In Demand

Booked solid this week: Monday & Friday at L.T., Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at C.B., and L.T. said they would need me on Wednesday night for a couple of hours, which means a minimum of 4 hours as that's the minimum billing charge at A. Sweet. It's nice to be in demand. And if S. calls, I will try to squeeze them in Tuesday or Thursday nite. This could be the week that really gets me caught up, or close to it. Actually I need about a month where I'm booked solid every day. At least this week it looks like I made the right choice in not giving up the freelance stuff. I still haven't told anyone I gave the hotel job up after 3 days. Most people wouldn't understand my logic. They never do. So this is an exclusive WardensWorld scoop!

Pseudo-celebrity sighting: Last Wednesday, I think it was, near Madison Square Garden, saw a pensive bordering on sad-looking Curtis Sliwa, the former Mafia Kidnapping Victim & current Right Wing Talk Radio Blowhard, wearing his trademark Guardian Angels red beret & red jacket, with Curtis emblazoned in cursive across his chest. I mean, if you were kidnapped even once, would you make it easy for future kidnappers to identify you or would you at the least adopt some rudimentary disguise?...

...I'm still trying to figure out which is more disturbing when it comes to North Korean madman Kim Jong Il: his ridiculous hairdo or the fact that he owns the planet's largest collection of Daffy Duck videos. Oh yeah, and he has killed millions of his own people through starvation and labor camps in his police state and he is intent on trying to create a next world war. This guy makes Our Guy look stable.

If you added up the total viewing time I spent watching American Idol, it would be under an hour. That's not just this year, it's all the years. Does that make me a perfect sentient being? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing I am not is a sheep, which sets me apart from most Americans. Idol is nothing more than a totally manufactured, overhyped talent contest. And because of it we now have to be subjected to this year's "winner" Taylor Whatshisname's horrid caterwauling on those near-ubiquitous car commercials. It doesn't seem fair that those of us who avoided watching that crap night after night are now exposed to an overexposed hack of a singer. Let me get this straight: people are supposed to choose a certain vehicle based on this ad campaign? I think it's more likely that anyone hearing this guy will drive off the road. Bloody awful.

American Idol is on a list of network shows that I will never watch; it joins the following shows that give me a feeling of nausea deep in the pit of my stomach: Lost, House, any home makeover show, all state-sponsored propaganda like 24, any medical or hospital show, anything on CBS with an acronym in it, including CSI, NCIS, JAG; any show where a bunch of vapid, braindead young narcissists share a house or an apartment (except for America's Next Top Model), all teenage soap opera fare that runs endlessly on the WB or on UPN (except for the always amusing Gilmore Girls); any fictional portrayal of the life of a president (i.e., West Wing, Commander in Chief); all Survivor incarnations, and most police procedural dramas, including Law & Order, although I used to love NYPD Blue in its heyday. Obviously that doesn't leave much except the aforementioned Top Model, reruns of King of Queens, The Simpsons and Seinfeld, The Office (the American one), some Sex & The City, Girlfriends (also known as the Black Sex & The City), the occasional Jeopardy, Hell's Kitchen, Globetrekker, Antiques Roadshow once in a while and New York Noise. When I had cable I really only watched HBO, Independent Film Channel and Turner Classic Movies. I thought Deadwood was the best show in many years, heads & shoulders above the criminally overrated Sopranos. That's about it in this age of the reality show nightmare. Then there's radio, reading and listening to music. And oh yeah, going outside.