THE SUMMER SCROUNGE

 

Guess I'm spoiled, whether its movies or TV shows I reached the point where I refuse to watch reruns unless they are so old I can't remember them! I want something new every time. So far, there's only been a handful of decent summer replacement shows.

I enjoy America Has Talent but I fast forward thru half of it. I'm uninterested in anyone's background or sob story! I just want to be entertained. Also the title of the show needs to be changed! It should be called: Our World Has Talent since many of the contestants are from other parts of the globe plus none of the 4 judges come from the United States.

Speaking of sob stories I know I'm at a big disadvantage because I'm unable to stream. My TV is an older model and not set up for this. But since the contraption still works just fine I don't want to junk it. Plus I'd need to pay someone to come over and teach me how streaming works. Remember I'm someone who has never owned a cellphone.

Growing up back in the days of 5 TV channels and cheap gas my family would hop in the car and go for rides during summer evenings. Also we played board games or cards. Later when we moved into the city limits we'd go on long walks.

Eventually cable came along and WOW we were now receiving 12 channels, plus not a one was snowy!

Often an entire summer was spent watching old comedies from the 1950's that I was too young to remember such as Private Secretary, I Married Joan, & The Jack Benny Show. These were far superior to the sitcoms of today!

Other summers we watched Britcoms on PBS. Fawlty Towers was a favorite along with Are You Being Served.

Also I did lots of reading!

AMC (American Movie Classic) was once true to its name and we spent many a summer enjoying old films that were new to me. Then mogul Ted Turner bought it taking all the best old films to TCM. This was a higher cable tier that father refused to pay for.

I lost my Starz-Showtime package which used to get me thru the summer when ATT merged with Time/Warner and the price skyrocketed. I still have 200 channels but they're either rife with reruns or junk that doesn't interest me.

And I can't read nights anymore due to impaired vision from posterior vitreous detachment so the scrounge continues.

I live for those rare free HBO weekends! Always I kick them off with a celebration of pizza (frozen not delivered) and ice cream (the expensive kind with the sneaky hidden elevated bottom tricking you into thinking you're getting more) but this is just an occasional treat.

Mid-September when the new TV season starts I'll have plenty to watch and no need to scrounge.

CALIFORNIA VS FLORIDA

 

Growing up I asked my father why he didn't choose to move our family to California rather than Florida. California looks so beautiful and appealing on TV and in the movies.

Dad was stationed there in the Monterey area during WWII before being sent off to occupied Japan. He claimed he disliked it and California is nothing like on TV or in films.

I pointed out that it's a long state that stretches way up the Pacific coast and he was only exposed to one area!

We met a man from California who said it's more like two states! The northern part is quite different from the south. My father might have felt right at home up there.

However once Dad made up his mind on anything there was absolutely no reasoning with him.

Actually there was one thing about California that did impress him. He often said the Mexican women of Spanish Castilian decent were the most beautiful he had ever seen! But quickly added he would never marry one no matter how attractive because he didn't want her relatives as part of the package.

Funny, I feel the exact same way about every man I've ever dated! With marriage you rarely get just one person. It's nearly always a package deal!

I think that's the real reason my father moved us out of Michigan and down to Florida back when I was a year old baby. Probably he was eager to get away from my mother's cuckoo fanatical Pentecostal relatives; nearly all of them fell into this category.

However there was one notable exception, gangster Basil (the Owl) Banghart who ran with the Touhy gang back during the 1920's and 30's. He was quite a prolific criminal, also my mother's cousin.

On my father's side, everyone was dead except for my grandfather and he came along with us.

Florida was a completely different state when I was growing up; more laid back with lots of tropical greenery. This changed when half the state of New York moved down bringing the same rat maze they wanted to escape with them.

I've often said we should build a wall with armed guards to keep those damn New Yorkers out! They have completely ruined Florida! Nowadays much of that lush tropical greenery is concrete; especially along the coast where I live!

I remember when California was called "The Land of Fruit & Nuts." Today WE have that title! Florida is now the weirdo state! Plus we have a tendency to keep putting sociopaths and morons in office!

As for California today, it's overcrowded plus the cost of living is more obscenely expensive than ever. So now lots of Californians are moving to Florida bringing all those same problems here just as the New Yorkers before them.  Ugh!