Well it happened again!!! The evil networks got me interested in one of their television shows, left me hanging with the season finale, and then cancelled the show.  This time their victim was Alcatraz.  Now for the record I don't like prison shows, I don't like prisons, and I don't like San Francisco but this show was good.  I liked the writing and the acting.  I really enjoyed the car chase scenes which reminded me of the car chases in the old "Streets of San Francisco" series and also the Steve McQueen movie "Bullet".

But now it's gone, the heroine on death's door in the hospital, a million loose ends, and the promise of some answers to the questions that have been haunting us all season just one more episode away.  It's like reading a book and just as you are really getting into the story some big bully in a dark suit comes in and yanks it away from you without any explanation leaving you to wonder forever how it would turn out.  Now imagine that happening every year over and over to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You see, I'm cursed.  I pick show after show to watch that gets cancelled.  Television is generally boring.  I don't want to watch another sitcom with a dunder head husband, or a boring investigative cops show (there are about 40 of these), or a show about doctors or lawyers behaving badly behind the scenes of their actual jobs.  So when something comes along that is different and entertaining it sucks me right in.  Flashforward, Space Above and Beyond, Firefly, Dead Like Me, Star Gate Universe, Better Off Ted, Homicide, Caprica, Jericho, and Pushing Daisies were all ripped away without any remorse by the evil studio executives who make those decisions.  Aside from Firefly which got a movie to wrap things up the others were just suddenly gone leaving holes in my conciousness.  Even today for some of these shows that have been gone for years I still think about the characters and wonder what is going on in their lives.  Silly?  Yes it is but didn't the networks want me to get emotionally involved with their shows so I would keep watching them week after week and buy the products advertised in multiple 30 second ads throughout?  Silly me for actually caring about the characters in your show as intended!!!

Is it too much to ask to give us one more episode to have some closure????  Just put it on the internet for goodness sake!  Then at least I wouldn't be so angry at the network for pulling the plug.  Instead of anger, I would then be able to say, "I understand the ratings were low and it had to go but they at least finished the story with that one last episode so it's ok".  But that never happens.  They just yank it and it's like a part of me is ripped away forever!

I'm not one to advocate for new laws and think there are too many laws already but if I could pass one law tomorrow it would require that any show that gets cancelled gets to film one more episode to wrap up the story line.  At least then we would know what happened and would be able to go on with life not wondering what happened to our favorite characters.

Of course, maybe my real problem is my addiction to television......

My own book club....

I'm starting my own book club because frankly, your book club sucks lemons.  You get together with your friends eating snacks and talking about books that only a couple people actually read because no one wants to read the books you pick.  They stink worse that a big steaming pile of poo!!

My book club is going to be great because I am picking the books we will read and I don't choose dumb books.  I choose books about men and women doing great things under impossible conditions.  These are books about folks who are giving their blood, sweat, and tears to defend freedom and the American way so that weenies like the people in your book club can read about shiny vampires, people kissing under yum yum trees, or stories with bad endings.  No one wants to read that crap because all they have to do is turn on the television and they are bombarded by it.  Who wants to read a book with a bad ending anyway?  Yes Shakespeare got away with it but there really weren't a lot of other choices back in his day.  If you wanted entertainment, that was about it short of watching pirates get hanged down by the docks or traitors getting drawn and quartered by some over pampered lord Fauntleroy on the town commons.

And if my book club reads a book that doesn't have a lot of shooting, explosions, and other sounds of freedom it will be a book about surviving in the woods with just a pocket knife and a can of Ovaltine.  And if we read biographies in my club or autobiographies they are going to be about great people like George Washington or George Patton.  There won't be any books about whiny, neurotic women who grew up in bad homes, abused drugs as teens, and feel the need to share their suffering in some book that makes everyone feel like crap that reads it.

And there won't be any books with people named Mr. Darcey, Mr. Wicket, or Mr. whatever who drive around in carriages and can't say what is really on their mind for page after mindless page.  In my books the guy will go up to the girl and say, "Hey, you look hot, how about we go out to dinner."  Really, do we need to read an entire novel where people speak without really talking to each other all the while pining away about their feelings to their sisters.  In my world that's called wasting time and energy and in today's economy we should really be wasting anything?

For my book choices the only romance you read about will be between men and women who find a short pause in fighting the enemy to regroup, reload, or rearm.  And in every case the romantic parts will be short and sweet because they are patriotic folks fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.  They don't have time to spend half the book talking to their girl friends about their confused feelings for the other guy.  It's war honey and there ain't time to pine away while your man is fighting so you can sit at home with your ninny sisters talking about crocheting or some other ridiculous hobby.

So if you want to join my book club you now know the rules.  I can guarantee there will be good books that people that join will actually want to read.  If a bad one slips through we'll take it out back and launch it with the clay pigeon thrower and give it a 21 gun salute followed by confetti.  But chances are it will never get to that point.  So join today!

Wear it Out, Use it Up......

My wife and been asking me for several months if I wanted a new stationary bike.  I tend to only ride it when the weather is bad outside either with wind, rain, or if it's too hot for me to go jogging.  On occassion if I got home late from work and it was getting dark I would also jump on the old bike for some exercise.  The old bike had been my grandparents and was very uncomfortable.  The seat hurt, it felt like it was too close to the pedals and the speedometer didn't function anymore.  Resistance was added by turning a knob which pushed a small wheel down on the bike tire.  But the bike worked and I hate to replace something that is still functioning although in this case it was functioning poorly.

About six months ago I noticed fine black shavings on the ground after I did my hour and fifteen minute ride.  Looking at the old tire I could see it starting to crack and knew it was just a matter of time.  Last Monday it had been raining forcing me inside.  About 20 minutes into the ride a large chunk came off the tire.  Then about every minute after that another chunk joined it until about 45 minutes into the ride and the whole tire came apart and flew off.  Fortunately, no children or animals where harmed during the workout.  Without the tire there was no more resistance other than the centrifical force created by the wheel and so I spent 15 more minutes riding just to cool down.  Saturday, I sadly carried the old bike to the dumpster and picked up the major chucks of rubber.  All that remains are the fine rubber shavings of the old stationary bike.  RIP.

I was hoping to keep it going a few more months until after everyone quit their new year's resolutions and decided to get rid of their new exercise bike.  If their is anything I am more relunctant to do than throwing out an old but still functioning bike it's purchasing a brand new one at retail price.  But Craigs list has not had anything decent so I may have to bite the bullet.

If you know anyone that is getting rid of their stationary bike, send them my direction.  On the plus side, how many people can brag that they wore out a stationary bike with their workouts!!!

Book Review on Here????

I do not do book reviews on my blog but I just finished reading this wonderful book and wanted to share it.  I actually read this in January which breaks my unwritten holiday rule of not reading books that revolve around Christmas in any month but December.  I am so glad I broke my rule.  The book is a wonderful companion tale to the original Dickens classic, "A Christmas Carol".  It fits perfectly with the original story and adds depth and dimension to the tale.  The two stories together are like two pieces of music that fit perfectly together to form something greater.  I have read "A Christmas Carol" many times and love all the variouse movie adaptations, particularly the Patrick Stewart, TNT version which I watch every year.  Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett is of that same quality and should it be made into a movie in the future would certainly become a Christmas classic.  I recommend it highly for your next reading adventure.