July Calendar - 2010

Goodness, is it July already? Here's a little "sumthin" to gaze upon on those hot, sultry days of summer. I didn't include any music on this one; I didn't think the added distraction was necessary. Enjoy!

This printable calendar customized with Smilebox

In Plain Sight Promo - Bobby Goren Style

I was lucky enough to "capture" this commercial...hmm...I guess it was about three years ago. It was around Father's Day because there were several ads for "Dad" on the DVD as well. Anyway, I was never able to do anything with it...until now...because I finally, finally purchased some recording/converting/editing software that I could figure out.

And now, I have turned into a recording/converting/editing "whore." My problem will soon become that I have run out of space on my computer to store little tidbits like this, and I will have to find another place to put them. Can YouTube be in my future? Probably not. I'm having enough trouble getting Photobucket to cooperate with me, but -- huzzah, huzzah!! -- it finally did. I guess perserverence does pay off eventually.

On to the commercial. It was back in the "good old days." Remember them? When the USA Network actually "liked" Law & Order CI and Vincent D'Onofrio and recognized the benefit of having a well-established, well-loved, well-respected "character" like Detective Goren welcome a newcomer into the fold. "Ah, yes. I remember it well," she says, wiping a nostalgic, whimsical tear from her eye.

For those of you who recall this ad, this particular version is just a "smidge" longer than the one USA aired the majority of the time. In this version, Bobby says, "So, welcome" and gives her this "look." And Mary says, "Thanks, it's great to be part of the team," and appears to be totally oblivious to his shy "boyish" charm. Silly woman. I still crack up when he says he has to go because it's a 32-hour drive to New York, and he puts the siren on and it makes it go faster. But he looks a little hurt and dejected that she doesn't invite him in to have a piece of...pie. I repeat...silly woman!

Enjoy!

In Plain Sight Promo - Slideshow (Please pardon the "gratuitous" hand-shot. Also, notice how he keeps looking at her...ahem...chest. That's my Bobby!)



The Video

Loyalty Part 2 Comments & Just Bobby Slideshow

Okay, so I know I am several days late and a whole bunch of dollars short on this post. Sorry, I just haven't been in much of a blogging mood as of late.

And I've got to tell you, if I cannot figure out a way to ward off the bothersome "anonymous" comments that keep showing up every day on a couple of older posts, I may just give it up all together. I'm not talking about the "real" people who leave an occasional comment anonymously. Those comments are welcome. I'm talking about the long, boring, drawn out advertisements that appear in my email...every...freakin'...day. It is annoying. I always reject them, but they keep coming back.

I have considered enabling the "word verification" function, but I believe that would eliminate all anonymous comments, so I don't know. If you drop by some day and find that you have to enter a series of letters in order to leave a comment, please don't take it personally. Blame it on clueless advertisers who believe this type of "spam" advertising actually works. All it does is piss me off, so...like...BITE ME...already.

Speaking of "bite me," I have finally decided to post my comments/ observations and the "Just Bobby" slideshow from the last LOCI episode...the last episode that matters to me at any rate. For those of you who don't want to revisit the specifics of this episode, please feel free to go directly to the end of the post and feast your eyes on the wonderfulness that is Bobby.

I have to say that I actually teared-up when the show began and the announcer started with those all too familiar words, "In New York City's war on crime..." I did not expect to have that kind of reaction, but I suppose it just "hit me" at that precise moment that this would be the very last time I heard that lead-in in the context of a new Bobby episode, and I got a little emotional.

THEN we arrived at the opening scene, Captain Ross' funeral scene, and there stood everyone in dress uniform...except Bobby...and I was pissed off from that moment on until the show mercifully ended. Music Wench did an excellent post on this episode on her blog in a much more timely fashion, and one of the comments said that Bobby put his hand on his heart instead of performing an official salute because he was not in uniform. And I read somewhere...it could have been on Music Wench's blog, but I'm not certain, that the reason Bobby was not in uniform was because he had already been suspended, which means the crappy writers/producers "screwed" us over "again." Continuity. Evidently, not an important concept on this show...at least not in Seasons 8 and 9.

You know, my heart really isn't in this, so I will probably skip over a bunch of stuff that I had originally jotted down in my notes; I have not watched this episode since it aired except to do the screen capping. Most of you have probably long since forgotten everything except the hug and peck on the cheek at the end anyway.

But I do have to say that this episode did provide one of Bobby's better lines in that when he and Eames went to collect Van Dekker, the bald bad guy slime ball, from the FBI, Bobby gets all up in his face and says, "You're mine." (Would that Bobby would say those words to me, only in an entirely different context...if you catch my meaning, and I believe you do.) But no, he wasted it on this wart-hogged faced buffoon, who replied with, "No, I didn't know you cared, darling," just before Bobby slams his bad boy butt into the wall.

In contrast to Bobby's golden line is perhaps one of the stupidest statements ever uttered on LOCI by the FBI agent who told Van Dekker that, "the safest place for you is in Federal custody...with us." Yeah, right. That turned out well, didn't it? Anyway, as the FBI leads Van Dekker away, Eames says, "It's bad, Bobby." To which, he replies, "No, it's good."

Then came the opening credits and Jeff Goldblum received "top billing" over Kathryn Erbe. I have to be honest, I was still so ticked off over the "no dress blues" incident that I did not notice this "slap in the face" initially. I read about it on Music Wench's blog, and then I had a whole other reason to be pissed off with this episode...as if I needed more.

And then Bobby gets suspended...again. And everyone keeps watching him warily, like they expect him to explode or something. But, no. He keeps his cool, hands Nichols a folder and says he will be in touch with him and also with Eames. I have in my notes that I loved watching how he closed the desk drawer with his...thigh. It's the little, unexpected "Bobby-moments" like that I will forever miss about this show.

Shortly after this, Van Dekker gets offed while under FBI protection. You know, the safest place he could be. And THEN Major Case shows up to investigate the murder. Anyone else see the irony, or should I say...stupidity...in this? The FBI had shut NYPD out of the case, so why would they let them investigate the murder of someone who was...you know...under their protection? It's not like I care anymore...just pointing out yet another inconsistency.

Don't you just love how... since we learned that Bobby's "biological" father was a serial killer, they effortlessly make the leap that Bobby could be a killer, too. Someone says they have to go where the evidence leads them and they're off...investigating Bobby.

That leads Eames to Bobby's apartment/house...whatever. Did you notice (if you even remember at this point) that when Bobby says he was home at the time of Van Dekker's murder, Eames says, "Alone, right?" But Bobby never answers her. Hmm? Something to think about, or it would be...if we still had a reason to think about this show. Don't get me wrong, I still think about Bobby, just not in the confines of Criminal Intent.

And I have to say, for someone who has known this man for more than eight years, I cannot understand why Eames seemed so surprised to find out that Bobby was still accessing the police data base to ascertain information about the case. He was still working the case. It's Bobby. It's who he is. It's what he does. After 8+ years, she expected something else?

When Bobby confronts the dude in the bathroom and he wants to know who Bobby is and Bobby says, "I'm your worst nightmare," I had to chuckle. I mean, I always think of Bobby as my "best" dream...or daydream, as the case may be. And I have to say that, had the man not already availed himself of the bathroom urinal, he most likely would have "diddled" all over himself considering the way Bobby lit into him. That twerp sang like the proverbial bird.

Again, Music Wench pointed this out on her blog, but I wondered, too at the time...why was Bobby driving an NYPD vehicle when he went to check out the warehouse? He was suspended after all. So many inconsistencies.

If I had been "on my game," I like to think I would have figured out the link between the Patel dude and the FBI. I mean, if he was really a bad guy, why wouldn't they just go ahead and kill Bobby? Which leads me to -- perhaps -- my biggest complaint with this entire episode. Bobby is barely in the show as it is, did they really have to cover that beautiful head with a canvas bag? Which, by the way, should have been another big clue to the FBI connection. Why would the bad guys care if he saw where they were taking him? They would have just killed him anyway after they determined what he did or did not know. Like I said, really off my game on this one.

And I really disliked the black FBI agent who kept saying snarky things to Bobby. For instance, when he threatens to hold Bobby in federal detention and says he heard that Bobby was once committed to an insane asylum. "Is that true?" he asks. Bobby replies that it was for the, "greater good." And this creep says, "Like you know what that was." Argh! I really didn't like this guy, but I loved Bobby's reaction. He just gets this little smile on his face, like he's thinking, "Let me out of these cuffs, and I'll show you insane asylum."

For what it's worth, and even though I hated the FBI bitch, I do believe she appreciated Bobby's "genius" in the end. Enough so that I have to wonder if he perhaps ended up there after all was said and done, or was he too much of a "problem child" for them?

This is also the scene when Bobby says, "Ross believed in what you were doing, and I had a lot of respect for that man." Okay, so that's a nice line and all, but the truth is it always felt like Bobby "tolerated" Ross or anyone in authority because it allowed him to do what he did best...catch bad guys.

Moving on, let me just say that the whole thing with the Chief of Detectives dangling the Major Case captain's job in front of Eames was just plain...nonsense. Don't get me wrong. I like Eames. But she had no administrative experience...what so ever. She had not even taken the exam yet, and she is going to leap frog over every other viable candidate to be the top dog at Major Case. Sorry, not very believable. I understand why the writers did it that way, so Eames could be the one to fire Bobby, but still.

And the knife in my heart? Bobby...wearing a VISITOR'S BADGE.

Look at Bobby, being the reasonable, rational one when he talks Nichols into letting the bad guy go for the "greater good," so Ross will not have died in vain.

And that leads to the end of the story...the show...for those of us who truly believe that Law & Order CI is, was, and always will be...Goren and Eames. The scene in the Captain's office when Eames fires Bobby. He accepts it with grace and dignity, says it's been a long time coming. She tells him he's the best...always will be. They hug, he pecks her on the cheek, says he'll see her around, and leaves.

Eames walks around the desk, takes out her gun and shield and places them on the desk, picks up the phone and calls the Chief of D's and tells him she won't be taking that captain's exam. Fade to black. That's all she wrote. End of story.

When all is said and done, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth; I will forever believe that these three characters (Ross included) deserved a far, far better send off than this paltry offering. And now having said all this, I am done beating this long since dead horse. I am going back to the beginning. Well, back to Season 2 where I left off in the middle of "Best Defense" and finish screen capping and quoting that episode. There is still a lot of good Bobby to be quoted and commented on after all.

"Loyalty Part 2" - Just Bobby Slideshow - Season 9

Food For Thought...So To Speak

As I was browsing my file folder where I keep interesting tidbits that I have collected from the Internet or have received in emails, I found the following offering. I believe this was from an email. I have no idea if it is true or not, however, I do embrace the overall sentiment of the piece. Enjoy.

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Recently, in a large city in France, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs! They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them ... where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.

With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, "Good grief, look how smart I am!"

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For the record, upon reflecting on the size of my considerable...ahem ...derriere, I must be a freakin' genius!