Mr. Muddle's Befuddled Universe

Alyssa Milano Guest Stars On TV Show "Castle" | BuzzEdition

The excitement builds for January 11th, 2010 as Alyssa Milano makes her much-anticipated guest appearance on the ABC series “Castle” opposite Nathan Fillion.

The episode titled “A Rose For Everafter” features Alyssa Milano starring as Kyra, “the one that got away.” When Castle and Beckett are called to a wedding to investigate the death of a bridesmaid, complications ensue as Kyra, caught off-guard by the sight of the sexy  Castle’s reappearance in her life, wonders if she’s made a mistake with her chosen groom.

via buzzedition.com

Mrs. Muddle and I are huge fans of the Castle TV Show. And we're long time fans of both Nathan Fillion and Alyssa Milano, so we're really looking forward to this episode of Castle. It should be a truly great one! It will be on January 11, 2010 10 PM EST/ 9PM CST.

Hopefully, you'll remember Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds from the Firefly(TV)/Serenity(movie) science fiction series . 

And I'm sure you'll remember Alyssa Milano from Who's the Boss?

Of course, Alyssa Milano has all grown up (and gotten married). Go Cougars!

So,... on January 11th you'll know where Mrs. Muddle and I'll be. We'll be gathered around the boob-tube watching Nathan Fillion's Rick Castle character solve the latest murder mystery with Alyssa Milano. Of course, we'll be watching all the regular cast favorites, too, like Detective Kate Beckett, sexy Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, smart Alexis Castle, and sassy Susan Sullivan.

Nathan Fillion and Alyssa Milano on the set of ABC's Castle TV Show

Larry Gelbart Death Notice: Larry Gelbart’s Obituary by the The Sacramento Bee.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Larry Gelbart, the award-winning writer whose sly, sardonic wit helped create such hits as Broadway's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," the films "Tootsie" and "Oh, God!" and television's "M-A-S-H," is dead.

Gelbart died at his Beverly Hills home Friday morning after a long battle with cancer, said Creative Artists Agency, which represented him. He was 81.

Gelbart, who won a Tony for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," an Emmy for "M-A-S-H" and was nominated for two Oscars, is most likely best remembered for the long-running TV show about Army doctors during the Korean War.

Carl Reiner, his longtime friend and colleague, called Gelbart "the Jonathan Swift of our day."

"It's a great, great, great, great, great, great loss. You can't put enough 'greats' in front of it," said Reiner, who directed "Oh, God!" from Gelbart's Oscar-nominated script. "The mores of our time were never more dissected and discussed. He had the ability to make an elaborate joke given nothing but one line."

"M-A-S-H" debuted on CBS in 1972, when the nation was still embroiled in the Vietnam War, and some viewers were initially puzzled or offended by its depiction of the cynical, wisecracking physicians who worked frantically to save the lives of soldiers.

By its second season it had caught on, however, and it remained one of television's top-10 rated shows for a decade, until its final episode in 1983. Along the way, it won numerous awards including the Emmy for best comedy series.

via www.legacy.com

When I learned of Larry Gelbart's death, it reminded me of the days back when my daughter was still a preschooler. I would pick up my daughter from preschool, and at the end of the day I'd be exhausted from my day as an adult social worker, and my daughter would be totally worn out from her busy day at preschool. We looked like two droopy droids for sure — one big and one little, like C- 3PO and R2-D2.

As soon as we got home we plopped on the sofa and exhaled, then we both sank deep into the cushions.

We usually arrived home about 15-20 minutes before early evening reruns of M*A*S*H came on the TV. This gave us time to catch our breath and pee before the show started. I'd either fix myself a cold diet pop, or beer, and I'd get a cold fruit drink for my daughter.

When M*A*S*H started, the two of us would be sitting side by side sipping our beverages.

When the first commercial break came, I'd look at my daughter and say, ``How was your day?"

``Crappy!" she'd answer.

``Want to talk about it?" I'd ask.

``No!" she'd respond.

A few moments later my daughter would look up at me, and ask, ``How was your day, Dad?"

``Pretty damn, lousy. Pretty damn, lousy."

``Want to talk about it?"

``Not on your life."

About this time M*A*S*H would start up again, and we'd forget all about our crappy, lousy days. We'd sit drinking our beverages lost in the antics of the four-oh-seven-seven.

Larry Gelbart is gone, unfortunately, but the four-oh-seven-seven still carries on. Thank goodness!

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To learn more about Larry Gelbart, see the write up done by my good friend Karen Quah, ``Larry Gelbart — Born to be Funny".

Solomon King: True Blood

Solomon King and The Chosen:
Song Placement on HBO's True Blood

Performer: Solomon King and the Chosen
(Composer: Jeff Laine)
Title: ``Jack Me Up""
Initial air date: Sept. 28, 2008

Check out the new HBO series True Blood by the creator of of Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, and based on the books of author, Charlaine Harris.

Be sure to see the episode that will first be shown on 28 SEP 2008*. This episode will feature a song written by a very good friend of Tim's Befuddled Universe, Jeff Laine, ``Jack Me Up".

``Jack Me Up" has been performed by both Jeff Laine and Solomon King and The Chosen. (You can see a performance of ``Jack Me Up" here.)

Jeff Laine was featured in befuddled.org on 13 JAN 2006 and Solomon King was featured on 3 July 2008.

*This is Episode 4, titled Escape from The Dragon House. The scene: Sookie hears Hoyt thinking about how he misses Dawn and how scared he is to talk to her.

Technorati Tags:
music, people, philosophy,
literature, film, and videos.

Tim's Next Project: Harry & Olive

HARRY & OLIVE:
The American Nightmare comes true!

An online
Episodic Fictional Series
with frequent installments.

Featuring
  HARRY & OLIVE™
and
Their Best Friend
  LEWD DICK™

Forty-plus rock fans could well remember Lewd Dick and his band, Lewd Dick and The Flameballs.
They had one Top Ten hit, ``Bounce My Balls''.

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HARRY & OLIVE:
Their True Adventures

Description

Unlike the TV Nelson family that was the American ``dream'' family, the Harry Hutson family will gradually transform into the ghoulish nightmare Americans dread.

And nothing Olive does to save them helps.

The Harry Hutson family will become the American ``dream'' family of the future!

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QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS:

Can you describe Olive?
Does she look like anyone you know? Who?

Who should play Olive in the television series?
What about the film?

Comment below, or email your answer.

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Project Leaders
As of 30 DEC 2007

Tim Null, Project Leader
Jon James, Musical Consultant & Muse
Tim Null, Writer & Webmaster
Dawn Ward, Akron Consultant

© Stocker Null
Coming in 2008.

Another fine No Income Production™

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1 Jan. 2008 ADDENDUM

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My two favorite themes.

— Stocker Null

Stuck together, we are; like it or not.
One way in. One way out.

Alone. Together. Again.

© 1963–2008 Stocker Null

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QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS:

What is a theme, or topic?

Is a ``theme'' different from a ``moral''?

Why would (or should) a story have a theme?

``Alone. Together. Again.'' What the flock?
Tell me what it means!

Comment below, or email your answer.

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Technorati Tags: music, people, philosophy, literature, film, and video.

The Friday that was: The ``Clean Up Crew" came!

Put down your dust pan!

It's no secret that my house has been a mess. It's been both a private and public embarrassment for some time.

Yesterday the ``Clean Up Crew" came in the form of my daughter and unlicensed  ``son-in-law." Like the oldest daughter, Ginni Sorelli, in the marvelously hilarious  WB show Related, and her ``Clean Up Crew," my daughter totally took charge.

By the end of the day there was floor!

So if you're like me, and ``putting things back is the knack that you lack," check out Parachute Express and their ``Clean Up Crew" song. The song is available for download at the Apple Music Store and many other fine establishments.

Likewise, I have been doing some cleaning around the old website.

• The blog is now three columns wide, rather than two.
• I have added a sister blog, these befuddled photos, to post photos of concerts, recording sessions, musical events, etc. I will tell you more about this sister blog in a later posting that will follow, but please give my new blog a look/see: http://befuddled.typepad.com/photo/.



• At the top of the right column you will find a graphic ``these befuddled photos" button (see button above). If you click on the button, you'll jump right to the befuddled photos site.
• In the left-hand column, you'll see a photo of Ali Gray (more on her in a later posting) and her acoustic trio. The photo is under the heading: PUBLISH YOUR BEST CONCERT PHOTOS HERE. I am extending an invitation to all independent musical performers to publish your best photos on my site. Just send me an email. Tell me about yourself or your group and the event you have photographed (they can be of your own act, or your favorite act), and, if you qualify, I'll publish 3 to 5 quality photos on the these befuddled photos site per event.)
• Also in the left-hand column you'll find a picture of Ali Gray's Let You In CD under the GET YOUR NEW CD REVIEWED heading. This is an invitation to all you independent musicians out there: Send me a CD. I can write a review of your CD, do a story about your band, or talk about some of the best songs in your back catalog. Let's talk. Maybe I can help increase your exposure.

OK, I guess that's all the news for now. I'm going to listen some more to the  Parachute Express and their ``Clean Up Crew" song. But I don't care what they say, singing and dancing is a lot more fun than cleaning!

Technorati Tags: music, people, television

Serenity: The best ever?

Stop! I can't breathe!

Serenity earns my highest rating of  Stop! I can't breathe!

I saw Serenity opening night. I apologize for taking so long to post comments. My comments today will be very brief. I have decided to wait until the DVDs come out to post my extended review.

We're all sad to see Wash and the Preacher Shepard [10 OCT 2005: Oops, that was a bad mistake.] pass on, but this isn't Star Trek where only the new guy on the bridge dies. And this isn't Star Wars, where there's plenty of time to take a nap or two without missing anything important.

But enough about what I think.

Serenity fans should enjoy the posting I noticed over at My Yahoo! about Serenity and the difference between sci-fi fan behavior at the movies vs. your run-of-the-mill movie-goer behavior. Read the posting by Whitney Matheson  here (Matheson is a columnist for USAToday.com).

Technorati Tags: film

FaV TV: Summer 2005

I'm late in getting this post up on my blog. I mean the Fall TV season has been in progress for about two weeks, and I'm just now listing my favorite summer 2005 shows. I can't imagine anyone noticed my tardiness. So what follows is the list of my five favorite TV shows for the summer of 2005.

1. The Closer TNT. Kyra Sedgwick.
2. Battlestar Galactica. Sci-Fi. Mary McDonnell & Edward James Olmos.
3. The 4400. USA Network. Joel Gretsch & Jacqueline McKenzie.
4. Stargate SG1. Sci-Fi. Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, & Michael Shanks.
5. Rescue Me. FX. Denis Leary.

Honorable mentions go to Into the West (TNT) and The Inside (canceled by Fox).

Best show on TV: The Closer

Stop, I can't breathe!

There's a new champ in town: The Closer (link requires Flash).

When The Closer premiered on 13 June 2005, it bumped Battlestar Galactica from the top spot on my fav tv list (see 18 Jan. 2005 and 3 Feb. 2005 entries).

I became a super-sized fan of Kyra Sedgwick, after I saw her in Heart and Souls in 1993.

It's my hope that The Closer will be televised for many years (Monday nights on TNT).

Note: ``Stop, I can't breathe!'' is my highest rating (see my 18 Feb. 2005 entry for an explanation of my rating system).

DLM: Life after death?

DLM fans wait to hear the word:

I received an e-mail today from a fellow who visited my blog looking for info about the status of Dead Like Me. He asked if perhaps I had any new information. Sadly, the answer was no.

I am encouraged that MGM keeps the Dead Like Me (DLM) website up and active. Networks usually ``kill'' a site, as soon as they cancel a show; however, MGM could be keeping the site up to encourage sales of DVDs.

If MGM is still trying to sell DLM, then I  would guess they are making some attempt to measure DLM-related internet traffic. I therefore encourage DLM fans to keep up the Google and Yahoo DLM-related searches. Also, cllick on the DLM site several times a week. And, sign-up for the MGM newsletter.

If you continue to keep up the traffic, you may yet save the show!

DLM set used on SG-1: Der Wafffle Haus

Mrs. Muddle has eyes like an eagle with reading glasses:

Mrs. Muddle and I took a break from our sickbed this weekend to reload on cough and cold medicine, and to watch the latest episode of Stargate SG-1.

In one of the subplots, Daniel Jackson is caught between death and ascension in a cheesy diner.

When we first see Daniel in the diner, Mrs. Muddle immediately spouts forth, ``Don't we know that waffle house from some other show?"

``Yeah, it sure looks familiar," I answer. Actually the lighting and camera-angles are all different, so nothing looks familiar to me, but I'm agreeable by nature.

``I know," Mrs. Muddle chimes, ``that's the waffle house from Dead Like Me."

``Well," I say, ``it could be. They both are MGM shows."

Later on I did a web search and I confirm that the Der Waffle Haus set from Dead Like Me (DLM) was used in Episode 172 of Stargate SG-1.

It's encouraging to see that the (a) Dead Like Me sets apparently haven't been torn down at MGM, and (b) MGM is using their most popular show to help create buzz about Dead Like Me. I can't help but wonder if there aren't one or more channels seriously thinking about picking up DLM. I suspect MGM is trying to encourage internet ``activity" to show potential buyers that there's a loyal audience out there.

Given the number of hits my DLM postings have received, I'd say there definitely are folks out there interested in keeping the show on the air.