Reno "Renegade" Raines

After many years apart I found Reno again. I have missed him so much, it has probably been since 1996 since I last saw him. Where has he been hiding, that is what I want to know. No matter, we are back together and that is all that matters.

If you are not familiar with Reno Raines, he is the character of Lorenzo Llamas from the syndicated action show Renegade. Reno, like many other heroes of our time, was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit (think A-team, the Fugitive, etc). I think it had something to do with his wife's death who he loved very dearly which makes it hard for him to get close to another woman (but he can get kind of close to a woman almost every episode).

Now that he has been falsely accused he spends his time on the road, riding his Harley, and working for a Bounty Hunter named Bobby Sixkiller, a Native American man played by Branscombe Richmond. Bobby allows Reno to work for him, knowing of his true innocence.

Together with Cheyenne Phillips, played by Kathleen Kinmont, who is somehow Bobby Sixkiller's sister but could not look less like him, the three roam the "badlands" in search of justice and those running from the law.

Actually, all you need to know is in the intro to the show which you can find here.

This show means a lot to me because it reminds me of college. Me, Kendall, and my two roommates from Kamas, Utah Rory and Joe, would watch this show every afternoon at 2pm. It did not matter if I was studying, with a girl, at work, I would drop whatever I was doing and get home to watch Renegade with the boys and they would do the same. Even though Rory and Joe were embarrassed, they went out of their way to be there when that opening music started.

And if you think Reno Raimes is only good for entertainment once a day, you would be wrong on that. Kendall and I had a whole thing where, if there was a cute girl in the computer lab, we would print a copy of Reno's face off of the web and then use it as a conversation piece (Kendall, of course, did this much better than I did). So picture Kendall, he has just printed a picture of Reno (Lorenzo Llamas), and he goes to get it from the lab employee who is a cute girl and Kendall would answer a question that the girl had not even asked, he would say "oh, this picture? That's Reno Renegade".

The guys name was Reno Raines and he was on the show Renegade but Kendall always called him Reno Renegade. And of course, for Kendall, these tactics worked every time.

I miss Kendall, he lives far away. I would pay $100 for a homemade sandwhich made by Kendall Wayne right now. Until this past weekend I missed Reno too. I am glad at least Reno is back in my life.

Jay Leno, why the head to toe denim, why?

This was a conversation between me and the wif the other night:

Wif: "I know now why you always say Jay Leno wears head to toe denim. When he does those man on the street interviews they get a bunch of questions together and do them all at once."

Me: "So you think they do like a year's worth of questions at once?"

Wif: "Yes, he always goes to Universal Studios"

Me: "But he asks topical questions about events that just happened, and what about the questions he asks when he is in Vegas? He is still wearing head to toe denim."

Wif: (while realizing that Leno DOES just wear head to toe denim all the time) "Why aren't we telling people this?"

Me: "Who do we tell? He knows he wears head to toe denim and probably just loves denim. Should we write him a letter? Who else would we tell?"

When Jay Leno is on his show he wears a suit but when he does anything else he wears head to toe denim. When it is cold out he may wear a jacket but still has denim under there. Here are ALL the clips from youtube of him when he is doing his man on the street interviews (JayWalking). As crazy as it sounds these were not all done on the same day. The man just loves denim.

Here
Here
Here
Here

So there you go. Now 4 other people know about Jay Leno and his nasty little secret. I defy you to find any pictures anywhere of Leno where he is not wearing a suit or denim. It's not possible.

1980, the greatest year in Cinema

The Wif had a post a few months back about an old movie she had remembered and tracked down on this new site that she had found called Google. About a year ago I was in Logan at the big video store there, Hastings, and I ran into a movie that I loved when I was little. It was called Midnight Madness. I had to buy it and it was worth every penny. It came out in 1980 and was Michael J Fox's first film, he is so bad in it. But the film is as funny today as it was when I was 7 watching it. This one screams for a remake. My kids like it too. There is a part where one of the clues is between this woman's cleavage but other than that it is clean and great. Why won't Scott's brother just love him for who he is?

Then a few weeks ago I remembered watching this movie about a guy that has super powers unless he sees red. I remember the song that goes "supa supaaaaaaaaa....supa supa supa" and I remember this one scene where he blows up a piece of gum so big that he was able to surface a sunken ship. Of course I had to have this movie too so I found it on Amazon and it arrived a few days ago. It's called Super Fuzz AKA Super Snooper. I watched it with the kids this last weekend who asked me lots of questions like, "why is his partner so dumb?"and "why does he have an accent?"which he does, so this one did not land as well as Midnight Madness did. Still fun though.

"When Midnight Madness starts to get to you....doesn't matter what you say...doesn't matter what you do you're going to play"

Here is a clip from You Tube of Midnight Madness. Funny, the best is how the bartender at a Pabst Blue Ribbon plant has a whistle and when he blows it 3 security guards come running to throw out underage punks.

Here is a clip from Super Fuzz. It is actually the Trailer to the film. Don't ask why he is in the electric chair or how he shot a rocket with his gun, you just have to watch like the rest of us.

The Bell and Reverse Typical Racial Roles

I work in "downtown" St George and I was walking to lunch the other day and, if you are from St George you will remember this, the Noon bell went off. If you grew up here you will remember the bell going off everyday at exactly high noon. You always knew it was noon as a kid because of the noon time bell.


I don't know if it is a real bell, I don't know if someone rings it or it is automatic, I don't know even where it is. All I know is when I was growing up if I was golfing during summer at Red Hills Golf Course I could hear it and if I was in my back yard in Morningside Park I could hear it. And for some reason, I don't think I have heard it, at least I have not noticed it, for 15 years.


What a flood of memories hit me as I heard that bell the other day. I thought about how much St George has changed, not just in population numbers either. But it is still a nice place and I love to live here.


Later that same day I was mowing my apartment where I have a very nice family from Mexico living. I was out and it was maybe 105 degrees out and I am sweating like no tomorrow mowing this lawn. Well, Gerardo comes out and we spoke for a minute and then he is watching me and, maybe this is a racist thought but I had it, I thought how ironic that this gentleman from Mexico was watching me mow his lawn, a reversal of the stereotypical Mexican mowing the lawn. I was glad that I was doing this, even though I own the place, I wanted everyone to see me, this pasty white guy, mowing the lawn of this Mexican gentleman while he watched me and tugged on a cigarette in a lawn chair.