(VIDEO) Mailbag Time! Costner’s second ‘Horizon’, Cards’ dismal chances, and wrongful character deaths

Questions came in and were answered on camera. Brace yourself… and your camera.

Friday is bleeding out, drivers are mad, bad weather is rolling in, and a busy night of doing absolutely nothing is upon the Buffa estate. This past week, I asked people on my Facebook page (2700+ strong) and my subscriber list here for questions, because mailbags are fun and allow readers to play a part in the blog. As my old St. Louis Game Time editor-in-chief Brad Lee would say, “become semi-famous, regionally.”

This time, though, I threw a curveball into the proceedings. Instead of the usual walkthrough, aka written out answers, video was used. It was late at night. A great movie (shush, but it’s called Warfare and comes out April 11) was viewed earlier Thursday evening. Work life is a little less stressful (more on that this weekend in a brand new South City Confessions), so the ease of sitting in front of my iPhone camera was more natural than usual.

Still, it’s still my face for about 20 minutes, so bear with me and don’t use a brand new cell phone screen or laptop. The questions ran the usual WTF gauntlet, from high school name requests to a choice between The Buttercream Gang and Goonies. Let’s just say a few stones were left unturned, but there’s always next time. Also, there’s an additional answer to a question that just wouldn’t come to me right before midnight.

Without any further bullshitting, scroll and click the YouTube link. That takes you to the Buffa’s Buffet YouTube page, which has new and old videos if you want to peruse the area. Now, on to the Q&A mailbag video session. Once again, pardon my face!

*EDITOR’S NOTE: Please save your video recording advice, techniques, and anything resembling such feedback. In short, I don’t care. I am a writer forever testing the podcast waters, so the best presentation is right next to “write a novel” in things to do. I get it. When we are good at something, the desire to tell everyone how to do it is organic and also annoying. I do realize that a vertical take on the visual wasn’t the best idea, but there’s always next time or possibly never.

Now, one of the questions (from Rach Lynn) had me stumped last night. It was simple and potent: “One fictional character’s death that should not have been killed off.”

Great question. After nearly a minute of thinking, I blurted out “Steven Seagal from Executive Decision.” Say what you want about the martial arts actor and real life drama queen, but he kicked ass when I was growing up. Above The Law, Out for Justice, Marked for Death, both Under Siege movies, and more gave an action fan all they needed out of a genre offering. Act? Screw that. He led with his fists, feet, and ponytail. The Kurt Russell-starring airplane thriller killed him off in the first 20 minutes after putting him on the poster and hyping him up.

No offense to the great Russell, but I wanted him to make it onto that plane and help save the day. Killing him off felt like a copout. But, I wanted to add one for television.

Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos. Michael Imperioli played the shit out of a role that showed an aspiring gangster running into a hardcore drug problem and paying the ultimate price. The late James Gandolfini’s Tony suffocated him after a car accident nearly killed them both. I get the meaning and idea: The guy had a newborn and could kill her, but this wasn’t a documentary show about feel-good union workers. It was a show about notorious, cold-blooded killers who happened to be irresistible.

Keeping him alive could have made things interesting down the homestretch of the series. Something about the way he went out felt off to me every time I watched it.

That’s all for tonight. Speaking of the Gandolfini family, he was a big advocate for the military and constantly visited troops overseas with Tony Sirico, aka Paulie Walnuts. He sat down for an HBO documentary interview series with many injured soldiers many years ago. His son, Michael, has a nice supporting role in the aforementioned April film, Warfare, playing a real-life Navy Seal who gets caught up in the Battle of Ramadi. I bet his dad would have been tickled pink to see his son portray a real warrior like that.

I’ll be writing something on Michael sometime this weekend. Until then, be well and stay safe out there in the wilderness. We’re all in it, so let’s make do and be as kind as possible to the ones who deserve it.