Staying Home

The dry spell is over, and I’m back at the keyboard.

For the first few days I was a tad sore and it hurt too much to sit in front of a keyboard for any length of time and I had to limit my computer time for important things like keeping tabs on work so it did not become over-whelming on my return. During my time AFK my attention was drawn more to the non-participatory form of information, from the infamous “boob tube”.

The thought of jumping up and down to swap out DVD’s wasn’t very appealing, so I lay on the recliner seat of the couch, held the Dish remote, and channel surfed during my drug-induced stupor for a few days.

I remember staying home from school when I was sick and about the only thing there was on television were reruns of shows like “The Brady Bunch”, “Bewitched”, “The Beverly Hillbilly’s” and “I Love Lucy”.

During my recent recovery it was nice to have Dish Network and a bunch of channels to choose from. Sure the Brady’s and all the classics are still around, thanks to “TV Land”, but now there is something for everybody.

Unfortunately, the Sci Fi channel has gone out of their season, so there were no longer fresh SG-1, Stargate Atlantis or Battlestar Galactica episodes to fill in the blanks. I found some classic movies to watch that I had not seen in years, but I tend to crave new material more-so then regurgitating the old stuff.

After watching some of what I had been saving on the digital video recorder from places like the History Channel, I let my fingers do the walking to channels I do not normally haunt.

There are some amazing channels on Dish these days such as the “Food Network” and the “Do It Yourself Network” in addition to the ones I like such as the “Discovery Channel", “History Channel”, and many others. I love watching the competition shows such as the "Warehouse Warriors" and "Junkyard Wars" and "Robot Wars" where people come up with some pretty cool ideas in a short amount of time.

I got in touch with my feminine side one morning and watched “The View” and realized fairly quickly that this gaggle of women would drive me bonkers in short order.

Then there was “Chasing Farrah”, which is apparently a new reality show that just follows Farrah Fawcett around all day. Like that would fall into anyone’s definition of reality. Still, it was entertaining, and as dizzy as she seems to be, it brought back memories of that poster I had in my room for a long time.

Once I started feeling up to it, the time had come to breakout the DVD’s I had purchased but have not had the time to watch. The first of these treasures was the complete series of “Firefly”.

“Firefly” was a television series that apparently fell victim to retarded corporate weenies. It is a Sci Fi series created by Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Angel fame) about a group of people dealing with life in the future aboard a merchant type starship named, “Serenity”. These are not the sterile ships like you see in Star Trek, but a more realistic version of what a ship might look like having been purchased second-hand and then used to haul cargo around.

I say the “suits” ruined the launch of this show because not only did they fail to give such a show enough time to develop, they also didn’t do much to advertise the thing. Since I enjoy Sci Fi I think that I would have picked up on the arrival of this new show had it been even remotely advertised. It’s another example of companies that seem to try and kill their own projects. Fortunately the fan base is huge, and won’t let go that easily.

A friend of mine tells me they are working on a movie titled after the ship, Serenity, so there might be hope for the concept yet. As long as the ownership of rights do not get in the way, perhaps the Sci Fi channel can pick them up to replace the hole left behind by “Farscape”. While researching the links for this article I found that the movie will be in theaters on September 30th. Mark your calendars, and I’ll bet you won’t be disappointed.

Another DVD I dug into was “Skulls”, a flick about the secret society called, Skull & Bones”. This movie brought out some interesting moral views on friendship, honor and loyalty. Just how far should these things permeate our total moral makeup? While looking for links I discovered there are a Skulls II and a Skulls III. Looks like another trip to Best Buy when I can drive again. BTW, the official movie site has a cool opening.

I also watched the new version of “Dawn of the Dead”, which was done well, but I still like the original. It’s not that this new version was bad, in fact it was done well, but I still enjoy the campy feel of the original and the humor of the slow stupid zombies. I suppose it’s the feeling that, even though they are slow, they will eventually get to you. If you watch the new version make sure you watch the credits all the way through. It’s like watching an extension of the story in blipvert fashion.

You won’t believe this one, but I also watched a silly movie called, “Orgazmo” in which a Mormon young man finds himself stuck having to work as the superhero in a porn film. The acting was sad, the plot was sad, but it did have a few funny moments that had me in pain as I chuckled.

Finally, I watched “10” with Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews and Bo Derek. OK, I’ll admit it; I have not finished this one yet since I came down to my office to start writing this article it got too late. I would say I’m about half-way through the movie (he just made it to Mexico) and it brought back memories of how funny Dudley Moore is. The scene with him on painkillers and falling down the hill at his house is hilarious! Now I need to go out and get “Arthur”, another classic Dudley Moore film. Do you remember when Arthur is in a fancy restaurant with the hooker and yells, “You’re a hooker? I thought I was just doing great with you!”