Imagine or Dream?

I am right now sitting at the dentist's office, waiting on my son to finish his appointment. I have few minutes, and a WiFi connection. Time to blog!

My Dentist has a TV in the waiting room, which is good. They also play HGTV channel which is, well, interesting, and a whole lot better than CNN.

Don't get me wrong; I like home improvement, but these shows are basically 30 to 60 minute commercials for products most of us don't need. Another example of the Great American Dream Machine.

Like the show on now: 'Income Property'. What a joke.

An unmarried couple, who have been dating and living with their parents for TEN YEARS are looking for a rental property, so they will have some income so they can afford a home. They are spending SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! Sorry for the all caps, but Holy Cow! They are planning on spending almost 3 times the average home price. Maybe that is average in their market, but still, what is the average income? They are looking at a rental unit worth $1800 a month; again- Holy Cow!

Then the improvement starts; basically 5 or 6 minutes of destruction- where they teach the new homeowner to swing a hammer- and then 5 or 6 minutes of construction- where they teach the homeowner to use the new found hammer swinging skill to drive a nail- and then tell you how much money the work is worth.

They miss one or two points on these deals; what it costs to BE a landlord, and then to share your home with strangers. And then be forced to collect money from them on a monthly basis. Want to have a family party in the back yard? What was once private space is now a fishbowl with your tenants looking on. How much is your privacy worth?

And where do the tenants live? Below you, where every step you take thunders on their heads, or upstairs where their steps will pound on yours?

Plus, they don't talk about the costs associated with being a landlord. Rental income isn't tax free; it IS income. Then there are the costs of repairs and maintenance on the unit. Then most cities will have a tax per rental unit. Do you own the property as individuals, or do you form some sort of company? Individually has risks- like if the tenant's kid falls down the stairs and breaks a bone- but companies mean you need to have an accountant and an attorney to handle the paperwork and taxes.

None of this is mentioned in the show at all. Most of it is just shopping. Dream Machine, remember?

These are the same types of shows that a few years ago were all about property flipping. We saw how well that turned out, right?

Maybe things like this work out, but like in this show, they are borrowing a couple of hundred grand - yes, $200,000.00 for the down payment, and then another $70,000 for the renovation. Plus the mortgage. Not a problem, they feel. And the obligatory lesson in how to swing a hammer. That's where the renovation budget goes sky high.

Will this work out? We will never know. I suspect a disaster in the making. These folks don't know either; this is their first home, right?

Ever notice that these shows usually feature newbies? Is it because the folks who have done this before know better than to do the types of things that make for drama on these types of shows? Probably.

But the big question; was the show entertaining?  Eh; not for me so much. But it was a lot better than the alternative; CNN.

So Much for That Nostalgia Trip

Friday was St. Valentines Day. Yes; this whole roses and chocolate and rings male guilt trip got its start with a Catholic Saint. They have dropped his title for the mass marketing, and even the Roman Church doesn't seem to claim him/them any more.

But for some reason his day seems to have become associated with love and romance. Like everything else retail touches the real reason for the special day becomes over shadowed by the various and sundry ways to make a buck. I, in some perverse way, often wonder why the mattress industry has ignore this obvious marketing tie-in, and has hitched their February sales wagon to dead presidents instead.

But I digress.

My point was going to be Friday night. One of our local on-air digital stations carries ME TV, a vast compendium of good TV. Meaning, of course, that this is the stuff we grew up with; Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heros and F-Troop. All day Saturday black and white Westerns; Raw Hide, Bonanza and of course, Gunsmoke.

Friday nights at 8:00 they have a movie. Usually it is a Made For TV Movie; basically an hour and 30 minute long TV episode. Plus commercials; always plus the commercials.

On Valentine's night (if the Church has dropped the honorific, I guess I can too) they showed 4 episodes of 'Love American Style'. Some may not remember this show; it went off the air in 1974.

But 40 years ago it was a popular, but somewhat risque, show.They had the audacity to show men and women IN The SAME BED. And these people weren't even married! 40 years ago what they were showing was barely in the bounds of good taste, as performed, in true TV anthology style, by a whole series of actors and actresses passing each other on their respective ways, up and down the ladder of success.


You may recognize the format; "The Love Boat' used the same format (and the same 4 stories) a few years later.

The four stories is very nearly accurate and not just snark; Mistaken Identity; Mistaken Fact Set; Romeo/Juliet Syndrome and The Breakup, all of which lead to True Love. Yep; that about sums it up.

But again, I digress.

I was looking forward to Friday night; I hadn't seen this show in 40 years. 'Love, American Style' hasn't been syndicated to death in the cable era, like so many other old shows. I was looking forward to some new, fresh nostalgia.

Yeah, well; about that anticipation.

Maybe they chose the wrong episodes. Or maybe- and more likely- these were the best they could find. Risque? I've seen commercials more risque. Commercials for things like waffles and hamburgers. If fact, some of the commercials I was subjected to during the show were more risque than the show itself.

But it was than made up for by the stilted writing and 1970's fashions.

OMG! Yes; people really did dress like that. Take a look at any 1970's high school yearbook; that will prove it.

It will also prove that yes, Virginia, real people wore their hair like that too. On PURPOSE.

And yes; real places were decorated like that too. And, no, I have no idea how people fell asleep in a fluorescent lime green bedroom.

There are somethings I suppose that shouldn't be revisited, and are best left in the pleasant mists of nostalgia.

It would just be nice to know which is which before the pleasant mists dissipate and leave the cold harsh light of reality in their place.

He's on ALL the Channels?!?!?!

Tonight is Obama's 5th State of the Union Address. Thank God for Netflix.

I am not a political junkie really, although I do follow politics and try to influence political thought. I'm not a junkie, a 'politics is the Alpha and Omega' type of person. I'm average; I do have other interests.  I don't think the average person will watch this speech; anyone with an interest to equal mine will just watch the reports on Wednesday morning.

Kinda like checking the box scores after a college game you be interested in, but not interested enough to actually watch. And already know how its going to be. Like if Notre Dame plays the Air Force Academy; you know who is going to win, and you know the score will be lopsided as Hell. You check the score to see just how badly they get whacked.

I know the speech will be full of blather, half-truths, out-and-out lies and 'misinterpreted' events. None of which will be called out in the lame stream media. And they all will be said with perfect elocution. 

There will be attacks on opponents and calls for new laws to correct things that are unjust. There will be points made of naming names of friends, and pointing them out. And whoever the unfortunate soul is who gets picked to sit next to Michelle will get introduced for some type of service to the country.

And if thee isn't a glowing report on the current status of Obamacare I'll eat my hat.

And I will miss it all; for many reasons. But mainly because the sound of Obama's voice grates on my every nerve like fingernails on a chalkboard. Initially anyway; then it starts to sound like the metal on metal squeal of a set of truck brakes, wore out and overheating as the truck slides past you on the interstate.

I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it think it is the tone; the one he uses when he is talking to us peons; where he tries to display his worthiness to be our ruler; the tone that sounds like- no matter how sophisticated the word- he is lecturing a first grade class on the finer points of toilet training.

I don't know why I intensely dislike Obama. Carter I respected as my President; Clinton too. Maybe because Carter was so damned ineffectual, and Clinton was a pragmatist, not an ideologue, so their Leftist principles didn't seem so prominent. Although they may have been trying to turn this country into a communist paradise, it didn't have that tone.

Obama doesn't care what you think. This will become a leftist country and he doesn't care who knows.

I know what some of you are thinking; its because he's, you know,.... (black).

Well, that, to me is a racist remark. It means no one not white has the ability to be wrong in any opinion. It means anyone who has a difference of opinion with any non-white holds that opinion solely because of a person's race. It means non-whites cannot be held responsible for the way they think or act. And you don't see that as racist?

Why not?

Isn't the definition of racism treating some differently because of visible differences?

Whether that treatment a harsh racism, like the KKK, or a softer racism, a failure of expectation, based solely on someone's looks?

Or is it only one side of the political debate has the authority to decide who is racist, and who is not?

Where I Have Never Gone Before

Ever since I got Netflix a few years ago I have been slowly working through the Original Star Trek TV series. Right now I think I have 2 episodes left. It is easy to see why the show was so popular in certain circles.

It is also easy to see why there was no season 4.

First; the popularity. I yet to find an episode without a half naked woman. This has to be the sexiest show on TV in 1967. Every show also had at least one fight sequence, usually hand to hand, but occasionally they would just 'blast away' at each other. And, in the era when we are just starting to send men into space for a few days trip to a celestial body we could see nightly, The Enterprise was traveling at the speed of light to places we could not.

Despite some classic episodes, the writing is very uneven. Somehow the story lines in some cases either haven't aged well or were junk 45 years ago. In one of the last episodes appear the Space Hippies. Was there some well-received social message in 1968? Maybe. But if there was it was long gone by 2013.

And then there was the physics.

Why is it that most alien planets seem to be able to violate at least one law of physics? Or maybe in the future we will be able to repeal some of Newton's Laws? Except that it always seems to the lack of a law of physics that enables the aliens to be a step ahead of our intrepid crew.

Either that, or the super computer built 200 years ago that has been powering the planet (without maintenance, to the point where the inhabitants don't even know of the computer's existence) that gives them their power.

Each episode also followed the 1960's formula; balance the drama with a bit of humor, throw in a musical number or two occasionally, and a fight scene every week whether we need one or not.

In Season Three they added the philosophical musing. I don't know if they were trying to go in a different direction or felt secure enough in their audience to become preachy; and these musings are preachy.

I haven't become a pure 'Trekkie'. I can't tell you the author of every episode or go into the reason why Spock pushed the wrong button on his science console in episode 6 of season 2.

But I can tell you that Spock and Kirk drove a 1928 Packard V-12 in the episode where they run into a planet full of aliens who acted like it was 1930's Chicago.

But that's cause I'm a car guy.

Still, over all the series has held up well 45 years later. The dialogue is sometimes a little stilted, and you can tell they used the very best cardboard for some of the sets. AND WHY DOES EVERY DAMN THING ON THE BRIDGE HAVE TO CONSIST SOLELY OF FLASHING LIGHTS!?!?!?!?!?! That, and the noise the redlight below the view screen seemed to make I would been stark raving nuts before the end of season three.

So maybe that's why there was no season four....

Schedule? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Schedule

Last night we turned on NCIS- which is just about the only show I watch on broadcast TV- and I wasn't on. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was instead.

And we turned it off.

A classic Christmas program, one I have enjoyed almost my entire life. And we turned it off. Why?

Because the shows that we once waited all year to see; the shows that defined and delineated the Christmas Season are all sitting on the library shelf; viewable any time, in High Def and without commercials.

Why sit through a program on someone else's schedule when you can view on your own?

In some respects, that is the most modern of TV metaphors, and the reason both broadcast TV and even cable TV is dying.

Yes; you can DVR a show and watch it later. And when you do, do you watch the commercials or zip through them? But cable is $80 a month; Netflix is $8. Save a few bucks and stop paying for channels you never watch; cut the cable. It's happening all over the country.

You can even watch most shows on your computer, at your convenience. No more rushing to meet that 9:00 PM on Thursday time slot. Kick back on Friday when the dishes are done at 6:39 and fire up the show you want to see.

How long until the cable channels get wise and stop distributing shows over cable, but have their channel available internet only? Would it be a successful business model for the History Channel to be available over the Wii? Shows that once were scheduled for Sunday night at 9:00 will now be available for viewing anytime after 9:00 on Sunday.

No more surfing through 90 channels of garbage to see what's on. 50 million homes at $1 a month is some pretty long green. Plus an ad or two at the beginning of the show.

I would go into more detail, but its 9:41PM; I think I'll go fire up something on the Wii; I feel like watching a Mythbusters episode.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

The greatest 6.5 minutes of Thanksgiving television ever filmed.

Courtesy of Instapundit.

Local Girl Makes the Big Time

Every so often Cincinnati seems to make the big time. Who figures on running across a local news anchor in the UK Daily Mail?

I certainly didn't.

I will admit I first heard about this on the radio this morning on Gary Jeff Walker's show, and when I did a quick search this was the article that popped up first.

First; gotta love the pictures. Who side do you think the Daily Mail is on?

Second; gotta love the opinion.

I'll freely admit that I think the most I have ever seen of Rachel Maddow was a clip I watched in 2010 of her interviewing a Congressional Candidate from Washington State. She basically fell apart when the guy refused to play her game. I wish I could find that clip; it is a classic.

But if that clip is representative of her show, angry young man fits. It is the persona she projects, at least to me.

I guess Tricia got in trouble for character definition.

You know those beer commercials that feature The Most Interesting Man in the World? Well, my life is a lot more interesting than his ever was. But I will crib on his tag line.

I don't often watch TV News; but when I do, it's Fox 19.

I guess the beer post is rescheduled for tomorrow.

Last Man Standing

Last night I watched two new shows I have been looking forward too for a month or so; Last Man Standing and Malibu Country.

Malibu Country was okay, and I hope for better shows in the future, but Last Man Standing was an absolute hoot, especially the last weekend before the election. It was pretty much an Obama slam down, but the Romney opponents will get a few chuckles too.

This is the second season for Tim Allen's show. I liked it last year, and last nights episode had me laughing so much I hardly had time to drink a beer. Basically, Mike Baxter (Tim Allen) is the marketing director at a sporting goods store. He lives with his wife, three daughters and his grandson, his eldest daughter's child. Last season the 'baby daddy' was nowhere to be found, but this season he has reappeared.

Mike gets into some pretty funny rants, but last night a quarter of the show seemed to be a fairly funny rant about Obama, broken up by some jokes about fantasy football leagues. At one point Mike is talking to a break room full on employees at the store, all of whom are on laptops, doing their fantasy football teams, and Mike tells them to get back to work. "I have a Fantasy Team of Employees; none of you guys are on it" he says.

Mike is unhappy with the way his grandson is being raised, and last night at the end of the show he asks Boyd, the grandson, "Hey; wanna go out in the backyard and blow something up?"

My kinda Grandpa.

I also think we are seeing the beginning of a shift to more conservative characters on TV who not there just to be a butt of a joke. More and more Hollywood types are coming out of the Conservative closet. That says to me that there are now enough of them that their political persuasion is no longer a career ender, as it was a few years ago.

As with all things we'll have to see where it leads, but so far its a trend I like.

And you gotta see this review of  both shows, but only for the YouTube clip of Archie bunker talking about the Democrats in 1978.

Pretty applicable to Democrats in 2012 if you ask me. How much has changed, and how little has.

Please, Spare Me

Last night was the long awaited- for me anyway- season premier of NCIS; the only show I watch on network TV.

And Obama almost ruined it.

If you don't follow the show, NCIS stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service; basically an FBI for the US Navy. It is more or less a spin-off of JAG, an older Navy legal show. In it's tenth season, it is still consistently in the top ten. It also follows my prime directive; a good story convincingly told.

Anyway, last season ended with a cliff hanger (don't they all?) with a bomb going off at the NCIS headquarters, and all of the stars appearing to have gotten injured at the very least.

Well, as usual, all of the stars are fine.

But in the beginning of the show the Secretary of the Navy was on the bomb scene, and explained that finding the bomber was the highest priority. And he added that "The President has been briefed". Now I know this is fiction, and in repeats, even next summer, Obama won't be President, but last night my first thought, upon hearing that the President had been briefed was: "Did they catch him between the 17th green and the 18th tee?"

There was another scene where again the Secretary of the Navy was talking on the phone, apparently to the President again, and he hangs up and proclaims that "the President is giving the issue his full attention". I was watching the show with the wife and kids.

We all laughed.

But real kicker came when the characters were watching a news broadcast of the incident, and the news reader said something to the effect of: "The President says this act of terrorism". It was then that I knew the show was not talking about Obama.

The word terrorism is not in his vocabulary.

Convention Time Again

Last night was a busy night, and I did not get to see any of the Republican Convention. I am trying to catch up tonight. Did you know the Convention can be live streamed? Instead of being tied to the Cable box or the TV I can go anywhere the WiFi will take me and watch the activities live, and without the commentary of the Lame Stream Media.

Right now I have the Convention booted up on the laptop while I'm blogging on the desktop. Ain't technology a wonderful thing?

Back in the day, when Conventions meant something, and the nominee was in doubt until the votes had been cast on the floor of the convention center, my Dad used to watch both Conventions from gavel to gavel. He was, what would be called today, a recovering Democrat. He was a registered Democrat for years, until he felt the party had swung too far from what he believed, and he became and Independent. Finally, in one election, I forget which one, he finally registered Republican so he could vote in the primary. And then promptly changed back to an Independent. I really think he kept hoping he could morally become a Democrat again.

It never happened.

But every 4 years he would haul the portable TV out to the pack patio and spend 2 weeks watching both parties set their platforms and nominate their candidates. And every four years he would come away disappointed.

And now, the Conventions are more of a commercial for the Party, both Republican and Democrat, than a news event. The vote for the candidate used to be the last thing to happen. The entire week would lead up to the vote, or in close years, votes, for the candidate, leading up to the acceptance speech from the newly minted candidate.

I miss that drama. I miss hearing the states during the roll call vote proclaiming first their individuality, and then their allegiance. "The Commonwealth of Kentucky, home of Fast Horses, Great Bourbon and Smooth Tobacco, casts its 42 votes for the next President of the United States....". It was always exciting; sitting in the dark, the only light coming from the small black and white screen of the portable TV, watching the drama unfold on the floor of the hall, whether from New York, or Miami Beach, Or Kansas City, you could feel the tension and almost smell the smoke from the numerous cigarettes and cigars that flooded the hall.

The vote tallies would climb, first a few votes here, and then a few votes there, with Huntley and Brinkley commenting in the background: "Well Chet, the vote from Minnesota for McGovern in this round was a given, wasn't it?" Then discussing the possibilities of the vote from Missouri going his way or not.

This year the big discussion was which state would put Romney over the top.

And seriously, I don't care which state it was.

I might just take the laptop out on the back porch and watch a bit of the activities, just for old time sakes.

Or not.

It wouldn't be the same without Dad.

Friday Night At The Movies IV

Last night I was looking for a movie on Netflix and found an old TV show instead; Highlander.

Its 20 years old now, but still interesting; the three episodes I watched last night held up well. My basic requirements were met; a good story, convincingly told.

In case you're not familiar with the premise of the movies and the TV show, our hero is Duncan McLeod; he is 400 years old, and one of a collection of immortals roaming the earth. There are good immortals, friends of his; and bad immortals, usually one an episode, who loses his head. Literally.

It seems you can kill an immortal, but the only way to make him stay dead is to cut off his head. So every immortal carries a sword with him- or her- everywhere. Just in case he happens to run into another immortal who needs to lose his head.

I know, stated like that it sounds cheesy, and could have been if handled differently. The shows I remember were always well done, and had the extra bonus- for me anyway- of telling the back story of the immortal that Duncan would meet in each episode, usually from a couple of hundred years ago, when the two immortals had first met. You can make a lot of friends (and enemies) in 400 years.

I remember the show ran in syndication on on Friday nights, about midnight. The kids were asleep, FINALLY, and the week was about to close. A good time for a little escapist fantasy TV.

Who hasn't thought about living forever? Other than the whole losing your head thing, it seemed like a good gig. Who cares if it takes 10 years to perfect a skill? What's 10 years out of 400 or so? Think of the things you could do in 400 years, especially if you were in your physical prime.

So last night me and the wife relived a little past. It wasn't like it was 20 years ago. The kids weren't asleep; they were out running around somewhere. And it wasn't 1:00 when were turned off the TV and went to bed; it was more like 10:30. Okay; it was 10:15. But in my defense, it had been a busy day.

So Highlander is now in my instant queue; all 119 episodes. So I figure I'm good for the next 2 years of Friday nights, assuming I live that long.

I'm not Immortal you know.

Anticipation is the Name of the Game II

I really had high hopes for this show, especially the premier episode. I was seriously disappointed.

The hype was how they found a '65 T-bird, restored it and sold it at auction. The reality was more how they bought a fine car, painted it and sold it.

But I will admit I didn't watch the whole show. First commercial break I went channel surfing and didn't bother to go back. I did catch up with the show later on, as my surfing brought me back to the Discovery Channel, but at the break, I was gone again. Toward the end of the show I found my way back to the Discovery Channel and watched the auction at the end.

I was not impressed. Way to much soap, way too much shouting and 'woo-who'-ing to make it entertaining to me, and absolutely no how to.

The show starts with the yard buying a '65 Thunderbird from a scrap metal dealer for $750. It needs paint, a front seat and a carburetor. Whoever sold this car to a scrap metal dealer should be drawn and quartered. At the end of the show they auction it off, along with a collection of much more modern cars, at their yard as fully restored.

As I said, missed some of the middle, but I never saw a discussion about anything underneath the car. Brakes; suspension; exhaust; steering linkage, or any of a dozen other things that wear out on a 45 year old car. They did spend $6 grand; I hope it all didn't go to paint and a front seat.

If I suffering from insomnia some Wednesday night I may tune again, or if I hear reports that there have been improvements, but otherwise I think I have better things to do with my time.

If all I want to see is people shouting at each other I don't need TV.

Anticipation is the Name of the Game

I had a couple of new shows on the other night I was really looking forward to seeing on the Discovery Channel; Sons of Guns and Desert Car Kings. I was not completely happy with either one. Desert Car Kings I'll get to in another post.

Sons Of Guns was interesting, but like all reality shows any more it was more soap opera than how to. Not that I expect to become a gunsmith by watching TV, but I did tune in to see the 'hows', not the personal interaction.

Pawn Stars is the King of the business reality genre. They manage to combine real, hard information, with the drama of the bidding battle and the personal interaction between The Old Man, Rick and Corey. And Chumlee. Who could forget Chumlee? Chumlee is proof that God protects idiots. How else do you explain some one with his intelligence, appearance and charisma being an international star?

But, I digress.

Sons of Guns tries for that same mix, and may get it right eventually, but I need more hard information and less soap.

A couple of things they did right; talking about the silencer for a shotgun -yes they are legal. Contrary to popular opinion, it is legal in this country to own ANY firearm you can afford the license and the background check for. For a silencer, the background check will make you fondly recall your last prostate exam.

The bits about the Civil War Cannon were cool too, but I would have preferred more loading and aiming technique and less 'Yahoo; look what we done did'. I also have to wonder about the SWAT Master Key they developed. Basically, they mounted a shotgun under an M-16 for the purpose of blowing open doors during SWAT raids. The idea is who ever uses the shotgun can then move his hand mere inches and have his M-16 available as he steps into the room.

I'm no expert on SWAT tactics, but I do know a little about the capabilities of a shotgun and the capabilities of the M-16. Given my druthers, for stepping into and controlling a crowded room, I'll take the shotgun any day.

Especially one like this.

I'll check it out again next Wednesday for sure. Hopefully they will start spending more time on the facts and less on the soap. It was good enough to give them another try.

Watched Any Good Home Improvement TV Lately?

Something I noticed the other day was that although the cable channels like DIY and HGTV still air shows like Property Ladder and Flip This House, they aren't making any new episodes. Basically because there is no more money to be made in short term housing investment, as a rule.

Instead, what they showing as the new Get Rich Quick scheme shows? Have you seen the one with the two guys and a truck who roam the country grubbing around in old barns and dingy basements looking for semi-buried treasure?

What about the one (or two or three) about the guys who buy abandoned storage sheds and seem to make a fortune digging through cardboard boxes?

Or how about the one where folks bring their old junk to the pawn shop to try and make a few bucks?

Do you see the pattern here?

Instead of investing in junk houses to make a quick buck, now you invest in REAL junk to make a quick buck.

I don't doubt folks can do it, I just doubt any Joe off the street can walk into a barn full of junk, identify the diamond in the rough, buy it cheap enough to make a few bucks, and then find the buyer the current owner couldn't.

Take the guys on American Pickers. PLEASE! I love the show, hate the guys. I don't know whether it is their accents, their attitudes or the way they interact with each other, but I tend to watch AP in spite of the guys, not because of them. That being said, I completely respect the knowledge they have acquired over years of doing this kind of work. And not just in one or two areas of expertise, but several. They are passionate about the items, but dispassionate enough to assess both realistic value to a final consumer and to themselves in a purchase price.

And that is where I have my problem with these kind of shows. How many of us can separate ourselves from the things we are passionate about enough to be realistic about their real value?

As Shakespeare said it: 'Therein lies the rub'. I can see folks who will think they do what these ignorant guys on TV do, and spend a lot of time losing a fortune. Just because they are completely enamored with early 21st Century rustic pottery doesn't mean its worth a cart load to every body (or anybody) else.

Just like these same folks saw a show once on flipping a house that suddenly made them experts in the real estate market- just before the crash.

The problem is these shows don't show the years of bad decisions and self education that goes into making money off of junk. The learning, often the hard way, about what it costs to restore or rehab, or even properly clean an item. They tend to short change the hard work that goes into getting rich quick and easy.

I guess that is the problem I have with these types of shows in general. They minimize the work, and only show the glory. Which I can kind of understand.

Hard work doesn't make for good TV, does it?

Sarah Palin's Alaska

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TV Sucks

I have spent the last week on bed rest for the most part, lying flat on my back to try and stop my nose from bleeding me dry.

So I have been forced to watch ALOT of TV. Basic Cable. Not quite as bad as straight over-the-air, but almost. I have discovered one thing that I am certain of; we need a Truth in Naming Law.

I have about 60 channels on the cable mini box I have on my bedroom TV, and I'll bet I have only about 30 different stations, and only about 10 of those are nominally watchable.

Remember A&E? Arts and Entertainment? Mostly crime reality. Nothing arty or even remotely entertaining.

Bravo? Remember when it was ballet and live plays? Mostly reality crime drama. I think; I never really spent more than 5 seconds there, but it looked an awful lot like A&E.

History Channel? Explain to me why a dog cheap reality series like Swamp People or Ice Road Truckers is on the History Channel? Pawn Stars I don't really mind; they do tend to cover some facet of history, but I would still rather have a 10 part Civil War documentary than Pawn Stars or American Pickers, especially when I have 7 uninterrupted days of lying flat on my back.

I think I counter 14 separate sports channels, including one dedicated completely to Golf. GOLF? A sport so flippin' boring you can fall asleep PLAYING it has its own flippin' CHANNEL!?!?!?!

The Learning Channel used to be decent too. Now apparently all people want to learn about is prisons, clutter and I swear this last week I saw the same woman give birth about 14 times.

You know what my standard was for not switching off of a channel while I was surfing? If I saw the GEICO guy. Not the gecko, the Guy. "Can GEICO really save you 15% on car insurance? Is a Bird in the Hand worth Two in the Bush?"

Now that right there is what I call ENTERTAINMENT!

Thank God I had my DVD collection.

Especially my 42 John Wayne movies.