Friday, December 16, 2005

Why's everybody dying all of a sudden?

John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry on "The West Wing" and the one character outside of Charlie (played by poker shark Dule Hill) passed away today. He'd suffered health problems the last few years and currently he was the Vice Presidential candidate after being Chief of Staff for President Jebediah Bartlet (Martin Sheen). Oh heck, all that's in the article.

Frankly after my sister, Richard Pryor, John Spencer, and Pat Morita I'm wondering who's next? Someone in Metallica? Perhaps Patrick Bauchau? Anthony Head? Edward Herrmann?

Anyways...it's just too many people in one 60 day period. Just stinks is all. West Wing stunk the last couple seasons without Aaron Sorkin. As far as I'm concerned, it's dead now without John Spencer. So I guess that's what's next.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

R.I.P. Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor II

Yes, I know I'm late with this.

Among the first comedians I ever watched were: Gene Wilder, Bill Cosby, Robin Williams, and Richard Pryor. To this day I still laugh hysterically whenever I see any stand up comedy or TV Shows or movies with these guys. As a kid it was the Muppet Movie, Superman III, Willy Wonka, Mork & Mindy, and the Cosby Show. Later it was Stir Crazy, Good Morning Vietnam and the Birdcage, Cosby, and Blazing Saddles (yeah I didn't see that one until I was a grown boy).

Richard could definitely be crass and I was shielded from a lot of that as a kid but I still remember seeing him in See No Evil, Hear No Evil and also in Brewster's Millions. Watching him and Gene Wilder together was just magic on screen. I didn't see any of Mr. Pryor's stand-up work until I was an adult (and for good reason maybe) but I saw plenty of him growing up and I can't count how many times that man made me crack up.

I forgive whatever he did to hurt himself in his life. He paid the price for those mistakes and I don't really understand it sometimes when someone dies and all we can do is sit and discuss is all the things they did wrong. He'll get his time now to work out his own salvation based on his own spiritual place at the time of his passing. I remember him for what he did on stage and on screen only. I think that's true for most of us. I've missed hearing his humor since he got sick and I'll miss it most now knowing it's gone...at least here on this earth.

So to Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III I say, thanks so much for the laughs and the tears. You had a place in my life and it was a good place. May God have mercy on your soul and I hope one day to hear your humor in a new light and in a greater venue.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Kickin' it lazy boy style

The weekend: OK so this weekend has been pretty much a waste of time. Other than some FIFA 2005 time with my buddy Scott and a little shopping at the North County Fair, I have just sat here on this chair listening to the Dawn & Drew Show and doing "dork stuff" involving FIFA and Excel. Basically, I'm going through every team in the game and pulling the uniform numbers, names, position, value and Age of every single player and putting them into Excel spreadsheets. 26 leagues, 447 teams total with about 10,500 players. I'm ALMOST half way done.

Candy, Candles, and Ass: So we're walking around North County Fair. Heading from JC Penny's towards Torrid where Victoria had to return a sweater. Some smart person decided to locate the Sweet Factory, a candle store and some body scent stores all near each other. So at first I smell some candles and that's cool. Then it gets stronger and I feel a little tug of nausea. Then the candy mixes in and it's just way too sweet a smell. Finally the other smells mix in and it literally smelled like candy, candles and that special pungent odor you leave on the chair when you've been sitting there too long.
The smell was so strong it darn near knocked me over the railing and down to the 1st floor. I actually doubled over a little and then quickly recovered so I didn't cause a scene. Just walked quickly and kept going until the stench dissipated. Victoria says "Candy, Candles, and Ass" is the name of her next album. So everyone keep a watch for that in your local independent music store.