Could they all really be accidents? A review of Lifetime's premiere move "The Staircase Murders".
And read this now for I shall watch no more. This TV reality show is not funny, though "Thank God you're Here Purports to Be".
Finally, finally it's spring. A visit to my early spring garden with more promise than flowers.
Pic of the Day
Quote of the DayHEADLINE OF THE WEEK |
| Web Site Worth the Visit Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance The elder amongst us will remember the famous Pledge of Allegiance by comedian Red Skeleton. Here's a site with that pledge written, complete with appropriate artwork and emphasis. Web Post HERE |
| TIDBITS 15 Spectacular tricks to teach your body....... 1.) If you've got an itch in your throat, scratch your ear. When the nerves in the ear get stimulated, they create a reflex in the throat that causes a muscle spasm, which cures the itch. 2.) Having trouble hearing someone at a party or on the phone? Use your right ear…it's better at picking up rapid speech. But, the left is better at picking up music tones. 3.) If you need to relieve yourself BADLY, but you're not anywhere near a bathroom, fantasize about RELATIONS. That preoccupies your brain and distracts it. 4.) Next time the doctor's going to give you an injection, COUGH as the needle is going in. The cough raises the level of pressure in your spinal canal, which limits the pain sensation as it tries to travel to your brain. 5.) Clear a stuffed nose or relieve sinus pressure by pushing your tongue against the roof of your mouth…then pressing a finger between your eyebrows. Repeat that for 20 seconds…it causes the vomer bone to rock, which loosens your congestion and clears you up. 6.) If you ate a big meal and you're feeling full as you go to sleep, lay on your left side. That'll keep you from suffering from acid reflux…it keeps your stomach lower than your esophagus, which will help keep stomach acid from sliding up your throat. 7.) You can stop a toothache by rubbing ice on the back of your hand, on the webbed area between your thumb and index finger. The nerve pathways there stimulate a part of the brain that blocks pain signals from your mouth. 8.) If you get all messed up on liquor, and the room starts spinning, put your hand on something stable. The reason: Alcohol dilutes the blood in the part of your ear called the cupula, which regulates balance. Putting your hand on something stable gives your brain another reference point, which will help make the world stop spinning. 9.) Stop a nose bleed by putting some cotton on your upper gums…right behind the small dent below your nose…and press against it hard. Most of the bleeding comes from the cartilage wall that divides the nose, so pressing there helps get it to stop. 10.) Nervous? Slow your heart rate down by blowing on your thumb. The vagus nerve controls your heart rate, and you can calm it down by breathing. 11.) Need to breathe underwater for a while??? Instead of taking a huge breath, HYPERVENTILATE before you go under, by taking a bunch of short breaths. That'll trick your brain into thinking it has more oxygen, and buy you about 10 extra seconds. 12.) You can prevent BRAIN FREEZE by pressing your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much surface area as possible. Brain freeze happens because the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, so your brain thinks your whole body is cold. It compensates by overheating…which causes your head to hurt. By warming up the roof of your mouth, you'll chill your brain and feel better. 13.) If your hand falls asleep, rock your head from side to side. That'll wake your hand or arm up in less than a minute. Your hand falls asleep because of the nerves in your neck compressing…so loosening your neck is the cure. If your foot falls asleep, that's governed by nerves lower in the body, so you need to stand up and walk around. 14.) Finally, this one's totally USELESS, but a nice trick. Have someone stick their arm out to the side, straight, palm down. Press down on his wrist with two fingers. He'll resist, and his arm will stay horizontal. Then, have him put his foot on a surface that's half an inch off the ground, like a stack of magazines, and do the trick again. Because his spine position is thrown off, his arm will fall right to his side, no matter how much he tries to resist. 15.) Got the hiccups? Press thumb and second finger over your eyebrows until the hiccups are over - usually shortly. |
Upcoming TV Programs of Note
THIS JUST IN…
from CBS Entertainment
NEW YORK, April 20 -- Sanjaya Malakar, the most recent contestant eliminated from "American Idol," presents the Top Ten List on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Monday, April 23 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Malakar, 17, cultivated a popular following and strong fan base during this season's edition of "Idol," and despite lack of critical acclaim, managed to become one of the top seven finalists before being voted off the show Wednesday, April 18. The LATE SHOW is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Maria Pope, Jude Brennan and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.
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On Wednesday, April 25 th, It will be doggie day on the Oprah show
...this is what it said on her site:
Loving Our Dogs
Calling all dog lovers! Meet the world's smallest and the tallest...he can talk!?! Then, worried about the recent pet food recalls? What Oprah feeds her own four-legged "kids." Plus, the problem that drives dog owners crazy! We are going to show you how to fix it. And, Oprah's personal dog coach shares her breakthrough method for badly behaving dogs! This is going to help you! Today's Oprah
NBC "Thank God You're Here"
It would seem that this might be the last time I ever write about this new show from NBC, and it's also the last time I will write about it.
This show premiered on 4/18/07 and according to NBC's web site on the show:
From the producers of "American Idol," the improvisational hit comedy series that originated in Australia, "Thank God You’re Here," comes to America this Spring. Hosted by David Alan Grier ("In Living Color") and presided over by judge, Dave Foley ("NewsRadio," "Kids In The Hall"), "Thank God You’re Here" showcases the improvisational skills of a group of four brave actors each week, as they walk into a live sketch without a script, their only armor and unforeseen and unexplained wardrobe change. The only thing the celebrity can count on when walking into the scenario is a desperate greeting from a fellow actor in the skit, proclaiming, "Thank God You’re Here!"
The concept seemed a hoot and myself is always up for a laugh. Only I found giggles at a premium as I watched the awkward action as four relatively unknown actors and/or comics walk into a comedic scene where they had to improvise without the help of a script.
One such guest, a Chelsea Handler, walked into a wedding scene in which she was the bride. There ensued a makeshift comedic wedding that involved a lot of toilet and pregnancy humor. I didn't crack a single smile during the whole scene.
Another actor, a George Dukay if I spell it right, a star of the show "Heroes", was a bit funny. George was thrust into a surgery scene and at one point Dukay pointed out that the patient's Adam's apple was in the wrong spot.
There is a judge, Dave Foley (I have no idea what his qualifications are to judge comedy) and he pronounced Dukay's routine as "excellent".
The absolute worst was guest comedian Tom Green. If memory serves me, Tom Green is a bit of a controversial fellow, often getting involved in outrageous stunts on MTV. Why I would have thought this fellow would be perfectly suited to this innovative show!
Instead, Green was hesitant and awkward as comedic lines were handed to him. It appeared as if Green was thinking his response carefully before he answered and in fact, he often did not respond at all to laugh lines practically thrown in his face.
In the end, Judge Dave Foley award Chelsea Handler the winner of the evening although I thought George Dukay was much better.
NBC is really going to have to spiff up this series if it wants success. I figure I'm one to laugh as much as the next guy and the whole hour was but a big bore.
Lifetime's "The Staircase Murders"
My ears perked up when I heard that Lifetime would be premiering a movie based on Michael Peterson of Durham, North Carolina. Note that's "MICHAEL" Peterson, not "SCOTT" and that the locale is "DURHAM" not "DUKE".
I had read this story in a book but it had been many years and my memory was vague. I did recall that Michael Peterson, an author, seemed to have a problem with women in his life falling down the stairs and ending up very dead.
The dynamics of Michael Peterson's life were a bit confusing. Peterson had been married to his first wife, Patty, who was the mother of his sons. He remarried Kathleen, who was stepmother to his children, including two daughters that were adopted by Michael and his first wife. At least I think I have the relationships right, the detail of it all was very confusing. The children were all fond of Kathleen, Michael's second wife.
I counted up five children of Michael Peterson but frankly I never did figure out who was a biological child, who was adopted, and just who the mothers of these children were. Later in the story I did come to understand that two daughters, one named Caitlyn who was instrumental in Michael's trial, were children of an Elizabeth Radcliffe, a woman Michael and his first wife Patty knew from Germany.
Elizabeth's husband did die from a strange death and Elizabeth herself also managed to meet her demise by tumbling down a staircase, again at the same time approximately as a late night visit from Michael. Michael adopted Elizabeth's daughters after her death, which the German police had declared an accident.
Several important items of note...Michael Peterson seemed to really be into porn, judging by the amount of it found on his computer. He also once ran for Mayor of Durham when he claimed to have won two purple hearts but could never produce them upon request. Peterson and his wife Kathleen were also over $142 thousand in debt.
The biggest surprise of all was the revelation that Michael Peterson was gay. Wait. Make that "Bisexual", as Peterson claims. During his trial, a male escort testified as to having made a date with the intention of sexual intimacy.
The investigators were suspicious at the very beginning over Kathleen Peterson's death. The coroner maintained there was no way a fall down the stairs could cause the horrific injuries on Kathleen Peterson's skull. Once it became known that yet another female acquaintance of Michael Peterson met her death by falling down the stairs, prosecutors would not be swayed.
It was daughter Caitlyn who first realized that her father was an accomplished liar. Evidently all of Peterson's other children considered him innocent and it appears that they defend his innocence to this day. A jury found Michael Peterson guilty of murder and Michael Peterson will spend the remainder of his life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Caitlyn Peterson won a wrongful death civil suit against her father. An appeal filed by Peterson's defense team in 2006 did not overturn the original verdict.
Michael Peterson's life story is a strange one, a story of a man who felt no compunction about bashing in the skulls of women who got in his way. And he almost got away with it and as it is, he got a free murder in Germany.
This story will be airing on Lifetime probably many time over the next few months. Make it a point to check it out. Treat Williams does a fine job portraying Michael Peterson. Tune in just to see evil in action.
More TV Reviews HERE
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The Gardens of Spring 07 Tempt and Tease
April of 2007 was a horrible month. In the entire month, up until the day of the pics below, there had been not one single sunny day. Sure, the April month is notorious for wild weather, including rain, snow and in the year of our Lord 2007, one spectacular Noreaster that spanned over four days.
The gray bleak began to wear on my last gardening nerve.
Finally a sunny day showed up and I was surprised. Of course I have a head cold that won't quit but still I work the gardens.
Roses tempt and wave thorny vines. Azaleas allow magenta blooms to peek through. The Wigelia raises its limbs to the sky and promises pretty pink bloom to come. The daffodils already bloomed and these were a blessing during the endless gray. A few tulips raise their bright red blooms as acknowledgement that no mind the gray, it is STILL spring.
So the leaves are raked and the gardens tidied. The sun has finally returned to Serendipity Shore and even as the mucous in my head swirls around with each movement, I feel the warmth of the spring sun and my gardener soul comes alive.
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