I Stand With Lindsey

In April of 2018, I was (and still am) stunned by the news that Fleetwood Mac fired Lindsey Buckingham. Why? Over the timing of the tour, according to most sources. Pretty lame if you ask me, and I do believe there is a lot more to the story. Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John and Christine McVie wanted to go out right away to tour, with no album to support, right away. Meanwhile, Lindsey wanted to wait near the end of the year- only by a couple of months. But, in particular, Mick and Stevie got their panties in a bunch and Lindsey got fired. I have so many problems with this. I could have written about this sooner when it happened but I wanted to see if anything came to light and see if my opinion changed from then to now. So far, my opinion then is the same as now. Here's what kills me: Fleetwood Mac KNOWS that Lindsey is one of their best players. He is very much a talented guitarist with a very unique style that no other guitar player has; sadly, Lindsey is underrated with the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Slash, and Jimmy Page floating around. Not to mention having Stevie around with her popularity eclipsing the rest of the group. Now, for the record, I will be very harsh on Stevie and Mick in this post but I do not hate them. In fact, I am very sad about this. My respect for them has dwindled since April. Like they did in 1987 by replacing Lindsey with two guitar players: Rick Vito (who handled the vocals) and Billy Burnette. Now, again, Lindsey got replaced by two guitar players: Mike Campbell and Neil Finn (who will handle the vocals).

“Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour. The band wishes Lindsey all the best … Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour.” Fleetwood Mac

Later in the month of April, the newly renovated band spoke a little bit on Lindsey's leave… well, they kinda had to because the press certainly won't ignore it!

“We were supposed to go into rehearsal in June and he wanted to put it off until November [2019]. That’s a long time. I just did 70 shows [on a solo tour]. As soon as I finish one thing, I dive back into another. Why would we stop? We don’t want to stop playing music. We don’t have anything else to do. This is what we do.” Stevie

“Our relationship has always been volatile. We were never married, but we might as well have been. Some couples get divorced after 40 years. They break their kids’ hearts and destroy everyone around them because it’s just hard. This is sad for me, but I want the next 10 years of my life to be really fun and happy. I want to get up every day and dance around my apartment and smile and say, ‘Thank God for this amazing life.’” Stevie

Oh Stevie… I will save my piece of mind on her a little later. But seriously, what's wrong with waiting another year? Are they afraid to die when they don't tour? Mick, John, Christine, and Stevie are all in their 70s; Lindsey isn't far behind (in his late 60s). Surely they could use the year to take a break: spend time with families, travel, write new songs, sleep in till noon. All I can think of for this urgency to tour is that somebody in the band it broke, and touring makes money. Anyway, apparently the band is uncomfortable with the word “fired”.

“Words like ‘fired’ are ugly references as far as I’m concerned. Not to hedge around, but we arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall. This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band. To that purpose, we made a decision that we could not go on with him. Majority rules in term of what we need to do as a band and go forward.” Mick

A month after being fired, Lindsey did a solo performance and spoke publicly about his departure:

"I have sadly taken leave of my band of 43 years, Fleetwood Mac. This was not something that was really my doing or my choice. I think what you would say is that there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective. It harmed the 43-year legacy that we had worked so hard to build and that legacy was really about rising above difficulties in order to fulfill one’s higher truth and one’s higher destiny.”

“I was surprised to hear the news because it happened after I went back to London that the decision was made. But life moves on and I wanted to carry on with these guys.” Christine

“Please don’t blame Christine McVie for what happened to Lindsey. After texting with Chris I am convinced that whatever went down between Stevie & Lindsey was to personal, complex, hurtful & deep for her to have affected the outcome in any meaningful way. She has a heavy heart…” Richard Dashut, Fleetwood Mac producer and friend

I am not angry nor do I cast blame on John and Christine McVie. In recent years, John underwent cancer treatments and if you put John on a sailing boat, he will be happy. I don't believe in any shape or form that John and Christine had anything to do with Lindsey's firing.

“Obviously this is a huge change with the advent of Lindsey Buckingham not being a part of Fleetwood Mac. We all wish him well and all the rest of it. In truthful language, we just weren’t happy. And I’ll leave it at that in terms of the dynamic. And he’s going out on the road more or less the same time I think -- not in the same places, I hope.” Mick

So… Lindsey is planning his solo tour just as Fleetwood Mac are going out on tour… Well, that does not make any sense at all! If Lindsey wanted to wait until 2019 to tour, why is he going now? Hmmmm? Seriously, I think this disagreement could have found a solution, a compromise, and Lindsey would still be part of Fleetwood Mac. On social media, Lindsey's wife was not happy with Mick’s quote and used his initials MF a new meaning of Mother-Fucker.

What I think it's really about is favoritism.

Let's recap in gist: in 2015, Christine rejoined Fleetwood Mac after 16 years since her own departure (she quit) with a big tour of their greatest hits as a five piece band after the previous tour as a four-piece band performing greatest hits. In general, Fleetwood Mac hadn't had a record out since early 2000s. After the Christine reunion tour, the plan was for the members to go in the studio to work on a new album. But Stevie decided to go on her own tour, which she felt was overdue for her 24 Karat Gold album. Lindsey and Christine went in for a head start but instead of a Fleetwood Mac album, it turned into a Buckingham McVie album since Stevie was too busy handling her solo career. So, during 2017, Lindsey and Christine went on their own tour. Earlier this year, Fleetwood Mac reunited for their honor in MusiCares, which turned out to be Lindsey's last concert with the band.

Now, here's my problem with Stevie: why didn't Mick fired Stevie last year when she wanted to concentrate on her solo tour? To me, this is the same, and fair, deal. Stevie didn't want to enter the studio to contribute her own share of songs when Lindsey and Christine went in. Mick and John did appear in the Buckingham McVie album- it was intended to be a Fleetwood Mac album! Here is Christine, all fresh and ready to dive back in with new songs, and Stevie was the one out of the band that deeply missed Christine… but instead of going in the studio all excited to work with Christine on new songs, Stevie said no, time for solo stuff. Fast forward to this year in 2018 when Lindsey wants to hold off on touring, just as Stevie wanted to hold off on recording, and what happened? He got fired. What's up with that? In my mind, it's favoritism. Mick favors Stevie over Lindsey. Now, as much as Stevie does bring to the band with songwriting, vocals, allure, beauty, attention, etc., Lindsey contributes more to the band with songwriting, guitar, vocals, producing, mixing, a dedicated and loyal hands on approach. He has more recording attendance days than Stevie does! Stevie once described her relationship with Mick like best friends- able to hang out, watch a movie, and talk into the early hours of the morning discussing things under the sun while her relationship with Lindsey was anything but buddies. I should also add that Mick and Stevie once had an affair around 1977, 1978 that was passionate yet could have destroyed the band if it had continued on. Perhaps Mick thought that if he fired Stevie, not only would the fans freak out and create it into controversy, it would be poor ticket sales. Stevie did quit the band around 1990 and Fleetwood Mac tried to go on without her but with minimal success, like playing at fairgrounds.  Firing Lindsey was a better choice for him. After all, Lindsey did quit the band in 1987, over, ironically, touring. Indeed, Fleetwood Mac is known to have revolving door- as long as it isn't Mick or John (as the band is named after their last names) then everybody is replaceable; Christine, Lindsey, and Stevie joined the already made band and have left it too. Christine from 1999 until 2015, Stevie from 1990 until 1997, Lindsey from 1987 until 1997 with the exception of both Lindsey and Stevie in 1994 to reunited for Clinton Presidential inauguration ball, and now Lindsey again in 2018. I highly doubtful that he will ever rejoin again. Fleetwood Mac is said to be on their last legs with this pending tour, maybe a new album with Mike and Neil. So if Fleetwood Mac could go without Lindsey then, they certainly can go out without him now. As for me… when Lindsey was in the band, I did consider going to the concert. But since he isn't, then my money will go elsewhere.

Iron Chef Mini Rant

I miss Cat Cora and Mario Batali on Iron Chef Showdown (aka America). I can't stand Alex Guarnaschelli... I believe she skated through competition by hardly doing anything impressive on The Next Iron Chef and got the title by her best buddy Geoffrey Zakarian, who just joined before she did. Amanda Frietag was robbed: she cooked her heart out and deserve that title.

From Crush To Disgust

It's a sad thing to realize that the man who I once had a massive crush on in the 1990s turned out to be an arrogant insensitive prick.

Once upon a time as a teenager in the 1990s, I used to obsessively watched reruns of Happy Days, Charles in Charge, and the first two seasons of Diagnosis Murder to enjoy Scott Baio and fantasized us being married. I also knew then that Scott was quite a ladies man and he did have that arrogance but at the time it was tolerable. Maybe because we didn't have social media at the time- the internet was still new yet popular as it is today. Now, especially with Twitter, I learned since that Scott is even more arrogant and condescending than I thought. Actually, he was starting to fall from my “stars in eyes” since early 2000s when he did that reality show of still being single and then later experiencing pregnancy while settling down with his wife, Renee Sloan. It was a wake up call to realize what an actual kind of man Scott is: I knew he was quite a ladies man (Heather Locklear, Erin Moran, Pamela Anderson, Nicolette Sheridan, to name the most famous few) but damn, he might as well be crowned as the ultimate man-whore!

Then things got pretty quiet: although I got pretty disgusted by his Playboy ways and lost some respect but I held on to some hope. I did give him the benefit of being a dedicated husband to Renee as well as being a good father to his daughter. Life went on.

Last year, everything started to change for the worst. Scott became a loud supporter for Donald Trump when he became candidate for President of the United States. He says he had always been a Republican ever since he registered to vote. OK, fine, since Scott registered in the late 1970s, there's been Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and now Trump. The Bushes didn't get much favoritisms from America, but ever since Trump took office their images and reputations have taken a much positive light! I am going to hold off on my rant about Trump another time… Anyway, I don't really truly care who you or anyone else vote for- it is your right as it is mine. Same goes for Scott. He went as far as to speak at one of the rallies, praising Trump, who is, in my opinion, unfit to become President and clearly hasn't read our Constitution nor the Bill of Rights. Scott stood faithfully with Trump during his sexual harassment scandals… I guess a ladies man stands by it's own kind. Scott also showed his disrespectful attitude towards Hillary Clinton, going as far to call her a cunt (most likely the worst name-call to call a woman). Yet, when President Bill Clinton was accused of sexual harassment, he was the bad guy in Scott’s eyes. Scott also claimed on his Twitter account that he “always” treated women right. Really, Scott? Have you seen your own reality show called Scott Baio is 45… And Still Single? One woman from Scott’s romantic past accused him of giving her a STD that ruined her life financially and ability to have a family. And there's also his ex girlfriend and former co-star Erin Moran.

Erin. She sadly passed away in April of 2017. When she was on his reality show, they somewhat made peace from their brief romantic fling during Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi. After both shows ended, Erin hit a rough patch after few bit parts became far and few in between until nothing. Then, by 2010, Erin's home foreclosed so she and her husband went to stay with his mother in a trailer park in Indiana. It's fair to say that she hit rock bottom after having a disagreement with her mother-in-law that she and her husband went to live in a hotel until they eventually went back to the trailer park where she recently died. Erin, along with Marion Ross, Don Most, Anson Williams, and the Tom Bosley estate, sued CBS (who owns Happy Days, why? I don't know considering it used to air on ABC) over merchandise rights. They won the settlement but Erin still continued to live in the trailer park. It's been said that many tried to help her: Henry Winkler tried to get Erin a role on Arrested Development but nothing came of it; Scott tried to help a few times but nothing so he gave up and went on with his own life while his wife Renee kept in contact with Erin until less of a month before her passing. Perhaps Erin had pride? She didn't want any handouts or anything other than digging out of her hole. Maybe she subconsciously grew to love the trailer park life and got used to it? Only Erin can answer that. She was disappointed in Hollywood on how they turned their back to her- she isn't the first nor would she be the last. It's a sad thing, a tragic side of stardom. Meanwhile, Scott has found a pretty steady career with Charles in Charge, Diagnosis Murder, and See Dad Run with an occasional guest starring or movie role. He has now semi-retired and is not worried about his bank account. They barely spoke to one another since; Erin hadn't kept much contact with Ron, occasionally with Henry, often with Marion, regularly with Anson and Don.

While I genuinely believe that Scott is completely devastated by her death 100% and perhaps it rattled him to the core. However he really went on to have a foot-in-the-mouth moment that, I think, will hang over his head until he dies. There were a few headlines from tabloids and talk claiming that Erin died of a heroin overdose. Scott seemed to have believed it. The autopsy hadn't been performed yet at the time and knowing Erin's drug use, Scott went with it. As a guest on a radio talk show, he was only asked about Erin's drug use. I think Scott should’ve avoided the subject, say “no comment” and kindly say wait until the autopsy is done. The following day after her death, the cause of death is Squamous Cell Carcinoma throat cancer in stage 4. According to her widower, she was diagnosed in November and started treatment. Scott nor his wife did not know this, neither did Ron or Marion. Anson knew; I don't know for sure about Don or Henry. Scott did admit he jumped quickly to conclusions while receiving backlash.

Then came the most ridiculous thing: Scott claimed that he is getting backlash from his original comments about Erin's cause of death because he is a Donald Trump supporter! Oh, please! Trump had nothing to do with this nor Scott’s support of his. This backlash is about Scott's foot in mouth blunder moment, not his Presidential vote. That's when my views on Scott went from starry crush eyes to pathetic moron. I can't look or think of him the same way any more. I don't hate him, but I now disrespect Scott. I won't hold his past work against him with the shows I still love and hold and dear to my heart. He is just barely anything to me anymore. 

Social Media Pet Peeves

I have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr (MySpace too but I admittedly abandoned it once it got out of fashion and it got hard to navigate with so many "upgrades" it went through).

Understandably with social media, entertainment fans tend to set up an account dedicated to a favorite entertainer. I myself am guilty of making a few fan accounts of my own. However, on Instagram especially, a person will start using the fan account in question and turn it into a personal account. I can't stand that! Sure, they will post a picture to go with the account theme but the caption would be completely different. Instead of reading a fact, debunking a myth, sharing a quote or whatever, I would read something like "I got a big test tomorrow and barely studied!" or "I think my boyfriend is cheating on me, so I am cutting his head out of my pictures" or something. I apologize but if I want to read something personal about the person, then I'd follow their own account to get their own life story and dilemmas. But no, I am following a fan account that likes to talk about themselves rather than their subject. I have sworn to myself that I will never turn my fan accounts into my life story. It's what my personal account/profile is for. I am okay with expressing opinions and musings about the entertainer in question because it's about the entertainer!

Driving Pet Peeves

I hate when I am driving and all of the sudden a car on the opposite side of the road in a turning lane would look like it's heading right at you! That scares me and without fail I would quickly maneuver my car to avoid getting hit. Can't that driver wait until I am completely out of the way? It takes a couple of seconds, it wouldn't kill them! When I need to make a turn without a traffic light, I wait until I have a nice gap so I can go and not be hit.

Another thing that bugs me is that I would be on the turning lane, waiting to turn but it would take awhile when an apparently dare driver honks to say Go! But an incoming car would be coming quickly and you just know that if you do go then you will get hit. Geez, I will go as I damn will please! I am not risking my life so that the car behind me can be first in line. If don't like it, go around and try yourself.

95% of the time, I like to make my turns and U-turns at the light. Feels more safer.

At a parking lot, I would be backing out of the parking space, thinking I am safe with no one behind me (or someone who wants the space but gave you back up room is fine too) when all of the sudden, a car would drive by! Slam the brakes! What the hell???? Didn't that driver see me backing up? Rude! Couldn't at least politely stop and let me finish backing up so I can leave.

Driving Miss Ego

Mariska Hargitay has played Detective/Sergeant/Lieutenant Olivia Benson for 18 years now on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. I have been watching as a regular and loyal viewer since around season 5. In fact, Casey Novak was my first ADA and I had to adjust the fact that there was another ADA (Alexandra Cabot) before her when I watched repeats! Anyway, during that time, Olivia didn't really annoy me. In fact, she was a favorite along with her partner, Elliot Stabler. Although I may have been one of the few who did not want to see Olivia and Elliot together romantically (I loved his wife Kathy), I thought they did have a good partnership. It was about the time of season 8 when Olivia went downhill for me. Nothing against Mariska, who really loves her character, but I think it was more TPTB (The Powers That Be) who wanted Olivia front and center as Mariska was winning awards, thus forgetting that the show was an ensemble cast. It became the Elliot and Olivia show. Not complaining about Elliot (although I am sure he has his own complaints from other viewers) because he did have a life outside of work. His marriage was going through a crisis, up and down with separation, reuniting, new baby, older children getting into trouble. Meanwhile, Olivia pretty much stopped dating, I do believe she fell in love with Elliot and knew he would never be hers so got wrapped up in her job. During season 8, Olivia was pretty moody. I call it the PMS season.

Then, after season 12, Christopher Meloni/Elliot Stabler departed from the show. Nick Amaro became her partner and Olivia started to finally grow. After 4 seasons, in the season finale when Nick announced his own departure, Olivia reassured Nick that he was a great partner to her. She grew while with Elliot, she was stuck. While there's some viewers that protested online, I think Olivia is right about that 100%! While with Nick, Olivia had two romantic relationships- even moving in with one, Brian Cassidy who was originally in season 1 where they had a very brief relationship. After breaking up with Brian, Olivia became involved with baby boy Doe after finding him in an illegal trafficking ring. With her biological clock ticking, she fell in love and eventually adopted Noah after many kinks (finding out who his biological parents were). Now, Olivia finally has a child and is  now in a relationship with Ed Tucker. She has a life outside of work! Yay! I am genuinely happy for Olivia.

But then, there's Olivia's work ethic. When Captain Cragen left for retirement, he put Olivia in charge. While Olivia is dedicated to the unit, I think she's too dedicated. I do not think she is fit to be the leader. Personally, I think Elliot would've been better but he is not on anymore. Even John Munch would've been a better fit. Not Olivia. Being on SVU has warped her mind. Fin Tutuola has been on almost as long as Olivia but still has a steady head. He knows what cases to pursue and what not, especially if he was told by the higher brass.
In a recent episode (Impostor), Olivia thought a man using a different name and identity to have sex with vulnerable and desperate women who were trying to get their child into college was rape. I disagree. Rape is sex that someone doesn't agree to but is forced- it is an act of power. In this episode, the "victims" were willing participants, the woman called him up, they were kissing and fell on bed. He asked her if she was sure and she said yes. Not rape. In fact, she thought it was best sex ever as she text him that. But some minutes later, she found out he wasn't who he said to be and text him that he raped her. When Olivia spoke to her about it, she did say she didn't mean the way it sounded. But Olivia was convinced it was rape. Fraud yes, rape? No. Even Fin and Amanda Rollins weren't too sure. At first, ADA Barbra wasn't too sure but pursued it anyway. Even the Judge and the Defense Attorney thought it was a waste of time. I agree with them! But Olivia is too blind and pushed it forward. Sure, the man was scum, but not a rapist. I guess for Olivia, one night stands that provide no names exchanged is also rape? In other episodes before, even in the Stabler era, Olivia has trouble of understanding the word 'no', especially from her bosses- Cragen and the higher brass. Whenever she's told to drop it, she doesn't. Usually, it opens a can of uncontrollable worms and compromises the main case or something. I get Olivia doesn't like to be told what to do, who does? But when there's more than one people who tell her No, she goes for it. Very determined, too much. It's getting tiring. Yet, if Amanda or Sonny Carisi gets over the top and pretty much do the same thing as Olivia has consistently done, they are bad cops and she wants nothing more than to fire them (especially Amanda) if SVU wasn't so short staffed. Pretty hypocrisy to me.

Cynthia is with...

 Cynthia Lennon has been dead for almost two months now and whenever I see comments, it's mostly "Cynthia is with John now". Now, as you probably know, I am a huge John and Cynthia fan. I love them together. But that being said, I can't help but be put off on that. During the first week of her death, I did post on my tumblr that not only did Cynthia got to John Lennon first in life, she got to him first in spirit. I still stand by that. But, I also believe that Cynthia is with her fourth and final husband, Noel Charles. Honestly, if Cynthia was going to be side by side with drifting on the clouds, it would be with Noel. With John, I would think that it would be more like confronting him about his attitude towards their son Julian and making peace between them. In life, Cynthia, although still much in love with John until her dying day, did move on away from John. The only thing she wanted from John after their divorce was to be friends and parents to their son Julian. But instead, John cut Cynthia out of his life as much as he could. John spoke frequently and loudly his love for Yoko Ono, who said herself that when she dies, she'll be with John.

I do believe that Noel Charles was the love of Cynthia's life, while John was her first love with a special place in her heart. With Noel, Cynthia spent the last 15 years of her life happy, probably the most happy she ever been in her entire life. She pointed out in her second autobiography that if she would've gone through with life with John Lennon again, knowing what lay ahead- she said no. Cynthia would've turned around and walked away. Life with John brought Cynthia heartbreak that she had to be reminded of over and over again when doing interviews- John cheating and leaving her for another woman. For making their son's life difficult with a stepmother who doesn't take much interest in him and inheritance fighting. Who would want to go through that? Although Cynthia did spoke about John with love, no bitterness, being classy about the end of her marriage. But with Noel, he was someone different. Maybe it was age and maturity by the time they met well into their 50s/60s that it was perfect timing for them to be together. Noel was the love of Cynthia's life, her longest marriage out of four. They lived quietly yet excitedly too. Life wasn't boring for them, they had privacy that Cynthia craved during her time with John. Noel made Cynthia happy, so therefore, and unfortunately overlooked, Noel and Cynthia are together again.

Frustrated with Mother

I am getting fed up with my mother. She tells me one thing and does another, like 'Do as I say but not what I do' and also, in my opinion, being a hypocrite. Big example: She cooks something and expects me to eat it- freshly made and leftovers. It would stay in the refrigerator for as long as possible. When I cook (and I cook a LOT), not even 24 hours later, it would get thrown out! Never mind my dreams of eating leftovers for lunch during the week or dinner. And yet during this time, my mom lectures me of money and food waste. How is it OK for her food to be saved but not mine? She is throwing away things that we both bought with our money- especially mine. What is this? What the hell is her problem with my food? She hadn't really done this before until this year- is her resolution for 2015 is to throw away whatever I make? At this point, I want to store my food at work! Or get my own mini-fridge for my room (but where would I put it? Every space in my room is taken). Anything just so my mom wouldn't get her hypocritical hands away from my stuff! 

I am also getting sick of the stuff she makes- it's the same thing over and over again. Her favorite is stew. I am so sick of stew that I am at the point of never wanting to have it again, ever. And the way she cooks the meat- beef chunks- is tough and hard to chew, very chewy. She doesn't realize that beef chunks need a longer cooking time, an hour at least. But she cooks it less than that. I would have to scoop up either the smaller pieces to just the veggies. And she makes this weekly and expects ME to eat the leftovers. Why doesn't she eat it???? I mean, help me out here of consuming this! Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever seen her eat any of her- or mine- leftovers. She would either make something else or get fast food while her beloved food waits for my unwanted attention. 

I think I should make food for myself rather than the household since it'll wind up in the trash the following day. And if any leftovers, store it at work! I rather have my leftovers in an overstuffed refrigerator than being at my own home. It would be safe!

Rare Personal Family Rant

This is going to be a personal post but I am not going to name names but I am going to rant away! There's two things that are bugging me- one has been in my mind for a few years while the other is rather new. Time to let it all out! Remember: It's my blog and I can post what I want and how I feel (if you are related to me)

1. My Aunt- by marriage. I've known her since I was a toddler and for the most part she's been real nice and part of the family. Then for the past few years- I would say 5 now- things have been on breaking point. There's been heavy duty family drama but I am not going to get into it because it does NOT involve me and, at this time of writing (er, typing) she is not aware of my feelings towards her. I don't even intend to let her on it because quite frankly, I don't believe it would make much difference.
Every time she hosted a party, she would assign drinks and ice to my Mom and I. She knows I cook, and every time I offer to bring a dish, she normally shots the idea down. I don't know her problem with that is. In her mind, I guess all my mom and I are good for are bringing drinks. I brought it up with my mom and even she's been getting fed up about it! We've been rebelling quietly. One Thanksgiving, we decided to not attend her party and went to a local restaurant that was having a Thanksgiving special and played it to them that we told them that we decided not to go but apparently it either didn't register or they weren't paying that much attention to us. Yeah it's a little white lie but thankfully (on Thanksgiving! HA!) they bought it. Not too pleased though as they were looking forward to putting ice in their drinks. Yeah I bet they did. So heartbroken to not go down the street and get it themselves. I mean, really? How hard is that? They got kids, one or two have a car, let her do that easy task! Another Thanksgiving (a few years before us standing up the family), my mom was sick so she wasn't going to go to dinner at my Aunt's house, I planned to go. I kept urging my Aunt by marriage to let me bring a dish over! Please, please, please! But noooo, she was very firm that I bring the stupid drinks and ice. With my other Aunt, she encourages my cooking and is happy when I offer to bring a dish or two. Finally, with my hands shaking the urge to go through the telephone wires to strangle her, I decided to screw it and fake being sick, claiming that I got the bug from my mom and was going to stay in at home. Thankfully (another Thanksgiving pun!) my Aunt is a germ-a-phob so I was easily off the hook but what killed me was when she said "was looking forward to the dish you were going to make..." REALLY???? After having a few days of hearing no, she said that? I couldn't believe it. So, on Thanksgiving eve, I bravely went to the store, got what I needed and made Thanksgiving for two at home. It was very delicious. When I ranted this to my step-grandmother, she suggested that to just bring a dish so that way the Aunt would have no choice but to include the dish into the 'buffet'. This past Easter, I did just that and guess what? My soup was gone quicker than all the other dishes that were available.
Then there's Christmas. For the past 3 years, I've received nothing but Christmas ornaments from this particular Auntie. Gifts that I could only use once a year. And some of them I don't really use as ornaments- I just yak/cut off the string and use it as a do-dad on display. Cheap. Lazy. I mean, just give me a gift certificate for Barnes & Noble or a clothing store and I'll be happy and it wouldn't be something I would have to use once a year. Meanwhile, two Christmases ago, I got her a nice spice gift basket that was NOT cheap and it didn't have the kind of spices that you can just simply get the grocery store. Last Christmas, there's this game called White Elephant where you re-gift and someone with a number gets to pick and if someone wants it, gets to take a gift for themselves. I personally think it's a stupid game and refused to play it but watched. My step-grandmother got a re-gift and after looking at it closely I realized it looked awfully familiar...it was my spice gift basket! And what's worst was that it was still in it's packaging (that see through thing- I dunno what's it's called). That was NOT a cheap thing to buy! Heck, my paycheck didn't even afford it but as a thoughtful giving person, I ignored my woos and was in spirit season that I got it, only to find that one year later she would re-gift it. I wouldn't have been too upset about it if the packaging had been open and at least try one. So now, I am not going to buy anything for HER. Yes to my Uncle, I don't think it's fair to exclude him for doing nothing wrong other than being married to a cheap ungrateful loon.

2. This is brand new. On Facebook, everything I post something (whether it's funny, sad, heartwarming, whatever) I rarely get a "like" from members of my own family. Local or distant. Meanwhile I look at their profiles and I see a lot of "likes" from their own stuff! Do I post something to offend them? I don't think I'm invisible because I get notifications that my friends- not family but my friends- liking my stuff. Maybe at most I'll get 3 family members liking whatever I put up. The only time I get my own family to give me some Facebook lovin' would be on my birthday, posting their greetings on my wall. Yet they can't click (or press on their iPhones, or iPads, androids, etc) "like" on my pictures, statuses, jokes, and so on? Do they disagree? Am I invisible? Is there some kind of rule not to "like" my things? Lately, I've been wanting to go on their own profiles and say Screw you. Chances are they wouldn't even care.
Sometimes I think I'm definitely the black sheep of the family

Black & White to Color

 Original- black and white

Photoshop- colorized

(Okay it's not the same exact picture but you get the idea- at least I hope you do...)

 

I've been aware of this black and white pictures (including movies, TV shows) to color for about a decade now and to tell you the truth: I hate it. From my understanding, it started with Ted Turner- the founder of TV channels CNN, TBS, TNT and ex-husband of Jane Fonda. I don't know what his thinking was but he had some idea to make shows like Bewitched, I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie (among others) and movies like Casablanca that were black and white (Bewitched was black and white for the first 3 seasons and I Dream of Jeannie for one season before becoming color by 1966 so those colorful seasons don't count; it was naturally done) into color. Now these days it seems to be everywhere, so much so that people are starting to think that the fake colorized photos were real. I don't see anything wrong with having things black and white- in fact I think there's a lot to it in black and white. There's a mystery sense- even fooling people into thinking that Lucille Ball, Rita Hayworth and Jane Asher were blondes when they were redheads. There's emotions, there's beautiful shadows and contrasts that color pictures simply do not have. When someone colors a picture, it looks painted on, fake, and best chances would get the color wrong- whether it's an outfit or hair or the surroundings of a place where the picture in question was taken. You are not going to see me coloring classic B&W pictures at all. In fact, if I find a colorized picture, I will dig deep until I find the original B&W photo to use instead. If someone could find that picture to color then I could find the picture myself and enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, I love color pictures as much as you do but only when they are done naturally with the right film or digital or  whatever's the thing these days. I also love black and white pictures- there's an historical feel to them even if it was taken recently and done right. 

'General Hospital' Character Mistake

Not every TV show is perfect- there will be mistakes that were bad decisions. They seemed right at the time but once it succeeds, the realization knocks it right off its feet. Soap operas are no different. General Hospital have made quite a number of blunders through it's 51 years. In my opinion, the most recent mistakes have been killing off Alan Quatermaine and Georgie Jones, the firing decision of Anna Lee (who played Lila Quatermaine)- she died not long afterwards, as did her character. The decision could come from a number of different directions. It could be the actor who wants to leave/quit, storyline purposes, fired by the Executive Producer/The Powers That Be (TPTB), the network suits. But in this situation, it's not about a firing or a departure of a character and actor. It's more about the actor being a recast of a character-- Roger Howarth, who originally played Todd Manning from One Life to Live and General Hospital (there's previous entries about this) and due to the legal tangle web with Prospect Park over One Life to Live that Todd Manning had to disappear and no longer exist. Luckily for General Hospital, the actor- Roger- did not have to disappear. The Headwriter had to create a brand new and past characters for the actors. Kristen Alderson and Michael Easton both got brand new characters- father and daughter team of Silas Clay and Kiki Jerome. Roger got the recast of Franco, aka Robert Frank, previously played by James Franco. Big mistake!

James Franco have the same agent as Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and decided to further his acting talents to soap operas after being in movies, television, theatre, and now soap operas. It was arranged for James to come on and play a serial killer yet popular artist obsessed with Jason. The part was especially written for James- just like Helena Cassadine was for Elizabeth Taylor. Granted, the part of Helena Cassadine was eventually replaced by Constance Towers but there's a couple of differences:

1) It had been well over a decade between the recast of the character. Elizabeth got the part in the early 1980s while Constance took over in the mid 1990s.

2) By the time Constance took over the role as Helena, Elizabeth had already retired from acting. The only exceptional acting role Elizabeth did after retirement was a TV movie written by her former stepdaughter Carrie Fisher.

With James Franco and Roger Howarth as Franco, it had been less than 5 years when the recast happened. The character was originally killed off by the previous headwriter and when the new headwriter came in and had to come up with three "new" characters, the idea of Franco somehow came up. I believe the original intent was because Franco was already connected to many people in Port Charles. At the time, he was believed to be a Quatermaine and interacted with others during James' tenure on the show. For some reason, it became a brilliant idea to resurrect the much-hated character (honestly, I didn't hate that James Franco was on the show- I am a fan of his- but the character was made to be hated), somehow redeem him by saying that many of his ideas were made to twist their minds of believing something bad happened but it didn't really happened or it was pushed too far and turning out that he had a brain tumor, becoming a changed man. Not only that, but as the chemistry between Todd and Carly worked before, the headwriter teamed Franco up with one of his victims- Carly. The headwriter said that he was aware of the risk and took it anyway. But somewhere along the way I feel some backpedalling going on. Eventually, Franco turned out not to be a Quatermaine after all, but instead was the son of Heather Webber and Scott Baldwin. The problem that I've seen surface a lot is not the actor- the viewers enjoy the actor- it's the character that is the error. And I agree. I've been trying my best to try to accept the situation because at this point, it's way too late. It's been very close to one year and it's already been cemented. It's a difficult go-with-the-flow to be on. I've been pretending that the character isn't named Franco, but instead a James or a Fred. Any name but Franco. I don't mind Heather and Scott being the parents, I don't really mind Roger's character is romantically involved with Carly...although I really wish he interacts with other actors more than just the same ones over and over. When James was Franco, he was romantically (to put it mildly) with Maxie and believed to have raped Sam, making her believe that her baby was his rather than Jason's. James was in Kirsten Storms and Kelly Monaco's age range. Roger, on the other hand...well...with his height and size compared to James, even Kirsten and Kelly, it's like a decade older giant. There's like a decade age difference between Roger and James. Plus the height, body mass, all different. I know it's what happens when a recast happens but every time those 'memories' were brought up for Roger with Kirsten and Kelly, it just does not bode well with me.

I would have preferred Roger to be a completely different and brand new character like Silas Clay and Kiki Jerome. My ideas were having Roger play Lucy Coe's brother, or, as he's now being as Heather and Scott's son, but not as Franco. Keep the storyline of when Heather and Scott conceived their baby and Heather selling him off as she had done with her other son, Steven. Then have this brand new man coming to Port Charles trying to find his biological parents. Yes, it's been known to happen so many times before (Carly was one!) but at least it would've been much better than resurrecting a negative-reacted character like Franco. 

The Mirror of Yourself

You look in the mirror
do you sense fear?
How do you really know if you are happy?
From not being too sappy
what is your reflection trying to tell you?
Look at your face, you are turning blue
you are hiding something from me
trying not to let anyone see
You are like a balloon floating with no air
having reasons that does not seem fair
A haunting feeling that eased into your mind
the troubles are making you blind
All you want to do is to disappear
do you ever look at your true self in the mirror?

Originally written in 2000, revised in 2002

I Don't Like Pink Floyd

I must be one of the very few people on Earth who does not like Pink Floyd. At first I thought I was the only one but I did manage find someone else who doesn't like the rock band so it's very comforting that I'm not alone in this.
I can tolerate 2 songs: Money and We Don't Need No Education
Other than that, no thanks.
One time when I was a teenager, my Mom and I used to go to these laser shows at the Planetarium where they played rock music- they've had Queen, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the greats! This is when I realized I didn't like Pink Floyd. When they did a Pink Floyd night my mom likes them a lot and at the time I thought they were okay so while the show was happening I found myself dozing off. I've never dozed off at a laser show! I'm usually the one that's singing and seat-dancing! But not this time. Zzzzzzzzz
I remember telling my boss that I didn't like Pink Floyd and he looked at me as though I came from another planet and thought I was nuts. He pointed out that they had some sort of connection with the Beatles by playing in Abbey Road Studios and having George Martin as a Producer. So? A lot of music have been recorded at Abbey Road and George Martin worked with a lot of musicians (and comedians) so what's the point? I am also aware that the members of the band are friends with The Beatles; even one of the members owns Julian Lennon's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds drawing. Sure that's impressive, but the music still doesn't sway me.
Although here's one cute brief story: when I was around 10 years old I was in a wedding party and we were discussing Pink Floyd and, being naive and not knowing much about the band, I asked "what were his parents names? Red and White?"

Driving Pet Peeves

Here's a very honest confession: I didn't start driving until I was 22 years old. Not 16, like a normal teenager would be. I never even sneaked out and "borrowed" my mom's car for the night! However I did have my reasons at the time and to this day I stand by those reasons, while my family thought that I was an odd duck (or a black sheep?) as they couldn't wait to drive and did some sneaking going around. I'm pretty positive that my family wondered if I was biologically part of the family or if I belong in a mental institution.
My two main reasons:
1) My first "love" (another honest confession: my first 'love' and I were never a couple- by the time we started to talk, school was getting out for good and we were both to go to different high schools so our chance of being together never happened but boy oh boy, was I crazy about him!) died in a car accident in 1998. He had a car with a sunroof and when he maneuvered from another earlier accident, he lost control of his car. He wasn't wearing a seat belt and practically flew out of his sunroof while his car was tumbling around itself. He had two other girls with him- one girl also wasn't wearing a seat-belt and both of them died while the other girl wore hers and survived. Not a pretty death (then again, what death is pretty?). He was 17 years old. We hadn't been in touch for a few years and I heard about it from a friend who told me it was in the paper. Of course I went digging for the newspapers and found it. I still have the print out of the article in my high school scrapbook. Message: Always wear your seat-belt!
Note: In this blog, there's quite a few poems dedicated to him 

2) When my family were at the age of learning to drive and such, they lived in small quiet communities. Me? Not so much! Just down the road is a very busy street. It's not like a simple town, no, it's practically a city! So many fast automobiles that it just terrified me. I live in an area that you would have to be on your toes and be alert at all times.
I remember explaining this to my Grandmother and I guess she finally understood it, especially after the experience of tense driving in another busy city where I lived for 2 years for college.
Last year I found out that my Mom's cousin also took a long time to get a driver's license herself at my age (22) but her reasoning was that she did NOT like to drive in the snow. She's terrified and even to this day she refuses to drive in snow. She'll drive in rain, sunshine, but not snow. At least it's nice for me to know that I was not alone in getting my driver's license in my 20s rather than 16.

Now for my pet peeves...
1) I would be minding my own business, concentrating on where I was going and all of the sudden from the corner of my eye I would see a car (truck or whatever) coming right at me on the side! Scary, right? Except, the car would be on it's turning lane on the other side in the opposite direction and about to make a turn- either to a driveway of some building or a U-turn. I HATE THAT!!!!!!! Why couldn't the driver just wait 2 more seconds before start to go??? It would certainly ease my heart to rest rather than jumping into my throat and causing me to panic in fear that I'll get hit.

2) Speaking of being in a turning lane...I would be on there, waiting for my turn to go across the street in my car and wait and wait and wait...until some stupid impatient ass honks! It's one of those times when I wish my car can talk or flash a sign to say a few things like:
-Don't YOU see cars coming?
-Excuse me, but I don't want to DIE because of you or have my beautiful car injured because of your impatient ass
-If you don't like it, then go around and let's see how YOU manage
-I'm not a daredevil or Evel Knievel so shut the *blank* up
I do swear that if I'm ever in an accident because of some asshole honked at me, then I will make that person pay for the damages as well as my hospital bill because it would be on them.

George Harrison's Birthday Confusion

Happy 70th Birthday George...

For many years, I've heard that George's birthday was actually on the 24th rather than the 25th but I've learned since that that was, and still is, a load of crap. It was said that George was born 10 minutes before midnight but here's the fact: George was born 10 minutes AFTER midnight. Not before. I do know who was the one who started this ridiculous rumor- it's an author who has written many books about the Beatles, I will even admit as far as owning a few. He may be a pretty good researcher on interview archives but when it comes to facts- especially regarding George's birth- that he's not good at. My mom actually asked the birthday confusion to George's sister Louise who confirmed that George was born on the 25th. NOT the 24th. She said it was a load of rubbish. Now, I don't know about you, but I would rather much believe the SISTER who was there and watched George grow up as a baby till he was a little boy before she moved to America after getting married rather some bullshit author who would change dates around. Poor George, even he got sucked into this whirlwind of rumors and uncertainty.

This same guy that started this sick rumor claimed that George's middle name was Harold. George Harold Harrison. Don't believe that! It's plain George Harrison. No middle name. There was no middle name on the birth certificate as it did with John Winston Lennon and James Paul McCartney. I've seen copies of all their birth certificates and on George's, there was no Harold. The only Harold on the birth certificate was his father. George also has a brother named Harold. Both of his brothers have middle names but not George (weirdly enough). Both George and Ringo do not have middle names.

So to be clear:
Lie: George Harold Harrison was born on February 24, 1943
Truth: George Harrison was born on February 25, 1943

GH vs. OLTL

There's been quite a drama lately on daytime television with a battle between Prospect Park and ABC.
After ABC canceled One Life to Live last year, Prospect Park brought the rights- including the characters- to bring the show back to life but online. However, the project failed when they didn't raise enough money until recently when they did get funds. Now, they've got some actors signed up to return back to their characters (same with All My Children), including new Executive Producers and Head Writers. I believe they even got studios lined up to film and will start production in mid-March. For some reason, Prospect Park seem to think that Todd Manning, Starr Manning, and John McBain (who are currently on General Hospital, as a crossover transplants after One Life to Live bid farewell on ABC) would help publicize the new launch on Itunes or Hulu or Hulu Plus. This is what is causing the drama. While Prospect Park own the characters, ABC have the actors under contract. It's a very unique situation. I've heard that they've been trying to work out a deal so that they can cross over but remain mainly on General Hospital as the actors are very happy to be on the show. I personally think that they are a perfect fit to the cast. Roger Howarth and Michael Easton, in particular, pretty much sizzle with everyone on General Hospital has to offer, great chemistry. Kristen Alderson is not bad herself (Starr has been annoying me lately- she's gotten to be Ms. Goody-Goody Two Shoes. Where's that Cramer/Manning spazz? Where's that girl who used to use her snakes as weapons against Max Holden? I'm thinking that if Starr and Max ever cross paths today, they would have tea and muffins without any tricks). Now, Prospect Park has an idea to recast the roles of Todd, John, and Starr which would possibility mean that ABC/General Hospital has to rename their characters on their show. What? Why? That's stupid. Some actors do come back to the soap opera as a completely different character as before (Sarah Brown is one prime example- she was the original Carly Corinthos and left; few years later she returned as a completely different character as Claudia Zacharra before she was killed off) but there's a few years in between. Not back-to-back. How would you explain the storylines that Todd, Starr, and John have been a part of and then turn around, pulling a Dallas (when Bobby Ewing was thought to be dead but was found showering in the shower instead- turned out to the a dream). That's such a hassle and a big waste of time. Big waste of anything really!

There's another issue I'm carrying on my shoulders: to tell you the truth, as much as I do love One Life to Live and was very heartbroken when it was canceled, I'm over it. I really don't want it to return. It's a little too late if you ask me. Prospect Park had their chance during the first go-around but now, a year later, it feels not right. In fact, I still don't believe that it's a 100% deal, no matter how much confirmation there is from all over the place. I will believe that it's back the day after the show airs. Anything can go wrong from now till the day the actors come to the set for the first day of filming. I've moved on. Another issue: Roger Howarth shouldn't use his talent craft on the computer. He's the TV kind. A High-definition big screen TV kind. He's my eye-candy.
I really hope and pray that whatever Prospect Park/ABC decides, it should make the fans happy. That should be the important thing, right?

Spanish Taking Over

I live in South Florida- I'm surrounded by Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Columbians, Peruvians, you name it. Especially the Cubans. Considering it's 90 miles from Cuba to Key West so many of them have arrived here by boat. I remember being in high school, the joke with Row Row Your Boat (a child's song) to Row Row Your Raft. And of course, I hear the spanish language everywhere I go. South Florida is Northern Cuba (Raphie May wasn't kidding when he made that joke in one of his comedy specials)

I get that America is the land of immigrants. My own family's orgins are from Italy, Scotland, and Ireland.

But here's what pisses me off the most: being looked down upon by these Cubans (especially) for not speaking their language. Excuse me? No I don't have to learn Spanish because I have to. Last I checked, the United States of America's main language was English. Last I checked, Florida was part of the U.S., therefore it's an American state. Last I checked, I'm an American born who is speaking the right language: English.
Now, if I was living in France, or even Spain, or China, then you bet that I'll be trying my best to pick up their native language to survive! I can understand the elderly old people who are too old to pick up a new language- I've heard that learning a new language is much more harder on adults than it is for kids.
My great great grandmothers were Italian immigrants. One of them (who was quite a tyrant) was too old to learn the new language- however she encouraged her children to learn English. They adapted the American lifestyle of hamburgers and hot dogs into their life of pasta. Another example is that my friend's father was from Lativia who spoke 5 languages before coming to the U.S. including perfect English; his daughter was taught Lativian and German first then English and speaks better English than most Americans. Why? Because they had to speak English in this country.

I'm all for keeping in touch with your native country's heritage but if you're going to live in a different country, you're going have to adapt to it and make it work.

With the spanish/Cubans taking over, it's getting very very hard to find a job, especially if you only speak English. These days, it's a requirement to be bilingual. Ad-billboards, stores are getting all hispanic on me. Last year I had a bad craving for a gyro (Greek food) and at the time I only knew one place to get it so I drove 45 minutes in morning traffic and found out that this Greek diner suddenly became a Latin diner. I was MAD!!!!
With these spanish people refusing to learn their new country's language, I have to wonder: what are they going to do when they get transferred (by a job) to Iowa? Or Wisconsin? Those states are english, english, english. They'll be screwed! They'll be wishing that they had taken the time to learn the english language.

Pretending

For quite a number of years (basically since I've had the internet), I have seen many profiles- in Yahoo Groups, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, everywhere!- of celebrities. Except they are usually not celebrities, but 'regular' people pretending to be that celebrity. Even dead ones! Now some are humorous, a parody of sort- and that's okay but to actually say "yes I did that movie" is going too far. I do understand obsession, believe me I do as I do have quite a few of my own, but I also have a limit.
If you are a fan: then do a blog, a website, fan page on Facebook or Myspace or Twitter to post news, pictures, whatever you get your hands on. You can display your love for them that way while being yourself. I can live with that.
But to pretend you are Marilyn Monroe? Or Princess Diana? That's going to the extreme.
Another thing is character profiles. People who actually make twitter or facebook or myspace or whatever as a character from a TV show or movie. These people actually pretend to be that fake character. Easy does it now! It may be a little cute at first but if you keep going at it, then something may be wrong with you

It's unfortunate that celebrities do have a hard time- when they have twitter they have to be 'verified' or post a picture of themselves with their profile so that normal regular people wouldn't have to fall into that scam/trick to think that they're chatting with Jeremy Piven when they're actually not. It's sad really.

Idiot of the Year (or all the time): Donald Trump

Source: Donald Trump's Twitter
Truthfully I don't care who you voted for- Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama- after all it's YOUR choice so seeing Donald supporting Mitt is not really my problem. I do have two problems with him however:
1) his proud ego that his building suffered very little/no damage from Hurricane Sandy
2) his sudden pick on on Richard Belzer (Comedian and Detective Munch on Law & Order: SVU)

1- Hurricane Sandy was a category 1 Hurricane, something that I've been through plenty of times as I do live in South Florida. While New York, New Jersey (especially), and all the other New England states have been suffering with no power, The Donald with the hair that does not have any movement whatsoever (not even when the wind blows) boosted that his building was still standing strong. Blah blah blah. I wonder what exactly he's been doing to help the unfortunate victims who weren't so lucky? Probably saying a lot of talk of charity but keeping his wallet and checkbook tight closed in his pockets. I do know that Donald has a building here in Miami Beach. I've passed by it a couple of times and it sits right at the Atlantic Ocean (as do lots of hotels), it's also the main entry way of Hurricane's path. I wonder how he would feel that his pride and joy Miami building would falter under category 4 or 5 Hurricane? He's lucky- New York rarely gets Hurricanes. They are very capable- as proven with last year's Irene and now Sandy- to go up North but at this time of year Winter is starting to move in with snow which weakens the Hurricane (they need warm/hot water to be a monster like Katrina or Andrew) and typically North Carolina/Virginia would be the highest it would go during the summer before drifting up even more north but in the Atlantic Ocean where they would disappear. With all his ego, I can't help but pray to have a category 5 Hurricane (risking my own life) just to have his Trump building fall down. I know it's evil but the way he goes on and on, I want karma to kick him in the ass.

2- on his twitter, Donald decided to pick on Richard Belzer. I guess he caught an episode of Law & Order and thought to himself (after having 'wars' with Rosie O'Donnell and President Obama with the issue of his birth certificate) that he needed to have someone to pick on. Bully. He claimed that Richard has no talent. Excuse me? Richard Belzer has been in the entertainment business (as a comedian and actor) a hell of a lot longer than Donald has been in the real estate business. Luckily other tweeters have been stepping up to Richard's defense and I'm sure Richard will use this as his advantage. After all, he's a comedian and you can get comedy out of tragedy...or stupidity. I can see Richard having a field day with this. Go Richard!

Donald, do us all a favor and stick to what you are good at: Real Estate. Leave the comedians alone or else they would rip your butt to shreds (if they haven't already).

One Life to Live Canceled

Originally written on May 14, 2011

When I heard that One Life to Live was canceled I was LIVID!!!!! Although I'm not really livid anymore weeks after the announcement, I am still pissed off and hurt by the news. I think it will take me a LONG time to get over this, especially come January when it goes off the air.

I started to watch it regularly around 2001- prior to that I would watch it random only because in the promos during General Hospital whenever Roger Howarth as Todd was on, he was making some funny comment so curious me decided to check it out. I continued to watch OLTL in 2003 when Roger left to go on As the World Turns (which was on at the same time as One Life) and Trevor St. John stepped into the Todd Manning shoes. I did love Trevor and I didn't do what many viewers have done "he's not the real Todd" stuff. However, a good year or two so into when Spencer Truman character joined the show, it got too much for me. Spencer Truman was EVERYWHERE! Connected in every storyline imaginable with all the characters. I was so sick of this bad guy that I stopped watching for a few years. Even after Spencer was murdered, I didn't return. I figured it was too late to return now that most of the characters have moved on and there were also a lot of new characters in so it would've been complicated to go back into the loop. However, I did read up on it in Soaps In Depth magazines.

Then when news came out that Todd Manning will have another child, Dani with Tea, I decided to check in about it. I started off slow, recording the episodes that had the description about Dani and the Manning family. It wasn't long before I started to watch every day and putting OLTL on my season pass to record along with General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful.

A year later? This happens.

It totally breaks my heart, very heartbreaking. I've tried what I could do to convince ABC to change their minds but it appears that their minds have been made up long before the announcement became public. All My Children was canceled too. You know what they are going to be replaced? The Chew, which will be a foodie show with Mario Batali and Michael Symon. Now I like those two, from Iron Chef America, and the show will replace All My Children. Then some other show, I think it's called The Revolution, a doctor-type-health program that will replace One Life to Live. DON'T WE HAVE ENOUGH TALK SHOWS AS IT IS???? If I want to watch anything regarding about food, then I'll turn to The Food Network, Cooking Channel, Bravo's Top Chef, or Rachael Ray's talk show on network tv (for me it's on CBS). If I want to watch a health show, there's The Doctors, there's even a health network! We have enough of these things!!!! ABC already has enough TV shows about doctors- Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Body of Proof- why do they need a talk show about health? That stupid The Revolution show is definitely NOT going to be the show I'm going to watch. It will be over before it gets started and I hope ABC will one day be kicking their own asses for their stupidity.

Then there's that stupid Oprah who decided not to save the soaps on her OWN network. Lady, your network isn't doing very well as it did when it first launch and it doesn't have impressive shows to watch so do yourself a favor and reconsider it. You got the money, you are a smart woman, use your brain! But noooooooo...

UPDATE: The Revolution was canceled after about 4 months. General Hospital moved to One Life to Live's timeslot while Katie Couric's talk show took over GH's former timeslot. Brian Frons stepped down from being the #1 boss of ABC Daytime.