Ryan on a Tangent

6.4 on IMDB? Are you kidding? Nine to Five is brilliant, clever, hilarious, and has aged quite well. Perhaps I am blinded by the fact that I saw this film as a child and am letting nostalgia get in the way of objective judgement, comedy is so difficult to gauge given one's own cultural experience I suppose. But, I just find 6.4 a tad bit low. This is a true classic gem. First the cast. Wonderful ensemble cast starring Dabney Coleman (in perhaps his greatest role, certainly his most memorable - found myself wondering what the hell ever happened to this guy, so synonymous with the 80's), Jane Fonda (spot-on portrayal of the mousey Judy, Dolly Parton (fantastic given she isn't an actress in her daytime career), and finally, Lily Tomlin as Violet (anything but a dainty flower, she is the highlight of the film by far). Great chemistry amongst the girls; very natural and comfortable and organically funny. Hart is quintessential douche boss prototype: perfect. The story is ...

The first movie listed in the January '82 guide is Snowball Express , airing at 6:30 am, perfectly appropriate for the little ones to wake to (see previous post for my comments on the similarly inappropriate scheduling of Border Cop immediately afterwards at 8:30). This is a Walt Disney production starring Dean Jones (whom I recognized from somewhere when I first saw him, and it appears I'm remembering from the Herbie the Love Bug Disney flicks as I don't see anything else in his oeuvre that looks remotely familiar) and the instantly recognizable Harry Morgan (actually instantly known from his characteristic voice more this his appearance, hidden as it is behind a scraggly beard in this appearance) from the TV series MASH . Also noteworthy is the little freckly ginger kid (Johnny Whitaker) from Family Affair , a late '60's/early '70's TV show I remember well in syndication during the late '70's, typically aired around the Partridge Family and si...

Game on. HBO Guide challenge #1 January 1982, 8:30 am (not sure what they were thinking with this time slot given the film's violence and lack of a rating, but I digest). As indicated previously, I 'messed up' and started with the second movie of the month first - "Snowball Express" is actually in the 6:30 am slot - but we are just going to do this or the whole thing will stall in the gates. The guide refers to this film as "Blood Barrier"; clearly it WAS known by this title at some point in its history, but all current references, DVD's, etc., refer to it as "Border Cop". This is fitting as the former title is probably suggestive of a bit more subtlety than the film pulls off; human trafficking across the Mexican border is the topic, and our central character, played by Kojak star Telly Savalas, is out to "...see that justice is done" as per the guide description. The set up: Savalas is a border cop (hence the descriptive t...

So here is the deal: I just received 7 HBO guides from both 1980 and 1982 (1 from ’80 and 6 from ’82 to be exact) and given my autistic spectrum mess of a mind I wanted to create some scheme to get more fully invested in these guides. First, let me explain my fascination. The period between 1975 and 1985, give or take a few years in either direction, is my golden nostalgia era. For me, this is the span of time wherein I find all my extant memories are good – or feel good after a healthy dose of all-healing time. Time. Sugar-coats the memory doesn’t it?  Regardless, everything from this period (ages 4 to 14 roughly) from the music to the television commercials to the movies to my sacred Consumer Reports and Wacky Packages, is magical for me now. I get goose bumply both inside and out, and make no apologies for it (though it can certainly drive my girlfriend mad from time to time). So. HBO guides arrive. I smell them. I fondle them with the kind of holy regard one migh...

.39 cents at the local Salvation Army, early '80's non-fiction paperback (1983 to be exact) concerning the Vietnam War. No-lose situation right? We will find out (I'm slogging through Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre and I should probably finish that first; a little over halfway through and I have only the faintest idea what is going on, let alone who Karla is...ugh) soon enough and I'm psyched to get this ball rolling. "...Violent, deafening, treetop world of 1000 Viet Nam helicopter missions...its vertical plunge into the thickets of madness, will stun readers as well..." — Time Sounds like it might have potential and I will report back as I make some headway.

...to put it mildly. Just noticing that I set this blog in motion back in August of 2011; apparently I have just enough energy and attention bandwidth to fill out the bare minimum of blog profile data, but not the stamina to see it through even one measly post. Several weeks back I read something that felt 'inspirational' and 'eye-opening' regarding various techniques an author might use (or 'wanna-be' author as the case may be) to get the writing process started when in a funk: one said technique was, of course, simply write...anything for minimally 5 minutes every morning. I read this, felt inspired and tingly and all of that, then proceeded to...um  yeah you guessed it...do nothing whatsoever. Well, now it's 2 weeks on and there is that nagging thing buzzing around the back of my neck, that won't leave me be until I try this writing exercise and see what comes out (somewhat akin to an experiment in dietary fiber if you will). I suppose something nee...