PSA: Why Adam Baldwin is the best Baldwin, despite non-related Baldwin Alec being awesome on 30 Rock, but proving that he also may be cursed:

Chuck

Daybreak

Firefly

PSA: Nothing in the Verse could stop them.

Now, around Thanksgiving, I find myself thinking of television shows, and the good ones that left us all too early. I'm not going to recreate the "Family Guy" bit and name all the good shows Fox has cancelled, but here are my votes for those pesky holiday presents for people you like but don't know that well -- but don't give them to people you'd rather not know, because either they'll hate the shows and give them bad word of mouth, or they'll like the shows and you'll be forced to talk to them for at least as long as it takes a normal person to watch a whole season of TV: I'd estimate 3-4 weeks. (I've simply converted my usual rate from "days" to "weeks" here.)

Perhaps we can all take a lesson from "Firefly," which, while it didn't trump the new world order of Murdoch Co., at least got a movie thanks to fan agitation.

So here they are (the detective-y ones), in alphabetical order:

"Chuck": It's coming back in January instead of March (which was a stupid plan to begin with), and the long-awaited second season will finally be out on DVD on Jan. 5. In the meantime, the first season can be found often on sale at Target, or used online. (New online as well, but more expensive.)

"Daybreak": I bought it on spec for $5 at Target. The entire series is only 13 episodes -- it never got an "in" with the notoriously picky, "it's not LOST!" Lostheads, and only 6 episodes showed -- but the "Groundhog Day" meets "The Fugitive" premise is fun and ultimately compelling despite the compression of plot in the last two or three episodes of the series. As a bonus, there are 15 commentaries on those 13 episodes; the first 2 have 2 commentaries each.

"Veronica Mars": You don't need me to tell you to watch this show, mainly because I've already told you repeatedly to watch it. Now it's so cheap you can't even begin to argue. Seasons 1-2 are indispensable; Season 3 is optional, but you'll want to watch it anyway.

Local Trivia: Black Friday, aka AMERICA Day

At 7:30 a.m., when we'd gathered up our wits and whatnot about us and come together for the celebration of the true American holiday -- Black Friday -- I said to P.C., "we're basically heroes -- going out shopping on Black Friday. It should be called 'America Day.'"

He laughed, but it was him who yelled out "America!" as we walked toward the Target, and did a fist pump into the air. No one turned around to see what he was yelling about, supporting my point that it's self-evident.

The cashier, who had to be at work at 4:45 a.m. for the early opening, did not agree that we were heroes. But we know better.

Anyone who spent money on Friday was a patriot.

PSA: Happy Thanksgiving!

I know, it's late.

But shouldn't we always be thankful, etc. etc.?

Hope it was good.

Local Trivia: Elaine's story

Just recently, Earl Norem's grandson Mike found my blog post on Elaine, the painting I got from an estate sale in Cheshire, CT last year. Below is his comment and my reply:

mike: hi, I'm Earls Grandson..i saw this picture and then i saw your comment, so i just got home from school, and i showed him, this is his painting. He said he did this painting for an art director, it's of the art directors daughter.

My grand father brought it to him, and the man didnt like it, so my grandfather said he never got paid for it, but the man kept it.....my grandfather is curious did you pay for the picture? if so, how much?


Alicia: Mike -- I hope you subscribed to these comments, because I can't find you by clicking on your name (to see your "blogger profile").

Anyway, how cool that you found this and are commenting! I've been meaning to contact your grandfather for awhile now, and I'm excited to hear some of the back story for the painting. Unlike the art director (who I think might have been cheating your grandfather -- I'm not sure how someone could argue with this portrait), I really like it, and as I wrote, it's been hanging in my living room for about a year now.

I got the picture from an estate sale that was happening in Cheshire, CT. I assume the art director (or his daughter, maybe) had either died or was selling his house and belongings. It was early, and there wasn't anyone around, so I didn't speak with anyone at the house. But the estate sale had just started (9 a.m.), and three other people were milling around in the garage, so I stepped in for a minute -- but then was creeped out by the idea of wandering around someone's home potentially without their knowledge, so I left.

As I went back to my car, I found a small pile of stuff marked "free." That's where the painting was. I figured it was free because there's a small hole in the upper right corner of the canvas -- probably an inch or inch and a half or so. (I can't remember if you can see this in the picture.)

Anyway, I liked it, and I liked the idea that it had a history I didn't know about, so I picked it up.

I'm shocked to hear that your grandfather was never paid for it, especially since it was kept for thirty years -- if the people whose house I got it from were the same art director or his family -- and I'm interested to hear anything else you or your grandfather care to tell me about the painting, art, (not) getting paid for art, or anything, really.

I'll also post your comment and mine as a regular post on my blog in case you aren't subscribed to these comments and happen to come back and check CU. If you're willing to chat about it, leave your email address, or IM chat name, or facebook info or whatever you feel comfortable with, and I'll get in touch. Then I'll erase your info from my comments so they're not available to the whole world.

Nice to hear from you, Mike! I hope to hear from you again.

New word: Spamographics

n. the information indicated to be true about an individual by the spam mail found in their email box; may or may not be related at all to "demographics," official (i.e., census) or unofficial (i.e., Facebook profile)

PSA: 50,000 miles -- 100 times the number of miles The Proclaimers would have traveled to get to me

Today, Betty hits our 50K-iversary, at 123,842 miles. After less than three years together, we've traveled all over together -- and despite her recent transmission flush, air filter change and drive axle replacement, she's still my favorite car.

Good going, Betty. I hope we get 50,000 more.

Leaves us alone.

[My girl and I, raking the leaves at Pizza Hut as the wind blew them into the next yard over.]

My girl: [frustrated] Ooh! Gah! The wind!

Me: Well, there they go! Off to become someone else's problem!

My girl: [laughs] Alicia. You're bad.

Me: No, that's how leaves work! Once they're over there, they are those people's problem.

[Later]

Me: Oh, there they go! Somebody else's problem now!

In unison: Bye! Bye!

Manager, pulling up in his car: If you're not making much progress in here, you can go inside and make boxes.

My girl: Yeah! Okay!

Me: [Laughing] Okay.

Confessions XLII

Last night, taking off my shirt before getting in the shower, I broke my glasses in thirds -- lens-and-arm, lens-and-arm, and nosepiece-and-two-little-pieces-of-glass.

I collapsed into a heap on my kitchen floor and cried for a minute about it, even though I have two other pairs of glasses.

When I was in fifth grade, I was so mad I pounded my bed with my fists, and hit my glasses, which I'd set down in front of me, snapping their plastic frame in half; I cried harder then because I felt so intensely guilty. Now, that incident seems to prove what accidents always seem to prove to me, which is that we have befuddlingly, alarmingly little control over our lives -- even our own actions. This scares me, but is also comforting at times, because it means everything isn't always my fault.

PSA: Marsha's haunted website

Not sure if you've heard of this (or seen it) before, but check out "The Fall of the Site of Marsha" in its three incarnations -- at first, as Marsha, mid-90's homepage keeper, invites "Throne Angels" to come communicate with the rest of us through her homepage...and then later, as they arrive and wreak havoc on her homepage and eventually her life.

Go into some of the linked pages, particularly the Throne Angel Bulletin Board and the Private Door, and you'll see some of the behind-the-scenes circumstances under which this apparent haunting took place.

Of course, it's satire, like all reality TV -- but it's also very funny, like all satire.

PSA: Spambots read my other blog

I got a comment today that said, simply and self-evidently, "miley cyrus nude miley cyrus nude miley cyrus nude."

Perhaps when the spambots band together to form the first true AI, they'll recommision me as a writer.

I might have to learn html in that case...or whatever the Cylons speak.

Local Trivia: Oh, the irony! Or, no, the opposite of that.

Observed in Oakville, CT:

A secondhand store called "Everything Goes" -- with a giant "closed" sign in the window.