin fever,” this feeling of wanting to get up and go after days and days of feeling like there’s nothing to do.  It’s an unfortunate consequence of Minnesota winters, too – “cabin fever” starts up in spring when all you want to do is get out of dodge and go to the cabin, rather than stay at home.  And I’ve got it BAD.

So until I can leave town (I repacked my camping gear this week, too. So ready.), I’ll have to be content in listening to the wonderful springtime music mix the wonderful @sopheava provided, and pouring over all the pictures I took last summer.

Love this shot of a birch at Tettagouche

No Pizza Luce Block Party this year, but I’m sure I’ll find a block party back lot so I can do this again

Testing out my macro skills in early fall

My cousin Lydia and her only blonde silky, Luna Lovegood

The family dog, Riley. He’s my favorite old man

I’ve been wanting to do a tour of my living space almost since I moved in.  It has taken a lot – and I mean a LOT – of work to get my room to the place where it’s at now.

Here’s the before, folks (from when the previous owners were still packing out!):

The first thing I did when my roommates closed on the house in the end of August was to paint it. As you can see from the before picture, it was “bleached” wood paneling with a drop ceiling, comically printed carpet, and a tiny window.  My mom and I came in and painted my entire basement.  We went over the paneling with a coat of Sherwin Williams Adhesion Primer everywhere.  For the bedroom, we did a coat of Sherwin Williams Super Paint in Aloof Grey.  I’ve been wanting to do a grey for my bedroom, and it worked great as a backdrop and to calm down the walls a bit.  Then we got to the window.

The window in my room was not legal when we first moved in, so I lived upstairs until the new egress was installed.  Once installed – if you follow this blog, you know this part – I was able to move everything downstairs and trim out the window.

With the big stuff taken care of, I was able to get to the littler things that I’ve always wanted to do, and wasn’t able to due to living in a more restrictive rental space or just not having the time. So I went a little nuts with the decorating.  I converted my closet from bi-fold to “french” doors and hung a robe hook on the wall.

I created new jewelry storage for myself – something I’d never really dedicated space to before.

And from there, it was a matter of organizing. Growing up, I’ve never been great at keeping my room clean. But this new living situation gave me an opportunity to make it so my room was just that – a place to sleep, laze, and dress.  No laptop pulled up next to the bed for watching Hulu, no craft supplies strewn about to be stepped over when I wake up in the morning – just a clean space to live in, surrounded by rich jewel tones.  My bedroom set is mid-century and originally belonged to my grandparents.  The trunk at the foot of my bed was found at a friend’s neighbor’s.  The brown chair was my parents’ and I STOLE IT.  It’s the most comfortable chair in the frickin’ world.  My room has an odd second door to the back storage area.  We don’t use it, so I put up a tension rod for all of my scarves and put the chair in front of it.

My cat has her own little space behind my bedroom door. Yes, she has her own cabinet, but I’m able to stash everything in there for Ally-cat. I use the top of the cat cabinet for general everyday bedroom storage. The cat area really is the only space where I’ve allowed clutter. Otherwise, I try to keep a clutter-free zone.
Now.

So take that, Mom. I’m a grown-up now.

When I moved into my new digs in August, I noticed a couple things about the closet: it’s super-deep, and has bi-fold doors.  I hate bi-fold doors with a fiery passion.  I don’t know why.  With this closet especially, they create wasted space behind the door.  So I decided to take advantage of the deep closet and kill the bifold doors in one fell swoop!

Read more »

I’ll admit something publicly.  When I plan things, I tend to go overboard.  This year’s menu for hors d’oeuvres during the Academy Awards broadcast was no exception.  After last year’s filling dinner followed by filling snacks, we elected to skip dinner completely, and instead spend the whole evening drinking in the beautiful gowns and delicious wine, and dining on a variety of snackies inspired by this year’s nominees.

Read more »

Picture those packs of Valentines you used to have to hand out at school. The ones with the cutesy picture of the Disney character and the awkwardly rewritten quote? You know the ones.

Well, yesterday, it started innocuously enough with @jonmarcbauer posting some #NeutralMilkHotelValentines on his Twitter feed.
You’re the music and medicine I need for comforting. #NeutralMilkHotelValentines
This valentines day I’ll be the one placing fingers through your spine. #NeutralMilkHotelValentines
I’d walk through holy rattlesnakes that fall around your feet. #NeutralMilkHotelValentines
There is totally Naomi in you. #NeutralMilkHotelValentines
My love is all in your ovaries. #NeutralMilkHotelValentines
I hope you’re smelling of semen this Valentines Day. #NeutralMilkHotelValentines
And one day we will die and our ashes will fly together, from the aeroplane over the sea. #NeutralMilkHotelValentines

They soon morphed in to other indie rockers.
Your jokes are still funny. #SmithsValentines
You’re my gash. #FlamingLipsValentines
You puncture my yolk. #FlamingLipsValentines

So I thought I could get in on the game, and added a few of my own. I was soon distracted by my favorite authors…
I built this balustrade to keep you home, to keep you safe from the outside world #DecemberistValentines
There must be more to life than having everything. #MauriceSendakValentines
She gathered her books, walked while she read, words never spoken but so much was said #JimmyBuffettValentines
I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman! #FireflyValentines
Piglet took Pooh’s arm, in case Pooh was frightened. #AAMilneValentines

Then @jonmarcbauer: @bodicegoddess Now you’re just getting cute and sweet. Where’s the irony? #IndieHipsterValentines

I blamed my ladyparts, and turned to Bon Iver for my response:
“Saying nothing, that’s enough for me” #BonIverValentines #HipsterValentine
You were born with ten fingers and you’re gonna use them all #VampireWeekendValentines
I was afraid I’d eat your brains #TheNationalValentines

And then @jonmarcbauer upped the ante, and brought Star Wars into it.
You can #force me to do anything. #InappropriateStarWarsValentines
Let’s make Wookie. #InappropriateStarWarsValentines

…and then things got out of hand. I’d love to try and keep track, but at some point in there, @MetaAdamJohnson joined in, and the hilarity got to be too hard to track. Enjoy the firestorm.
@jonmarcbauer: I thought you smelled good on the outside. #inappropriateStarWarsValentines
@jonmarcbauer: I wouldn’t shoot first. #StarWarsValentines
@bodicegoddess: I know. #AppropriateStarWarsValentines
@bodicegoddess: She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid. #inappropriateStarWarsValentines
@bodicegoddess: Wonderful girl. Either I’m going to kill her or I’m beginning to like her. #StarWarsValentines
@bodicegoddess: Get in there you big furry oaf! I don’t care what you smell! #InappropriateStarWarsValentines
@bodicegoddess: Obligatory “size matters not” and something about being frozen in carbonite. #StarWarsValentines #lazy
@bodicegoddess: I just wanted you to face me so she could get behind you. #inappropriateFireflyValentines
@bodicegoddess: If you’re being a gentleman, I may die of shock. #FireflyValentines
@MetaAdamJohnson: “…you’ll be awake. You’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.” #FireflyValentines
@MetaAdamJohnson: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting./Define “interesting”/Oh God, oh God, we’re all going to die? #FireflyValentines
@bodicegoddess: “You want a slinky dress? I can buy you a slinky dress.” #FireflyValentines
@bodicegoddess: “Sanguine”. Hopeful. Plus, point of interest: it also means “bloody” #FireflyValentines #fromtheheart
@bodicegoddess: You know that? They teach you that in whore academy? #inappropriateFireflyValentines
@bodicegoddess: How drunk was I last night? #inappropriateFireflyValentines
@bodicegoddess: I made you dinner. #FireflyValentines
@bodicegoddess: I never thought for a second you’d be stupid enough to come! #FireflyValentines
@MetaAdamJohnson: Someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. #FightClubValentines
@jonmarcbauer: You can ride my tail any time. #TopGunValentines
@bodicegoddess: I want some butt! #TopGunValentines
@bodicegoddess: I’m tellin’ ya, I’d be happy to find a girl to talk dirty to me. #TopGunValentines
@bodicegoddess: I’m gonna need a beer to put these flames out. #TopGunValentines
@bodicegoddess: TOGA! #AnimalHouseValentines
@bodicegoddess: “Say ‘hello’ to my little friend!” #ScarfaceValentines
@jonmarcbauer: I’d take all those hours of pain and darkness and replace them with something better. #DonnieDarkoValentines
@bodicegoddess: The Hammer is my penis. #DrHorribleValentines @NathanFillion
@bodicegoddess: Beautiful, naked, big-titted women just don’t fall out of the sky, you know! #DogmaValentines
@bodicegoddess: Bratwurst? Aren’t we the optimist? #10ThingsIHateAboutYouValentines
@jonmarcbauer: I fucked that sleazebag for you, then I put myself through fucking hell for you. #RequiemForADreamValentines
@bodicegoddess: I shall call him Squishy. And he shall be mine. And he shall be MY Squishy #FindingNemoValentines
@bodicegoddess: Big bottoms, big bottoms, talk about mudflaps, my girls got ‘em #SpinalTapValentines
@MetaAdamJohnson: Say hi to your mom for me. #BacktotheFutureValentines
@MetaAdamJohnson: Hang on lady, we go for a ride! #TempleOfDoomValentines
@bodicegoddess: Hey Goose, you big stuuuuud! Take me to bed or lose me forever! #TopGunValentines
@bodicegoddess: One thing’s for certain: there are hearts breakin’ wide open all over the world to-night! #TopGunValentines
@bodicegoddess: “If you build it, he will come.” #FieldofDreamsValentines
@bodicegoddess: Ever been in a… in a Turkish prison? #AirplaneValentines
@bodicegoddess: You ever seen a grown man naked? #AirplaneValentines
@bodicegoddess: Do you like movies about gladiators? #AirplaneValentines
@MetaAdamJohnson: Chump don’t want no help, chump don’t get no help. #AirplaneValentines
@MetaAdamJohnson: No thanks, we gave at the office. #AirplaneValentines
@jonmarcbauer: Strike her! Ted, strike her. #AirplaneValentines

So if ever there’s a day when you’re wondering why you should give a damn about the internet… for me, when hilarious stuff like this happens, that’s when I remember how damn FUN it is out there.

Now grab a quote from your favorite movie and send it to someone who needs it.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

So as you heard in my Steamer Trunk: Roundup post, I’ve managed to hoard away a couple of trunks.

What I didn’t mention was that I got my sister one for Christmas, too.

We’re both DIYers at heart, and we both love finding vintage, antique and otherwise under-utilized pieces and finding a new use for them.  So when I was talking to my family about how much fun I was having rehabbing my old garbage trunk and explaining how they could get the smell out of their gorgeous little tin-covered, round-topped game-storage trunk, they told me about another trunk, hidden away in the basement.  I walked down there to take a look and there it was, almost identical to the one I’m about to share.  I asked what the plans for it were, and she answered with an emphatic, “Do you want it?!”  With one trunk in the works, one trunk in the wings, and a couple of suitcases waiting on me as well, I knew I couldn’t give it a proper home.  But I knew it’d make the perfect present/project for my sister.  It has (or, well, had) leather straps around it and is covered in metal, but that’s where the differences end.  Like mine, hers only has one leather handle still attached.  Like mine, the metal looks to be hopelessly rusty.  Like mine, the paper on the inside REEKS.  So, while this story is about an old trunk that I found and am fixing up, it’s also about how to do it and where the greatest resources are because, well, some times you need to have access to that information.

So here’s my trunk:

At the beginning, it wasn’t much to look at (and I know – neither is that carpet. It’s a rug. Trust me. The actual carpet’s worse.).  The paper on the inside had started to peel off, the canvas on the outside was badly finished and badly water damaged at the bottom, and the metal had started to rust and grime over.

But no matter.  I gained a ton of confidence reading the sections of the Brettun’s Village Trunk Shop website.  Get over the fact that it’s a very “Web 1.0″ looking site.  The fact is that these folks have better things to do then tell people how to fix up trunks, but they do it anyway.  And they do it with flair.

With my trunk, I decided to work from the inside out, and got to stripping the paper from the inside.  I’d started this over the summer, working in my mother’s garage, and had gotten most of the larger pieces out, but there was still a lot to do.  And a lot of it was still stuck.  I experimented with natural cleaners (no chemicals for this old bird!) and came up with a mixture of half vinegar, half water and a splash of lemon juice in an old sherbet container that did the trick.  The vinegar killed the smell and helped break down the paste, but adding that little bit of citric acid really got the processes going.  I applied the liquid with a sponge and allowed it to soak in, and then scraped the wet paper away with a 3″ putty knife.  I liked the putty knife more than the paint scraper because it had a little more give when going over the rough and unfinished pine that laid below the paper.

Once scraped, I left the paper in the box overnight to dry, and vacuumed it up with my Shop-Vac the next day. I thought that’d be the hardest part of the project. It was about at this time, when I got up to the top of the inside and realized that the canvas was destroyed, that I thought oh, I should take the canvas off, too. It’s that “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” gene.

I think I’ve been long-winded enough for one post, so I’ll head myself off at the pass here and say more about taking the canvas off later.
As for the innards of my trunk, at some point, I’ll probably sand them down and treat it, but for now? I’m keeping blankets in there, and it’s a nice soft pine. I’m okay with the rough-hewn wood.

I think this post’s been a long time coming.

I am a pantricidal maniac.  I love killing pantries.

It drives me nuts to throw food away.  I hate it.  It’s so wasteful.  It’s money into the trash.  Stupid.

I’ve developed a habit I’ve started calling “pantricide.”  That’s where you find what you absolutely need to eat before it goes bad, and frickin’ eat it already!

Here’s a few examples of my pantricide.

This beautiful number is gnocchi made from squash and carrots rather than potatoes. Gnocchi’s great for the summer because it really only needs like 5 minutes to boil. The greens are from a pea plant, and have a wonderful brightness to them. I added water chestnuts for color, the *snap* texture, and because we needed that space in the cupboard.

This is not an uncommon occurrence in my household. The girls get bored, get a sweet tooth, and don’t want to leave to get ingredients. This pie turned out DELICIOUS.  I’ve also been known to make a killer apple crisp.  Or, on St. Patrick’s Day, a killer “man I’m drunk – we need dessert!” mango and peach cobbler.  How I managed to slice that mango without killing anyone is a mystery.

I made this pesto at my mom’s house. I suppose I can’t really say that it’s “pesto,” though. I subbed spinach for basil, walnuts for pine nuts, and used a healthy amount of cream and Parmesan cheese. I really think spinach is an underutilized green.

A half-eaten box of bow-tie pasta, a couple of softening apples and tomatoes, and some nearly-gone green onions went to this one.

Half of the battle, though, is knowing how to cook.  I can’t say I’ve never had a complete failure in the kitchen.  (Thank GOD my college roommates weren’t home when I attempted tuna fried rice.)  Most of what I know comes from experimentation.  I try out a recipe to-the-letter once.  Then, once I have an idea of the quantities needed, cook time, and whatnot, I’ll sub out an ingredient or two.  I’ve made several different batches of gnocchi with this method (and I hear gnocchi’s supposed to be really, really hard to make).  The first batch was fairly plain, but I added a few other ingredients (dill and basil) and skipped on a really important step (cooling the potatoes).  The next time I made it, I knew that I needed to cool the potatoes, that they’d turned out a bit runny, and that the basil and dill flavors didn’t come through as much as I’d hoped.  So I was sure to cool it off in between, and added whole wheat flour and chopped-up green onion, more basil and garlic.   That one turned out much better.

The same is true with cookies, apple crisp, pasta sauces… really anything that can be cooked where amounts aren’t necessarily a big deal.  Baking’s a little more tricky because there’s more science to it.  I’m still trying to master baking.  But cooking?  I think I’ve got it down pretty well.

I mentioned at the end of my SOPA/PIPA post that I’d be talking these folks up, so here it is.

Syfy’s “Being Human” is run by GENIUSES.

Granted, it’s on the Syfy network, and they’re not always noted for having high quality material, though I’ll admit to having sat through “Sharktopus.”  And I’ll grant that the “Being Human” premise is borrowed from the BBC3 show of the same name.  But here’s the deal: it’s carving a niche, and not just on my Monday nights.

I first mentioned the endearing qualities of this show last year at about this time, when I reviewed a few of last season’s mid-season premieres.  Of the four shows I covered, “Being Human” was one of two that came back.  Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to watch the UK iteration, and I’m excited to see that this new season of the US version is taking a different tack.  I’m excited to see where UK goes as well, and if you’ve seen up through series 3, folks, you know why.  But that’s not why we’re here.

Syfy has set up a campaign for this show the likes of which I’ve never seen, and I’m unduly impressed by how much work they’ve put into engaging with their audience online as well as on the air.
Like most shows, “Being Human” has a Twitter feed.  Unlike most shows, they live tweet during their episodes, and respond to fan’s reactions.
Like most shows, “Being Human” has a Facebook page and a Google+ page. Unlike most shows, (*cough*cough* How I Met Your Mother *cough*) they don’t use their pages to discuss the plot. They avoid spoilers, instead focusing on “sneak peek” and “behind the scenes” videos and promotional and event photography. When a casting choice is announced, it’s not immediately obvious who that person will be playing (*cough*cough* Slutty Pumpkin *cough*). This is the right way to do it.
Like most shows now, “Being Human” has a profile on GetGlue.  GetGlue’s the newest social networking monster, and I like it.  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’re probably already tired of it.  Here’s the deal with GetGlue, though – it has the unique ability to aggregate feedback and discussions about shows into one place.  Rather than going to Twitter and clicking on a #BeingHuman hashtag, you can hit GetGlue and have a conversation about the show, spoilers and all, without cluttering up your feed with it.  And if you link your check-in, those that want to discuss with you can follow you over.  And if you miss the Twitter feed?  There’s a tab for that on GetGlue.

Here’s where the folks behind “Being Human” get crafty.  The show is rife with indie rock.  I’m a huge fan of that.  Playing real songs mixed in with the soundtrack lends some authenticity to the show (and I really like the soundtrack as well).  Like the songs they played that episode?
There’s a Spotify playlist for that.
You heard me. Each episode from season 2 has a Spotify playlist.   There have only been 2 episodes (2.01, 2.02), but they went back and created one for season 1.

So not only are these science-fiction marketing geniuses out there to get you to fall in love with their show, they want you to talk about it. And not just talk about it, but get to know the cast as people, and get to know the music separately from the show.  As a bit of a “test,” I looked them up on Klout, which is a fantastic way of gauging how one interacts with others via social media.  They’ve got a score of 63 today, which isn’t bad.  It’s higher than mine.  Their score has been steady all year.  But what I wanted to know is their “Klout Style.”  They’re listed as a “Broadcaster,” which means, “You broadcast great content that spreads like wildfire. You are an essential information source in your industry. You have a large and diverse audience that values your content.”  On the lovely little Klout style chart they’ve created, “Being Human” sits more near “Participating” and “Sharing” than “Creating” or “Focused.”  Same spot as my sister, actually.  Very interesting.

I think what I’m really getting at here is that “Being Human” has the right idea.  Rather than generating content the traditional way, they’re out there engaging with fans every way they can.  And you know what?  When you’re a science fiction underdog of a show, that’s the way to do it.  Because it’s the fans who will decide if your show lives or dies.

Just ask Chuck.  (Too soon?)

My sister and I decided last March that we needed to redecorate our mom’s bedroom.  Admittedly, there were a couple different motives at play here, not the least of which being our parents’ divorce, but also that the room had become cluttered and didn’t have a clear direction for what it should look like.  It was very clearly a room where two people ended every day.  After last spring, it had to be more than that.  It had to be a place to get ready in the morning.  It had to be a place to escape to after a ten-hour-day at the hospital and an evening of your kids coming over and yelling at the TV (we do that weekly).  And it desperately needs to stop being one of only rooms in the house that’s never been painted because, I mean, come on.  Never?

So the first thing we did was start to gather ideas.  I created a board on Pinterest as soon as Pinterest became an option.  It was one of the first boards I made, and we still update it regularly, posting new ideas and culling old ones.  We decided on a very simple motif: greys on the walls, muted colors and neutrals on the furniture, and bright pops of colored accents.  Mom has a pre-Depression quilt from her grandmother that we want to hang on the empty wall space above the bed.  There’s a big open wall in there, ready for a gallery.  The next step?  Convincing Mom.

So we did the next best thing, for starters: had her best friend weigh in.  I e-mailed her in April to say, “Hey, I know there’s a lot of change happening right now, but Mom deserves a room that’s HERS.  And we want to give it to her.”  And then she was on board.

We presented the Great Secret Project plan to Mom on Mother’s Day after a delicious dinner involving a whole chicken in a cast iron pan.  We pulled together magazine pages, paint chips, fabric swatches and sketches, and included a QR code for the Pinterest board.  I’d covertly downloaded a UPC and QR code-reading app for her phone the weekend before, so it worked out perfectly to include that.

After sharing our ideas, Mom started in on her own.  She moved a bookshelf out of there.  She reorganized the closet.  She installed a new shower head in the bathroom.  She cleaned out under the bed.  She rearranged furniture.  Then she went out of town.

Our turn.

We started with a rather modest “sitting area.”  One of the biggest complaints we had was that that table was hideous, and the drapey table cover made the room look shorter.  So we replaced it.  SCHWINK.

The new table is a craigslist find that I drove down to Prior Lake for.  It’s an oval shape, which is great, because, while Mom’s more into the straight lines of Mission-style furniture, we wanted to add some feminine curves to her room and soften the edges a little.  The other perfect part about it (other than the $40 price tag) were the feet.  It has claw feet, and I know Mom’s been wanting a claw foot dining table like her grandparents had.

One of the biggest complaints Mom has about her bedroom is that there’s not enough light.  I thought it was because the steeply-angled opaque lampshades blocked a lot of the light.  SCHWINK.

Thank you, 6 PM on Black Friday $5 lampshades for being the perfect fix to this horrible problem.  We’d been thinking drum shades, and when I saw these, my response was, “yup.  Have to.”  It was a subtle change that Mom didn’t notice right away, but it was definitely the right one.  Sometimes it’s the little things like making a room brighter that make the biggest difference.  But that wasn’t all.  SCHWINK.

We had to add some things to the table, too.  The curly willow is a craigslist free section find and adds the height and curves we were looking for.  The vase they’re tucked in to was a $12 craigslist find, and matches Mom’s style so perfectly that she thought we’d moved it from another room.  Nope.  It’s brand new.  :D

As Katie and I update more and more of the room, we’ll keep folks updated as to our progress.  And internet?  She’s gone for a whole week at the end of the month.  Who knows what we’ll be able to accomplish with that kind of time?!

Like many people out there, when the “news” (and by that, I mean my Twitter feed) started burning up about the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA), I jumped right on the “anti-SOPA” bandwagon.  I’m not ready to have the Internet I’ve come to know and love changed irrevocably by the government.  I’m not ready to have the government step in and regulate what we can and can’t talk about online.

And then I went out to dinner with my family for my grandmother’s birthday.  The subject of SOPA came up near the end of the meal, and I mentioned that I was against it.  My aunt immediately countered, asking, “Oh, so are you for piracy?”  I didn’t have enough brain power at the time, but I imagine the “No, I’m for Freedom of Speech” rant that followed made me sound like a college freshman extolling the virtues of legalizing marijuana.  It’s time I come up with a more articulate stand.

The core value of SOPA makes sense.  Please don’t hate me, Internet, but it does.  Copyright infringement is out there, and yes, it should be illegal.  Intellectual property theft is a thing that happens, it’s not okay, and yes, there should be real and tangible consequences.  And yes, there are some websites out there that enable copyright infringement and intellectual property theft by offering them a voice.

But here’s the deal.  It used to be the case that if, say, you were going to be gone on a Thursday night, it was easy as pie (well, for my generation) to just set the VCR to tape that landmark episode of “ER” so you’d be able to watch it the next day.  It used to be the case that if you heard that your favorite song was coming up on the radio, you could pop a blank tape into the cassette deck and press that round red “Record” button just as it was coming on and hope your mom wouldn’t fire up the vacuum and wreck the recording.  When the Internet came around, VCRs and tape decks were replaced by a digital recorder, and sharing an episode online became just as easy as bringing the tape to work or school and passing it on.

And I don’t see anything wrong with that.  If it’s a show I love, you better be sure that I’ll be there to buy the next season on DVD.  If it’s a show I used to love, it’s a show I’ll go out and spend money on.  But if it’s a show I love, and I’m not, say, on my couch at 7:00 on a Monday night because I want to go to yoga, I should be able to go to the CBS website after “How I Met Your Mother” has aired from here to Hawaii and be able to watch it online.  Because you know I’ll be spending my hard-earned taxable American dollars on it at my local Best Buy as soon as I can.

I think this bill is indicative of a broader issue: availability.  The companies who have sponsored it (and I won’t even get started about how wrong that is) are making it clear that they have the power to limit the availability of their content.  That’s not the way the world works anymore.  We now live in a world with a short attention span and a “GIMME” attitude.  It’s annoying, yes, but we have the tools to make things happen and we’re not afraid to use them.

Here’s the thing: we also have MONEY.

What if your favorite television show had a Kickstarter-like project, where you could pre-pay for that season’s DVD at the beginning of the year, and over the course of the season, have exclusive access to streaming online content like episodes a week before they air, or interviews with the writers, crew or cast?  What if the Disney Channel went back through its archives and offered digital copies of its older shows like “So Weird” and “The Famous Jett Jackson” for $1 an episode?  What if Nickelodeon did that with “Hey Dude” and “The Adventures of Pete and Pete”?  And I’d definitely pay $1 an episode to have access to Neil Patrick Harris and Tony Shaloub’s short-lived masterpiece of a show, “Stark Raving Mad.”

My thoughts on this are simple, really, and I know that this long-ass post hasn’t done a great job of making it look that way.  For that, I apologize.  I feel that SOPA and PIPA are backward-thinking articles of legislation.  I think they’d view my “where do they go from here” post about Firefly from a while back as copyright infringement, even though that wasn’t the intention at all, and this whole site would be censored as a result.

The government and the television, movie and music companies behind SOPA and PIPA need to be forward-thinking.  The world has changed around them, and it’s time to figure out new ways to get their content to the masses.  It’s time to step up and give the people what they want – and what they will find a way to get whether you help them or not.  I’m not for piracy.  I’m for availability.  And I’m for moving media forward.

To that end, the White House has proposed a new piece of legislation as an alternative to SOPA and PIPA, called the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act, or OPEN.  To give you a picture of the differences, SOPA and PIPA are supported by media conglomerates, and OPEN is supported by Google and Facebook.  OPEN is a start.  To learn more, check out KeeptheWebOpen.com.

And that ends today’s rant.  Tune in later on this week, when I’ll be discussing what I perceive to be the television show that is best using social media to its advantage: Syfy’s “Being Human.”