The Threshold/Carla Gugino Anniversary/Birthday Extravaganza!

On this very day in 2004, Threshold was born.
I mentioned last week that there would be much hullabaloo and celebration today as part of the Threshold Anniversary Party.
…
Here’s the thing.
One of the few real goals I actually had when I first launched Threshold was to have a forum in which I could impart some of the lessons I’ve learned in life on to others.
A major lesson that I’ve learned (and re-learned on countless occasions) is that life is usually kind of disappointing.
So if you were actually expecting something special today, all I can say is “tough shit.”
Seriously, I got nothin’.
Today will be a day much like any other, with nothing special done to mark its passage.
Honestly, I think that’s really more in keeping with the spirit of Threshold anyway, particularly the laziness of the “spirit of Threshold.”
Still, I do thank all of you who have stopped by at least semi-regularly and helped make Threshold the….well, there’s really no way to measure success in this case, so I guess what I’m really saying is thanks for nothing.
I’m kidding, of course. I do appreciate the fact that there are at least a couple of people out there reading this, and I can’t help but admire your ability to stay awake while doing so.
After all, as boring as living my life is, reading about it must be a thousand times worse.
I liken it to golf. It’s boring to play, even more boring to watch, and yet, as I discovered while riding with Brian one day, there are actually XM Satellite Radio stations that air life broadcasts of golf matches. Golf on the radio! Nothing could possibly be more boring than that.
Except, or course, reading Threshold.
So, as I say, I admire your tenacity, or masochism, as the case may be.
Of course I do try to make my entries as entertaining as possible, drawing on the tragically comic moments of my banal existence to deliver up the yuks on an at least semi-consistent basis.
So here’s to one year of Threshold entries and to their continuation for…well, a while, anyway.
And now, back to business as usual.
Having woken up sometime shortly after 8 this morning, thanks to some woman raving loudly, and at length, outside my window in an incredibly irritating “baby-talk” voice about the cuteness of some other woman’s new puppy,
Realizing that I would be unlikely to get back to sleep, I opted to get up and go for a walk.
Accomplishing that, I talked to my mother, showered, went grocery shopping, and came home in time to realize that, though it was only 12:30, my day was basically over.
I had done everything that I was going to do. Short of having to rush over to Safeway to pick up something that I may have neglected to get while shopping, I had no additional reason to leave my apartment, and I was unlikely to have any sort of interaction with another human being for the remainder of my waking hours, and likely until Wednesday, when I have to go in to work for a training session.
So, having nothing better to do with my time I sat down to watch some of the many hours of TV programming that’s been sitting unwatched on my DVR’s hard drive.
Feeling especially masochistic, I opted for “Catwoman.”
Even though I knew that I would hate it, I figured I should watch it.
I could go on at length about just how bad the movie was (and how much better it could have been if they would have attempted to just adapt some of the more recent “Catwoman” material to the big screen, particularly the story “Selina’s Big Score,” or really any aspect of what Ed Brubaker brought to the character during his run on the series), but suffice to say that they essentially took every post-Matrix action movie cliché, along with ever post-X-Men comic book movie cliché, and crammed them into one big steaming pile.
(I would use a “litter box” metaphor here, but the movie played out every feline pun and metaphor imaginable to such an extent that I can’t even bring myself to try.)
There was so much not to like about the movie. As sexy as Halle Berry is – and trust me, she’s plenty sexy – no woman can pull off purring without sounding like a complete moron. Maybe some people think that having a woman act like a cat is sexy, but I’m not one of them.
And the costume (Open-toed shoes? WTF?), revealing though it was, was just too stupid-looking to be sexy.
Okay, I said I wouldn’t go on at length, but I do need to mention that the people making the movie were so bereft of creativity (which was all the more reason for them to not try to come up with their own ideas and instead simply adapt “Selina’s Big Score” to the screen) that they cast the guy who played “The Merovingian” in the last two “Matrix” movies and basically had him play The Merovingian minus the French accent.
Maybe that’s a shortcoming on the part of the actor himself, but the similarities went beyond the way he talked and acted. He and Sharon Stone, who played his wife, had the exact same love/hate relationship that he had with his wife, played by Monica Belucci, in the “Matrix” movies.
Anyway, at least I got watching that out of the way. I still have several movies and a few TV shows to watch.
Speaking of which, this season it seems that my DVR will be getting a workout, as there are actually some new shows coming out that seem like they’re worth checking out.
One that I most look forward to is “My Name is Earl.” It looks to be very entertaining, and will be the first live-action sit-com to catch my attention in a long time.
Of course, the most noteworthy new series, from my perspective, looks to be one starring the lovely, talented, and oft-mentioned in these pages, Carla Gugino.
Her new series is a supernatural thriller in the vein of “The X-Files,” which in itself could make it appealing to me (though I was never really a big “X-Files” fan), particularly given that it features Ms. Gugino.
However, the real kicker is that the show is entitled…Threshold!
So it goes without saying that I’ll be sure to tune in (albeit via my DVR, as it will be on past my bedtime on Fridays) to check it out.
Perhaps it’s a sign of some cosmic connection between Carla and I (I can call you Carla, right?). After all, besides being involved in projects that share the same name, I just noticed on the main page at IMDb that today is her birthday!
So Carla and Threshold were born on the same day, and she’s starring in a show called “Threshold.” It’s spooky, and is, perhaps, some sort of supernatural occurrence that bears investigating (Please, Carla: come on over and “investigate.”).
Oh yeah, and besides Carla, Brent Spiner (aka Lt. Commander Data) is on the show, and who doesn’t like Data?
In any case, I would like to officially send out shared birthday greetings from Threshold to Carla. Happy Birthday!
Over the weekend I found a suitable (read: cheap) hard drive enclosure kit and placed an order for it. It wasn’t until after I’d placed the order that I noticed that the kit was on back order, and for “availability” it said, “Usually ships within 2-4 weeks.” D’oh!
A book I ordered a while ago did arrive today, with a loud bang that scared the crap out of me – the mailman apparently just hurled it at my door.
The book in question was Book Five of “Promethea” by Alan Moore, which wraps up the series. I’ll be sad to see the series end, but I’m glad that I’ve got the last book.
I mentioned last week that as of yesterday I’ve been sober for five years. I had been about halfway through the day before I even remembered. I didn’t do anything to really mark the occasion.
I suppose that I’m proud that I’ve made it this far, and that my life, such as it is, has improved as much as it has. I mean, yeah, I don’t go out and have fun very…ever, but I also don’t wake up in jail, and though I have a lot of them, I can actually manage to pay my bills. Also, the fact that I can’t remember the last time I had a blackout is a definite plus.
Get it? Can’t remember the last time I had a blackout? See, it’s funny because…never mind.
As for momentous occasions, today also marked my niece Jourdan’s first day of college. I hope that all went well for her and that she manages to keep her focus so that she can achieve her goals. I don’t want her to ever have to look back and realize that she not only hasn’t reached her goals, she’s totally lost sight of them and has all but forgotten what they were.
….ummm, not that I actually know anyone who’s experienced that or anything.
In any case, that’s going to do it for this entry, I think, before I start letting the occasion make me maudlin and trapped in self-reflection the way significant dates often can.
So once again, my thanks go out to my (extremely) small core of loyal Threshold readers. I hope to still see you around this time next year.