Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Weekend Mix


Cable Programming


My Hurricane


Drill, Baby, Drill


Bob & Al


The Lovely Miss Laura

Well it's official. Programming director for cable networks is the easiest job on the entire planet. Specifically the movie channels like AMC, FX, TBS, TNT, and USA. Just pick a movie, play it over and over again, ofttimes right after the last showing (encore presentations!), and when you finally can't stand playing the thing anymore, give it over to one of the other movie networks who will begin the cycle again, and accept one of the films they've been showing over and over again for your channel.
How hard is that?
I now have a Hurricane named after me. Or actually as I write this (yesterday morning) Hurricane Richard has been downgraded to Tropical Depression Richard. It is now passing over northern Guatemala, on it's way to Mexico, then back out the water in the Gulf, headed for the Mexico/Texas border (take that Rick Perry, you ass hat!), where it will most likely peter out all together. Right now it is blowing sustained winds of 35 MPH, and as far as I know has caused relatively little damage and loss of life, which is a very good thing for a storm with my name on it. The little country of Belize apparently was the hardest hit, and is currently suffering from massive power outages. For that I take personal responsibility and apologize profusely.
For about 18 hours Richard was a category one hurricane though with average wind speed of 74 to 95 MPH, which wouldn't normally cause damage to structures. However a great deal of the low income housing in the areas affected by this storm is makeshift, corrugated tin and wooden structures that are easily damaged. Again I feel awful about this and apologize.
Along with 1982s "Slumber Party Massacre" (interesting movie, especially for power tool enthusiasts. And there is a valuable lesson to be learned from this film. When you knock down the bad guy with a blunt instrument like a baseball bat, keep hitting him until his head falls off. In other words make sure the freaking guy is dead, pure and simple. It avoids all of those gratuitous surprise endings if you do). Anyway, I finally saw the third movie that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have appeared in together, "Righteous Kill." The first two of course were the classics, Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather: Part II," and Michael Mann's "Heat." In "The Godfather: Part II," the two actors shared no scenes together (De Niro playing Pacino's father in an earlier time period during extensive flashback sequences), and in "Heat," Pacino played a cop after De Niro's criminal, in which they appeared together in two brief scenes. The first scene in a diner is a classic confrontation between two great actors. In the second scene their is no dialogue, but Pacino shoots and kills De Niro.
In 2008s "Righteous Kill," both actors play cops this time. As a matter of fact they play long time partners. But in this one De Niro gets even with Pacino and gets to shoot and kill him.
So a cosmic balance has finally been restored, and I have to say, just in the nick of time.
Finally, Saturday evening it was my extreme pleasure to have a brief conversation with one of my very favorite actresses, the lovely Laura Prepon, over the Facebook machine.
Laura of course played Donna Pinciotti on the popular sitcom, "That 70s Show," which ran on Fox from August 23, 1998 to May 18, 2006, eight seasons and 200 episodes. I didn't watch a whole heck of a lot of sitcoms during those years... still don't, but "That 70s Show," was one of them.
We will get into more detail about her fabulous career and life next March on her birthday, let's just say for the time being I got an Email that led me to her Facebook page, and I for some reason decided to send her a friendship request even though we have never met. She accepted, writing back, "Hi Richard" (she calls me Richard. Many do). She wrote the very same thing Odalys Garcia wrote when we became friends. Anyway, I wrote her back and said this: "Hi Laura (I call her Laura)! I've been a fan for years and think you're a very talented actress. I remember the Donna character on "That 70s Show," actually laughed when funny situations occurred, a reaction that is quite rare in sitcoms (that's true. Most actors and actresses in sitcoms always play it straight, when telling a joke, or reacting to a joke, or amusing situation. Rarely do you ever see sitcom actors laugh as actual human beings would in a similar situation. Laura made her Donna laugh, giggle, or smile, at the appropriate times, which is one of the main reasons I always loved that character, and why she stood out. She was extremely beautiful too... for a girl). That "Karla" movie creeped me out though (from the movie "Karla," based on the real story of Canadian serial killers, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. The movie did creep me out, the scenes of the actual murders still bring chills up and down my spine. I do not recommend this film to the weak of heart), but that is just because of what a great job you did. I will post a birthday tribute for you in March on my blog," and I gave her the address to Joyce's Take.
She replied very soon after I sent my message, which leads me to believe she's a very lonely person, spending her Saturday nights home on her computer looking for nice people to talk to. Or maybe she's just a very nice person interested in hearing from, and interacting with others not involved in the entertainment business. All I know is that our contact brightened up my gloomy day.
"Hahaha,awwwh,thanks," is what she wrote back to me. I'm not sure what the "Hahaha,awwwh," refers to specifically, probably a reaction to what I wrote, the "Hahaha" to the Donna reference, or possibly how Karla creeped me out. The "awwwh," my compliment on her acting ability. I'm pretty sure what the "thanks" means. Pretty sure.
Apparently she had spent the day helping her former co-star, the lovely Mila Kunis, move into a different home.
See how nice she is.
When I finally move out of this freaking box I know who I'm calling.

No comments:

Post a Comment