May 2010 - Page 3 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

Now (Don’t) Cut That Out!

I was ALSO watching Heidi Bowl.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the classic last episode of the TV series Newhart, which the local CBS in the Albany-Schenectady, NY area cut off 30 seconds too soon. Watch Bob Newhart talk about The Last Newhart.

It got me thinking about TV events that were interrupted. Surely, one of the most significant is the so-called Heidi Bowl, which I was ALSO watching.

It was an American Football League regular-season game between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders, played on November 17, 1968. the Jets were leading 32-29 with only 65 seconds left, and NBC-TV ended the football coverage at 7 pm in favor of broadcasting the premiere of Heidi, a made-for-TV version of the classic children’s story. Meanwhile, the Raiders came back and scored 14 points, winning 43-32. Ultimately, the NFL’s television policies were amended, requiring games to be broadcast in their entirety in the markets of the teams involved.

Lately, I’ve been having difficulty for more prosaic reasons. I hardly ever get a chance to watch a TV show live. I record almost everything to the DVR to watch later. And I’m usually an episode or two behind. So it wasn’t until recently that I discovered that the results show of American Idol on FOX has been running two to four minutes long, the effect of which being my recording of Glee cuts off early. I DO have the ability to extend the recording of the later show and have. But it seems weird that a RESULTS show can’t end on time.

Any shows cutting off for you?

30-Day Challenge: Day 1 – Favorite Actor

Who would I pay to go to see in most anything they were in?

I took on this 30-day challenge because I thought it would be interesting. And, just as important, quick and easy. But I got stuck on the first question.

I assume “actor” is gender-neutral in this case.

Starting to parse the category, I began with theater actors. But I don’t really see stage actors that often, though in fact, this year’s Tony nominations feature a lot of familiar names from TV and movies.

Favorite television performer: I could pick actors I watched in more than one series: Bob Newhart (Bob Newhart Show, Newhart); James Garner (Maverick, The Rockford Files); Mary Tyler Moore (Dick van Dyke Show, MTM Show); Jimmy Smits (L.A. Law, NYPD Blue). There are others who qualify because of other functions, such as Alan Alda (writer/director). I might have to go with Betty White, game player extraordinaire, who’s been on TV longer than I’ve been alive, because not only did I record a new Saturday Night Live for the first time in forever, I might even check out her new series on TV Land called Hot in Cleveland.

Still, when I thought about it further, it was always the movies that defined the question in my mind, fairly or not. Which is to say: “Who would I pay to go to see in most anything they were in?” I recognized that the leading males in this category were Robert Redford, Paul Newman (a couple of times together), Dustin Hoffman, and Denzel Washington. It might be Philip Seymour Hoffman or Paul Giamatti down the line.

But there were two actresses for whom I saw a large majority of their films in a particular stretch.

One was Jane Fonda. I saw well over half of the movies she was in between 1969 (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?) and 1985 (Agnes of God), even the truly dreadful Rollover (1981), filmed partly in Albany, NY.

The other is Meryl Streep, whose output between 1977 (Julia, starring Jane Fonda) and 2009 (the mediocre It’s Complicated) I’ve seen maybe 70% of.

Eventually, Laura Linney will likely be in this category.
***
All pictures from LIFE magazine from the 1990s.

Sugar Doll and Happiness 101

I want to thank Lisa at Peripheral Perceptions for giving some bloggy award called the Sugar Doll and Happiness 101.

As is usually the case, I have obligations:

10 things about myself:

I can no longer remember the names of recent movies if the title is really boring and generic. I’d give you an example, but I can’t remember one.

I hate going to parties with lots of people, because, invariably, I’ll have a difficult time remembering names. I can tell you lots of things ABOUT the person – he skis, she majored in Italian in college – but with names, I’m awful.

Conversely, I’m reasonably great in remembering seven-digit numbers, such as phone numbers. I might go to a blog and see there are three comments, come back two days later, see that there are three comments, and remember that fact.

When I sold my comic book collection in 1994, i kept my collections, such as Marvel Massterworks, because I wanted to be able to just read the stories without worrying about “condition”. So it’s slightly disappointing that the Masterworks themselves have a certain collectible value.

I’m STILL trying to find a Kentucky D (as in Denver) quarter, as well as the 2009 territory coins. I’m not even trying to collect the national parks coins, because the Mint seems to make it a cash cow, not only for itself, but for the coin selling dealers, by circulating such paltry numbers. This rather ticks me off, actually.

When I have two or three glasses of wine, I get loquacious. I mean, more than usual.

I’m collecting Hess trucks so that I can play with them when my wife and daughter are away; this happens infrequently.

I’ve had my Netflix copy of the Hurt Locker since March, shortly before the Oscars, trying to find some free block of time to watch it. I could return it, of course, but now I’m DETERMINED to see it first. Memorial Day weekend is my next window of opportunity.

My second favorite musical, after West Side Story, is Fiddler on the Roof. Fiddler, Hair and The Lion King are all playing at Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady next year, and we’re seriously considering going to all three.

I get along so well with my daughter because I have stuffed animals of my own.

10 things that make me happy

1. Making other people laugh.
2. Having developed good relationships that I can get help when I need it.
3. Being a Coverville Citizen
4. Voting, even when it doesn’t gob the way I want it to.
5. Riding my bike down a hill. I’d feel the wind blowing through my hair except for the facts that I’m wearing a helmet and that I have no hair to speak of.
6. Words from the French or Italian, even if I don’t understand them.
7. Getting an answer on JEOPARDY! when none of the contestants do.
8. Hugs.
9. Reading the newspaper; happens in spurts.
10. Thunderstorm , when I’m home.

I’m supposed to pass it on, but I’m too tired to think of more than one. SparkleFarkle, who’s just plain weird. I mean that in a GOOD way.

R is for Reboot

The revamping of this blog at the beginning of the month is NOT a reboot. It’s still the same person writing (me). It may be on WordPress rather than Blogger, but that’s like a show moving from one television network to another.

It must have been about 1996, give or take a year. I was working as a librarian, for the same company I work for now, but three locations ago, and I was having trouble with my computer. (Historical fact: I ALWAYS have trouble with my computers; when the IT people set a schedule for replacement, my difficulties almost always exceed their expectations. I like computers, but they don’t always like me.)

So I ask one of the techies if he could fix my computer, which had frozen up. He said, “Did you reboot it?”, and I said, “Huh?” Up until that very moment, I had never heard the term “reboot”. I thought he wanted me to kick it, and if necessary, kick it again, which I was willing to do, though I doubted its efficacy.

That was not what he meant; he meant for me to turn the computer off and then to restart it, thus reloading the operating system. Years of being trained by IT guys now informs me that I don’t even go see them until I can honestly say, “I rebooted it, and it still doesn’t work.” Later, I learned the sometimes magic of Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

Now the term reboot has evolved into another meaning: “A term that comes from computer usage. To reboot a computer is to start it up again after a computer crash. Hence, “reboot” has the connotation of starting a process over again.*

This take on “reboot” is particularly popular with popular culture, such as motion pictures and television shows. The 2009 Star Trek movie, going back to before Kirk, Spock et al were on the Enterprise is a popular example. The 2010 Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood has been called a reboot, though it’s been remade about 287 times. 2010’s Karate Kid, with Will Smith’s son Jaden as the Kid and Jackie Chan in the Pat Morita role is a recent example, as is the 2010 version of Nightmare on Elm Street, without Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. The 2010 fall TV schedule features Hawaii 5-0, a popular show over 30 years ago.

What is the difference between a remake and a reboot? I’m not quite sure.

I will opine that the revamping of this blog at the beginning of the month is NOT a reboot. It’s still the same person writing (me). It may be on WordPress rather than Blogger, but that’s like a show moving from one television network to another. I may now have my own URL, but doesn’t change much either.

In case you were wondering how this change came about:
Rose DesRochers, an “avid blogger, published poet and freelance writer” from Canada had a free blog hosting contest back in February. I wrote about it, and actually won six months of free service from VisionThisHosting.com. Shawn DesRochers, Rose’s husband, is the Web Hosting Administrator. I did nothing about it for a while, then probably made Shawn’s life miserable getting this site up.

Rose and Shawn have been going through some stuff recently, which I would not bring up except that Rose mentioned herself in her blog. Their 19-year-old daughter has just been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, which I’m sure affected not only Rose, but Shawn as well. Rose writes that, coincidentally, May is Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month.

So thanks, Rose, for the site. Shawn, thanks for your continued assistance. My good wishes to you both and for your daughter.
***
Oh, and happy birthday to my “baby” sister Marcia!

ABC Wednesday

* “reboot.” The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 16 May. 2010. .

A D&D Cleric

A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he’s kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society.

SamuraiFrog and Jaquandor did this. But I’m not sure why I did this, because I never once played Dungeons & Dragons, though it was very popular among my circle of friends in college. And the reason was that I thought it was too…dorky. Given the fact that I was collecting comic books at the time, this is a bold, and probably unwise, assertion.

And the questions for What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be? were quite numerous, over 100 of them.

Yet I’m glad I did it. It reminded me of the fact that, particularly at certain points in my life, I either wanted to be a cleric, or found myself in the sometimes uncomfortable position of being a father-confessor figure. As long as I can remember, people have told me LOTS of stuff in confidence. I know (or have forgotten) more secrets about other people’s lives than you could imagine.

I Am A: Chaotic Good Human Cleric (6th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-11

Constitution-11

Intelligence-11

Wisdom-12

Charisma-12

Alignment:
Chaotic Good A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he’s kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit. However, chaotic good can be a dangerous alignment because it disrupts the order of society and punishes those who do well for themselves.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron’s vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity’s domains. These domains grant the cleric special powers and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric’s Wisdom score should be high since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good —– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23)
Neutral Good —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (25)
Chaotic Good —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (26)
Lawful Neutral — XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
True Neutral —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Chaotic Neutral – XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Lawful Evil —– XXXXXXX (7)
Neutral Evil —- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Chaotic Evil —- XXXXXXXXXX (10)

Law & Chaos:
Law —– XXXXXX (6)
Neutral – XXXXXXXX (8)
Chaos — XXXXXXXXX (9)

Good & Evil:
Good —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Neutral – XXXXXXXX (8)
Evil —- X (1)

Race:
Human —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Dwarf —- XXXXXX (6)
Elf —— XXXXXXXX (8)
Gnome —- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Halfling – XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Half-Elf – XXXXXXXX (8)
Half-Orc – XXXX (4)

Class:
Barbarian – (-4)
Bard —— (0)
Cleric —- XXXXXX (6)
Druid —– (-25)
Fighter — (0)
Monk —— (-23)
Paladin — (-19)
Ranger —- (-2)
Rogue —– (-2)
Sorcerer — XX (2)
Wizard —- XXXX (4)

***
Tales of Brave Ulysses – Cream, live c. 1968 (thanks to Paul Rapp)

by Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp

You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.

And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses:
How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips.