The Moody Bugle

Today's Question

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:52:20 GMT

Okay.

'splain somethin' to me.

What is it about guys and hardware stores?

I went to one on Sunday looking for a .51 piece of scrap lumber.

I walked out of there $93 dollars lighter.

With all kinds of stuff I desperately needed for projects around the house, half of which I'll actually do.

Like I said, what is it about guys and hardware stores?

Oh, the Humanity!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:10:26 GMT

So, I'm driving to work, behind two snow plows. They're zipping right along, throwing up a heck of a spray.

Then, I noticed one kind of jog to the middle of the road, while the other plowed right ahed, full speed.

When I reached the spot, there was a guy on the side of the road, next to a bus stop, the newspaper box knocked over, frantically and futilly picking road mung out of his hair. He was soaked.

There was a moment when I wanted to chuckle, man, did you get it ... but, in the end, I could only feel bad for the guy.

There he was, just minding his own business, and, KAPHOOM!

Oh, the humanity!

TWO SMOKIN' DEALS!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:44:36 GMT

Two Beating the Recession Ideas to keep in mind.

First, remember that the Denver Center Theatre Company is offering two tix to A Raisin in the Sun for only $44! Smokin' deal! Just go online at denvercenter.org and click on Promo Code at the top of the page. When you see the little box, type in CBS4. That will get you the SPECIAL CBS4 deal because we love you and want you to be not only happy but to see great theater. It's just like why God invented beer.

Also -- head to denver2for1tix.com. Visit Denver is corralling all sorts of arts and cultural organizations and getting them to offer two-for-one ticket deals. The places, shows and venues change each week so there's something different to explore and enjoy. This is a brillliant idea which, they promised me, would be on-going. Not just a hit and miss kind of thing. In the first week there are deals from the Denver Center, Museo de las Americas, Curious Theatre, HiDive, Swallow Hill and many others. Sign up for their email alerts so you won't miss out on anything!

Severe coolness!

(Boy, that didn't sound anywhere near as 80's in my head as it did when I wrote it down.)

The Cynic Has Awakened

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:49:54 GMT

When I first got into this journalism business, back in 1978, there was this wonderful cynicism that permeated the newsroom of The Milwaukee Sentinel.

We were all nice, optimistic people when the workday ended and we repaired, en masse, to Major Goolsby's to take the edge off the day. We were actually quite pleasant to be around. Lively, even.

But in that newsroom and on deadline, it was a completely different beast that looked back from the mirror.

It was a cynic.

It was a skeptic.

It was a non-believer.

The only belief any reporter had was that whoever he or she was interviewing for the story of the day was lying. Maybe not a lot, maybe not a mortal sin, but certainly enough to skew the story into the best possible light for themselves.

You were wary.

You questioned everything.

It was a trait that, over the years, I've lost, but then again, so has most of journalism.

And I miss it.

I especially missed it last Thursday, when a balloon went skittering across the Colorado sky, supposedly, with a six year old boy aboard.

There was a part of me that kept screaming, "This stinks -- we're being scammed!" But the rest of me wouldn't listen. A kid's life was at stake, wasn't it? Part of me questioned if a balloon that size could actually lift, as easily as it appeared, a 40-pound, six year old boy. I kept my questions to myself, though, as I wasn't an aeronautical expert. I thought, outloud, that the kid was hiding someplace in the house, scared out of his wits, in trouble with Dad, but who could think of something like that as the drama unfolded on the high def screens of Colorado?

Frankly, I couldn't conceive of a stunt brazen enough to suck the world in and create a new definition of "reality tv." Who could? I mean -- what parent would put his children in this sort of situation for potential profit?

I was as captivated by the pictures as you were and fully absorbed the manic energy rush of the newsroom, that insatiable drive to get it all on the air -- first.

And, yet --

The family pulled the media around by the nose and we let them do it. The Sheriff says he "used" the media in order to get what he needed out of the family. And we let HIM do it.

What this story needed, even as it unfolded so quickly over a few hours on a Thursday afternoon, was a blast of that old cynicism. Someone having the guts to say, "I don't believe this -- show me." To the family, to the sheriff. As it happened.

The instant news cycle doesn't often allow that sort of time to check, ponder and probe. In fact, none of that attitude cropped up until much later as the story finally began falling apart of its own volition.

Rather than question what we were seeing, we ate it up to rush it on the air, and spewed it out in the hopes of catching as many eyeballs as possible in the process. What we left behind, what we forgot, was the essential cynicism of journalism, the notion that "I just don't quite believe you."

We forgot that essential idea with a weather balloon. And we continually forget it with politicians and economists and pundits and spokesfolks, parents and cops and teachers and celebrities, reality tv and food safety and auto safety and sports teams and anything else that winds it way through the morass of the media and into a headline.

We take what we're told at face value. We certainly did on Thursday.

And it doesn't do anyone in society one damned bit of good.

Great Deal at the Theatre!!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:01:46 GMT

Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" remains one of the great dramatic productions that spans its racial roots to touch on all American lives today. A new production is on stage in the Stage Theatre presented by the Denver Center Theatre Company. And CBS4 can help you get great seats for the show without going broke doing it. Just log onto the Denver Center website (denvercenter.org) or head to the link at Moody's Picks on this very website. Then, at the top of the page, you'll notice the words "Promo Code" -- click on that. In the little box that appears, type in "CBS4"

You'll suddenly see a whole range of productions of "A Raisin in the Sun" that you can see at great savings.

Get this -- Two Tickets for only $44 -- thanks to your Beating the Recession Buddies at CBS4.

And, I can tell you it's a marvelous production. Very powerful, telling and timely.

Take a look. Be surprised. Find the heart of drama in a neighborhood stage near you.

Great theater changes the way you look at life.

I'm living proof.

Whip It!

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:43:05 GMT

Just a note here --

Check out the Drew Barrymore directed movie "Whip It" starring Ellen Page. Really enjoyed the Roller Derby movie and what it had to say about growing up, finding your own way and a parent's pride in their children.

With that in mind, check out the Women's Roller Derby teams in the Denver area. We've got a couple of teams, a couple of leagues and the games are a blast! Check out The Rocky Mountain Roller Girls online. Also -- The Denver Roller Dolls.

Great fun.

Lost in Literary Limbo

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:46:11 GMT

Humorist Robert Benchley once wrote an essay entitled, "Why does nobody collect me?"

And I'm beginning to wonder that myself.

Benchley was humorously irked by the success of his friend Ernest Hemingway, whose first editions were worth hundreds of dollars, while Benchley's brought less than cover price in discount bins. He couldn't figure it out, finally remarking, "I am older than Hemingway and have written more books than he has."

Well, I can't compare to their output, or to Benchley's friendship with Ernie H., but I know where he's coming from when he finds his books in the remainder bin.

I was wandering through my local bike store over the weekend, only to discover that multiple copies of four of my five books were piled up in a galvanized tin tub, all with marked down prices on them.

For a split second, I thought about buying them all myself, but knowing that I have two girls in college and can't afford a new set of tire tubes, I had to pass on the opportunity.

But, then again, buying them wasn't the point.

Finding them in a galvanized tub was the point.

Four of the five novels in the series were piled into the tub, the covers somewhat worn, but still attached. I wasn't quite sure what to think. I know that I had taken a chance in book four, breaking the unspoken rules of plotting to push the story (and, thus, the series) in a new direction. It pushed the series in a new direction all right, it pushed it right to a natural end of the series.

Oops.

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Then, by the time I came up with an idea to continue the series, my publisher had been sold, the management changed and they weren't really interested in more bicycling adventures of Will and the rest.

Ah, well.

But all that is passed. About five years past.

The present stared me in the face. My books. My children, in a way, sitting orphaned in a tub, unloved, unwanted, unbought.

And me without the wherewithal to save them.

I turned my back on my own creations and walked out into the light of a Colorado Sunday afternoon.

... Aw, hell. I'm going back tonight.

A Momentary Think

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:42:45 GMT

Just wondering this morning.

Why, when it is dry, does the newspaper stay completely inside it's little plastic pouch, to the point that it's difficult to extract without tearing the baggie to flinders?

Why, when it is wet, does the newspaper slide out -- part way -- thus soaking the few stories you're actually interested in reading?

Just wondering.

Our Kanye Moment

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:45:38 GMT

It wouldn't be a music awards show without an outrageous Kanye moment.

And his stepping up during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech to say that Beyonce should have gotten it was certainly that -- an outrageous Kanye moment.

The question now -- was it pure ego at work? Righteous outrage for a fellow artiste?

Or -- was it a calculated move on KDub's part to keep his streak of outrageous behavior going?

Or -- was it a planned MTV moment designed to keep the fading VMA's totally on the edge? (Ooooh! Can you BELIEVE what happens on that show?)

Ahhh ... something new has been added. The plot sickens.

I'm pretty sure it was nothing but ego, but there's a little corner of skepticism in my soul that no longer takes much of anything in the entertainment world at face value.

How sad.

A Guest Weighs in on Summer Vacation

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:15:05 GMT

A few thoughts from a friend on the summer vacation faced by a fan. The joys, the disappointments. I just thought I'd pass them on ...

WHAT I LEARNED ON MY SUMMER VACATION

by Raetta Holdman

What I learned on my summer vaction is : Bruce Campell is awesome.

This is a lesson that took a little while to sink in but when your teenage son is actually talking to you, you listen. So I’ve seen Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 (which is just really Evil Dead with a different girl and different ending) and Army of Darkness. All of which led to me to Burn Notice, a show where creators, writers, producers and other actors begged Bruce Campbell to take a role. (and Sharon Gless as well). I’ve seen Bubba-Ho-Tep some time ago and loved it but never followed up. So this summer, I developed a crush. Full-on, teenage girl crush on The Chin. (I’d even already bought the book for my son.) I learned the guy I sit next to has INTERVIEWED Bruce and found him completely charming. I discovered Bruce rocks with a chainsaw on his hand but that even he cannot redeem lines like “It’s opossum, I don’t eat human” although he can rock the phrase, “Next time, why don’t you call that Buffy girl?!”

I’ve also learned Renaissance faires are fun! They may be the one and only place in the world where you can convince your brother (after a few beers) to spend more on a totally awesome coat (that he can wear no where else) than you’ve spent on your entire wardrobe in two years. And he still speaks to you.

Oh, there was the Star Trek “experience” where we discovered Kirk wasn’t the hot guy, Spock wasn’t either… it was Dr. McCoy! Really, any woman who didn’t swoon at “She took the whole damn planet and I have nothing left but these bones” should be required to give up the girl card.

Also, from the movies I learned a first kiss CAN be disappointing. We KNOW Harry & Ginny’s first kiss, it’s about hidden, growing desire covered in boy guilt for Harry; it’s about destiny - pure and simple for Ginny (I’ve said this long before Book 6) - and “THEY” allow it to be hidden in the Room of Requirement (oh , spoiler - that’s what that room was in case you missed it from the movie) when it’s the place of hidden things (another spoiler - that’s super important for the end of the series - movie 8 I’m guessing). As it should have been played, Harry & Ginny kissed in front of EVERYONE, it wasn’t tentative, it was a declaration: for love, against Snape and against Lord Voldemort. (Okay, climbing off the soap box now)

Another movie lesson that takes us to television: Zooey Deschanel’s voice seems less annoying after 500 Days (of Summer). The soundtrack and storytelling made me find her more likeable, but I’ll always love Emily more for getting to kiss David Boreanz, even if the creator/writers did a horrible thing to Bones & Booth. That second to last episode of this season (still one of the most amazing scenes) when Bones simply knows something is wrong with Booth and says, “Trust me.” Unfortunately the viewers got betrayed. But we’re more than willing to be won over this season.

And - speaking of David Boreanz! Vampires took over this summer, I’ve actually READ Dracula back in the day (on some other summer vacation, yes, for pleasure not school) and I watched Being Human. I’ve tried True Blood and just couldn’t do it, I’ve read all of the Anita Blake The Vampire Hunter novels, okay with those and the Twilight series. The truth tho? Give me Spike any old day of the week. And yes, Angel too, even with a soul he got that HE WAS THE BAD GUY! And maybe I bailed before others got to that point, but I’m over the vampire movement and if Buffy really comes back without Joss Whedon, I may have to sit in the sun until I die.

A few other disappointments from the summer: Torchwood: Children of Earth – no wonder the Doctor didn’t come back to us, a bad version of The Lottery (which again, my son pointed out while I was struggling to remember) . The only good news? Gwen apologized for us, but honestly? Capt. Jack sacrifices his grandson after all that angst with shoving his brother in vault? (and no, Ianto dying didn’t bother me, once he made the tea and showed his puppy dog eyes, Ianto had no bearing on what the team did).

Dutch did it? Really?

We waited all that time for ABC to fulfill the promise of Dirty, Sexy Money to be told the dead guy was alive and did it? I hope Nate’s (is his name Nate on DSM or am I channeling Six Feet Under?) ex tracks him down and takes Daddy Dutch out for the whole family in some sort of graphic novel!

The good lessons I learned? ( and yes, I did learn good ones!) From The Hangover, your friends will always rescue you - it just may take longer than they think.

I also learned that if you are looking for a good thriller at any time, just head to the Stephen White section of your nearest library or bookstore. The man is a class act who never forgets the newsroom when he has a new book. And if you can honestly start The Siege and put it down without being 2/3rds of the way through and passing out in your bed, you’re lying or have no pulse.

And from one of my favorite writers, Ian Rankin (sorry luv, don’t remember which book exactly, but I think it’s from one of the one-offs, not John Rebus): “Never give a loaded gun to someone you don’t want to fire it.”

Oh, and about that Bruce Campbell guy? As Sam Ax(e?) he says: “never p*ss off Fiona” (to which I would agree, she’s what? 85 pounds and has the muscles to carry, load and fire all those automatic weapons) and finally: “Sometimes it hard to be a friend.”

( especially when you’ve left them on top of Vegas casino roof.)

(… oh and don’t eat the cat food)