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It’s 8 PM and I’m going to catch the bus now to get back to the airport. Wow, what a trip! I’ve must have taken over 500 pictures. I’ll work on the summary on the plane back.

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.

Day Two in Honolulu. I wanted to be Hawaiian for the day and four students were coming into HNL that night. I went to Chinatown to buy lei’s (Lin’s Lei Shop is the place to go — it’s like a 1/3 of the price at the airport, assuming the stores were open, which they were not because they were night flights). I took the 19 bus to the airport, which took about 45 minutes. P– called me on the cell phone on the way there. She was also on public transport — the Q train. At the airport, I met John who was meeting his Korean wife coming in from Newark. He is a German who moved here from Middle Village, Queens. He was a butcher before moving here and got into the real estate investment business. The team members showed up ahead of schedule; I made my alohas and they were estatic. To be on the giving end of aloha was worth it.

Other stuff I did that day: plate lunch at I Love Country; shaved ice (green tea and mochi — mmmm….) at Waiola Bakery. The Triple Crown of surfing is going on, but that is on the North Shore. Lu’au tonight!

Considering all the hype on this new Fox sitcom (9:30pm, Sundays), I checked it out that Sunday night. Hmm…

Basically, it’s about the Bluth family – the eccentric George Bluth, Sr., (played by Jeffrey Tambor, a great character actor) is arrested for some bad investments and accounting in his corporation. The SEC continues to investigate, so the family has to watch its (extremely expensive) spending. Middle son Michael (played by the 1980’s child actor, Jason Bateman) is the Good Sane Son, trying to reform the family and claim the control of the family corporation. However, the family is undermining all his efforts. He’s a widower and has a 13-year old son, George Michael, who tempted (in a near incestuous sense) by his cousin Maebe (pronounced “Maybe”?), a 13-year old siren (who doesn’t seem that attractive in personality; more like a praying mantis). Maebe’s mother (played by Portia deRossi, formerly of “Ally McBeal”) is Michael’s spoiled-brat sister, who’s married to an out-of-work “actor.” The oldest brother Gob (pronounced “Job” (the tested man from the Bible), is a magician, who’s jealous that Michael is trying to make things better (but Gob is a total incompetent about everything anyway). Mrs. Bluth, the matriarch of this clan, loves her wealth, and is not helping Michael (but he’s able to predict his mother, more or less). There’s another brother, who’s apparently quite immature and eccentric too (I don’t recall seeing him in the episode I had watched; but he’s in the commercials, acting rather screwy).

So, there are lots of interesting characters. I like Jason Bateman’s acting (he’s convincing as the responsible, exasperated one). But, maybe I’m not totally impartial – I liked him in NBC’s “The Hogan Family” (he helped carry the show even after Valerie Harper left it). He deserves to finally have a good series, after being in a bunch of cancelled stuff over the last several years. But, it’s weird to see him as the father of a teenager; he has a baby face himself and just exudes a youthful exuberance.

I don’t think the series is a laugh-out-loud kind of funny; of course, then again, there’s no laugh track to give cues to the audience about what’s supposed to be “funny” (for better or for worse; take your pick). But, the scenarios did make a smile on my face and got me reacting “Geez, Michael; get with the program – where do you think your father was hiding the money!” There’s hope that this series will work. On the plus side (it’s not a negative, anyway) – Ron Howard (whose production company is behind “Arrested Development”) is the narrator. Think about it – “Richie Cunningham” of the old “Happy Days” is back on tv (well, his voice anyway). (sorry, I tend to still think of him as Richie, not Opie – I never saw the whole Andy Griffith show (I’m of a generation that knows Andy Griffith as Matlock. Kind of like how I’d think of Henry Winkler as “Fonzie” and John Ritter as “Jack Tripper” and the Dukes of Hazard as the Dukes of Hazard…).

Okay, enough rambling. I’m otherwise still looking for better Sundays…

I’ve been AWOL this past week, being that I was in Anaheim, CA for a conference. I didn’t get a chance to blog because I was busy putting together another work of art– the medium of choice was PowerPoint. Did the red-eye back to JFK to make it in for work today. I have over 600 pictures of the most magical place on Earth. Tomorrow morning, I’m leaving for Honolulu for another conference. Maybe I’ll find an Internet hot spot somewhere?

NYC: It’s quite quiet. And, cold. Etc. NY Giants lost, NY Jets somehow won, but I’m not that into football.

The cover of the New York Daily News tv guide has a picture of the star of “Saving Jessica Lynch.” I do not know if it’s a good thing that there are movies about Jessica Lynch, the woman GI of the recent Iraq war, and Elizabeth Smart, the Colorado teenager who was kidnapped. After much criticism (deserved or not), the Ronald Reagan movie was shifted to Showtime, instead of the producing network, CBS, the same network that broadcasted a movie on Hitler. What does all this say about our society? Then there’s CBS’ “60 minutes,” with a story on the other POW’s of the war, and we have to ask ourselves – who is a hero; what is truth; are we accepting what the on-screen media is feeding us, and shouldn’t we hear other stories and perspectives, to know what is “truth”? Hmm. Some food for thought, I suppose.

WB’s “Everwood” is still interesting tv. The annoying Dr. Harold Abbott, even if annoying, is a portrayed by a subtle actor. I just hope this show doesn’t wind up spending all its time inviting guest stars (maybe it’s just for November sweeps).

“Star Trek Enterprise” is slowly improving, but it’s still frustrating, especially when it lapses into the curse of recent Trek (i.e., hitting the reset button with a time travel episode that returns us to the correct timeline, yet declining to follow up on intriguing potential consequences or focusing on consequences with shortcomings).

I’ve noticed this since the baseball playoffs, and I figure I might as well mention this now – the Delta airlines commercial, where the lady who orders her seat on-line and her seat pops out of the printer and accompanies her to the airport. The jingle is strangely catchy; I would end up singing along with it, while still not actually knowing the words. And, yes, the subliminal (or not so subliminal) message: yes, Delta, let’s see the grandest of canyons and enjoy our traveling campanion, that comfortable seat. It’s campy, but scary too (because, I don’t know, the lady seems to like her seat way too much; and watching a seat with legs dressed in khakis must be a straight out of Twilight Zone). I’d give it extra credit for being a hypnotic commercial; both eye-and-ear catching.

Better Sundays ought to be out there. Really.

I caught most of tonight’s “Angel” – quite funny and angsty, in the best of the “Angel” way, wherein the vampire-with-a-soul, Angel, fights along side these Mexican fighters (guys with masks). Angel’s trying to regain his sense of being a champion for good since he’s been feeling disconnected (since he’s currently running the L.A. branch of The Big Evil Law Firm); finding out what it takes may still take awhile for Angel, but maybe he’ll find his way.

Still can’t get over seeing the Dukes of Hazzard (John Schneider and Tom Wopat) singing tv show theme songs during that CBS 75th anniversary show on Sunday night (11/2/03). It was eerie. The two of them are caliber level Broadway actors (Wopat, in particular, having done “42nd Street” recently) and yet singing the Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle? Aye Carumba, as Bart Simpson would say.

“Alias” on Sunday nights has been a boon for ABC. After finally catching up on the episodes I’ve taped, I think I can offer some comments of my own now. After the 11/2/03 episode, I’ve noticed this: “Alias” is taking some lessons from every great soap opera, science fiction television show (such as Star Trek) , and previous spy drama: “Alias” is also finding aways so that no one (not a major character anyway) gets to die. CIA agent Sydney Bristow loses two years of her life, after having been almost killed in last season’s season finale. Sydney has no memory of what she did or where she went. Evil Francie, aka enemy agent Allison Doren in the physical form of Sydney’s late best friend Good Francie, still has some explainin’ to do. And the tension between Sydney, her ex-handler/ex-boyfriend Michael Vaughn, and his new wife/NSC agent Lauren Reed, is so thick that you’d need a power saw to cut through it. The third season of “Alias” isn’t nearly as plot-twisted as seasons 1 and 2, and I miss Lena Olin as Sydney’s morally-ambiguous mother (she and actor Victor Garber, as Sydney’s CIA agent dad) sizzled on the screen. But, “Alias” continues to be fun tv.

My apologies for being away; baseball drained me and life took hold, I suppose. Reflecting on the month of October 2003, I can say that Star Trek literature has its good and bad moments, but lately, it has been more interesting than the currently broadcasted incarnation “Star Trek: Enterprise” (previously just “Enterprise”, but apparently returning to the Star Trek name in an attempt to reclaim fans who have been unhappy with the lack of consistent storytelling in a prequel series like this). The book franchise has released the special “Lost Era” series, to cover the heretofore unseen gap between the movie “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (the last movie on the original crew of the Enterprise, of The Original Series (TOS)) and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). These books take lines of references about the “Lost Era” from TNG, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and “Star Trek: Voyager” and flesh them into stories, as well as bringing to life characters who have had minimum screen time. I haven’t read book 1, since I was eagerly awaiting book 2 – and I particularly enjoyed reading it.

“Serpents Among the Ruins,” by David R. George III, which came out in October, focuses on the experience of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise-B. Captain John Harriman, of the Enterprise B, was seen in “Star Trek: Generations” (the first TNG movie, and the end of William Shatner as Captain Kirk) as one who couldn’t possibly overcome that giant Kirk shadow. Fortunately, the Star Trek novel “The Captain’s Daughter” by Peter David rehabilitated Harriman’s character and “Serpents Among the Ruins” continues the portrayal of this man and how he fits in the pantheon of Enterprise heroes. I highly recommend this book, for being an intruiging read. It demonstrates the complex galactic politics of the Star Trek universe (yep, the Romulans and the Klingons are at it again, and the Federation don’t exactly come out looking like beautiful angels either). “Serpents Among the Ruins” was probably much too descriptive than it should have been, but I couldn’t put it down. It left me thinking, “Geez, how can Harriman pull that off? Who is he kidding?” but then realized that what he did was clever – his conscience is cleared of wrongdoing and he gets the right outcome, even if his means were questionable and bizarre. Harriman’s first officer, Demora Sulu, was also a good character and the story maintained the great Trek tradition of celebrating ideals and diversity with a good story.

Peter David’s latest entry in his “Star Trek: New Frontier” series , “Gods Above,” continues the adventures of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, a non-human and all-around crazy hero, and his sidekick, Captain Elizabeth Shelby. In this book, they have to deal with the Beings, who had presented themselves to Captain Kirk a century before as “Gods” (of the ancient Greek variety). “Gods Above” isn’t nearly as powerful a punch as I’d like it to have been, but it has its moments (Mac and his one-liners; Mac and Shelby’s maturing relationship; the boy Moke, innocent and brave; and the return of Spock). Good read.

It may be awhile before I splurge on more Star Trek reading, but I’m feeling a little better about the Star Trek franchise after I read something as good as these had been.