Lost Episode 5 "White Rabbit"

This could have been just a totally FREAKY episode... Jack is losing it hard (dehydrated, no sleep, maybe some PTSD), seeing things... or is he?

Show starts with a woman drowning, she's such a red shirt that wardrobe never even had to give her one.  If I was a full on Losty, it would be at this point that I'd go back and look for all instances of Joanna (the red shirt's name) but I doubt she's a red herring (just a red shirt).  But Jack doesn't save her... she disappears beneath the waves suggesting for the first time that Jack might not be God after all.

Remember the dude in the suit Jack saw a couple of times last episode?  Turns out it's his dead dad.  The reason Jack was on the plane is because his mom had sent him to Australia to find his dad, who'd gone off on some Mid-Life crisis adventure.  Unfortunately, while dad was living it up in Sydney, he had a heart attack and died.  Jack was flying home with his dad's body in the cargo hold when the plane crashed.

Jack's Dad's ghost leads Jack on a wild ghost chase through the jungle, where in a SECOND un-godlike instance, Jack has to be rescued by Locke!  After pulling him up over the side of a cliff, Locke has to give Jack a pep talk.  Gives us some mumbo-jumbo about the island... and the fact that he's looked into its face (the monster from the boar episode?).

Not sure where they're going with this, but I almost feel like they're setting up to move Locke into a leadership role... maybe he becomes the Troi to Jack's Picard.

OK, so the FREAKY part which ends up being not so freaky, is that Jack's Dad's ghost makes one last appearance (sort of, Jack hears the sounds of ice cubes clinking in a tumbler full of scotch).  Jack follows his dad back into the jungle until he comes across fresh drinking water!  Something that to lack of has been causing the people back on the beach some consternation over.  Jack also finds his Dad's coffin. And... it's... EMPTY!!!  ooooo-OOOOO-ooooo

I have a feeling that this is not the last we see of Dead Jack's Dad.  But I don't think he's alive... every time we see him the filmmakers do these Adam West & Burt Ward "Batman & Robin" sytle tilted camera shots, which leads me to believe that they want us to think that this is all in Jack's head.

Show ends with Jack giving a speech about teamwork which has one of those, "The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself" kind of reversals in it.  Something about working together or dying alone... what ev.  Take your shirt off again.

So we've learned a little more about Jack and his state of mind (Just lost his father, figuratively and quite literally) and his God status is a little threatened by the no-longer paralyzed Locke who's stepping up as a spiritually connected dude...

Lost Episode 4 "Walkabout"

WOOOOOOOOW.

Maybe it's because I've had a cocktail, or maybe it's because it was just good M Night Shyamalanian story telling... but that was a good show.

We learned all about Locke today. John is his first name... we also learned the name of the African American woman whose husband was in the tail section of the plane (which separated from the rest of the fuselage before the crash). I think we learned her husband's name too. And the pregnant woman... but I don't remember them. Sorry.

But who cares... this was all about John Locke (or maybe Jon Lock IDK). Several flashbacks to his life before the crash..., he's a cube dweller in some bland American office run by a guy half his age. He calls himself Captain or Corporal or Commander or something, but he isn't. He's just a lonely guy who lives a fantasy life of military role-play games, TPS reports (Office Space nod Lost? Nice!), and falls in love with his phone sex lady. He's the opposite of a bad ass. But he has big bad ass dreams. He wants to go on "Walkabout" in the Australian Outback. Only there is one small problem, which is easily disguised with some "omissions" by the filmmakers. But we'll come back to that.

BTW, "sideburns," who plays Locke's boss, is a bigger asshole than Greg Tolan in "Just One of the Guys."

While we're flashing back to Locke's patheticness, we are also on a hunt for Wild Boar. It seems that the survivors have eaten all the food that was left in the wreckage of the plane and now it's time to hunt. In the opening scenes of this episode Walt's adorable yellow lab Vincent starts barking at something... but no one can tell what it is, so in a suspenseful (dark) sequence inside the fuselage full of dead bodies, Dr. Jack shines a flashlight into the wreckage only to find two glowing, beady, yellow eyes looking back! After they dart out of the plane, scaring the living crap out of everyone, Locke explains that they are baby boars... and that if they want to eat, they need to find the momma boar so they can kill and eat her. He announces his plan to step up (the brilliant irony of that phrase is coming up) to the challenge by throwing one of several fancy knives he's packed. You know, the kind of knives that weird eBay collectors in the suburbs buy just to have because they're dangerous? I bet if we could go to Locke's house he'd have a Kill Bill Kantana sword set proudly displayed over his mantle (even though he probably couldn't reach it... keep reading).

OK... so long story short. Kate and Walt's dad and Locke are hunting boar. Walt's dad gets hurt so Locke goes off on his own and is promptly attacked by the Giant Animal Noise Machine... I'm pretty sure it's the same one that at Captain Exposition in Episode 1. As soon as he sees it (HE does, we don't) it's a hard back cut to the beach where we see Dr. Jack comforting the African American woman whose husband was in the tail. She says he's still alive. Jack says that's impossible, and that she is suffering from PTSD. THEN Jack sees a guy in a suit standing near the trees at the edge of the beach. He looks away and when he looks back, suit guy is gone. What is a guy in a SUIT doing on the beach!? Suit guy makes another appearance and this time Jack follows him into the jungle only to find Locke dragging the momma boar's body. The Giant Animal Noise Machine didn't kill him.

So we're all about to live happily ever after. We have fresh boar, we're lighting a bonfire to cremate the bodies of the dead passengers inside the wreckage.  Pregnant girl is reading the names of some of the passengers (based on passports and other personal belongings in their luggage) as we watch in quiet reverence. Then Locke's final flashback...

He's in Australia, arguing with a Walkabout tour guide. "You didn't tell us about your 'condition'," says the guide. "I can't take you."

"But it's my DESTINY!" Locke pleads.

"No... you are not coming."

And as the tour guide storms out of the office toward the bus full of waiting Walkabout Tourists, Locke grabs the rails of his wheelchair and thrusts himself toward the door. Yeah, for 4 years, John Locke has been in a wheelchair. But ever since the plane crash... he can walk! The filmmakers have been very good at incorporating his wheelchair into scenes very subtly. Used to carry luggage, firewood, injured... we never questioned it. But as the light of the bonfire grows, John catches a glimpse of the chair and we realize... holy shit, it was HIS wheelchair.

So here's my theory... Locke really is a bad ass, former military, hard core guy. 4 years ago he's psychologically injured and looses the use of his legs (again, this is MY THEORY). Wife and kids killed by a drunk driver or something else horrible... he blames himself... psyches himself into believing he's paralyzed as "punishment" and it's the crash that snaps him out of it. Like on the Flintstones. Fred gets conked on the head and thinks he's an Englishman named Fredrick... until he gets conked on the head again and turns back into Fred. The crash is Locke's conk. OR this is the afterlife and when you are dead, anything is possible...

We're left with some questions... what is the rest of Locke's story? Why didn't the Giant Animal Noise Machine kill Locke? Who is the dude in the suit who appears mysteriously only to Jack? Will the castaways want to eat bar-b-que'd boar after watching a fuselage full of human carcases burn?

Lost Episode 3 "Tabula Rasa"

Dark episode.  Lots of this one took place at night.  If I had my druthers all TV shows and movies would take place in the daytime.  I find watching night time scenes difficult.  I'm trying too hard to see what's going on and not paying enough attention to what is being said... which is probably the exact opposite of what the writer and director want.  Still, even through the darkness of the night I managed to learn a few more names!

Bad Guy Hot Girl is Kate.  Which sounded familiar to me... so maybe I just needed a reinforcer, or maybe today I was actually listening for it.
Old man with eye scar is Mr. Locke (or just Lock, I dunno... Locke seems more last namey than just Lock).
Asian wife is Sun.
I'm Over it Girl is Shannon.

We got a lot of Kate's back story in this one... whatever she did in order to be handcuffed during the flight (which we also learn was in fact headed from Sydney to Los Angeles) was bad... but I think she had her reasons. Today was all about showing us that Kate is a moral person, who does what she has to to survive.  I think we also learned that she didn't kill anyone, or if she did it was accidental.  See, she was given the opportunity to kill a man she hated, who was dying anyway (shrapnel guy from Episode 2) and she couldn't do it.  She had to give the job to Sawyer, who effed it up.  Ultimately leaving Dr. Jack to play God once again and put the poor dying shrapnel guy out of his misery.  If she couldn't kill a DYING man, a DYING man who WANTED to die... how could she commit cold blooded murder?

So, we still don't know why she'd been arrested, though we get a hint from Hurley who mentions something about her being a murderer.  When it comes time for her to come clean, Dr. Jack says she doesn't have to.  Because when that plane crashed, "we all died."  He was speaking metaphorically, just trying to say that now they all have a clean slate... but given all the mythos fans invested in this show, I bet that was a line that they all kept going back to to prove their theory that the Island is the afterlife.

Walt gets his dog back thanks to Locke (or is that Lock) who spends the first part of the episode whittling a dog whistle which brings Vincent the lab running out of the woods.  Nice of Locke to then turn Vincent the dog over to Walt's dad without Walt knowing.  So when Walt sees his dad walking  onto the beach with Vincent Walt thinks his dad is cool again, and someone owes Locke a favor.

Walt's dad also happens to see Sun's boobs, quite accidentally.  He's probably already forgotten, but I bet Sun's man won't.  Of course he won't know unless she tells him... and I bet she's going to.

No big revelations, no shocking deaths (we all knew shrapnel guy wasn't going to make it), only one monster moment which didn't lead to anything more than a boob sighting with future dramatic implications, and a little montage at the end set to a Jack Johnson ukulele lullaby showing the castaways all starting to come together as a community. Saied threw Sawyer an apple, awwww.  Rosacea boy found some sunglasses for his sister I'm Over it Gir... I mean Shannon, awwww.  And a father and his son reveled in the joy of finding their lost dog as Locke looked on menacingly, ewwww.

So kind of a tension-less ending to this one.  If this were the last episode I ever saw, I'd say they were all going to live happily ever after Swiss Family Robinson style... but we all know that isn't true.

Lost Episode 2 "Pilot: Part 2"

If Episode 1 was a freight train, Episode 2 is definitely Amtrak.  Episode 1 delivered the cargo and now in Episode 2 we're getting to know the passengers.  I'm terrible with names, so let me try to remember as many as possible.

Fat guy = Hurley
Little boy = Walt (his mom just died... awwww)
Dog = Vincent
Long dark hair = Saied (former Iraqi Republican Guard)
Chip on his shoulder = Hunter or Decker or Hutch... something like that... it'll come to me.
Bear = Polar

I should mention at this point that is my goal not to re-watch any episode... lets pretend it's 1977 and your family can't afford Betamax yet.  If you wanna watch what's on you gotta watch it when it's on.   Also, I'm not "live blogging" these shows.  I'm watching and THEN I'm blogging.  Hopefully this will help stave off the early onset Alzheimer's I've been fighting since I discovered vodka in the mid to late 80's.  All that to explain why I can't right now remember Hunter or Decker or Hutch's name.

Lots of plane crash flashbacks in this one... REALLY makes me not want to fly!  Hopefully in a future flashback they'll explain the beep/buzz alarm that is going off inside the plane as it breaks up.  I would imagine that one might hear that noise if one were in or near the cockpit... but why for Pete's sake would they freak one out even more by broadcasting that signal of doom into the cabin?

So in the flashbacks, we learn that Charlie IS in fact a drug addict.  He's hooked on what appears to be brown sugar which he keeps in a plastic baggie in his shoe.

We also learn that Hot Girl from episode 1 is a BAD GUY!  I KNOW!  They tried to make us believe that Hunter or Decker or Hutch is the bad guy... but noooooooo,  It's Hot Girl's (who's name I either haven't heard or subconsciously don't want to learn) handcuffs Walt finds in the woods while looking for his dog Vincent.  In her flashback we see her shackled on board the plane sitting next to a dude who is obviously a cop or some other L.E.O. escorting her on the flight from Australia(?) to wherever they were going.  Shocker!

We also get to know the Bickerson kids, Rosacea Boy and his sister Over-It Girl.  I have a feeling they'll be dead before too long... I thought for sure they were going to red-shirt her during the hike to test the transceiver.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

SAWYER!  That's Hunter or Decker or Hutch's name... Sawyer.

OK... In order to make this recap shorter than the actual script here's the nutshell:

A group of people leave the beach in order to hike to higher ground so they can get a better signal on the transceiver that they got out of the cockpit in Episode 1.  During the hike Sawyer shoots and kills a polar bear (see pic above).  Later they pick up a radio signal which is in French and English... it's a distress call that has been coming from the island for going on 16 years according to Saied who does some really amazing math without even using his fingers to make that determination (he also fixed the transceiver so obviously he is some kinda genius).

Meanwhile back on the beach Dr. Jack is tending to a guy who has a big ol piece of airplane embedded in his side... it needs to come out.  Jack pulls the shrapnel out and the dude wakes up... guess what... he is the guy who was escorting the Bad Guy Hot Chick!  It's HIS gun that Sawyer uses to kill the polar bear (see pic above)!  Well, now the escort dude is awake and he wants to know where his prisoner Hot Chick is!

A couple other little nuggets... Little Boy Walt befriends a guy who I think turns out to be some kind of Army sociopath later on in the series.  They start to play backgammon and tell secrets (which feels a little creepy to me).  Also the Asian couple's relationship is flushed out a little more... he is very controlling and she doesn't like it much, but he can make a mean sea urchin Sashimi.  It's so good that it wakes up a sleeping fetus (paging Dr. Jack, please report to Obstetrics).

I'm feeling like this is going to get overwhelming.

Lost Episode 1 "Pilot: Part 1"

It's only fitting that I should return to blogging with a title like "Lost." Or is it? I haven't been.

Can't wait to get back into my blog roll and find out who stuck it out and who else has vanished.

Me? We'll catch up over time... no sense in trying to recap 2+ years of living in a single blog post... it'll all fall into place as the dialogue begins again.

So what's with the "Lost" thing? Frankly I need something to blog about... any what better than a 6 year old serialized drama that I never got into in the first place?

See here's the deal... (and now begins the catching up dialogue) since we last spoke I've had three career changes. All of them involving TV shows on a rejuvenated cable news channel identified by a three-letter name that does not stand for the Hysterical Ladies Network. I've done just about all there is to do short of actually being on the shows themselves. But primarily I've done the web stuff. Kept fans updated with faceboook and twitter, arranged for their comments to be read on the air, kept the websites updated, blogged.

Well now I'm on show #4... and it's an awesome show, with an incredible group of writers, producers, and journalists, and if I'm being honest... it's pretty overwhelming how talented they all are. Overwhelming and intimidating. Especially since my job duties have now grown to include writing for air, producing short segments, and online marketing, in addition to all the other good stuff I was doing before... so I NEED to blog. I need to keep my skills up and sharp, and frankly, I haven't been. I've been very busy being busy, but not as busy as I could be being creative.

Which brings me to Lost. I think I watched three or four episodes in 2005... the ones that highlighted the Asian couple who have a few secrets (arranged marriage if I remember correctly... or is he a loser who her Dad didn't want her to marry?)... I remember something about the fat guy owning a restaurant after winning the lottery (does it get hit with a meteor?), OH and his lottery ticket numbers are the same as some other numbers... and then I saw the one where the hermit dude who lives in a bunker listens to some kind of pop music (Abba?) while pushing a button every so often. But that's really about it... all the rest of the rest I don't really know too much about. Smoke monster, abominable snowman, flash forward, flash sideways, flash back... I know there are some of those too.

So in order to get my blogging skills back in gear I'm going to blog Lost. I can stream all the episodes to my TiVo via Netflix. This is really more for me than for you. I had hoped my partner "P" would've wanted to take part in this but he hates anything that isn't "Brothers and Sisters." So there was no getting him to even try. Maybe I should show him the scene in this episode where Jack (Matthew Fox) looks very fit and un-manscaped as he pulls his bloodied t-shirt over his head so that a hot chick can stitch up a cut in his side with only Vodka as an anesthetic (so butch!) and he might reconsider. Hot dude, vodka, sewing... it's all right up P's alley.

OK, So without further ado:

I can see why people got hooked on Lost after this episode. In addition to the aforementioned hotness of Dr. Jack this is a freight train of a show. After waking up alone (save for an adorable yellow lab) and battered in a bamboo patch the character we will come to know as Jack makes his way onto a beach where we learn that the reason he's so bloodied up is that he's survived a plane crash. People in various states of injury are walking around, and it becomes pretty clear early on that Jack must be some kind of Doc because he starts tending to the wounded... even bringing a woman back to life, God that he is! But not before one of the plane's humongo jet engines, still whining and spinning for some reason, sucks in a guy lucky enough to survive the crash, but unlucky enough to become the catalyst for the first of two huge explosions (YAY Explosions!).

There are brief introductions, primarily, the adorable blue collar British accented Charlie whose character is a kind of famous bass guitar player in a band that I can't remember the name of right now. The hot chick tells him she thinks he looks familiar as she and he and Jack leave the others to go in search of the cockpit of the jetliner which has separated from the exploding part of the fuselage left on the beach. Anyway, as I watched I did recall seeing an episode where it's revealed that Charie has a drug problem, but that's a flash forward (or flash back if you haven't seen the show yet) which is alluded to when he pops out of the bathroom of the wreckage of the cockpit acting coy just before the pilot of the plane who has been unconscious for 16 hours is pulled out of the front window by something that sounds like a giant growling machine and made very obviously dead.

So to recap: in this episode we learn Jack is a hot doctor, we learn the girl who stitched up his wound made the drapes in her apartment and is braver than she thinks she is, we learn that Charlie is a lovable scamp... oh and of course we learn that they and some 40 plus others were all involved in a plane crash approximately 1000 miles from Fiji, and if rescuers are coming, they're looking in the wrong place. At least that's what the pilot told Jack before the growling machine ate Captain Exposition's face off and left him in a nearby tree. Also there is that giant, invisible but very noisy monster machine thing that eats curious pilots.

Next time I'll try to catch the girl's name... I have a feeling she's gonna make out with Dr. Jack at some point. Bitch.

Safe and Sound

My office smells a little like wet dog... and there are some broken windows in the buildings nearby... but otherwise, the Tornado that hit Atlanta over the weekend left me pretty unscathed.

Hey, how's it goin?

Has it really been over 3 months since we talked?

Seems like only yesterday.

I hope everyone is doin well. Me? I'm well, thanks. Pluggin' along.

New position at work, new stamp on my passport, new living arrangement, new furniture... lots of new stuff in This New Condo.

P moved in, and it's been a BIG adjustment. Much less "alone" time for me to blog.

My coworkers and I have been "Facebooking" quite a bit lately... long story as to why, but I think for now that little site has kind of filled the void Blogger was occupying for the year leading up to November 14th. I like the little status update feature there... just a little "micro-blog."

Gonna spend some time over the next couple days to catch up on all y'all's posts. Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to!

My Next Door Neighbor Died over the weekend

I found out last night via an email that was sent from the building manager to the homeowners.

I swear I saw Marilyn only a few days ago... up and around and looking old and frail but not unhealthy.

Her daughter Jill is actually good friends with my ex. They became friendly after he and I broke up. I've seen Jill more than a few times at his old house (when he still lived there) for parties and stuff. I learned that Marilyn was going to be my neighbor at one of those parties. She and I compared notes about the building and such... when we finally got to our unit numbers were were shocked to find that we'd be right next to each other!

We weren't socially close or anything at all... said hello in the hallway and talked at building functions about Jill. Marilyn and I really only knew each other at all because of Jill's association with my ex which always seemed to linger just beneath the surface of any conversation we had.

I'll be attending a small ceremony Jill is hosting this Saturday.

November 12 of 12

12 pictures all taken on the 12th of the month. It's Chad Darnell's idea and if you'd like to play along you can find out how at his blog (which is pretty interesting right now because he is one of the writers who are on strike, and he's really got a neat insider's view of the whole thing up).

When one door closes another door opens.

My 12 were inspired by that oft used quote, attributed to many, including Helen Keller and Alexander Graham Bell... November has been a month of pretty extreme change for me, professionally & personally & pharmaceutically. So I got to thinking about how many literal and figurative doors had opened and closed for me over the past few weeks and came up with these 12 shots:

About to head out my front door:




Exiting the building via my super secret back staircase exit:




The super sleek doors of a newly refurbished MARTA train. My transportation to work:




Exiting the train station at work via another super secret back exit:




About to head in to the office:




'Nuff said:




Leaving the office:




The proper entrance to the MARTA station at work (as opposed to my super secret exit):




Nearly home now. This is outside the shop across the street from me. I stopped to get something frozen for dinner:




I left via my super secret exit, but I'm coming home via the grand front entry:




Check the mail (nothing by the way, which I should have known since it was a holiday... duh):




Home again, home again, giggity gig:




So those are most of the literal doors I go through on a daily basis... the figurative ones have been much more interesting, but WAY harder to photograph.

Has it really been a week?

Wow... so THIS is what it's like to work like a normal person! Interesting.

For well over 10 years now I have worked weird hours. VERY early mornings or very late at night. In fact, for the past 8 years I rarely left work before 2am. Worse still prior to 2007 I was a "floater" so when someone called in sick or went on vacation, I covered for them, no matter what their shift was or what shift I'd worked the day before... so my "body clock" never really got a chance to find a syncopation... my waking and sleeping hours never corolated to the sunlight or the darkness. For the past 12 months I've been working 6p - 3a. A constant schedule, but certainly not one that many would consider "normal."

On Monday I started a new job... the hours get me into work around 10am and see me heading home around 6pm... SWEET right? I mean... these are DREAM hours as far as I am concerned. The job is a little frustrating right now, but that's typical I think for starting something new. It will get better and easier, I'm not nervous.

Thing is, that these "normal" hours are really cutting into my blogging and blog reading time! I can't believe I haven't posted anything since MONDAY! It seems like I wrote the window dressing post just a day or so ago.

OK... well I am off to catch up on some of y'all's blogs, see if any of my favorite (shall we say) ribald bloggers have anything new to say, and then see if I can't find a marathon of A Shot of Love with Teela Tequila or something as equally trashy on TV.

Caio.

Cartoon Curtains

It's time, my friends, for you to play designer!

I cannot afford the talents of such an expert (although I have consulted with one of the best) nor can I actually afford the materials needed in order to accomplish this project, but I CAN turn it into a blog post...

Here is a view of my living room:


Pathetic... I know... but I didn't get the design part of the gay gene... I DID get appreciation of musical theater, HGTV and the attraction to men, but not the decorating or dressing parts.

So... as you can see there are no window treatments up there. Well there is one, a pull down shade that I bought at Lowes about 4 days after I moved in. This needs to be dressed up. "P" and I have different opinions on how to go about doing this.

As you look at these next images, disregard the colors, and the stripes and all... those are just there to get my point across (not that I am opposed to these colors or these patterns, but neither am I especially attracted to them either).

Option 1:


Curtains... floor to ceiling. In the photo above they are pulled over the window but left open at the door, but the could be pulled completely closed. I'm thinking curtains like these with the big grommets and thick pole (quit it).

Option 2:


Roman shades. A large upholstered box valance at the top of the window (to give the illusion of height... thank you Candice) and a smaller shade that covers the glass in the door. When I was drawing this I thought about putting a shelf over the door and putting stuff on it, but more than one person has already pointed out that tall things over a door might not be a good idea... so picture maybe a photo or mirror or moosehead there.

So what do you think? Option 1 or Option 2? So far the only professional designer to take a look at my rudimentary plans and I are in agreement. "P" likes the other option... I'll tell you which is which after you tell me what you like best!

Feel free by the way, to mock up your own mockup... I'll take all the free design advice I can get!


P.S. disregard the TV... that will magically be transforming into something thin and wall mounted in the coming months.

It feels just like starting over

Monday (tomorrow) the next phase in my career begins.

Two weeks ago I was informed that the main show I have been working on had been cancelled. There would be 10 more episodes and then it would be done. Almost exactly 4 months ago I was blogging about my move from "operations" to "editorial" and how nervous I was about it. This was one of the very scenarios I was concerned about. The show was a "next day replay" of a show on one of our sister networks. In this DVR day and age having a few replays is not a bad idea. If you miss Law and Order SVU on NBC Tuesday at 9pm, you can catch the replay on USA later in the week. I mean the first run stuff. New shows, different networks (same parent company), different nights. Makes a lot of sense. "My" replay just wasn't getting the numbers it needed. This was always an experiment, and I knew that going in.

There were other problems too... it was a topical interview/news program. Sometimes that kind of information just doesn't "keep" well overnight, and in the case of a Friday show, that I wouldn't get to air until the following Monday... well.. it just didn't always make for the most topical hour on TV.

The show in question, by the way, will live on in it's current form on it's home network. It's only "my" replay that's been axed.

So starting Monday a "next day replay" of a different show is taking "my" show's place. The new show is formatted around a topic that addresses less "vital" (but NO LESS INTERESTING) matters which will be easier to replay. It also already runs on my network's schedule, and as such matches the existing break structure so there'll be only a minimum amount (if any) of editing involved in order to turn it around. "My" show originally aired with 6 breaks and had to be chopped up to fit into an 8 break structure.

So, where does all this leave me?

It seems that while I was overseeing my replay, I made a good impression on some of the muckity mucks in the newsroom and instead of throwing this baby out with the bathwater, they've reassigned me. On Monday I'll be joining a new show team. A GOOD show I think too. Two hours of mostly live news Monday through Friday, anchored by a person I like and respect and helmed by a team of people who I think "get it." The hours (frankly) KICK ASS and I finally get a DESK with my own computer and phone (after 8 years) too! Do I have any idea how to DO this new job? Not really. I have some of the tools but nowhere near the full toolbox. With just months to go till my 40th birthday, this is definitely a big change, and I'll definitely be the oldest dude in this position... but I'm up for it.

A nice thing is that I have been on vacation this past week. So I've had some time off to refresh and reset my brain (in more ways than one... oooooh cryptic).

OH... the best part... I can take the train to work again! That was one of the reasons I bought THIS NEW CONDO to begin with! Woo Hoo!

P.S. - This is another reason why it's not a bad thing that the Holiday Help deal didn't work out.

Astro-Hot

Was watching some of the coverage of the Space Station repair going on in orbit right now. At one point they put up a picture of the astronaut doing the actual work of repairing a solar array.


Hot, right? I was shocked! I mean, yeah, astronauts have kind of an automatic hotness about them but wow. Then I read his bio... which I wont post here, but the guy grew up all over the world, is a medical doctor, mountain climber, Olympic luge coach... the list goes on and on and on! You can read it for yourself here.

Not sure why I am posting this...

The Northside Ballet

Here in Atlanta we have an establishment that caters to ladies and gentlemen who appreciate masculine physical fitness and rhythmic ability. The venue is colloquially referred to as "The Northside Ballet."

That's where I could be found last night... giving dollars to a young man mostly dressed as Indiana Jones.

Paying for it a little this morning... figuratively and literally. Between the cabs and the cover and the $5.50 beers and the tipping (OH THE TIPPING) I definitely spent some coin. Sooooo worth it though. Indiana Jones was SO worth it.

So yeah... I went to a strip club... it was Halloween, I'm on vacation and even had "P's" blessing. I had a great time, hung out with friends I haven't been able to spend much time with lately, played it totally safe by not driving...

Why then do I feel so stupid this morning?

Modern Life on MARTA

Hi, I'm [Condoblogger]...

For all of his wonderfulness, there is one area in which "P" does not do very well in. He's a bad introducer. I'll be standing next to him for long periods of time without being introduced while he talks to someone. It's not something that bothers me... we've talked about it and I know it's not a comment on me or anything like that, it's just one of his foibles.

Ultimately I introduce myself and we move on.

SOMETIMES this is a carefully crafted tactic on "P's" part. On occasion he will not REMEMBER someone's name and so my JOB is to introduce myself, thus forcing the other person to introduce his or herself as well. Then "P" can just apologize for not introducing us AND pretend that he knew the other person's name all along.

Last night we were at a party (not a Halloween one, just a regular one) and "P" was having a conversation with a guy who is looking for work in "P's" line of business. As usual I was not introduced. Also as usual (at a party) I had been drinking. So at a lull in their conversation I stuck my hand out and said, "Hi, I'm [Condoblogger]," and the guy replied in kind with a greeting and his name, and their conversation moved on.

About 5 minutes later, I realize that I have not yet been introduced to this guy, so at a lull in their conversation I stick my hand out and say, "Hi, I'm [Condoblogger]." Both the guy and "P" look at me as if I were from Mars, and "P" says, "We know. You just introduced yourself a couple minutes ago." I was so embarrassed. Still am. I am terrible at parties. I try too hard, drink too much and interrupt too often.

Is this early Alzheimer's or a Pavlovian response to certain party stimuli or was I just drunk? At least I won't forget that guy's name now... "Good to meet you, Chris."

Off Target

Guess they don't need my holiday help. Hmph.

Needless to say, I'm shocked. If I go in there and see one of these people working I may loose what is left of my self esteem.

Actually, there is a whole 'nuther component to this story now. My REAL job has changed yet again and my new hours would not be compatible with a shift at my favorite retailer... so it all worked out sort of.

Even so, I'm still pissed I didn't get an offer.

Uncontrolled Fire Sucks

So tough to watch all the tragedy in California right now.

I've been there... in both senses of the word "there."

I've been "there" in Southern California during fire season. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley just outside L.A. I went to a private school west of my 'hood down the 101 for my Elementary/Jr. High school years. It was evacuated a couple times due to fires that raced from Agoura to the sea following Kanan Dume Road. The school never burned (much to me and my classmates chagrin) but it came close. Hopping over 12 lanes of freeway to get to us.

A lifetime later... Superbowl Sunday 2001, here in Atlanta, the house I shared with my first "living together" boyfriend burned badly.



That's our bedroom on top and an adjacent study in the pic below that.

We'd had friends over to watch the game earlier in the day and had been making good use of the fireplace. I think we must have had it running (gas flame, gas logs) all day. It wasn't until late that night that the house caught fire though.

I used to joke that "Queer as Folk" saved my ex's life. After our friends had left and I'd gone to work he stayed up late to watch it. If he'd gone to bed at his normal time, the smoke probably would have lulled him into unconsciousness before the fire really got going.

The investigator's best guess is that there was a structural defect that developed in the chimney slowly over the 70 years the house stood there. Somehow the wood framing adjacent to the fireplace (you can see the chimney coming up through the second floor in the lower pic) became superheated and just combusted. There's also a good chance that whoever converted the attic space into living space had improperly built the staircase framing too close to the chimney but most of that evidence was lost in the blaze.

The fire probably smoldered in the wall for hours before really lighting up and breaking through a light switch at the top of the steps. When my ex tells the story, the house "burned down" but in reality it was just very badly damaged. The pics above are of the upstairs, water and smoke caused most of the damage downstairs. That was really the worst of it. In a way I wish the house had burned completely to the ground. That way everything would have been gone... clean slate. Instead we had to go in and try and decide which of the memories that survived the flames were salvageable, and which were just too far gone. Seeing the stuff that I loved damaged was much harder than just never seeing it again.

It was traumatic, but our neighbors and friends came together and helped us out... I am trying to imagine what the atmosphere in Lake Arrowhead must be like... or Castaic Lake where whole NEIGHBORHOODS are trying to deal and cope. Over 1500 homes burned to the ground. Amazing.

click --->here<--- to find out some ways to help

OK, How Butch am I?

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I came across this test on Mike's blog (he is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). The first time I took it I was Platoon but I forgot to cut and paste the code. So I took it again, surprisingly similar films! I did the 45 question survey (doesn't take as long as you would imagine). Which one are you?

Lots of movie posts in my little blogosphere right now... the post that started it all on Mike's page, then there's Jason's post about Kubrick, Paul's post about Into the Wild, even cerebral Joe posted about the cinema on the beach this week. What's up with that?

Weather, Wishes and the Weekend

It's RAINING!!! YAY!!! Holy CRAP do we need the rain in Georgia! Depending on who you believe the city of Atlanta may have a less than 90 supply of water. It's a little weird to think about. They've already banned outdoor watering and waiters bringing glasses of water to your table... hopefully this weather will last a while. It's not a drought butster but it's nice to see rain again for sure!

Could this wet weather be some sort of meteorlogical omen to alert Georgians of a certain Seattle blogger's 40th birthday?


Happy B-Day Matt!

Over the weekend "P" and I were very community service oriented.

Saturday morning we helped out at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Here's me in the Product Rescue Center warehouse being VERY GRUMPY about agreeing to volunteer:


Of course, just like with any good deed, I felt great once we were done.

Later on Saturday we saw "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" which was not as bad as I thought it would be. Clive Owen is hot. That's pretty much what I got out of it.

Sunday we were back in charitable mode. We walked with my company in Aids Walk Atlanta.



Always an interesting crowd at the Aids Walk. BEAUTIFUL weather for the event.

Then Sunday night we saw SLEUTH at the Tony Award Winning Alliance Theater. I was confused. I'm just gonna leave it there... no review.

How was your weekend?