Well, what the heck...
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: HAWAII FIVE-0
Just like everyone from Tony Danza to Jm J. Bullock has hosted a damn talk show, I'm convinced everyone on Earth will host a blog before it's all over and done with. I never seriously thought about having one until today, but when Cheeseburger launched hers tonight, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I spend enough time on the Internet as it is, considering I moderate the Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy and the Cult & Exploitation message boards over at the acclaimed Mobius Home Video Forum, as well as maintain my own Web site of film reviews, Marty's Marquee. One reason I never seriously considered a blog is because the Web is just too public a place to post my deepest, most inner thoughts. I'm just not the type of cat who can let my feelings hang out there for the world to see.

With that, I thought perhaps I would just use this site to chat about other things that pop into my head, probably pop-culture-related. What shows I'm watching. What movies I'm seeing. Recommend a Web site occasionally. Who knows. Just like who knows if anybody will ever read this.

Not much to report tonight. I stayed home this evening, did some laundry, cooked some cheap, dry steak on the Foreman, and watched HAWAII FIVE-0. Some time back, fellow Mobian Erik Nelson burned his Columbia House VHS tapes of FIVE-0 episodes onto DVD and mailed me copies. FIVE-0 is unquestionably one of my Top Ten (Five?) favorite TV series. When I was in high school, it aired Mon-Thur nights at 11:00pm on WCIA, right after M*A*S*H. Like me, my mother was a night owl, and I stayed up every night with her watching FIVE-0. On any list of great TV cop shows, FIVE-0 consistently offered imaginative scripts and visually sharp direction to go along with the Hawaiian locations (it was the first TV series to shoot there) and the iconic performance of lantern-jawed, thick-haired Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett, who put the "no nonsense" back into no-nonsense cops.

I could write about FIVE-0 all night, but I won't, except to say that I have always appreciated one particular aspect of the show. Unlike every other series to film in Hawaii, FIVE-0 was careful not to shoot only in lush, attractive areas of the state. Of course, palm trees and crashing waves were a huge part of the show, but FIVE-0 always found interesting locations to shoot that were not on the usual tourist haunts, like back alleys and crumbling World War II bunkers. I've always wanted to visit the state, and maybe I will one day.

Tonight I watched "Nine Dragons", which was the two-hour (remember when network TV would occasionally deliver a special two-hour episode?) 8th-season premiere, and one of the best episodes out of the nearly 300 they did. It brought back McGarrett's archenemy, Communist agent Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh, who was in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and became the only actor to star in his own network TV series, but refuse billing), in a plot that found the evil Chinese spy swiping some deadly toxin from a Honolulu university and McGarrett chasing him to Hong Kong (using actual Hong Kong locations), where he was captured and brainwashed by Wo Fat. Throw in an excellent Bondian score by Morton Stevens, and you've got a well-crafted episode of action-adventure television you'll not see the likes of today.

I reckon that's all for now. It remains to be seen how often I'll update this blog, but I hope you'll come back every day or two to check. Feel free to leave your feedback using the Comments link below. Maybe next time I'll elaborate on Khigh Dhiegh's TV series, or explain the title of my blog.