I have mentioned in the past about watching classic TV on Netflix and singled out Hawaii Five O as endlessly entertaining. Lately, I have swung back into that series, and I have a few observations: 12 seasons – how on earth did that show last for 12 seasons? Seriously, by the 4th season it was becoming tiring to watch, and the plots have become super predictable. Rain in Hawaii –...
With the recent passing of the legendary James Garner I have once again tossed the hit TV series “The Rockford Files” onto my Netflix streaming list. I had gone through the series a few years ago, reminiscing about my childhood, but this time it was to honor the memory of James. It is astounding how well the stories hold up to time. Written and filmed in the mid 1970’s, the...
I love Netflix streaming. Now that I finally hooked it up to my XBox 360, and it is a much better integration than the Tivo series 3 box. One of the shows I have been watching is the original Mission Impossible series. I enjoyed it when I was growing up, and I still enjoy it. Although, there are some gaping holes in the plots, and miraculously, even when they are deep in eastern European...
With all the buzz lately about the NSA revelations by Edward Snowden, and the surveillance state, I thought I would pick up my copy of 1984 and re-read it. Set in the year 1984, it is a masterful piece of fiction that is remarkably prescient in many of its predictions, given that it was published in 1949. The two way telescreen is particularly poignant, with the amount of listening that is...
I had read it a long time ago. I think I bought a used copy at one of my trips to Powells in Portland, but a recent re-run of a South Park episode, “Scrotty McBoogerballs” caused me to pick it up again. I am talking of course about Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. A story told from the eyes of the main protagonist, it is alive with the references and language that a troubled...
(Well, re-reading really) My memory is foggy, but I think this is the book that someone tossed at me in my sophomore year of high school. Written by Robert Heinlein, and originally published in 1961, it is one of the “must reads” in the SciFi genre. The premise is fairly simple. A manned expedition to Mars meets with tragedy, and the only survivor was an infant born shortly on their...