If you read this blog, and care about this info, you’ve already heard. If you read this blog, and don’t care….too bad. This news made my day.

All My Children Head Writer Fired!

Man that feels good to read.

As you all know from my previous posts, I’ve been working on projects in my spare time for fans of this soap. One of my big things was my desire to see this head writer ousted. All My Children, no matter what you may think of it, has an extremely rich, and vibrant, history. This was something Megan McTavish did not care for one bit. She tore apart history, rewrote it, discarded characters all in an effort to twist the canvas of All My Children to her will, and it was tearing the show apart.

The above linked article is from TV Guide, and I will quote what they said as it’s worth repeating:

The return of AMC heroine Dixie Cooney Martin (Cady McClain) was totally botched. We were supposed to buy that Dixie would let her family think she was dead for four years. Then Dixie’s mixed up in some nonsense with Zach Slater (Thorsten Kaye) instead of reuniting with her true love, Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight). Just when Dixie and Tad were on track for a reunion, she eats poisoned peanut-butter pancakes and dies. What a stupid, uncreative waste of a beloved classic character!

The revelation of Tad Martin as the person who buried alive Dr. Greg Madden (Ian Buchanan) and tortured the evil MD from above ground was absurd and completely out of character. “Tad would never do that,” longtime AMC fans insisted.

This Satin Slayer serial-killer saga has sucked from day one. To cap it off, AMC viewers just found out Zach’s diabolical daddy, Alexander Cambias Sr. (Ronald Guttman), is the killer. Talk about a snooze-o-rama reveal. Why has Papa Cambias been poisoning all these young ladies and festooning them with flowers and ribbons? He’s mad at Zach for faking his death to escape from their dysfunctional family years ago. Yawn. I don’t know about you, but whenever the show delves into the convoluted Cambias family history, I get awfully bored.

McTavish’s failure to give Brooke English (Julia Barr) any kind of send off at the end of Barr’s contract also ticked us off. Barr spends 30 years on AMC and fades off screen with no on-air acknowledgment of her departure? What a cold slap in the face to Barr and the show’s loyal viewers.

Worst of all, McTavish outrageously revised history when she undid Erica Kane’s (Susan Lucci) landmark 1973 abortion. Viewers were told that the fetus was somehow stolen from Erica’s body and implanted in another woman. Now a Calvin Klein model is playing Erica’s grown son, Josh, who’s grumpy because he was almost aborted. What?!

McTavish has a left a path of destruction in her wake that I am not sure will ever be fully repairable without even more rewriting of history. Even with that in mind though….”Ding dong, the witch is dead.”

Remember how I said I felt was Judge Larry Seidlin playing to the camera? He was.

According to this story, CBS has contacted him about doing a regular spot on The Early Show. This man shouldn’t be getting job offers, he should be brought before a board of judicial review! He made a mockery of the judicial system. I would even go so far to say that his past judgements should be reviewed.

And don’t even get me start on CBS’ role in this. This is their “news division” hiring this demagogue of a judge. Sure they are allowed to have a legal segment, but this buffoon? He should not be allowed anywhere near a serious news source. This whole thing leaves a horrible taste in my mouth.

The erosion of this country’s once shining example of journalism sickens me, this judge sickens me, and the non-stop circus sickens me.

As anyone who watched Star Trek – The Next Generation may remember…we all hated Wesley Crusher…A LOT. Well, Wil Wheaton, the actor who played him, has turned in to a pretty good writer and is now writing reviews of classic Star Trek:The Next Generation episodes for TVSquad.com.

You’re sure he’s being snarky for his pay check, but it’s a fun type of snark and well worth your valuable time. And hey, he shares my loathing for Counselor Troi, so it’s all good!

My dad works for me in my shipping department. While he packs boxes he listens to books on tape. Makes sense, packing boxes is mindless work. Normally I don’t pay much attention to them, but today I was pulling product and I hear what sounds like an old radio show…then a book….then back to the radio show. I asked him what it was and he said it was John Grisham’s The Bleachers. I asked that he turn it off until I was done.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why….even if you aren’t, too bad.

I have no problem with the concept of audio books, and I feel they are perfect for people such as my dad who used them when he was a traveling salesman, and now when he is packing boxes and it gives him something to listen to. The one caveat I have to this rule is, they must maintain the integrity of the work. As someone who writes for fun, and has written professionally, I was offended by the idea of adding effects to the story. It is the job of the writer to set the scene, describe the sounds you are hearing. To add special effects is offensive to me. When I have written, I would love to have a sound chip with my writings, saving all that pesky time of describing what’s going on.

What’s next? Adding musical scores to build the tension? Horse sound effects like an old time radio trick? Scratch-n-sniff cards?

No thank you.

I have no clue when this will end up getting posted. Stupid ass blackouts at my web host is playing havoc with all my websites.

this is one of those…”I had no time to post, but didn’t want to ruin my run!” posts…enjoy!

In all this Anna Nicole Smith hoopla (yes, I am no longer watching the TV news, this was all over the net today), one person has stood out weirder than the rest…Judge Larry Seidlin. A former cab driver from the Bronx, this guys behavior has been rather suspect to me from the get go. It constantly nagged at me that he may be playing to the camera, and when you’re in his position, I just don’t feel that is proper.

Flash forward to today when he hands down his judgment on what is to be done with Ms. Smith’s remains and he starts sobbing as he discusses the case. Really? Sobbing?

I understand judges are only human beings, but don’t you think if you were involved in a high profile case, being watched by people all over the world that perhaps you would want to handle yourself with a bit more dignity and composure?

Again, I understand he’s only human, but I still think it was pretty disgraceful behavior.

You know, there’s something to be said for good comapny and good conversation, even if it’s only online sometimes.  A “room” full of your like minded internet buddies, and pages filling faster than you can hit reload….good times!

Course…not all of it made sense, but isn’t that what makes it fun?

I give up.  It’s obvious there will be no Satchel Of Doom love on this season of 24.  Although, it might be it got a look at the script and ran for it’s life.  (compared to season 5, this one is sleep inducing)

There’s a motto I live by when I travel: Why should I eat at any restaurant I find in my own home town? It seems pointless to me. On my first trip to Japan in August 2000, one of the guys I met up with there ate Wendy’s almost every night we were there. It drove me nuts. I have a Wendy’s less than two miles from my house! If you’re going to go through the trouble of going some place new, then be adventurous and eat new foods! Expose yourself to what the world has to offer.

With that in mind, there is a show on the Travel Channel I love called Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Anthony is a professional chef who has lived a “colorful life” and makes no bones about it. However, he has an acerbic wit, paints vibrant pictures with his words, and has a motto I love; “Be a traveler, not a tourist“.

And as if I didn’t have enough reasons to love him, two weeks ago he was a guest blogger on Rhulman.com and the following to say of my girlfriend, Rachael Ray:

RACHAEL: Complain all you want. It’s like railing against the pounding surf. She only grows stronger and more powerful. Her ear-shattering tones louder and louder. We KNOW she can’t cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So…what is she selling us? Really? She’s selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough. She’s a friendly, familiar face who appears regularly on our screens to tell us that “Even your dumb, lazy ass can cook this!” Wallowing in your own crapulence on your Cheeto-littered couch you watch her and think, “Hell…I could do that. I ain’t gonna…but I could–if I wanted! Now where’s my damn jug a Diet Pepsi?” Where the saintly Julia Child sought to raise expectations, to enlighten us, make us better–teach us–and in fact, did, Rachael uses her strange and terrible powers to narcotize her public with her hypnotic mantra of Yummo and Evoo and Sammys. “You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion–you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep….”

But I digress…

Back to what I was saying about trying new things (sleep…sleep…aspire to nothing), I think everyone has to remember something about “odd foods”. Just because they are odd to you, doesn’t mean they are odd to the locals of where you are. Even if you are traveling across country, try a local cuisine. If you travel to another country, I beg of you, try the local dishes! Sure, you’ll run in to some things you don’t like, but aren’t there things here in your own country you don’t like eating? Just because you don’t like one dish in another country’s cuisine, it doesn’t mean you write them all off.

So why did I mention the Rachael Ray thing? (beyond my hatred of the miserable little chipmunk cheeked harpie?) Just as he said she lulls you in to a sense of not aspiring to better cooking, I think the same can be said of Americans when we travel. We fear change, we want the safe and familiar. Watch an episode of Bourdain’s show, see how he’ll try an ostrich egg cooked in a dirt oven, or eat a dish made of rat, or the lower intestine of another animal. Some of it he likes, some of it he doesn’t, but doesn’t the old saying go “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”?

It’s well known that California never met a law it didn’t like, but now it appears New York state is following the lead. A couple of weeks ago a state senator proposed banning using electronic devices when crossing the intersections in major cities such as New York City. Apparently three pedestrians were killed by cars while crossing streets and were found to be using iPods. They would be ticketed $100 if spotted by police.

I traveled to New York City for five years in a row when I was a magazine writer to cover a press event. It was the early to mid-90’s, and I noticed something about people crossing the streets there, I called it “The Lemming Effect”. They would be reading newspapers, magazines, any number of things besides paying attention to the lights. They would see movement out of the corner of their eye, they’d step in to the street thinking they had the signal. This was pre iPod mind you, and cell phones were just picking up speed. Some people weren’t even reading or using anything, they were just zoned out. Also, I really can not see cops taking time out of their day to cite people for using electronic devices when crossing the street.

Now there’s a new one, a different state senator is proposing banning “spinner” hubcaps as a distraction. His law, however, would not ban hubcaps with built in LED lights or advertisements. On the third citation, it would be a $750 fine for the spinners.

This is government as “nanny” in my eyes. These are pointless laws where these men feel they have to hold your hand and help you cross the street. They are nothing but a burden on the people who have to enforce them, on the courts, and on the government itself. No distractions when crossing the street? Ok, you’d better include newspapers and magazines. What about people who get lost in their own thoughts? Deaf and blind people? This is silly and a waste of time. The government has to stop trying to be our parents and protecting us from ourselves.

I am sure these men have the best of intentions, but they are just silly laws that do nothing but irritate people, take up valuable police time and do nothing but further take away personal rights. How about concentrating on actual problems like state budgets?

A while back I wrote an entry about not being able to unsubscribe from the Major League Baseball mailing lists. I’m still getting them, but I just try to ignore them now. I do have another interesting email I get each week now…”A Foreign Affair weekly matches”.

I have NO clue how I got on this mailing list, none. Each week I am treated to a list of women from such places as the Ukraine, Colombia, and the Philippines. Then they offer a “romantic trip” to one of their locations to meet said women…yeah, it’s all pretty sleazy. And just like the MLB mailing lists, I can not get rid of these stupid emails! I mean, silly me, I’m not interested in 19 year old Ukrainian women. I know, I know, you’re all shocked. But I mean, really, there are so many available women in the U.S.A. who are quite the catch…

hmmm Maybe the Ukraine isn’t so bad…