The good weather we've enjoyed will hold for the next couple of days, but then the forecasters say we are in for cold and snow for four consecutive days. It is winter, after all, so I can't complain too much. I drove to one of my favorite fishing spots on the lake today to see if all the warm weather might have thawed the shore ice and allow some fishing, but no such luck. Ah, me. Such is life.
For many years, my great aunt was involved in the Hollywood scene and was wardrobe mistress to Lucille Ball during the greatest days of Desilu productions. She did pretty good - she married the Desilu treasurer and they ran off in the sunset to Palm Springs. Among other favors, she got me autographs of many of the movie celebrities. My book had the signatures of stars such as Van Johnson (shows you how old I am), Cyd Charisse (When I was younger, I thought she was the sexiest woman alive), and Robert Taylor. Aunt Dell, as she was known, also got me tickets to the filming of I Love Lucy, December Bride, and Our Miss Brooks. The tickets were great because I was such a nerd in High School that going to the filmings was the only way I could get a date.
A life long obsession started when my aunt told me that the actor Robert Taylor's real name was Spangler Arlington Brough. No wonder he changed it. Then I wondered what the real names of other stars were, and I have collected them ever since. I'm not going to list them all here, but I'd like to pull one out of my database to see if any of my readers know who she is. I'm speaking of Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov. By what name do we all know her? Hint: She has won an Oscar, three Golden Globes and four Emmys. She's not from the past; She is one of the today's A-List actors. I'll reveal her name at the bottom of today's blog.
Out here in the boonies, cable TV is a hit and miss proposition. It costs a lot of money to string cable to a small town of just a few hundred people, and not a lot of companies are willing to do that for the meager income it will bring. For that reason, Dish TV and Direct TV satellite dishes are everywhere. I had Dish TV installed shortly after I moved here because it gives me a couple of neat benefits. During the football season I subscribe to a sports package that gives me both southern California Fox Sports stations so that I can see the games of my beloved UCLA Bruins. I watch them faithfully, even through miserable seasons like this last one. Also, for 1.50 a month I opted to get KTLA, channel 5, Los Angeles, because it shows the Rose Parade uninterrupted. Most stations here that show the parade tend to cut out the bands and horses, which I would like to see. Before I moved here, KTLA was my source for morning news and sports, and now I can stay aware of what's going on out there for my old friends and neighbors.
An emerging threat to both cable and satellite TV systems is on-line streaming video through computers. New websites such as Hulu.com offer all kinds of TV shows with minimum commercials. Example: I am an enormous fan of the new Battlestar Galactica, which is totally unlike its 1970s namesake. The new season started last Friday and I had a commitment that kept me away from home. Not to worry. The very next day it was available on Hulu and I watched it at my leisure. Also, the commercial breaks on Hulu contain one thirty second commercial, that's all, then back to the show. It doesn't subject the viewer to three or more minutes of an endless series of commercials. Since my computer has a 22 Inch LCD monitor, and an upgraded sound system with a subwoofer, it delivers a true home theater experience. Since my computer system, of course, is all digital, the picture quality puts my standard definition TV to shame. It is one step short of HiDefinition.
Hulu also has all kinds of older TV series to watch. I used to love WKRP Cincinnati and Hulu has it. I watched every episode of the series with only one twenty to thirty second commercial interruption per episode. I always loved the fact that in that show, the buxom blonde was the only smart one in the room.
I'm not paid by Hulu, but that site and new one, TV.Com, have drawn a line in the sand that the cable and satellite people will have to deal with. Even Netflix and Blockbuster.com offer streaming videos of the movies they rent so that a person doesn't have wait for the mail. The Times, They Are A-Changing.
All right who is our mystery actor, Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov? She is Helen Mirren. How about that? Maybe next time we'll try to guess who changed her name from Mary Isabella Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. Email me if you think you know the stage name of this singer.
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