Saturday, March 24, 2012

John Lee Hooker 'Boom Boom'


I’m trying desperately to get this blog going again on an almost daily basis. I’d like to tell you that my days have been filled with ungodly amounts of time sucking work or projects. But that’s simply not the case. I’d like to tell you that I’m busy with business deals and ventures into real estate. But that’s simply not the case. I’d like to tell you that my sex-life has incredibly picked up with a myriad of freakish sexual partners able and willing to make any fantasy come true. Again, that’s simply not the case.

I’m just lazy.

I just haven’t been bitten by that certain little creative bug that causes me to put my portly fingers to the keyboard and process some words together from my brain to your eyes. Oh sure, back in the day, I would sit down and just start something. Anything. And that usually did the trick. The words would eventually start flowing. But now, I’m easily distracted by comfy chairs and the TV. I mean, seriously… Is it my fault that we’re in the new Golden Age of Television?

There is a ton of quality stuff out there these days! I’m weak and I always have been. I have been freely admitting my weakness since the 1970’s when I would get excited when the new TV Guide arrived in the mail every Wednesday. I would devour just about every word from cover to cover. I would underline and circle the shows that I wanted to watch. I would make my plans around the TV schedule. The only black holes in my galaxy of television were Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday nights.

Why?

Well, I was born into a Southern Baptist household. And when you’re a Southern Baptist, you’re not only required to shut your brain off from free-thought, but you must be there every time the doors are open.

I never saw a full season of ‘The Wonderful World Of Disney’ (that could be why I never became brainwashed to visit their theme parks or even bother with their movies or programs), ‘The Six-Million Dollar Man’, ‘Battlestar Galactica’, ‘The Bionic Woman’, ‘Eight Is Enough’, ‘The Greatest American Hero’, ‘CHiPs’, or ‘The Hudson Brothers Show’. Those were the shows all the kids I knew were talking about on Monday and Thursday mornings. I either knew nothing of what they were talking about or just the last few minutes that I saw after arriving home from church and scrambling from the car like a soldier hauling ass under fire to a TV supplied foxhole.

The big to-dos with Steve Austin and Bigfoot… I only got to see bits and pieces. And that was a BIG thing when I was a kid! I had the action figures and the Bionic Transport and Repair Station. I was nearly pounded out of the Bionic Brotherhood of Preteens.

I grew to love ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ (I religiously watch either Sunday morning or sometime off the DVR), but I could only see the first 15 minutes or so before being yanked off to Sunday School. I totally missed ‘The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show’ since our CBS affiliate aired them on Sunday mornings instead of Saturday. I STILL haven’t seen any of those!

You have to understand. It was a different world back then. There were no DVR’s. When the luxury of the VCR came along, those machines would cost you a week’s salary. And programming those bitches required a college degree in physics and advanced calculus. Just when you think you’ve recorded your show while you’re away, you’d come back to find either snow or something completely different. They didn’t work out those bug until onscreen programming became available in the 1990’s.

The kids have it so much easier these days. And I love the fact that I can record on the DVR or find it somewhere in the vast Interweb.

The worst part of my childhood years were the weeklong extravaganzas known as “Revival”. The church would invite a preacher from another church to bring us the message every weeknight. There would also be some gospel groups and artists that came in sing. It was a week long Jesus event.

For me, it was slightly hellish. I would miss a week’s worth of programming. We’d leave the house around 6:45ish in the evening and return sometime around 9 or 9:30. It was awful!

“But I’m gonna miss the first episode of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’!” I would beg upon deaf ears.

There were times I would whine and cry like Lucy Ricardo, but that only seemed to bring joy to my parents. And to set the record straight, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ live-action series totally sucked.

I’ve finally found an outlet for my fondness of television on a weekly pop culture podcast called The Less Desirables. I get to talk about all the things that excite me and disgust me. I try to help folks wade their ways through the murky waters of television programming to find the quality stuff that you SHOULD waste your time with. I’m also up for suggestions because I do happen to miss some things from time to time.

Download The Less Desirables podcast and give us a listen. It’s available free on iTunes and on our website. And for those that do not know (believe me, some don’t)… Our podcast is like a recorded radio show that you can listen to anytime you want. Listen on your MP3 player, your phone, your pad device, or your big ol’ hunk of computer. It’s a perfect time waster for work or exercise. And did I mention that it’s FREE?

For the record, these are the currently running shows that I enjoy every week. Leave your comments with agreements, disagreements, or what I may be missing out on.

‘CBS Sunday Morning’
‘The Walking Dead’
‘The Killing’ (back on April 1st)
‘Alcatraz’ (I keep see-sawing on this one)
‘Justified’
‘Southland’
‘Raising Hope’
‘The Middle’
‘30 Rock’
‘Parks And Recreation’
‘The Office’
‘Fringe’
‘Supernatural’
‘Ghost Adventures’ (unintentionally hilarious)
‘Saturday Night Live’

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:34 PM

    I was so lucky. I got to watch all the good tv shows and the bad ones also. Love Sunday Morning, The Killing. Glad you're back. Will add to my favorites.

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  2. I think every one enjoys you being back Eug!!!

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  3. Anonymous7:18 PM

    Revivals were the WORST! A whole week of sweating in some church missing TV. Church and going back to school always messed up my schedule.

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  4. Anonymous4:31 AM

    E,
    Its been a long time...I went swimming with my cell phone and lost all my contacts so I dont have your number...I decided to look for you here - and HERE you are...or at least were last month. Of course I would read a blog about your anti Baptist/Revival ideations - jeesh! N E WAY -just wanted to say hello from your old married lady friend in Raleigh.
    Jules:)

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