R.I.P., our coffeemaker

Our coffeemaker died yesterday. It was a crappy Gevalia model with a too-narrow reservoir, a pause-and-brew sensor that often failed (thus splattering coffee on the hot plate as I switched the carafe and the mug), and was generally a piece of crap. But it was free, and it serve us faithfully for four years.

One of the reasons I don't immediately spend every Amazon gift certificate I have is that emergencies do occasionally arise. Instead of buying a crappy Mr. Coffee at Target, we decided to use our remaining credit to splurge on a good thermal model (since we drink coffee all day, this has been something we've been craving for a while).

We ordered the Cuisinart DRC-975 (in black). It's not perfect -- none of the thermal coffeemakers on the market do everything we want -- but it seems to meet most of our needs, and in the past, I've had superb support from Cuisinart.

In the meantime, we're making do with our crappy pod coffeemaker, which isn't exactly good, but will at least ensure that we have caffeine in our systems.

Come tomorrow night, we'll be able to make a real cup of coffee again, though. I'm looking forward to it.

New TV

Having caught up on Tivo viewing yesterday, I have to say that we're liking both The Unusuals and Harper's Island.

The former is Yet Another New York Crime Show, but it's quirky in a Hill Street Blues sort of way. Not as good as HSB, of course (I'm not sure any cop show has matched the first two seasons of HSB, ever. In fact, has any other show ever swept an entire acting nomination category like HSB did with Supporting Actor in '82?), but still some great characters. The cast -- including Harold Perrineau, Amber Tamblyn, and Adam Goldberg -- is great, and there are some wonderful bits of dialogue. They also swipe the Homicide: LotS "lie detector" bit, but I can forgive that if it doesn't happen again.

Harper's Island is essentially a very drawn-out horror flick, with enough time to develop characters and bring out motivations, instead of the usual rush. Since the "whodunnit" slasher usually falls short on the motivation front (Scream excepted), this is a nice touch. The cast -- including Gina Holden (so wonderful in Blood Ties, so much better than her material in Flash Gordon), Christopher Gorham (smartly starring on a limited series so his usual kiss of death can't take effect), Richard Burgi (Karl on Desperate Housewives), Katie Cassady (the lead in the Black Christmas remake) -- is solid, and helps carry things along nicely. Fans of both horror movies and large-scale murder mysteries (think And Then There Were None) would enjoy this one.

Of course, Castle remains a favorite (we haven't seen this week's ep, though), and returning mid-season shows like Law and Order: CI and In Plain Sight are also back. Yay!

Well, crap

I somehow missed the news that the new version of American Gladiators was cancelled last month. I know it was likely inevitable -- the ratings were off during season 2, and NBC pretty much buried it, both on the schedule and in terms of how it was aired (forcing them to skip events and air them on the web only). Still it was a ridiculously fun show, with some great personalities and some incredible fits of athleticism. Ninja Warrior is nice, but it's not the same thing.

Tuesday Amazon deals: Lots of horrror DVDs, free music, a contest, etc.

First, for those in search of free music, there's a Gigantic Music Sampler. Note that this means a sampler from the label "Gigantic Music." The actual size is relatively small (eight songs). The reviews are not kind here, but free is free.

If you want a full (and insanely large) list of free MP3s at Amazon, head here.

There's a new Buy 1, Get 1 Free sale on horror DVDs, with some good (or at least enjoyable) classics like Sleepaway Camp, Night of the Demons, Cemetery Man, Cheerleader Camp (with Leif Garrett!), Return to Horror High (with Maureen McCormick!), The Man with the Screaming Brain, and a lot of others.

Separately, Shaun of the Dead is down to $4.99.

And the completely separate Vampire Movie Sale features 47-60% off a handful of titles, including The Lost Boys, the sequel to The Lost Boys that no one saw, The Hunger, Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, and Blade.

In toys, the Scene It? TV Travel edition is on sale for $3.40 (80% off).

Finally, note that the Amazon Earth Day page, aside from including some lukewarm dealss on assorted eco-friendly products, also features a contest in which you can win a laptop and a printer.

Best casting news ever

Character actor Michael Weston -- Jake on Six Feet Under, Private Dancer on Scrubs, etc -- has been cast on Burn Notice.

If you watch Burn Notice, you'll understand why that's completely awesome.

The Ausiello column I link to also says that two of my longtime crushes, Alicia Witt and Embeth Davidtz, will be appearing on season three of Californication. Woohoo!

In case anyone had an image of the Nationals as "lovable losers"

Looks like that phrase is only half accurate.

I think they just leapfrogged the Braves, Phillies, and Yankees as my least favorite team in baseball. May their season continue on the same pace it's off to already.