Back With A Vengeance, And This Time, It's Personal

It's been a while.

Last week at this time things were looking very grim indeed. My car was dented, I couldn't find my page key (very important for doing my job at NBC) and yes, my computer was down and out thanks to some crazy virus I contracted. Well, my car is still dented, but I found my page key and yes, finally, thanks to an express mail delivery of my Dell product recovery CD-ROM direct from Bloomfield, CT - Windows is reinstalled and, barring anymore unforseen digital shenanigans, I am back online.

First, on being offline for a week ...

Hmm, that was actually kind of refreshing. No annoying, unwanted IM conversations (don't worry, YOUR IM conversations are never unwanted or annoying, obviously). No wasting time reading websites all day. Less eye strain. So aside from my inability to check emails, do anything productive, listen to my MP3's, etc., it wasn't all THAT bad having my computer being kaput, especially not being in school and having papers and stuff to write. Seriously, this computer, still kicking since FRESHMAN YEAR OF COLLEGE, has survived more near death experiences than Ozzy Osbourne.

Now ... my car is still awaiting repair, but again, my computer is once again back from the brink, and, AND ... I finally got my couch! Yes, I now have a sofa-bed / couch, courtesy of the fine folks at LL Bean, for your (well, sorry, not YOU, per se) visiting pleasure (unfortunately I also have a studio apartment, so, um, yeah ...). On the bad news front is that my back has gotten increasingly sore this past week following my car accident. It seems to get better as the day goes on but I keep waking up really stiff and sore in my lower back especially. Hopefully it gets better soon.

Workwise ... things have been pretty good. But, BUT ... everyone is leaving. From my page class Britney is already over at Universal on assignment, and soon Brian G. will be joining her there as well. Hopefully I can soon get in on some sweet assignment action, though I am trying to be patient and wait for something to open in the area I really want - development.

On Monday I helped escort one of my all time sports heroes, Sir Charles Barkley, to his Tonight Show Dressing Room (any of you who know me probably know how I used to idolize the Round Mound of Rebound and hope against hope he'd win the NBA title every year). Now this experience wasn't what I was hoping it'd be, as I was running around trying to seat people on the show's guest list, and due to some really bad timing on the part of some guests, I basically missed the Chuckster's arrival and arrived to see hime already on his way to his dressing room. So I didn't get to talk to him or anything. Oh well. At least I've now seen him in person, after just missing him this summer in NYC. He was, as usual, freaking hilarious on the show.

Tuesday was a Dennis Miller marathon-er, with Steve Carell being the only real guest of note through the entire eight hour day, though at least me and Brian took advantage of our lengthy lunch break to hit up the fine all-American cousine of the local Big Boy restaurant down the street from NBC.

Today was another round of the hellish task known as ticketbox. Luckily today was a pretty slow day so it wasn't too bad, more boring then anything else, not too crazy like previous experiences. Maybe it had something to do with there being not a one guest of note on the Tonight Show today. Tommorow though, oh tommorow is gonna be crazy. Mr Gerard"I have a fan club of thousands of rabid women who worship me" Butler is on once again, and judging from the hardcore fans who got in line TODAY to get tickets tommorow at 8 am, it's going to be even crazier tommorow than it wa last month. Luckily, I am doing Ellen tommorow, so although I never thought I'd say this in relation to working at Ellen, I am being spared the madness. I will say though, the Gerard Butler fans, or "Tarts" as they are called, are a wonderful bunch as far as hardcore fans of things go, and sure they are a bit nutty, but hey, they seem like nice people (and they seem to like me as well, so if any "Tarts" or otherwise unafilliated fans are reading this by some chance - mad props, yo, you guys are all right in my book). Oh yeah, as if Gerard Butler and his rabid fanclub wasn't enough pandemonium, a little celeb named FARRAH FAWCETT, and some indy band, don't get much airplay, THE KILLERS, are on tommorow's show. Yeah, it's a gonna be kerazy. Again, I'll be at Ellen, where things should be (shudder) relatively calm (aside from the hundreds of middle aged women dancing for two hours to Toni Toni Toni).

Well I'm sure there's some other stuff I left out, but before I go I want to cover a few ...

RANDOM (okay, slightly premeditated) THOUGHTS:

- Saw SAHARA this weekend. Now I've seen some positive reviews of this movie, but I have to agree with the haters and say this movie, aside from a few kewl action scenes, kinda sucked. The plot was very anticlimactic and made little sense. The villain was pointless and it was never really clear what his motives or purpose was. Matthew McCanauhey was decent as the lead but didn't really do much except squint a lot, and it's not like he was thrust into the middle of some epic plotline ala Indiana Jones. I mean, for most of the movie he's SEARCHING FOR A LOST CIVIL WAR SHIP. Ooooh, exciting. Steve Zahn is pretty good here, definitely the highlight of the move, and Rain Wilson also has a few very funny moments. But William H. Macy is mostly wasted in a small, pointless role, as is Penelope Cruz, who plays Bland Love Interest who inexplicably falls in love with the main character just because the script said so. Sure, there are some nice chase scenes in the water and a few semi-sweet fights / action, but overall, not worth seeing. My grade: C

- Bring on KUNG FU HUSTLE, HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE, and KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

- Yes!!! VERONICA MARS IS RENEWED FOR A SECOND SEASON! Oh, praise thee UPN, for putting some stock in your only decent show, which isn't just decent, but frikkin' awesome. By the way, another great episode this week, but why oh why did Veronica make out with Neptune High's resident psycho-asshole Logan?!?! I haven't screamed at the TV like that in a while. Still, quality show and thank the stars it's coming back.

- Now - ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT must, MUST be renewed. And also, let's hope that the show that has improved the most over the course of the year, JACK AND BOBBY, comes back as well, as it's really been picking up lately and living up to its high concept potential.

- 24 once again challenged my ability to suspend my disbelief and made me wonder why JAck never brings more backup with him on his missions ... but, as usual, the episode kicked seven degrees of ass despite whatever internal logic flaws the show may have. Next week, Jack vs. the terrorists AND his own government? Nice.

- SMALLVILLE is back, and it just had it's best episode in a long while tonight after a pretty lackluster season as a whole up until this point. Lex finally goes all out EVIL, and it was a joy to watch. Sure, this cast is going to be supplanted eventually by the Hollywood hitsquad of Superman Returns, but Kevin Spacey is, yep, I said it, going to have a damn hard time living up to Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor, the most definitive portrayel of the classic villain EVER on screen.


Take THAT computer viruses! And THAT. And THAT.

You want some, come get some.


(Note: If you are some kind of crazy, sadistic computer hacker reading this, screw you and don't you dare infect my computer.)