randy obrien

The third and final season of this show has an earned happy ending. Sandy achieves his goal of starring in a major motion picture in his 75th year. His best friend and comic genius Alan Atkin got most of the laughs in the first two years and is missed in the final episodes. As a senior who seems to be achieving a life goal, I relate to these characters and highly recommend this show to old and young alike. 

What goes around comes around, a saying epitomized by cycles in fashion. Expect to see bell bottom, low rise jeans this summer as kids discover clothes their parents and grandparents wore. I'd pull stuff from my closet from that era if they still fit.

Well made with seamless SFX. I'm not a big fan of Z stories, I don't find them plausible, but this was well above average. Too long, but a solid B.

 Before I was a radio news journalist, I was a DJ. In the 1970s, that's what people were called when they spun records, vinyl and talked live on the radio. I was pretty good and almost made a living at it, but every time the new rating book came out, there was always talk and sometimes action involving the DJs. Moved, fired, demoted; your position was dependent upon the number of people who were listening. I noticed this never happened with the news people. Their jobs weren't dependent on the ratings. The FCC also required local news on the radio, and that meant if you were good, you could make a living doing the news. I had an English degree and an attitude and was lucky to meet the right people. I did the news on various stations, mostly WMOT-FM, for almost 40 years. I was paid to write and deliver the news. Now, I'm writing for free with the hope that someday in the future, I might be paid for something I wrote a couple of years ago. An observation, not a complaint, but ...

When a customer walks into a hardware store they're expecting to see pipes, lumber, tools and paint. When someone buys a book or turns on a television show or turns on a movie they have expectations there also. But what are those expectation? There are two forms of entertainment comedy or drama. There are mixtures of those two but the basic elements of those two particular genres are what makes up storytelling. If you write a joke the expectation is that someone in the audience might find it funny and that they will laugh. If someone turns on a horror movie their expectations are that there is something in the story that will scare them and they will react with fright. Both are emotional responses.  If you fail as a storyteller to meet those expectations the effort is deemed a failure.  Today's audiences expectations are that the story they have turned on will meet the expectations that has been promised to them.  Future posts will explore how best, IMO, to met the custom...

 You don't see this very often unless you're on a vanity press email list, so take note if you're still looking for a publisher and don't have an agent. I found my publisher through them and maybe you will, too.  https://authorspublish.com/

It's happened for me a number of times in the past. I've sat with students and encouraged them to pursue a particular line of interest involving their talents. It doesn't cost anything and it can make a big difference especially in a young person's life when they realize that someone else sees in them something that's maybe worth pursuing in the future. And a smile is good too.

The new CBS drama based on the aftermath of the Silence of the Lambs works. Mysterious, gory...though nowhere near NBC's Hannibal...and an interesting take on familiar characters. Fans of the books should check it out.

It's not the years, it's the mileage.

The journey is long, but I can see the payoff in the distance.