Winter doldrums

Hate people who complain about our winters, which is about to mean that I hate myself, because this on-going condition of general blecchiness is really getting on my nerves. I could take snow (and snow and snow) gladly — would be happy to give the snowshoes a workout. It’s this ice and rain, day after day, that’s starting to be crazy. On the one hand, it’s kinda warm (and I almost got out for another ride the other day but couldn’t hack the wind), but it’s just dreary.

So there’s been a crazy amount of reading and TV watching. I’ve read biographies of Steve Martin, Andy Kaufman and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones (which, somewhat beside the point, got me into a little Marianne Faithfull listening jag). Currently working on Pete Hamill’s “Downtown,” a re-read of an old Schenectady history, and “People of Albany,” a lively little tome on the denizens of my favorite and most-visited burial ground, Albany Rural Cemetery. Have watched endless episodes of “Ninja Warrior,” been completely caught up in the much-better-than-it-deserves-to-be “Celebrity Rehab,” and have gotten completely out of order in watching “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” Between that and “The Bionic Woman,” it’s just such a relief to find some form of scripted television still remains, and in both cases, it’s pretty good, too. I also record way more movies from TCM than I’m ever going to watch, and even then I have to ask that Turner give people a heads up when they’re going to have a little John Garfield marathon! I jumped in on the tail end of “Body and Soul,” a great boxin’ pitcher with a standard cop-out happy ending (which is why Kurt Douglas’s “Champion” is such a rarity), then had time to record a couple more John Garfield gems. As John Prine sang, “John Garfield in the afternoon, Montgomery Clift at night.” (Saw “From Here To Eternity” a couple of weeks back, too.)

Clearly, I need some sunshine to play in.