The Spinward Marches

Hello fellow human and others...

I know it's been a long time since the last blog. I'd like to blame it on any number of external reasons, but mostly it's just laziness. So to catch up, here answers to the questions that most often come my way.

!- The usual: How do the three of you on GDLA REALLY get along?

I think it's all up there on the screen. Sometimes it's tense, the mood swings can be dazzling (just check out the suppressed terror in my eyes) but mostly it's pretty good. Of course we can turn on each other in a blink, but hey...what's family for?

2-Steve, how much longer will you do GDLA?

At least until next Wednesday, maybe Thursday

3-Steve, who is your favorite, Dot or jill?

What,....are you nuts?

4-Steve...Are you proud of GDLA?

Yes. at least half the time (maybe a third)

5-Do you REALLY REALLY all get along

You know, we've been together for almost 13 years. Think about it, in that time, Jill's gotten married, found her birth parents, made a wonderful new marriage, and had a baby. Dorothy had the much talked about Nash, who's growing up to be quite a boy ....and I've just gotten older, with several hair color changes. We can say bad things about each other...but you can't.

6- Steve, what is the secret of your success?

Restate the question more accurately

6b-Okay....How have you been on tv so long?

Do you mean...just this morning?

7- Steve, do you have a motto you live by?

Yes....Blame nobody, aim high but expect little and be grateful as hell for whatever you get!I

8-Do you Really live by that?

Sometimes.

9- Steve, are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Yes I was... in the 6th grade.


Okay now questions for you...
Do you watch the debates, do you find them more annoying then enlightening?
What if the world had a moratorium on Brittany for a month? What is wrong with us anyway?
Given the impact of the writer's strike, what one show would you hate to see go away.

Bless you all for paying attention to us and have a great weekend!!!

Hey, it's been a while!

There are few absolute certainties, guaranteed slam dunks in this world, right? But here's one, on live TV three hours day, I'm going to get things wrong, make some big mistakes. Bet on it!

I don't mean when my mind has entirely left the room, and at the end of the show on a Tuesday, I wish everybody a good weekend; or when my brain is now on another planet and I look at Jill and Dorothy and get them confused ( I think that's the medication kicking in) or the time I referred to the historical and tragic landmark in Dallas as the Texas School.... Suppository...no those are just what Dot would call brain farts...uh.. toots in her house.

I also don't mean all the comments and opinions that fly around all the time on GDLA, sometimes based a a real grasp of the subject at hand, often based on a feeling, a whim,that quickly passes and is immediately forgotten. Or when a guest is looking at Jill and giving an answer and Jill wonders why the guest is looking at her, totally forgetting she just asked her the question 40 second earlier...Nah, not that stuff

When I make the real factual error, there are always some viewers who catch it and send me corrections and I really appreciate that...really....most of the time.

for instance...in talking about EPO the performance enhancing drug, I referred to it as a steroid, but it is a synthetic hormone. Not a big deal? well it's inaccurate and it is a big deal and several of you caught it and I'm the wiser for it and won't do it again.
In fact, even though I sometimes(more than that) come off as Know- It- All ( which Jill and Dot don't hesitate to point out) , what I really feel is how little I know; that each day is a learning experience for me and I hope..you. Getting the facts and context right are things I take very seriously on the show, the rest of the stuff is party time. ,

Okay, I'm a little pompous at times.

But I was thinking....maybe, the blog is a good place for you to catch errors I've made and could work as a corrective. Maybe that's like saying here's a a bat swing away.
What do you think?

Huh?

Slick and Sleek Here's the deal on the movie Fracture:

it is is sleekly, done beautiful looking and provides a good workout with Master Devious himself, Sir Athony and the exploding Ryan Gosling. Anthony Hopkins is a very successful guy who, when all others are confused, can point his finger at the basic flaw in a complicarted jet engine etc. He's brilliant, the smartest guy in the room, except... His wife is cheating on him, so he kills her and plans to get away with it. Into this scheme come assistant DA Gosling, a hotshot on his way out of the DA's office to the glamorous,sexy and high paying world of corporate law, but first he has to handle this little slam dunk murder case(sounds like I'm giving too much away, but im not). It turns out o be a slam...but no dunk. It becomes a cat and mouse game and while there are some key moments where you might say,"oh come on" it all works. LA has never looked better, in fact, I wish director Greg Hoblit ( who's really good at this kind of movie) would have lingered a little longer on some of the views. So you've got Hopkins and Gosling and Fracture...not bad at all!

Mike Becomes Christine I don't know Mike Penner, the sportswriter at the LATimes, but was moved by his announcement after 40 years of dealing with it, he is changing his gender;:(see his article here) when he comes back from vacation he will be Christine Daniels. It's a brave thing to do but ultimately he feels he had no choice. Whatever the basis for his transexuality (perhaps events dring his mother's pregnancy) he has been a woman living in a man's body. I liked the comment of his boss, Randy Harvey when Penner told him of the change, he looked out at the sports department and said now there'll be more diversity! Good luck Christine!

The Race is On And a comment about the presidential contenders and pretenders. We seems to treat the race for the presidency as a popularity contest; who's got the best personality, who is more likeable. but remember, it's not American Idol, it's America's future. While it may be about character or piety or wit or looks, it's really about policy and vision. I wish most americans would get as involved in thinking about the process as we do with thinking about Sanjaya and Lindsey Lohan.

Those are my comments..... yours? My best to all of you!

Hello again..... No movie review this time, (check Elaine's), but how about a review of Goodday LA? It's astounding to think that the three of us have been doing this thing for almost 12 years!

When we we started together there were 5 morning shows and we finished about 12th in the ratings. There was a day we had what is referred to as hash marks, i.e., officially, no one was watching. We had more people operating the studio cameras than we had viewers! There was another when we had an interview with the former Surgeon-General of the United States who was basically fired by her long time friend, Bill Clinton, because she advocated masturbation as a way of reducing teenage pregnancies and sexualy transmitted diseases. She came on the show and talked about the dissapointment and betrayal she felt from her former friend whom she believed had caved into political pressure and was being a hypocrite in his actions. We all thought it was a great and truly interesting segment......Three people were watching. I think we had four when it started and we ended up with two...so the average was three. Maybe all three liked it. i'm not sure. We had some strengths, Tony McEwing foremost among them,but it took time. Eventually the show evolved into what it is today . We've described it many ways....You give us 20 minutes, we'll give you a headache

or...... How much can one man take?....

which Jill and Dorothy now call , How much can two women take? Or, We're Number One... There's no accounting for taste! I attribute what success we've had to the leadin that Tony and Jean and Lisa B give us...

and the advantage we have with Rick in the chopper

and strong reporters with big tv presence in the field, Rick L, Nischel , Elizabeth, Bobby Dl, ( you should check their blogs..but I realize that I'm too close to the action to fully get why the three of us just don't annoy everybody to death. We annoy ourselves! But have you noticed, slowly, over the years that we, in spite of ourselves, started having a good time? I I'm just free associating and a real review is beyond my ability to separate myself from the noise...so.... even though this may sound like a cop out... You Do The Review!!!!!!!! What is your take on GDLA? Why do watch? Why do you not watch? Go to comments or whatever it is called and fire away!!!!!