A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Pros:  Interesting, if slightly flawed concept.  Good script.  Nice acting. Cons:  Tends to perpetuate the myth of Nazi efficiency.  Otherwise, none. Patterns of Force:  Parallel Worlds, TV Production Politics and  Star Trek  Explained  Considering the socio-cultural and financial success of Paramount’s  Star Trek  franchise – a multi-media colossus rivaled perhaps only by J.K. Rowling’s  Harry Potter  and George Lucas’  Star Wars  empires – over the past 46 years, it’s hard to remember the reality that Gene Roddenberry’s Original Series was not given too much support from NBC,  the network on which it originally aired. Of course, to those fans who saw  Star Trek  during its broadcast network run (1966-1969) and those who latched on to Trekker status in the decade that followed its cancellation and eventual rebirth in syndication, the show’s struggles to survive on the air is part of the  Star Trek  legend.   Star Trek  was, after all, the first show in history to be saved

Hi there, Constant Reader. It’s 2:45 p.m. EST in Miami, and the current temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit under sunny skies. With humidity at 30% and the wind blowing at 9 mph from the northwest, the feels-like temperature is 74 degrees Fahrenheit. All in all, it’s a beautiful late winter day in South Florida. I am to a slow start today with my writing. To be honest, I don’t really feel like writing much; I have not thought about any topics for an Examiner article, not even a movie or book review. And yet, I know in my heart that I must write something. It doesn’t have to be anything spectacular, mind you. It can be something sublime, profane, or even mundane. The writing gods are not as picky as your garden-variety English composition teacher. The literary deities are as content with a well-written article as they are with a relatively insignificant blog entry.  They don’t care what I write about. It could be my shopping list for Winn Dixie – as long as I write. As I sit h

Hi, there, Constant Reader. It's now 3:29 p.m. EST in Miami, Florida. The current temperature is a summery 86 degrees Fahrenheit under cloudy skies. With humidity at 54% and a south-southwesterly breeze blowing at 10 mph (with gusts of up to 30 mph), the feels-like temperature is 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though I don't particularly want to, I have the air conditioner on, It's that hot. Worse still, a cold front is on its way to South Florida. It passed through Tampa earlier today and caused heavy rains and high winds, and we can expect at least some showers and stiff breezes here tonight. Hopefully that's all we'll get; last night WPLG, the local ABC affiliate, posted a weather forecast on Facebook that included the possibility of strong thunderstorms and even tornadoes. Luckily, the front is still dozens of miles away from here and my computer's AccuWeather app says no precipitation is expected within the next two hours. Late yesterday evening I went fo

Hi there, Constant Reader. It’s 11:03 a.m. EST on a cool Saturday morning in Miami. The current temperature is 76 degrees Fahrenheit under cloudy skies. With an east-northeasterly wind blowing at 15 mph (gusts of up to 21 mph) and humidity levels at 51%, the feels-like temperature is 76 degrees Fahrenheit. So it’s not too chilly here, but not warm enough to turn on the air conditioner. I have been reading a lot over the past few days. Partly because I have been a voracious reader since I was a child, partly because I am a book reviewer for Examiner, but mostly because I need to read a lot in order to be a good writer. Right now my main focus is non-fiction, with an emphasis on U.S. military and political history. I’m also half-heartedly reading some fiction, especially Stephen King’s 11/22/63 and his epic Dark Tower series. I used to post my “current reading lists” at the now-defunct Bubblews and the soon-to-be defunct Persona Paper every so often, especially in “blog doldrums

It's quiet in my writing nook here in what used to be our dining room. I'm waiting for my lunch (two Nathan's hot dogs and Pepperidge Farm buns) to be ready. I'm not usually a lunch person, but I've been up since 6:57 a.m. and I ate breakfast about an hour later, so I'm a bit hungry now. I'm also waiting for a phone call from the substitute home health aide; our regular HHA had to take care of some personal business and asked Nursing South for the day off.  The sub called at 9 this morning and said she'd be here around 1 or so this afternoon; it's now 1:44 p.m. and she has not called yet. Most annoying, I think, but substitute HHAs often say they'll be here at X hour and end up getting here at Y. Either they get delayed by their duties in other patients' houses or get lost on the way here...but it's always something with the people from Nursing South. Mom slept well last night. In fact, she slept 14 hours, with only one interrupti

The following column was first published in the Opinions page of  Catalyst  on March 6, 1986, the day after my 23rd birthday:   It's cold outside and darkness is setting in as I fidget on a hard concrete bench at the bus stop. I have done everything that I had to do today -- wrote my column, studied for tomorrow's test, called a few contacts for stories and all the other jobs on my list. Now I'm free.  Out there, somewhere, a bus is making its way through heavy traffic, depositing people here, picking up people there. Its course is not a straight line from point A to point B; it zig-zags all over the place. It will take 20 or 30 minutes to reach campus. If the traffic is heavy, perhaps longer.  I look around. There are 15, maybe 20, people sitting, standing, pacing back and forth. On a bench to my left, a pair of basketball players concentrates on their textbooks.  A wizened old woman, obviously neither student nor faculty -- her clothes seem almost as old as she is -- smok

Hi, there, Constant Readers. It's Monday, November 24, 2014, and right now the temperature in Miami is 86 degrees Fahrenheit under mostly clear skies. The humidity levels are tolerable, but the heat index outside is 96 degrees. Much too summery for my taste; if it wasn't for all the pre-Black Friday ads online and elsewhere, I'd have forgotten that Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday. I apologize for not being a Constant Writer, folks. I haven't been tending to my blog as much I should, but the complications of being a caregiver to a sick parent, trying to find online revenue streams to replace Epinions and Yahoo Voices (a.k.a. Associated Content), the stresses of managing my household finances, and a host of other issues have made a hash of my plans for "A Certain Point of View."  It's hard for me to find a good balance between my personal and working lives, especially when both inevitably overlap. I've been fairly busy over at Examiner, where I&