Hillbilly Handfishing

I was watching David Letterman the other day when he introduced the topic of Hillbilly Handfishing, a new show on the Animal Planet channel. This show would be right up my brother's alley. If you've never seen it, check out this clip. Be prepared to scream "HOLY SHIT!' when the mook pulls up the fish. I know I did.
Since my brother arrived from Texas, a lot of the shows that are watched on the TV have changed. Where I like shows on HBO or Showtime like Boardwalk Empire, Game Of Thrones, and The Wire, my brother likes watching shows on Animal Planet and Discovery like Billy The Exterminator, Mighty Ships, or The Deadliest Catch.
Boardwalk Empire takes place during the Prohibition Era, and highlights the rise of criminals in Chicago (Al Capone) and New York (Arnold Rothstein, 'Lucky' Luciano), as well as Atlantic City, where most of the action takes place. Steve Buscemi stars as 'Nucky' Thompson, the boss of A.C., and shows how the various criminal organizations sometimes co-operate with each other but mostly try to come out on top of the vast illegal marketing of alcohol.
Game Of Thrones is a medieval fantasy based on a series of books by George R.R. Martin. Most of the story takes place on a continent/island loosely based on England. The various lords of the land struggle with each other for power in a scenario that reminds me of the Wars Of The Roses, which took place in England during the 15th Century. Sean Bean stars as Ned Stark, who is kind of like (to me, anyway) Richard, the Duke of York, as he suffers the same grisly end.
I'm very much looking forward to the continuations of these stories, as well as The Walking Dead (coming soon) and The Wire (which is over, but I'm only on the first series).
I like shows with a good storyline and acting. I'm not into too many reality shows, except Survivor and Hell's Kitchen.
My brother loves reality programming, and when he isn't working, will sit and watch these shows endlessly.
Billy The Exterminator features a mook driving around and taking care of various critters infesting people's homes and backyards. Some of the animals are interesting, but the most fascinating part of the show is Billy's hairstyle, which I can only describe as a spiky sort of mullet, coloured sometimes black, sometimes yellow, and sometimes both. Arguably the worst haircut on TV.
Shows like Mighty Ships and The Deadliest Catch are interesting enough on their own, but what distracts me from enjoying them is the narration, especially on Mighty Ships. The voiceover is done by a female with the most unctuous tone imaginable. Every situation described on the show is taken to the worst case scenario. Every little chore that the crew has to undertake, from docking to making the beds is described as having earth-shaking consequences if it isn't concluded successfully. The crew members always perform their tasks well, and disaster is always averted.
Not only is it BORING! but it gets exasperating after a while to hear this voice constantly going on and on about dire circumstances that never, ever come to pass.
Well, I know how to PVR/download the shows I want to watch, so there's never any of the kind of conflict like those that occured when we were younger. Back then, there was no such thing as VCRs or computers, and you had to watch one channel at a time. It was a constant argument about whose turn it was. I remember once my bro got so mad at me that he picked up this toy rifle we had and swung it as hard as he could. If I hadn't rolled out of the way, I'm sure he would have debrained me.
Ah, memories...
I like to joke with my family that I'm the only one who should have the remote. But it's true. No-one in my family knows how to watch TV. My folks don't even mute the commercials, which drives me fucking crazy sometimes.
But the worst is how they watch movies. One of their favourites is Patch Adams, with Robin Williams. It's been on commercial TV twice in the past month or so, and my folks watched it both times. It seemed to me that the network showing it would air five minutes of the movie, and then ten minutes of commercials.
It wouldn't be so bad, I guess, but MY FOLKS HAVE THE DVD. They can watch it anytime they want, and they don't have to sit through endless commercial breaks. But they'll find it on commercial TV, and watch it that way. This is why I say I'm the only one in the household who should be allowed to have the remote.

October 1, 2012 Update
My mom was watching TV yesterday, and recording a coupla programs at the same time: "The Mentalist" and "The Good Wife." Now, if you're recording two programs at the same time on the PVR, you can't watch anything else. My mom was looking at the guide to see what else was on (and why wouldn't you?), and she found an airing of "Notting Hill." This is a film that is on practically every other day, but my mom felt she had to watch it  THAT VERY SECOND. She called me in to figure out how to watch the film while recording two other programs.
I went to her DVD collection, pulled out her copy of Notting Hill," and said she should try that for a change.
She didn't want to do that. She wanted to watch the one that was on the TV. She refused to allow me to put the DVD in.
Pastafazoola!
I am the ONLY ONE who should have the remote!

Me

I returned home from Korea last August. I already had a job lined up in England, so I was only looking at a quick stopover at my folks' place until the UK visa process was completed.
Well, that job blew up in my face when the person I was dealing with asked me to send him some money.
What the fuck? I thought.
This guy was promising me 3,000 pounds a month, plus health care, plus 1,000 pounds vacation pay. He would pay for my ticket over there, pay the immigration lawyer, set me up in an apartment in his house with a computer and a car and on and on and on.
He didn't ask for money right away. We went back and forth, and I sent him copies of my resume, degree, passport info page and so on. It was about three weeks into our correspondence that the "immigration lawyer" made the request for some money that he would use to open a bank account for me. He claimed that he had to show immigration that I actually had money in-country before they would approve my visa.
My spider-sense started tingling right away, and I checked with the British Embassy here in Canada to make sure that the rules about immigration did not have this requirement. It didn't take very long to confirm this, and I stalled the "lawyer" while I took all my information about these people to the RCMP.
They knew right away, as soon as they heard about the request for money, that something was fishy, and confirmed (a while later) that none of the e-mail addresses checked out.
I wrote the guy and told him I wasn't sending him any money as the rules didn't require it, but he kept insisting. Finally, he called my house and asked me point blank, "Are you sending the money?"
"No," I said.
"Then I'm going to cancel the visa?" he sort of half-questioned.
"Okay," I replied, and he hung up.
I haven't heard from him since.
Bummer.
I was looking forward to working in England and travelling through Europe, just as I had travelled Asia while I was in Korea.
I should have been suspicious, though, considering the guy was offering me all this money and extras. I mean, I'm a pretty good teacher, I think, but there are loads of people out there who have a lot more paper (in the way of education degrees) to show any potential employer. All I have is experience.
So I was stuck for a job. My mom was going in for a hip replacement in October, so it was decided I should stay around the house and help out for a bit before moving on.
And then, when I did start up the job search again, my mom crashed her car real good and was on the brink of death. I couldn't leave then, so a lot of my plans got put on hold.
And now I am looking for work again. I haven't really put a lot of effort into it, as I have been concentrating on returning to university this fall in order to get my education degree. Make my resume that much more attractive, get a job in Europe or here at home.
But the past few months or so, Alberta teachers have been laid off in the hundreds. There's just not enough money in the provincial budget to justify teachers' salaries. We all know from the budget battles in the States recently how cushy a job teachers have, and how much of taxpayer dough they suck up in their half-a-day, two-months-of-vacation-per-year lifestyle.
It's been quite a year, I can tell you. Things are waiting on this university application. I'm pretty confident, but if things don't work out, I guess I'll be looking at the overseas postings again.