Author: ssw15

Wonder why/how Britney Spears got herself a star on the walk of fame in Hollywood? Check out slate.com, the on-line magazine, for the answer. The “Explainer” explains it…

The newspapers reporting the Arnold Schwarzenegger’s inauguration – Maria Shriver with the 192-year old Kennedy family Bible; the Hollywood stars (Jamie Lee Curtis, aka Schwarzenegger’s “True Lies” wife; Rob Lowe (who I thought was a Democrat, in real life and on “West Wing”; etc.). It looks like an alternate universe, only it’s not. Meanwhile, it’s the week of the 40th anniversary JFK assaination and television networks (PBS being no exception) are showing Kennedy things. It’s the same stories about Jack, Jackie, Bobby, Teddy, etc. And, now, it’s Schwarzenegger – he is placed into context, in a way.

Of course, then there’s the picture of Andrew Cuomo in today’s NY Daily News; let’s not forget that he was a Kennedy-in-law who couldn’t be governor. Was that coincidental that his picture gets in, on the same day as the pictures for the inauguration of a victorious Kennedy-in-law was also published?

I’m watching the Colameco cooking show on Channel 13 (PBS) right now. Ah, when will I ever learn – just watching these things doesn’t mean I’ll know how to cook. But, Colameco’s show has a nice flavor to it, so to speak. He gives you a presentation of some really nice restaurant (usually a NYC one) and tries to cook variations on the restaurant’s stuff in his own home kitchen so that you, oh silly layperson/TV viewer, may be so inspired to try to cook in your own kitchen. Colameco’s not some stuffy chef (even if he has the background or training to be one) and he’s a good watch.

No “Alias” tonight – some kind of video music awards. Oh, well. Secret Agent Sydney’s fate will have to wait another week.

Crazy commercials – notice the Saturn Ion commercial with the scary-looking clowns, who get stalked and captured and dragged away by a Saturn Ion? Apparently, they’re meant to demonstrate how we can “put the fun” back into compact cars. Okay, sure. But, those are still scary looking clowns, not since the old “It” mini-series based on Stephen King’s book “It” had its own scary psycho clown.

Check out the M&M’s current commercial promotion. I’ve gotten a kick out of the commercial with the stoner dudes who recreate the M&M’s Christmas commercial (the one where they catch Santa; all scream, “They’re real!” “He’s real!” and the Yellow Peanut M tries to poke the fainted Santa into waking up – “Santa? Santa?”). Stoner Dude A plays with the plastic M&M’s and a hatless Santa doll. Stoner Dude B observes, “Yeah, like who defines what’s real?” Yeah. Good question, dude. All fun and laughs. Head over to the M&M’s website vote on your favorite M&M’s commercial, or watch your favorite commercial in streaming video. Enjoy “the milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” www.mms.com

I’m not exactly having a Hawaiian adventure like FC, but the crazy New York City weather is enough to make me dream of Hawaii. Strong gales making leaves and trash and pieces of buildings flying all over the place. Please be careful out there tonight, folks!

Last night had some very good television. Pardon the vagaries of the following, since I don’t to give away plot lines for those who haven’t seen the episodes yet:

“Star Trek Enterprise” had a strong episode. It wasn’t nearly as predictable as I feared and had good hopeful for humanity moments, in the great Trekkian mode. Maybe all isn’t lost yet; so, I guess I can’t give up on Star Trek just yet. For those who missed it last night, Channel 9 (NYC’s local UPN) will show it again at 9pm on Sunday (yeah, I know – against ABC’s “Alias” time slot – just tape one or the other; “Enterprise” was good, really!). I’m scared about next week’s episode – the preview indicates that Trip, the chief engineer, will be cloned. The Star Trek writers run the risk of making this upcoming episode lousy; then again, I wouldn’t trust “Star Trek” previews with the way the bad habit of undermining the episodes they are supposed to promote, so maybe I’ll be proven wrong. That remains to be seen.

“Angel” continues to be on an incredibly strong streak; I really enjoyed last night’s episode. The subtext continues – the tension Angel feels toward his friends is almost palpable because only he remembers the timeline he arranged to delete. Meanwhile, Wesley is perplexed by Angel’s tension (not realizing that in the deleted timeline that he caused the grief in the first place) – but then becomes ultimately busy with his own unresolved issues. I get the feeling that the writers are able to better concentrate on “Angel” so far into the new season, because they don’t have to worry as much about dealing with “Buffy” episode to parallel at the same time (i.e., they don’t have to develop two simultaneously cataclysmic plotlines on two different networks, like they did last season). I hope they keep up the good work.