Category Archives: TV and Movies

Life, Outdoors, TV and Movies

Summer – or Not?

Where I grew up, Memorial Day weekend meant the unofficial launch of summer. It was the first big weekend that swimming pools opened for the season. A three day weekend meant that people could get away to the beaches or their mountain cabins or lake houses, clean up the dust from being shuttered all winter and restock the pantries for the summer.

This year Memorial Day was early and it feels like everything is just a little off-kilter. Normally I would be celebrating June 1 as a summer day, but with the early 3 day weekend, June 1 is just another day.

The good thing about summer is the warmer temperatures, the longer days, and the end of school. Kids have more chances to play outdoors, spend time with their friends, and sleep later in the mornings. Unless their moms work outside of the homes, and then they probably have to keep to the same early rising schedules and be hauled off to day care or, if they are lucky, to camp.

The down side of summer is the heat can get excessive, which means the air conditioners run harder and the electric bills go up. And all the good TV shows end their regular series and all that is left on TV is reruns.

I don’t have access to a swimming pool anymore, so that kinda sucks. If I want to take advantage of water, I can go to the lake or the commercial water park. The water park gets expensive, $30 for admission, $10 to park, and of course all the food and drink is grossly overpriced. I try to limit trips to the water park to the really hot days when there is nothing else to do.

There’s a good chance I can get away this summer for a short beach trip. I can’t decide between the Florida Panhandle with the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico, or the Atlantic Ocean and Virginia Beach. They are totally different experiences, but they are both a lot of fun and the water is fantastic. It would be great if I could get away to both of them, but the budget is just too tight for both this year. Maybe I can find some bargain rates at some decent hotel properties and find someone to split the trip expenses……

Life, TV and Movies

Continuum – A Good Sci-Fy Series

Last year I started watching a new science fiction series on the Sci-Fy cable channel, Friday nights at 9:00 pm. The series name is Continuum and the premise is that a group of criminals from the future figure out a way to go back in time rather than be punished in their own time for their crimes. A police officer accidentally gets transported back in time with them, and the chase to corral the criminals and find a way back to their future time ensues.

I like the casting, the characters are very realistic. The setting is Vancouver, so it is not too foreign for the Americans to relate to the geography and style of buildings.

A nice twist that is slowly revealed is that the criminals make it back in time partly through the efforts of a mastermind who remains in the future but has a younger version of himself just emerging from adolescence and preparing to build his evil empire. Part of the problem with the future is that the world is run by corporations rather than elected governments. I thought that was a timely reflection on what we are dealing with here in America right now and our own fight to take the money out politics.

Nature, Outdoors, TV and Movies

Swamp People Are Some Scary Fuckers

swamp people

Have you watched that cable show called “Swamp People”? Those guys are some scary weird mother fuckers. Good god – I can’t understand a word those fuckers say except, “That’s an eight footer! That’s an 8 footer!”

I mean, what is it about killing alligators that makes a TV shows? Fuck me – I’m so glad I don’t live down there. Remind me to stay the fuck away from swamps – I’m more concerned about those kind of fucked up people being down there than I am worried about alligators.

Automobiles, TV and Movies

Muscle Cars Rule

Found a great car show on the cable channel Spike. I never saw an ad for this show and have never heard anyone talk about it, but I was clicking through the channels and Boom! Found the fucker!

The show has different segments, but the main thing about the episode that I watched is that a guy goes looking for old muscle cars from the 1970s and then he tears them down and rebuilds them into new, mean street machines.

There were other parts of the show that were interesting – lots of trivia and hands on demonstrations of how to restore car parts, like a caliper or a carburetor. Good stuff – I want to watch this show again.