"Tea break over, lads. Back on your heads."

At least I've got a good reason for being gone this time.

About a month after I last wrote something here, I met my soulmate and I've been spending a lot of time with her ever since.  That's consumed all my attention and I haven't been getting out to see any shows or watch many movies, though I have been doing my radio show every week. In March I moved in with my girlfriend and that required even more adjustment in fitting all my stuff into her house as well as becoming stepfather to her cats.

After a couple of months things are beginning to settle down and my writing impulses are starting to flow so hopefully I'll be finding things to write about again.  This house has no cable TV but Verizon is supposed to install it in June 9 (fingers crossed) after postponing twice because of their strike.  I really haven't missed it too much outside of Turner Classic Movies and Adult Swim but I'm looking forward to having it back. Meanwhile I've been exploring digital sub-channels, discovering the Western anthology show, Zane Grey Theater, and examining 30 and 40 year old game shows on Buzzr. I've also come to enjoy Vera, a British detective series WETA-UK has been showing that stars Brenda Blethyn as a motherly police inspector and begun checking out German, French and Japanese news programs on MHz Networks.

As for movies, I haven't seen anything in a theater lately outside of the Maggie Smith film, The Lady In The Van.  I have seen a few things though thanks to old standbys, Netflix and Classic Flix.  I've seen a couple of big name pictures like Island Of Lost Souls, Howards' End and the excellent Brian Wilson biography Love And Mercy.  I've also checked out Chico And Rita, an animated love story that traces the history of Afro-Cuban jazz, The Big Operator, a bargain basement crime film starring Mickey Rooney as a crooked labor boss, Massacre, a surprisingly progressive early Thirties' movie about modern-day Native Americans and VHS, a so-so horror anthology.

My radio gig is the most fun I have by myself these days. My show was voted the best new one of 2015 on Radio Fairfax and I look forward to putting it together and going on the air every Tuesday. I like it so much I'm thinking of expanding, trying my luck with a similar program on a low power FM station in Arlington that has just been going a few months.

The point of all this is that I'm still alive and well and I'm starting to feel like getting back into my old routine. Hopefully that means I'll be writing more, here and maybe other places. I'm not promising anyhting. Time will tell.