As part of my "veg" sunday ritual, I watched a made for TV movie on the Disney Channel called "The Thirteenth Year."

Your classic B to B minus movie it was and I enjoyed every corny second. It was about a 13 year old boy who was turing into a "merman," as opposed to a "mermaid." Basically, he was a guy mermaid.

I don't quite get the big deal about mermaids: the fact that they are supposed to be beautiful and irresistable. What is irresistable about a scaly, slimy creature that smells like fish? Anyway, it is always good to retire the brain every once in a while.

Every now and them you find gem type shows during the weekend B movie ritual. It was on one of these type of veg sessions that I caught Stephen King's "The Lottery," certainly a worthwhile movie and thought provoking (of course it doesn't take much to provoke my thoughts).

BTW, my favorite Stephen King movie is "The Stand," followed very closely by "The Shawshank Redemption." I liked "The Green Mile" but I'm not crazy about it. Oopps, I forgot Misery, now that's a creepy classic. I also happen to like "The Mangler." Everyone I tell about "The Mangler" thinks it is some kind of joke, but there really was a movie based on a Stephen King book called "The Mangler."

Actually, come to think of it, "The Mangler" and "The Lottery" are the same story in different contexts. Both deal with family sacrifice for the sake of prosperity and a young innocent girl who has to make a choice to continue or break the tradition.