Random thoughts for the last day of Feb 2009

1. Just saw the latest Clint Eastwood movie, Gran Torino. I thought that Eastwood was excellent and his performance reminded me of John Wayne in The Shootist. If Eastwood would act his acting career with this performance it would be a great way to do it.

2. NBC is going with Jay Leno Monday-Friday at 10 pm with a talk show. The rest of the schedule will be devoted to their few hit shows and the never ending cheap programming of reality TV and game shows. I mean, come on now, do we really need more reality shows?

3. What is the big deal about American Idol? I can only name two winners, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood who have any kind of music career at all. The other one I know is Jennifer Hudson, who did not even win the stupid title. Why do people watch this crap, all it is karaoke!

4. With NBC giving up on quality tv, I have to wonder why there are so many good shows on cable. TNT has The Closer, Saving Grace, and Leverage. USA has Monk, Psych, and Burn Notice. FX has Damages. These are good quality shows with great acting performances from their star studded cast. Maybe these cable network guys should be running NBC.

5. Another thing about Clint Eastwood, look at his career. I remember in the late 70's you could not find any books about Eastwood's films. Now, almost 30 years later, tons of books and two movies that he directed as Oscar picks for Best Film. Amazing how so many people back then could not see the talent in this fine actor and director.

6. Finally, a rant about OctoMom. Why in God's name did anybody OK the medical expenses for this woman who is psychologically damage, who cannot afford to take care of her six kids let alone these new eight, yet has money for plastic surgery to make herself look like Angelina Jolie. I cannot get my health insurance to pay to remove skin tags from my back because they say it is cosmetic, yet this woman gets all these medical treatment to have eight kids. Unbelievable.

Random thoughts on TV shows

I am going to write about some thoughts I have on the current TV scene, there may be spoilers so beware.

1. Lost: I never liked Benjamin Linus, I thought he was a bad guy from the get go and wanted to see someone put him down like the dirty egg sucking dog that he is. Then we get played into thinking he may be a good guy. Now in the latest episode it is clear, BENJAMIN LINUS IS NO DAMN GOOD! He kills Locke and fakes his suicide so he can get back to the island, what a scumbag. Now, Lost creators, bring us some justice and do this guy in.

2. NCIS: This is the best season of this show since I started watching it. Every story is dead on and is clicking. I can even stand the annoying character of Tony, because this season has been so good.

3. Desperate Housewives: I was not that happy about the five year jump, I do not like Mike and Susan splitting up. Actually Susan is totally out of character this season and is unlikable. I was hoping that Bree and Orson would have a happy life together, but no, plenty of problems. And why can't Orson go back to being a dentist after he got out of prison? The only episode that I liked this season was the one about the Beau Bridges handyman character. Not only did the underrated Bridges do an excellent job of acting, but the characters that I have liked from the start of this show were back in force. That episode showed all that was missing from this five year jump shows.

4. Heroes: I am really getting bored with this show and now am convinced that the creators only had enough decent ideas for one season.

5. Ghost Whisperer: Sorry this whole Jim dies, comes back as a ghost, and now is possessing the body of a guy that crossed over when he died, it is not working. Why couldn't they just have Jim and Melinda have a kid and have things work out. We have seen from the first episode that there are beings, angels maybe, who escort the souls of newborns who die back to the hereafter. Melinda needs a big time angel backing her up. And I miss Alisha Tyler and Jay Mohr.

Oh well.

Richard John Neuhaus RIP

When I was younger, I was planning on becoming a Lutheran minister in the Lutheran Church of American (LCA). I used to attend the Lay School of Theology every August which was held at Gettysburg Seminary, and there I became acquainted with the Lutheran Forum.

This was an independent publication that commented on Lutheran topics of the day. The editor was Richard John Neuhaus, who was a noted theologian and wrote quite a lively commentary. I strayed from this path and ended up going into behavioral neuroscience where I am currently gainfully employed.

In the last few years, I have re-discovered my Lutheran roots and wanted to find out what was still being published out there. Neuhaus had left the Lutheran church and joined the Roman Catholic Church where he became a priest. He also started up a new publication, First Things which was a conservative publication on religion. I was surprised in this as Neuhaus was fairly liberal expect on the abortion issue where he was pro life.

I read this statement on why he became a Roman Catholic, in his view Lutheranism was a reform movement and once said reforms where adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, Lutherans had a duty to return to the fold. Lutherans were not meant to be a new Protestant denomination. I was not very convinced by his arguments and felt that Lutherans had progressed a lot further that the Roman Catholics all for the better.

I have a subscription once again to the Lutheran Forum and in the latest issue of Forum Letter there are a number of remembrances of Neuhaus. It seems that he started out as a minister in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which is a lot more conservative than the LCA or what it is currently today, Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA). Women, unlike the ELCA, cannot be ministers in the Missouri Synod and Biblical literalism was the norm. Neuhaus rejected this and joined the LCA/ELCA.

His pro life stance on abortion was not in agreement with the ELCA, and this I think lead him to the Roman Catholic church, no Biblical literalism like the Missouri Synod, and Pro Life on abortion unlike the ELCA. A happy medium for his beliefs.

He is remembered as a noted theologian and the writer of the Naked Public Square an important book on religion and civic life.

The Comic Curmudgeon

One of my favorite blogs is the Comic Curmudgeon written by Josh Fruhlinger. This is a very witty, very funny blog on the daily newspaper comic strips. Reads knows his material well and produces insights that give this comics a new perspective.

Shylock Fox, a comic for young kids, is regularly reviewed by Reads. Cassandra Cat, Reeky Rat, and Count Weirdly, Shylock's rogue gallery, can be viewed with a fresh perspective and Josh's commentary on these characters makes me laugh.

Apartment 3-G and Mary Worth are comics that I have never read, but Josh does such a perfect job lampooning them it makes me want to check them out. Pluggers is another strip that I never knew about until Josh's blog. Some of the riffs that he has done on this comic, really are classic.

Even some of the jokes that Josh regularly uses, like the old computer that writes the Archie comic strip, have made appearances in the comic. All in all this is one blog that I never miss reading.

One day, I may even make a contribution to it.

Musings of Victor, Feb 2009

The late Joe Falls, sports editor for the Detroit News, wrote a column for the Sporting News for years. Every once in the while, he would titled his column Something Musings and write out a number of random thoughts. In his honor, here is my first musings blog.

The best place for breakfast that I have been to is The Waffle Shop in State College, PA.

I always wondered why people who think gay marriage will ruin the sanctity of marriage are okay with crap like the Bachelor or Bachelorette that really makes a mockery of marriage.

And why I am thinking of gay marriage, if two people are so in love that they want to make a commitment before society, more power to them.

I am really getting tired of the winter.

I wonder at times why reality TV shows are so popular.

My favorite omelet is ham, Cheddar cheese, tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms covered with mild salsa and served with crispy well done bacon.

I voted for Monsters from the Vault in the 2009 CHFB Rondo Awards for best magazine.

"Never refuse an offer that has not been made" was the only thing that I learned in four years of graduate school.

Naked News is the only news program that I actually get real news from.

Oh well.

Oscars 2009

I used to watching the multi-hour Oscar presentations, but they are so dragged out and so many damn commercials, that I gave up. Now I just go to CNN at 11 pm and see who won. I usually make predictions, this year I entered a contest at Entertainment Weekly to win a 44 inch plasma HD tv. Needless to say, no tv is coming to my home.

So hear are my picks, let's start with the ones I got right.

Best Actress: Kate Winslet in The Reader. I had a good feeling that this was Winslet's year, one of our best actresses who has given a ton of great performances. I did not see anybody else who was nominated that I thought would beat her.

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. This was a no brainer, momentum has been building for a while that he would win, combined with the backlash that The Dark Knight was not nominated for Best Picture, it was an easy call.

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz in Vicky Christina Barcelonia. Woody Allen has a great track record in his films for getting Oscar winning performances out of his players. Michael Caine, Diane Wiest, Mia Scorvino, they have all won Oscars in Allen films. Cruz had been getting a lot of positive feedback on her performance and had the momentum going into this, plus a field where Streep and Tomi already had Oscar wins (Tomi will continue to get nominated and lose to make up for winning it for My Cousin Vinny) and the rest will have other opportunities.

Animated Feature: Wall-E. Some folk thought that this should have been a best picture pick, I thought it was very good, and Kung Fu Panda was also very good. This has been a great category as there are so many strong animated features out there, and I saw 2 out of the 3 nominated movies while I only saw one of the Best Picture nominees.

Now for the ones I got wrong.

Best Picture: My pick Milk Winner Slumdog Millionaire. I thought that the Brokeback Mountain backlash (I thought Crash deserved the win and was far better than Brokeback Mountain) would bring Milk the victory, but Slumdog Millionaire got a lot of positive momentum riding it to victory. The only picture I got to see of those nominated was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was I thought was over rated, way too long, and moved in slow motion. Everyone in this film talked slow, moved slow, and the WWII battle scene was the slowest moving I ever saw.

Best Director: My pick Gus Van Sant for Milk. Winner Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. Usually best director goes to the director of the Best Picture winner, I got it wrong.

Best Actor: My pick Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Winner Sean Penn for Milk. So why did I pick Brad Pitt when I thought that movie sucked. There was so much talk about how great this movie was, that I thought Pitt would get it. Bad choice, should have stuck with my gut reaction. Of course, Out of Africa won for Best Picture, and I did not like that at all, but compared to Benjamin Button it is a masterpiece. I also thought that Penn and Mickey Rouke would split the voters and Pitt would slip in there. Why I wish I was right, I am glad Penn won.

As for the other categories, I don't really care about them. Screenplays, I guess I could have picked a winner but I feel the director is the one who makes the film, lots of screenplays were saved by great directors. Best song, none I hear on the radio, so who cares.

One last thought, lots of folk were mad that The Dark Knight did not get a Best Picture nod. I actually thought Iron Man was a better made film. The end piece with Harvey Dent turning into Two-Face cluttered up the film and wasted a great Batman villain. Iron Man was very well done and was almost a prefect film in laying out the origin of a hero.

Animal Planet's Lost Tapes

I don't normally watch Animal Planet, for some reason my mother loves to watch this channel. And since she just has basic cable in her home with no Internet access, I usually end up watching it with her when I visit. She loves some show called Its Me or my dog about these really dumb people who cannot train their dogs and this English woman who loves to dress in leather like a dominatrix has to come and help them learn to train their dogs. She also likes to watch Animal Cops which has a bunch of stories about abused animals.

The last time I visited, I noticed these ads for Lost Tapes. I figured I would check it out when I came back to CT. This show is a blend of Monsterquest and The Blair Witch Project. The premise is that they find these tapes of people encountering strange creatures and show them with some facts about the creatures interspersed. Pure fiction but it is really creepy and pretty well done.

One episode had a park ranger who wants out in the woods with a bear poacher and a friendly Bigfoot. You get some glimpses of the Bigfoot and then when the poacher comes after her, Bigfoot protects her. Another episode had these Goth kids attacked by a Hellhound. There also was a really creepy one about a woman sailing solo around the world that gets attacked by a sea monster.

On one level, it is pretty hokey and another level it is a lot better than Monsterquest or Scare Tactics. I never thought that I would see a program on Animal Planet that I would watch. Check it out sometime.

Favorite Newspaper Comic Strips

Circulation figures for newspaper keep going down and down. Too many other ways to get your news, TV and the Internet are where I have been keeping up with the news. Yet one very valuable function for newspaper is the daily comic strip. I like to read them and always have gotten frustrated when my home town paper, drops a favorite strip. Thanks to the Internet I have been able to keep up with all the comics that I like. Some sites, like Daily Ink, charge a yearly fee of $15, other sites depend on ads to make a go of it. And there are some newspaper websites, such as the Houston Chronicle, that has a large assortment available to read.

In no particular order, here are my favorites, the ones I need to read.

1. Deflocked by Jeff Corriueau. This is a very funny strip where animals run a farm, have a human orphan that they care for, and the sheep (Mamet, I believe is his name) is a rival for Rat from Pearls Before Swine as my favorite devious character. Very funny.

2. Heaven's Love Thrift Shop by Kevin Frank. This is a Sunday only strip about a Christian thrift shop with an odd assortment of characters. Dag, is a reformed alcoholic, who is born again and is oddly appealing in his attempts to minister to others. I don't find it to be preachy, and noticed that the strip will point out hypocritical actions by some of the church members.

3. Mutts by Patrick McDonnell. A very appealing strip that hearkens back to the age of classic comics like Peanuts. Mooch and Earl are a great pair and when McDonnell does the story lines about adapting a pet from the shelter, it always gets to me. I wish I was not allergic to cats.

4. My Cage by Melissa Dejesus and Ed Power. Set in a world where humans are extinct and animals are running things. this strip often brings a smile to my heart. Very similar to Dilbert, but with more likable characters who seem a tad more realistic. I am often reminded of my workplace in this strip.

5. Safe Havens by Bill Holbrook. I wish my college experience was like this strip. Mermaids, genetic mishaps causing cats to become human, the one lead character to have her body morph into different shapes. and getting to spend the summer work as roadies for one of your friends who hit it big with her music career. My college life was getting drunk on Genesse Cream Ale and then having diarrhea the next day.

6. Sally Forth by Francesco Marciulian, drawn by Craig MacIntosh. This strip is one of my favorites because of the bond between Sally and Ted. No matter what happens, they will be there for each other. I wish that the storyline about having another baby would have went through, I would have liked to see that.

7. Edge City by Terry and Patty Laban. This is story about a Jewish couple raising a family among comic mishaps. Reminds me of For Better or For Worst when is was good. I loved the storyline of the Passover celebration when a relative brought this ex con biker with her and he ended up going against stereotype by helping to illustrate what Passover really is. A great strip.

8. Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis. This is the best strip right now being published. Very clever, very original, and very funny. A classic line, "Hello zeeba neighbor" made it into Juno. I never want to miss this strip and the classic story when Rat babysat for the Baby Blues family still has been laughing. A friend of mine, who loves Baby Blues, thought that was one of the funniest comic story lines that she ever read.

Private Practice: Worst Characters Ever?

I started watching Grey's Anatomy when it first came on because I was a fan of Sandra Oh. The first few season were pretty good, it has kind of when downhill this season. Too many characters, not enough decent story lines for them all are just some of the problems with this show. About a year ago, one of the characters, Addison was spun off into a show called Private Practice and I have to say this makes the current season of Grey's Anatomy look good.

I really do not think that they have any clue what they want to do with this show. These characters are so bad, it is almost beyond description.

First Addison, did she take some dumb pills when she got to LA? Her character is so out of touch and so contradictory compared to her character on Grey's Anatomy is makes you wonder why did they bother to spin her off in the first place? She is double board certified as a neonatal surgeon but wants to treat patients? Then why the hell did you become a freaking surgeon in the first place? Her love life is all screwed up, this is a recurrent theme for this show, everyone is obsessed with sex yet have trouble getting it.

Which brings me to Violet, the most neurotic psychiatrist ever. We met her staking her old boyfriend, then she moans about having no sex, then goes on a binge where she has so much sex with two partners that she needs treatment, and oh yes, she gets pregnant and has no clue who the father is. A doctor who treats patients with mental problems but does not take appropriate precautions to prevent getting pregnant. Yeah, I want to be her patient.

Then we have her best bud, Cooper a pediatrician who wants scoping out girls on the Internet for sexual pickups, has a relationship with another doctor, but really wants Violet (why, your guess is as good as mine). Now he feels the need to move in with Violet to help her (a psychiatrist who is supposedly trained to help people with these kinds of problems) deal with her pregnancy, thus putting his own relationship at risk.

Let's now go to Sam and Naomi, who created this practice. They are divorced but still pine for each other. They continued a sexual relationship post divorce, because Young attractive doctors cannot find sexual partners. Every time they stray from each other into another relationship, they screw it up by pining for the other.

The only other characters, Dell and Peter are actually pretty normal. Dell left the practice for awhile, he wanted Naomi but some bizarre reason, but he seems to be over that. Peter had sex with both Addison and Violet, he could be the father of Violet's kid, but he seems to be over any weird entanglements with them.

Maybe Dell and Peter could be spun off into a show, where they treat cases in their own practice with no BS and make money. Yes, with all these great doctors, the practice does not appear to make any money.

I don't know what ABC or the creator of this show is thinking, but it cannot be good.

The Death of Filmbobbery

After receiving news that Realms of Fantasy has ceased publishing, I got news of another publication that I subscribe to that will end with the May issue. Filmbobbery, a quarterly newsletter about film, published by Robert J. Lentz will cease publishing.

I first heard about this publication from an ad in Classic Images. I sent for a subscription and was thrilled to find a newsletter packed with film reviews, trivia, and great articles like coverage of the two movies made about the US Camel Corps. Lentz has written two books available from McFarland on Lee Marvin's films and on Korean War movies. He has a forthcoming book later this year on Gloria Grahame. He was a very entertaining writer and while I did not always agree with him, looked forward to what he had to say.

He even published a letter of mine asking for a Dean Jones filmography article. I guess he will not be doing that now.

Lentz hopes to get something going on the Internet, I hope so. Too many film magazines are going under, as the magazine market declines. It would be a shame for his unique voice not to have a forum.

Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, and Brooke Hogan: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I was watching the Disney Channel last night while waiting for NCIS to start, and caught the last few minutes of Hannah Montana. I heard lots about this show and thought I would check it out. This lead me to think of Lizzie McGuire.

Lizzie McGuire was this other Disney Channel show that starred Hilary Duff. Well acted, decent story lines, and a good supporting cast. I saw the Lizzie McGuire movie and thought it was well done. Duff was doing concerts with her sister, starring in other films, and seemed to be going along quite nicely with her career. Then she and her management team chose not to renew her contract with Disney and bam, what happened to her? No CDs, no TV, no concerts, just some mention in the National Enquirer about her drinking and partying and some clip I saw on The Superficial where she is putting a scorpion down her pants. Why did she bag Disney after they did so much for her?

And look how quickly Disney find another starlet and hot tv show. Miley Cyrus and her dad Billy Ray Cyrus star on Hannah Montana, a terrible show wher Miley cannot act to save her life. Billy Ray was OK in that show Doc, now he plays dumb and looks terrible. Look at his photos from Doc, he looked great, now he looks bad to match his daughter's acting skills. Yet this show is a bigger hit than Lizzie McGuire.

Then you got Brooke Hogan. She makes Miley look good. Hulk Hogan should have hooked her up with Disney, they would have taught her how to sing, act, dance, and then put her in a show and some movies for the Disney Channel. Could have started a decent career. Instead Hogan blows his money on producing a record that sold a couple of copies and pushing her "talents" on VH1 in Hogan Knows Best and then later Brooke Knows Best. Going nowhere.

Couple of lessons here. Don't let Hulk Hogan manage your career. If your kid has some talent, try and hook them up with Disney, if they got something to work with, they can make your kid a Disney Channel Star.

Jack Bauer, the modern great American Hero

I have been watching 24 for the last couple of seasons. I could up on this series via DVD sets. I would watch an entire season over the weekend, telling my friends that I could not understand how they could wait a week or more to see the next episode.

Besides being the modern day equivalent of a serial, I also have to say that Jack Bauer is the modern day American hero. Compare him to Captain American, not the clean cut guy presented in the comics of the 1940's to 1990's, but the one who is operating like a real soldier would have in WWII.

Jack is fiercely loyal to his country, willing to do anything to protect this nation. He breaks laws but is always justified in the end. Torture him? Forget about it, the Chinese had him for months and got nothing. He has a big time heart attack, but in the next hour, can snap a bad guy's neck.

The more I watch this show, the more convinced that I am, Jack Bauer is a real superhero not Batman or Superman. With the Watchmen coming out soon, we are going to see how much a superhero he is.

Annoying Characters on TV

Here is my list, in no particular order, of characters I find to be particularly annoying on TV.

1. Grey's Anatomy, there are quite a few contenders. You have Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) who whines and whines about everything, George O'Malley (TR Knight) who mopes and mopes, but the most annoying is Izzie Stevens (Kathernine Heigl). She is having sex with a ghost, who became a ghost thanks to her screwing around with his treatment so that he could get a heart. And of course, she still gets to practice medicine. Very annoying character.

2. The L Word, Jenny Schecter (Mia Kirshner). What a wacko annoying character, thank god they are going to have someone kill her in this final season. And it is shaping up to be about anybody, as she is giving plenty of folk reason to want to kill her. Whoever ends up killing her, a jury will find it to be justifiable homicide and let them off.

3. Bones, Dr. Lance Sweets (John Francis Daley). I cannot stand this guy at all. Too young, too immature, and totally unable to relate to Booth or Bones. Earlier, Stephen Fry played Dr. Gordon Wyatt, who was an excellent character that helped Booth deal with some anger issues. Fry like his comic partner, Hugh Laurie is an excellent actor and brought that character to life. Obviously Fry could not commit to a long term deal with Bones, but after that great performance, to bring in such a weak character like Sweets, give me a break!

4. NCIS, Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), a character that comes up as a immature jerk. Sweets is immature but at least he tries to be competent. DiNozzo is the weak link, who almost never contributes to solving a crime, unless by accident. I liked Weatherly in Dark Angel, too bad his character on NCIS is so bad.

5. Survivor, Jeff Probst. I know that he is not a fictional character, but I hate reality shows and Probst is so damn smug and condescending to the contestants. I long for the day, that someone says screw the non violence agreement and goes after Probst at a Tribal Council.

6. McLaughlin Group, Eleanor Clift. This woman is such screecher on this show. She repeats her same point over and over again and constantly interrupts the other people when they are talking. And she is always on, never seems to take a break. This past weekend, was a rare occasion when she was not there, everyone took turns presenting their point of view, no one was screeching, it was great. You are 68, retire already. It is not like Newsweek needs you, their circulation is going down, nobody is reading your stuff and nobody cares what you have to say on the McLaughlin Group.

Oh well.

Pet Peeves

There are a couple of things that really get my dander up. In no particular order:

1. People bitching about spoilers in articles. Hey, what is up with that? I have never had a problem knowing beforehand what is going to happen in a film, book, or TV show. And often I seek out articles that tell me this stuff. But when people get bent out of shape because a spoiler is revealed, I just have to say, then don't read the freaking article. One time I mentioned on a message board that Nicholas Cage in the film National Treasure beats the bad guys to find the treasure, and got yelled at for revealing a spoiler. Unbelievable!

2. People harping about spelling and grammar in messages on the Internet. Most posts disappear in a day, are written in haste, and have no reflection on the writing skill of the poster. Most people when posting on a message board, are usually just stating their thought and not writing something for work or school. And the people who harp on this stuff usually write the dumbest posts.

3. Networks putting all the popular shows on at the same time. Why do they do that? On Thursday night at 9 pm, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, and Supernatural are all on the same time. Why? When did Thursday night become the night for must see TV? I know that NBC billed that with Cheers years ago, but why Thursday? Why not Wednesday?

4. MonsterQuest on the History Channel needs to show one of these freaking monsters already. They set these cameras up for a month and never ever get any footage. Yet, we are left with, maybe there is something out there. On what basis, eyewitness testimony. Read Elizabeth Loftus' work on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony and then tell me about monsters being out there.

5. Ghost Hunters make the Three Stooges look like rocket scientists. Why is this show popular, why does anybody buy what these guys are selling? It amazes me that these clowns are taken seriously. Of course, compared to crap like Most Haunted on the Travel channel, I guess it could be worst.

Oh well.

Friday Night on Fox TV!

I was much amused at Fox TV's recent ads for their Friday night lineup of Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles (SCC) and Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. They presented this as a grindhouse like ad with Summer Glau and Eliza Dushku spotlighted. If it works, I would be surprised as Friday night has become a dead zone on TV, where shows go to die.

First up, SCC. This show has taken the continuity of the Terminator movies and totally destroyed any sense of what it going on. Both terminators and resistant fighters keep going back in time to either help or stop SkyNet. Not really sure what the intent is here. In the first film, time travel was this last ditch effort for the machines to win and was limited. Now everyone can travel in time, so why the last humans not just leave and hide in the past and leave the barren world to the machines is not really clear. Summer Glau does a nice job in her role as the terminator who protects John Connor, but I just wonder if this is just a waste of her talents and she needs to get a new agent.

Ratings for SCC has been in steady decline since the first episode, so why Fox thinks that this would be a good lead in for Dollhouse is beyond me. One would think that Fox would have learned after they screwed up Firefly, but I guess not.

Joss Whedon trusts Fox once more with one of his shows, Dollhouse. Interesting premise and could be a decent series. Eliza Dushku who was very good as Faith the Slayer (a show that we really would rather have than Dollhouse) and was good in Tru Calling (another show Fox killed without giving it a real chance, see a pattern here?) plays Echo. Echo is an operative who had her memories wiped and gets a personality downloaded for missions that the Dollhouse undertakes. She gets to be a billionaire's plaything in the beginning of the first show, a kidnap negotiator for the rest of the show. This gives Dushku a chance to flex her acting chops and play a whole bunch of different characters. Too bad Summer Glau is committed to SCC, this would have been a good show for her. Her characters from Firefly and SCC are too similar, would be nice to see her flex her acting skills.

Not a bad show, but I don't have much faith that Fox is going to show much support unless the ratings are very good. Well, maybe we will get Faith the Slayer, hopefully on some other network. Whedon does not have a lot of luck with Fox.

Michelle Pantoliano on Locker Talk

I am a subscriber to Naked News, an Internet news service where attractive female anchors deliver the news in the nude. While initial attraction is due to the titillation factor, I have found that this is a very solid news program. I also have found that I don't really notice the nudity at all, what keeps subscribers on board is a very entertaining solid news program. And the anchors are much better informed than the talking heads on network TV.

One past anchor, Michelle Pantoliano, used to do these Locker Talk segments which served as a weekly account of things going on in her life. Recently the Naked News reran a very funny episode where she discusses cougars.

She has just found out that in Canada women who hang out in bars going after young men are called pumas (25-30 years), cougars (30-35 years) and OTH (over the hill) cougars (35 and up). She thought that this was not right as men were not been referred to in the same way. One of her girlfriends said that all men are pigs. So Michelle came up with this.

25-30 year old men, piglets, 30-35 years old, pigs, and 35 and up, Hogs. For some strange reason, I find this very funny. I know so many men who are always chasing have these young girls, and hog is the best term I have heard to describe them. Being 49, I guess I am a hog, but young girls have the look of "gee this girl is young enough to be my daughter" and I get turned off.

Any way, I thought that this was funny and wanted to share and give the Naked News the credit. Check it out sometime, it is worth a look.

I love Godzilla

I remember when I first became a fan of Godzilla movies. Channel 17 out of Philadelphia had an afternoon host named Wee Willie Weber who showed cartoons and Ultraman. One week, we were told that not only would we get to see Ultraman at 5:30 pm, but at 6 we would see Godzilla vs the Sea Monster. I could not wait.

Great memory watching that film. The TV station scheduled this 95 min flick for two hours, so we got to see the whole film. My first Godzilla film and I was hooked. I would search the TV Guide to see when other films would play and also try and watch them.

Then Godzilla vs Megalon was played at East 5 Theaters at the Harrisburg East Mall. My first experience watching a Godzilla film on the big screen. Too bad it was one of the lesser entries in the series.

I read magazines over the years whenever Godzilla was featured, catch it when a local channel would show a movie. I was living in NJ working in the Princeton area when the Quakerbridge Mall Cinemas announced that Godzilla 1985 was playing. Wonderful wonderful wonderful!

Now I have most of the Godzilla films on DVD, just waiting the the final few not realised in Region 2. I subscribe to G-Fan, published and edited by JD Lees which covers everything Godzilla. I have grown to love any giant monster movie, from King Kong to the Host, and even Cloverfield. I even liked the Tristar Godzilla film that Matthew Broadrick was in. I am in heaven.

Now if only Toho would start making some new Godzilla films.

The Death of Realms of Fantasy Magazine

I was planning on writing on a different topic today, but when I got home and checked the mail, plans changed. I received a notice that Realms of Fantasy (ROF) was ending with the April 2009 issue. I also was sent back my check for the two year renewal that I had just sent to them.

ROF started up in 1994 and was edited by Shawna McCarthy for its entire run. She had previously been at Asimov's Science Fiction where she won a Hugo Award from the World Science Fiction Convention as best editor. ROF had a sister magazine Science Fiction Age that had been cancelled years ago by the publisher. I often wondered how ROF was still going, last time they published circulation information, it was down to about 6000.

A lot of good writers had contributed strong stories over the 15 years the magazine was being published. I also liked the Folkroots column which gave an overview to a lot of classic myths and legends, going over historical antecedents. Gahen Wilson, the famed cartoonist, wrote a regular book review column for this publication.

I am a big magazine fan, having over 70 subscriptions. One by one by favorites have died, it does not help that I like a lot of small press publications. I remember back in the late 70's/early 80's when the Twilight Zone magazine started up. I loved that publication and was sad to see it go. Now ROF is gone.

Not many places still publish fantasy stories, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is still going on, they are down to a circulation of about 18,000. Overall, magazines are dieing left and right, I wonder which one of my faves will be next to go.

Here is to ROF, you will be missed.

Spider-Man Brand New Day

I tend to read a lot of comics, my weekly order from Midtown Comics is pretty expensive. But I like them, they offer an escape. And as long as there are good stories and art, I am happy.

But the publishers have to muck with their characters in order to shock the readers and start purchase frenzies. Barry Allen gets killed off as the Flash, he returns later this year. Green Arrow is killed and then brought back to life. Hal Jordon goes bad as Green Lantern, sacrifices his life to save the universe, becomes the Spectre for a while and now is back as Green Lantern.

Then you have Steve Rogers (Captain America) getting killed, the discovery that his WWII partner Bucky Barnes is alive and well and working as a Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier, and Bucky is Captain America. So far the story is pretty good and I like it.

Then we have Spider-Man. First they have him marry Mary Jane Watson, reveal his secret identity to Aunt May, reveal it to the world in the Civil War storyline, and then Marvel's version of the Devil, agrees to save the life of Aunt May, if Parker gives us his life with Mary Jane. Oh, and the world goes back to not knowing who Spider-Man is.

Now I never liked the character of Aunt May. The constant whining in the storyline that May is going to die if she finds out her nephew is Spider-Man. She is like a 1000 years old, she should be dead. They actually killed her off for a while, but it was a fake. Now Peter Parker puts his life in the crapper to keep Aunt May alive for another 1000 years.

So Brand new Day starts, Parker is lonely, broke and sad. Mary Jane is a famous Model and the Paris Hilton of her day. Parker lost his job with the Daily Bugle, J Jonah Jameson lost control of his paper to somebody who did a make over and how the semi-respected Bugle is the DB, Marvel's version of the NY Post. Come to thing of it, the Bugle was pretty much like the NY Post under JJJ's leadership.

Boring, just as boring as the daily comic strip that still is being done by Stan Lee. And May Parker who ended what could of being some interesting story lines? She works in a soup kitchen and worries about her nephew and we all worry about whether she will kick the bucket if she finds out Parker is Spider-Man. Of course from the before Brand New Day storyline, we know that she freaking will not die, but will actually deal with it.

Comic Publishers, if you want to do radical changes to your characters such as Superman marrying Lois Lane, then stick with it. Don't change something unless you mean it. And if you have a solid creative team handling the book, they can make it work, they can write interesting stories, they don't have to resort to the same boring crap that we hare getting now.

And I have to have the energy to rant about Batman RIP.

Little Pink House

Living here in Groton, Ct, has given me on site knowledge of the events that lead to the infamous US Supreme Court decision on Kelo v. City of New London. Now we have a book by Jeff Benedict entitled Little Pink House, A true story of Defiance and Courage. I had enjoyed Benedict's previous book Without Reservation which was the tale of how Foxwoods Casino came to be, and looked forward to reading this latest book.

Benedict's sympathies lie with Kelo and the other plaintiffs. This is evident in the fact that some of the more embarrassing episodes are glossed over or not discussed at all. No mention of the infamous Christmas card with the little pink house on its cover or the curse that is leveled against all that were in favor of eminent domain. Also not mentioned are the on going complaints of one of the plaintiffs who felt they were short changed when final payouts were revealed.

But what really bothers me in this whole saga, is how unnecessary it all was. The New London Development Corporation had alternative development plans that could have spared the homes. Also one of the plaintiffs wanted $700,000 for his properties and would have never been involved if he had gotten it. He ended up the $1.8 million. The NLDC had $70 million in state money to start off with, they could have bought up the property from those willing to sell, gone with a development plan that would have left those who wanted to stay alone, and New London could be enjoying the higher tax base that they were looking for.

That is the big problem with New London, CT, no real leadership that puts the interests of the city and its people first. Where I grew up, Harrisburg, PA, we had the same kind of economic problems, nobody wanted to live there and people moved out as soon as they got their degrees. Then a mayor was elected named Stephen Reed who transformed Harrisburg, brought in businesses and attractions that revitalized the city. And nobody had their property taken away.

Benedict wrote a very good book and really shows how stupid and useless this whole mess was.

My first blog

I decided after reaching the age of 49 to start writing a blog. While my life is not that exciting compared to some, I have a need to express myself. What I would like this blog to become is an ongoing informal discussion of issues of the day that I am interested in.

These issues include magazines, Godzilla, comic books, comic strips, the American Civil War, film, Jack the Ripper, etc etc etc. Basically stuff that only I seem to be interested in. I have played on the message boards that cover various topics, but when you start in as a newbie, you kind of get drowned out by all the old posters who know each other so well.

Two topics that recently have been occupying my thoughts is, (1) why does John McLaughlin tolerate the screeching of Elanor Clift who just repeats her thoughts over and over while preventing some alternative views from getting out and (2) why did Marvel Comics cancel She-Hulk and keep boring comics like Ms. Marvel.

I am not too concerned about anybody reading or commenting on this blog, my thought are what they are.