I’m smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... I’m smart and I want respect!

Last month, Rye High School, my alma mater in New York, was named the 19th-best high school in the country. It received straight A’s in every category except culture and diversity. (Rye is WHITE – like one big town full of New England Patriot possession receivers.)

I’m proud, but I won’t kid myself. The school has much improved. You should meet the palookas that attended with me back when I was there. When I went off to college at the University of Maryland, I had culture shock meeting kids from the DC/Baltimore area. They watched the news and read the paper. I’d never seen anything like it. Baltimore’s motto is “The city that reads.”

But I’ll take it, my newly improved résumé. Go Garnets.

My Long, Individual Nightmare Is Over.

I had to take a cold shower every morning last week, after spending every night in a cold apartment. I better get some kind of freezing powers for this.

But finally, after plumbers swore each day they were almost finished, the pipes have finally been replaced and blessed by the gas company.

And now that I’m thawed out and done bitching, I used the weekend to take my scooter out for several spins, including a beachside ride on the strand in which many people wanted to know where I got it. Mom, expect a bunch of requests.

Winter Of My Discontent.

I shriek if I step into a cold shower. Yet I’m convinced I’d be a badass in any apocalypse.

Today is day eight of having no heat and no hot water in my place. Day nine: pneumonia. Day ten: death’s sweet embrace.

One Of My Favorites. Rest In Peace.

A few years ago, I was shooting a role on a soundstage and heard Stone Temple Pilots was shooting a video next door. I play drums, and am partial to any band with a great drummer. STP is one of my all-time favorites.
During a break, I snuck into their building. The band was out having lunch, so I took a walk around, and when I passed lead singer Scott Weiland’s dressing room, I snapped the above pic.

It was a surreal moment, not just because I loved Scott, but because he’d been tortured by drug addiction for years, to the point in which an overdose seemed inevitable. But here he was, still around, making a comeback with the band.

Most celebrity deaths are no more than a passing interest. The odd one can touch us for some reason. Scott Weiland is one of those for me.

30 Seconds Of November.

Whether I like it or not, I now must face the fact that I let down the coworker who told me to have a great weekend.

But I had a nice month. Here is November, concentrated into one second per day:

My Favorite New TV Show.

This week, "Monday Night Football" featured two of the worst teams in sports: the Ravens and the Browns. I couldn’t decide if I should skip the game or hate-watch it.

Instead, I caught the first two episodes of the new NBC sitcom “Superstore”. It was awesome.

The show is set in a St. Louis Walmart-style store. Furtile ground for a workplace comedy.

There are key ingredients to the success of a sitcom – ensemble cast, juggle three plots every episode – but it simply boils down to good writing. Good writers can make a decent premise great, by crafting every script. There are cutaways between scenes in “Superstore” that only last two or three seconds, but perfectly capture the unintentional hilarity of a big-box store, and society at its worst – like an abandoned baby bouncing happily in a crib display. Or the employee conduct video that promises to “explore RACE, and time.”

The characters tend to be more thoughtful than real-life Walmart employees, but isn’t that what we want in our TV shows? I know I do.

Monday was a soft-launch of “Superstore”, before it kicks off full-time next month. You can find episodes online in the meantime. This is the kind of show I’m going to make. The complete antithesis of Ravens/Browns.

Thanks Mom!

Best Chanukah ever!!