Why is it that, after spending twenty minutes poking at your gums, shooting pain up and down your body, making you bleed, and making you wish you never got out of bed in the morning, the dental hygienist then decides it’s a good idea to lecture you on how you need to brush and floss better?
For frick’s sake, you’d think that the bleeding and the pain would send enough of a message…
Ever had one of those days where you buzz around and your mind goes a mile a minute, as if you just spiked your dark roast with some Red Bull? I’ve been feeling that way for almost a week. I think it’s because I’m actually getting some sleep. I’ve been sleeping while hooked up to one of these machines (in fact, the very model I linked to) for the past month and, boy, do I feel like I’m shot out of a cannon most days. The only problem is, I’m now waking up at 6 in the morning because the quality of my sleep is so good. I guess I should start jogging or something…
Anyway, for those who were curious, here is my TV Squad interview with Barry Williams (he played Greg Brady, remember).
Here’s a fun feature I did on TV Squad last week: Five Biggest Cheers mysteries. Ken Levine, one of the main writers from the show, responds — very funnily, if that’s a word — on his own blog.
Of course, now that the writers are back to work, I’m back doing reviews of How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs and The Riches. You can find those under my TV Squad posts at this link.
If you were ever curious about what my fellow Squadders looked like, wonder no longer: here is a collage of our motley crew. Click on each picture for a profile.
Finally, I’m dipping my little toe back into the tech game after almost a two-year hiatus, with two articles on the Inc. Technology website:
When to fix your server yourself or call in support.
When to download a security fix.
I know… I haven’t blogged for a while.
Oh, well. I’m a person who really doesn’t feel like he should be a slave to his blog. I think it might be that I don’t have enough interesting things to say to post that often. But mostly it’s because I need to make money and the damned skinflints that run this place don’t pay me at all.
Speaking of work, here are some new clips for you to peruse:
Just out: A story I did for New Jersey Monthly on Cash Cab host Ben Bailey.
Also just out: An interview with comedian Lewis Black that I did for TV Squad.
Also also just out: I wrote two blurbs in the Feb/Mar. issue of Amtrak’s magazine, Arrive. My stories on March Madness and the musical of “Cry-Baby” are on pages 16 and 18, respectively.
From about a week ago: A TV Squad interview I did with the guys from MTV’s Human Giant.
From last month: An essay for New Jersey Monthly about the near future of my town, good ol’ Morristown, NJ.
I think that’s it. More goodness to come, including an interview I did with Barry Williams (yes, *the* Greg Brady), which should be posted on TV Squad next week.
The writers’ strike is over. Most of my favorite shows will be back next month (except for Pushing Daisies, which has been renewed but won’t be back until fall). And the late night talk show hosts actually have good jokes to tell rather than their scattershot attempts to come up with jokes on their own (or, in Jay Leno’s case, attempts to make it look like he came up with the jokes on his own). By the way: Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien, you navigated well without your writers. Jon Stewart? Well, as you used to say all the time… “not so much.”
Now I wonder what this means for TV writers — and those who want to be TV writers — in the long term. Will there be less opportunities for young up-and-comers to get in the business, because networks are going to go with more reality TV, or will things eventually get back to pre-strike levels? Will the internet be best way to start your TV writing career? It’s all going to be interesting to watch, and some of it is going to be for very personal reasons…
For the new year, I decided to start a new feature called “Dead Article Theater.” This is where I’ll put essays and articles that never saw the light of day. These could be essays or ideas that were shopped around forever and ever and given the thumbs down at every turn. Alternately, they could be assigned articles that, for some reason, got killed and I was unable to place it elsewhere, either because of indifference or laziness.
This first article is in the latter category. In April 2007, I pitched Radar Online the idea of doing an interview with Jackie Martling, formerly of the Howard Stern Show. They agreed. I could have easily done the interview over the phone, but when Jackie offered to take me to the Friars Club, I couldn’t turn it down. So I traveled into the city, met Jackie at his midtown Manhattan apartment (he lives in the same building as Colin Quinn, whom I saw on the way in) and did the interview, then went to the Friars Club for lunch.
(Photo: Oglio Records)
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A few quick items:
In my last note, I mentioned that Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens had put a letter on his website regarding his bands’ absence from New Jersey Monthly’s music issue. Well, it looks like he’s taken that letter down. Maybe he felt he said his piece and didn’t want to belabor the point. Dunno. So, if you follow the link below and see nothing there, don’t fret for my sanity. There was a letter there at some point. I swear.
One of my articles that got cut from the New Jersey Monthly music issue was a short one I did on the Hanukkah concerts mounted by the indie band Yo La Tengo. It was cut because we couldn’t confirm that the shows were going to take place in time to make the print publication. But, since they are going to happen, the folks at NJM were nice enough to put the article on their web site. Here it is.
Meanwhile, Pat DiNizio is (correctly) upset that The Smithereens were left off of NJM’s NJ music history timeline in that issue. I tried to tell him that it was likely an oversight, but still… there are few acts outside of Springsteen and Bon Jovi that are more closely identified with New Jersey than are The Smithereens. They should have been included. What do you folks think?
First, let’s get the links out of the way:
Here is my New Jersey Monthly article on Robert Randolph.
Also from NJM is a brief article I did about Fountains of Wayne.
Now, here’s the video of my MSNBC appearance, which my boss Keith at TV Squad was kind enough to encode so I could embed it (the embed is at TVS; I have an AVI copy of the video here). I thought I did OK; I even made anchor Contessa Brewer laugh a couple of times. Will I do anything different when (if) I get asked back? Sure. But, at least I didn’t choke under the glare of the cameras; I thought I was going to pull a Cindy Brady and freeze up, but I just ignored the cameras and talked to Contessa. Seemed to work. Watch if you dare:
Looks like my pundit career is “taking off.” Tomorrow, I’ll be on MSNBC, around 2:10 PM ET, representing TV Squad. I’ll be interviewed for their special “Super Tuesday” political show, discussing a new TV Guide article that finds out the shows the presidential candidates like to watch. They’re asking me to have fun with the topic; after having seen a press release that lists some of the candidates’ choices, I don’t think that will be much of a problem.
Other stuff:
Just posted: A TV Squad interview I did with David X. Cohen, executive producer (along with Matt Groening and others) and show-runner of Futurama, on the DVD release of Bender’s Big Score and the show’s return to TV.
Also: In the December issue of New Jersey Monthly, I wrote two articles for their Music Issue package: One on Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and a lengthier one on Robert Randolph. Neither piece is online yet, but it should be on the stands as we speak.
