I've been tagged. Challenged to list five of my weird habits. The real challenge is to hold it down to five. I stopped at nine. 1) I watch HOUSE and believe I have whatever mystery ailment the patient of the week has. My doctor then assures me that bleeding out of my eyes is normal, just drink a glass of water.
2) I don’t like anyone looking over my shoulder when I’m writing, be it a script, email, or love letters to Jessica Alba or Sandy Koufax.
3) I listen to 60s music when I write. And this includes radio station jingles from the era and Joanie Sommers Pepsi commercials. I love Joanie Sommers.
4) I can’t watch an old black and white movie from the 30’s or 40’s without thinking “everyone I’m looking at is dead”. Not that this spoils my enjoyment.
5) I go through breakfast phases. I eat the same thing every day for a couple of years and then switch. Currently it’s macadamia nuts and raisins. If I ever switch to Lucky Charms
get “old Betsy” off the wall and shoot me.6) I have no blood so I always dress warm. Stop making fun of Cosby for wearing those sweaters. They look cool.
7) I'm afraid if I install any computer program I'm going to hit the wrong button and crash every computer on the planet. I call this Y2Ken.
8) As a former disc jockey, I still talk-up records in my car. Right up to the vocal. I’m a master at this. It’s maybe my greatest skill…which is unfortunate since it’s also utterly useless. KHJ Boss Radio is not coming back anytime soon.
9) I can't leave a baseball game until it's over. This quirk has served me well when I was announcing them.
Okay, so what are some of yours? This is a revised re-post, by the way.
Can't watch a movie from the '90s without thinking "Every dog in this movie is dead."
ReplyDeleteNumber 4 is mine as well, among others. Sad in a way when it hits me. But still a great movie or TV program.
ReplyDeleteI watch great sitcoms and never can decide (that is, if I could crawl into the screen and live in there) whether I'd rather be the lead character (Jerry Seinfeld, Sam Malone, Rob Petrie, Andy Taylor) or be best friends with the lead character.
ReplyDeleteWhen watching an old show or movie I am compelled to hit up IMDB to find out what happened to every cast member.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get to the point of also doing it for production crew members I would appreciate it if you would let me borrow 'old betsy' for just a minute.
Won't use the first paper towel on the roll because it's stuck to the roll.
ReplyDeleteHave an undeserved feeling of superiority when I notice a continuity error
I really, really think that there is still time for me to do something really, really great. Really.
ReplyDelete1. I talk myself whenever and wherever I wish. Are you sure you do that, Tor. Dame right.
ReplyDelete2. I dance like a fiend and may do that anywhere/place I want...except at the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier, etc. (I ain't completely nuts) [BTW the JFK memorial - made me blubber and I didn't expect that.
3. I would really rather have not been born but such realizations are, @ times, overridden by a great time (e.g., As last night dancin' at DOMS to the New American Groove)
4. 99.99% of the time when I use a fraction in conversation it IS 99.99%
5. I think someday Hollywood types would give me a Sam Jaffe Of A Chance even though I'm blacklisted for having been creative and NOT leaving my wife and kids to "Marry into the biz."
Further proof of weirdness..... https://www.facebook.com/tor.hershman.5
Holy crap! I thought I was the only one that did #8. Only get embarrassed when at a traffic light with my car windows down and someone pulls up alongside and looks at me like I'm a serial killer.
ReplyDeleteI also DO NOT proofread.
ReplyDeleteI seek out pop culture references in order to write parodies of "Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled ME)". I've done "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter"; now trying Game Of Thrones" and for a fallback I have chinese food. (No, I am not Al from Linwood!)
ReplyDeleteI don't feel my day is complete until I read Ken Levine's blog. I also read MacRumors every day even after the new iPhone is out. That's weird, not sad, right? Don't pity me!
ReplyDeleteKen, the weekend re-posts are wonderful, don't stop. Not only do I get to read some I've missed or forgotten, but the new comments rock too.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but think about the last time I heard someone make fun of Cosby's sweaters. That person is dead now.
ReplyDeleteHaving taken up cycling around central London as an entertaining exercise, I maintain a constant monologue commenting on the traffic, the route, the people (I ask you, is standing in the middle of a cycleway staring at your mobile phone a socially responsible thing to do?), and the other cyclists, who are scary. This is only a problem when they hear me. Today, a couple seemed to take umbrage when I suggested to their dog that moving in front of me wasn't a great idea. I wasn't talking to *them*. I was talking to the dog.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this is not weird. This is perfectly normal behavior.
wg
During delays for pitching changes or an umpire review (baseball) I think of contacting Ron Fairly so I can ask if he was ever a teammate of Sam Malone...or who is his favorite Cartwright brother.
ReplyDeleteJoanie Sommers - is she real? - certainly resembles Shelley Fabares. And that is very good!
Number 9 - I left a game early, ONCE!
ReplyDeleteShea Stadium, Opening Day, 1985. I took my then-girlfriend (now my extremely patient wife) to see Gary Carter's first game as a Met. There was a wind chill in the 20's, there were snow flurries, and I took pity on her. We left in the seventh inning, and Carter hit a game-winning homer in the 10th, just as we were going over the Whitestone Bridge.
I haven't left a game early since.
10. Pictures of Natalie Wood. Everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThere are famous people I want to meet for really stupid reasons. For example, if I ever met Nicole Kidman, I would want to ask her about the movie BMX Bandits. And I want to meet Neil Patrick Harris just to request he find a way to do a romantic musical comedy with John Barrowman.
ReplyDeleteRe: Joanie Sommers
ReplyDeleteThey don't make bras like that anymore
did that make you a Pepsi Person?
RE: #5 - If I start eating macadamias and raisins every morning, send Betsy over to me
Apparently #9 never bothered Phil Rizzuto
Wow, listening to 60s music. I do this once a while when I write.
ReplyDeleteLove mixing gritty action and poetic vices with 6os music.
P Writer
www.toxicscreenplays.com
I also like to see what happened to actors, by the way, nice to know that Luise Rainer is alive and well and living in London.
ReplyDeleteHi Ken,
ReplyDeleteGuessing you may have already seen this article in today's NY Times, but in case you hadn't, thought you might enjoy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/arts/new-sitcom-tries-old-form-laughs-allowed.html?ref=media&_r=0
Whenever a character in a film (usually horror) moves slowly down a hallway and approaches a turn, I crane my neck to try to see around the corner.
ReplyDeleteIf there are two parking spaces open - one on the left, the other on the right - I'll always choose the one on the left (a political thing).
Also #4: "Everybody in this scene is dead."
Thank you for remembering Joanie Sommers, whose albums I still have and listen to, apparently as avidly as you do.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do laundry I don't separate by color; I separate by pants/not pants.
ReplyDeleteJoanie Sommers looks like Audrey Hepburn's slutty sister.
ReplyDeleteBoss Radio isn't coming back? That's good, 'cause I'd have to do far too many air shifts.
ReplyDeleteRock on Ken.
For some reason, I don't like consecutive numbers. If I'm reading a book and I end up stopping on page 123, for example, I'll keep reading - even if the next appropriate place to stop is fifty pages away - rather than stop there.
ReplyDeleteI stil have this LP
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Get-Angry/dp/B001A339ZE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412564664&sr=8-1&keywords=johnny+get+angry
I yell "Hang up!" at people who are on their phones while driving even though they usually can't hear me.
ReplyDeleteI talk to myself all the time. It's the best way to assure an intelligent conversation and avoid arguments.
In restaurants, I always wipe off my silverware before using it and ask for a replacement if it doesn't look right.
I don't use foul language in front of women even if they have garbage mouths.
4322Your number 4 is also one of mine, I have often thought the same thing. Then an instant later I am happy there is such a thing as movies.
ReplyDeleteI sort my LPs and 45s by genre and then by record label.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone near my car is
ReplyDelete"sharing" they're speaker woofers,
I open my sun roof and crank up "Witch Doctor" by David Seville.
Joanie Sommers sang and acted the role of Priscilla Mullins (opposite John Gary as John Alden) in the 1968 Rankin/Bass animated special, "The Mouse on the Mayflower."
Your 7 - My mom only uses her computer when badgered by her friends, or when my sister visits to prompt her... and she doesn't even use her cell phone.
ReplyDeleteYour 9 - I too won't leave a ballgame until the last out.
I'm sure I have some weird habits but short of talking to myself (more frequently as the years increase past 60) can't think of anything at the moment. . . unless you want to count in-car raging at other drivers when I'm alone but mild mannered -- even apologetic for other drivers -- when others are in the car. . .
Good luck with your play! Maybe some day you can write something that would be performed at the Humana Festival in Louisville -- that way I could a) see a play of yours and b) meet you!
1. While I enjoy eating human flesh, I won't eat the skin. It's fattening.
ReplyDelete2. Okay, that one wasn't true. This one is: I still watch AGENTS OF SHIELD thinking it will be good someday. I also still root for the Detroit Lions. Same reason. I'm thinking of no longer voting, because I've given up on that getting better, but I'm sticking with Joss Whedon's brother and sister-in-law's tv show and with the most mediocre NFL franchise. Sorry, democracy.
3. I cut up my apples (slices) and oranges (wedges). (It makes it easier to just pick away at them while I work. It also makes them comparable.) If God were truly omniscient, he would have made them bite-size like grapes. Although, if He were really on the ball, He would have built us so we wouldn't need to eat, we could just lay in the sunshine and recharge. Apparently He could learn a thing or two from the people who build those little walkway lights.
4. I don't like to tear open plastic/mylar/cellophane bags; I'll cut across with scissors, because the damned things always tear down the side causing a dorito-cane or a fritogeddon and then what use is that giant chip-clippy thing I bought at the supermarket?
I do that too with breakfast, and also with lunch. But once I've had my fill of a certain thing, I can never go back to it.
ReplyDeleteI start reading magazines from the last page instead of the first, and go backwards.
I used to have a rule that I would finish any book I started, even if I hated it. Eventually I decided that life is too short to waste it on a book you don't like.
I remember every TV theme song from the 1960's and hum them frequently.
Hoo-boy, I have enough quirks to fill volumes. Here are a few that come to mind:
ReplyDelete1. I usually eat my foods one at a time; i.e., I'll eat all my vegetables, then all my meat, then all my potatoes, etc.
2. When driving by myself, I exclaim the names and/or sounds of animals I see by the roadside: "Mooooo cow!" "Horsies!" "Pooch!" "Baaaaaa!" "Kitty!" I sometimes do the same thing when I see cute online photos/videos of animals. I love the varmints, and can't contain my delight!
3. When I go to a movie, I stay until the very end of the credits, even though: a) I don't know anybody in the business; and b) the theater staff usually winds up waiting several minutes for me to get the hell out of there, so they can come in and sweep up the litter.
When looking at silent movies, I look at the elderly actors and think, “He might have fought in the Civil War.”
ReplyDeleteWeird habits. Hmm.
ReplyDelete1. I like to sit until the end of the credits in the movie theater - especially if I enjoyed the movie. (Apologies to those who come with me.)
2. I also hate it when someone is standing over me while I'm writing (who doesn't?).
3. I like cold baked beans out of the can. I know, it's gross.
I'm sure I have a million more.
I still talk up the ramps too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I eat out, I have to finish what I'm eating, before I continue to the next thing on the plate. I don't sample anything else or mix and match my foods.