Tom's Mad Blog
February 10th, 2007 | Posted in General
We had a few of the neighbors over in the home theater to watch the “spring premiere” of “Lost” on Wednesday. After a 15 week hiatus, the show began a promised 16 consecutive week run to the end of the season with no repeats. I wrote this post back in November with my thoughts on the shows direction, or lack thereof. In short I felt the show was being too stingy with any real plot advancement, and that the little glimpses of actual story-line development we got were not enough for viewers to continue to stay on the wagon. Saying the show is “about the… READ MORE
February 9th, 2007 | Posted in General
I was at the gym yesterday warming up on a cross trainer, staring at the huge bank of TV screens they have along the upper wall. Most are silent, as you need to tune your radio to a posted specific frequency to get the corresponding sound, but one is the “Lifetime Fitness” channel, and that is all music videos with the sound throughout the gym. On that channel they play a lot of kick ass music to really pump you up for exercise… you know, like Cher, Hilary Duff or Ashlee Simpson. I hope everybody understands that sentence was typed with my tongue firmly in… READ MORE
February 8th, 2007 | Posted in General
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February 7th, 2007 | Posted in General
Well, tonight is the big “spring premiere” of “Lost”. I watched the “fall finale” again thanks to the miracle of iTunes and honestly I had forgotten about half of that episode. This long hiatus was a huge mistake and I hope they pick things up with some big revelations and major plot movement. If not, that hiatus is going to seem even longer. Meanwhile, “Heroes” is three episodes into the new year and far from spinning it’s wheels, it just keeps getting better. Things are starting to come together is many ways. It seems that the world of “Heroes” is a little like the world… READ MORE
February 6th, 2007 | Posted in General
A while back I wrote this post about one of my favorite authors, Frederick Forsyth. As I said in that post, I greatly enjoy his books and consider him the father and master of the modern spy thriller. This fall Forsyth published his fourteenth novel, The Afghan, and I snapped up a copy eagerly. I saved it specifically for the vacation I took last week. Unfortunately it proved to be not entirely worth the wait. Forsyth’s novels are based on real world issues and concerns. From the constant wars in Africa in The Dogs of War to the impact of the impending oil crisis in… READ MORE
February 5th, 2007 | Posted in General
Back in the land of 10,000 lakes… all of which are currently frozen solid. We were greeted by a balmy -4 degrees Fahrenheit on our return to Minnesota. That was the high temperature for the day…. the low is supposed to be -16. It’s hard to believe The Lovely Anna needed to get a sweatshirt when we were in Maui as it was ‘a little chilly’ with the strong breeze when not in the sun. That might have been all of 70 degrees. While on the trip I kept up (more or less) with my e-mail. However I have my Macbook Pro set to not… READ MORE
February 4th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I was wondering if you ever try out new things? Perhaps a different medium or art form entirely, not just for commercial work but for personal interest? A: Yes, I do lots of things that are different from my typical style or approach. I think the artist side demands some experimentation or things get boring. I used to regularly attend a figure drawing co-op in north Minneapolis, where I did realistic figure drawing with charcoal, graphite or pastels. That proved to be too far away to keep up, but I enjoyed it. I also have taken some painting workshop classes here in Burnsville at… READ MORE
February 3rd, 2007 | Posted in General
Time to pack up and return home from the sun and sands of Maui to the snow and cold reality of Minnesota. We didn’t have the best of luck with the weather in Hawai’i this year… four days of our week were very windy and overcast with showers on and off all day. This cut severely in to the time we could spend on the beach or by the pool, but honestly that was no big deal. We have a very comfortable room with a great ocean view and spent a lot of time lounging around in it. Our lanai (deck) was sheltered from the… READ MORE
