"Hey Julie, look what they're doing to me,
Trying to trip me up, trying to wear me down.
Julie, I swear it's so hard to bear it,
And I'd never make it through without you around,
No I'd never make it through without you around."
--Fountains of Wayne, "Hey Julie" from Welcome Interstate Managers

Banzai Beard Bonanza: Day 21
Wow, I've been doing this crap for three weeks now? Huh. Time flies. I trimmed my sideburns the other day, resulting in even less distinction between them and the "beard." Once the BBB is over, I've decided to sport a terrible mustache for at least another week. The only question is whether I'll retain the imperial with the 'stache or shave it off and start from scratch after the Massive Mustache Mistake is over.

Trekkin'
No new episode of Star Trek: Enterprise tonight; it is being preempted by basketball for the second week in a row. Both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine aired exclusively in syndication; both Voyager and now Enterprise were condemned to the ill-conceived UPN debacle. Sure, TNG and DS9 were occasionally preempted, but not with nearly the frequency at which Enterprise is disturbed. Gee, if new episodes debut at random times of Saturday, it seems no wonder that the ratings are less than stellar. The original Star Trek became the icon it is today in syndication; The Next Generation won all it's three bajillion Emmys in syndication. Star Trek works best in syndication. Paramount is killing it's own golden goose with the ill-conceived and poorly-executed United Paramount Network.

I like Enterprise, but I have a question: where are the writers who made TNG and DS9 great? Why are the only Trek vets alumni of *gag* Voyager? Where are Michael Piller, Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Ronald D. Moore, Rene Echevarria, Hans Beimler, and Bradley Thompson and David Weddle? Of singluar importance amongst that august group, where is Ira Steven Behr (mastermind of Deep Space Nine)? These are supremely talented people, Mr. Berman (Gene Roddenberry's hand-picked successor), far more talented than your current partner Brannon Braga.