Think about the concept of buried treasure for a minute. You have something valuable, be it gold coins, untraceable bearer bonds, (coupons attached) working prototypes of Apple's next three widgits, or a dozen copies of the Vanessa Williams issue of Penthouse in mint condition. You have them in your hands, you have them where you can pour over them and just speculate about everything that you could do with them, and then you go dig a hole in the sand, drop them in, and cover them up.
What the hell are you thinking?
I haven't researched the reality of this concept, so for all I know, there might have been sane reasons for people once doing this. Maybe Long John Silver and his crew were worried about the heat coming down on them from their last heist and decided to ditch the stuff on a nameless island and then just feign innocence when they were boarded by angry sailors who wanted their issues of Penthouse back. Maybe. But tell me that if you buried something like that someplace where you couldn't keep an eye on it, that you wouldn't break out in a cold sweat from time to time at just the thought of someone coming along and saying, 'Hey! See where the dirt's disturbed? Let's dig right there!' Then tell me and try to keep a straight face.
I've been a fan of the old ' The Nightstalker' series since I was a kid. I can't remember the first episode that I saw, but I remember the series coming on late at night, and damn near my whole day would be spent in anticipation. What would the monster be? What would it look like? Would it be one of my favorites, or was there a chance I would discover a new favorite? Each time the series came to it's end I would feel like a bit of beauty had left the world, and each time when it was put back on the air I would regain a bit of the hope that I once had. As time wore on, some episodes became favorites, and some just became parts of an incredibly cool TV series.
The other night when I couldn't sleep, again, I turned on the Blue-ray player that a friend got us for Christmas and connected it to Netflix. This is the first Blue-ray device my wife and I own, because we like to be dragged into the modern world one step at time. Browsing through the horror offerings, I stumbled upon an old friend. When I ran through the episodes by title, one didn't ring a bell. Getting more info, I couldn't believe it. Here was an episode, 'Firefall,' that I had never seen before. Somehow in all the times I had faithfully watched the series on broadcast TV, I had missed this one.
Watching it brought back all the reasons that I love 'The Nightstalker.' Darren McGavin was THE smart-ass reporter. He feigned cynicism, but when it came down to it, he always stuck his own neck out to do the right thing, usually falling on his ass sometime in the process. His editor, long-suffering Tony Vincenzo, was every person who has ever stuck his head in the sand or turned his head away rather than look an ugly truth in the face, which was why he had to suffer. Watching that episode and others, you see all the attention that went in to each one. The scene where the rich older woman quickly raises her car window, only to lower it right back down at a gesture from Richard Kiel. The fact that in 'The Vampire,' the title woman never says a word. The flames that dance behind the doppelganger as he taps on the windows of the church. There was also that creepy, soul-rending music that would go right into your spinal cord if you were watching this stuff late at night with no one else in the house.
That's treasure. Makes me feel kind of silly to have never sat down and gone through the whole series before now.
Today my lady love and I went down to the Alamo Drafthouse and saw Joss Whedon's 'Cabin in the woods.' I thought I had an idea of what it was about from the trailers. It turns out that my idea was superficial at best, and the film was damn good. Definitely worth seeing.
Edit: Since I used Darren McGavin's real name, I should probably give Simon Oakland his due for perfectly playing Kolchak's editor/foil.
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