Twisted Metal

Oy.

Sunday: I'm coming home from Wrestlemania - I had a great time and it was a truly spectacular event. I drop off Paul Lurie at his apartment, and start heading back towards Burbank from North Hollywood. I'm cruising down the street when this SUV speeds into a left turn onto the highway. Their turn intersects with my lane and suddenly I see a big ol' vehicle right in front of me and slam on the brakes. The front of my car hits the rear corner of their car. Luckily, no one was hurt (though my back has been kind of sore ever since), but both of our cars were damaged. Now the insurance agencies are sorting things out as I await the cost of repairs to my car (to fix the dent in the front bumper and my rearview mirror, which got detached from the impact). Seriously, while I'm happy it wasn't worse an that nobody was hurt, this sucks. To make things worse the woman who hit my car has a totally different view of things from me, so that's going to have to be sorted out as well. I won't go into details on that front, but hopefully this can be over quickly with minimal cost and damage. And once again, I will soon be without my car.

Well, anyways ... aside from that ...

Wrestlemania was awesome. Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle was a technical masterpiece, full of moves and countermoves, psychology and emotion - one of the greatest matches I've ever seen, live or on TV, and it was definitely the highlight of the event. The appearance by Hulk Hogan was an awesome surprise, and it's always a treat to see one of my childhood idols live, even if he's getting up there in age. The appearances by other legends like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Roddy Piper was pretty cool as well. The championship matches were somewhat disappointing, but the HBK-Angle match, Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker, and the six-man ladder match easily made up for any shortcomings the other hyped up bouts may have had. There's no crowd like a wrestling crowd. Where else can you chant things like "You Suck!" "Holy Shit!" "You *%#$'ed up!" etc. at the top of your lungs? Good times. Plus the seats, in row # 7, couldn't be beat, plus there were a lot of celeb sightings, from Adam Sandler to Hal Sparks to ZZ-Top. What, you think wrestling, in general, is just plain dumb? Go to Wrestlemania and see why you're wrong. Whooooooo.

If you're reading this and it's before Wednesday night: Watch Ellen today (featuring Cynthia Nixon and Al Green) to see a brief cameo by me as I usher in a group of fans and direct them to their seats! (exciting I know).

Nice to see Fran Drescher on the Tonight Show yesterday. She was hilarious and extremely blunt, which was pretty funny (telling Matthew McConneheigh (sp?) that Penelope Cruz was only going out with him on the rebound). Although my post-TGIF years saw me start to sour on most traditional laugh-track sitcoms, I always did appreciate the classic, New York / Queens - Jewish - inspired humor of The Nanny.

RANDOM STUFF:

- I was so hyped up from Sin City on Friday that I watched an earlier Robert Rodriguez / Tarantino film, From Dusk Till Dawn, the next day. Kind of an updated Army of Darkness type of film, I felt it kind of dragged at first but eventually this film won me over with its totally over the top violence and twisted sense of humor. Definitely a good film to have in the collection.

- Didn't watch any FOX Sunday night stuff, though I have Simpsons and Arrested D on tape (dammit, didn't tape King of the Hill and Malcolm due to daylight savings time mishap).

- 24 was awesome! Sure, predictable, but the tension, action, and intensity was off the charts. What other show would have the cajones to have terrorists steal a stealth bomber and use an air to air missle to blow up air force one? Wow, you knew it was coming but I mean, wow, they actually went through with it. Not really a shocking twist, but quite a powerful way to end an episode, which also included copious amounts of Jack Bauer kicking terrorist ass (yet Marwan got away! What?!?!). Now let's see if they can keep the momentum going ... My grade: A

- Another veerrrrry sweet ep of Veronica Mars - business is really picking up, as the Lilly Kane mystery is starting to completely unravel. This show does a good, old fashioned MYSTERY like no other. You know the clues are there - we're not being jerked around by the writers or anything, and you know that the ultimate revelation will MAKE SENSE (which already is looking like a longshot for, say, LOST). And hey, was that they guy who played Louie from The State in a guest role as a sleazy detective? Yes, yes it was. Cool. My grade: A -

- Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, GOODBYE. Good riddance to the LA Lakers from the NBA playoff picture. Now we won't have that arrogant wannabe Kobe hogging TV time come May, and the championship picture is a lot more interesting. On another NBA note, man I would have liked to see that Pacers-Knicks game tonight - Reggie Miller's last in NYC. You know a player is great when he recieves cheers, in the end, from fans in a city where he was long one of the most hated villains.

Well, this would have been a great weekend and everything if not for that STUPID CAR THING. Ugh, I don't even want to think about it. LA drivers, seriously, need to get with it. But yeah, let's hope this gets settled soon, and that the repairs are quick, easy, and cheap, and no further complications arise.

TOMMOROW: Listening to a talk / Q and A from the President of Programming at NBC Entertainment. I could be a huge geek and ask: Why did you cancel one of the greatest shows of all time, Freaks and Geeks after 12 episodes? Why are you insisting on making pale Americanized imitations of classic British shows? Why do you keep churning out Law and Orders, bad sitcoms, and reality shows? BUT, yeah, THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. I will listen, be nice, and hopefully it will be a good learning experience.

- Alright, here's to getting this car stuff over and done with, and avoiding any more trouble.