Written by Russell K Davies

Those of you know me in real life are probably beginning to wonder if I’m OK. Why? Because it’s been four days now since the new episodes of Doctor Who started airing in the United Kingdom and I have yet to mention anything about them.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a huge Doctor Who fan. I stumbled across the show close to 20 years ago and it’s been an obsession of mine ever since. The show ran for 26 seasons in the UK before taking a short 16 year break and now, it’s back. Three weeks ago, the first episode of the new series leaked out onto the Internet. Many of my good Doctor Who friends on-line made me aware that I could preview the episode early.

But, I decided I’d have will power. I’d wait for the episodes to play here in the United States. Surely some network executive would see the light of picking up new episodes of the greatest television show ever made and airing it. Alas, that hasn’t happened yet, proving once again that most network executives are idiots.

My will power lasted all of five seconds. Within seconds, I was getting the software needed and pulling down a copy of the first episode. I couldn’t wait to see it. I watched the little percentage meter throughout the day as it slowly scrolled up and up. Finally, I had the entire episode.

I burned it to CD and sat back to take in the first new Doctor Who I’d seen since the 1996 FOX movie.

Starting it up, I have to admit I was a bit nervous. For years, Doctor Who has existed and been kept alive by the fans. There have been novels, audio stories, all kinds of fan fiction. And the best part was—if an audio story or novel didn’t jive with yow you saw Doctor Who, you just ignored it. You said—it’s not a TV episode, so that doesn’t count. But now, we’ve got a new series, one that is run by an admitted fan of the show. The biggest danger is that the vision that producer Russell K Davies has for the show might not be the same one I have—or that a zillion and one other Whovians out there have. This could be very, very dangerous.

Also, I have to admit that while I love Doctor Who, I’m not necessarily the target audience anymore. Much has been made of the fact that Doctor Who is made for the intelligent 12 year-old. Yes, there are things for the older crowd in there, but I’m long past the age where I’m a target audience for my favorite show. So, while I was happy it was back, I was also taking the approach that the show wasn’t being made for just me, the way I wanted it. It was being made for a new generation of fans. Let’s face it—they had me watching just because it said Doctor Who. The real challenge was going to be bringing in the new Doctor Who fan.

All this was going through my mind as I sat down to watch the first episode of the new series.

Well, that and “Cool! New Doctor Who!”

The prospect of new Doctor Who just thrills me to the tips of my toes, to be quite honest with you.

So, I’ll admit I went into the first episode of the new series with cautious optimism. I was determined to give it a fair shake, but hopefully not be too gushing of a fanboy about it. But I also didn’t want to dismiss it too easily if it didn’t meet up to my huge expectations for it.

One episode into the new series and I think we’ve got something here.

Wisely enough, Russell K Davies spends the first hour of the new Doctor Who re-introducing us to the universe of Doctor Who. How?

By introducing us to the companion first.

Over the years, the best way to get to know a new Doctor is through how his companions or friends react to him. This was, in my mind, one of the huge shortcomings of the FOX movie back in 1996. It not only had to get us a new Doctor, but also a new companion as well. As an audience, we had no way to know much about the new Doctor because we didn’t know much about anyone he was interacting with.

This time around, Davies takes care of that. The episode is called “Rose” with good reason. It focuses on the new companion, Rose. We follow her around and see her life, her various interactions with the new Doctor and her learning more about who the Doctor really is. The new Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, is on screen for about half the episode, if not less. The only times we see him are when his path crosses with Rose. I love this for a couple of reasons. One is that for years the central mystery of the show was just who is the Doctor. That sense of mystery has returned a bit with this storyline. Also, by establishing Rose a bit, we the audience have a way to get to know and understand the Doctor. We get a few hints about the new Doctor—he seems a combination of Tom Baker, Patrick Troughton and Sylvester McCoy. But Ecceleston brings something of his own to the role. What it is yet, I’m not quite sure. There is a definite chemistry between the Doctor and Rose—in that the new Doctor seems to need an audience for his brilliant feats and his defeat of alien monster. Rose seems to fit that bill and I like the give and take between the two. It feels like some of the best Doctor/companion teams for the original series.

That’s not to say “Rose” is really all that original a story. It’s not breaking a lot of new ground. It’s a re-telling for the classic Pertwee era story “Spearhead from Space” which introduced us to the third Doctor. That’s not exactly a bad thing. If you’re going to emulate a good first story for a Doctor, you might as well go for one of the best. “Rose” borrows heavily from “Spearhead from Space” even down to the main villain of the piece, the Autons. And just like in the 70s we see the real terror of the Autons is that they can make normal every day things made of plastic become scary. Back in the two original Auton stories, things like phone chords, plastic flowers and policemen became scary. Here it’s trash bins and shop dummies (also used in the original). And it works. The Autons work well as villains and monsters—even taking over Rose’s boyfriend at one point and making him one of them to lead her into a trap and flush out the Doctor.

They know the Doctor can stop their invasion, by defeating the Nestenes. In the end, the Doctor does this by using a bit of “anti-plastic” No technobabble here. The Doctor, typical to the Pertwee era, just comes up with some stuff that defeats the enemy and saves the day. We need no long-winded ground in hard science explanation. The Autons use plastic as a weapon, so the Doctor uses anti-plastic to defeat them. Makes sense to me. Just in the same way that mushrooms can clean up toxic waste and defeat giant maggots. It makes sense within the context of the story.

So, overall, the story is a nice one. It’s not great, but it’s still twenty times better than the story that started the McCoy years with “Time and the Rani.” It shows some potential. It’s left me curious and wanting to see more. It’s done what a good pilot should do—hook you into the characters, the series and the premise and left you wanting for more. I am hopeful that as the next twelve or so episodes unfold, it continues to build on all this.

All I know is that, for now, I'm satisfied. The new Doctor Who is exactly what I'd hope it'd be. And the most exciting part is that next week, we get a new installment. It's been 16 years since I could look forward to new Doctor Who for any length of time (the FOX movie doesn't count for me since it was a back door pilot for the show in the U.S. and never got picked up...all I could do was cross my fingers and hope). I can't wait for next week to see what happens next...er, I mean...until they pick it up in the U.S. to start airing it. Yeah, that's it!

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The hiatus pauses
For those of us out there suffering from withdrawals for new episodes of Lost, ABC is helping out a bit. Instead of making us wait six weeks between new episodes, we get the first of two new episodes tonight. (I think the fact that ABC is luanching a new show, Eyes, has a bit to do with this since Alias tends to do better with new Lost as a lead-in).

Tonight's episode is a Locke-centric one, which I have high hopes for. The last Locke-centered one was the brilliant "Walkabout" that pretty much cemented Lost as a "must see" series for me.

USA Today features an article about Terry O'Quinn who plays Locke. A lot of it is stuff we've heard before in an article a few weeks ago. But hey, it's still interesting.

In other Lost news, the season finale has been expanded from 90 minutes to 2-hours. That's good news for Lost. It's also scheduled to air the same night as the bloated, overhyped, overexpanded final episode of American Idol. I hope Lost kicks American Idol's tail in the ratings that night. I just hate how every reality show these days has to have a 2-hour wrap-up show when, honestly, the 2-hour episodes would be better at the beginning of the season when there are more people to fill the time rather than just aimlessly trying to fill 2-hours of air time (I'm looking at you Survivor and The Apprentice).

posted by Michael at 3/30/2005 03:17:00 PM | |

Ransom note
Saw this over on Anna Bannana who got it for Buzz-a-Roni who got it from...well, you know how that goes.

You can try it out for youself here.

posted by Michael at 3/30/2005 11:01:00 AM | |

Too hot for Harvard?
A female librarian, Desiree Goodwin, at the Harvard has filed a suit against the University, alleging that she was discriminated against because "she is black, female and dresses too sexily."
In the suit, Goodwin alleges that she has been passed over from promotion 16 times in the past several years, all by people who are "less qualified" than she is. An article in the The Boston Globe says the following.

In her lawsuit, Goodwin alleges that in December 2001, a female supervisor told
her she'd never be promoted at Harvard because she was viewed as a ''pretty
girl" who wore ''sexy outfits," including low-cut blouses and tight clothing

Thanks to local talk show host, Steve Gill, we have to pictures of Ms. Goodwin. This morning, Gill was asking people to go to his web site and decide if Goodwin was "too hot for Harvard."

Looking at these photos, I'm going to assume that these are not the types of outfits that caused the suit in question.

What I am curious about it are there any photos out there of what she allegedly wore to work and that caused her to get passed over for promotion? No, I'm not curious just because I want to see a hot woman on the Internet. Heaven only knows that if I wanted to see an attractive woman in revealing clothing, I could just surf over to a myriad of web sites. No, what I'm curious about is were the clothes a reflection of her attitude or her professional perception. Having done the whole job search thing in the past year, I know that what you wear to an interview can say just as much or more about you than the words on your resume or the answer you give to the interview questions. Or was there a dress code within the system that she chose to ignore or perhaps tried to push the limits of? There are ways for men and women to be both fashionable and professional in the attire they wear to the office. But it can sometimes be a fine line.

posted by Michael at 3/30/2005 09:54:00 AM | |
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
24: Day Four, 9-10 p.m.
It's inevitable in every season of 24 that there's a bit of lull in the action of the day. Last year, we had the infamous trip to Mexico and this year, it seems as if the past three or so episodes have been a bit of a holding pattern. I'm going to have to agree with Barry that the last couple of weeks 24 has lost a bit of the focus that held the early hours of this season together so well. It's seemed as if CTU and Jack were chasing their tails, pursuing whatever wild goose chase cropped up this week for the team to go after. Meanwhile, we only get hints of Marwan's plan--which apparently involves infilitrating an Air Force base and stealing a stealth bomber. In a lot of ways, the whole plotline of the Air Force base infilitration reminds a lot of what's going on over at Alias with Jack and Sloane hinting that some evil plan is in place but not really bothering to give us any solid hints or clues as to what it might be. But, by golly, it sure is evil!

During the latest hour of 24, I found myself second-guessing a lot of what was going on. I had to laugh out loud when Marwan told his lackies to get CTU on the phone and two minutes later, he's talking to Michelle Dessler. First of all, is CTU listed in the phone book? If so, do they go under "Spies" or "Anti-Terrorism" in the yellow pages? And apparently, CTU doesn't have a night answering service, since the calls is routed right into the main headquarters of CTU. Yeah, how many prank calls a day do they get that way? No wonder Edgar is so short with everyone. I'd be pretty upset if I spent all day chasing down Mr. I.P. Freely.

Then, we have the whole getting on the Air Force base agenda. Now, I am probably coming at this as my father was career Air Force so I can quiz him on things that could NEVER happen. Such as the traitor guy being on the flight line with a cell phone. Not allowed and since it's clear the phone wasn't on vibrate, then surely somoene else heard it. Also, what'd he do with the body of the technician he killed? Finally, you'd think with a top secret plane being out there that maybe someone would notice--hey the tech guy and the guy claiming to be a captain of the plane look a lot alike. And do stealth bombers only need only pilot to fly them? Surely the Air Force wouldn't let a stealth bomber go up with just ONE pilot, would they?

I know, I know--willing suspension of disbelief. But you've got to make it at least slightly plausible, you know.

Now that I've got the nitpicking out of the way, I found it interesting that Marwan worked so hard to distract CTU from his real plan when the inefficienty and pissing contest of Chloe and Edgar did it for him. I liked the tension around should we exchange Behrooz for Jack and seeing how Marwan pulls everyone's strings to get them to do what he wants. But here's another point. Marwan isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. I realize that for the sake of drama, we have to keep things moving, but his exchanging Jack for Behroozz within thirty minutes of his bad-guy hang-out doesnt' make much sense. Why? Because now CTU can say--hey, he's within a half-hour radius of here. Heck, I think CTU missed a huge opportunity here...if you know he's with that radius, you cordon it off so that when he does try to move after making the trade for Jack, he can't get out of a contained area. Why is is that no one came up with this idea?

And Jack was exactly right when he stated that he was not worth trading. Of course, since he's the hero and the hero of the show can't die, we all knew they'd go through with this. For a few minutes, I fully expected CTU to say, "No, not doing it" and Audrey to pull rank or call Heller to order CTU to get Jack back.

Speaking of Audrey--so, last week she was concerned beyond concern about Paul. Yet this week, all she can think about is--will Jack be OK? This after wondering if she really could love Jack or be with him based on what she knows about him now. You know, this woman's loyalty to the man in her life changes more often than most of us change pants. I am beginning to go back to my original suspicion that Audrey is somehow connected to the terrorist plot. It seems to make some sense--she knew where her father would be to start the day. I'm not sure if this is how it should go because in a lot of ways this makes Audrey too much of a pale retread of Nina. But, we've got to give her something more interesting to do than sit around ,wringing her hands at the fate of the two men she's romantically linked to.

Every day of 24 has lulls in the action. At least this week, the lull was used to maybe try and kick-start some plot. 24 is generally broken up into eight hour blocks. So, I just hope that the last block of stories get things back on track to how intriguing the events were in the first few hours of the day. I'm not losing patience with the show--I'm addicted as ever. But there needs to be some edge-of-your-seat, thrill moments to come in the next few hours.

Either that or we need to bring Kim back and have her threatened by a cougar...

posted by Michael at 3/29/2005 08:33:00 AM | |
Monday, March 28, 2005
Interview meme: Logtar

And last but not least in my interview meme is my good buddy, Logtar, who volunteered late Friday afternoon to be part of the fun.

1. May I call you Loggie? No, I guess not. For those of you who don't know, Logtar was born in Columbia and spent some of his childhood in Columbia. Could you share with us some of your memories of growing up in Columbia, please?

2. Logtar is lucky enough to have met Ceilo and fallen in love with her. Also lucky for him, she loves him also and has agreed to marry him. Alright buddy. Tell us about the first time you met Cielo.

3. Often when I've chatted with Logtar on-line, he's invited me up to visit him and hit the big city of Chicago for some fun. If I were to come up to visit and we could only visit one thing in Chicago, what would it be?

4. Another thing I like about chatting with Logtar is that his faith is very important to him. I think this is one of the first things you'll notice about him if you do chat with him or by reading his blog archives. Please tell us about about the importance of your faith and your daily walk.

5. You used to do movie reviews on a regular basis, but of late not that many. Not any movies worth reviewing or just no time? What is the best movie you've seen? The worst?

Thanks to Barry, Stacy, Misti, Becky, Aaron and Logtar for all playing this. I've enjoyed the experience. Now the challenge is for y'all to find five people to interview in your blog (I will return the favor if you'd like.) And I will post links to everyone's answers when I see them on-line!

posted by Michael at 3/28/2005 04:19:00 PM | |

Interview meme: Aaron
A couple of weeks ago, I was surfing around blogs and came across the He Says, She Says blog run by Aaron and Tami. I enjoyed what I read there and added their blog to my BlogRoll. Last week, Aaron threw caution to the wind and volunteered to be part of the Interview Meme challenge. So, here are his five questions.

1. Last week, you revealed in your blog that you had not seen Star Wars: Episode I or II when they were released in the theaters. As a Star Wars fan, I have to ask--did you enjoy seeing the original trilogy when you were younger? And what kept you from seeing the movies when they were released in the theaters?

2. I find it interesting that you share your blog with Tami. Tell us a bit about Tami. How'd y'all meet? How long have you been together? Details...we want details!

3. Whose idea was it to have a "He said, she said" type of blog?

4. In your blog, you confess to being a bit of a neat freak. Are we talking about a neat freak like Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld where he tore his whole apartment apart to find out what one of his girlfriends put in the toliet after he dropped her toothbrush in the toliet and then didn't tell her? (Extra credit if you can tell me what the girlfriend of the week put in the toliet to drive Jerry crazy).

5. When you first commented on my blog a few weeks ago, you made a note about my orange and white color scheme. This makes me wonder--what teams--college or pro--do you pull for?

posted by Michael at 3/28/2005 03:42:00 PM | |

Where does George Lucas get his ideas?

posted by Michael at 3/28/2005 12:13:00 PM | |

TV Round-Up
Battlestar Galactica: By Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part One
Is it just me or have the past 11 or so weeks just flown by? It seems like just yesterday I was tuning in for 33 and Water and now, here we are only one episode left from the end of season one. And, what a great ride it's been in the first season for Battlestar Galactica. (And the best news--unlike the original, we will get a season two.)

I'll be honest here--I was really looking forward to this episode. I've heard a lot of good buzz from the fans in the UK who saw this episode weeks agao. I've stayed away from SPOILERs for specific details, but the general buzz on-line that this one was not to be missed.

All I can say is--I'm hopeful that part one was about putting pieces in play and part two is about knocking them all down. I have a feeling that Ron Moore and company intended this to air as a two-hour movie rather than a two-part story with a week's gap in between. Because this first hour felt like it was tying up a lot of things and then spinning them off in a new direction.

Like the Baltar/Kara/Lee triangle. As the teaser unfolded, I thought we were seeing some flashes of moments from Lee's life. Becuase for a good bit of the teaser, it seemed as if we were being teased that Lee and Kara had finally got together. Then, we find out it's not Lee, but Baltar. This serves as a catalyst to not only send Six off on a jealous tangent (after telling Baltar last week that it was OK for him to sleep around and not even really seeming to mind when he hooked up with the female reporter) and having Lee get his nose out of joint. Interesting that in a lot of ways what Baltar and Starbuck do here in terms of fraternization is exactly what Boomer and Tryol were doing as the season started--and we see the dim view that Tigh and others took of that relationship. Somehow, I don't get the feeling that Starbuck and Baltar will become a long-term thing. I can't imagine Six allowing that to continue--again, in light of her jealousy here. To the point that she manages to slam Baltar's head into a mirror and he ends up hurting himself. As Ron Moore brings up in his podcast, this puts the whole Six/Batlar thing in many disburbing new lights--if she's not real, that's disturbing, but if she is, she has a lot of control over his body. Or is she really there?

Meanwhile, Baltar's journey into the non-redemption continues. The scene were Baltar goes to Boomer and encourages her to kill herself was really well done. Baltar's manipulation of her--to cover his own tracks--was very well done. And I have to wonder--did Boomer really miss or did some part of her Cylon programming make so she couldn't kill herself and thus, not complete her purpose on Galactica?

And the question continues to linger--is Roslin slowly slipping into the same madness and ego-centricity that Baltar is? Think about it. Roslin believes that the fleet has found Kobol. She sees a vision in the map and believes that she is fulfiling prophecy. So much so that she betrays Adama's confidence that he has no clue where Earth is in order to forward her own agenda--she wants to be the Moses of the fleet, leading her people to the promised land. Also, you have to wonder if the Cylons aren't manipulating Roslin. A few weeks ago, a Cylon agent says they will find Kobol. And then when they apparently do, the Cylons have a base-star there waiting. Could the Cylons have jumped ahead and been waiting for the fleet to fall into their trap?

Roslin's telling Starbuck that Adama lied about where Earth was was a great moment. As was Kara's calling to ask Adama about it. The episode ends with Starbuck following the instructions of Roslin to go back to Capria, retrieve the Arrow of Apollo and return it. That way, Roslin can fulfill her destiny. Somehow, I have a feeling not everything is going to go smoothly and that a lot of relationships have been damaged by the events set in motion here.

All that said, I'm eager to see where the final hour of the season takes us. I'm hoping for a bang to end the season.

Arrested Development: Sword of Destiny
Sometimes this show is just too hysterically funny--like with this week's episode "Sword of Destiny." The references to FOX reducing the order of episode for this year and the huge ads for Family Guy that pop up on screen were great (And interesting that Family Guy will take over AR's slot in a few weeks) . Good to know The Simpsons aren't the only show that can get away with this. And that FOX apparently has a good sense of humor about the whole thing. I loved everyone's comments about the order reduction doesn't look good and then the company having to lower costs to survive--are these hints that the show might just make it after all? Meanwhile, Ben Stiller guests star as a rival magician to Gob and hilarity enuses. I can't believe FOX didn't make more of Stiller's guest appareance on the show.

Also, the ending where George Michael's attempts to make a Star Wars video of his own and falling into the hands of the FBI were classic.

posted by Michael at 3/28/2005 11:10:00 AM | |
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Friday's Feast
Ack! I forgot to play on Friday. Hopefully better late than never!

Appetizer - What is the worst movie you've ever seen?

That wasn't made fun of on MST3K? LOL.

Part of me wants to say Wing Commander but it actually did have a few redeeming values. I think it's underrated but that still doesn't make it good. And thankfully I skipped Battlefield: Earth. I'm almost tempted to say the last hour and a half of the Postman when Costner veered off from the novel and turned it into, well, a crappy Kevin Costner movie. The first half is good...the last half is unwatchable. And Tom Petty shows up in the second half...ugh!

Soup - Name something that reminds you of your childhood.

When I was growing up, I had a ton of those Power records about various super heroes--Spiderman, Batman, Superman, etc. I love listening to those--in fact, it was those that helped me discover my fandom that is Star Trek. When BrainBoy was little, I was hopeful they'd release some of them on CD for the nostalgia value and so I could buy 'em and share 'em with him. But, alas, not yet. Now that Davis is getting older, I am hoping they will release them on CD so I can get them and share them with him.

Salad - If you had to live in a large city, which one would you want it to be?

I'm going to be boring and say Nashville. I like the city, honestly.

Main Course - What's a "big word" you like to use to impress people?

I've been accused of being too intellectual and using big words to try and impress people. I am not sure if there is one particular word that I enjoy more than any other.

Dessert - Describe your hairstyle.

Messy. I have several cowlicks so my hair has a mind of its own most days. But I do part it and comb it over. I also keep it short on my neck. Helps with the swimming.

posted by Michael at 3/27/2005 12:27:00 PM | |

Hoppy Easter
Happy Easter to everyone out there in the BlogSphere. Hope the Easter Bunny was good to you!

posted by Michael at 3/27/2005 12:09:00 PM | |
Friday, March 25, 2005
Interview meme; Becky
And now it's time for victim number four--Becky from over at April Fool. Here we go...

1. For those of you who don't know, Becky lives in Hawaii. Now, I've been fortunate enough to live in Hawaii also when I was much younger and to have visited when my parents were stationed there again in my mid-20's. My question for Becky is this--if we were to visit you in Hawaii, what is one thing off the beaten path or not a huge tourist spot that you'd take us to visit?

2. Your work in real esate. Who do you prefer to work with--buyers or sellers? Why?

3. You've shared a lot of great stories about your family. Is there another good story about you growing up that you can share with us?

4. Any good stories about Reese (Becky's dog) that we should know. Any new pictures? And how did you teach him to drive? What are the insurance rates for a small dog to drive these days?

5. Once upon a time, you told me the story about some freinds of yours encountering Kiefer Sutherland while he was filming 24. Cool story. Could you share it here?

posted by Michael at 3/25/2005 02:37:00 PM | |

Another interview with me!
Yesterday, I posted a series of questions for Barry as part of the Interview meme. Now, it's my turn in the hot seat to answer questions for Barry...

1. You've been an "uncle" to my kids, whose real uncle lives far away. You're always a new uncle to your sister's new children. What does being an uncle mean to you, and how important should the concept of "village raising", i.e. other family and friends assisting the parents, be with children today?

I'm a Christian who goes to a Methodist church. And one part of the baptism ceremony is when the congregation responds that we will help to raise the child. I take this vow very seriously because I am accepting responsiblity for helping in the nuture and loving of the child. Now, this does not mean I'm anywhere near as important as their parents in raising the child, but it does mean I have a role. I work hard to be a good influence on the kids. There are a lot of things I can do to help raise a child. I can teach Sunday School, volunteer with the youth, etc. One of the biggest I think is that I can show them through my life that--hey, you can be a Christian and still have a sense of humor. Last Sunday, I dressed up as the Easter bunny at church for the kids. Some of the youth said--man, I wish I could that next year. So, I see that as an immediate sort of impact--getting them to realize that it's easy and fun to help others. Also, I am pretty open about my life and the mistakes I've made. I think that the best example a young person can have--of any age--is that the person who says, "Yep, I've made mistakes, I'm not proud of it, but I know I'm forgiven."

And, of course, the best thing you can give anyone is the gift of your time. Yes, I had fun picking out the Full House DVDs for BrainyBoy, but if I didn't spend any time getting to know Craig and what he liked, how would I know to buy those for him? The best thing you can give a kid is a bit of yourself and your time.

2. I first met you at the Methodist Student Center at UT, and you attended my church in Knoxville for a while. Now you go to one in Nashville. How important is God to you in your life, and can you describe a particularly spiritual experience that you've had?

If there is anything the past couple of years has made abundently clear, it is that God is very important in my life. He's pretty much the center of my life and I try to live in His will. Funny you should ask this as the other day a friend asked me what did I mean by "living God's will" in a meme I posted here. And I told her about my Quantum Leap theology. If you saw the final episode, Sam leaps to this bar where he meets people from his previous leaps and a bartender who it's heavily implied is God. Sam wonders what he's doing leaping about--is he making a difference? It all seems to random to him. Sam asks--can I go home? And the bartender/God replies, "Sam you could go home all the time. You know how." Also, there is discussion of how the Leaps build on each other--getting harder as time goes along. And that God has a definite purpose to Sam's leaps--but it was Sam who chose the way to get there. He could take the easy way--by following God--or the more difficult route by following what Sam wanted. Either way, you get to the same place. So, for me, this is how I see things. God has a purpose in my life, but He leaves it to me to figure out how to get there from here. I can be like Sam and try to do it all msyelf or I can be faithful, surrender and follow God's path. Also, my faith and acceptance of Jesus does not mean life is gonna be easy. In fact, it is only going to, at times, be harder as Satan does not like this choice. But I take comfort in knowing that if God leads me to it, He will be with me through it and beyond. But it's taken a lot of heartache and being broken to my lowest point to realize all this.

As for a time in my life that was spiritual. So many. I am gonna tell a good story about Barry here.

In the summer of 2001, my sister was expecting she and her husband's first child. She lost the baby and due to some complications, we almost lost her. I got a call at work from my my mom to go home and be ready to come to Nashville as it might be the last time I'd see my sister. (This only weeks earlier thinking how lucky I was to have a sister) . I sent out an e-mail to friends for prayer and went home. I was a wreck. I hit my knees, begging God to save her. During all this, I made plans to drive to Nashville, not in a state where I needed to be anywhere near a road. Barry called or e-mailed, I forgot which and told me that if I had to go that night, he was driving me...no if's and's or but's about it. At that moment, I realized that I had cried out for help to God...that I needed someone to help me through this, to be strong for my baby sister. To me, that was a huge moment...because God heard a prayer that I had said in my heart, but hadn't said outloud and answered it before I knew it.

That's just one of many, many stories....

3. Tell us about your mother and father and sister and what they mean to you.

My family. Very important to me. My father was career Air Force. He spent 30 plus year serving our country and retired a full colonel. He's also one of my best friends. He's called me his "buddy" since I can remember. He takes good care of our family. He is very much a the head of the household as described in the Bible. The thing I think about when I think about Mom is that she was a stay at home Mom while my sister and I were in school. She would work part time but be home for us in the afternoons.

And my sister. Until about her 9th grade year, we didnt' get along. Then she went to high school and I realized she was pretty cool. I am definitely a big brother...very overprotective. I am going to give BB some good lessons on how to be a great big brother when your baby sister starts dating..

4. Next, tell us an amusing story about when you worked at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg

This is revenge for the Theta games question isn't it?

For those of you who may not know, I worked at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA for three summers while at UT. Loved it. Great fun and great way to meet new friends--my parents moved away from where I gradudated high school. I am sure Barry would love it if I had a picture of the embarassing outfits I had to wear while working there, but alas, I don't. (I am sure my Mom does though). There were so many stories--including the time that Mariah Carey dropped by my shop. Or how Gretchen and I would pick a Seinfeld line to say to each other at random times the day after it aired. Or Antoinette Theresa Anastasia DeRose...wow, what a girl.

But one thing I remember is working near the best roller coaster in the park, the Big Bad Wolf. It was as suspended roller coaster and it swung out. It was awesome. The best part was that I made friends with the crew that worked on it and so, after hours, when the park was closing down, we'd ride on it. Without anyone else around. It was awesome. I will not reveal that we turned off certain safety features to make it more exciting either...

5. Finally...The Washington Redskins vs the Tennessee Titans are playing in Super Bowl XXXXI. I'm sitting right there with you watching the game and so are 400 of your closest Titans fan friends. Whose jersey are you wearing?

First of all, I could only dream that this is the match-up for this year's Super Bowl. If only.

Let me now explain my complicated fandom. Growing up a military brat, I was always a Tenenssee fan. Vols that is. Well, we lived near D.C. in the early 80s when the Redskisn were good and won their first SuperBowl. I got hooked then. I have been a fan since then, seeing them through good and bad and the Spurrier regime. Well, then a while ago, the Titans pulled into Tenenssee and suddenly I had a new tema to love. But I couldn't turn my back on my first love. So, it's like this--I pull for the Redskins and Titans every week...unless they play each other. And then I' m all for the Redskins. So, I'd be wearing my Redskins jersey.

posted by Michael at 3/25/2005 12:29:00 PM | |

Interview meme: Misty
Next up in my Interview Meme challenge is Misty from Seductive Kisses. I'd like to thank Misty for volunteering to be part of this great experiment. So, now onto her five hard-hitting questions...

1. It's obvious from reading your blog that you are a big West Virginia fan. Congratulations on how well they're doing in the tournament. Now, I know that you are probably like I am with Tennessee when it comes to pulling for the Mountaineers--you root for all teams, all the time. But do you have a favorite sport the Mountaineers play and which one is it?

2. The name of your blog is interesting. How'd you choose it? Is then name of your blog influenced by Cruel Intentions or Dangerous Liasons?

3. You also seem to be a big Stephen King fan. What is your favorite Stephen King book? What is your least favorite?

4. Congrats! . For those of you who don't know Misty is expecting a baby girl. I won't ask what names you've picked out here. Instead, I must ask--are there aunts and uncles in waiting ready to spoil your baby when she gets here?

5. Tell us all one interesting or unusual story about your childhood.

So, there you go. Thanks to Misty for playing!

posted by Michael at 3/25/2005 08:59:00 AM | |

Interview meme: Stacy
"And so it begins....there is a hole in your mind..."

Oh wait, sorry, that's the opening credits from season five of Babylon Five. Stacy of Outwit, Outblog, Outsnark has volunteered to be the next victim in my interview meme game. Being a journalism major at the University of Tennessee, I pondered long and hard to find five hard-hitting in-depth questions to ask her that would really reveal the true, inner snarkiness that is Stacy.
So, here we go into the question...

1. In your blog, you talk a bit about the priviledge of getting to work from home. I have to admit I'm kind of jealous as I'd love to work from home in my comfortable bum-around the house clothes. That said, what are the upsides of working from home? What are the downsides and do you ever feel yourself getting stir crazy?

2. Like me, you watch a good bit of TV and comment on it in your blog. What is your favorite scripted show of the moment and what is your favorite reality show? Also, what is that one show that ranks number for you of all-time?

3. Do you have any snarky influences? If so, who are they?

4. Tell us a bit more about the first time you met the man who became UberHusband.

5. You've recently started your own meme, Aloha Friday. Talk about what inspired you to do so and how you work to keep it different from the other memes lurking out their in the BlogSphere.

Thank you to Stacy for joining in the fun! I must say I do still need one more volunteer to have my five interviewees for the meme.

posted by Michael at 3/25/2005 08:36:00 AM | |

Aloha Friday
Share an anecdote from your life that shows us just how much technology has changed in the last 20-30 years.

Well, Stacy already took the remote control one. I will have to say that being an Air Force brat and moving about that e-mail has been a life-changing technology. I'm able to keep up for actively with freinds and family who are scattered all across the globe. And I also get to meet a whole lot of interesting other blog people and chat with them. How can you not like that?

How many of those little reward card/keyfob thingies do you have? Which stores?

I've got six of the little guys on my key chain. I've got Kroger, BiLo, CVS and FoodLion (which I still refuse to buy any perishable items there even all these years after the stories about bleaching the meat and putting it back out. I just don't trust them). Also, my library card goes on my keychain as does my Y membership card.

Spread the spirit of blogaloha…whom should we visit this week?

Drop by and give Ashlie K at MaeveKerry a bit of love this week!

posted by Michael at 3/25/2005 08:15:00 AM | |
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Too many repeats?
Fans of Lost and Desparate Housewives are complaining about the long hiatus between new episodes in this article over at MSNBC.

Says Marcia from Michigan: "All of us at work watch ["Lost"], however, we are becoming very discouraged & may quit watching it. This is a show that you have to follow closely EVERY week. Then BANG, [the network] throws 2-3 reruns in the middle of everything! So please, let’s keep the show running, so that people can follow the story. I'd hate to see it go off the air for that reason."

Reader B. Williams says: "I have watched 'Lost' from the beginning and was a huge fan. The suspense was awesome, the good guys good, the bad guys bad and the plot was actually in existence. (Rare for reality-swamped television.) The problem is they keep showing reruns. At this point in time I don't care where Claire's baby is, where Ethan (or was it Evan? see, I can't even remember their names anymore) came from, whether or not the French woman is really crazy, why there are polar bears on the island, etc. ... Too bad because this show had serious potential."

You know, I'm not a huge fan of the long hiatuses myself, but I understand it's a necessary evil in today's television world where we get fewer episodes spread over a longer period of time. Also, the flip side is that such a hiatus allows new viewers to join the party and see what all the buzz is about.

Now, I don't watch Desparate Housewives (despite my acknowledged love for all things Teri Hatcher), but I do watch Lost. And it seems to me that Lost is one of those shows that rewards multiple viewings.

Also, I just have to laugh at the complete lack of attention span of the people in this article. "Oh, I am confused...I don't know what is happening!" Yes, it takes such a huge commitment of mental resources to figure out if you've seen the episode or not and to remember how it fits into the overall mythology of the show. Come on people--surely you can't be that dense! And I love the attitude of--well, it's hard to figure out so I will just give up. Yes, it's thanks to people like this that the infinite clones of CSI and Law and Order thrive.

And ABC has nothing on the WB who every year goes top heavy on new episodes and then makes you wait almost two months for new episodes in the spring. I still remember the huge hiatus in Buffy's second season when the show moved from Monday to Tuesday. By the end of Feburary we had seen 18 of the 22 episode that year and went into two months of repeats. So, a few weeks hiatus ain't nothing to me.

UPDATE: 3/25. USA Today's Robert Bianco addresses the repeats issue in today's What To Watch column. I couldn't agree more..

Finally. After an extended break, ABC has a new episode of Desperate Housewives (Sunday, 9 p.m. ET/PT), featuring the return of Sharon Lawrence as Maisy. Yes, I know the wait for fresh shows has been annoying — but as with every network series, Housewives produces fewer episodes than there are weeks in the season. So you either get repeats or gaps. Deal with it, people.

posted by Michael at 3/24/2005 01:55:00 PM | |

Interview meme
Last week, I came across an interesting meme over at Misplaced Keys. Jon was looking for five victims volunteers to be interviewed via the BlogSphere. I volunteered to join in. A few days later, my questions appeared, and I answered them here. At that time, I issued the challenge to see if I could find five blog readers who would be brave enough to be interviewed by me.

So far, only one soul has been brave enough--my best friend, Barry. Thank you, Barry!

I've known Barry for going on 14 years now. So, coming up with some hard-hitting questions to interview him was difficult. But I think I've succeeded.

1. Over the years, I've recommended a variety of shows to you from The Simpson to Quantum Leap to The X-Files. (But yet, you've never given into the Buffy thing). This question is two-fold. Of all the various shows I've recommended for your viewing, which one have you enjoyed the most? And besides The West Wing, what is one show you'd say I should give a try to?

2. I knew Barry before he married Laura and they had BrainyBoy and GiggleGirl. (One of the coolest moments in my life was Barry calling me to tell that he and Laura were expected BB. I was so happy for them.). Tells us the story about the first time you met Laura.

3. What was your least favorite "Theta game"?

4. What is the worst episode EVER of Star Trek (any series)? Share with us why it's just so unwatchable.

5. Barry was a theater major at UT. He's directed and worked on a lot of great shows over the years. What is your favorite show you've worked on and why? And is there a show out there you yearn to work on?

So, there are Barry's five questions. See, it wasn't too painful and I didn't ask anything really embarassing. So I guess what I'm looking for here is four more volunteers to sign up and play!

posted by Michael at 3/24/2005 09:24:00 AM | |

Alias Round-Up
The Orphan
This is how I imagine the conversation going in the Alias writing room.

"You know, we need to do a backstory on Nadia. I see that those flashback storylines are really working over on Lost. Let's try that with Nadia! I'm sure that will work!"

It pains me to say this because I like Jeffrey Bell, one of the co-writers of this story. But it just didn't quite work here. Thankfully, it wasn't the usual Alias gimmick of, let's start the teaser with a shocking twist and then go back 72 hours and fill in how we got here. That dead horse has been beat one too many times for my liking. Instead, it was an almost Lost-like flashback of Nadia'a life on the street, her becoming an uber-spy and falling into the Argentinian version of SD-6. Only difference was that once the betrayal comes out, Nadia goes and kills the head of her version of SD-6 while Syd worked from the inside to bring it down. Now, I'll give you that the similarities to the situation that Sydney faced in season one and Nadia faced during her time as a young spy were pretty interesting. But five compelling minutes out of an hour do not a good episode make.

In a lot of ways, Nadia is turning into this season's Lauren. Lauren came into the show last year with the potential to be a good dramatic conflict for the show and instead it never went anywhere until Lauren turned evil (and we found the limits of Melissa George's acting range). Then, suddenly, there was new and exciting tension again, as well as a lot of dirty looks by Melissa George at Sydney. This year, I feel like we're heading down that path again--we have Nadia who has come into the little wacky SD-6 family and her loyalties and agenda aren't really all that spelled out. And we've had seeds sewn for her to go the dark side and turn against our heroes--esp. Jack and Syd--by season's end. I am hopeful that maybe they'll pull it in a different direction or that even if they follow this path that it's more interesting than we had last year with Lauren. At least they're putting pieces in place for Nadia to go evil unlike Lauren's transformation last year where it just came out of left field as they had no idea what to do with the character.

OK, let me ask this--who else laughed out loud when Sydney cautioned Nadia about not letting personal feelings be an issue on a mission? That's the pot calling the kettle black just a bit, don't you think!

And I guess I'm supposed to be compelled by Vaughn's search for his father, who in good Alias fashion kept his offspring in the dark about certain aspects of his life. Forgive me, but I'm really actually kind of bored by this whole plotline. First of all, if Vaughn can afford to take off all this time and afford to go jaunting all over the globe at the drop of a hat, are we paying our CIA operatives too much? I know, I know--it's a fictional show and I'm sure they don't make that much. But if they are, I'm just saying, that could easily eliminate the deficit if we pushed a few to early retirement. Now, I did like the scene between Vaughn and Marshall in the beginning of the show. That was actually a good scene. Completely throwaway, but good.

You know, two weeks ago, I was enthusiastic about Alias again. The show had managed to put together a string of three great episodes in a row and I hoped this might mean the season had turned a corner. Instead, it looks like these were the exception to the rule and to be honest, the preview for next week didn't do much to make hope that a turnaround is coming soon.

posted by Michael at 3/24/2005 08:00:00 AM | |
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Bizarro

posted by Michael at 3/23/2005 03:30:00 PM | |

Who Am I?
I saw this over at Outwit, Outblog, Outsnark and thought it looked like fun...

My name is: Big Orange Michael

I may seem: strange and offputting.

People who know me think: I am probably a bit too obsessed with UT sports and Doctor Who.

If you knew me you’d probably: realize that I am a bit too obsessed with UT sport and Doctor Who.

Sometimes I feel: like I've missed my calling in life. Or that my calling is different and I'm just choosing to ignore it.

My days are pretty: normal, quite frankly. I have a routine and I tend to follow it pretty much.

Yesterday: got up, went to work, worked all day, worked out, swam laps, went home, watched TV, watched the Lady Vols win the 880th game for Pat Head Summit, went to bed. Woke up by the storms in the night.

In the morning I: have a bowl of sugar-free cereal with a banana on it for breakfast.

I like to sleep: as much as possible.

If I could be doing anything right now I would be: taking a nap as the storms waking me up meant I didn't sleep well.

Money: easily spent on DVDs and books.

One thing I don’t have that I wish I did is: a house that I owned.

One thing I have that I wish I didn’t is: I'm pretty satisfied overall.

All you need is: cable!

All I need is: cable TV!

If I had one wish it would be: to live each day to the fullest and not look too far ahead nor be too trapped by the past.

Love is: exciting and new...come aboard...we're expecting you!

If I could see one person right now it would be: I can only pick one?!?

Something I want but I don’t really need is: Every episode of Star Trek on DVD.

I live for: spoiling my niece and nephew.

I am afraid of: doctors.

It makes me angry when: things don't go the way I want them to.

I dream about: finding that right person to share my life with, raising a family together. Doing God's will in my life.

I daydream about: taking a nap and food from Sonic.

posted by Michael at 3/23/2005 11:19:00 AM | |

Bueller....Bueller...

You are Ferris Bueller (from Ferris Bueller's Day
Off)! You're a smooth talker and a
resourceful, quick thinker, and you play by
your own rules. Fortunately, you use such
things for fun and not to hurt anyone else.
God only knows what would happen if you crossed
paths with Lisa from Weird Science.

Which John Hughes Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Tip of the hat to Jon over at Misplaced Keys for the quiz.

posted by Michael at 3/23/2005 11:05:00 AM | |

Number 880!

Congratulations to Pat Head Summitt, the coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, on her record-breaking 880th career win last night. The Lady Vols got number 880 for Summitt in a NCAA Tournament game over the Purdue Boilermakers. After the game, UT renamed the basketball floor "The Summitt" in Pat's honor. This record could not happen to a better person. And Pat deserves every honor and accolade poured upon her. It's more than just numbers, but if you're interested in the staggering numbers, head over here. As Pat kept saying, "It's about relationships" and it is. The most impressive thing is Pat has a 100% graduation rate on her team. Pat Head Summitt represents everything that is good with with college atheletics today and is one of the many reasons I am a die-hard UT fan.

But there is still business to take care of. Winning number 880 means the Lady Vols make the Sweet 16 for the 24th straight season and can continue their pursuit of a 7th national championship.

posted by Michael at 3/23/2005 08:12:00 AM | |
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
My new job...
Sunday at church, we had the annual Easter Egg hunt. Part of this entailed filling approximately 17,000 eggs (OK, I'm egg-agerating here! It was a lot less) with candy for small children.

A couple of weeks ago, members of the committee in charge of the Easter Egg hunt approached me about helping out with the big Easter egg hunt. Seems they wanted me to help the Easter Bunny out by making an appearance for him at the event (he is busy this time of year!) So, I agreed.

Sunday morning, I took a change of clothes to church--no way was I wear a shirt and tie under the Easter Bunny outfit. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, dressed up like the Easter Bunny and had a good time hopping about and bringing smiles to the faces of children. Some of the children were not quite sure what to make of me, despire the fact that you could see my face. (There was a nose that came down and I could lift it up so they could see it was me and be less uncertain). Gracelyn and Davis saw me and smiled from far away but were a bit more wary up close.

Which, my sister told me today that Gracelyn has now decided that Uncle Michael's job is being the Easter Bunny....

posted by Michael at 3/22/2005 01:37:00 PM | |

Celebrity Birthday
Happy Birthday to William "Captain Kirk" Shatner. Shatner turns 74 today. Looks like I'll be cranking up an episode of classic Star Trek in the DVD player this evening to celebrate this momentous day.

posted by Michael at 3/22/2005 12:43:00 PM | |

24: Day 4, 8-9 p.m.
Most weeks, I can put aside the issue that the internal clock/time on 24 is not consistent. But then there are some weeks where it just drives me nuts. This week was one of those weeks. Some of the things that bugged me.

• Paul gets shot at the end of the last hour. Let's say 7:55 p.m. By 8:01 p.m., he's been patched up, a helicopter has flown in, loaded him up and got him most of the way to CTU. Also ironic is the fact that the helicopter ride took six or seven minutes whereas we all know by the rules that govern 24, everywhere in L.A. is about two to three minutes away by car! So, wouldn't Paul have been better served to ride in the ambulance than a helicopter? Of course, that's not nearly as dramatic.
• Once again, everywhere in L.A. is two minutes apart--this time it turns out terrorist connection guy of the week, lives approximiately two minutes from CTU.
• Michelle calls in Chloe to help out and Chloe is there within five minutes. Did anyone else think that it looked like Chloe was monitoring the CTU info from home?

Also, the show is starting to repeat itself. To prove her loyalty to Marwan, Dina is given a gun and told to shoot Jack. Apparenly Dina skipped that day of bad guy loyalty class where it's revealed that in most of these situations, the gun is empty and it's testing you. Hell, we saw this LAST SEASON on 24 with Jack pulling the trigger on Chase to prove his loyalty to the Salazars! It's not that suspenseful when we've seen it before and know how it's going to come out. Plus, the fact that Jack is our hero and would probably sneeze at the right time to make Dina miss or something like that.

Of course, I figured she was not long for this world when we had the rather long goodbye to Behrooz. Too much hugging. All Dina needed was to pick up her red shirt on the way out of the CTU offices.

And then, Jack comes up with the plan to infilitrate Marwan's group by having Dina help them out. He uses Behrooz as negotatiating bait. But in all this, I had to wonder. OK, so Jack and Tony go in and out of the room with Dina approximately 17 times per episode. With little or no regard for her seeing them punch in the secret pass code to get out. What is to stop her from watching, figuring out the passcode, biding her time and escaping? OK, OK, I'm nitpicking..but that is what make my life worth living some days.

Also, according to my dad, who served in the Air Force, saluting inside a building is not done. I'm just pointing this out to everyone.

Finally, you have to love how far Jack goes to sell his cover. Last year it was get addicted to drugs. This year, he stabs himself in the gut so Dina can sell that she captured him to the terrorist contact.

And you have to feel for Jack. Once again, it looks like CTU and his job will cost him something he loves--in this case Audrey. This seeds were sewn last week as she questioned if she could love Jack based on what he had to do out in the field. Now her concern from Paul and the re-kindling of her love for him look like Jack is on the outside looking in. Which is why your number one dating rule should be--never get involved with anyone who is married ever for any reason. It does look as if Jack will be left outside when Audrey goes back to Paul--assuming that Paul makes it. Even if he doesn't, I don't see Jack and Audrey working out. And, so, once again, Jack's devotion to the job has cost him a personal life.

posted by Michael at 3/22/2005 08:57:00 AM | |
Monday, March 21, 2005
Reading meme
Over the weekend, I read an article in the Tennessean about how boys don't like reading as much as girls. One of the young boys quoted in the article said he "hated" reading. I cannot imagine. I can barely remember a time in my life when I didn't know how to read. I remember feeling in some kind of huge rush to learn how to read so I could make all the words on the pages make sense and read the stories myself. I felt like if I didn't learn to read soon, all the words might disappear or the stories might all change without my knowing about it.

I'm still a big reader. I always have a book with me and I've always got a huge pile of books I want to read either that I've purchased, check out of the library or put on resereve. I got excited last week when one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth George, published a new book--one that I had no idea was coming out until the day it did. Thankfully, Barry, Laura, Craig and Erin gave me a gift certificate from Amazon for my birthday which I used for the new book. Now I only have to wait a few days to tear into it instead of eight more weeks on the waiting list at the library.

So, it's interesting in light of all that that Dawn over at Clarified tagged me to be part of this new game...

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
I'm going to assume that this is a book that we don't like and would want to see destroyed. I have to say, I've read more than my share of books that were not thrilling in my lifetime, but the one that stands out is Lord of the Flies. I remember reading this my freshman year of high school and going--what the hell?!? This is a great work of literature?!? You must be kidding! The discussion of the story in class and how my English teacher went on and on about how great it was really didn't help much. It's just an OK book and I often wonder if Goldman really put all that symbolism and meaning in there or if bored English teachers made it all up to torture us all...

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
If we're talking TV world, then yes...agent Scully from The X-Files. If we're talking in the literary world, then I'd have to say there was a book I read as a teenager--can't remember the title of it. But it was first-person narrator about this young girl who learns about life and love one summer. I loved this girl because she seemed so real and it made me realize that girls had the same weird questions about life that I did at the same time and sometimes they were just as clueless about guys as guys were about girls.

The last book you bought is:
Star Trek Titan: Taking Wing.

The last book you read:
As I said, I read all the time. I finished reading the third Anita Blake novel last week, Circus of the Damned. (Enjoyable in a light, bubble gum reading kind of way). I also finished DisneyWar which is an inside look at the Michael Eisner run Disney.

What are you currently reading?
Why only read one book at a time, I say! Right now, I am reading A Scanner Darkly by Phillip K Dick, The Gospel According to the Simpsons and Triggerfish Twist by Ken Dorsey. Which one I pick up depends on my mood.

Five books you would take to a deserted island.
1. The Bible--preferably New King James Translation
2. The Stand by Stephen King
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
4. My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
5. Front Porch Tales by Phillip Gulley

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
1. Barry over at Inn of the Last Home because he reads as much as I do.
2. Becky over at April Fool because I am interesting to see what she'll say.
3. Stacy over at Outwit, Outblog, Outsnark for the same reason as Becky.

posted by Michael at 3/21/2005 04:27:00 PM | |

TV Round-Up
Battlestar Galactica: Colonial Day
I have really got to stop watching new episodes of Sci-Fi's two Stargate series after Battlestar Galactica. They just pale by comparison in the light of that is Battlestar Galactica.

"Colonial Day" is an episode that makes you think it's going to be one thing, but instead suddenly veers off into far more interesting territory about halfway through the episode. What could have just been just an episode about the attempted assignation of Laura Roslin instead becomes something more during the course of the episode--a look at the politics of the fleet and where different parties stand. Now, I will have to admit I agree with my good friend Barry, that it seems a bit unlikely that only thirty plus days out of the destructive Cylon attack on their home world that the fleet would be so bitterly divided as we saw here. Or that there would be so many well organzied factions. Of course, I also have to consider that what we've seen is the leadership struggling to help the population as a whole survive--from finding water to fighting for fuel last week. So, it may be possible that there are groups in there that are becoming vocal in their protests and organized. But I am not sure that I find Tom Zerek's push for power to be all that strong given that most of the fleet seems to think of him as nothing more than a terrorists who will blow up a building or two to get what he wants or push forward his agenda.

In a lot of ways, you have to wonder if Zarek is any better than a Cylon? He's a human who is not above using their methods of killing the innocent to get what he wants. Of course, we're not quite sure what Zerek's overall agneda is on the show just yet. For all we know, he could be a Cylon. But it was fun to watch Zarek make a deal with Ellen Tigh. The implication is, of course, that Zarek got her to kill the assassin and thus erase the evidence of Zarek being behind the whole plot. But was there more to it than that? Why is Zarek seizing power now?--he has waited this long and seems to be setting himself up in a cat-bird seat. Of course, a vaccum at the top may be what the Cylons really want and need--hence Helen uses aerek's political aspirations to gain a favor in much the same way as Six plays upon Baltar's lust for the ladies (ably shown here when Baltar gives the female reporter an "exclusive.")

It was interesting to see Roslin finally begin to play the poltical game and play it well. Sensing her vice presidential candidate is doomed, she jettisons him for Baltar. Batlar, the man a few weeks ago she suspected of being a Cylon agent is now who she wants a heart-beat away from assuming her role of leading the people. Because the alternative of Tom Zerek is too distateful for her. Man, when everyone finds out that--oh yeah, Baltar has betrayed everyone as deeply as he has, that is going to be one hell of a blowout.

Give credit to the new Galactica for not just making the Richard Hatch character a one-shot ratings grabber stunt cast, but instead using it to the advantage of the storytelling on the series.

Meanwhile, back on Caprica, Hilo puts all the pieces together and figures out that Boomer is a Cylon. This on-going plotline has been well done and executed all season. The question is--now what? Will Hilo escape the planet or will he now fall into the Cylon hands without Boomer's help?

Spring Break Shark Attack
Before you hit the comment button and begin to ask me what I was thinking by watching this movie, hear me out. I knew going in that it would be bad. I was just tuning in to see how bad it could possibly be. My answer: Pretty much as bad as I thought. And according to the ratings, I was not alone in my curiousity.

The plot is pretty transparent. Our heroine, Danielle, wants to meet up with her friends for Spring Break. but Daddy says no. So, Danielle cashes in her plane ticket to work with Habitat for Humanity and heads off to Florida for Spring Break. Oh yeah, her brother is in the same city studying sharks and has some cool device that if it works right will scare off sharks. Now, it started off well, with people immediately becoming shark food, but then the movie stupidly decides--hey, we need some character development. So, Danielle meets a guy named J.D. who's preferred seduction method is the ruffies and Shane, the loveable poor guy from the other side of the tracks (as in he can't yet go to college as he can't afford it). In a wacky twist of fate, Shane's mom (played by Kathy Baker who apparently lost a bet and had to be in this) owns a boat rental company and rents out a boat to this guy who is up to no good. Unfortunately, they spend a lot of time with this whole plot thing, when we were honestly there to see sharks lining up at the buffet to eat stupid people. Alas, that doesn't happen until well into the second hour. Along the way, we party a lot, which had me wondering if the sharks had invented some kind of reverse scuba system so they could come in and feast. Unfortuantely, not so much.

Along the way, we have lots of gratitous women in bikini time and I'm not really complaining. I mean, I've not seen The O.C., but I will give you that Shannon Lucia, who plays Danielle is not displeasing on the eyes.

One good reason to watch...

But, there are some huge leaps of logic here. First of all, Danielle packs enough clothes for a six or eight week stay in one small suitcase. And her parents don't trust her enough to apparenly leave the house alone or get on-line but yet they send her off to the airport by herself after she's said she'd rather go to Spring Break in Florida. Hello? Of course, J.D. is kind of an idiot for keeping his stash of roofies with him at all times on the off chance he needs to get with some hot girl.

Finally, we head out to sea and the sharks go nuts. Turns out mysterious bad guy man is chumming the water and there's this new reef that makes shark attack. Why we're not quite sure as it's not really explained. J.D.'s dating technique comes to light just in time for him to become shark bait. Danielle's dad shows up just as she, brother and Shane lure all the sharks out to sea using brother's shark repeller. Suddenly Daddy is proud of Danielle and by golly, she can sure do anything and she's so grown up. She then goes and kisses Shane and they joke they should go to Cancun next year.

I have not even come close to doing justice to this movie. It was so bad. So many leaps of logic and things that if you think about for even ten seconds don't make sense. Also apparently if you are surrounded by hungry sharks and you hold really, really still, they will leave you alone. Never mind that you and all your friends were thrashing about like dervishes before.

But my favorite part--we have a guy out using a parachute to ski on the water and he skiis right into the mouth of a waiting shark. Damn that shark had some good timing!

posted by Michael at 3/21/2005 02:38:00 PM | |

Being Uncle Michael is the best!
In the past couple of weeks, Davis has decided that Uncle Michael is his new favorite toy. Which is great except for the fact that Uncle Michael is still Gracelyn's favorite toy. So, sometimes this can lead to problems, such as the fact that while Uncle Michael works out and does weight training, he still can't pick up both of them at once.

Gracelyn, Davis and their parents were over at Grandma's Friday evening for dinner for some family celebration time. My sister got good news at work and we hadn't got around to celebrating the fact that I am gainfully employed. Grandpa fired up the grill for the first time this year and we had steaks and a family celebration. It was great.

Uncle Michael was pleased to see Davis has a shirt that looked virutally identical to the one worn by Uncle Michael's hero Captain Kirk. During desert, we had pie with whipped cream on it, which since he was sitting on my lap, Davis got to sample. He liked it. He also liked sitting on my lap later to try and put a puzzle together. Last week, we'd worked a puzzle together and then he took it down the hallway to show everyone his success. He ran into the kitchen and held it up over his head and all the pieces fell out. He was so funny doing this. We also played outside where he and Gracelyn took turns going down the slide. They both like it for Uncle Michael to lift them up and make silly noises as they fly through the air and then got plopped down on top of the slide.

Then, yesterday, at church, I was sitting with my family and suddenly, I see a small person working his way down to me. Davis had decided he wanted to sit with Uncle Michael. So, he sat there with me until he got a restless--not to leave, but because he wanted to sit on the pew between Uncle Michael and Grandpa. Also, during the announcement time, Davis cheered and clapped at the end of an announcement for the ham breakfast on Saturday.

I know I've said it before, but I must say it again--being Uncle Michael is one of the coolest things ever!

posted by Michael at 3/21/2005 09:58:00 AM | |
Friday, March 18, 2005
It's Bloggess
I admit it. I can't ressist a good meme and this one that I saw over on Uptown Girl is good.

1) What was your very first job where you received a paycheck?
When we lived in Woodbridge, VA, there was an afternoon paper called The Potomac News. So, I had between one and three paper routes after school.

2) Did the job require you to wear a uniform – - take a moment and describe?
Thankfully, it did not. It did require keeping the papers dry and putting them on people's doorstep. I found out that the closer you got it to the doorstep and where they asked you to put them, the better the tip would be.

3) How long did you keep your first job?
I had my paper routes for 2 1/2 years.

4) When you left your first job was it because you quit or were you fired?
I quit so I could go away to college. In fact, I had to give up my routes a week early as I caught chicken pox and wasn't able to finish up the work. I paid my replacement to take the routes over a week early for me.

5) Let’s spread some “It’s Blogcess” linky love?
For Aloha Friday, I pointed everyone over to the Inn of the Last Home.

posted by Michael at 3/18/2005 03:12:00 PM | |

Aloha Friday
You’re sitting at your computer. Look around…tell us what you see.
Well, my area at work is what used to be a rather large area for outside sales. But they moved elsewhere and so I have a large area to myself. There are a couple of desks, a table, some chairs. My computer, of course. Phone. Filing cabinets, and in and out tray. And piles of catalogs with lighting fixtures and magazines about Internet business and trends.

Think back to your senior year of high school…what did you think you’d be doing by this point in your life? Are you doing those things? If so/not so…are you okay with that?
Ruling the world with an iron fist. Oh wait, that was by the time I was 40, so I've got plenty of time to get around to that. Anyway, I figured I'd be a hard-hitting journalist, which I've done that. I never saw myself as being an Internet person...of course, back then we hardly knew what the Internet was. And you know, I'm pretty cool with where I'm at in my life.

Spread the spirit of blogaloha…whom should we visit this week?
Stop by the Inn of the Last Home and say howdy to my best friend, Barry.

posted by Michael at 3/18/2005 12:25:00 PM | |

An interview with me
Jon over at Misplaced Keys was looking for five people to interview in the Blog-sphere. So, I happily volunteered to take place in this hard-hitting interview. Below are his questions and my answers. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the hardest-hitting interview this side of Joan and Melissa Rivers...

1. I thought Smyrna was in Galatia? Did they dig it up whole hog and move it to Tennessee?
Not that I'm aware of. Though you will notice that in Revelation, Smyna is the only church that is singled out as doing well and not falling under bad influences. It shows you what I know, but I am not really up on the long, history of Smyrna, Tennessee. It's a suburb of the great city of Nashville. It's a small town that is close to the big city, so you really get the best of both worlds, though I'd be far happier if we could get a major bookstore in the city. But we do have a library close-by, which is a priviledge I abuse far more than I should (it's all their own fault for allowing me to put books on reserve on-line, I tell you. I think the library has my house on speed-dial. Which if they'd get with the the program and have e-mail notification about when the books came in, it'd be a lot easier.)

2. Ever hear of, see, meet, touch, feel, carress, obsess over Glen Reynolds? (aka Instapundit)
As far as I know, Glen has rarely, if ever stopped by the Big Orange Michael blog. Why I'm not quite sure. I've been to his blog many, many times and dream of the day that Big Orange Michael gets InstaPundit-ed.

3. Name your favorite college ice hockey team. lacrosse team. badmitton team. curling team. and football, basketball and baseball. (note since I put this under one number, it only counts as one question. :-D)
Not a difficult one here. My favorite college team in any sport is, of course, the University of Tennessee. As a gradudate of UT, my blood runneth orange and I will pull for UT in any sporting event in which they are participating. I am even planning to go to a couple of games when the Vol's baseball team in in town in a few weeks to play Vanderbilt. And yes, I will be wearing the orange and white. That said, I'm not sure if the Vols have a bandmitton team or curling team, but if they were to have one and we played Florida, Alabama or Georgia, I would want us to win and win big. It's never too early to start hating Alabama (as in the University of, not the state) in my book.

4. Orange is a nice color (when added to Black) how many other colleges can you name with orange as one of their colors?
Syracuse, Texas (they stole it from us, the jerks!), Florida has some (orange and blue combined together is evil, evil I tell you!). And let us never forget the Beavers of Oregon State. I am sure there are others, but there is only one, true orange. Why do I suddenly feel the need to sing a couple of dozen choruses of Rocky Top?

5. Not counting 24, list your favorite reality TV shows. (and don’t tell me 24 isn’t real, the traffic in LA is JUST LIKE THAT!)
I admit it--I've been a Survivor addict since episode one, season one. I can never get enough of Jeff Probst and his snarkiness. I also watch The Amazing Race, which is the one reality show I could see myself going on, if only to travel around the world on someone's dime. That would be a lot of fun, I think. Of course, the gagging down some horrible form of food each season might not be too hot, but then again I did survive five years of eating in the UT cafeteria system so I should be good to go! And I have to admit, that football can be the ultimate reality show....

Alrighty then, those are my answers. Now, it's my turn to keep the game going. So, what I'm looking for here is five victims volunteers. All you have to do is leave a note in my comments saying "Interview me" and I will post five hard-hitting, in-depth questions for you to answer in your own blog and then you can find five-people to interview. I know that I have to have at least five people who come and read this site occasionally...so please sign up!

posted by Michael at 3/18/2005 11:45:00 AM | |
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Alias Round-Up
The Road Home
After seeing the preview for this one, I went in with very low expectations. Good thing as this episode was pretty disappointing on a lot of fronts. Which is even more disappointing given that the teaser and the set-up for the episode looked pretty intriguing.

Syd is sent after a new weapon that can lock onto a person's DNA in order to kill them. She is sent to Austria to steal the weapon. While there, she meets Sam at a bar--an innocent bar tender at the club the evil bad guys of the week own. Syd steals his key card, flirts a bit with him and then gets him in over his head. So, the storyline then becomes their wacky adventure as Syd tries to stay one step ahead of the evil bad guys, keep Sam alive and save the world as we know it. I have to say they really dropped the ball on this one because there were some good ideas here. For example, the APO contact in Austria betrays Syd and company to the bad guys, and then Syd is forced to go it alone. Wait a minute--wasn't she in contact with the CIA and Dixon? Wasn't Dixon out in the field with her or did I miss that part? And just how did Syd know who to give the weapon to once she found it and disarmed it? Shouldn't she have brought it back to APO headquarters since she knows the office in Austria is comprimised? But, you know, the most important part is that Sam got to have some wacky fun and can now go back to his old life--so that's all that really matters. Wait a minute--did Sam even find out her name? The scene where Sam is asking why he should trust Syd should've had a line that he doesn't even know her name for heaven's sake!

Meanwhile, Vaughn goes off in search of his dad. Is his father really alive? Apparently, if he is, he's been to the same school that Jack went to--which is betray your associates and lie to your family about it. Seriously--is there a university out there teaching this course? Honestly, these scenes felt thrown in to give Vaughn something to do other than sit around and pine for Sydney. I hope this plotline is actually going somewhere. Because so far, color me unimpressed by it.

The only interesting plot was Jack being sent to find and kill Sasha Korjev. Jack travels to South America to find an old friend, who is a bad guy, but he was Jack's friend and he's got a wife and kid on the way. All of which means nothing to Jack as he kills him and then leaves the country. Of course, what did we really learn about Jack here--that he's a bastard? Thanks, I think we already knew that back in, say, season one.

Just an all around sub-par Alias episode.

posted by Michael at 3/17/2005 08:31:00 AM | |

I've got a solution for this problem.
Seems that drivers aren't the only facing a crisis due to high gas prices at the pump. According to this article in this morning's Tennessean, gas stations around the area don't have enough "2"s to put on the sign and each "2" costs $150!

Hey, guys--I've got a solution for you. Lower gas prices!

posted by Michael at 3/17/2005 08:24:00 AM | |

St Patrick's Day
Two big events on one day--St Patrick's Day and the start of the NCAA Tournament. The real winners here--beer manufacturers and bars, both of who will benefit by people coming in to either down a green pint of beer or watch a couple of games.

Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone and good luck on your brackets!

posted by Michael at 3/17/2005 08:06:00 AM | |
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
And the real loser is...
Word is the NFL is thinking of playing a regular season game in Mexico City this season. Plans are in the offing for the Arizona Cardinals to give up a home game on October 2nd when they would play the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City. The NFL has played pre-season games in Mexico City before, but this would be the first regular season game played there.

You know, as I think about this, you have to wonder who the bigger loser in this is--the few fans of the Arizona Cardinals or the Mexican fans who will pay a high price to watch two mediorce football teams do battle? Shoot, this one is barely better than a pre-season game.

posted by Michael at 3/16/2005 03:19:00 PM | |

Big Orange Bob Knight?!?
The Knoxville News-Sentinnel is reporting that Texas Tech head basketball coach, Bob Knight has been contacted about filling the current vacancy for a men's basketball coach at UT. And the really intriguing part--Knight is interested. (Thanks to Barry for making me aware of this development).

On the one hand, if we get Bob Knight, the program gains a lot of credibility and it certainly addresses the percpetion that UT can't be a three big-time sport school. On the other hand, I remember that Jerry Green was far less tempermental than Knight and he couldn't get along with the media and fans in Knoxville. So, how would Bob Knight fare?

I'm sure this won't be the last we hear about this....

posted by Michael at 3/16/2005 10:49:00 AM | |

Dang nabbit!
I've come up with a new rule for myself when it comes to watching The Amazing Race--don't like or pull for a certain team. Because every time I start pulling for a team, they will lose. I was rooting for Ryan and Chuck, who got eliminated in week one and then this week, the team I wanted to see stay around a lot longer, Debbie and Bianca, were eliminated. And they teased me so with the "may be eliminated" wording of the last clue before the pit stop. Man, that was just cruel to make me hope that maybe, just maybe team "cute girls from Viriginia" would somehow pull off an upset and stay in the race. Or at least beat out Patrick and his mother, who are starting to grate on my last nerve.

That said, Debbie and Bianca did seal their own fate. Now, I went to high school in Woodbridge, VA, (where Team Cutie hails from) and we did learn to read maps in school. So, really no excuse for getting so far off course. Also, you gotta have respect that one of them could chow down on four pounds of meat while manly men like Boston Rob couldn't handle it. I have to admit that it was interesting to see Rob and Amber finding ways to play the other teams and to ensure that they stay in the Race. Rob's idea of let's take the penalty and not chow down on four pounds of meat was a good one. Also, I'd hate to have to be the team member who had to run after chowing down four pounds of meat. And to be a bit crude here--I hope whatever hotel they stay for this pit stop has a whole lot of plungers...cause they're going to need them.

posted by Michael at 3/16/2005 08:05:00 AM | |
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Baseball season cannot come fast enough
And not because I'm a baseball fan. I'm just so tired of hearing about steroids and then the almost round the clock coverage of Barry Bonds. (Coming up next on SportsCenter...what did Barry Bonds eat for dinner? Our reporter investigates!) I will just be happy when they have something new to talk about...like, say for example, actual games.

posted by Michael at 3/15/2005 04:10:00 PM | |

Another Blog Test

I am 13% Asshole/Bitch.

I am not an asshole or a bitch, more like an asshole and bitch target. I have no backbone, and fold at even a slightly insincere look. I need to stop crying, I am such a wuss.

Take the
Asshole/Bitch Test
@ FualiDotCom

Tip of the hat to Barefoot Bloggin' for this.

posted by Michael at 3/15/2005 03:31:00 PM | |

24: Day 4, 7-8 p.m.
Paul Raines--takes a licking and keeps on ticking! Of all the characters in day four, I'd have to argue that Paul Raines is having, by far, the worst day. So far, his wife has told him the marriage is over and she's seeing someone new, then he has to work with the new love interest for his wife to help save the country and he finds out that he's been used as a front for terrorists. Oh yeah and also in the last four or so hours, he's been beat up by Jack, tortured for information by Jack and now the security grunts at McLennan-Forester have beat him and slammed his fingers in a desk drawer looking for information. And to top it all off, he gets shot in the end, saving the life of our hero, Jack Bauer. Which is kind of ironic because if Paul lets Jack get shot and killed, odds are that he might be in a good position to at least work on reconciling things with Audrey, who is having some second thoughts about Jack.

Relationship woes take the front and center this time around. It's like an episode of "As CTU Turns" what with the Tony and Michelle drama, Audrey's having second thoughts about Jack and Sarah acting like a spoiled child ("I know the world is in danger, but I want my pay raise,"). Sarah, you know, there is such a thing as picking your moments and I don't think that was the time to run and confront Michelle about your pay raise and promotion for being tortured. I hate to say it, but I think Erin Driscoll had other things to worry about besides drafting a memo on your pay raise.

Interesting that Michelle's style of leadership is coming in, piss everyone off and then apologize to them all later. Also interesting to hear Audrey point out the merits of having Tony be part of the team and how Michelle needed to re-think her professional eveluation of her ex-husband. And wasn't it just sweet the way Audrey plays seventh-grade matchmaker with the whole "I think he still likes you" thing? Why is it that when I see Tony and Michelle together and think back on their relationship, I think of the Keanu Reeves line from Speed about relationships build on stress don't always last?

Thankfully, we had Jack out in the field, doing what Jack does best--improvising. Let's find a stronghold, protect it and draw CTU to us. Jack knows that having Tony over at CTU means there is someone there who will know how Jack thinks and operates and react accordingly. Of course, I did find it a bit shaky that no one checks the bad guy head of security to make sure he's knocked out or at least to take the gun away from him. Come on, people! Show a lick of common sense, please! And, I have to feel for the poor intern at CTU who is going to have to type in all those pages of encrypted data in order to have a CTU computer decipher it.

And it was interesting the almost public service announcement like moments we had about the two guys who owned the store. Yes, I get the point that not all people of Middle Eastern heritage are terrorists. Why we had to stop the action every three or so minutes to remind us of that, I'm not quite too sure. Thankfully, this plotline has come to an end (unless the last hour of the day is Jack coming back to help them clean up the store). It was getting a bit grating.

Also, I have to say--I called it! I knew that Paul would get injured somehow working with Jack. And, boy howdy, has he.

So, I'm also going to make another bold prediction. We see Marwan contact an agent, who then goes and apparently infilitrates an Air Force base. I predict that the second leg of the plan is to somehow gain control of Air Force One.

posted by Michael at 3/15/2005 07:52:00 AM | |
Monday, March 14, 2005
Buzz kill
After weeks of speculation and debate, Tennessee head basketball coach Buzz Peterson has been fired. Even a late rally by his team in the SEC tournament couldn't save Peterson's job. (Though I do wonder--had Peterson beat Kentucky on Friday evening, would they have been able to fire him?)

Peterson has been at Tennessee for four years, taking a team that went to the NCAA Tourney for four years prior to his arrival and putting them into the NIT. This year, the team was a Jeckyll and Hyde affair--beating Florida on the road, taking out the (then) highly ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs at home, losing to Nebraska and UT-Chattanooga. Peterson had a lot of support from such people as Peyton Manning, Doug Dickey and Pat Head Summitt.

But, in the end, atheletic director, Mike Hamilton looked at where the program was and where it was going and made the decision to let Peterson go. At a press conference earlier today, Hamilton had this to say:

"In fairness to Buzz, I did not feel that I could step to the podium today with confidence and say that Buzz will be our coach two, three or five years from now," Hamilton said. "The inability to do so has dire consequences on recruiting, the stability of staff, and ultimately, results on the floor."

Really, this was a Kobyashi Maru situation for Hamilton--no win. Peterson is a good man who loved the job at Tennessee. He didn't see it as a stepping stone to prove himself and then move on. He was a man who well-liked by most people who came in contact with him. Problem was, he couldn't translate his magnetic personality and charisma into wins on the basketball court. So, Hamilton let him go and now faces a defining moment in his tenure as athletic director--who do you get now to lead the Vols?

Because let's face it--the state of UT men's basketball isn't really that hot. There have been a lot of mis-steps of late and it seems as if every time we make what seems like a good decision at the time (firing Jerry Green, hiring Kevin O'Neill, hiring Buzz), it's turned out to not be the best decision for the program. It seems as it's a downward spiral and one that we can't seem to pull ourselves out of, despite the four year run of success under Jerry Green (who lost his job because he couldn't get along with the fans, media, players or university brass). As much as it pains me to say this, the men's basketball situation at UT is a lot like the football situation at Kentucky. It's not exactly one of those hotbeds for a winning program, nor am I convinced that the groundwork is in place for any kind of turnaround--quick or longterm. As a Tennessee fan, it's frustrating that we have a lot of other great sports that are competitive year in and year out, but yet the men's basketball team continues to languish and not really make any substantial strides toward being consistent.

All that said, I'm not sure firing Buzz was the best solution to the problem. Like I said before, it's a no-win scenario. And it's going to take someone thinking way outside the box in order to to beat this thing.


posted by Michael at 3/14/2005 03:12:00 PM | |

It might make Monday a bit better...
This might take some of the sting out of it being, well, Monday. According to Ain't It Cool News and the Hollywood Reporter, ABC has decided to not make us wait another month for new episodes of Lost. There will be a new episode on March 30th and another on April 6th. Then a week with a repeat and then four episodes to end out the season. Also, the season finale is a two-parter with the final episode running 90 minutes--the last 30 commercial free!

So, that's a bit of good news for a Monday.

And if that wasn't enough, 24 continues tonight. You can't go wrong with a new episode of 24!

Along those lines, apparently the character on Lost I am most like is....

Take the quiz: "Which LOST character are you?"

Sawyer
You are Sawyer You are a Jackass.

Thanks to Jon over at Misplaced Keys for the quiz.

UPDATE: The William Paley Television Festival had an evening devoted to Lost a couple of days ago. Zap2it has a story about the event, which was attended by the cast members and production staf...

posted by Michael at 3/14/2005 01:34:00 PM | |

Battlestar Galactica Round-Up
The Hand of God
For the second time this season, the subject of dwindling supplies comes up. Previously, we heard about the desparate search for water. This time around, the search is just as desparate as the crew attempts to find fuel to power the faster than light drives and keep one-step ahead of the Cylons. The good news is--they find an asteroid teaming with enough fuel to power the fleet for years. The bad news--the Cylons are guarding it. Adama decides that instead of looking elsewhere and possibly running out of fuel, that the best course of action is an attack on the Cylon base.

It's a relatively simple premise for the show--either we get the fuel and defeat the Cylons here or the fleet is all doomed. There's no middle area there. The Galactica can get away, but if they are forced to do so, they're pretty much left dead in the water. And yet, it worked very well. For the past nine episodes, we've been getting to know all the various personalities in the show, so that when they're all called on to work together in the crisis here, you can see how the team dynamics all work. I like that Lee and Tigh are pretty much by the book thinkers and that we have to go with Starbuck for an more unconventional approach to open the back door for the Cylons. Then, to see Lee go and "pull a Starbuck" (my phrase, not used in the show) once the backdoor is open was nicely done. It's nice to see and feel a sense of urgency and almost desparation to these actions. Why else would Lee fly through the base's structure that way to get to the fuel tanks? Also, there was a lot of tension from the fact that even if Lee pulls off this fancy flying, it might not be the right target since Baltar just made up an answer to cover his own allegances with the Cylons.

Which brings up some interesting questions for me. I'm not 100% sure about this, but does the Six in Baltar's subconsious have any way of reporting back what is happening on Galactica to the Cylons--aka the Harvey clone of Scorpius from Farscape. If that's true, then that brings the "need to know" nature of the attacks and the real plan into a bit better foucs. Interesting to see who Adama trusts and who he doesn't--which includes not trusting Baltar and Roslin. It's a curious moment for me and not one that I remember how it was addressed from the mini-series.

I also liked Baltar's "logical" conclusion that he is an instrument of god, since he was able to help the crew and keep his cover. In a series that is just full of fascintating, complex characters, Baltar becomes more and more intriguing each week. I wonder how much longer he can keep his fooling the crew--or if he is. I have a feeling while Baltar thinks he's getting away with fooling Adama and company that his behavoir is becoming too out there to ignore much longer. Especially in light of the accusations of being a traitor a few weeks ago. Again, I point out the scene where Roslin tells Baltar that his being a traitor just "feels right."

And while I loved the space battles--easily some of the most fluid and easy to follow since the hey-dey of Babylon Five--it was the character moments that excelled. Adama's pushing Starbuck to show her she's not ready to be out there flying again, Baltar's interaction with Six and his conclusions, Adama and Lee and even Hilo and Boomer. The nine episdoes and the mini-series felt like a set-up for this and we got one heck of a payoff here.

Another week, another outstanding episode. I can't believe we only have three new episodes left for this season.

A bit of an odd note--was it just me or did the theme music change a bit? I know that we get snippets of the episode in the opening credits, but it seemed like this week, the overall theme music was slightly tweaked. It's almost as if they wanted it to reflect the mood of the episode. Anyone else notice that?

posted by Michael at 3/14/2005 11:00:00 AM | |

Out of the mouths of small children...
Last night, we had family dinner over at Grandma's house--we had an early serving of corn beef and cabbage in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day later this week.

As the main course was winding down, Dad asked who wanted some carrot cake for desert. My sister replied she'd like some, to which Gracelyn said, "No Mommy. You didn't clean your plate."

Needless to say, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Michael had a very difficult time in not falling on the floor with laughter at this moment.

posted by Michael at 3/14/2005 08:07:00 AM | |
Friday, March 11, 2005
"Every single Jedi is now an enemy of the Republic"
All I can say is--the new trailer for Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is very, very cool. Please, please, please let the new movie live up to the expectations I have for it.

This installment looks to be in the same vein as my favorite of the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back. I love how dark this one is going to be as we watch Anakin's fall to the dark side completed. Is it just me or did anyone get a chill when Anakin asks Palpatine if he can learn the powers of the dark side?

I have to admit it was cool to see the trailer after reading the prequel novel Labrynth of Evil. The book relates the events of the final month leading up to Episode III and literally goes right into the opening moments of Episode III. It's made waiting for this latest installment that much more difficult for me.

And in case you're like me and didn't tape the preview on FOX last night or you just want to have it on your hard drive to watch again and again, Ain't It Cool News has links out to it.

posted by Michael at 3/11/2005 11:41:00 AM | |

Friday Memes
Aloha Friday
You’re having a Blogging Dinner Party for eight. Which other seven bloggers do you invite?

Barry and Laura from Inn of the Last Home
Stacy and Uber-Hubby from Outwit, Outblog, Outsnark
Becky from April Fool
Logtar from Logtar's Blog
Cathy and DJuggler from Domestic Pyschology
Jen from All Things Jen(nifer)
Danielle from Missives Anonymous
Vickie from Magnolia Glen

OK, yes I know that is more than seven actual people, but I can't not invite husbands and wives without inviting spouses. Plus, there were just one or two people I couldn't leave off and I didn't even include AK from Maeve Kerry, who I would also invite. I guess we'd have to have two dinners of eight for me...

If you’ve got TiVo (or another DVR), what shows are on your “to be watched” list right now, anxiously awaiting your viewing time? If you don’t have TiVo or DVR, what shows would you tape if you could?

I do not have TiVo yet, but I have the old-faithful VCR. Things I've taped to watch this week and haven't yet; Gilmore Girls, House, Survivor, SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis from last week.

Spread the spirit of blogaloha…whom should we visit this week?

Vickie over at Magnolia Glen. We ran the Survivor: Big Orange Magnolia game together last fall, but haven't done it yet for this edition. I always enjoy reading Vickie's blog. Surf over and tell her I sent you!

Friday's Feast
Appetizer - Where do you go when you want to relax?
Watch TV, read a good book, work-out.

Soup - Tell about something that made you laugh this week.
Eating dinner with J. Mal, Randall, Cole and Yuseff last night at Cozumel. We had a big time and were cutting up left and right.

Salad - What is your favorite texture?
Not really sure I have one.

Main Course - If you were to publish your autobiography, what would the first sentence be?
I was born a Tenenssee fan and I'll die a Tennessee fan.

Dessert - Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? If so, how?
I do, but not by drinking. I love to cook corn beef and cabbage and watch The Quiet Man.

posted by Michael at 3/11/2005 09:30:00 AM | |

What in the world?!?
As most of you know, I blood runneth orange. And that I'm a huge Tennessee fan and will pull for them in all things.

That said, I have to admit I was stunned not only that the Vols won their opening round game of the SEC Tournament but they won it as definitively as they did, just taking Arkansas to the woodshed. Of course, by winning we get to play Kentucky today who is probably angry that they lost in the last second to Florida on Sunday. An angry Kentucky is never a good thing when it comes to basketball. (An angry Kentucky in football means they only lose single instead of double digits!)

In other news that made me grin--Vandy lost. Please hear the voice of Nelson from The Simpsons here as I say, "Ha, ha!" The giant sucking sound you heard last was the wind going out of Vandy's NCAA Tourney hopes balloon. Couldn't happen to a better team.

posted by Michael at 3/11/2005 08:32:00 AM | |
Thursday, March 10, 2005
It's football time in Tennessee
The Vols begin spring football practice today!

That means football season is just around the corner!

Woo-hoo!

posted by Michael at 3/10/2005 02:09:00 PM | |

Alias Round-Up
The Index
I'm beginning to thinks that somone slipped the Alias production a team a copy of season one on DVD and that not only did they watch it, but they also remembered what it was that hooked me on this show to begin with. Because the last three weeks have just been going back to the qualities that made the first year and a half of this show so enjoyable.

The only thing really missing here was that due to the mandate from J.J. Abrams that the stories being a bit more "self contained" that we had to have the resolution to the main plotline in the course of the hour. How much cooler would it have been to have had the big reveal that Jack had gone into meet with the Alliance people instead of Sloane? Based on the arc the character has taken until now, that would have given us something to stew over for a week--including the question of where Jack's loyalties really lie. I would have enjoyed that a lot.

But what this episode did was harken back to the days when Syd was a double-agent. Having Syd have a dual-agenda in most of the scenes really helped increase the tension--esp. when the scenes when she steals and dupliates the index and later at Sloane's house. The drama of--will she get caught in her deceptions was nicely done and it really made the scenes of stealing things, running around dressed up in various outfits a lot more fun. If there is danger to Syd personally, that is far more compelling than the usual, well, let's be chased around by bad guys. And it gave some of the scenes a lot more nuances--such as the wonderful conversation between Sloane and Syd when he expresses disappointment in her.

Though in looking at things, I have to wonder if Sloane set up Syd and Dixon. Think about it. He gets to cry "wolf" now to Director Chase when this project is on the up and up. Later when his real agenda comes to light, they will have to work harder to have more definitive proof and their credibility is a bit more suspect. Yeah, whatever Sloane's agenda is, he's helped himself out a lot here by the eagerness of Syd and Dixon to expose him. I have to think this will come back to haunt our heroes later.

And let us never doubt that Sloane has another agenda. We were reminded of it yet again in the final scene as Jack and Sloane engage in mysterious double talk that yields no information. To quote Dr Evil here, "Throw me a freakin' bone!" Come on, Alias....Lost teases us with tidbits all the time without frustrating us...you can take a page from the same play book!

Meanwhile, Nadia is the one who saves Jack this time. It is just filled with irony since Jack killed her mother and Syd has been keeping her in the dark about it all thise time. I can only imagine Nadia is going to be less than thrilled when the fact that Jack killed her mother and Syd lied to her about it comes into the light. Oh, the tension, the tension.

And while the episode was good, it wasn't quite perfect. I've mentioned a few things that I found less than thrilling within the overall context. But the real sore thumb here was Vaughn goes to visit his dying uncle and gets a clue about his dad, who may or may not be dead. Good to know every CIA family is dysfunctional, I guess. And I'm going to go to my common criticism from this year--Alias, if you're gonna borrow from The X-Files, make it a bit less obvious. If you've seen the classic episode "One Breath" you knew right away the nurse that Vaughn saw wouldn't really have worked there. But why was she there and did it really matter? Hard to care much when all it leads to is a bus station locker and a journal that says Poppa Vaughn may or may not be alive still. Goodness--does anyone ever die on this show? I swear, I think that Herbert Hoover could make a guest appearance on the show and no one would bat an eye.

Also, part of me was a bit irritated that Syd's agenda for wanting to catch Slaone in wrong-doing didn't include the fact that he had her fiancee executed way back in episode one. I know she's with Vaughn now (at least for this week), but that would be a good little tidbit to throw in there for those of us who have been with this show since day one.

posted by Michael at 3/10/2005 11:00:00 AM | |

Ironic
This just struck me as ironically funny this morning.

Driving into work this morning on the parking lot interstate 24, there was a woman who had the Mother's Against Drunk Driving licence plate on her car. Which is all well and good, except that she was not paying much as much attention to her driving as she was to applying her make-up....

posted by Michael at 3/10/2005 08:22:00 AM | |
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Apparently Chief O'Hara was involved...
Good thing to know that all the crime in New York City has been dealt with and the police have time to crack down on these types of criminals....

posted by Michael at 3/09/2005 12:33:00 PM | |

Proper English
I found this quiz over at Outwit, Outblog, Outsnark. It's a quiz that tests your knowledge of Commonly Confused Words. Give it a try!

Here are my results:

Advanced
You scored 86% Beginner, 93% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 66%
Expert!
You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate,
and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score.

posted by Michael at 3/09/2005 12:02:00 PM | |

24: Day Four, 6-7 p.m.
I'm probably going to jinx things by saying this, but so far, day four is avoiding one of the major pitfalls of most seasons of 24--namely having a couple of hours in the day where nothing much of interest happens. There's not been any lag in this day nor has there been any plot developments that seem to have come too far out of left field. Even this week's big returning character twist felt right--Michelle Dessler comes back to head up CTU after Erin is relieved of duties following the suicide of her daughter. Will Driscoll come back or have we seen the last of her character until the next big day?

Last week, I wondered where do we go from here and this week delivered on that. We're halfway through day four and there seems to be no let-up of the tension and excitement in sight. I have to admit I liked the team of Jack and Paul. From the natural tension in the car on the way over to McLendon-Forester when Paul says he doesn't resent Jack (which is nice considering an hour before he was touching live electric wires to your chest to get information out of you. How does this guy make it as a lawyer?) , but he's going to fight to get Audrey back to his thinking on his feet and taking the printout and running with it. What could have been just an excuse to team up two people with natural tension is working surprisingly well. Paul's knowing how to find backdoors to the system and infilitrate it was nicely done.

Of course, it's nice to know that every computer system on the planet has IM running at all times so Tony can send messages to Jack. OK, I'll admit I found that a bit much but then again, have you tried to uninstall Windows Messenger from your computer? It's about impossible and the blasted thing comes pre-installed so Bill Gates can track everything you do.

Meanwhile, over at CTU, Tony is put in charge in a move that was one of those--well, I'm just going to go with it. I liked the scenes with Curtis when the two tried to get into a pissing contest and Tony smacked him down. I just hope Tony hangs around now that Michelle is back and in charge. And I said this about last year's installment--it just does not pay to be director of CTU. Look at all the bad stuff that happens to you--George dies in a nuclear explosion, Chapelle is killed to meet a terrorist demand and Tony goes to jail. You know, it's not exactly a job with long-term career benefits. It was not kind to Driscoll at all. And now Michelle is taking over. I think I'd seriously reconsider that.

But the most chilling part of this hour was the corporate esponiage angle. The whole, "We sold weapons to terrorists and we'll whatever it takes to cover it up" was chilling. Interesting that the company puts its own survival ahead of national security. Of course, seeing McClendon manipulated by those around him--who I think are up to their ears in wrong-doing--was intriguing. The only card they didn't pull out was--we'll be hurting all the employees who are innocent if we come out and reveal that we work with terrorists. The callous disregard for anyone else was kind of scary--so we set off an EMP and cripple an eight block radius of LA...yeah, as long as we cover up our dodgy dealings, the ends justify the means. So, now we've got a whole new set of bad guys and a terrorist agent out there who has another plan in motion to complete the day of attacks.

Man, it's gonna be another great 12 hours as we barrel toward the end of this day. Can't wait.

posted by Michael at 3/09/2005 08:09:00 AM | |
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Logtar's Looney Lunes
Today we move from word association to scent memory. I know I associate certain scents to memories, or better yet a scent can bring back very vivid memories. Now lets not exclude those that are olfactory impaired and just let them use their imagination. It is easy to play, just close your eyes and think of the scent and then tell us what comes to mind. It does not have to be a memory, but if it is share ;)

Fresh Rain: Summer thunderstorms.
Coffee: As a young boy, sitting on my dad's lap, reading the Sunday comics together.
Hot Cocoa: with Marshmellows!
The Ocean: Sand between my toes.

Now lets keep on thinking of scents and lets come up with some goofy questions.

1. What air freshener do you prefer to use in your car? New car smell, Strawberry, Lilac? Why do you like it? A memory attached to it?
I like the Febreeze stuff you spray in your car. No particular scent really.

2. Does the smell of doctor or dentist office bring you what kind of memories? Lets not forget that if we have a loved one in those professions it might not all be nightmares ;)
I am not a big fan of going to the doctor or hospitals. In fact, the cleanser/cleaner they use in hospitals can really set me off. See, I have this tendency to pass out when I get a shot so that is bad. And the smell of the cleaner sometimes brings on those feelings of I might pass out.

3. Candles, incense, air fresheners… are there anything items that you use to make your home scented?
I used scented candles and air freshners. I've never been really too keen on incense.

posted by Michael at 3/08/2005 03:32:00 PM | |

24 Round-Up delayed
For those of you who cruise by on Tuesdays to get my thoughts and reactions to the latest epiosde of 24, I have to apologize. I was actually out having a life last evening (I'm stunned by this revelation, too!) and had to tape 24. I will be watching it tonight after the latest installment of the Amazing Race and will offer up my usual commentary then.

Just so you know....

posted by Michael at 3/08/2005 02:37:00 PM | |

The return of Jerry Green
Former Tennessee head basketball coach, Jerry Green, speaks out in this morning's Tennessean about the state of men's basektball at the University of Tennessee. Green, who had one of the most successful tenures as the coach at UT statistically, pulls no punches in this one.

''The question is: Does the University of Tennessee community — and I
include in that the administration, the boosters, the people who write for the
newspapers and answer the phones on the talk shows — actually want a third sport that's world class?

''You've got two huge programs there that people appear to love and
enjoy in the football team and Lady Vols basketball team. I just question if the
campus community really, really wants a third program to be at the top level.
From my experience there and some of the decisions that have been made, I'm not sure in my own mind that it does."

Harsh and critical words from Green. But then again, you have to remember that while Green did win a lot of games, he aliennated himself from the fanbase. I seem to recall his comment that if we didn't like the way the basketball team was run, we could all go shop at Wal-Mart. Also, there was the fact that it appeared Green ran the team with little or no discipline. Yes, the teams he coached had all the talent in the world, but that talent was never really cultivated into anything more. Tony Harris was the same player he was a freshman when he got to his senior season.

Also, looking at the two program that Green cites as being above men's basketball at UT--football and the Lady Vols. Again, one of the knocks on Green was a lack of discipline on his team. That is a charge you never hear levied against Pat Summitt and you only hear levied at the football team when they've gone out and stunk up the Peach Bowl. Related to that, I found this quote by Green interesting.

The other thing Green says works against the men's basketball coach at
Tennessee is what he calls a football mentality.

''I don't know how that's affected Buzz, but it's a reality,'' Green
said. ''You hear the 'Let's get rid of the offensive coordinator and let's get
rid of the defensive coordinator,' and that atmosphere goes over into whether
they keep the basketball coach or not. That's just the way it is there.''

I think it's interesting that now that the money is going to dry up from his contract buyout, that Green resurfaces and blasts UT and the administration. Head over to the article to hear Green's side of how he was let go as head basketball caoch. It certainly makes for interesting reading--especially if you're a Vols' fan like me.

posted by Michael at 3/08/2005 10:28:00 AM | |
Monday, March 07, 2005
TV Round-Up
Battlestar Galactica: Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
As much as part of me wants to say--not a lot really happened in this episode, I will admit that I enjoyed the chance to slow down and get inside the minds of the characters and explore where they all are in relation to one another. I have this strange feeling that we're going to find out in the coming weeks there was a lot more happening here than met the eye--such as the wounded Cylon raider that kept buzzing the fleet and Tigh's wife Ellen.

Interesting that the show takes Tigh, who until now we've seen as a relative hard-ass and shows us why he's a hard-ass. There was no attempt to humanize him, to make him more warm and fuzzy in the course of the hour. Instead, we're given a bit of insight into his character--why he drinks, why he's so hard on himself and others. I think it's because as XO is the only time he actually has any kind of authority or power. Certainly we see that Tigh's homelife ain't all that great since apparently his beloved wife, Ellen, has had relations with half the fleet. So, no wonder Tigh is so highly strung and tightly wound around the troops--wondering if your wife hooked up with the troops would kind of do that to you. I loved watching Tigh run the gamut in the course of the episode from being happy to see here, to the ambrosia drinking scenes to the dinner party and then the non-argument arguement the two have about Ellen's behavoir. I think part of the reason Tigh is so tightly-strung is he has to be to counteract the view of his wife and how that reflects on him with those under his command. And, I liked seeing Adama's admission that he liked Tigh more without Ellen around and that Adama needed Tigh to be the XO he's been over the course of the series.

All of this is really great stuff.

Of course, the frustrating thing about this episode it left a lot of questions unanswered--such as is Roslin now convinced that Adama is not a Cylon? I think she may be, but I hope we get a line or two where Baltar gives her the results of the test in the next one, if that is where we go with this. Of course, it's not as if Baltar's telling you the results is going to be gospel truth anyway. Which is my other frustration. The episode leads us down a path of suspecting that Ellen Tigh is a Cylon agent. But in the end, Baltar says she's not. Then Six shows up and says that no one will ever know but Baltar and he's not telling. So, is Ellen part of the Cylon's plan? And would it not be interesting if she's been brought in as a divisive point to break up the upper command structure. She distracts Tigh, she comes onto Adama and she sews seeds of mistrust between Tigh and Adama at dinner. She's a female version of Leobon. She's sewing distrust between the highest levels of power and that could benefit the Cylons later on.

So many unanswered questions.

Also left out there was--what is the long-term signficance of the injured Raider. It's near the fleet for so long and our heroes treat it as if it's a boon of information. But were our heroes getting played as well? Was the Raider also collecting data on them for the Cylons to use later? Also, I have to think that Boomer is falling for Helo and this situation will not end well. Will this be how our heroes discover that Boomer is a Cylon?

Only time will tell, I suppose.

posted by Michael at 3/07/2005 11:24:00 AM | |

Rumors
Rumor has it the very first episode of the new Doctor Who series has cropped up on-line. Not that I would ever support bootlegging or downloading episodes, mind you. That would just be wrong....

Also, I'm hearing rumors that detail of the final episode of Enterprise are out there. Rick Berman has called it "a valentine" to the fans, though I'm hearing we may be upset with how it ends. I am doing my best to stay away from the rumors.

Also, I'm hearing that Spike TV might pick up Enterprise for a fifth season....

posted by Michael at 3/07/2005 11:17:00 AM | |
Sunday, March 06, 2005
How bout dem Lady Vols?!?
Woo-hoo! The Lady Vols just won the SEC Tournament over LSU!

Rocky Top, you'll always be! Home sweet home to me!
Good ol' Rocky Top! Rocky Top, Tennessee!!!!!

posted by Michael at 3/06/2005 08:02:00 PM | |

Childhood injury
This morning at church, Thad took a moment out of the service to tell us about his son's breaking his arm. Apparently diving off the top bunk onto a bean bag, didn't quite work out and so now his son is in a cast.

Thinking about Thad's son broken arm reminded me of the time I broke my arm.

We were living in Hawaii at the time. It was the summer between first and second grade. My good buddy, Kevin Dolan, had broken his arm and had a huge cast that went up his entire arm. He had to wear a sling and I seem to remember him having an iron-on from Star Trek the Motion Picture on his sling. At the time, I thought to myself that I was fortunate to have not broken my arm because, like now, I loved swimming. Summer time and not being able to get in the pool just didn't seem right.

The day I broke my arm was one of the worst of my life. And it should have been one of the best. I was signed up with a summer day camp and the day in question, we were going to go bowling. Now, I've never been, but I'd seen Fred play on the Flintstones and so I was really looking forward to going and trying it. It looked so easy on TV. How could it not be easy in real life?

Well, since day camp took place on base, we walked to the bowling alley. Which at my tender age, it seemed like we were on the Batan death march. We finally got there and I was ready to start knocking down some pins.

I got a bowling ball, stepped up on the lane and let 'er rip! And the ball glided along for about three inches and then was drawn to the gutter. This was a pattern that would be repeated all day for 10 long frames. I may have knocked over one, maybe two pins, I'm not sure. All I know is it was very, very disappointing.

Needless to say, the Batan death march back to the school where our parents would pick us up seemed that much longer this time around.

We got back and had some time to kill, so we were unleahsed upon the playground. One part of the playground was a set of balance beams--not parallel the ground, but big, round steps jutting up out of the ground with some space in between them. I watched large groups of kids run across them and thought--I can do it. So, I got in line.

I started and went up with no problem. Then, I got to the tallest of the beams and looked at the step down. It might as well have been the Grand Canyon...it looked that far apart. And it seemed as if I were up on top of the Empire State Building. I remember stepping out, my foot hitting the lower beam, thinking, "I'll be OK" and then plummeting down. I landed on my left arm.

I'm OK, I thought. Until I tried to push up on my left arm. Needless to say, this did not feel good. I told a counselor that I was hurt and thought I'd broken my arm. I was assured I hadn't. To make me feel better, I got to ride on the counselor's shoulders as we went to where our parents would pick us up. Along the way, there were lights on the ceiling and I was encourage to show I wasn't hurt by touching them all with my broken arm. I did this twice before the pain discouarged me.

So, Mom picked me up, I got a fun trip to the ER and got a plaster cast on my arm. I remember it must have been a serious injury as my dad showed up with my comic book collection while I waited and was good. See, I'd lost them for doing something and I thought they were gone forever.

So, I spent the summer in a cast. The one other thing I remember about it was that my parents would only let family members sign my cast--something I'm still a bit bitter about to this day.

posted by Michael at 3/06/2005 07:52:00 PM | |
Friday, March 04, 2005
Good start
The Lady Vols opened the 2005 SEC Tournament with a win today. Woo-hoo! Now, if we can just keep winning and set up a rematch with LSU, our only conference loss this year.

posted by Michael at 3/04/2005 04:47:00 PM | |

Friday Memes
Friday's Feast
Appetizer - Who is the one person you email more often than anyone else?
Stephanie and Barry.

Soup - So far, which year of your life has been the most enjoyable?
They've all been good in their own way. Looking back at 98, the Vols went undefeated and won it all. I also like 'o2 for a variety of reasons. But really, every year has a lot of good and some less than great.

Salad - Name someone with whom you have lost touch but would like to reunite.
My good friend, Travis, from my days at UT.

Main Course - What was the tastiest meal you had this past week?
Oh, that is difficult as I've had some great meals this week. I'd have to say it's a tie between the extra-spicy chili and the roast that was marinated and then cooked all day in the CrockPot. Both were great.

Dessert - Using the letters in your favorite color, write three words that describe your personality.
O - Over the top Vols fan
R - Responsible
A - Ambitious
N - Not easy to forget
G - Gregarious
E - Exuberant

Aloha Friday
Have you ever experienced blog burnout? Pull up a chair and share.
I've not really experience burnout just yet. Now, there were some times in the last year when I felt less inclined to blog than others, but ya know, I've not yet really had a long chunk of time when words just wouldn't come to me. Of course, I've only had this blog a little under a year. But since there are always TV shows I'm watching and UT sports, I figure there is no end in sight.

Tell us about the first car you owned.
A Chevy Cavalier that was a raspberry color. It was new, purchased by my parental units for me as a college graduation gift (as if the whole education thing wasn't enough of a gift!) It was a nice car and I enjoyed it, until it just wore out.

Spread the spirit of blogaloha…whom should we visit this week?
You can't go wrong with visiting Becky over at April Fool. Her blog is one that I look forward to reading every day.

posted by Michael at 3/04/2005 09:25:00 AM | |

But it's not even summer yet...
This report says that gas prices could jump as much as 24 cents a gallon in the next week! Good heavens, that's a better jolt to the system than caffeine on a Friday morning! Also depressing is the fact that prices could rise to as much as $2.95 a gallon for the low-grade unleaded fuel by this summer.

And yet, I bet we still won't tap into the oil wells we've got on American soil...

posted by Michael at 3/04/2005 08:10:00 AM | |
Thursday, March 03, 2005
If it's true...
New Doctor Who episodes return to the airwaves in the UK later his month. It's the first, new Doctor Who episodes since we got the two hour FOX movie in 96 and the first regular season of the series since 1989. Needless to say, as a life-long fan of Doctor Who, I am really, really excited to see the new episodes air in the United States as soon as possible.

Well, it looked like for a while that SciFi was going to get back into my good graces. They've done a nice job with the whole picking up Battlestar Galactica for a second season, but really I've yet to forgive them entirely for cancelling Farscape.

But rumors were flying that SciFi was going to do the smart thing and pick up Doctor Who and run it. What more perfect home for the new series could there possibly be? To make things even better, SciFi was interested in not only the new series but all the available complete Doctor Who stories from the original 26 year run. So, when the new series wins over new fans they can expereince the greatness of the entire series.

How can this not be perfect?

Well, rumors are flying about today that SciFi has passed on the series, saying it doesn't "fit" their network. To which I say--WTF?!? Seriously, guys....half the programming on your network doesn't fit the label of sci-fi. I seriously doubt that the Beyond Belief and Ripley's Believe It Or Not count as sci-fi. And I love the endless repeats of the Indiana Jones trilogy, but they are technically not sci-fi.

No, I think the issue here is probably the price tag. I bet the cost was a bit more prohibative and so SciFi isn't going to take a chance on it. But I ask again--why not? You picked up Stargate and the built in cult audience. Doctor Who has the same built-in audience. And with the right amount of promotion, you could get new fans and good numbers.

But apparently not. So, that leaves us wondering--where will the new Doctor Who air stateside and when?

And while I'd be all for a new season of Enterprise to air on SciFi, I'd far rather see the new Doctor Who get the nod over Enterprise. Any day of the week...

posted by Michael at 3/03/2005 11:00:00 AM | |

Volunteer Tailgate Party v 3.1
Miss Zoot is hosting the latest edition of the Volunteer Tailgate Party. Surf on over, grab a comfy seat and read the best and brightest from the Rocky Top Brigade.

posted by Michael at 3/03/2005 10:50:00 AM | |

TV Round-Up
Lost: Numbers
Going into Lost this week, I was thinking a lot about the article I linked to yesterday. Specifically, I kept coming back to one of my favorite series from the 90s, The X-Files. Like Lost, The X-Files was considered a genre show, but it was so much more. Because of the freedom of its concept, The X-Files could have a story that socked you in the gut with an emotional punch or was spot-on hilariously funny. And there were times when an episode would find that balance between dark, gritty drama and a quirky, wry sense of humor. One of the great examples of this is "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" which deals with some really dark issues but yet writer Darren Morgan makes you laugh out loud so many times that you forget how dark the story is going.

And that is what was happening here with "Numbers." Let's face it--this storyline was really, really dark. But there were some light moments in there to keep you laughing and not think about how dark is really is. It's almost as if David Fury had Darren Morgan on speed-dial or was channeling him here.

At long last, we get to find out a bit more about Hurley. Until now, Hurley's been the tension breaker, the comic relief on the show. I'd also argue that it's Hurley, not Jack, who has become the moral compass on the island. It's been Hurley who points out what's right and wrong and has been the voice of reason at times when it's needed. And now we begin to see what it was that brought Hurley to the island. Hurley won the lottery, using a series of numbers that he thinks are cursed. Seems the guy who used them before he did gained but at a high price and now he's gained but bad things are happening to people around him. Grandpa dies, his brother's wife leaves, the new house burns down, people plummet to their death. On paper it's not really anything that makes you want to laugh out loud and say--now, that's funny. But in the context of the show, the situations and circumstances lead to some humor. And it also leads you to feel a lot of empathy for Hurley. Because he's a good guy who's trying to do the right thing. He made a bad choice and the consequences of it are pretty negative . Again, it reminds me of Clyde Bruckman, an insurance salesman who had psychic abilities but would see only people's deaths.

You could feel threads coming together in this episode. Hurley sees the numbers Sayid stole from Danielle and recognizes them as the numbers he used to win the lottery. He then becomes obsessed with finding Danielle and sets out on his quest to find her and ask her where the numbers came from. He eventually does find her, only to hear that the numbers were being broadcast by the tower until Danielle changed the message. The signal lured Danielle and her ship to the island, where everyone died and Danielle slowly went crazy. In the end, Danielle admits that maybe the numbers could be cursed and Hurley hugs her in gratitude.

Again, I go back to my theme of the island seems to be giving people what they most want or need. Jack needed closure with his dad, Boone had to realize that Shannon dying wasn't the end of his life, and Hurley needed someone to tell him he wasn't crazy. And they've got all that. Now, the question becomes--you've got what you want, now what is the price? Was the price being stuck on the island? I think that idea is too simple. In a lot of ways, the island itself has become a character on the show. And I think it's giving things, but the reckoning will some come due to the players involved. For those who gained a lot--such as Locke or Jack--the price may be high. Is that what drove everyone in Danielle's camp over the edge and killed them all? The price of getting what they wanted. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, Locke enlists Claire's help for a special project--building a crib for her baby. It's good to know that someone is thinking about the logistics of a newborn on the island. And it was nice of Locke to do something speical for Claire on her birthday. But I did get a strange vibe that Locke knew it was her birthday before she told us. Anyone else get that?

Also, I have to admit I loved Charlie's reaction to Hurley's secret. And Hurley's summation of the premise of the show was hilarious as well. Good stuff and it makes the next six or so weeks seem a lot longer.

Alias: A Man Of His Word
I'm pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming because I've actually enjoyed Alias two-weeks in a row. That hasn't happened in I don't know how long.

Interesting to see a storyline where Jack is put in charge of a mission and must now jeopardize the health and safety of Sloane's daughter in order to complete the misison. And how Jack does it and then defends himself to Slaone with the usual, "The ends justified the means" arguement that Sloane used. Also, Jack's use of Sloane's "faith" in why Nadia couldn't die was a nice little dagger as well.

I think if you were a new Alias watcher, this one might have been a bit confusing. They did a good job of giving a short explanation of the storyline until now, but there were nuances to it. I know--I'm shocked as well...Alias had nuancs. From Sark's demanding the Vaughn be the one to open Lauren's casket to Sark's escape in the end, it all worked. I also liked how Sark kept his word to Sydney and gave her Anna. Of course, part of me is a bit saddened to see Anna taken into custody because the past two weeks have proven how good the show can be with her on the loose. I love how Anna's loyalties change seemingly from moment-to-moment. And I didn't buy that she wanted to work with Sark for a minute. She had some other agenda there and I think Sark recognized it. She'd sell him up the river in a second if it helped save her own neck. It's sad to the type of rogue-element character taken out of play, at least for now.

Of course, I guess the up-side is that we get Sark back in play. And you know, I have to agree with Sark--I don't see why the CIA let Sloane be in charge of the new APO given his track record. And in the end, we had more mysterious hint-dropping by Jack and Sloane. Seriously, those moments only need the Snydley Whiplash moustache and a twirling of it to be complete. I hate the waiting games we seem to be playing to find out what the real agenda by Jack and Sloane is.

posted by Michael at 3/03/2005 08:47:00 AM | |
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Nooooo!
Ever since the Titans cut Pro-Bowl wide receiver Derrick Mason last week, there has been some intense speculation about which team he'll go to next. Rumors had him going to Jacksonville or Cincinatti

Late this afternoon, the news came down about who Mason signed with. He's signed with the Ravens.

Nooooooooooooooooo! For me, this is like a player from the Redskins going to play for the Cowboys. It is just not the natural order! Ugh! I despise the Ravens and must now despise Mason.

posted by Michael at 3/02/2005 04:20:00 PM | |

I can barely contain my excitement
Wow! As if being Music City USA wasn't enough, Nashville is getting an extra dose of celebrity excitement to start the month of March. Seems that Paris and Nicole are in town filming at least one upcoming episode of The Simple Life. Rumor has it they will be out clubbing tonight in downtown Nashville.

You know, I'd go out club-hopping to look for them and try and get my fifteen-minutes of fame, but there is a new episode of Lost on tonight and I just don't want to miss that...

posted by Michael at 3/02/2005 01:46:00 PM | |

Last new Lost for a while tonight.
Lost is all-new tonight, possibly for the last time until mid to late April.

Tonight's episode is the long-awaited one that centers on Hurley. I have to admit I am intrigued to see his backstory, espeically in light of seeing him on the TV screen in last week's episode. USA Today has an article about tonight's episode that doesn't give away many details, which is good. I want to go in as SPOILER-free as possible.

In relation to Lost, I came across an interesting link over at the SciFi Daily blog. It was a link to The Disembodied Brain, that asks "Is Lost still sci-fi?"

Now, it's an interesting enough article, but my question is this--do we really need to assign a niche to Lost. Yes, it has some fantastic, fantasy/sci-fi elements to it. But honestly, I don't think of Lost as sci-fi show per-se. I think of it as a good story with some great characters. It happens to have some supernatural elements to it, but that's OK with me. I accept them as just part of the show in the same way that I accept on 24 every point in L.A. is ten minutes apart from each other driving. I hate to see a show as good as Lost try to get pidgeon-holed so.

posted by Michael at 3/02/2005 12:12:00 PM | |

Logtar's Meme
My good buddy, Logtar has started his own meme. (BTW--Logtar, I'm a bit miffed that I had to find out about this meme via someone else. See what happens--get engaged, start ignoring your friends. LOL)

We are going to start simple with a goofy word association game… Use the word, what comes to mind?

Lobotomy:: Quantum Leap's Shock Theater episode
Unspoken:: Communication
Negligible:: Slight
Entrepreneurial:: Pet Rocks
Sagacious:: Wise

Then for the second part a little music bit, answer the following 3 questions.

What is the song or artist that you love to hate?
I think the world is too full of hate for me to really take the time to actively hate any artist. That said, I just have very little use for any of J. Lo's music.

What is the song or artist that you love but don’t like to admit to?
Well, since I bought the DVDs of the first season of The Greatest American Hero recently, the theme song is now stuck in my head. Which I know it's not hip to like the song, but I think it's pretty cool. And it is a great joke in Seinfeld.

What is the song or artist that you first ever remember listening to as a child and loving, or that you purchased their first CD. Any story behind it?
I'm old enough to remember getting a stereo with a turntable on it. One of the first records I bought was Kenny Roger's "Eyes That See in the Dark" which featured the mega-hit "Islands in the Stream." I also remember buying a single of "99 Red Balloons" as well.

posted by Michael at 3/02/2005 11:21:00 AM | |
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
My evil plan worked...
One of the many joys in my life is being Uncle Michael. I've been Uncle Michael for just over nine years now, when Brainy Boy was born to Barry and L over at the Inn of the Last Home. In those nine years, they've added Giggle Girl to the family as well. Also during that time period, my sister and her husband had Gracelyn and Davis. So that is four small, impressionable children to spoil and hopefully convert someday in Doctor Who fans just like myself. So far, this plan hasn't really caught fire with BB, GG or Gracelyn, but Davis does seem to think the opening credits on Doctor Who are pretty neat.

To say that I love being Uncle Michael is a bit of an understatement.

Also, I must say that if I should someday be blessed with having children of my own, we will have to move to a cave somewhere in Alaska to avoid the retribution that is coming. Many have warned me about this over the years, but I just shrug it off at this point. I am so far behind the eight ball now that I am just going to enjoy it now and stock up on Tylenol for when my turn comes around.

For those of you who don't know, BB upgraded to version 9 in mid-February. When I saw BB and his family back in late December, Barry and BB mentioned they'd caught a few episode of the old Battlestar Galactica on SciFi during the Christmas holidays. They'd enjoyed them together and an idea hit me. At the monthly flea-market in Nashville, they occasionally have the box set of the original Battlestar Galactica available for a reasonable price. I figured I'd be the coolest uncle ever if I could find a set for BB for his b'day. (Also, I figured it be one of those good father/son bonding things.) Well, needless to say I didn't make it to the flea market in January due to the cold wind and rain.

So, I was stuck. I wanted to find something for BB that I knew he'd like.

Now, his b'day is in mid-February. In fact, his b'day was the weekend I had the flu. So, that put a big dent in my plan for the weekend of hitting the mall to find him a gift. So, I waited until the next weekend when I was finally well enough to tackle the mall and go in search of a good present.

I wandered into Suncoast and was looking around at the various movies, wondering which ones BB had and which ones he needed. I spent a lot of time looking at such classics as The Dark Crystal and the animated Hobbit, but nothing jumped off the shelf and screamed out the name BB. So, I kept looking. I wandered over to the TV section and was looking around.

Now, let me back up and say that BB really enjoys the show Full House. Honestly, I don't get it, but then again no one quite gets my love of Doctor Who. So, I feel for him there. Looking at the shelf, what did I see but a set of Full House DVDs...season one. No commericals. Just released. Now this is a present that just screamed, "Buy this for BB!"

First of all, I know he'll enjoy it. Second of all, it will probably drive his parents a bit crazy. Two gifts in one. It's perfect, I thought. I even ran my devious plan past the person who had accompanied me on this shopping expedition and she found it amusing and devious as well. But, being the frugal person I am (it wasn't on sale at Suncoast) I planned to check at Wal-Mart first and then stop by BestBuy on the way home since it'd be less expensive. One trip to Wal-Mart later, and some strange looks by the clerk for asking to buy a box-set of Full House, I had the present.

The present was wrapped and mailed, extremely late due to the flu and the fact that I haven't found a post office near my office yet. But it arrived to BB yesterday.

I got e-mai from BBl this morning that the present was a big hit. Which I'm glad he liked it, but I was even more encouraged that it was a good gift when Barry sent this...

If it takes me to my last ounce of breath, I will get you back for the Full House DVD.

Around the moons of Nibia, across the Antares Maelstrom, and through Perdition's Flames..

For those of you who don't recognize that last part, it's from Star Trek II--the greatest movie EVER!

I have to admit I've been about to bust to tell this story for a couple of weeks now, but I knew that if I blogged about it, Barry would get the heads-up and that would ruin part of the fun. I'm glad now that I can tell it and cackle with glee to others besides myself.

Meanwhile, I'm scouting out caves in Alaska....


posted by Michael at 3/01/2005 01:52:00 PM | |

TV Round-Up
24: Day 4, 5-6 p.m.
So, we're almost halfway through day four and the biggest question on my mind is--where do we go from here? CTU has stopped the reactors' meltdown and recaptured the override, so that threat is now gone. (Or is it? This is 24, after all). And yes, I realize that Marwan is still on the loose and he probably still has a few things up his sleeve. I have faith in 24 that the story will continue to spin-off in new and interesting directions from here, though I have to admit I find myself scratching my head wondering what will happen next. (And since I avoid the previews, I have no idea what will happen next week..makes it more fun that way.)

It was also interesting that the final segment of suspense in this episode was little more than people typing on computers. But yet, it was edge of your seat intense and exciting. For a few minutes I expected 24 was going to make us wait until next week to see if Edgar succeeded in shutting down the reactors. Of course, for the sake of believability, I guess there is a point of no return in shutting down a nuclear reactor.

Meanwhile, Jack gets to torture Paul to get information out of him. You know, I can't say that is going to win him many points with Audrey. I have a feeling that Jack's actions throughout the day are going to aliennate Audrey to the point that she will go back with Paul by the end of this 24 hour period. We've seen it before--Jack just can't quite balance his professional life with his private life. Of course, Paul's storyline is a bit of a warning to all of us out there--make sure you know who you're doing business with. You never know what they could be up to....I'm sure that not everyone is a terrorist, but you never know when Jack will kick in your hotel room door, tie you to a chair and torture you for information. I have to wonder why Paul didn't just give up the information to Jack before the torture with the electrical cord, but then again that wouldn't make for any excitment or suspense.

posted by Michael at 3/01/2005 08:12:00 AM | |