Tony Island Blog - Sane Thoughts for an Insane World

Welcome back! I'm sitting here scratching at my eyes - they're itchy due to all the pollen in the air. We've had some rain here today and I had hoped that would help reduce the pollen floating around. It did during the day - I wasn't scratching my eyes and my nose wasn't as stuffy...but tonight is slightly different. While the nose is fairly dry, the eyes are making up for it! Yikes! It seems that the night is almost as bad as the day - I wonder if pollen is being sprayed at night? I dunno. According to Pollen.com and weather.com, the alergy alert for my immediate area is HIGH . Great! Itchy eyes galore. Pollen.com does say that Thursday - Saturday should be medium - whew! Speaking of Pollen.com, I was going to direct you to my home page and let you check the alergy alert for your area - but they declined my request to add their Alergy Alert script to my Web site. Why, you ask? Well, it's quite simple - they claim I don't have a Web site....hmmmmm...click t...

Welcome back! As I mentioned in my last post, I picked up a copy of Blogging for Dummies -- and am still slogging thru it. It's a really good read and most likely I'll read the whole thing cover-to-cover! Not to sound like a shill for the "Dummies" publisher, but I do enjoy their books - mind you, I haven't read a lot of them, but they are useful to get a good, quick grounding on a particular subject. I remember buying the HTML for Dummies book a few years ago - it was a good breezy read and got me up and running in no time. I do like the light hearted manner in which they are written - the interesting thing being that they are mostly written by different authors, so I assume maintaining that light-hearted approach takes some effort on the editor's part. The only problem I find with them is that they don't make great reference books after you have the material down pat (ie, when you're ready for the next level). But for going from novice to beginner, t...

Welcome back! I'm back, too! Took a small breather from posting - a chance to recompose myself (no pun intended!) and figure out where Tony Island Blog is headed. I also picked up a copy of Blogging for Dummies (really, I did!) - so hopefully that will give me a better handle on this blogging thing! I wasn't sitting around either - I watched a few DVDs, some of which I'll mention in more detail next time. And....I indulged in my guilty pleasure by watching CBS' "Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar" on Tuesday night! Did you see it? If so, post your comments! OK - this was just a quick post to let you know I'm alive. Thanks again for stopping by - don't forget to leave a comment before you surf away - and add our RSS feed to your RSS reader! Tags: Dynasty , Joan Collins , Linda Evans , John Forsythe Powered by Qumana

Welcome back! I'm going to take a small break from my semi-regular posting - I should be back on Wed May 3 -- can you believe it's May already?!?! Take a look at some older posts - post some comments - let me know you're out there! See you soon! Powered by Qumana

Welcome back! Do you remember "Wacky Packages" from the 1970's? How about "Garbage Pail Kids" from the 1980's? Pokemon from the 1990's? Or Yu-Gi-Oh from the new millennium?? What do all these products have in common? They're all examples of popular non-sport trading cards (technically Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are CCG trading cards). Non-sport trading cards (aka bubblegum cards or entertainment cards) cover a wide range of subjects - from TV/movies  to art to CCGs (collectible card games). My personal interests cover TV/movies and art for the most part. I haven't gotten into CCGs (yet!). I first started collecting trading cards as a kid (as most die hard collectors do). I had a small collection of various cards - some Space:1999 cards, a few Wacky Packages cards and some from the original Batman TV series. The only trading cards to survive that period of collecting are my Space:1999 cards - I lost the Batman cards (and with the unlikelihood of another...

Welcome back! Today, I'm continuing the topic overviews, this time focusing on Gerry Anderson . Gerry Anderson is a prolific British television producer - I would compare him to American producer Irwin Allen - they both produced popular science fiction tv series that featured lots of explosions! But there the similarity ends as Gerry never got fully into the movies (he did make one live action film) and Irwin Allen never went back to TV series after moving to the silver screen. Gerry's career started in the '50s and continues to this day - he has worked with puppets ("Supermarionation") and actors. Some of his works include: Stingray (puppet series) - WASP patrols the seas to protect humanity from an underwater kingdom Thunderbirds  (puppet series) - the Tracey boys and their father rescue people in peril worldwide and in outer space. UFO (live action) - a secret organization protects Earth from an alien invasion. Space:1999 (live action) - the continuing adventur...

Welcome back! As you can see from the post title, this is yet another DVD review post! Most of the DVD review posts will be courtesy of my Blockbuster Online subscription  - I get unlimited (one at a time via mail) rentals PLUS one free rental per week at my local Blockbuster store! It's a good deal - they have other packages for more out at a time, etc. " The Bostonians ( Christopher Reeve , Vanessa Redgrave )" is a Merchant/Ivory period piece based on the Henry James novel. Vanessa Redgrave plays a suffragette who meets up with a young suffragette orator. On the scene arrives Christopher Reeve as Vanessa's cousin. They vie for the love of this young woman. The film is rather dull and the underlying semi-lesbian relationship between the two female leads is a bit uncomfortable to view -- can't pinpoint why it is, but it just didn't sit right - Vanessa's character seems to be manipulating this young woman using their common goal of women's equality a...