God bless the silliness of Monty Python. I loved growing up watching reruns of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and am now blessed with YouTube and the hundreds upon hundreds on Monty Python skits. Here's a few gems of their wit and amazingly sharp dialogue (the product of Oxford and Cambridge educations. Awesome.). Go on, you know want to watch it.
Sigh. Well, it's mid-May, and Jack Bauer has yet again saved the world, the U.S., California, Los Angeles, a bus full of nuns, a cute kitten that got stuck in a tree, a 3-2 Dodger win over the Giants, and 15% by switching to Geico. Seriously, is there anything you can't do, Jack Bauer?
But now, Grego is left with a hole in his heart as he sees his favorite TV hero...(omitted for spoilers). 24 has long been my must-see TV show, and those who have called me in the past during that time know that nothing disturbs my weekly date with Jack Bauer. But now I must wait until January for the new season of 24 and an as-yet unknown time in 2008 for Battlestar Galactica.
For those who missed Day Six, it revolved around five missing suitcase nukes. The day is prefaced by weeks of violence and suicide bombings in the US at the hand of Muslim extremists. I won't go into too much detail for those who plan on watching it on DVD or MySpace (which I thought was ingenious on FOX's part), but I enjoyed the season for the most part. There were parts of it I thought were unforgivable (Curtis...WTF?), and at times it tried too hard and forsook development for more action (12 hours to see your first explosion in Day One vs. 12 seconds in Day Six), but it definitely got better as the season developed.
It reminded me a lot of Day Three. In it, there was a viral scare and the writers tried far, far, far too many plot twists throughout the day (Jack's heroin habit?). They ended up cleaning house and introducing an almost new cast for Day Four (my favorite), and I can see the same thing happening for Day Seven.
I definitely see a new cast, and possibly a new non-LA location. Hmm? Any takers? Or is LA destined to be the #1 terrorist target for the seventh season in a row? Seriously, how does CTU Los Angeles continue to get funding? Not only do they make their employees work 24-hour shifts (where's the night shift in all this?), but with all the leaks, the attacks, the moles, and infiltrations, shouldn't we be evaluating CTU's effectiveness? And how much has LA's population dropped over the course of these six days (which I would guess is around nine or ten years).
I'm not sure where they'll go with the next season, but I think Jack Bauer killing some terrorists in new scenery would do him well. Those questions will be answered in time. Until we meet again, Jack Bauer, vaya con dios; you will be missed (until I start rewatching Day Four. Heart.).
I apologize, it’s been about three weeks since last I posted anything here. Some things can’t be helped, though, as I’ve spent that time running around the globe, chasing a mythical beast in the name of entertainment. Allow me to explain.
Reports had come in from northern New Mexico about some kind of lizard demon. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Greg, that was just the Chupacabra, that’s nothing new.”
You’re half right. Actually, it was the Chupabarbara, the helpful counterpart to the Chupacabra. Instead of ruining fences and sucking the life out of goats, this charitable entity cooks you dinner, folds your laundry, and performs other nice tasks. In the past, it ahs been called Chupabuela for its grandmotherly similarity.
I was entranced, so a friend and I hightailed it to Estancia and tried to capture it on camera. We interviewed locals, spoke with a Chupacologist, and even set a trap for it. What developed was a screenplay that, fingers crossed, will be picked to win the Duke City Shootout. I’ll know by June 1 whether or not I get to share my love of the Chupabarbara with the rest of the world. If not, we’ll still make the movie; it must be done.
Then, earlier this month, I attended a piercing convention in Las Vegas. I was tipped off that the Chupabarbara was drawn to the penny slots at the Frontier, so I went undercover as a mild-mannered copy editor to hopefully catch her/it. Sadly, the only thing I caught was a wicked hangover after a late night of partying with a friend who lives in Vegas.
Which brings us to the present. Currently, I had been busy finalizing the script, prepping my resume to be sent out for when I move to LA in August, future job and apartment searching, and taking care of impending deadlines at the magazine. I feel bad I haven’t had time to keep up with Pandering to Savages, and even now I have to keep running back and forth between here and my apartment’s laundry room to see if a machine has opened up. But rest assured this is the beginning of a rebirth. I’ll check out everyone’s blog soon and leave some wit and candor, but until then, I hope you enjoyed reading of my travels, trials, treats, and tribulations. Talk soon, fooligans.
