Up Past My Bedtime
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: NYPD BLUE
I'm updating a little late tonight. Ordinarily I'd be in bed already, turning out the light after a bit of reading and a frosty Red Can. But I received a nice/interesting/unusual phone call tonight from an old friend. Steve is a good friend from my college days in Carbondale. He was a local news anchor at the television station where many of my friends worked, and we all hung out and partied together. But eventually I left Carbondale, he left for another broadcasting gig, and soon everyone was gone. We stayed in touch occasionally, but until last spring, I hadn't spoken to him in a couple of years, although I knew where he was and what he was up to. Last spring, Steve landed a very cool new job. He's a celebrity of sorts, so I won't be more specific (because of personal info I'll reveal in a bit), but it's the exact job that I dreamed of having when I was a kid. When I read in the news that he had the job, I called and left him a congratulatory message. We played phone tag all summer, until we finally chatted for a few minutes at the end of September, just small talk mostly.

So it was really cool to talk to him tonight. It's uncommon for me to receive late-night phone calls these days, but back in the day, none of us thought anything about calling someone at 3am if we wanted to. So I was surprised when the phone rang, and even more surprised it was Steve, calling from a Motel 6. Unfortunately, he's having marital problems, which is always a shame, and even worse, the motel TV didn't have TV Land, a killer for a sitcom fan like him. So we chatted for an hour or so about our jobs, his family, baseball, old TV shows. It was a good time. I actually have not seen the guy in person in about 12 years, but I think I'll make an effort to visit him next summer. He's only about 5 hours away by car, and he's got some excellent connections for baseball tickets...always a good quality to have in a friend.

He also has kids...two from his wife's previous marriage and one of their own, which makes breaking up more difficult. I visited some friends tonight who recently had male twins, I think they're about 3 months old. First off, I'm unable to see or hear about babies without being reminded of SEINFELD: "Ya gotta see the babies!" People are obsessed with looking at babies. Personally, a baby is a baby; you could put ten of them in a room together, and I wouldn't be able to differentiate among any of them. But as I was holding one of them and talking to my friend about them, I started thinking about all the things in life that I enjoy doing. And he confirmed that I wouldn't be able to do any of them ever again. What a huge sacrifice it is to have children. Will I ever be willing to take those steps? To give up activities and a lifestyle that I enjoy? I'm not ready now, and I don't know if I ever will be. I think that's kind of sad.

I was trying to squeeze in this week's NYPD BLUE before bed. I rarely watch any network programming as it airs anymore; I always tape it and watch it later. The reason is commercials. Not only are there more of them than ever before, but the number of breaks has increased. Shows rarely run more than 8 or 9 minutes without going to commercial, and that's just too much for me. Zip zip zip...I fast-forward right through those suckers.

I'll miss BLUE when it's gone after this season. While they're having a pretty strong season, I really watch it more out of familiarity than anything else. After 12 (13?) years, it has lost the power to surprise me, but its presence is still soothing. There have been seasons that I only intermittently caught it, mostly because it wasn't that good, but it has rebounded for its final year. The show has never been as good as it was its first year, when David Caruso was blistering the airwaves with his consistently stunning performance as John Kelly and the writing led by Steven Bochco and David Milch was so strong and innovative. The bare asses of Sherry Stringfield and Amy Brenneman didn't hurt either. Tonight's episode was solid, although I have a soft spot for scenes in which Sipowicz slaps a dirtbag suspect across the back of the noggin.

I'm getting ready for Xmas. Packages are actually wrapped this year, as opposed to just tossing them in gift bags with newspaper sticking out of the top. I'm actually sending cards, which I haven't done for several years. My last two Christmases, since my mother passed away, really haven't been that hot; t'is the season when you really do need a family. Not that I have no family, but my brother lives in St. Louis now, and my dad is a pretty busy guy, and I really miss the frequent interaction we used to have. If there's anything I have learned in the 21st century, it's to not take for granted people who love you, 'cause they won't be here forever.

But, anyway, I'm encouraged in that I seem to be slowing getting back into the Christmas spirit, and maybe I'll have another great Christmas or two sometime down the road. I also wrapped a present for the White Elephant game at work on Monday. I'm 3-for-3 in walking away from White Elephant with a better gift than what I came in with, so I hope to extend my streak this year.

Thanks to those of you who commented on my new blog, either on the site or via private email. Your positive vibes are encouraging, and I hope you'll continue to make this an interactive experience. I think it takes a certain narcissism to write stuff like this on a public forum and expect people to read it. I don't feel I have that sort of personality--while I am no different from anyone else in terms of enjoying a certain amount of positive attention, I don't think I have an ego larger than average size at the most. And if I'm wrong about that, I'm sure somebody will let me know!

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.