Sunday, December 14, 2008

Off Topic Kale and Roofus, On Topic TV Doings


Here's an update on the local ornamental kale. As you see, its edges are turning white. As the winter progresses, it will all turn an off-white and look a lot more like a cabbage sitting in the snow.


Yesterday was Saturday and, almost as if on schedule, I had a date with Roofus the Cat as I headed into work. You can click on any of these images to get a larger picture. Here he is at about halfway zoom on my camera from the station platform. My full zoom ones from yesterday turned out too fuzzy. He's grooming away.


This is what the scene looks like totally unzoomed. Ignore the icky green "Yellow" cabs! The building on the right is the condemned one. Its entire roof and back wall are caving in. The two in the center have businesses on the first floors, apartments on the upper floors. Right now, I think only one apartment facing the street has anyone living in it. Very transient area and many of the immigrants who take those places go away for the winter due to lack of work. The Chotola apartment building tends to get a bit more stable tenants and is usually fully occupied.


This is where I first spotted Roofus the Cat from the street level yesterday. Can you see him?

Onto television doings!
Tonight is the big three-hour Survivor finale and reunion show! Can you believe it's gone by this fast? At 8 PM ET, I'll open up a post in which I'll give the big updates East Coast time and the comments will be your Survivor finale party place! Graphic arteest Zoetawny has made us all a new finale graphic and everyone is invited. Bring your own bottle and snacks, please!

In yesterday's mail I received a cool screener of TCM's (Turner Classic Movies) The Age of Believing: The Disney Live-Action Classics. I haven't watched it yet and the show itself is on tonight at 7 PM ET/PT on TCM. It's interviews with folks like Kurt Russell, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Jones, Tim Conway, Michelle Lee ... and many more. It delves into the move to live-action from strictly animated Disney films. Unfortunately it's 90 minutes, so it would buck up against the first half-hour of Survivor tonight. But it is being re-aired next Sunday at 11:45 PM if you wish to watch or record it. Angela Lansbury is the narrator. This one is dear to my heart as the Disney movies, both live-action and animated, played such a role in my younger days. I figured, due to the ages of many of the readers here, you might feel the same.

Actually, TCM has a great movie roster for today, too (all times ET/PT):
Noon: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1970) - Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero
1:45 PM: The Strongest Man in the World (1975) - Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero, Phil Silvers, Dick Van Patten
3:30 PM: The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) - Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk
5:15 PM: Son of Flubber (1963) - Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Ed Wynn
7:00 PM: The Age of Believing: The Disney Live-Action Classics
8:30 PM: The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) - Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Bill Bixby, Susan Clark
10:15 PM: The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979) - Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Tim Matheson, Kenneth Mars, Jack Elam

I know I'll be watching The Absent-Minded Professor -- I haven't seen that one since I was a child!

Today's musical non sequitur:

Caviar and cigarettes
Well-versed in etiquette
Extraordinarily nice
She's a Killer ... Queen
-- "Killer Queen" by Queen

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yea First
Margo

Anonymous said...

I'll see ya'll at the finale party tonight. I'm bringing my famous cheesy poofs. Yummy.

Margo

Jackie S. said...

Mmm ... cheesy poofs. Would they go with white or red wine?

Anonymous said...

Oh happy Disney memories. Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap and in Pollyanna. Tim Considine and Annette Funicello in some cowboy thing.

My husband and I will be glued to the TV in our living room tonight for the marathon Survivor finale. Does anyone else think THREE HOURS is too long?? Last night one of the TV stations here aired Its a Wonderful Life for a three hour period. I looked it up and the uncut running time was 129 minutes, so if we had watched, we would have been treated to almost an hour of ads. Sorry - I'm not watching that.

Anonymous said...

You bring up a good point Susan in Fl. I record much of what I watch now, because I can't watch when they air and because of the commercials. How do the ratings people handle that, I wonder? Since commercial time is based on viewership? I fast forward through many minutes of commercials. One season I decided three hours was too long and I would just record the first two hours of Survivor (thinking the 3rd hour was the reunion). Boy, did I mess up. The winner wasn't revealed until the third hour and I missed that part completely. And think of the recap minutes we have to sit through. I sound cranky...I think I will go try to improve my mood. If we are talking Disney, I am Grumpy from Snow White. :)

dla said...

Susan in FL, I definitely think three hours is too long, but I will be here watching, sort of. I am quite certain that I will be "half watching" (at best) by that third hour.

I would much prefer 90 minutes, or even up to two hours... They just never called me to get my opinion! :)

Laurie said...

Hey Grumpy, I'm Sneezy today. Wonder if we have any more dwarves here today.

I will tape all three hours of Survivor when it is finally on here on the west coast and be part of the live commenting here. I can't stay up late enough to watch it here!

I'll whip up something yummy for later. Due to the length of the show, we will need substantial food, don't you think? Maybe I'll throw a chicken in the oven and we can pick at that while we view the show.

Anonymous said...

i wish they would play "escape from witch mountain"...i think back and that was one of my favorites as a kid, but i don't think i have seen it since...maybe something to look for at amazon.com?

Jackie S. said...

Anon 2:34 -- TCM is showing Escape From Witch Mountain next Sunday (Dec. 21) at 2 PM ET/PT and its sequel Return From Witch Mountain at 4 PM ET/PT.

meb said...

I'll still ask Jackie...How do you see Roofus... I couldn't find him in that one picture until I enlarged it and then he was rather small. The other one, grooming himself was cute too.

I'm still ticked at not being able to see the last episode of survivor. My TV didn't record it and I can't get it to play anywhere, including hulu.com... my computer won't let me. I have to download a lot of stuff and I already have too much on it now, it runs at a snails pace... and yes I've defragmented and all that stuff.

Anyway, who's Grumpy'r than me today, hmmmm?

Jacie, you're a wealth of information... thanks.

See ya later for Survivor...

joy n said...

The kale looks more beautiful each time you photograph it.

Roofus looks content and so do the pigeons on that sun-shiny day.

I don't mind the 3 hours. Maybe I'm just used to it.

My problem is the very exciting finale of DEXTER is on at 9PM and I'm just as much anticipating that tonight as Survivor. Of course, DEXTER will be shown over again several times, including 11PM tonight which is when I'll have to watch it. A minor glitch, yes, but I love both shows and usually get to watch both back to back on the first run.

All in all, a great TV night for me, but I'll be up late and I have to get up early.

Jackie S. said...

MEB - Things are life-sized when I'm looking at them, not photograph sized. Once I first spotted him, he's hard not to notice for me.

Anonymous said...

Three hours does seem like a long time. I DVR it all - and get thru it in about 2. As I recall, sometimes this also starts late due to football...so plan accordingly!

Go Bob!!

Delee said...

Steeler game just over so running 1/2hr behind here. 730pE 60 Minutes just starting.

Jackie you should make a collage of the kale from when you first started taking pics. Would be nice to see all the changes frame by frame.

Jackie S. said...

UH-oh. We're running a half-hour late here. 60 Minutes just started. Sigh.

Unknown said...

Ugh. Why can't 60 mins ever be preempted? Why don't they make some 30 min shows for football season?

I don't want to stay up until 11:30! (whine, whine)

Jackie S. said...

I have to write up the entire thing for TVS after it all ends, then get up at 6 AM to get ready for work. Sigh.

Unknown said...

Oh, Jackie, hope you had a nap today! I'd never be able to do that.

Sydney said...

I'd be watching the Absent Minded Professor too! That caught my eye! I remember watching it as a kid and loving it. How was it to watch as as a grown up?

Caroline said...

Speaking strictly live-action Disney films....as a child I was obsessed with The Happiest Millionaire and The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band. I watched them both til my parents wanted to kill me. I've actually gone back and bought alot of these movies from Amazon now that they're all being released on DVD.