The Taxman or It’s Tuesday

“I’m the Taxman… Ye-ah, I’m the Taxman…”

– The Beatles

Well, I already did my taxes, so whatever. 😉 Pity the other poor New Yorkers who are hoofing to the main post office at this hour, probably still figuring out what deductions or whatnot. (one word: TurboTax!)

Then again, what right have we to moan about last minute tax filing? we New Yorkers got the extra 24 hours thanks to Patriot Day in Massachusetts, the state where NY’ers’ taxes get processed. NJ and CT folks were not so lucky.

Hawaii’s little fish with the long name gets to be the state fish again. I still don’t understand how this fish lost its title as state fish in the first place.

Some tv commentary – I’ve taken to watching “West Wing” again (I know, I know, I’m foresaking “The Simpsons” on Sundays to do this, but frankly, “The Simpsons” will be back next season; “West Wing” won’t). Leo’s funeral wasn’t really shown, and it would’ve been nice (but then, NBC’s budget probably couldn’t afford giving all the necessary guest stars speaking lines, so the West Wing producers and writers did what they could). Rob Lowe – where are you already? They couldn’t get Rob Lowe’s Sam Seaborn even an appearance in the Leo funeral portion? But, the preview looks like Sam’ll be on next week, with Josh offering him Josh’s own old White House job (Josh has been offered Leo’s old post, as White House Chief of Staff, and Josh isn’t sure yet about accepting, but he’s sure going through the motions of it anyway; and so he goes and offers his old Deputy White House Chief of Staff job to Sam? Good Lord, imagine if there had been another season (besides that Rob Lowe wouldn’t agree to return, but if he did) – it could have been a return of the old Sam and Josh hijinks? Aww, man! I’m getting the Best of West Wing nostalgia).

And, by the way – ABC’s recent re-make of “Ten Commandments” – umm, sorry, I only caught part of Part one, and it wasn’t very good. I missed the corny yet charismatic vibes of Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. Plus, the remake only made the gaps of the original that much more obvious (i.e., the re-make’s showing of how Moses went from Prince of Egypt to living in the desert to seeing the burning bush in a few quick scene changes couldn’t get me to suspend my belief in reality at all). Fortunately, ABC still showed Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner anyway, and I managed to catch two scenes (the Red Sea part and the part where Yul Brynner’s Pharoah couldn’t believe that Moses’ God would kill all the Egyptian first-born sons). My annual thing done.
Slate’s tv critic Troy Patterson reviews last night’s Celebrity Cooking Showdown. I caught a glimpse of it – I mean, really, Alan Thicke (of the ex-“Growing Pains” fame) as host? Total turnoff (no offense to you, Alan Thicke, but I can’t go back to my childhood to regain my fondness for your old show). And, they made it look like Iron Chef but with soap stars. Huh?

I watched “How I met your mother” on CBS instead. Very funny show. Neil Patrick Harris (the ex-Doogie Howser) has really stolen the show with his character’s antics (and just a hint of angst).

Action

After a long time away, I’m involved again in a small thespian production. I actually only have about 4 lines, but I do a lot of behind the scenes stuff. The good things about a theater production are that they tend to bring people together, and I think that it will do that here. I really do miss it.