To Thine Own blog Be True

I was stressing a bit about what my topic should be today.

"Heroes" because we're watching it? "Oh, no," thought I, "I've talked too much about TV lately."

"How about getting back to your schedule?" I suggested. But Tuesday is designated for news topics, and I don't know anything about Category 5 hurricanes, and I don't care one whit about Bush visiting Australia (nothing against our English-speaking brothers Down Under.)

[But while I was looking for news, I did happen to notice this piece in USA Today. The cover from Vanity Fair illustrates what "alabaster skin" looks like. Oh, my! Nicole Kidman is certainly stunning.]

"Well, how about that 'serious' entry you were going to write about 'Civilization?'" I suggested.

"I don't feel like it."

"But your readers ..." I started protesting.

"Oh, get over yourself!" I retorted.

And that's where I left it. I started this "daily"blog for several reasons, but none of them were supposed to cause me stress.

So, a couple of quick items, without any concern given to repeating myself or pithiness or making the blogosphere more meaningful:

"Heroes" Season 1 is, quite simply, one of the best pieces of TV ever. Season 2 could stink (it won't, but it could) and Season 1 would still stand as a triumph. After what happened to "Invasion" and "Surface" and "Nowhere Man" I'm actually surprised that "Heroes" gets a second season. But, in fairness, it is superior to all of them, and apparently is more accessible to the US TV audience.

The fact that Zachary Quinto is playing "Spock" in the new "Star Trek" movie is, well, excellent. Some might find it questionable - the guy who plays an ego-maniacal super-villain playing a logic-driven First Officer. I watched a 5-minute interview with him on scifi.com, and he's one of those actors who is far less interesting than the characters he plays. For me, that's actually an indicator of a good actor; or at least an actor who is in it for the acting, not the fame. If, in "real life" (interviews are the closest things to 'real life' we fans ever see) he doesn't come across as if he's acting, but then his characters are so excellent, I figure he can play lots of different kinds of roles. Robert DeNiro is like this.

Civilization (the game): Sometimes gets to this current point. I will win. It's clear. But now I have to find the motivating factor to push me to finish. Likely it will take another 5-10 hours of play until the victory conditions are met. What other goals can I have to push me to play those hours, when it's clear the ultimate goal will be mine?

Fall TV schedules: Go on-line to the websites of the major networks. See how easy it is to determine what shows you might want to watch starting in September. I say NBC wins, if the goal is to show you the schedule in a format you can read, while attracting your attention to shows, new and old alike. If you click enough, you can find that ABC has a PDF! But it's at least more readable than CBS which has some mostly-text, scrolling thing. Yuck. Fox, I'm not sure if there is a "New Season" page, but it does have a nightly schedule.

And so, there are some wisps. Random thoughts with slight relation to one another. And no stress.

I call that good.