Reviews by Matt

Is a break really a break if you don’t really take a break? Confused? I can reword that as am I really on spring break if I still have work to do between now and Monday?

Last week I would have been tempted to answer “no” to that question. Now as I sit here in my room taking a break from reading/writing, I have to disagree with past me. It still is a break.

For me, I needed a break from Buffalo more than I break from school. I really just needed a change of scenery. Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday are really busy for me. I am up for class at 6 a.m. on Monday and Wednesday and on the move until 2ish. On Tuesdays, I get up at 7ish to start copy edit for the paper plus do my work for class the next day. Then I go to the Record office and copy edit some more.

For this week at least, I can sleep in (not that I can, my sleep schedule is set to me being up between 7-8) and take my time to get my work done. I have no other responsibilities. I don’t have to teach, I don’t have to edit, I don’t have to sit in the office waiting for articles to come in so I can edit them and my change of scenery is no longer just the 3rd floor of the library.

So yes, I have a ton to get done by 8 a.m. Monday morning, but nothing else is standing in my way.

On my train trip back home to Rochester, I was reading an article in “Entertainment Weekly” about “Lost” and its legacy. The article talked about why all the “Lost” copycats have failed.

The big thing mentioned was that at the time “Lost” premiered, there had been nothing like it at any point before. The problem came when they tried to replicate the formula and get the same success.


I have to completely agree with this. “Lost” was and still is unique. It is more intense viewing than “24.” To watch “Lost” is to devote more than one season to it. It is a 6-year story. You cannot watch it on and off during the year. It needs to be viewed every week and followed closely.

Other shows have tried and failed, most horribly. If the pilot of a show cannot grab the viewer’s attention, the show is doomed.
“Lost” had that. The pilot of “Lost” is one of the best I have ever seen, and trust me; I have seen a lot of pilots. To this day, it is one of the best two hours to television I have ever seen.

Most of all, it is the writing that separates “Lost” from the pretenders. The writing is amazing. Yes, there are a ton of questions asked and they take FOREVER to answer them, but they payoff is worth it. The quality of the drama and the mystery in the writing keeps the show a top the pile of serialized television.

You know what really bugs me? The “previously on” that is show before most shows. It just points to how dumb most studios think the people who watch their show are.

For some shows I understand it. “Lost,” “24” or other shows where there is one detailed storyline each season, I think that it is needed. When you call back to something that happened in the first episode in the twelfth, it helps to have this “hey, remember this?” moment.

One show I started watching this year is “Life Unexpected.” It’s a good show (despite being on the CW) but there is no need to remind viewers of things from the previous episode. Especially when there are exposition scenes explaining what the “previously on” already did.

How stupid do they think we are? Does the American public have that short of an attention span? Maybe I am the exception, but even with shows like “Lost” I don’t need that previously on. I understand all the callbacks the show makes in any given episode.
Hell, I have ADD and my attention span is apparently better than what the studios think that John Q. Public has.

I am not anti this bit of filler, but I just wish that the viewers would get a bit more credit. We know more than you might think.

There is nothing more awesome than when you get a group of fans together and put them in a room to take part in some aspect of their fandom. I had one of those experiences on Thursday.
A few of my friends and I went to see “Evil Dead: The Musical.” It is a musical based on the Evil Dead trilogy, three movies I love. They are campy, funny, gross and just a bit scary. The musical has all of those, plus dancing and music.

I am not here to review the musical. It is the experience I want to write about today. The people who went to “Evil Dead” were
fans of the movies and it showed. In the musical, there are plenty of references to the movies and those involved. When Ash utters his famous “This is my boomstick,” line, the crowed went crazy.

To be in a room full of people who love what you love is simply amazing. The room is basically of the same mind. We clap together, laugh together and get sprayed with blood together.

That’s right, “Evil Dead” is full of blood. I was lucky enough to sit in the first row, which is a part of the “splatter zone.” As Ash hacks and slices up the demons who have possessed his friends, those in the first three rows get covered in “blood.” It was awesome. I could not see anything more than just wet until later in the night when I got back. There were red splotches on my sweatshirt and jeans. Part of me is hoping they don’t come out in the wash. It is just another way for me to remember how truly fun the entire experience was.

This brings me to the last day of my “Week of Whedon” and I think the time has come to explain why I am a fan. I guess this would be the time I break my earlier promise to not mention “Firefly.” It is a huge part of why I am in this fandom in the first place.

In 2002 when I saw the previews for “Firefly,” I was intrigued. The line that got me was Wash saying “Oh, my God! What can it be? We’re all doomed! Whose flying this thing? Oh, right, that would be me. Back to work.” Something about that line hooked me into watching the show when it aired.

After the movie, I was hooked into everything Joss. Over the past year and a half, I have watched everything else. I watched “Buffy” and then “Angel” and was blown away by them and what Whedon did with them.

What kept me in were the writing and the characters. I love good writing. It is the first thing I look for in a television show. No one has done it better. The mythology of the shows combined with the wit, humor and drama are like nothing I have ever seen.

His characters are just as good. Strong female characters are what Whedon does best and the women in his shows were amazing. His characters are so flushed out that even the side characters are great and easy to like.

I am a Whedon fan and will remain one for as long as I can.

Joss Whedon is my master now!

The Whedon fandom is one of the more passionate fandoms out there, and I am not just saying that because I am one of them. Even thought all his shows have been canceled, the fans are as rabid as ever.

There are Whedon-related conventions all over the world, there are charity screenings every year of “Serenity” (technically, I still am keeping my promise to not mention “that show,”) there are loads of Whedon show memorabilia and more keeps coming and there have been fan performances of “Buffy’s” musical episode “Once More, With Feeling” and his Internet sensation “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.”

Whedon fans are really supportive too. I know that when I hear that a Whedon alum is in something, I do my best to check it out and support it. I can tell you that as the Whedonverse grows, this is getting harder and harder.

As passionate as the fans are, the stars are even more so. Nathan Fillion (Mal from that show) is the one who is probably the most vocal about his love of everything Whedon. He goes to all sorts of conventions and love the fans as much as they love him. That is what makes me the fan I am. I love what he does and I know I am in the best of company.

With all three of his shows getting the axe, it seemed unlikely that Whedon would go back to television. Then he sat down to lunch with Eliza Dushku and she convinced him to give it one more try.

That show was “Dollhouse.” As out of the box as his other shows where, “Dollhouse” might have been the furthest out there. At an underground business known as The Dollhouse, anyone with loads of money, can essentially rent human beings or “Dolls.”
I know I already reviewed the show earlier, but this going to be my thoughts on the final season.


Sorry to spoil it, but “Dollhouse” was canceled. At least this time, Fox let him tell his story and finish telling it. One thing I noticed during the final season was that it was clearly for the fans. There was no real attempt to rope in more viewers. The format of Echo being imprinted and sent out on assignments was (mostly) abandoned. The story focused more on Echo and crew taking down the company behind the Dollhouse. It was a great season. The focused storyline made each episode matter and it built to an amazing finale.

I cannot say I was sad that “Dollhouse” was canceled, it was not doing very well in the ratings and I don’t think it lived up to the previous Whedon shows. That being said, it was still better than 95 percent of television shows with much better ratings.

With “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” being a huge success, it was time for a spin-off. One of the popular characters from the show was Angel, the vampire with a soul. At the end of season three of “Buffy,” Angel decides to end their constant back and forth by leaving Sunnydale. He moved to Los Angeles and continued to fight for those in trouble.

“Angel” is a weird show. What I mean by that is that it had some really good seasons, but one really bad season. So bad that I am not sure if I would watch it again.

The law firm of Wolfram and Heart, represent evil and when Angel comes to town, the two butt heads. In the first season, a prophecy about Angel is unearthed. It says that when in the coming Apocalypse, Angel would play a key role and in return he would live, meaning, he would become human.

Through all five seasons of the show, Angel and his friends fight evil in the hopes of seeing this prophecy come true. Sadly, the show was canned after season five, which was the best season, and the story ended. Or did it? Like he did with “Buffy” Whedon moved “Angel” to the pages of the comic books. Now I have not begun to read those, but I am looking forward to it.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was canceled in 2003. Whedon had more stories to tell and that is how “Buffy Season 8” was born. The story of what happened after Buffy and crew defeated the First Evil continues in comic book form.

Whedon is not stranger to this genre. He had written plenty of comic books before season 8 was released so he was no stranger to the medium. In March of 2007, the first edition, “The Long Way Home” was released and it became a hit. Fans loved Buffy even in this new format.

I have been reading the trade paperbacks, meaning a collection of the comics put together every few months, and I have been loving it. I have read 5 of the 6 trade paperbacks that have been released and cannot wait to get the others when they eventually come out.

This new format has allowed Whedon to tell the story he wants and in ways he could not do on television or in the movies. He can take the characters all over the world and have them take part in these amazing fights.

In comic form, the “season” is close to wrapping up. 33 of the scheduled 40 comics have been released. There have been rumors of a season nine and I for one hope they continue with this idea.

Whedon’s first show was “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and it was based on the movie of the same name, which Whedon wrote. The movie was a critical and box office bomb. It did develop a small cult following and there was enough interest for the show to be made.

Now I have never seen the movie, but I have not heard good things. The show on the other hand is one of Whedon’s best.


The story is about a girl named Buffy who is chosen to be the slayer and defend Sunnydale California against vampires, demons and the other forces of darkness. Her Watcher, Giles, guides her with his knowledge of the occult and her two friends Xander and Willow help, when they can.

At its best, “Buffy” is amazing, but there are a few episodes that are real stinkers. Some are hard to watch again. What Joss did with this show was amazing. He created some great characters and some of the best dialogue every put on screen.

Even when he was challenged to write an episode without his trademark dialogue, he hit it out of the park. He took what boils down to a silent episode and told a story as well as any of his other episodes. He made a musical episode and it was absolutely brilliant.

So instead of me coming up with a new idea each day this week, I am going to have 7 different posts on the same topic. That topic is Joss Wheadon and all he has done. Here is the kicker, I will not mention “Firefly” once (except for that). I figured I have talked it up to death and there is much more to the Whedonverse.

So besides that show I cannot mention, Joss has also been the mind behind “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Dollhouse” and the Internet phenomenon “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.”

All his shows have as cult following and the fans are very vocal about their obsession. He is one of those writers/directors who loves his fans and knows how to keep them. He tells the stories he wants to tell, not what the studios want him too, and the fans have come along for that ride for 13 years (Buffy first aired 13 years ago a few weeks ago).

What he has is a wit and humor that no one else comes close to. His characters are easy to relate to and his storytelling ability is unmatched. He is also willing to take risks. He did a musical episode of “Buffy” as well as an episode mostly done in silence and a show with no background music. “Dollhouse” was a premise that was hard to sell, but he told the story the way he wanted to. Not the one that would be most popular. Then there was a space western which I cannot talk about.

What I hope to do over the next seven days is to show just how awesome Joss Whedon is and maybe even get someone, anyone to join the fandom.

I can remember when I was in elementary, middle and high school that I hated reading. There is something about being forced to read that made me not like the activity. It was work, not fun. There is only one book I liked, “The Great Gatsby,” and that was because the teacher who taught it had a passion for the book and it was hard not to enjoy it.

This past semester I have been in a similar position. I have to read 50 children’s books. Only this time I am enjoying it (to some extent.) The key here is the choice. As long as the book fits into one of the categories provided by the teacher, there is no limit to what I can read.

So far the best book I have read during all this is “Frindle” by Andrew Clements. I went to the library about an hour before the weekly newspaper meeting and I finished the entire thing in one sitting.

This past summer I started reading the series of books that the TV show “Legend of the Seeker” is based on. I read more in that summer than I had in any summer before it.

The key with reading is the choice. When something is forced upon you, odds are that you already hate it. It is hard to look past the “this is work” idea and focus on the “this could be fun” idea. What I have seen in my limited classroom experience is that choice is very key. The students like to read if they have a say in what they are reading.

I like some sci-fi. For years my exposure to the genre was one show: “Firefly.” It was sci-fi for dummies. The show had no science jargon and no aliens. I was happy there and did not dare venture further into the sci-fi shows that were not named “Firefly.”

Since I have gotten Netflix, I have taken full advantage of the Watch Instantly feature. One show I have gotten into is “Doctor Who.”

The BBC series revolves around a Timelord called The Doctor who travels through time and helps those in need. He usually has a companion with him and she is there to help him.

The show is really good. I was taken aback by the aliens at first, but I got over that quickly. The Doctor is a great character. There is a lot to him that we can only guess at. He is the last of his kind, the rest of his people died in a Time War many years ago. He has an odd sense of humor, but also a sense of duty. He gives every bad guy he comes up against a chance to leave before he destroys them.

The really unique thing about the show is that they can change the actor who plays the Doctor anytime they need to. One of the traits of a Timelord is that when they die, they regenerate and change appearance. The show started in 1963 and was rebooted in 2005. The new version is on its 3rd Doctor (11th overall) and will come back very soon.

It seems like every movie released these days has a 3-D version. It is a gimmick that has been taken a little to far in my opinion. 3-D can be good in some cases, but I really do not see the need to make every movie is 3-D.

“Clash of the Titans” is a movie I am really looking forward to. Will I see it in 3-D. Not a chance. I do not see how it will benefit from that extra dimension. What is worse is that it was not filmed it 3-D, it was converted after the fact.
Movies like “Avatar,” as bad as it was, was amazing in 3-D. It was filmed in 3-D and used the medium really well. Converting a movie after it is done being filmed just seems stupid.

What it really boils down to is an opportunity to make more money. A regular movie costs $9.50. A “Real D” movie, anything that is not IMAX, costs $13. An IMAX 3-D movie costs $14. That is why “Avatar” has made so much money. There are three versions of the movie!

3-D is a stupid gimmick whose sole purpose is to make more money. Unless a movie is filmed in 3-D there is no need to see it in 3-D.

Save yourself the money and just see the regular 2-D version.

I liked doing the rambling post before and today I don’t really have a coherent idea to write about so this will be another one of those rambling posts.

I taught my first lesson on Monday and I think it went pretty well. The kids seemed to enjoy it and I got great feedback from both my teacher and the teacher whose classroom I am in. I know what I have to do for the next lesson. That lesson will be one week from today (Wednesday.)

At this point I am really looking forward to Spring Break. I need this week off. In truth it will not be a complete week off. I do have
some work to get done. I have one more lesson to plan for the week I get back. It should be easier though because it is a wrap up lesson. I am going to do a Jeopardy game. There will be very little teaching involved in that lesson, but there is a ton to plan out.

This whole experiment has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. I am enjoying it, at least some days, and it has been nice to branch out into topics other than my usual TV and movies. It will be 40 (plus) days in a little over a week and while I am not going to continue to post something everyday, I just might post something once a week. That seems doable.

When shows like “Lost” and “24” become popular, networks pumped out shows just like them. Shows that require people to tune in each week flooded the airwaves. Well most of them have gone by the wayside; except one, “Damages.”

The show, now in its third season continues to be great, riveting television. Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) got her dream job working for Patty Hughes (Glenn Close). When in the first two seasons she sees who Patty really is, she ends up quitting and working for the DA’s office. This season she has to work with Patty on a Bernie Madoff-type case.

The true power behind this show is Close’s performance. She has won 2 Emmys for her work on the show and it is not hard to see why. She is "morally grey" and manipulative that it is great to watch.

The show keeps things interesting and intriguing by using flash forwards (a very “Lost” concept) and showing that things have gone very wrong for all involved in the case. We are given bits of information in the show that comes into play in the look at the future. This just makes the show all the more great to watch.

I would put this squarely between “Lost” and “24” in terms of quality. “Lost” cannot be beat in serialized television, but “Damages” beats “24” in terms of integrating story.

Monday at 10 p.m. on FX

Naps are amazing. When I get back from school, the one and only thing I want to do is sit in bed and watch a movie. This usually leads to me missing a giant chunk of the movie because my eyelids become just too heavy.

In the summer I always find that after a long day at camp, a nap is in order. Kids are exhausting. When I spend most of the day on my feet, chasing kindergartners around, naptime is inevitable.

The thing about a nap is that it is like a quick recharge. In the summer between the heat and the kids, I am drained by 3 p.m. Lying in bed and taking a 20-minute nap is just the pick-me-up I need.

I don’t drink coffee. I have not had a drop of soda for almost 5 years now. Caffeine, the pick-me-up for the majority of the world is something I do not get much of. That leaves very little in terms of a swift kick to keep me going.

So I turned to naps. I took one today when I got home from school. Its not that I was overly tired, I just needed those 20-30 minuets to make the rest of the day easier.

I have gotten a little personal over the past few blogs so I think its time to bring it back to what I do best: reviews.

One of the best new shows this season is ABC’s “Modern Family.” The show focuses on three branches of an extended family. At the top of this family tree is the recently remarried Jay and his new wife Gloria and her young son from a previous marriage, Manny. Jay has two grown children from his first marriage, Claire and Mitchell. Claire is married to Phil, a man who tries way to hard to be hip and cool. Mitchell and his partner Cameron just adopted a baby and are experiencing fatherhood for the very first time.

The show is shot a lot like “The Office,” in a documentary style. There are “interviews” with the family members and we get some insight into the characters. The show is really quite funny. There are instances where is may verge on the absurd, but reason I watch this show it that it has heart. No matter what happens, who says what, does what or causes what, family always wins out in the end.

Check it out. It will be worth it, trust me.

ABC Wednesday's at 9

Well, here I am in the Buffalo State library getting work done and it is now pouring outside. To be honest, I have no idea what I am going to write about. This is really just a way to kill some time and hope the rain subsides a little bit so I can walk home and do some more work. I left the text book I needed on my bookshelf so despite my plans to knock out all my work now, I have some more to do when I get home.

So that is what today’s post is about. Even the best laid plans can go awry. Yesterday after I had all my online class work done, I told myself I was going to come here today and not leave until ALL my work was done.

Fat lotta good that was. I left my text book at the apartment and now I can only hope to kill enough time for the rain to slow down, maybe even stop, before I leave. Granted it all kind of hinges on my laptop battery, which is down to the last hour and 18 min. Once that goes, I might be forced to walk home anyway, regardless of the rain.

Well, well, well. Would you look at that. I am over 200 words already. Sadly the rain has yet to stop. Well, back to work.

This is one of those days where this thing becomes more work than fun. As mentioned in the previous post, I teach on Monday and am currently in the process of getting my lesson plan together. It is mostly done right now, but there are still a few things I have to tweak and flesh out more. On top of all of that I just spent the past 2-3 hours working on my online class work/ getting my laundry done. So as the last load has just been put in the dryer and I am about to take a break before getting back to work on all the stuff I have to do, I figured this would be a good time for some rambling. These are more of the thought currently in my head and I need 200 words, so I might as well do it this way.

Turns out that I got a pay cut for all my work at the Record, I was only making $100 a month, I was just bumped down to $75. Well, looks like I can stop busting my ass to help them out. They want to pay me $75 bucks, they are only going to get $75 dollars worth of work out of me.

Wow, that went quicker than I thought. I am already over 200 words. I just might come back to this rambling post idea later.

Last night I had probably the worst dream I could have at this point in my life. First some context is needed to better understand the feelings I had when I woke up this morning.

On Monday I will be teaching my first solo lesson. This semester is my make or break semester. If I don’t feel like teaching is something I can do when this is over, I need to figure out the next step. (Not that I am really that worried about that happening.)

Last night I had a dream that I completely bombed my lesson plan and got a D+. When I woke up there was this feeling I could not, and still have not fully been able to shake. This felling really sums up every single worry I have right now.

Granted I know it was just a dream. (Coincidently that is the title of the book I will be reading.) There are a lot of things about the dream that make it just that: a dream. I don’t get a letter grade for my lessons, my teacher gives the evaluation (in my dream it was the classroom teacher,) the library I went to was not the school’s library or the Buffalo State library, and for some reason there was a wet towel in my backpack.

It’s weird the things you overlook in a dream when it feels so real.

There was a time when the thought of writing 200 words seemed like a monumental task. I can remember sitting in school and hearing that an assignment had to be a certain number of words long and wondering how many words I could write on a given topic.

Well, those days are far far behind me. Today the thought of writing 200 words makes me happy. I wish I could complete an assignment in that short a time. When I was in journalism, it was stories of 500-600 words (sometimes many more.) Now it is more a matter of completion than a matter of how many words there are.

200 words to me, with all the writing I have done and still do, is nothing. It is actually a pleasant idea. 200 words is nothing. It is barely enough space to fully explain an idea fully. When I write one of these every day, I sometimes post even if something feels a little unfinished. It’s a great exercise in getting to the point. When I review, I sometimes go on for a long time and end up mucking up my meaning. So keeping these to 200 words, give or take, is really a way to help me get to the point faster.

Assuming I do the bare minimum of 200 words in each of these posts (which has yet too happen) and I do it for all 40+ days of Lent (44 to be precise,) I will have written 8,800 words come Easter.

Now that is a lot of words.

As I normally do when I go to bed, I turned on the local ESPN radio station. I have found that it helps me get to sleep faster, but that is not the point. The point of all this is what I heard. The host of the show was talking about the Oscars. He was angry that “Avatar” lost the race for Best Picture. Now normally the radio is on just to have something I don’t have to pay attention to — just some background noise to fall asleep by. Well, this made me take notice.

His argument was that “Avatar” has changed movies forever. That was his entire argument and he went on to talk about how “Avatar” changed movies. Really? That is your argument for why it should have won?
The category is “Best Picture,” not “Movie that changes how movies are made.” For me, and for all sane movie fans, the criterion for what qualifies for the Best Picture category is just that BEST.

Yes, the movie has some amazing special effects. That does not make it the best movie. What makes a movie worthy of the title is great acting, directing, storytelling, and everything else that goes into making a movie. “Avatar” had great special effects, everything else was just sub par.

Now all that being said, while “The Hurt Locker” was a good movie, the true winner should have been “Inglorious Bastards.” That was truly the best movie in that category.

So on Oscar night I went six for nine. It would have been seven of nine if I did not go for the upset in the best supporting actress category. 66 percent is not too shabby. I don’t know what “my heart” was thinking, but it got the wrong choices for best-adapted and original screenplays.

Despite my C average on the picks, it was still a good night. So why is that? Well that over-hyped, over-digitized, “Dances with Wolves” and “Fern Gully” rip off called “Avatar” lost in all the major categories. Best director when to Bigalow and best picture went to “The Hurt Locker.” So all and all it was awesome.

The show itself was pretty good. Hosts Steve Martian and Alec Baldwin did a pretty good job. They were pretty funny and played off one another well. I was happy with most of the results. The only issue I had was the length. It would not have been a problem if I did not have to be up at 6 a.m. this morning. I got very little sleep last night, but was able to get my work done today.

That though has always been their problem. If they bumped the pest picture nominations back down to five and did less of the excessive talking up of the awards, they might get it done in less than 3 hours.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is about a land where there are four nations; the Fire nation, the Water nation, the Earth nation and the Air nation. In those nations there are people called Benders. They are able to manipulate the element their nation is named for (Airbenders, Waterbenders, Firebenders and Earthbenders). They lived in peace until the Fire nation attacked. There is one called the Avatar, a master of all the elements who disappeared when the world needed him most. 100 years later, two Water nation members, one of whom is a Waterbender, find a boy frozen in the ice. His name is Ang and he is soon reveled to be the new Avatar.

I avoided it because it is Anime, or Japanese Animation. Granted it was an Americanized version of the popular animation style, but I have never been a big fan of the genre so I never wanted to watch it. After sitting down and giving it a chance, I was really impressed with what I saw. The show is funny, dramatic and action packed. It is not justr a kids show. There is something there that everyone can enjoy.

I just started the second season (there are only three) and it looks to bring more of what the first season had.

Having seen some of the show, I can tell you this one thing; the movie will be crap. Something tells me that is a post for another day…maybe even tomorrow

Today I am going to let you in on a little secret.

I knew before I graduated that I really did not want to go into journalism. What really did it was my internship. Maybe it was the fact that I sat at a desk and wrote obituaries, typed up letters to the editor or any of the other mindless work I did. Maybe it was the fact that it was an hour and a half bus ride (both ways) to get there. Maybe it was because every night before I had to go, I barely got any sleep. Whatever it was, I knew before I was handed my “diploma” that I was not going to pursue that career path.

Now I have to get up twice a week, earlier than I did for my internship, to go to the school where I am in an actual classroom. Here’s the thing. I sleep well and I enjoy everything I am doing. The school is much closer so the trip there is not a factor.

I wish I had an experience like this earlier in my journalism studies. If I had known what it was really like I would have done something different. It actually probably would have been teaching. I don’t think anyone knows this but when I was switching my major from forensic chemistry, my two choices came down to journalism and teaching. Sadly I chose the former.

It is amazing how much enjoying what you are doing is the key to figuring out what you really want to do.

It is hard to believe, but “Survivor” has been around for 10 years. The show is currently four episodes into its 20th season (they do two a year. One in the fall and one in the winter) and it is as good as ever.

The gimmick/subtitle for this season is “Heroes vs. Villains.” This season the cast is made up of the 10 best heroes and 10 best villains from the past 19 seasons of the show. Now I don’t agree with all the choices they made and there are even a few people they picked who I do not remember at all, but the season is more than its gimmick.

The challenges are more intense (in the first episode one Hero got her shoulder dislocated and another broke his toe.) The social game has been brought to a whole new level. It is what you get when you get people who have played this game at least once before. A few of them are making their third appearance on the show (there was an All Star season as well as a Fans versus Favorites season.)

“Survivor” remains my guiltiest of pleasures. I make no excuses about it. I love this show and will continue to watch as long as is stays around.

A few weeks ago when I got that little red Netflix envelope in the mail it contained a documentary called “Young @ Heart.” It is about a chorus of elderly people who live in a nursing home who make up the Young @ Heart chorus. They sing contemporary songs and perform all over the place, including a prison.

It is a good documentary and is both funny and touching. It is inspiring to see these 70 and 80-year-olds so full of life and enjoying performing. Their drive to memorize all the words to the songs and to perform them perfectly makes me feel bad that I am writing this from my bed. Sure I have work to do, but the motivation to get up and do it is just not there. This group puts me to shame.

I don’t really know the rules for spoilers as far as documentaries go, but I have to mention the following. During the filming and a week before their performance two members of the group die. They are clearly shaken by this news, but they press on. They love what they do and they know that the two who died would want them to continue. In the performance at the end of the movie, former member, Fred Knittle comes out to sing one final song. It will be his last performance with the group because he is retiring from performing. He sings Coldplay’s “Fix You” and with all that happens before hand, it is a very moving performance. See it, if only for that scene.

If you want, I linked it below (just to give you a taste)
Young @ Heart-FIx You

I am going to keep this short and sweet because I have a pounding headache (one of the side effects of not eating anything but a bowl of cereal at 6:45 this morning) and I am really tired because of…what else, a lack of sleep.

One of the things that I thought about before I was in a real classroom was how weird it would be to be called Mr. Levy. As cliché as it sounds, but the only person I have thought of as Mr. Levy is my dad.

I have been at camp for 10 years now and they all know me as Matt. I was fine with that. In that context it is OK because it is a much more informal setting. I always thought it would be weird to be called Mr. Levy. I thought it might make me feel old or something like that. But truth be told, it is not so bad.

Here I am three weeks into a twice-a-week classroom visit and I am actually used to it. Maybe it is that I have heard to so often now that it is not foreign sounding to my ears anymore. I actually kind of like it.

One of the hardest things about this post-a-day idea is coming up with ideas. I have been in a battle with writer’s block since I first started writing for fun. It’s one thing to have a paper assigned in elementary school, but once you are given the freedom to do anything it is a bit more confusing.

I have some ideas for this written down, but I am not ready to go to those just yet. Those are my back up. I have 40 plus days to fill. If I go to those ideas now, I will run out and then I am really in trouble.
Writer’s block can take many forms. It could be as complicated at the idea to write about or something as simple as the best way to word something. I can remember sitting and staring at a blank screen when trying to find the right way to start an article for one of my classes.

For me the fight with writer’s block is a series of typing, deleting, typing more, sitting with hands hovering over the keys, hitting “command s” to save (always a good idea) and then finally typing faster than I can think (which leads to some interesting misspellings and word choices).

Really though, it just comes down to time. As I struggled with what to write about today, I came to this idea. I looked over my list of backup ideas, thought about what has been going on in my life, or anything that I could get 200 words out of. Well, today it turned into 278 words on the very thing that was giving me the hardest time.

Before the Super Bowl I saw a lot of commercials for this show called “Undercover Boss.” It was the show they picked to air post-Super Bowl, a spot that usually draws huge ratings. At the time I thought it was a huge waste of a great spot. Then I watched it.

It is actually a really good show. It is a feel good show and that is all it needs to be. The show takes CEOs of big companies and puts them undercover within their organizations. That way they see the good and the bad. Then they report back and make changes based on what they have gone through.

It is not a show that requires much more than showing up. It is heart warming to see some of these people who bust their butts at their jobs get rewarded. It’s also fun to watch the CEO’s screw up. Anytime a CEO goes to a part of their company with an assembly line, or factory, it is a recipe for disaster. This past week one of the owners of White Castle went to one of their factories and had trouble with the bun-packing machine. He ended up destroying 25 boxes worth of buns.

Give it a chance. You just might enjoy it.

Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS