the rambling fanatic

Many moons ago, I came across The Newsroom, a Canadian CBC comedy on my local PBS station. It was late at night and even though I was fairly young the show made an impression on me. Coincidentally, it was around that same time that I discovered Forever Knight. However, unlike FK, I never got this series' name. A few years ago, while combing the net for other things a show description for The Newsroom rang familiar and lo and behold there was my long lost show. There was a first season, a TV movie, a second season (8 years later!), and a third season. I purchased the first season and the TV movie and while watching the first episode there was Lisa Ryder fresh off of Forever Knight.

Lisa Ryder did a four episode stint as Kris, a slightly dim and recently hired research assistant to George Findlay, a self-obsessed and politically incorrect news director in Toronto. Shot in a documentary style, The Newsroom is part The Larry Sanders Show and part Curb Your Enthusiasm. The characters squabble over parking spaces, lead anchors and the best way to pull in ratings while straddling the fine line between outright lying and reporting the news. I'm not much of a comedy person but I love this show's style.

( Are there piranha in the Congo? )

I promised pics of my vacation for those who may be interested. However, I took so many pictures that I have to divide my posts by state. I'm starting with New Mexico, then proceeding with colorful Colorado and finally Texas. We also passed through the panhandle of Oklahoma (all 30 some odd miles of it) but it was my turn at the wheel so no pictures from that state.

This is not dial up friendly so consider yourself warned. :-)




( rocks, hills and a river )

*


( The Enchanted State )

Cue the Atari-like font and synthesizer opening credits music because here comes The Vindicator aka Frankenstein '88! A B-grade action/horror movie shot in Montreal circa 1984 (according to the closing credits copyright) with Frankenstein themes and as is expected for its genre, has a very high body count. Our protagonist and title character, Carl, before he's turned into a walking, talking cyborg is a robotics engineer for NASA. He's living a pretty charmed life. His wife Lauren has just announced that she's pregnant. The only dark spot is that his NASA project budget is continually slashed and funneled into his superior's top secret project.  Carl raises hell and is therefore "accidentally" locked inside a reactor as it reaches a critical point. It blows and gives him the worst facial this side of your local strip mall beauty salon. A funeral ensues, mourning begins and then the fun begins. Insert sarcasm here. Carl's brain is kept alive by his killers for use in the top secret project, which consists of creating a cyborg for Mars exploration. Carl manages to escape but forgets to take the remote control that keeps the emotion of rage in control. I hate it when that happens. The scientists pursue, Carl kills almost everything he encounters, tries to contact Lauren, mercenaries lead by Foxy Brown herself, Pam Grier, get called in to capture Carl, and more people die. End of story.

Catherine Disher plays Catherine, Lauren's kooky, new agey and primary color clad best friend. In short, she's awesome and if you ask me there should have been an entire movie based on her character. Yeah I'm biased but she was that awesome.

( If you want privacy, use the bedroom. )