The End of Days: A Look Into My September Horoscope

I'm not a big believer in horoscopes and astrology. My mother, on the other hand, has been a believer for ages. She is a big fan of Puerto Rican astrologer Walter Mercado (pic to the right). My girlfriend just recently sent me a link to a different astrologer named Susan Miller. Apparently, Ms. Miller believes that September will be the month, for most, that the shit REALLY hits the fan!

Miller starts out my horoscope, I'm a Scorpio by the way, with this lovely message:
"This will be one of those crazy months, when Murphy's Law will prevail...You will need to check all your assumptions to be sure you are being realistic. Sometime during the month, you will be given information you did not have before, and when it comes it may shock or surprise you, but even so, it is the way the universe will work to protect you. You will also have an opportunity to help others, and it appears you will be more than ready to do so."

Part of the problem, as Ms. Miller states, is Mercury is in retrograde from September 7th to the 29th. After asking around, Mercury being in retrograde is a bad time for deals to be closed, electronics to be purchased, and other stuff. As Ms. Miller so eloquently puts it later in her blog, "If Mercury retrograde were the only glitch that happens with September, it would be fairly easy to navigate, but it is not." OH BOY!!!

She goes on to say, "Complications will crop up from September 15 to 23 due to some very turbulent planetary storms that are about to blow through all our lives...Usually aspects like these, taken individually, aren't so hard to deal with, but they will all come at each of us at once within one time period, September 15 to 23. It will be a somber time, when the universe will remind you several times that you need to stay objective and realistic in all things, but especially matters of love and friendship. That is never easy to do, for these are highly emotional areas of life."

Don't stop there Miller! LAY IT ON ME!!! "Your hardest day of the month - possibly of the year - will arrive September 17...a potentially depressing day, when you have to accept certain realities whether you want to or not. This will happen in your friendship house." Okay now! Let's not get too harsh! Let's take it back a little! Drop it down a couple notches, please!

"Concerning your career, you may be a bit frightened by what happens during this rocky week, especially near September 17." I thought I said let's turn the serious knob down a bit?!? "Even though you seem rocked by a professional episode that hits you broadside near this date of September 17, you seem to be able to make some excellent decisions about it, and recover quite nicely." Alrighty then! That's a little more like it!

Ms. Miller ends her missive by saying "As said earlier, this will be a month where reality is brought to each of us full force, only in different parts of our lives. It's a time to let go of false hopes and see things as they really are, dear Scorpio. In that sense, although September will have its moments, by month's end you'll be able to put your life on a firmer ground and to secure your future happiness."

To sum it up, from Sept. 15th - about the 23rd will be nothing but downers. I guess I should crawl under a rock and hide low for a week until this all blows over. This reminds me of a time when I was in a gang called the "Dapper Dukes." We got into a scrap with one of the other gangs "Dancing Nancies," and we ended up putting a hurt on one of their guys REAL BAD! Needless to say, we had to lay low for a couple weeks until it blew over. We took refuge in an old abandoned warehouse by the river. That warehouse is looking pretty good for the month of September!

You can check out my full horoscope, as well as yours, at Susan Miller's Astrology Zone

Anderson Cooper Vs. Dylan McDermott

A friend of mine, Ethan, posted a blog sometime ago about the "10 Coolest Guys on the Planet." I agreed with some of his picks such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Clint Eastwood, but I couldn't help but disagree with #2 Dylan McDermott. I questioned Ethan about it asking him why he thought so highly of Mr. McDermott when he hasn't done anything of significant importance in his career besides playing Julia Roberts' love interest in "My Best Friend's Wedding." Ethan disagreed with me and so he chose to pay homage to McDermott on another one of his blogs: Dylan McDermott (How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways)

I mentioned some other "cooler" guys on the planet such as Christian Bale or Anderson Cooper. Ethan chose to scoff at Anderson Cooper as a solid choice because he was unaware of Mr. Cooper's attributes. First off, Cooper is the lead anchor on CNN's primetime 10pm News show "Anderson Cooper 360." He was originally at he 7pm time slot which is the "bitch" time slot in Cable news. Cooper earned the premier 10pm time slot after his gripping coverage during Hurricane Katrina increased his ratings and his nationwide celebrity. He was not afraid to ask the tough questions to politicians as seen here:


He is the son of writer Wyatt Emery Cooper and famous designer Gloria Vanderbilt. Anderson has had his fair share of tragedy in his life as his father died when he was 10 years old. He also suffered another tragic loss at age 20 when his older brother Carter committed suicide. You would think that being the son of a Vanderbilt, Anderson would just lay back and live off the fortunes of his mother (much like the Hilton's), but Anderson didn't want to take that route. He wanted to earn his living! He wanted to get into news and couldn't get his foot in the door anywhere. He decided to make his own break and joined a small time news agency called "Channel One." Cooper was ever so ballsy back then wanting to report from the frontlines of such places such as Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda. To show you how determined he was to get a story, he one time forged a press pass to get into Myanmar and interviewed Burmese students fighting with the government.

You can check out the rest of his bio on Wikipedia:Anderson Cooper

When Anderson is not reporting on the news and other world affairs, he's commenting on entertainment while on his own show or while covering for Regis on "Live with Regis and Kelly."


And more recently, he's commented on so-called celebrity do-nothing Heidi Montag and her "performance" at the Miss Universe pageant.


All this, and I haven't even mentioned that men and women alike think Anderson is a "silver fox," which means he's a hottie with grey hair! Dylan McDermott is a thing of the past. Anderson Cooper is the present and future of male coolness!

Fall TV Doesn't Look Promising

I was walking down the street in Manhattan the other day and couldn't help but notice a couple of ads for the Fall Television line-up. Most noticeably were one for ABC's "Cougartown" starring Courtney Cox Arquette, and the other being "NCIS: Los Angeles" starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. Yeah, you read that right...LL COOL J!

I'll start with "Cougartown," which is supposed to be Courtney Cox Arquette's comeback after "Friends." She's getting back into comedy as an 40 something single mom looking for some action. ABC's sell is "Can a woman of a certain age be a mom, a successful career woman and still on the prowl? Jules Cobb (Courteney Cox) is about to give it a try in Cougar Town—the comedy that dares to tell the truth about dating after divorce.

Honestly, this show looks like it's gonna suck BIG TIME! It seems formulaic and trying to ride the coattails of "Sex and the City" mixed with being a cougar mom. I wouldn't be surprised if this was cancelled within the first four weeks.

Now let's get to NCIS: Los Angeles. If they were going to pick any two guys to head up this show they had to pick this guy:
And this guy:
I guess LL Cool J makes sense. Hey! If it worked for Ice-T on "Law and Order," it can work for LL. He can come across as a bad ass. I just think it's funny how the pitch meeting must have went down.

Exec #1: Okay, so here's the idea...we're gonna spin off NCIS just like CSI spun off into Miami and New York. We're gonna have it in Los Angeles. Who can we get that will be smart, bad ass, and witty?

Exec #2: Well, I just finished watching "The Bachelor" and I think Chris O'Donnell would be a great add to the show!

Exec #1: Yeah! I jus saw him in "Scent of a Woman" and thought that might be a good idea. Now what about his partner? We need someone who can draw the urban market and also look like the tough guy. I was thinking since Ice-T did such a great job in crossing over to TV, let's go with a rapper. How about Easy E?

Exec #2: He's dead.

Exec #1: Snoopy Dogg?

Exec #2: It's Snoop Dogg and he's committed to other things.

Exec #1: Like what!? This is CBS dammit!

Exec#2: Getting high.

Exec#1: Good point! How about LL Cool J?

Exec#2: PERFECT! It'll be the new Miami Vice only in Los Angeles!

I'm telling you that's probably how the pitch meeting went. Then they put a gun in O'Donnell's hand to make him look "tougher."

The shows that I'm looking forward to this season are Fox's "Fringe." If you haven't checked this show out last year, it's AWESOME! It's created by JJ Abrams and is about a group of investigators that try and look into paranormal crimes. If you watch the pilot alone, you're going to think it's rather cheesy, which at times it is, but it's good cheese! Joshua Jackson's dad is the best on the show! He best be nominated for an Emmy!

Besides my regular shows of interest, "24" and "Lost," I'm looking forward to seeing a new show on ABC called "FlashForward." The first episode of the series was written by David S. Goyer who has helped write some of the best comicbook movies in recent time such as the "Blade" series of movies, and most notably "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight." The plot is rather interesting and is right up there with recent sci-fi shows that like to leave a lot of questions unanswered.

Lastly, I'm hoping that NBC's "Heroes" can find it's way back to its roots because last season sucked BIG TIME! I didn't even care to watch the last couple of episodes because they build up was just not there for me.

Becoming a Father

At around 10pm, I'm startled to find out that "it's time." My girlfriend Jorli tells me that she believes her water broke as she lays beside me on the couch. After taking some childbirth classes, we knew we had sometime to gather our things and take our time before heading to the hospital. What I didn't know was the emotions that would soon develop for the experience of childbirth and being a father.

As soon as I heard the news of Jorli's water breaking I became excited. More excited than when I first heard she was pregnant and more excited than seeing the first sonogram. I guess the eternal pessimist inside me didn't believe this could truly be happening until it actually WAS happening. As I spoke to Jor about our next steps in preparation for the hospital, I began to get lightheaded. I guess the excitement began to overtake me and I realized I needed to calm down as I was in no shape to drive Jorli to the hospital. I took two aspirins to settle me down and we continued getting ready. About 45 minutes after her water initially broke, we were already on our way to the hospital.

During our drive to the hospital, I began to think about the father I wanted to be. I thought about my father and all he did in bringing me up. I also thought about all the wrongdoings that my father still manages to accomplish. All in all, he did a good job of raising me, but there was always something that he could have done better. This led me to think about what I would possibly do in my child's life to let him down. I have a tendency of showing up late to things, would I be late to his little league games or a recital? Would I disappoint him by not going on a rollercoaster with him since I'm deathly afraid of them?

During labor and delivery, I was swept with another set of emotions. At the moment my baby boy, Mateo, was born, I had tears in my eyes. The thought that I had created life and now I get to shape his life was a great delight and joy for me to conceive. To have a product of love with a partner that you love and care for is a big deal. It was touching to see little Mateo healthy and happy in the arms of Jorli. It definitely goes without saying that children are definitely a gift from God!

I came to two conclusions after delivery. First, that I would probably find one way or another to disappoint him, but if found a way to keep those disappointments to a minimum, and continue to show him my love, things will come out alright. Secondly, there are different times in a man's life that define him, that you learn a life lesson, a moment in which you realize that you indeed have become a man. It took me 28 years and a child to finally come to the realization that I have huge responsibilities to myself and my loved ones; none of them more serious than taking care of my child, Mateo. Friends continuously ask me "you're a father now! How do you feel?" My answer to them is "excited, overjoyed and ready for life's next big lesson!"

Bear Stories: Cleveland Reporter Not Smarter Than Yellow-Yellow

In my continuing series on what bears are smarter than some people, a reporter in Cleveland seemingly had nothing better to than make a mockery of journalism (or his own personal pitch attempt to be on "The Onion News") by reporting on a bear sighting in a local neighborhood.

Check it out here:
WJW Fox 8 Cleveland Does a Ridiculous Story on a Bear in a Lady's Backyard

I STILL want to hire Yellow-Yellow...to maul people like this!