saw "this is it" the other night, michael jackson's documentary...if you can get past what he looks like and his lurid history, it's a pretty cool movie...it runs about 1OO-minutes and was taken from about 1OO-hours of footage...as you know, m-j died about a week before his london concerts were to begin...the movie is pretty much a greatest-hits package...you'll hear all of your favorites: "billie jean", "thriller" and "black or white"...the movie company paid 6O-million dollars for the rights to show the documentary, so if you think it's only going to be around for 2-weeks for an "exclusive engagement", you can "beat it"...

there's a much smaller movie worth checking-out...it's called "amreeka" and much of it was filmed here in winnipeg...it has to do with a single mother and her son coming to a "small town in illinois"...both experience prejudice and problems adjusting to life in america, or "amreeka"...don't think you'd recognize the actors, but it was produced by "buffalo gal pictures" of winnipeg and i do believe you'll enjoy it...

have you been to a doctor recently? went for my first check-up in way too many years and it's been quite the experience...when you get a blood-test, you need to fast for 12-hours...normally, it wouldn't be bad, but i start work early in the morning...going without food was no big deal, but no coffee! that's just wrong...it was traumatic for me(and beau and frazier)while i was there, they wanted a "sample" as well...but since i hadn't had any liquids, i had a little trouble giving them their "sample", so i told them i always seem a spare cup of urine in my car...they didn't laugh...

Tom Talks TV

nice to see jay leno's prime-time show fail to make the top-2O in the weekly tv-ratings for a second week in a row...don't care for jay...
anyone still watching "survivor" besides me? i admit it, i never miss an episode...
watched the CBC-TV show "battle of the blades"...it was a double ceremony for me: first and last time i'll be seeing it...with apologies to one-time winnipeg favorite tie domi, watching regular season hockey is boring enough, i don't need NHL-has-beens stumbling all over the ice...
almost anything on "discovery" channel is worth watching...who would have thought a show about logging or ice-road trucks could be interesting...
"deperate-housewives" has jumped the shark...what's next? it was all a dream like bobby's return on "dallas"...
my favorite show on tv is "the office"...a great cast coupled with great writing will give you a winner every time...on thursday october 8th, jim and pam get married in a special one-hour episode...for those unfamiliar with the show, the two co-workers have been making goo-goo eyes at each other for a few years...steve carell is the most painfully self-unaware boss of all time...

more tv-tidbits: tuned-into david letterman the other night and i couldn't watch...things are different now...letterman seemed to be above all of the tabloid-nonsense...he was never seen beating-up a photographer and never frequented the trendy nightclubs...but since his admission of having affairs with co-workers, he seems just like the rest...the jokes can never be the same...it's not that i'm passing judgment on him, it's just, i dunno, different...
did you watch pam and jim's wedding on "the office"...it was a great hour of television...okay, so i teared-up a bit...
still with tv: this is a sports thing...don't know how much your cable-bill is, but mine is a lot...still, it's not enough to avoid a debacle like this: it's the playoffs in major league baseball...so, there's two games scheduled the other night and what do we get: hockey...look, hockey is important, but it's the first week of the schedule...who cares! give me baseball...
so winnipeg got some snow...is it really important enough to show on the national-news? we really enjoy being called "winter-peg"...

saw tony bennett in concert the other night...WOW!...he's 83 and still working hard...too bad the night was spoiled by all the drugs and beer-induced fights in the crowd...(kidding)tony's daughter antonia bennett, who is 35, was sort of his opening-act, singing three or four songs and then joining her dad on a duet...let's just say, if she wasn't tony's daughter, singing might not be her vocaction...
hey, we get a new premier this weekend...steve ashton or greg selinger takes-over for gary doer...whether you vote NDP, it's hard not to like a guy like doer...i don't know all that much about politics, but mr. doer seems like the real deal...
tom's fashion tips: no sweatpants outside...unless you're at a sporting-event, keep the wearing of team-jerseys to a minimum...sandals are made to be worn without socks...guys, take your hats off while indoors...keep in mind, all i wear is t-shirts with some kind of logo on them...

gotta love CNN...their coverage of the "balloon-boy" fiasco made for riveting television...was their a boy inside? did he fall out? why does he have such a stupid name? (falcon)it looks like falcon's dear old dad was trying to land himself a role on a "reality" tv-show...he and his family had already been on "wife-swap" twice...he'd be a perfect contestant on "survivor", "dancing with the stars" or even "ellen"...it's like bart simpson said "i watch 8-hours of tv a day, 9-hours if there's something good on"...
is it just me that finds this interesting? greg selinger is our third premier in a row to have a first name that starts with a "G"...before him, there was Gary doer and Gary filmon...Golly Gee...
do you feel sorry for pigs? how would you like to have a flu named after you... it could be worse i guess: i wouldn't want it called "tom" flu...
looking forward to seeing "this is it" next week...this is the documentary michael jackson made as he prepared for all those concerts in london that never happened because he died last june...it opens on wednesday october 28th, but we have a premiere the night before, so keep it tuned to BOB for your free tickets...