Lennon's Lyrics Auctioned

The hand written lyrics for John Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance" were auctioned off at Christie's for the tidy sum of $833,654.

RIP George, you ##$%^&!!@

George Carlin, the first host of Saturday Night Live and the man who brought us "The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" died yesterday in Santa Monica, CA of heart failure. He was 71.

I personally loved his social commentary, just because it was so true. One of my absolute favorite bits that Carlin did was the "airline announcements" and the "safety lecture" on the plane. (oops, sorry George, I meant in the plane). However, I believe his best bit is when he's talking about "Stuff."




I did have the opportunity to see him live a couple of times. All I can say is that it was a great show.

Huxtable goes Hip-Hop

It appears that Bill Cosby, yes Bill Cosby, will be releasing a hip-hop album some time in the next several weeks titled "Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency." A spokesperson for Cosby described the album as "unflinching look at life in the 21st century, but without the profanity, misogyny, violence and braggadocio."

"Yo, yo yo, word to the Jell-o." At any rate, I'm interested in hearing it.

9021....Oh look, another Spin-off

If you grew up in the 90's I'm sure you'll remember this. The show about rich kids living in that prestigious zip code. Who could forget the ever-popular Dylan/Kelly/Brenda love triangle or the on again/off again relationship of David and Donna (who did marry each other in the series finale)? For those who didn't watch the show, here was the basic premise: The Walsh family (Parents Jim and Cindy and kids Brandon and his twin sister Brenda) move from Minnesota to Beverly Hills. I personally thought the show should have ended when the last of the Walsh family left good ol' 90210.

Now, it appears that 90210 is getting a full make-over, so to speak.

Spin-Offs and remakes are really nothing new. Popular shows from before such as Laverne and Shirley (Happy Days), The Jeffersons, (All in the Family), and The Ropers (Three's Company) were all spin-offs. There are now several versions of CSI. Law & Order has two successful spin-offs (I don't count Trial by Jury as part of the L&O franchise). But lately, there has been a resugance in spin-offs and remakes. There is a new Knight Rider series, where the new driver of K.I.T.T. is Michael Knight's son. David Hasselhoff even appears in the pilot episode Sadly, the distinguished voice for K.I.T.T. will not be William Daniels from the original series. Val Kilmer is the new K.I.T.T. The Office is based off the original UK version. There's also the Bionic Woman and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

There are big screen versions of Get Smart and Speed Racer that are set for release sometime later this year. Slated for June of 2009 is The A-Team movie. However, there is no cast at this time. John Singleton (Four Brothers) is set to direct.

So I guess if Rob Thomas (of Veronica Mars fame) and the CW want to give 90210 plastic surgery, more power to them. My only question is will the kids look like they are high school students or will the halls of West Beverly High be filled with twenty-somethings? (Gabrielle Carteris was 29 at the start of the original 90210)

I'll be back. (again and again and again)

Whoever would have thought that three little words in 1984 would become such a part of pop culture? Even if you haven't seen said movie (although, there probably aren't too many who haven't) you know where it comes from.

This of course brings us to the latest spin-off, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The series stars British actress Leana Heady as Sarah Connor, Thomas Dekker as a 15 year old John Connor and Summer Glau as Cameron Phillips, a schoolmate of John's who also happens to be his protector from the future.

Here's a quick rundown. It's supposed to take place not long after the events in Terminator 2. So essentially the over all storyline is the same, protect John Connor from robot assassins from the future so he can eventually lead a resistance against those pesky machines.

I sat down to watch the first of the two night premiere. For a spin-off, it wasn't that bad. (I'm a big fan of the Terminator movies. Well, the first two anyway.) In this first episode, Sarah and John are of course on the run again from yet another terminator. However, they decide to take a stand this time. (you have a feeling that SkyNet's unlimited supply of machines may be coming from the same place Wile E. Coyote shops?) So to stop the machines from taking over, John, Sarah and Cameron jump from the 90's to 2007. As a nod to T2, the line "Come with me if you want to live" is thrown in there.

I'm interested to see how this series will progress, especially with the current writers strike going on.

When a movie or show is successful, there's almost surely going to be a spin off. Sometimes they work, other times...not so much. You can check out more about spin-offs here and here.

WGA Strike

Okay, there have already been lots of posts and articles on the current writers' strike, so I'm not going into the details of it. (Here is one article that can give you a general idea about what the strike is about). You can also check out the United Hollywood blog.

As a writer, I am in full support of what the WGA is asking for for it's members. It only seems right that writers should collect on their work.

However, some of my sympathy does lie with a third party, and they're not really directly involved with the strike. The production people: The make-up artists. The hairstylists. The Wardrobe people. The sound and light techs. The set designers and builders. The....Well, you get the idea. True, the great stories and characters created by the writers are the reason there are television shows and movies. However, the people behind the scenes work just as hard putting the production together. They too depend on the residuals from the productions.

So, I hope the negotiations take a positive turn, mostly for the writers, but also for the production people who rely on the ongoing production to support themselves and their families.

I'm Freeeeee!!!

While reading the Cape Cod Times this past Friday I ran across this article talking about one of my favorite shows of all-time: Are You Being Served?

I'm going to completely agree with Debbie Forman and her love for the show. The first time I saw the show was my sophomore year of high school. We were supposed to be watching a movie adaptation for a book that we had just finished in English class. The teacher brought the wrong tape. So instead, we wound up watching an episode Are You Being Served? and I was hooked ever since.

What should be understood about this show is that it was made during different times, so to some, yes, it is outdated. And being British Humor, there is a bit more sophistication to it. It's not like "SLAP! Hello I'm funny!" Some of the jokes are subtle and you need to be quick to pick it up. Now I'm not saying I got all of it right away either. But once you do, you'll keep laughing, no matter how many times you see it.

So with the writers strike in full swing, I say check your local PBS listings, settle in and get ready to laugh.

Do you remeber where you were?

The above question often refers to the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy.

How about this now: Do you remember where you were when John Lennon was assassinated?

It was twenty-seven years ago yesterday when former Beatle John Lennon was gunned down outside The Dakota in New York City by Mark David Chapman.

Following his death there have been all sorts of theories about it. One of them was that Mark David Chapman was a brainwashed assassin for the government because they saw Lennon as a threat to "the establishment." (You can read a more detailed article on that theory here)

As for myself, I don't dwell too much on the theories of political assassination. It can be a real headache sometimes. I instead just think about how Lennon was able to touch so many people with his music and non-violent activism.

I am reminded of a story that my girlfriend told me once: She and her father were in The Hard Rock Cafe in Boston when "Imagine" came on. Everyone there, stopped what they were doing to sing along. After the song was over, it went back to business as usual. That one moment shows just how influential the power of Lennon's words still is.

The End of an Era

This past weekend, the literary world suffered the loss of one of its greats: Norman Mailer.


" What ruins most writers of talent is that they don't get enough experience, so their novels tend to develop a certain paranoid perfection."
-- Norman Mailer