This is just... neat!

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/jaws-life1.htm

It's an explanation about how jaws of life, the tools used to extricate people from damaged cars, work and how they are used. To my embarrassment, I'll admit that I always imagined the jaws of life to look more like jaws, perhaps on a giant tractor arm with teeth where it would normally scoop up stuff. Rationally, some corner of my brain had an inkling that a giant tractor with jaws on it couldn't possibly be useful for anything except picking up the damaged car and shaking the injured person out-- which wouldn't do the crash victim any favors. I'm glad to know that my strange imaginings are in this case grossly incorrect.

I learned another thing in reading the article-- what a hydraulic system is. Reading the article made it quite evident that I actually had no idea what a hydraulic system was-- it's just one of those things that you here in conversation or in ads or on tv so many times that you THINK you know what it means... but really you've got no idea. So I followed the link on the page and read about hydraulic systems too. This website, www.howstuffworks.com, is pretty useful.

Everyone loves an ATLA parody, in meter no less.

Very few things are as perfect as this.

Reaper 1x01

Well, Dead Like Me it's not. I doubt we'll get any moving or deep introspective thoughts about the beauty of living now or the importance of family from this show, or any of DLM's spectacular sense of irony and mood. Reaper is far more sitcom than artsy cable drama. Still, it's funny, swiftly-paced, and entertaining. I enjoyed the first episode, and I might enjoy future episodes if they don't abuse the formula.

There's really nothing new about Reaper-- it's a soft version of Brimstone, with slacker-teen sensibilities. It's funny, but I recognized the humor style as being similar to that of Kevin Smith, who was not a writer but who did direct the first episode. Still, the story has promise.

It took me a bit of thought to figure out what was slightly off about it, though: it's a boy's show. It's from the POV of an emotionally timid young man who claims to be close friends with a girl, yet she is the one of his friends mysteriously left out of his new adventuresome life, so he can admire her from afar. Blegh-- and that's the only female character of any significance in the pilot. Some show's are girl's shows, some shows are boy's shows, and some shows are for both. A show I'm watching right now--BBC's Robin Hood, is a boy's show with just enough decent and strong female presences that it almost makes you forget its a boy's game. Certainly it gives its female characters purpose and characterization beyond the role of love interest to be pursued, even if there are only 2 of them. Supernatural, though I admit I've seen less than ten episodes in total, is a boy's show... and every time I've watched it I've felt like I'm watching shows I've seen before (Buffy, XF) but with everything female stripped away until all that's left is masculine anger. It leaves me practically nothing to identify with.

I can't say I identify with any of the characters in Reaper, but I do have a love of all things goofy. My love of the simply goofy and weird causes me to give a lot of series much more leeway than they normally would get from people who don't appreciate goofy-weird.

The pilot, overall: B - cute, entertaining, goofy, promising. Needs a dash of estrogen, and if it can keep the writing up, it should sail. But if I had to choose--- Pushing Daisies all the way.