(VIDEO) IS JOHN CULLUM ALWAYS A "NICE" GUY?

Calling John "Mr. Nice Guy," Em asks "Did you ever clash with a fellow actor or a director?"

John mentions a stage fight that became too real, and reveals how he clashed with the director of "On a Clear Day."

WHAT'S NEW AND WONDERFUL?

Time Magazine, managed by Nancy Gibbs, whom I admire for her down-to-earth, realistic connection with current trends, devoted an issue to "new ideas."

I figured Nancy was telling us what new doings were important, and wonderfully significant. 

What Nancy Gibbs discussed, is listed here, in bold letters.

MAKE FUN OF EVERYTHING,
(Hmm... well, people pay attention when you  poke major issues -- it suggests that you're very sophisticated, and blasé, so of course Em is paying attention.)

PUT THE SEX BACK IN SEX ED
(Gee, aren't  kids learning everything from movies and pop songs?)

SWEEP OUR DIRTY RIVERS CLEAN
(Sure, after we fix roads, bridges, and do something about plastic bags.)

DIVERSIFY CORPORATE AMERICA 
(Okay, that's the "hire females" talk that we've heard before, but maybe a little louder than last year.) 

COOK WITH THE WHOLE FARM 
(We're venturing into new [old] basic foods to eat healthier and eat less junk food [note "maybe" -- I'm making a blasé comment -- this farm food trend seemed boring.)

LET KIDS RUN WILD ON LINE
(Kids are doing it anyway -- giving them permission just makes parents feel more successful parentally.)

TELL REAL STORIES WITH VIDEO GAMES 
(Eek -- scary trend -- vid games are amusing compared to much of the unspeakably uglier, more violent real tales of today.)

STOP SENDING AID TO DICTATORS
(Yes, instead of promoting tyrants, help the down-trodden, but gee, can the President do that -- doesn't the do-nothing Congress have to  approve?)

TAKE YOUR EARS ON VACATION
("Time" says we will be visiting new places, like undersea where we can hear whales songs, or the Mohave Desert and hear -- what? -- sand shifting? Are there crickets?)

BRING THE DOCTOR WITH YOU
(Yay, it's an Em idea -- get the gizmos that track your vitals and bring them, wear them like a necklace or a bracelet, whenever you visit the Doc.) 

Since none of this grabbed me, I visited Forbes Magazine.

Forbes gave specifics on How to Pick a Money Making Idea and Build It. Click the link -- it's talk that says "pick something that nobody else is doing and promote it a way nobody else is doing."

(Would it be blasé to say thanks for nothing, Forbes?)

Hey Nancy Gibbs, I thnk all these trends -- except for Make Fun of Everything -- are  because everything is over-advertised, promoted, and sold to us. And we are surviving by thinking privately -- not listening, nodding, or taking advice -- just being who or whatever we are, and doing whatever feel llike doing.

Advice from Em, Nancy Gibbs: That BE WHO YOU ARE -- is a very big, very current trend.   

"THE FAMILY GUY" CREATOR

Ever watch "Family Guy," the adult animated sitcom? It's on every night around dinner time. I didn't search for it -- it was just there.

Before my eyes was a Broadway Show opener in a comic book style, loaded with stars and a chorus singing and dancing brilliant choreography.

Thinking, "Wow, who created this?" I was led you into an episode -- snappy, laugh-getting dialogue between cartoon characters -- repulsively overweight Dad, weird looking, over-educated nasty boy, smart, sensitive, intuitive talking dog, groovy Mom-Wife who cheerfully involves herself in a crisis that was expositioned in a few seconds. 

I was glued to the screen. Next day I watched another episode. (Then another, and another, without being aware that it was something I was doing every night.) I figured the show was put together by a gang of young people collaborating, feeding each other ideas.

The credits whizzed by; I Googled and discovered that Seth MacFarlane designed, and directed it as well as provided some of the voices. Guys, remember the name -- he's just 41;  a NOW man, utterly uninhibitedly in tune with the times. He's designed and launched other successful animated adult sitcoms -- his  "American Dad," and "The Cleveland Show" have won him all sorts of major awards. Seth is making big bucks because he knows how to fix, tighten, and develop these shows with characters that stay with us because we've bumped into them in our daily lives.

I laugh. I am entertained.

Guys, I change the channel. I avoid watching "Family Guy."

I'm jealous. At his age, with big failures and big successes under his belt, he has a powerful sense of what's significant, what tickles our fantasies, worries us, what we fear, pray for, or abhor. Yes, I have a powerful sense of all that too, but I'm another generation and not in tune with the times.

Dissonance -- that's me. I am a dissonant dissenter. 

He reminds me of me what I was in dance at his age, building my career--  oh boy, the jobs I was offered that I shrugged off -- oh boy, that big name producer who asked me to dance to "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" -- I told him "I'd rather die than dance to that."

MacFarlane himself -- aside from his marvelous writing and producing talents, loves to perform as a singer with big bands, ala Sinatra. He's got more than a toe in the door -- he's handsome, very polished and professional, but ... well, he's not special as a singer or pop song writer. If you're curious, click -- here he is singing
  
That was my fatal flaw -- I insisted on being the star dancer of my up-and- coming Dance Drama Company.  

Thank goodness Seth Macfarlane is now talking about a new sitcom he's working on called "Dads."  Hey Seth, stick with what you've proved -- you are already, probably, the number one genius creator of animated sitcoms. 

I can't get a copy of actual brilliant opener to "Family Guy," but here's an abbreviated  preview of it.