Bewitched.

During on-call week I pick a television series to watch off of YouTube whilst I’m working in the middle of the night or waiting on hold with Verizon. This week’s choice is “Bewitched”.

It’s no secret that “Bewitched” is my favourite show of all time. I was always fascinated with the series as a child and I guess that fascination just kind of stuck around. I still find a great delight in watching any of the shows. Back in the 1980s, local independent stations would only show the third through eighth season (the colour episodes); it wasn’t until 1989 that Nick at Nite brought the first two seasons back to television, eventually restoring the prints to today’s expected quality. The first two seasons were colourized in 2000 (along with “I Dream of Jeannie”) when they were re-syndicated. The colourized episodes look colourized but not overly so, though I know from collecting photos and such that the colourization is often wrong, particularly on clothing and makeup shades.

As I grow older I tend to gravitate to the early episodes of the series and I prefer to watch them in black and white, simply because that’s the way they were originally filmed. The early episodes have a more “adult” vibe to them, especially the first 15 episodes or so. I’m in the minority of the fans that populate the various sites around the internet, but I like the show best before Tabatha was born and I especially enjoy all the original actors for the various roles that had replacements over the run of the series. (I even like the first Louise Tate, Irene Vernon, better).

There are a couple of elements from the first couple of episodes that didn’t carry through the series, for example, in the third episode the “Welcome Wagon” comes to visit Samantha in her new house. The doorbell rings and Endora “senses” who it is, remarking “Some of the girls making a call…” in a snide voice. The “mind-reading” element was played down after that, as some felt it was a little too dark for a comedy.

Watching “Bewitched” here and there during the week has made on-call a little easier to deal with. I’m looking forward to digging out the DVDs and picking up the eighth (and final) season when it’s available in July.

Quick aside: a Russian version of “Bewitched” has currently hit the airwaves over there and I have watched a couple of episodes. While I haven’t a clue as to what they’re saying, it appears they are following the original scripts from the first season of the U.S. version. It’s updated, of course but still quite fun to watch. It’s available on YouTube.

bewitched02.jpg.jpeg

And here’s a commercial for the Russian version.

10 May 2009 by Geek 0

096.365



096.365, originally uploaded by iMachias.

Tom and I like to romp on the kitchen floor. He says I smell better than catnip.

7 May 2009 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Surprise!

Capture

So I have been running Windows 7 Ultimate RC (release candidate) on my MacBook Pro since yesterday evening. I have received a couple of e-mails accusing me of being a blasphemous Mac boy. Where hath the “i” in “iMachias” gone?

Never fear, I can reboot into Mac OS X whenever I want. The problem is, I don’t really want to right now. And to tell you the truth, I find this a little surprising, but to be honest the computer geek in me is really liking this Release Candidate of Windows 7.

Here are a couple of observations from the past 24 hours:

  1. Windows 7 is running faster than Mac OS X does.
  2. My battery is lasting longer under Windows 7 than it does under Mac OS X.
  3. I miss the ability to “print to PDF” for sharing documents electronically. Is there a way to do it in Windows that I’m missing? In OS X I can just “print to PDF”. I use this feature a lot, how do I do it Windows?
  4. I like the theory behind “HomeGroup”. I simply type in a code on the computers in the house I want to be part of my network and I am instantly able to share Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music and more between each computer in my “HomeGroup”. Rumour has it that I can stream music from my home computer to my laptop at a remote location using “HomeGroup”, but I haven’t had a chance to try that yet.
  5. I really like the changes to the Windows interface that was introduced in Windows Vista. The Aero-Glass look is excellent and to me, more polished looking than OS X. I also like the fact that I can change the theme of my desktop easily, including the sound and colour scheme. I am a sound guy at heart, so the ability to tweak it to my liking is very important to me. (Quick aside: the BEST computer startup sound EVER was never officially released. It was found on the release candidate of Windows Vista and sounds like this: click here to download. I use it whenever I can).

 

I am only just scratching the surface in my adventure with Windows 7 Release Candidate. After watching several videos from CNET and other sources (and easily able to do so in Windows, surprisingly), I have to say that I am enjoying this little adventure. I look forward to continuing to exploration.

6 May 2009 by Geek 1

Coming Clean.

Okay, so there has been stirring in the blogosphere about that Miss California USA woman and her topless photos that were taken several years ago. She’s the one, of course, that spoke up about her support of “opposite marriage” and articulately stated that she believed that marriage should be reserved for the union between a man and a woman. Since losing the crown of Miss USA (because of her beliefs, so the story goes), she has become a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage. Basically she is trying to be the new face for ‘traditional values’.

Why does it seem to me, though, that many of these folks have something to hide. There always seems to be some skeleton rattling around in a closet. Some have feet tapping in airport stalls, others hang out in public parks, some conduct shady financial dealings with the congregation’s offering. With Carrie Prejean’s case, it’s some topless photos.

Look, of course I have no issue with someone posing however they want to pose. If you want to show it off then show it off. That’s the beauty of the body, it’s meant to be enjoyed! What I do have issue with is people preaching one thing and then doing another. Hypocrisy is never a good thing. How can one trust a hypocrite? So I’m going to admit a few things, right here and now:

1. I have posed naked in several photo shoots in my day, one of them being in the middle of the woods on a summer day in 1992 behind a Baptist church. One shot made it to a magazine (and it was not an ad for Olestra).

2. I do not have breast implants.

3. On several occasions, clad in only fruit of the loom tighty whities and a black leather jacket, I was paid to dance on a speaker in a very large gay nightclub in Boston. I wasn’t alone, there were others on the other speakers. Each of us were a theme, I played the bad boy with red hair. Granted, it was 35 pounds and 20 years ago but nonetheless, I have been seen girating to the likes of “Vogue”, “Ice Ice Baby” and “Hold You Tight” in barely a suggestion of attire.

4. I say what I believe and I believe what I say. I may change my mind, I may think out loud, but it is always safe to assume that you know where I stand at all times.

5. I believe love is love no matter if it’s between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and a man. Love should be celebrated, because there’s clearly not enough love in the world today.

5 May 2009 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Blasphemy.



Blasphemy., originally uploaded by iMachias.

So Microsoft released the Windows 7 Release Candidate today. This is the last version of Windows 7 to be tested before it becomes official, presumably sometime near the end of the year (the exact release date of Windows 7 has not been announced as of yet.)

I have had an interest of Windows 7 for a couple of reasons, including the fact that I am going to have to support it for work and quite honestly I’m always interested and excited about new versions of the operating system, so I downloaded both the 32- and 64-bit versions today. Tonight I installed the 64-bit version on MacBook Pro.

So far it is quite impressive.

I am putting Windows 7 through it’s paces as we speak. I installed it on my Mac using Boot Camp and quite frankly it’s running faster than Leopard usually does.

I’m going to putter around for a few days to see how it performs. So far it looks good, installation was easy and it’s cooperating quite well with my network. Let’s see if the bliss continues.

5 May 2009 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Escape.

DSC02545.jpg

I have always been intrigued by the forest. It is in the forest (or the woods) that I find adventure, even if it’s a construct of my imagination. It is there that I am able to escape. As I stand alone with nature, I feel Mother Nature caress me with her breezes as they work their way through the pine trees that surround me.

As a kid the woods behind my parents’ house was my domain. I’d climb trees, I’d lie on the leaves and watch the sky or I’d build a little fort out of pine tree branches up against the slope of the railroad tracks bed. It was there that I discovered what made me tick, what thoughts lurked in my mind and where I found solitude and relaxation.

Yesterday we went for a walk along a paved trail that passes near the woods. I made a slight detour off the beaten path to grab a glimpse of what I love.

I was not disappointed.

4 May 2009 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Change.

My MobileMe account expired today. And after much deliberation, I have decided not to renew it. Therefore, the e-mail address imachias@mac.com (or imachias@me.com) is no longer valid.

jp at jpnearl dot com (but not written out that way) is the best e-mail address to use, as it will always reach me no matter what service I am using at the time.

The MobileMe service is GREAT in theory, however, there are just too many free options out there that offer better service than MobileMe. In today’s economic climate I can not justify the cost of the service.

4 May 2009 by Geek 0

Censorship.

With the recent passing of Bea Arthur, The Hallmark Channel is showing it’s respects for this extraordinary actor with a “Golden Girls” marathon today.

Known for playing two very liberated, opinionated and in the case of ‘Maude’, controversial characters, Bea excelled at her craft and left the two shows when she felt it was the right time, not when the programs dissolved into cancelation.

I just finished watching episode #66, “Dorothy’s New Friend”. This episode features Dorothy’s new friend Barbara, a snotty literary type who looks down on Rose and Blanche. In an effort to make amends with Rose and Blanche, Barbara offers to take all the girls out to an exclusive club for the evening. Sophia’s date, Murray Guttman, arrives in a powder blue tuxedo. Barbara speaks with Dorothy in the kitchen on the matter, where Dorothy discovers that Barbara won’t take Murray to the club because he’s Jewish. Dorothy realises she has misjudged her new friend and tells her to go to hell.

The line is delivered in the typical Bea Arthur manner: full of confidence and not overstated.

The problem is, Hallmark covered the line up with a really out-of-place, out-of-date laugh track. They censored the line “go to hell”.

Wow.

Bea Arthur chose to play the characters of Maude Findlay and Dorothy Zbornak because she believed in those characters and what they represented. The “Golden Girls” marathon on Hallmark Channel today is a touching tribute to her work, however, I really don’t think that Bea would be satisfied with the way these episodes have been edited.

It’s a shame. I thought Hallmark Channel had picked up the “Golden Girls” from Lifetime because they recognised a classic.

What they apparently recognised was the ad revenue.

3 May 2009 by Why. 2

Kicked Back.



091.365, originally uploaded by iMachias.

Sometimes you just need a lazy day on the weekend.

2 May 2009 by Fun and Games Dept 0

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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