Wannabe Entertainment Weekly Article: Lone Star's Untimely Demise

It is my favorite season at last! Season premiere season! I'm a big fan of Fall in general. The weather, the clothes, the food, the atmosphere. But the most exciting thing to me is getting to watch and review (for personal edification, rather than for compensation) the season openers and hot off the press pilots. As a TV junkie (who ironically has no TV), I have caught a good chunk of the new shows this year, and I've been rather impressed.

1. How I Met Your Mother, one of my favorite shows of all time, returns fresh from a rather stilted, sitcommy Season 5 with the undeniable combination of Wayne Brady and Neil Patrick Harris. Good times were had by all.

2. Mike & Molly, which I was excited about, being an overweight person finally represented on TV by characters who were not just sassy sidekicks. You'd think we were a minority from the way we're invisible on screen. Embrace the jigglypuff, America. They got a lot of the obligatory fat jokes out of the way, and still managed to have some sweet moments.

3. Hawaii 5-0. Never watched the old one. Probably wouldn't watch the new one if it excluded Jin from Lost and super sexy though super boring Alex O'Loughlin. But I was pleased to see as the inaugural baddies, the less attractive Boondock Saint (Norman Reedus) and Buffy's own Spike the vampire (James Marsters). Wasn't otherwise too impressed with the pilot, but the following episode ended with an adorable makeshift police academy graduation.

4. Raising Hope. The best new show I've seen so far. It's random and awkward (high praise in my terms), with a pretty man candy lead, and extremely well-done. Highlight was when new father Jimmy pukes on his new baby whilst changing her diaper. Sounds cheap and vulgar, but it was genuinely hysterical. Watch it now, I say!

5. Glee. I love it with all my heart, but it is seriously flawed. Hated the new kids, and as for the Britney episode, surely they could have picked better songs. Though "Stronger" re-imagined as an 80s training montage power ballad, was a stroke of genius.

6.. Lone Star. I confess I did not watch it. And I was not alone. It didn't really appeal to me, despite the attractive star. But upon hearing the news yesterday that Fox was canceling it after two underachieving episodes, my heart broke for the Dallas-set sudser. Fox has a history of canceling amazing shows (again, didn't see this one but it got great reviews), many of which became legendary in their afterlife. But what the network needs to remember, is that this was someone's baby. Someone dreamed up the concept, pitched it, was stoked when it sold, even more stoked when it was produced, and probably experienced the realization of a dream the night it aired. Its creator even appealed to audiences in an open letter, pleading his case to a public overwhelmed with new shows and old favorites. And yet still Lone Star got the axe. Production on episode 6 was halted, most likely never to be finished. All those people lost their jobs and may not be hired again now that the season is underway. Am I the only one who is touched by this? That some cliched money-grubbing executive can just yank the show off the air with a metaphorical vaudevillian shepherd's crook? I know television is a business, and what's a business, without revenue. But they could have at least given it a chance to find its identity and its audience before throwing in the towel. (How many metaphors can I mix here?) Anyway, I'll be mourning the death of a show I never watched while rejoicing in the (fingers crossed) success of my other obsessions.

Several Things

1. I just 'monetized' this blog, meaning I allowed Google to decide whatever ads best fit the content of said blog in order to perhaps make some money off of it. I know that this will in all likelihood never happen, but it couldn't hurt, right? And even if it does, the payoff is probably pennies. I'm just curious to see what they choose to advertise. I hope it's pie.

2. I almost ran over no less than 3 Orthodox Jewish folks on my way to a cappella practice tonight. Not on purpose. Unlike the 3 people on bikes I usually almost run over every day on the way home from work. Now those people I probably would aim for. Ten points for the snooty yoga-mat toting girls, twenty for the pretentiously 'green' yuppies of either gender. Not that I have anything against bikes, the environment, good exercise, or saving money on gas/insurance/metal box on wheels. But you can't ride a bike on the mean streets of LA and expect to live very long.

3. Today as I mentioned earlier was payday. Sweet. Tomorrow is chicken sandwich day. Even sweeter.

4. Whilst spying on my neighbors this morning, I noticed two detectives visiting the home of my neighbors across the street. They had guns, handcuffs, the whole nine. The looked more like software engineers than detectives, but the hardware they were packing was pretty impressive. I don't know what that was about, but it was pretty exciting. Hopefully I'll hear something from my wonderfully gossipy landlady who is always in the know. If I don't, then I'm making something up. Because all kinds of crazy goes down in this joint. And it's my job to observe, report, and possibly exaggerate. Because I have no life of my own.

Obligatory Baby Photos

I haven't quite figured out how to post a picture, so you can see how adorable my newest niece and nephew are. So this is my testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...

...I think I got it to work. The cannibal on the left is Ayvind, and the poor damsel in distress being eaten alive is Miss Sadie.

But I won't bog down this blog with endless posts about Ayvind, Sadie, or my other adorable and saucy nieces Ally, Myla, and Kadence. As much as I adore them, I don't like sharing the spotlight. So that's all for now, folks.

Abandoned Ship!

Yes I realize it's been about six months since I last posted and most everyone who reads this damn thing has pretty much jumped ship too. Though isn't that the point of a blog? To rant, ramble, and rave to whatever tiny audience you can muster, and then get over it when you get busy/bored/lazy?

Well I have a renewed energy to keep blogging (god I still hate that term). I have been reading my favorite blogger's archives, the Sassy Curmudgeon, who is basically the cooler, older, slightly more neurotic, more than slightly more talented, snarkier East Coast version of myself. Like me, she also hates to write, but forces herself to do it. In the process she has gained an impressive following, and a triumphant wealth of source material.

So basically, I want to be her when I grow up. And in order to grow up, I have to get off my ass (metaphorically, since I'm technically on my ass at the moment), and start writing again. Much like exercise and reading, writing is like a bipolar hobby of mine. I'm either working at it feverishly, or avoiding it altogether. This is a very bad thing since I happen to want to be a writer (again, when I grow up. which probably won't be any time soon).

But you'll be proud to know that I have actually started a novel! The first one since about fourth grade when I was convinced I was going to be a world famous authoress, like J.K. Rowling, if I had known who she was back then. So far it's going well. Eleven pages in and going strong. Though it kind of sounds like an extended blog. But if I say I did that on purpose, then hopefully people will just think it's my cool, hip style instead of a lack of standard literary skills.

The screenplay, which my partner and had working entitled "Hawaiian Goonies," has been put on the shelf for almost as long as this blog. Sadly, we have no plans to push through the last 30 pages, since we now are both fully employed and have opposite schedules. Maybe it will happen someday, but for now, I'm just happy that I got this far.

So basic update, yes baby Ayvind is adorable and awesome. He dances like a robot with a very serious face and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever. My new niece, Sadie, was born a month later. She is just starting to get cute (I'm sorry, but newborn white babies look like a cross between an alien, a frog and a crotchety old man). Unemployment sucked, but I stuck it out and eventually got a job sign twirling. Which was both hilarious and a pain in the ass. I may write more on that subject later. But now I'm back full-time at the job I had last year with the American Film Market. And tomorrow is my first real payday in a looooong time. It will be a most excellent feeling.

Anyway, sorry for the super-long and not terribly amusing blog. But I'm going to try to update a few times a week. Hopefully I'll have something worthwhile to say. If not, I'll just make stuff up. In the meantime, check out the Sassy Curmudgeon. She's pretty much the coolest person ever.