TV and smog in winter

I have an affliction. You could call it "anticipation disease". Anticipation disease seldom allows you to live in the present. You see, I like winter because it anticipates summer. But I don't like summer because it anticipates winter. It's also humid, smoggy and yucky. Winter is mostly white and pristine (and I'm not talking about two weeks old snow here which is as pristine as a pile of manure; I'm talking about the air and about the feel of winter)

So I like evenings because I anticipate a nice cup of morning coffee but I don't like mornings because I anticipate the grind ahead. Strangely enough though, I like Sunday nights the best: the weekend gigs are behind me, a couple of relatively quiet days ahead (Mondays and Tuesdays being usually off-peak days for musicians), during weekdays I'll have the house all to myself....PLUS Sunday night is the best TV night in the known universe: Desperate Housewives (for the wife), The Sopranos (we both like it) and Six Feet Under (the best TV program of the decade, no question) So we have two VCR's humming, as all these shows are on at the same time.

Talking of The Sopranos....great acting, superb scripts, action-packed and all that....but I'm starting to have some serious problems with it. The more seasons I watch, the more I question why I should even care about the fate of these repulsive killers. And I know that the point has been made that its moral ambiguity is the very life-force that propels the show. Yet, drawn to it as I still am, I have less and less desire to watch Tony and his cohorts wreak havoc in Jersey.

And talking of TV shows - HOUSE on the FOX network is a very nice show with the excellent British actor Hugh Laurie in the title role of a grumpy, world-weary and rude doctor who solves complex medical mysteries with his superb intellect but whose bedside manner is closer to Caligula than Marcus Welby. Catch it while you can. This show is very well crafted and written, lessening its chances of survival in the TV universe.

And now I'm going for my daily walk. It's plus 6 degrees, the snow is melting, a hazy sunshine envelopes the city and there is a smog alert in February. Go figure! Lest the global warming crowd comes knocking on my blogg-o-door, keep in mind that last month was the second coldest on record (the previous one being last year!)