Yesterday, the future wife and I drove to the nearby county courthouse to get the marriage license. The office that we were directed to had a rather interesting handwritten sign next to the doorway: “Marriage, boat and fishing licenses”. We were both amused and strangely assured by the sign, actually.
Sorry to not have a new interview this week. And I genuinely have intended to post a smidge more frequently. But life demands have precluded frequent blogging. I wish I could promise increased posting, but wedding plans will be a top priority until early August. Please indulge me.
I will be posting less as the summer begins for two reasons–my son is out of school and I want to spend more time with him and less of my free time behind a computer. I’m getting married in a few months, and I need a smidge more spare time. Normal (a relative term) will resume in the fall. It is my hope to still have new interviews every OTHER Monday, rather than every Monday this summer.
I love the show Scrubs. Let me clarify that a smidge–over the years, the series star, Zach Braff, has gotten on my nerves to an increasing degree.
For me the show is very much an ensemble cast. TV critic pundits much smarter than me have aptly explained why and how NBC decided to squander the last season of the show. I had lost interest in watching the show in the past few years–as J.D.’s subplots (He is the star I understand, but still…) seemed to drag the show down to a great degree.
So, I was really pleased to see this TV Guide/Michael Ausiello interview with the series creator, Bill Lawrence (after being directed there by Pop Candy/Whitney Matheson’s blog). In the interview, Lawrence notes
“some of the strongest episodes in the second and third year had character comedy.”
Here’s hoping that the show can return to form once it relaunches at ABC next year.
There are certain bloggers who possess an opinion I consistently trust, and the fellow behind Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun is one of those people.
So when Bully noted the passing of Humphrey Lyttelton, a fellow I had never heard of, I realized that this was an unfortunate gap in my wealth of international pop culture knowledge.
Bully links to a couple of You Tube clips for your edification. After reading up on him, Lyttelton reminds me a little of the late Steve Allen, a talented U.S. musician who also was a great wit and comedy show host. I must be quick to note that Allen did not rely on the double entendres as it appears that Lyttelton seemed to feast upon.
Lyttelton was able to succeed in two careers, as musician and as radio host. You can’t help but be blown away (pun intended) by someone who was a contemporary of Louis Armstrong (”Armstrong had declared him the greatest British trumpeter“) and yet, more recently, was present day mindful enough to collaborate with Radiohead back in 2001 on Life in a Glasshouse. The latter effort is shown here. I wish I had known about you before your passing Mr. Lyttelton.
Some of the best times I had writing was back in college, reviewing music for the Georgia State University newspaper. When I realized again how happy that reviewing made me, it dawned on me that all my interviews and reviews (and now blogging) are an effort to recapture that creative happiness.
I can’t relax easily. It’s just a fact with me. My brain is always typically going in about 20 different directions with a poor ability to focus. But when I literally sat down to review an album (this was the late 1980s…) there was no stopping me–I had clear tunnel vision on that track, that voice, that instrument. And sometimes I recapture that feeling when I’m blogging. Rarely though and that bothers me. With this newfound realization, I’ve got some ideas to consider for this blog. I might try my hand at music reviews again. Or I may try something new. Clearly once I know what to try next (in addition to continuing my interviews with folks), you’ll be the next to know. (Just to clarify, I love doing interviews, it merely requires a different set of brain muscles and provides a different form of satisfaction than writing can offer me.)
What partially got me thinking about my reviewing days was Bob Harris’ post at Paper Cuts (the NYTimes Book Blog), Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing. The post, which offers some of the most overused words in reviews, really got me to consider what my “go to” words were when I reviewed. The comments section to the post is impressive, with 202 comments so far, many of which offering other words that folks hate to see misused or overused in reviews. If I do return to reviewing, I’ll do my best to avoid some of these words.
Every once and awhile, I hear someone understandably questioning what we get for all the taxes that U.S. citizens pay (for those of you reading outside the United States, sorry for not writing to you). Any time I run across a government service, I always assume that my taxes have paid for a big chunk of whatever it is. And I’m happy to say, most of the time as delusional as I may be, that thought makes me feel just fine.
Look at the following picture:
No, I don’t mean I can drive around any town, any place without referencing a map once. No, this LOST I speak of is the very popular show on ABC.
I think my dislike of complicated series that inevitably end up failing to tell a story and merely chasing its own narrative tail stems from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Did the pop culture world really get caught up in a show that revealed the root of all evil (at least as far this show was concerned) went by the name BOB? I really toughed it out with that show, until one day an epiphany was thrust upon me. The epiphany? Bail on a show when a backward-talking dancing dwarf shows up.
I look at LOST and I think to myself wow I never thought there could be a show that could make me appreciate Gilligan’s Island. The sheer complexity and crytic nature of the show actually has me longing for weak 1960s sitcoms.
But, of course, judging by the ratings the show attracts, my view is clearly in the minority.
I first became aware of John Granger a few months ago, thanks to his friend and fellow educator, Amy H. Sturgis. Granger describes his most popular intellectual pursuit at his blog (HogwartsProfessor) as: “… Granger’s contribution to the crowded world of Harry Potter thinking is his insistence the books be read as any other very good book rather than a sui generis phenomenon. This perspective has allowed him to explain how the magic of the books is not a departure from the traditions of English fantasy and, mirabile dictu, is even edifying Christian reading.” Many of Granger’s books on Harry Potter (published by Zossima Press) can be found here. My thanks to Granger for taking the time for this email interview.
Tim O’Shea: As both a homeschooling and non-homeschooling educator yourself, how frustrating is it to read misinformed criticisms of Harry Potter by homeschooling parents threatened by the perceived dangers the works pose to their children.
I don’t watch Boston Legal with any great regularity. I have a love/annoyance relationship with David E. Kelley, the show’s creator. When Kelley gets on his soapbox and has his characters start preaching to the audience through heavy-handed plot elements, I just have to get away. Fortunately I had been away for awhile when I watched the show on Tuesday night.
One of the many plots of the show involved senior partner Carl Sack (played by John Larroquette) taking on a case involving Andrea Michele (a role taken by Alison LaPlaca). Watching a scene between the two characters, I sensed a familiar vibe about the two of them. It was a full five minutes before I remembered that LaPlaca had portrayed Catherine, a nurse neighbor of John Laroquette’s character on his NBC sitcom (named after him) that ran from 2003 to 2006.
Once I remembered their previous show, I immediately went to Netflix to add the series to my list. And I found out that the show was not on DVD. In a market where some of the worst shows ever conceived have received the Criterion Edition treatment, how can this show not be on DVD.
The show, about an alcoholic’s struggle with recovery, had a quirky sense of humor–as reflected in the casting of his AA sponsor, David Crosby. In its short three-year (1993-1996) run, the show boasted such cast members as Liz Torres, Daryl Mitchell, Chi McBride and Lenny Clarke. This show has quickly dethroned Ed as the series I would most like to see released on DVD.