Chuck The Writer

First off, thoughts and prayers go to the entire Jackson family. During my years writing for Goldmine, I never did an interview with Michael Jackson or with the Jackson family, although I did meet Jackson’s father Joe Jackson when the Jackson Five were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame (not much of a…

Well, your man is happy. Very happy. Way happy. I submitted two articles for the 2008 International Automotive Media Awards, and this afternoon I found out the final total. “Diecast Dreams,” the article from RoadKing, won a bronze medal in the magazines-entertainment category. “Redlines, Orange Tracks and Blue Streaks,” the article from Toy Collector Magazine,…

The flight out from Albany to LaGuardia Airport was on a DeHavilland turboprop. Just what I need. Last time I flew on a turboprop, my wife and I were going to my daughter Cassaundra’s high school graduation in Seattle, and the flight required a connecting flight from Albany International to Newark Liberty – hence the…

I’ve learned over the years how to fly light. Throw all my clothes into one carry-on bag (my commemorative Albany Patroons gym bag), pack my camera and a couple of lenses into the camera bag, and pack the laptop. The camera bag goes (hopefully) into the overhead compartment, while the laptop goes under my airplane…

I can’t sleep. I’ve tried everything – soothing music, a cold drink, the knowledge that I won’t ever have sextuplets just for the benefit of exploiting them on national television – but I can’t sleep. I’ve got everything packed for my trip to Detroit for the International Automotive Media Awards. My flight has been confirmed,…

Okay… take one part Mythbusters, one part Monster Garage, mix in a bunch of college kids who actually go to college to STUDY (holy smokes), and give them a challenge to recreate a scene from a motion picture. That’s what I caught last night, on a show called “Man vs. Cartoon” on the TruTV network…

No bullets or wounded people, mind you… this weekend I’ve been traipsing over to the Pine Bush Preserve and testing out some of my lenses on nature photography. Some of the shots I took were processed into HDR shots; others were left as is. Here’s the link. Hope everyone enjoys it. I will be adding…

God sakes, I swear some of these shows are going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I forgot about such New York City-based children’s show that appeared on my local cable system, including this gem called The Magic Garden on WPIX 11: Meanwhile, over on WNEW 5, you could catch an episode…

Okay, so I forgot about those rugby-shirt-wearing kids from Boston who were part of PBS’s classic show ZOOM. Here’s a clip from the very first episode of ZOOM, complete with the WGBH intro: Here’s a clip from the second year of ZOOM, featuring Bernadette Yao doing that weird butterfly thing with her arms (at around…

Trolling around YouTube this afternoon and came across video clips of some shows from back in ancient times: This was Jabberwocky, a children’s TV show that I used to watch when I visited my grandmother in Boston. Apparently the show only aired in the Boston area, and it had a catchy theme song that I…