What We’re Watching This Week: Lingerie, Heat-Pacers, and Steve Carell
Ignore Shades of Grey at your own risk.
Monday
Remember when the Lingerie Football League was a thing? It still is (though it’s now called the Legends league) and tryouts for the new season are over. We’re ready to second guess scouting decisions of our beloved Minneapolis Valkyrie. And we’ll be doing that – because we’re American – with a bottle of ust-released Grand Canyon Brewing Company’s Winter Bourbon Barrel Ale from our local beer emporium.
Tuesday
Strange as it sounds, Microsoft has become the scrappy underdog of the tech scene. Sure, their war chest is swollen with MS Office dough, but the company’s failure to go mobile put them on the path toward the ultimate immobility: death. But you can’t keep a rich man down and Bill Gates is a very rich man. His company is going to come out firing with the new Lumia handset it unveils on November 11. The first Nokia since Nokia stopped being a thing, the phone will be an indication of where Microsoft is heading, relevance or the scrap heap (read: Radioshack).
In the analog world, we’re getting excited for the opening of Stir Market in Los Angeles, the latest gourmet food court to hit the scene. It’s a trend we dig – we’d rather point to food than order it off a menu – and Stir looks like a chill take on California’s chill cuisine. We’ll go there and chill. When we get home, we’re definitely turning on “The Concert for Valor,” HBO’s high-profile tribute to the troops. Nothing says “thank you” quite like the opportunity to see Rihanna writhe around a stage and no one says it quite like Eminem.
Wednesday
We’re the first to admit it: It’s hard to give a shit about the NBA early in the season. It is what it is except when it isn’t, which is to say that we’re pretty pumped to see the Paul George-less Pacers go up against the Lebron-less Miami Heat. There is a lot of bad blood between these teams and overlapping holes in their offenses. Expect to see a lot of contact in the paint. There will be flagrants.
But not everything needs be en flagrante; we’re down for a little romance, which is while we’ll be catching the history of lingerie show at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s museum in New York before it shuts down at week’s end. We like the stuff and sometimes we try (and fail) to buy it for the women we love. Time to buckle down (pun) and learn about it.
Thursday
A new “Shades of Grey” trailer hits on the 13th. We didn’t read the book, but we’re trying to stay out ahead of the cultural phenomenon. This thing is going to be a juggernaut whether we like it or not and we’d rather whip it than be whipped by it.
Friday
Steve Carell is going to be an Oscar contender for his turn as a psychotic heir/wrestling coach/murderer. We want him to win because he doesn’t seem like a guy who’s going to spend the press blitz talking about his process. In movie news of the it’s-not-a-movie-but-it-kind-of-is variety, Chelsea Peretti, the best thing about “Brooklyn 99” is releasing her latest comedy special on Netflix. Keywords associated with the performance: Witty, Irreverent, Deadpan.
Weekend
Remember all the way back to last week when Brady vs. Manning was appointment viewing. Brady vs. Luck is just as good. Maybe Tom will even dish out some grooming tips.