Thank you, sir, for sharing your talents and creativity with the world. You will always be remembered and greatly missed.

Because women’s magazines just seem to scrape further and further along the bottom of the barrel.

I don’t read them often and the only time I do is when I go to the hair salon (which is only a couple of times a year), as there’s nothing else to read. So recently I’m at the salon and I’m flipping through this magazine called Women First (or maybe it’s First for Women or something) and was essentially bombarded with articles and images that reinforced the outrageous idea of the perfect female figure and essentially told me, directly and indirectly, that I was worthless.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there was ad on the inside cover for a new TV show called Huge premiering on ABC family (June 28th) that centers around an over weight teen being sent to the fat farm for the summer. The photo was of the young woman to star in the show, in a one piece bathing suit looking just a little uncomfortable.

Meanwhile the rest of the magazine was full of women in bikinis showing off fabulous figures all with articles about how they obtained these outrageous proportions. Nice tans, flat stomachs, gorgeous legs with not a single spider vein and all of them tall and lean and beautiful!

A real feel good issue for the start of summer, ya know? Phphtpt. I’m five foot four and … not lean enough for this magazine. But sheesh, y’all. Give it up! Not everybody can look like Kim Kardashian okay???

Even the story about a young up and coming female country singer had her posing in a bikini (in case you missed the cover photo). Then there was a weight loss ad with a “25 year old” woman posing in, what else, a bikini. (She looked just a little bit older than 25 tho’. Trust me. She wasn’t 25. Nonetheless, she looked great but c’mon, don’t lie to me about her age).

There was Kim Kardashian in an ad with some weight loss magic potion or something. And she was wearing…yup, yer catching on, a bikini! Then there was a section showing various female celebrities looking “stressed,” (as in, no make up, sweatpants, t-shirts and baseball caps – you know, looking basically like, um, the rest of us?) and then looking all dolled up (but not necessarily in a bikini, which I was surprised). Then there was a blurb about whatever the magic potion was that helped them get that way, (like, some concoction to put on the face to make the skin appear more even or tan or tight or fake or whatever.)

Then there was the highlight of the whole magazine. How to look good naked! The statistic in the article claims that some 75% of us females want to look better naked.

I must be in that 25 percentile because I don’t give a hoot. I got what I got y’all. It curves a little too much here, it’s a little too flabby there. I’m pale enough to be a geisha girl. Take it or leave it.

Keep in mind, I’m happy with the way I am and I know I look fine the way I am. My gripe is that as a culture and society we women beat the crap out of ourselves (and each other) for any and every little “flaw” these magazines can shine their brightest spotlight on. Belly fat? Boobs too small? Butt too big? Legs too short? Thighs too wide? Face too long? Well, guess what sweetheart? You suck!

Forget that. You wanna talk about nice curves and lean figures? Lemme show my latest issue of my favorite car magazine…

“Hey, MaryAnne, your buddy’s on tv here…”

My buddy.

I have several buddies, but the particular context of “buddy” in this case are those actors whom I adore absolute.  Those who I go out of my way to watch something they’re in, buy a DVD, view a video on YouTube, or collect photographs of.

It’s a small group. These guys are the All Time Favorites. One such member of this elite group is Robert Culp.

Back on March 24th, I lost one of my buddies.

No, I never knew the man personally. Never had the opportunity to meet him. Would have liked to, but figure I would’ve acted something like Culp in the GAH episode “The Price is Right” when Bill meets the famous football quarterback that was friends with Ralph in highschool.

Yeah…

Truth be told, I would’ve been happy to just sit and listen to him talk. I could’ve listened for hours.

I was shocked by the news of his sudden passing. A mere moment in time…and he was gone.

What he leaves behind, however, is a body of work that I’ve only just started to make dent in, in terms of viewing. From Trackdown to I Spy to Greatest American Hero, to feature films and television guest spots. It was only two short years ago that Robert Culp became the latest addition to my group of Buddies. I’ve blogged about him occasionally here and over in my LJ. I’ve fangirled over him and have been truly inspired by him.

Given this bias, I’ve been annoyed at the seemingly paltry acknowledgement of this man’s contributions to film and television by the print media. TV Guide managed to spare a mere paragraph on his passing. I missed if Peoplemagazine bothered to spill any ink on it, they certainly didn’t do a special issue (like they did for Farrah Fawcett). Granted, I haven’t been able to actively hunt for anything, only a quick look-see at the checkout aisle of the grocery store, but I think it’s safe to say that very little was printed beyond an obit. (The tabloid Globeand it’s bogus “shocking secret” that Culp “hid” from fans doesn’t count).

Online, however, it’s been a different story. Several fine articles and blogs have been written, tributes made and accolades expressed. There’s little more I can add to these fine expressions. Frankly, for calling myself a writer, words fail me at a time like this. In the two years since “discovering” Robert Culp, I have come to greatly admire and respect him for his dedication to his craft and the quality of his work (even when the quality of what he had to work with wasn’t so good). He has been a great inspiration with my own writing and creative pursuits.

Perhaps that, more than any glossy special issue of People, is the better acknowledgement. Instead of seeking the tributes paid by others, I will pay tribute my own way. I will continue to yammer on about him, post screen caps from various episodes and films and carry on as I have been.

More than that, though, I will continue to be inspired by Culp’s work and I will continue to “feed the muse.”

Because he was and always will be one of the buddies.

Well, I had in mind to do this but I have a tendency sometimes to play the same one or two songs over and over again, especially if I’m writing. Or I won’t have any music playing at all for various reasons. Lately, it’s been hard to come up with the last five songs I’ve listened too (even if I try to count the songs on the radio at work. I can’t because I tend to not be paying close attention LOL).

So, instead I’m adding a twist to the challenge and am going to list the last five songs I’ve listened to on YouTube. This list I can do because these vids are ones I’ve watched several times lately. I gotta tell ya tho’, it’s pretty eclectic!

So here it is, the last five songs I’ve listened to! (I should note that since my track record with imbedding YouTube vids is miserable, I’ve merely included the links here.)

1. Speechless (Live on Ellen) – Lady Gaga (Say what you want about Lady Gaga, the girl has the chops and can craft songs and sing. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like her since David Bowie and Elton John in the 70’s)

2. Come With Me Now (Theme from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Full version) - Bill Conti (Cripes I had this song totally stuck in my head for awhile about a week or so ago. It would not leave me alone. It still pops in every so often.)

3. I’m a Ramblin’ Man (Live in Austin Texas, 1989) - Waylon Jennings ( I LOVE this live version of this song. Especially Waylon’s guitar part. One of the most unique sounding guitars in country music.)

4. I’m Just a Giglo - David Lee Roth (Fo’gettabodit Dave! LOL. Yeah, seriously, I don’t know how this song ended up stuck in my head lately, but it did. I had a feeling back in the day when it first came out that it was a cover, but I had no idea until recently just how old this song really is. Louis Prima did a version back in the 50’s, which Roth basically did similar of, but Bing Crosby did a slow waltz version waaaaaay back in the early 30’s. You can find it on YouTube.)

5. Yankee Rose - David Lee Roth. (After watching the Giglo video I got to thinking about the rest of Diamond Dave’s Greatest 80’s Hits and could recall the opening to another video…but couldn’t remember the song. A Google search of the words “gimmie a bottle of anything, and a glazed donut. TO GO!” and I found the vid. Truthfully, I haven’t gone back repeatedly to watch this one, except to watch the totally unrelated intro – which I always got a chuckle out of it, even if it makes no damn sense at all. I wasn’t that big a fan of the song as a kid. ROFL)

Oh, I should also add, I know who Django Reinhardt was. Heh!

No. No, no, no, no, no. No. Just no. No way. NO. Absolutely NO!

What did NBC not learn from the Knight Rider remake attempt? Have they not noticed the pattern over the years with all the horrible film “remakes” of classic tv shows? And do they really think Steve Carrell, who was in the failed remake of Get Smart, is going to do anything for this project, more or less get it right?

What part of NO does NBC not understand?

After blowing up late night comedy as we know it, hanging Conan O’Brien out to dry and then loosing a fortune on the Olympics, what, prey tell, does NBC think it’s going to achieve with this Rockford remake?

They’re not.

I predict the show will not last for a full season. And that’s being generous.

As most of you know, James Garner is one of my all time favorite actors. I’m sure Mr. Mulroney is a fine actor, but no one, no one, can replace James Garner as Jim Rockford.

No one.