September 2005 Archives
I guess the only new show I've watched that I didn't mention in my last post was Invassion, the third of this year's alien invasion dramas. This is the one that takes place in the aftermath of a hurricane down in Florida; either the show's hurricane wasn't too graphic, or I'm just too numb to storm news, but that didn't bother me. Anyway, a few people saw strange lights in the sky during the storm, and strange things in the waters afterwards, and a few of the survivors are acting strangely. Storm aside, the pilot went kind of slow, but without any real missteps that I noticed. My preliminary response is to want to see how the story develops over the next few episodes.
Lots of shows continue to sit on my TiVo while I'm off playing World of Warcraft, but I am watching a bit here and there. After a second episode, I can't argue with TeeVee's critique of Threshold, but even with plotting problems, the scientific mysteries look like they'll be enough to keep me hooked for the duration. I'm not holding out much hope that the show will attract enough of the non-me demographic to stick around. The second Bones, on the other hand, turned me off in some way that I can't quite define, and I'm probably just going to let it slip past. Lost started its new season with enough of a kick to restore my interest. Unfortunately, UPN in its finite wisdom moved my favorite new show from last year, Veronica Mars, into the same timeslot, so I'll have to either use a primitive 20th century VCR, or worse, watch television in real time. Finally, this may be the time for me to concede that the original CSI has jumped the shark. I loved last season's literally explosive Tarantinoized finale, but it looks like they're going to draw a loose thread from that episode and drag it out into an ongoing minor story thread of the kind that I've seen kill too many other shows.
Aside from the Veronica Mars premiere, I'm most looking forward to the new Night Stalker series. I may give Smallville another chance this year as well, if only to see James "Spike" Marsters as the classic Superman villain Brainiac.
Let's see if I can write about something other than the aftermath of the hurricane, like the new fall shows I've seen so far.
Bones: The FBI calls upon a forensic specialist and her team to help solve crimes; in other words, another CSI ripoff. David Boreanaz's performance as an FBI agent earns this show another episode or two, but I don't have high long-term exprectations.
Supernatural: Two estranged monster-hunting brothers (one of whom almost escaped into the straight world) reunite to try and track down their father (who disappeared on a hunt), and whatever entity killed their mother many years ago. I like the premise, and there were a few decent shocks in the pilot, but I didn't come away all that impressed with the performances or plotting. Again, I'll give this a couple more weeks before deciding whether to follow it long-term.
Threshold: A crisis-management specialist and a team of scientists investigate a UFO sighting, and the strange biological changes inflicted upon the survivors. This looked to me like the most promising of this fall's three alien invasion dramas, and the two-hour premiere lived up to my expectations. Nice to see Brent Spiner babbling pseudoscience again, and I think I'll stick with this series until the Friday night Time Slot of Death finishes it off.
Fathom: Previously unknown sea creatures begin to appear across the globe, affecting thelives of scientists and civilians alike. Presumed alien invasion number two presents a compelling mystery, but the fragmented plot, following multiple disparate characters, doesn't seem to serve that mystery particularly well. I'll probably stick with this one a while to see where it goes.
I missed the Kitchen Confidential premiere last night, but I'll try to give the next episode a look-see.
I think that, at this point, they've recovered everything they think is worth the effort of salvaging. The have a lot of work to do trying to clean up the items they've recovered, much of it heavily caked in dried mud. It remains to be seen how much of it will be worth saving underneath the mud.We are back in Brandon, bathed, and about ready for bed. We had a very successful day despite a ruined tire and the only one to fit at Big 10 in Hattiesburg was very expensive, but then everything about my Buick is expensive. While Dad got the tire in Hattiesburg I rode on to coast with Bill II and Danny so we could get started. We tried to go in at Lewis Ave. but had to go back about 5 crossings toward Gulfport, but were let across there with no trouble. When Dad got there he had come in from Canal Road and Long Beach has different rules, so he had to go to Choice Grocery Parking Lot and get a pass and when we left he had to go turn in the pass to get his driver's license back. They are unfurling double fences of razor wire just north of the tracks from one end of coast to other, with only certain crossings open for us to go in and out. Attempt to keep looters out. You can read about it at SunHerald.com. Dad did discover that three big boxes of tools he had in the garage are not there. They were just inside the door, which is beaten, battered, and partly open. He says they were too heavy to have floated. I'm not sure. But we did find more "special" stuff that we brought out. Don't even know what some of it is -- like a box that says Senior Year that was high in your closet. Your high school year books should be OK over in the ministorage.
We will be here in Brandon until we get the paperwork all done for our insurance, then we plan to use some of our banked timeshare weeks and get away, though this will be home base until we have made some major decisions on where we want to spend our future. We can assure you it will not be on or near any body of water.
We have made three trips back to the coast to retrieve whatever we can from the mud and high shelves. The largest piece of furniture we have salvaged is a large rocking chair, as all major furniture is too damaged to try to save. Even solid wood bedroom furniture is too swollen or broken to try to save. In some cases we pried drawers open with a crowbar to retrieve the contents. Some chests laying on their face are too full of wet clothing to lift. Other pieces are underneath wet mattresses and box springs. Two walls are washed in and in some rooms the current was so strong it ripped off the door facings with the doors and even the faceplates off wall outlets. Then among the rubble we found some remarkably fragile items intact, like a few crystal goblets. Dishes in wall cabinets that did not fall were full of very silty mud and water to the brim and no water there to wash it away. We just used the mud as packing and as time allows will hose away the mud and then know if the item is something to save. We have washed the clothing we found, but some have stains we probably won't be able to remove. Clothing on wire hangers are ruined as the hangers rusted quickly with the salt water and it was a week before we were allowed back in. (Lesson--buy better hangers.) But we did have small things we can salvage. Our long time General Physician lost everything down to the slab for both house and office, Joy's retired dentist has only a broken slab, and the retirement home of our long time orthopedist was also wiped out, all within a couple blocks of us. No news as yet on Maurice's cardiologist who had a fantastic beachfront home in Ocean Springs.
A couple days ago the talk in the neighborhood was that they were going to bulldoze our area later in the week, but that was only a rumor. I think it was misunderstanding the intention of the Seabees or National Guard, as they did bring in bulldozers to clear some debris from the worse streets. Sometimes it is hard to get into the area as they keep finding propane leaks and yesterday it was a chlorine tank that kept us out until noon. To cross to the south of the railroad you must have a daily pass and curfew is 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The talk now is that all buildings south of the railroad in Long Beach are to be condemned after insurance adjusters are through. That is a strip from 4 to 6 blocks wide and 7 miles long.
As bad as the news is, it's kind of a relief to know for sure. I think I cried most of my tears for the loss of my childhood home earlier in the week. I'm coping pretty well at this point, and Mom & Dad seem to be coping too.We were able to go down hwy. 49 and a few backstreets to Long Beach, thru lots of destruction. To start at the top, we have an almost new roof without a single missing. We will sell it to the highest bidder as our house will never need it again. Most doors and windows are gone and the water mark inside is between 5 and 6 feet and it must have really churned. There is not a stick of furniture in an upright position and most are in a different room from where we left them. There is no danger to us of the house collapsing, but we were very careful moving interior doors and furniture. There are still some wall cabinets in place. Today we packed some our more treasured things and brought them out. Tomorrow we expect to spend most of the day in a gas line and maybe do some washing as took quilts I made off three beds. (I took two suitcases of quilts when we evacuated and two changes of clothing.) We will return Sunday to see what else we may salvage. There may be some clothing, though sopping wet that we can bring out and launder. Hope so. The heat was stifling--95 with a heat index of nearly 110.
Please don't waste sympathy on us. There are so many so much worse off than we are. We have retirement pay that will continue and we are safe and in good health.
