In Case You’ve Been Wondering What O.J. Has Been Up To

I had originally planned to write about a show that has taken me by surprise by being of excellent quality.  It’s nice when that kind of thing happens mostly because it has been so rare as of late.  There was a time when you might find multiple shows that were pretty good.  Of course that may have been when I was about ten years old so it’s hard to say if I had any real taste considering I was still watching cartoons on Saturday morning.  Anyway, I had wanted to recommend a show to people because I have been taken by surprise by this particular show.  However, the Fox network showed a commercial for something that almost knocked me on the floor. 

You are probably aware of the Fox network.  I remember when Fox officially became a network.  There was a time when David Letterman would talk about the Fox network and then laugh in fake hysterical laughter.  This was back when Fox was showing things like “Married…With Children” and a bunch of shows about autopsying aliens.  Of course that also made Fox famous.  It was Fox who was willing to put on just about any show that anyone pitched at them.  We all remember the various “When Things Attack” phase of the network.   

Since that originally time the network has managed to put on some quality shows and made itself a major network force to be reckoned with.  “The X-Files” is a good example of that.  The thing about that show, however, at least with me, is I find I have no desire to watch them in syndication.  Fox also now has shows like “House” and “Prison Break” which are also quality shows in my opinion.  Finally the show has always been the best place to find the funniest animated shows ever.  “The Simpsons” has to hold the record as being the longest-running and yet consistently-funny show in television.  I am also a huge fan of “Family Guy” and “American Dad.” 

It seems, however, that Fox just cannot get fully away from the days when it would show pictures of bears attacking old women or whatever.  I saw a commercial for a show entitled, and I swear to you I am not kidding, “O.J. Simpson: If I had Done it, this is How it was Done.”  Having just written that I actually had to pause, rub my eyes comically, and then stare again at what I had just written.  I kept waiting for it to be a joke when I watched the commercial.  I kept waiting for the punch-line.  I kept wondering when it would be revealed to be some kind of “Punk’d” show or “MadTV.”  For all I know this will still turn out to be a joke.  O.J. Simpson did have a show you could get on Pay-Per-View where he did practical jokes. 

So, judging from the commercial, O.J. is going to sit there and in some weird Bizzarro World interview act like he didn’t commit the murders but then explain how he would have committed them if he had.  In addition to having sore eyes from the rubbing I just gave myself a headache with that explanation.  Here’s the thing that O.J. needs to keep in mind: we all know you did it and we always have. 

It seems a silly thing considering what has happened since O.J. had the entire country held in its thrall.  September 11, 2001 was still years away.  It is amazing to think that there was a simpler time when we didn’t live in fear and weren’t at war and an ex-football player who had killed his wife and an innocent waiter could hold our attention.   

Like a lot of people I got fairly caught up in the thing.  I was on the air at a college radio station when the whole slow chase thing was going on.  I was getting phone calls from people wanting to update me on what was going on. I figured O.J. was going to shoot himself in the head inside that Bronco but that didn’t happen.  No, we had months and months of details and trial shenanigans to endure yet. 

Like a lot of people, I was also surprised that he was found not guilty.  One thing that people often forget when people are found that is that they are not declared “innocent.”  All they say is you are “not guilty” which is a bit of semantics and splitting-hairs but it is important.  Essentially “not guilty” means that the prosecution hasn’t presented enough of a case to show that you are guilty. 

What was always interesting to me was that O.J. claimed he had cut his hand by breaking a glass when he was here in
Chicago at a hotel.  I knew where the hotel was that he was supposed to be staying at when he was here.  I used to drive past it all the time.  I remember when cops were combing the area around the hotel looking for the knife. 

I wonder what O.J. is going to say during this particular television special.  It seems amazing to me that he is going to say anything in particular.  Of course he isn’t going to just admit that he did it.  At the same time he is going to give his theories on how someone could get away with that kind of murder.  Apparently this is what all of his independent investigating has dug up for him.  Remember when he said he was going to devote his time to finding Nicole’s killer and then went golfing?  Apparently he found some evidence on the ninth hole. 

Of course Fox is showing this during the sweeps period that comes every November.  More than likely people will tune it.  At the very least it will be nice to visit and remember a time when you didn’t have to worry if the guy who lives across the street was a terrorist.  It was such a kinder, gentler time when you just had to worry about ex-football stars lopping your head off with a giant knife. 

It is also a throwback to a simpler time when the Fox network was showing specials about people autopsying alien bodies.  It was a nice time to remember when you could turn on Fox and see animals attacking children.  If only for nostalgic purposes this show may be worth watching.As for me, I remember the O.J. trial because of one phrase a friend of mine named Pat once said on a radio talk show.  Back then Pat and his brother and some friends would call this local night-time radio talk show and see if they could get on the air posing as legit callers and then fill their statements with inside jokes.  The goal was to see how long you could remain on the air with ridiculous sounds going on in the background or silly noises or strange phrases being thrown out.  It was funny.  Pat, however, called in once about O.J. and may have said one of the funniest sentences I have ever heard. 

“I think when the DA and the LAPD get the DNA tests back they’re going to see it was O.J.’s fault those people were DOA, do you agree with me?” 

Yes, I do, Pat.  Yes, I do. 

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available for sale at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.

King Makes a Comeback

Stephen King is my all-time favorite author.  I just wanted to get that out there before I started a review of his latest novel.  You should know there is a bias.  I read his stuff no matter what.  That being said, he has not always written things I have loved.  His previous novel to this one, “Cell,” I felt was a decent effort but a retread of familiar themes that he had done better on previous efforts.  The book was entertaining, but his characters were not nearly as memorable as other books and the novel just felt half-thought-out and half-finished.  Thankfully, with his latest, “Lisey’s Story,” King is back in his proper form. 

Scott Landon is a world-famous author who has been dead for two years when the book first opens.  His wife, Lisey (pronounced Lee-See, a nickname for Lisa), is finally getting around to clearing out her husband’s office.  Her husband has the kind of writers office I can only dream of.  They live in
Maine on a farm and have converted the loft in the barn into his office.  For two years his books, unfinished manuscripts and papers have sat there while the world waited breathlessly to find out what might still be lurking in those nooks and crannies.   

Of course, this is a Stephen King story so if you were expecting merely a trip down memory lane then you obviously don’t know Stephen King.  It turns out her husband had a few secrets and Lisey has some buried memories about those secrets.  Her husband had a world known as Boo’ya Moon that he would journey to and find inspiration for his stories.  It is a beautiful place as long as you visit there during the day.  However, once night falls there are things there that may destroy whomever is there. 

This is a novel that also deals with the strange phenomenon of being famous.  As the legions of Landon fans clamor for whatever new scrap of Scott Landon writing that might still exist some of them may not be exactly sane.  When one of those “Space Cowboys” pays a visit to Lisey her life may be in danger.  On top of all of that Lisey has a bit of a problem with her older sister Amanda. 

Just writing that out makes this novel sound a bit like a jumble, but it isn’t.  Slowly and deliberately facts are revealed.  Eventually you realize that each component is part of the story and it all comes together at the end.  Then, just when you think it’s over, King manages to reach into your chest and pull your heart out. 

All of King’s trademarks are here.  He creates truly three-dimensional characters here.  There are a few secondary characters that are not exactly fleshed-out but you don’t really want them to be.  What this book is about is the love story about Scott Landon and Lisey Landon.  Yes, this is a Stephen King love story.  He has made attempts at this before and I thought he had done an excellent job with “Bag of Bones” but this one may beat that. 

Where does this rank amongst the best of King?  It’s hard to say.  There would have to be a miracle to top “The Stand” and his “

Dark
Tower” series.  Considering his last novel, “Cell,” was written just after he finished that magnum opus perhaps it could be forgiven for him not quite hitting it out of the park.  With this one, you can tell King loves this story and these characters.  He does all he can to make you love them too and he largely succeeds.  Is this one likely to rank among his best?  Perhaps not, but it shows he can still tell a story and still tell it well. 

I think this is more of a three out of four-star novel.  There are some things he is repeating here.  The woman fleeing the dangerous man with the possible salvation being in some other dimension is reminiscent of this novel “Madder Rose.”  The thing is I absolutely hated “Madder Rose” and is the one King novel I found myself completely unable to complete.  This time he avoids much of the pitfalls he ran into in that novel.  Whereas the character in that novel was so completely unlikable you can’t help but fall for Lisey Landon.  Her husband is a fascinating character as well and knowing that he is deceased makes all that you learn about his life all that more tragic. 

There is horror in this novel, but it is of the kind of horror King has been writing for about the last ten years.  His last truly scary novel may have been “The Dark Half” which had a few elements in it that actually made me nervous while reading.  Since then he has incorporated horrific elements in his stories but the horror has not been the main focus of the novels.  He seems to be trying to create characters that are memorable and stories that will haunt you rather than terrify you.  Then again, after novels like “The Shining” and “’Salems Lot” it would be hard to conjure up terror beyond that.   

“Lisey’s Story” is also probably one of the best and most-realized female main characters King has created.  Early in his career he was often criticized for not having complete female characters he seemed to enter an experimental phase with the release of novels “Gerald’s Game” and “Delores Claiborne” but with this novel I think he achieves what he was going for with those novels.  Here is a female main character that is as well-rounded and memorable as any of his female characters.   

In the end that can I say about this novel?  It grabbed me from the first page and then held me until the end.  I did not want to put it down.  I wanted to see what would happen on the next page. I wanted to see what would happen at the end.  Then, when it ended, I felt an urge to start the novel over again.   

This is a very personal novel for King.  The male character is a best-selling novelist but he is dead before the first page.   I wonder if this was a book where King attempted to crawl inside the head of his wife, Tabitha.  Of course Tabitha is a writer in her own right, but it must be tough to be married to one of the best-selling writers of all time.  This is a novel that explores what it’s like to be famous and to create for a living.  Writers, in a sense, lie for a living and are one small step away from being insane.  As a writer myself, I have to say this may be one of the best representations of what an imagination is when you are a creative person.  There is always the temptation to live just in your imagination. 

“Lisey’s Story” is a great read.  It will grab you and hold you.  It will keep you up at night.  It will play with your emotions.  It will keep you entertained and get you lost in its story.  King is back to his old form and it’s really great to see that. 

 

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available for sale at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.