First Things First

It's Autumn.  Around Los Angeles that means that the temperatures fall by about 20 degrees.  That still means temps of 70 to 80 degrees.  Nice!  This month there are some updates to the site.  Vista Drive gets four additions this month, two new pictures to each section, B&W and Color.  There is also the first installment of American Bliss, a new Elsewhere newsletter (here) and several Journal entries.  Enjoy the update.

Afterthoughts : The Storyteller

I've never been one for homework.  I don't like the concept of having kids do 'home work' because it cuts into a kid's playtime, TV time, and sleep time.  Come on, we're only kids for so long.  After a few short years it's off to the rat race for all of us.

When I was in Elementary school one of my teachers asked the class to write a short story about something or other, I don't remember, and bring it to class in a couple of days.  Even back then I was against the whole homework concept, and I let the couple of days pass without taking my notebook out once.  Then came the day that I had to turn in the story.  Little did I remember that we had to not only turn it in, but stand up in front of the class and read our stories.

Yikes!  I quickly started to write something on a piece of paper.  My mind went blank, I couldn't think of a thing to write.  And what if I did, I didn't have the time to do it.  My schoolmates all had these stories all ready, and I was in the first row.  I was going to be called upon quite soon.  I thought of just telling the teacher that I didn't do it.  But, for some reason, when the teacher called my name I didn't tell her.  I got up from my seat and went to the front of the class with a blank sheet of paper.  Even back then I had a sense that if I was going to go down, I was going to go down in flames.

I stood at the tiny podium for a moment and looked out at all my classmate's eyes staring at me.  I don't have to tell you that I was perfectly nervous.  The teacher asked me to start by saying the title of my story.  My little mind raced.  I said something, I don't even remember what, and started to recite my story.

Of course the whole thing was bullshit, I was making it up as I went along.  I occasionally looked down at my paper when I got stuck in order to make it look like I lost my place.  This bought me precious seconds in which my little mind could think.  I finally got to a point in the story where I thought I could wrap up the whole thing with a nice "The End."  I took my blank sheet of paper threw it in the trash.  Now I hoped that the teacher didn't want my paper.

I got a solid "A" for my bullshiting display.  The teacher even complimented me on my unique story.  It wasn't all wine and roses.  Yes, I got away with it, but I was shitting bricks when I was standing up there.  There were times that I probably stood there for a good five seconds without saying a word.  Talk about awkward.  I think that my old fear of public speaking stems from that very moment.

Editorial : Too Little Reality

There's a big trend on TV now, the Reality show.  The reality of these reality shows is that most of them suck.  Survivor is still the king of the Reality shows.  It's part game show, part drama, and that's why it works.  This season there are a few newcomers that vie to be king of the reality shows.

The Anna Nicole show opened its season to huge ratings.  Since then the show has been slipping, as audiences find nothing on the show interesting anymore.  At first I watched it for the novelty of the whole thing.  However, after only a couple of episodes I just didn't care anymore.  It just seemed to be staged at times, and I didn't like it.  I know that some shows, like The Real World, stage things, in a sense, by putting people in certain situations that they know are going to be dramatic.  However, the Anna Nicole show has lost its spontaneity.  It no longer feels like I'm watching some stupid idiot's life, but rather some writer's idea of what an idiot would do.  It's turn into a situation comedy, and a bad one at that.

Dating shows have been popping up everywhere on my dial.  I'm a huge fan of the dating show Blind Date.  It's one of my favorite shows to watch.  But, with success comes copies, bad copies.  now there's a whole crop of dating shows, each with their own twist on dating.  Keep it simple stupid.  I don't like Ex-Treme Dating, or The 5th Wheel, or even the MTV show Dis-Missed.  All of those shows try to one up Blind Date with gimmicks.  But really, the gimmicks don't work.

Like any trend on TV, if you get big ratings your going to find copycats creating similar shows.  Not every reality show is all that good.  There are many that miss the boat, but thankfully there are those that hit a mark.  Shows like The Bachelor and American Idol found niches that other shows didn't fill.

It comes down to this, if show is entertaining it doesn't matter if it's reality or not.  However, when so-called reality shows have nothing to offer but made-up storylines, or situations, can they honestly be called reality shows?

Etcetera : Emmy Fashions

I don't care who wins what Emmy for what show.  The Emmys are really a throw away award, like the Grammys.  They are a total waste of time, except for the fashions.  Nevertheless, I can't think of any one person standing out on the Emmy's red carpet.  There were a lot of nice dresses, but nothing so great that it stuck in my mind.  Here are two of my favorites.
Kristin Davis' (pictured left) silky purple dress fitted well, and thereby accentuated her curves.  The subdued purple is not a color that one sees that often.  In this era of all black fashion it's good to see someone pick a color.  The neckline could almost be thought of as too much, but with a few pieces of jewelry, the bare skin isn't left to fend for itself.  Rounding out the look is a matching purse, along with a not too fancy, but still a bit wavy, hair style.  Very classy.

Marg Helgenberger's (pictured right) white, with pink print, dress was a nice change of pace from everyone else's boring, nothing but black, look.  Blondes stand out just about every where they go.  Nevertheless, any woman would be noticed in a crowd in this dress, a grand departure from the all black look.  Helgenberger dared to be different in a sea of black clothes.  She could have done something more with her hair, but seeing as the dress is so fun and footloose her hair is appropriate.

These two are the only ones that really jumped out at me, fashion wise.  The red carpet run was boring this year, and I didn't watch the whole thing.  So there is a huge chance that I missed someone who wore a really great outfit.  Sorry.