Random Friday Thoughts — October 14, 2022

Halloween is about two weeks away.

If you’re going to a party, have fun and be safe. If you hand out candy, save me a Snickers or Baby Ruth!

And, if you’re trick-or-drinking, I’m coming to your house!

Have a fantastic weekend. I’ll be watching “Halloween Ends” on Peacock!

A LOW-KEY BIRTHDAY

I just celebrated another birthday — at home and working. I know how to live it up! 🙂

In the past, I’ve been fortunate to celebrate some incredible birthdays —  Athens, Greece (2021), Morocco (2018), Paris, France (2014), and in Las Vegas (2012) with Madonna and Elton John (the night before) on stage, of course.

Cheers from Athens last year with my first tasty and potent Ouzo…

… and outside the Moulin Rouge in 2014 before sipping champagne stage-side at midnight as I turned 50!

If I’m not traveling, I don’t even think of partying when another birthday arrives.

I think of how many more years until I turn 67 and I can retire.

It’s a good thing I love what I do. It sure makes the passing years more enjoyable!

COUSINS

Although I’m in good physical shape and in decent health as far I know, I find myself thinking more and more about mortality.

Last weekend, my sister and I ventured back to Kentucky to spend the afternoon with our cousins on my mother’s side. We haven’t been together with many of them in almost 30 years!

Here are the cousins (with Uncle Romey, at 85, on the far right)!

On our next trip to Kentucky, Tammy and I want to have lunch with our two cousins on our father’s side.

1985 CALLED AND WANTS ITS FASHION & HAIRSTYLES BACK!!!

While at the reunion, many old pictures were shared including this one at my cousin’s wedding in January 1985. I never saw this photo before and I absolutely love it!

Can you believe that’s a barely 20-year-old me on the left with my sweet cousin Cindy? (On the right is my best childhood friend and cousin, Steve).

When this photo was brought to my attention, it blew me away!!! Without sounding vain, I didn’t realize I was such a sexy young man then!

Boy, if I had the confidence then that I have now, I would’ve gotten into so much (MORE) trouble! 🙂

“SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES”

It gets a little dark now!

Since I talked about Halloween and mortality, I’ll use that as a segue to a dark, yet hilariously written book about the funeral industry and what happens when we die.

Caitlin Doughty’s 2014 memoir, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory”, was very informative, eye-opening, and creepy. And, she knew just when to throw in a little humor to make the book less dark!

Okay, before you think I’m strange (well, we all are to a certain extent), this book was a New York Times bestseller!

I was astounded and shocked by the embalming process.

I know the procedure is being performed on a body, but still it’s a very brutal event even to a non-living person.

It definitely made me regret having my mother’s body prepared for an open-casket funeral!

So, is it just a Southern thing to take photos of bodies in caskets? Why did we do this in 1990 when my mother, Dessie, passed away?

A final note about death, I had already decided to be cremated long before I read Doughty’s book and I’m glad I did!

CHILDHOOD NEWS EVENTS

In September 2020, I posted a blog called “My Life: The First 35 Years”. In it, I shared the 13 biggest events of my first 35 years and I counted down my 101 favorite songs of that era of my life. I had so much fun with it.

As a child and teenager in the 1970s, the news stories that vividly affected me were Jimmy Carter’s election as president in 1976, John Wayne Gacy’s arrest in 1978 after his serial killing of boys and young men in Chicago, and the Kent State Massacre in Ohio in May 1970.

If you’d like to see the biggest event that shaped my first 35 years or find out if “Macarena” was my favorite song of that era (it definitely wasn’t!), here’s that link:

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/my-life-the-first-35-years/

But, as an adult, the three stories from that decade that I’m so fascinated about and have read so much on is President Richard Nixon, the Shah of Iran, and the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana in November 1978.

And, right or wrong, I’ve used the phrase “Drinking the Kool-Aid”!

“THE ROAD TO JONESTOWN: JIM JONES AND PEOPLES TEMPLE”

Jeff Guinn’s 2017 book was a concise and compelling read.

Here are some things Guinn shared that you might not remember or have known:

Jones moved from Indiana to California (Redwood Valley in Mendocino County and was associated with churches in Los Angeles and San Francisco) before heading to the jungles of Guyana in South America to a community he named after himself, Jonestown.

Even as early as 1975, Jones preached “I love socialism, and I’d die to bring it about. But, if I did, I’d take a thousand with me.”

On several occasions, Jones told his followers about Masada, an Israeli fortress in the mountains “where almost one thousand Jewish revolutionaries, women, and children committed suicide rather than surrender to a Roman army about to breach the walls.”

Jones’s personal physician and Jonestown’s doctor Larry Schacht had been working to perfect a cocktail of Flavor Aid, tranquilizers, and potassium cyanide to make it taste less bitter.

In “The Poisoner’s Handbook”, Deborah Blum writes, “The last minutes of a cyanide death are brutal, marked by convulsions, a desperate gasping for air, a rising bloody froth of vomit and saliva, and finally a blessed release into unconsciousness.”

This all led to the Jonestown tragedy where more than 900 of his followers were poisoned with that cyanide-laced Flavor Aid drink. (One-third were children that were killed first and found at the bottom of the mass of people.) 

The bisexual Jones believed that everyone, women and men, desired him. One follower in his close knit managerial team was not afraid to stand up to him. Harriet Tropp told him that she didn’t desire him because “You are 47 and fat”, but she added, “I don’t have romantic illusions. They say the greatest orgasm is death, so I hope we have the great pleasure of dying together.”

PARTING THOUGHTS

Even today, people don’t recall any of the good that Jim Jones did before he became a delusional, drug addict.

What people remember is jokes about “not drinking the Kool-Aid” when it comes to religious leaders and institutions and their fanatical views. Politicians, too.

Sadly, it wasn’t even “Kool-Aid”. It was the cheap imitation, “Flavor-Aid” — just like Jim Jones was a cheap imitation knockoff of God!

“JONESTOWN:  TERROR IN THE JUNGLE”

If you don’t have time to read Guinn’s book, this SundanceTV documentary following Jones’ life was incredible!

This November will mark the 44th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre — some call it “mass murder” and others, a “mass suicide”.

I’m in the “mass murder” camp, since the Jones was deranged and pretty much forced those people to drink the cyanide-laced concoction at gunpoint.

I saw it in the fall of 2018 and gave it an “A”!

STORIES FROM JONESTOWN

Another book I read recently was 2013’s “Stories From Jonestown” by Leigh Fondakowski.

She and her team talked to survivors that were in Jonestown and Guyana at the time and to those working back in the states for Jim Jones.

Their stories are incredible and sad!

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — October 7, 2022

Halloween is just weeks away and it’s looking and feeling a little spooky and creepy out there.

Enjoy your fall weekend and thank you for checking out my random thoughts.

ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK!

I appreciate all of my friends! Your color, gender, social class, who you sleep with or don’t sleep with, and so on and so on doesn’t matter to me. You treat me with respect and I’ll do the same.

We live in a world where progress is being made each day with regards to racism, sexism, homophobia, and all of the other -isms and -phobias. Yet, with progress comes backlash and hate.

I know there are more good people than bad in this country and the world, but it’s the bad ones that make more noise.

I am who I am and I know most of you like me or love me just the way I am. I know there are those that don’t.

A lifetime ago when I got married, a friend that still keeps in touch with me basically told me she likes me, but she didn’t approve of marriage because it was to a man. Oh well!

Guess what, that’s your problem, not mine.

But, not all attacks for people like me are physical or with hateful words.

SADLY, “BROS” IS A BOX OFFICE BOMB!

Sometimes, actions speak louder than words or inflicted pain that heals over time.

“Bros”, the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio with a wide theatrical release featuring an almost entirely LGBTQ principal cast, bombed at the box office last weekend!

The $22 million dollar movie made a paltry $4.8 million opening weekend and finished in fourth place! (It’s now up to $6.4 million.)

Was it homophobia? Lack of diversity? People aren’t ready for a Billy Eichner-led movie?

Those were some of the social media reasons given for “Bros” poor opening.

I saw the movie and it’s definitely homophobia — America, sadly, still doesn’t want to see two men kiss, fall in love, have sex, and be happy!

Here are some of the opening weekend stats: 60% of the audience were men; 63% were between the ages of 25-44; Diversity demos — 61% Caucasian, 19% Latino and Hispanic, 6% Black, and 14% Asian/other.

“Bros” played well in the big cities (New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco), but performed poorly in the Midwest and the South!

The best response to the poor box office returns for the movie with a CinemaScore grade of “A” and a 90%+ rating on Rotten Tomatoes is from “Bros” star Dot-Marie Jones.

At a recent charity benefit, she told “Variety”, “There’s so much heart and so many wonderful good laughs… I don’t know if it’s because it’s, you know, LGBTQ. It’s not contagious – fuckin’ go see a movie, you know what I mean? It’s crazy.”

“BROS”

My sister, Tammy, and I saw the movie this week and it was funny as hell and I’m not a comedy movie fan. I’d much rather see a drama.

I laughed out loud several times, smiled many other times, and rooted for the abrasive Bobby (Eichner) and quiet Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) to actually fall for each other and stay together.

I loved that the movie showed an aging gay man (at 40, Good Lord) and how difficult it is to fall for someone after being alone so long, being tired of empty apps hookups, and taking a chance of falling in love and having your heart broken again.

And, heaven forbid, there were sex scenes — all sexy, awkward, and funny. Yes, sex can be sexy and awkward — gay, straight, or somewhere else on the Kinsey scale.

There were guest appearances in “Bros” and my favorite was Debra Messing! Her reaction to Bobby when her first met her was priceless!

GRADE: B

MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT

Seeing “Bros” was the first time I’ve been to a theater since early-2020, pre-pandemic.

AMC Theaters, what the heck is up with this little bag of popcorn you call a “large”? It’s nothing more than a glorified “medium”.

I want my large bucket again!

I don’t mind paying $9 for it and getting my free refill, but please on those little bags you call “large”!

“QUEEN OF COUNTRY MUSIC” DIES

Loretta Lynn, one of the original queens of country music and a Kentucky-born legend, passed away earlier this week at the age of 90.

After touring for almost sixty years, she stopped after suffering a stroke in May 2017 and breaking a hip on New Year’s Day in 2018.

I never saw Loretta in concert. However, as a kid, I heard her perform. The Purchase District Fairgrounds was located just down the road from our apartment in Mayfield, Kentucky, and I could hear her singing.

Loretta scored her first Billboard Country hit in 1960 with “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl”. It peaked at #14.

She ruled the charts in the mid-1960s through the 1970s as both a solo artist and in duets with Conway Twitty.

As a solo artist, Loretta scored 55 country hits. Of those, 39 reached the Top Ten and 11 of them reached #1.

All 12 of her duets with Conway Twitty reached the Top 10 and the first five made it to #1.

Later on, I’ll share my five favorite Loretta Lynn songs!

“QUEEN OF OUR TIMES”

Last week, I highlighted Tina Brown’s 2022 book, “The Palace Papers”. It’s great, but it equally covers Camilla, Catherine (Kate), and Meghan.

Just before Queen Elizabeth II died in early September, I checked out the 625-page new book by Robert Hardman, “Queen of Our Times”.

This is an excellent read.

A few things I learned:

Hardman is not a fan of “The Crown” and the creative liberties it takes with the Queen.

Her Majesty’s favorite presidents were likely Barack Obama, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan.

My idol, President Jimmy Carter, got one mention in the book and it wasn’t a good one: He broke protocol at the Queen’s 1977 reception for NATO leaders. William Shawcross says President Carter greeted the Queen Mother with a kiss on the lips! She later recalled, “I took a sharp step backwards. Not far enough.”

If you want to read a very well researched and written book just on the life of the longest-reigning British monarch, this is the book! However, where Brown is a little jaded toward the monarchy, Hardman sugarcoats a little too much.

TWO AWESOME QUEEN ELIZABETH II QUOTES

Queen Elizabeth II was rather witty and here are two quotes I loved from Hardman’s book:

• (Upon learning her father, King George VI, had died, while she was in Kenya, she was asked what name she would go by as Queen): “My own name, of course. What else?”

• (Once Prince Elizabeth became Her Majesty, she would to have to pay some of the Queen Mother’s bills because of her overspending habits. Queen Elizabeth II jokingly said, “I’ll be quite a wealthy woman when my mother dies”.

“SPOILER ALERT” MOVIE

A few weeks ago, I shared my random fall thoughts and the movies that excited me.

This one stars Jim Parsons, Sally Field, and new to me, sexy English actor Ben Aldridge. The trailer dropped late last week.

If you’re unfamiliar, it’s Michael Ausiello’s beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking 2017 memoir, “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies”.

I’m reading it again NOW!

Here’s what I wrote about the book then:

“By page eight, I was ready to date and fall in love in again. By page 26, I had tears streaming down my cheeks and I was happy no one was close enough to me as I was reading and walking by Lake Decatur to see me crying!

The book is amazing. While it’s a heartbreaking story of finding love, fighting for love, and then losing that love in a painful, year-long death sentence, it’s a beautiful love story!

Many will never experience the love that Michael and Kit did.

Ausiello knew just when to drop a funny line, a pop culture reference, or a naughty memory to bring a smile to my face alongside the tears.

One of the “other four-letter words” could be my favorite word (think “F”). Another is one I absolutely love, but I can’t use it without offending someone! (I won’t even give you a hint on that one, but if you’re busy this weekend and on Monday, I’ll see you next Tuesday!)

Also, after reading this beautiful book, “olive oil” takes on a whole new meaning and I hope to get to use it one day! 

While the movie opens in limited release earlier, a wide release is set for December 16, 2022.

Sadly, after “Bros” bombed at the box office, I’m not holding high expectations for this one.

As I stated earlier, Middle America (and mainly the South) is still not ready for two men to fall in love on screen! (And, especially two white men!)

“THEY/THEM”

This Peacock original (pronounced “They Slash Them”) was much better than I expected.

The slasher film takes place at a LGBTQ conversion therapy camp for teenagers out in the woods led by a husband and wife team played Kevin Bacon and Carrie Preston (“Claws”).

It also stars Emmy-nominated actress Anna Chlumsky (“VEEP”) and non-binary actor Theo Germaine from downstate Illinois!

After a murder on a scary road in the woods at the start, the movie forgot it was a slasher film until late in the feature.

But, the psychological creepiness of Bacon and Preston’s characters offering the kids an “inclusive safe place” was there all along.

GRADE: B-

MY FIVE FAVORITE LORETTA LYNN SONGS

Loretta Lynn scored an amazing 67 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Country charts. Of those, 51 reached the Top 10, and 16 topped the chart.

She was very honest and would say whatever was on her mind. That often got her into trouble and she even courted controversy in song.

“The Pill”, in 1975, about birth control, was considered very risqué and several country stations banned the song and it stalled at #5 in the U.S. on the country chart. However, it reached #1 in Canada.

It’s my sixth favorite Loretta song. Here are my five favorites!

“YOU AIN’T WOMAN ENOUGH (TO TAKE MY MAN)” (#2, 1966)

“DON’T COME HOME A DRINKIN’ (WITH LOVIN’ ON YOUR MIND)” (#1, 1966)

“SILVER THREADS AND GOLDEN NEEDLES (WITH DOLLY PARTON & TAMMY WYNETTE)” (#68, 1993)

“ONE’S ON THE WAY” (#1, 1971)

“LOUISIANA WOMAN, MISSISSIPPI MAN (WITH CONWAY TWITTY)” (#1, 1973)

This #1 duet from 1973 is not only my favorite Loretta Lynn song, but it’s also one of my favorite songs of all-time.

In the fall of 2020, I put together a list of the 13 biggest events of the first 35 years of my life (1964-1999), along with my 101 favorite songs from that era.

And, this song, was #81.

“I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY”

The trailer for the December 21, 2022, Whitney Houston biopic, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” came out a couple of weeks ago.

I’m excited about it and the song is still my favorite Whitney song.

I’m posting the video to the two-week #1 hit from 1987 again to get the stench of the worst cover of the song I’ve ever heard!

WORST COVER EVER!

I’m not familiar with the new crop of country singers today.

After the sexist and ageist genre stopped playing new music from some of my favorites (Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, Dolly Parton, and the late greats Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette to name a few), I decided it was time move on and quit listening to country.

Despite scoring nine Billboard Top Ten country hits over the past decade, I came across Jon Pardi’s “CMT Campfire Sessions” cover of Whitney and got excited.

It would be been a great instrumental cover, but wow, that was painful!

Your thoughts?

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — September 30, 2022

September is basically over and Christmas is right around the corner!

Oops, I meant Thanksgiving and Halloween! 🙂

Thank you very much for taking the time to check out my random thoughts.

FALL IS COMING!

I just love this time of the year and, clearly, being morbid and twisted!

THRIFTY IS MORE LIKE SHIFTY!

If you’re traveling soon and are renting a car, spend a few dollars more and avoid Thrifty Car Rental (part of The Hertz Corporation)!

I used them when I went to Atlantic City last month. I drove the car from the Philadelphia airport to my hotel in Atlantic City, parked it, and then drove it back to the airport.

They checked the car upon my return and all was good. Once the bill posted to my credit card and it matched my invoice, I threw away my three toll receipts from the Atlantic City Expressway.

Thrifty offered me their “PlateGlass All-Inclusive Tolling” option ($16.49/per day) to drive through the E-ZPass lanes, but I refused because I brought cash for tolls.

Two weeks after I returned home, I got a bill from Thrifty telling me I “declined” the service… but, I “activated the transponder device affixed to the car windshield and traveled through the toll facility”.

Because of that activation, they were going to charge me $49.47! (It showed up on my credit card this week!)

I never touched the device and the three toll agents that I talked to asked if I wanted to use E-ZPass and I said no and paid cash. The fourth toll was coin only (no agent) and the final toll near the airport to return the car was a cash only option.

I disputed the claim by email and two business days later, they replied they would drop the charge to $16.30 ($1.30 for the toll plus a $15 administrative fee).

I told them I’d rather pay $16.30 than the $49.47, adding “And, that $1.30 you paid was a toll with NO attendant and yes, I did stop and pay the toll with coins!”

I concluded with “I’m totally disgusted with my first (AND ONLY) experience with your rental company.  I’ll never use you again and I’m definitely going to make sure others know about it!!! … TOTAL SCAM!”

Two days later, I got this response, “The Toll Authorities reported the rental vehicle going through 1 toll without payment. I have reviewed the toll and see that there is a cash payable option at this location.  As a courtesy, I am adjusting the account in full in the amount of $49.47. Please allow up to 5 business days for the adjustment to post back to your account.”

So, the $49.47 charge posted Thursday (9/29) and I called and they said the “refund” of $49.47 was being processed. I just checked this morning (9/30) and it is pending!

Bottom line: I’ll never use Thrifty again and I’ll save every receipt longer! For my upcoming December car rental, I went with Alamo!

“THE PALACE PAPERS”

It’s now been more than three weeks since Queen Elizabeth II died.

This summer, I read the incredible new book, “The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor — the Truth and the Turmoil” from journalist and author Tina Brown.

It’s a look at the Royal family over the past 25 years since Princess Diana’s 1997 death.

From a monarchy standpoint, this is the follow-up to awesome 2007 book, “The Diana Chronicles”.

Since I know Brown’s reporting pedigree is legit, I believe what she reports and writes.

The book covers how Her Majesty botched the handling of Diana’s death with the Queen basically vowing that no one else in the future (Camilla, Catherine, or Meghan) would have the uncontrolled media spotlight that surrounded the Princess of Wales in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Since the book came out this past spring, it covers everything up to the Queen’s “Platinum Jubilee”, the celebration for her seventy years of service to the people.

One final note about the book: Her wittiness (and saltiness) came through in the first few pages when she attended a 2006 memorial service for the Queen’s cousin, Lord Lichfield, in Westminster.

Brown describes Princess Anne as “dowdy and gruff”, the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla’s (now Queen Consort of the U.K.) outfit as a “box-shaped hat capped off a dour air stewardess suit”, her ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, as a “walking pink gin”, a fashionable English cocktail in the mid-1800s!

But, what made me LOL was the overall description of the group of royals and their family, “This was a crowd that could well afford the best Harley Street dentist, but you could root for truffles in the forest of bad teeth!”

Come on, Tina, how do you really feel? 🙂

“THE DIANA CHRONICLES”

Can you believe that Princess Diana died 25 years ago last month?

If you’re still intrigued by the Royal family, I definitely recommend Tina Brown’s “The Diana Chronicles”, which was released in the summer of 2007.

Here’s what I had to say about the book in August 2019: “Brown’s book is very comprehensive and easy to read.  It’s much more journalistic, thorough and fair (i.e. honest).  However, she could be catty!  Meow!

Although the front and back cover featured the same collage of photos of Princess Diana’s life, I really wish the book featured photos inside!

One thing that Brown talked about that intrigued me was Diana and Charles’s divorce settlement: a lump sum of £17 million (roughly $20.5 million) and £400,000 annually for Diana’s office (nearly one-half million dollars).”

GRADE:  A

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS RIGHT NOW!

I’ve been a fan of Charlie Puth for years now and he’s so adorable. Now I can say that I’m on the BTS bandwagon, sort of!

Charlie’s latest hit, “Left And Right” features Jungkook of the South Korean band. BTS. 

The song is a #1 hit in India, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and a Top 5 hit in Hungary, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.

Here in the U.S., it’s up to #10 on the Top 40 radio airplay charts.

HITS AND MISSES!

HITS: “The Crown” season five arrives November 9th.

HITS: Part one of the fourth season of “YOU” debuts February 10, 2023 with part two arriving one month later on March 10th!

MISSES: Sadly, Peacock cancelled the latest “Queer As Folk” reboot after the first season! We’ll never know what happened after that shocking kiss in the rain at the end!!!

“BIG SKY”

I’m excited for the third season of ABC’s “Big Sky” because Reba McEntire joined the cast.

It’ll be great having her back on television after the incredibly funny six seasons of “Reba” (WB & The CW, 2001- 2007) and the disappointing season of ABC’s “Malibu Country” (2012-2013).

And, I love the fact that she’ll playing a bad person!

I’m also hoping that we’ll be seeing more of Jesse James Keitel that I fell in love with on the Peacock’s” Queer As Folk”. I’m still waiting to see if she’ll on the third season!

I binge watched the first two seasons recently because of Reba’s arrival and Jesse James, so here are my thoughts:

Season 1: I absolutely love the two female leads on the series, Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) and Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury).

The first season covers the disappearance of two white teenagers traveling through Montana. We find out that there are many more missing women, but because of their race and profession (sex trade), their disappearance didn’t get the same commitment from law enforcement. Shocker!

One thing I love about the series is that when it’s time for a character to die, they’re dead! This is something that is not dragged out forever on like most series. That was evident when a big name was killed off at the end of the first episode of the series.

Something that I found rather jolting was that after the first nine episodes, there is a three-month time jump and a new storyline is introduced for the final seven episodes to play alongside the first half of the season’s main plot.

GRADE: B

Season 2: While the bloodshed continued, I found the second season very disjointed.

The search for the baddie in season one continued. Some of the characters introduced for this season’s drug trade storyline were so annoying (two of the teenagers) and some were great (the other two teenagers).

And, that whole new Legarski storyline was too much and too silly. I’m a fan of John Carroll Lynch (“American Horror Story”), but not of Rick Legarski’s twin brother, Wolf!

GRADE: C+

After watching the first two seasons, I won’t get too attached to Reba’s Sunny Barnes because one thing about “Big Sky” is that it’s not afraid to unexpectedly kill characters off!

Although the third season is already airing, I’m going to avoid spoilers and wait until the mid-season finale airs and then binge watch the first half of season three.

I’m disappointed to learn that my hottie Omar Metwally will not be a regular in the third season because of a scheduling conflict! 😦

FINAL “HALLOWEEN ENDS” TRAILER

Is it October 14th? That’s rhetorical, I know it isn’t! 🙂

The final trailer for “Halloween Ends” dropped this week! I can’t wait.

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — September 23, 2022

Happy Fall and thank you for taking time to check out what’s on my mind this week!

Notice football is not on the list. Enjoy it for me! 🙂

Have a fantastic weekend and feel free to share what’s on your mind, too!

NO MORE SPONTANEITY

I’m not a spontaneous person. I’m very methodical, like a serial killer without the body count! 🙂

Okay, that analogy was a little twisted! 🙂

Since I have a lot of time off to use up at work, I decided instead of going to Las Vegas this year, on a whim, I’d give Atlantic City, New Jersey, a chance.

Well, Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”) sums up the short getaway for me.

I know some of you are from New Jersey and I know some of you love visiting Atlantic City.

It just wasn’t for me. I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to get away when I want because some don’t.

With that in mind, I felt guilty that in less than 24 hours there, I was ready to be back home in Central Illinois!

How did I feel after that first full day — I summed it up to my sister that I’m ready to wrap up my traveling, get my pug, and fall in love!

The Boardwalk was cool, but it didn’t take long to experience it, unlike the Strip in Vegas. My buffet at Hard Rock was tasty, especially the first plate and my dessert plate.

The Ocean Casino Resort was stunning — absolutely gorgeous.

The slots were very, very stingy and ordering drinks through the slot machine was weird, but efficient for the casino!

If you love visiting Atlantic City, have fun there for me and ignore my dislike of it. However, I loved this photo I took my first night there.

So, here’s to only well thought out and methodical getaways in the future — just like all of my past trips!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BFF!

Here’s to another year around the sun to my best friend and sister, Tammy!

I’m so glad you’re healthier this year!

“ELVIS”

I absolutely love Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 classic, “Moulin Rouge!” with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor (and Kylie Minogue as the “Green Fairy”)!

I can’t believe there are people that have never seen this movie or, God forbid, don’t like it!

I recently had free HBO Max for a few days, so I watched his latest box office smash, “Elvis”. The movie has already brought in $285.7 million against a $85 million budget.

My first concern was the 2 hour, 39 minute running time. There’s NO way I would’ve gone to see the movie in a theater even if I was a die-hard Elvis fan.

Austin Butler was incredible and so convincing as the rock and roll legend. When Oscar nominations come out next year, he’ll definitely be on the Best Actor list!

As for Tom Hanks as con artist/manager Colonel Tom Parker, well, that voice grated on me the entire movie. I absolutely love Hanks, but what convinced him to come up with that voice for Parker. I’ve seen Parker and he didn’t sound this cornpone! Was that Hanks way of making him more of a villain?

I won’t spoil it for those that haven’t seen the movie yet, but the part that creeped me out the most was when it showed the last performance Elvis gave before his death. Let’s say that I was mesmerized and freaked out.

Final note: I was so hoping that he’d eat a peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwich. If he did in the movie, then I must have missed it. 🙂

GRADE: B

MOST VISITED HOUSES IN THE U.S.

While I remember Elvis’ music as a child (“Blue Christmas” is my favorite song followed by “Suspicious Minds” and “Kentucky Rain”), I still recall that day, as a 12-year-old, in 1977, when he died.

I even got to visit the outside of Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly after his death. I want to visit again and see the inside.

I’m always saving little tidbits from magazines when I find them interesting. In the August/September 2019 issue of “The Advocate”, Graceland was listed as the second most photographed home in the United States!

At #3, the Miami Beach South Beach home of the late fashion designer Gianni Versace, who was gunned down on the front steps in 1997 by spree killer and psycho Andrew Cunanan.

The home is now luxury boutique hotel.

And, the most photographed home in the U.S. is the White House!

And, as a bonus, here it is in all of its glorious color in 2015 to celebrate marriage for all!

“ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING”

Season two of this Hulu hit was very enjoyable as Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) try to clear themselves of killing <you know if you watched it>.

At the end of the first season, Mabel was seen hovering over the lifeless body.

High points: The incredible writing and acting, the funny jabs from Mabel to the old men, the Bunny episode, and the day at Coney Island. I really wish that the relationship with Mabel and Theo (sexy James Caverly) was explored more.

Low points: Amy Schumer and the relationship between Mabel and Alice.

“Murders” was renewed for a third season and I saw an article that said that Steve Martin is considering retiring when the series ends.

And, earlier this month, Nathan Lane won an Emmy in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category.

While I’m talking about season two of “Murders”, here’s the trailer for the first season if you’ve never seen it. Why? Because I don’t want you to know who is murdered at the end of the first season. I don’t believe in spoilers!

GRADE: B+

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS RIGHT NOW!

I still absolutely love Elton John and Dua Lipa’s 2021 hit “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)”.

It’s a mash-up of Elton’s “Rocket Man” (1972), “Kiss The Bride” (1983), and “Sacrifice” (1989) and it’s hit #1 in, at least, 15 countries, and on more than 20 charts!

His latest mash-up and Top Ten hit is with the legendary Britney Spears!

“Hold Me Closer”, so far, has peaked #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 this summer becoming Britney’s 14th Top Ten hit and Elton’s 29th on that chart!

If you haven’t heard it, you clearly don’t listen to the radio. It’s now at #14 on Top 40 radio playlist, up five from last week!

It combines elements from Elton’s “Tiny Dancer” (1971), “The One” (1992), and his #1, 1976, smash with Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”.

“Hold Me Closer” is already a #1 hit in Australia, Croatia, Hungary, and Israel, and it has reached #1 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

ELTON JOHN & DUA LIPA BONUS!

“I WAS BETTER LAST NIGHT”

Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein’s 2022 memoir was a great read.

I loved how he brought “Torch Song Trilogy”, “La Cage aux Folles”, “Hairspray”, and “Kinky Boots” to life on the “Great White Way” and to theaters across the world.

While he was very honest about his drinking problem, his clashes with some inside the gay movement over his honesty and use of certain words, and how his being gay affected his parents, I wished he had talked more about his life.

His professional life was extensively covered.

What shocked me was that “Torch Song Trilogy”, the movie, was not a box office hit, even though it made money. I guess I never stopped to think about it in my 20s because once it was on my radar, I considered it a classic and it is!

If you’ve never seen the 1988 movie, do so!

Anne Bancroft was amazing as Arnold’s Ma in “Trilogy”, but on Broadway, Estelle Getty (Gettleman) of “The Golden Girls” played her in the early-1980s.

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random (Fall) Thoughts — September 16, 2022

Fall officially begins next week, but many people consider Labor Day the “unofficial” end of summer.

It should come as no surprise to you if you regularly check out my thoughts that I’m ready for fall and what comes after it — the holiday season and winter!

Today, my random thoughts are dedicated to fall (and more).

DECORATED VERY EARLY THIS YEAR

All of my pumpkins and scary decorations are out and have been since July! (There’s a reason for the madness and I’ll share it later this year.)

These two metal decorations are my favorites and are hanging on the wine rack! I love the vintage look!

While I love wine and booze (boos), I don’t want to miss out on my candy corn, too, especially “Harvest Mix”!

“BROS”

I’m ready to see a movie in a theater again!

The last time I saw one on the big screen was in early 2020, pre-pandemic lockdown.

I plan on enjoying my large popcorn and large Coke Zero (and free refills) with “Bros”.

It’s “the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio featuring an almost entirely LGBTQ principal cast”! It’s hard to believe it’s 2022 and this is the first!

Hotties Billy Eichner (who co-wrote the movie, along with director Nicholas Stoller) and Luke Macfarlane (“Brothers & Sisters” and “Single All The Way”) are the leads.

The movie is co-produced by comedy giant Judd Apatow, which adds great visibility to the LGBTQ movie. And, what’s really cool is that Apatow retweeted my tweet about the movie!

When I saw the first trailer, I thought, “cute”. When I saw the second trailer, I was totally sold!

“Bros” hits theaters September 30th!

MY AFTER-BIRTHDAY BIG TRIP

In the past, I’ve celebrated my birthdays in Athens, Greece (2021), Morocco (2018), Paris, France (2014), and in Las Vegas (2012) with Madonna and Elton John (the night before) on stage, of course.

This year, I’ll be going to bed early on my birthday to get up at 2:30 a.m. for work the next day!

However, I have a big trip planned to a secret location before my passport expires!

WISHING I WAS IN CANADA THIS FALL

While I’ve never been to Toronto or Montreal (I’ve been to Ottawa), I’d still like to visit. However, the reason I wish I was there this fall is for a Frosty!

Yes, a Wendy’s Frosty. I last had one — chocolate-vanilla swirl — almost seven years ago.

This fall, in Canada, and for a limited time only, Wendy’s is replacing the vanilla Frosty with “Caramel Apple”!

It’s described as a “classic vanilla base, infused with apple syrup. On top is a healthy drizzle of caramel syrup.”

Yes, please! Bring these to the U.S. next fall!

“HALLOWEEN ENDS”

I’m definitely excited for my birthday to get here. It’s not because I’ll be traveling or turning 39 (again and again), but because Michael Myers returns to theaters (and Peacock) the next day, October 14th, with his latest (and hopefully greatest) killing frenzy.

This is the 13th movie in the “Halloween” franchise that started in 1978. It’s the third and final movie in the latest installment from Blumhouse Productions.

This latest trilogy is 50-50 with me. I loved “Halloween” (2018) and was less than thrilled with “Halloween Kills” (2021). Here’s the short of my reviews.

“HALLOWEEN” (2018)

“It was very entertaining and I loved the winks back to all of the other movies in the franchise that this one pretended didn’t exist.

I loved that the movie was very violent (Michael Myers as a practicing dentist!).  It could be because he’s psychotic and has been locked up and drugged for 40 years!

While the movie was great, it didn’t scare me since nothing can compare to the 1978 original!”

GRADE:  B

& “HALLOWEEN KILLS” (2021)

In my review last year…

“After a year delay because of the pandemic, I was excited to see “Halloween Kills”. After seeing it, I’m glad I watched it for free on Peacock instead of paying to see it in the theater.

The next to the last kill in the movie was phenomenal and the moment of death is classic. Also, the final kill was surprising and shocking!

Now what I didn’t like about it!

For starters, the lack of a storyline for Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode! After seeing this movie, I get it that they’re saving her for the “finale” (yeah, right) of the franchise.

The whole mob scene at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital went on way too long.

While I enjoyed the movie as a whole, I’ll never watch it again!

Final thoughts: The trailer is better than the movie, you see many of the kills, you saved money by not going to see it, and you didn’t waste almost two hours!”

GRADE: C

Here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen “Halloween” (2018).

“THE CROWN”

I absolutely love Netflix’s “The Crown” about Queen Elizabeth II’s monarchy since 1952.

The fifth season, which is expected in November, will cover the early-to-mid 1990s, and should focus on the crumbling marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, his relationship with Camilla, and Diana’s relationship with Dodi Fayed.

Season six will likely focus on the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and the aftermath of that tragedy.

It’ll be interesting how much of the past 25 years will be covered in the final season — the marriages of Prince Charles, Prince William, and Prince Harry, the death of Prince Philip, and now the recent death of Her Majesty!

I need the team behind “The Crown” series to consider this for the final scene of the series: “We have breaking news this evening… we can now confirm that Her Majesty, the Queen has died. Repeating, Queen Elizabeth II has passed away. We go live outside Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.” (FADE TO BLACK AND CREDITS!)

“SPOILER ALERT: THE HERO DIES”

I can’t believe that I didn’t know Michael Ausiello’s beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking 2017 memoir, “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies”, is being made into a movie!!!

Jim Parsons and Sally Field are the top-billed stars and it’ll introduce me to sexy English actor Ben Aldridge.

I finally got around to reading the book in November 2020 and here’s what I shared:

“I’ve been wanting to read it since it came out, but real life and my own drama (D-I-V-O-R-C-E) got in the way.

By page eight, I was ready to date and fall in love in again. By page 26, I had tears streaming down my cheeks and I was happy no one was close enough to me as I was reading and walking by Lake Decatur to see me crying!

The book is amazing. While it’s a heartbreaking story of finding love, fighting for love, and then losing that love in a painful, year-long death sentence, it’s a beautiful love story!

Many will never experience the love that Michael and Kit did.

Ausiello knew just when to drop a funny line, a pop culture reference, or a naughty memory to bring a smile to my face alongside the tears.

One of the “other four-letter words” could be my favorite word (think “F”). Another is one I absolutely love, but I can’t use it without offending someone! (I won’t even give you a hint on that one, but if you’re busy this weekend and on Monday, I’ll see you next Tuesday!)

Also, after reading this beautiful book, “olive juice” takes on a whole new meaning and I hope to get to use it one day! 

While the movie opens in limited release earlier, a wide release is set for December 16, 2022.

AND, WHILE TECHNICALLY NOT FALL…

“I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY”

And, on December 21, 2022, the big screen biopic about Whitney Houston hits theaters.

Naomi Ackie stars as Whitney and the always sensational Stanley Tucci plays Clive Davis, the legendary music maker that discovered Houston.

And, my week was made Thursday when the official trailer finally dropped!

While thrilling and beautiful, it didn’t give much away about her personal life with Bobby Brown or Robyn Crawford, except maybe when Whitney exclaims, “My dream, sing what I want to sing, be how I want to be”.

“I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME)”

So, go away summer, I’m ready for fall and the holidays!

HAPPY FALL!

Here is a photo I took at Scovill Zoo last fall, in Decatur, Illinois.

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Goodbye To The Last of My “Moms” 😢

As most of you know, my mother, Dessie, passed away more than thirty years ago.

My sister, Tammy, and I have spent more of our life without her than the time we had with her. But, all of our wonderful memories will be with us to the end.

Since her death in November 1990, I’ve been blessed with two other wonderful women that I’ve called “Mom”.

First, there was D’nell, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the other was Betty, from Andover, Ohio.

I’ve now lost both of them — D’nell in 2009, and sadly, after years of mental decline, Miss Betty joined my mother and my “mom” D’nell earlier this week!

BETTY

Relationships are interesting. Most of us have had several of them in our lifetime (and some of us are still single).

I’ve had three long-term relationships and the best gift I got from any of them was from my second one (1995-2004).

It wasn’t anything Christopher bought me. It was getting to know his mother, Betty, and for her to become my friend and my “Mom”.

After we started dating in the spring of 1995, I met Betty for the first time when she visited us that summer in Chicago.

Yes, that’s me in a cowboy hat (I met Christopher at Charlie’s, a gay country bar)!

And, it was so much fun to spend that Christmas with my new family in Ashtabula County, Ohio, with a lot of snow.

After my first two years in Chicago, I started my television career that took me to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and Lubbock, Texas, before we decided to move to Ohio, so Christopher could be near his mother.

I eventually got a job at the ABC affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio, and Betty was less than an hour away.

It was also during those years there (1997-2002), that we drove a few hours to a llama farm and picked up a silly little golden retriever I named ABBA!

Over the years, after her husband, Elmer, died, Betty spent more time with us in Youngstown and then Chicago, once we moved back there in 2002.

We started taking trips together to Palm Springs, California, and enjoying concerts like Reba and Brooks & Dunn. And, as a perk of my career, she got to meet a country music newcomer, Brad Paisley.

After Christopher and I ended our nine-year relationship, we remained friends. When I took a job in Salisbury, Maryland, to get back into television after a two-year break, I took Miss ABBA and Miss Betty! 🙂

Betty visited me in Maryland, I visited her in Ohio, and then when I moved to the Quad Cities, in Illinois, Moline would be a regular stop in her travels.

And, even when I started my last failed, eight-year relationship, Miss Betty still came to Moline to spend time with us and visit her granddaughter, ABBA.

By that time, Christopher had adopted an adorable shar-pei, Panda, so she had two grand-dogs.

And, she went along on our first Caribbean cruise during the Christmas 2012 season.

In the fall of 2016, I was in Cleveland, and Betty’s mental health had started to decline. A couple of her friends drove her the 90 minutes from Andover, so she could spend a few nights with me.

That was the last time we were together.

It was heartbreaking over the past few years to talk “at” her on the phone as she tried to process who she was even talking to.

And, since I have so many beautiful memories, I’m going to end my tribute to her on a happy note.

She made the best chocolate chip cookies! I honestly can’t remember anything else she cooked that stood out. However, here’s a funny story that her family never knew!

*FUNNY STORY #1*

For Easter, Betty would make some family egg tradition! After the eggs cooked, she’d put them in a pillowcase and squeeze out the moisture. It was bizarre and, to me, gross.

Well, one Easter, something metallic exploded into big pieces near the egg mixture and she had me to pick the metal out and she still served it!

We told no one and, luckily, no one was injured or sickened!

Betty, I guess it’s not a secret anymore! 🙂

*FUNNY STORY #2*

And, one more funny Betty story and picture — she was notorious for gnawing the last bit of meat off a carcass (okay, a bone)!

So, one Thanksgiving, I convinced her to pose for this photo! LOL

Miss Betty, you made it through the tough times and I know you had a wonderful life. I’m honored to have been a part of it!

D’NELL

Back in summer of 1990, I moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and stayed there four months before moving back to Kentucky that fall — two weeks before my mother died.

My friend, Paul, got me a bartending job at “Partners”.  It was the highlight of my summer in Milwaukee other than getting to see New Kids on the Block for the third time there (and yes, that is a New Kids shirt I’m wearing).  I’m proud to have been a “boy band” fan!

On one slow Sunday night, a couple came in and ordered drinks.  Jerry was a good-looking man and his lady friend, who was older than him, was D’nell.  While Jerry flirted with me, it was my bond with D’nell that stood the test of time.

We talked that night and we got to know each other better before I moved back to Kentucky.  I learned that D’nell was divorced and that she had two sons about my age.  One was gay and one had a wife and children.  Tony, her oldest son, had AIDS and he eventually died from it in Florida.

Over the next few years, I would make the eight-hour drive back to Milwaukee for a weekend getaway with D’nell a couple of times each year before she moved to Sedona, Arizona, for a change of scenery.

Whether it was because she had a gay son, who was living with AIDS, and now another gay “son” (she called me “son” and, to me, she was “Mom”), D’nell was very active in the gay community and supported AIDS benefits in the early days of the epidemic.  She always said that she was “straight, but not narrow”.

For a little pip squeak of a woman, she was a blast to hang out and party with.  We both loved our champagne! 

And, when it came to costumes, she did it right.  Hello, Cleopatra!

In the late-1990s, D’nell moved to Sedona to experience the mystical Red Rocks, which are spiritual to many.  D’nell sensed that, too. 

When I visited her after the move, it was beautiful, but I didn’t feel the mystical, spirituality of the Red Rocks!

She led a very fulfilling life there working for the city government and as a member of the Red Rockin’ Grannies, a dance troupe of older women. 

Here she is in one of her holiday “granny” outfits. So adorable!

D’nell was an amazing woman and I have three fun stories I just have to share.

*FUNNY STORY #1*

I was living in Chicago in 1995 and she took the train down from Milwaukee to surprise me for my Christmas party. 

A friend commented to another friend that I “had an amazing ass”.  D’nell, who was standing next to them, said, “I know, he’s my son.”  While my friend was mortified, it was the highlight of the night!

*FUNNY STORY #2*

Another funny story that we always laughed about is when she and our friend, Robert, went on a foreign excursion. 

D’nell wanted to show off her knowledge of the menu.  She placed her order and when the entrée came, it was basically a dressed up large head of steamed cauliflower. 

She ate it in stride and didn’t admit that she thought she was ordering something else.  The following Christmas I sent her a framed print of cauliflower!

*FUNNY STORY #3*

Also, back in the late 1980s and early-1990s, I collected cows and D’nell bought me a piece of art work of cow abductions for Christmas.

The following year, I sent it back to her and in each year after that, whichever one had it would send it to the other as a “gag” gift.  As fate would have it, I ended up with it.

She developed cancer and fought a courageous battle, but she lost the fight on February 3, 2009. Ironically enough, Miss ABBA, my golden retriever, would die on February 3rd, too, in 2012.

One year, while in Austria, D’nell bought me this very fragile (and very sharp) Christmas ornament and every time I walk by the tree now, I think of my friend, my “mom”.

DESSIE

Almost 32 years ago, on November 7, 1990, my world and my sister’s world came crashing down! Our mother, Dessie, died of a heart attack at a very young 47-years-old!

Rose Kennedy, who lived to 104 and outlived her husband and four of her nine children, shared these powerful words:

“It has been said that time heals all wounds. The wounds remain. Time — the mind, protecting its sanity — covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone.”

By 1966, she had two children (and a stepdaughter) and was in an unhappy (and seemingly loveless) marriage with an alcoholic womanizer.

She probably felt she had limited options because people stayed married.  Her paycheck from her minimum wage job provided me and my sister no frills, just the necessities — food and clothing. 

But, she never complained about what she didn’t have or what she would never have in life, including medication that may have kept her alive longer.

While no one would ever want to cross her (she had a temper), she was such a fun loving person.

This photo was from a Sunday afternoon after she came home from church! 

In 1990, on her last Mother’s Day, we took a little road trip two-and-a-half hours away to Nashville, Tennessee, to have champagne brunch at my favorite restaurant, the 101st Airborne.

We enjoyed everything from caviar to prime rib to desserts. 

The funny thing is that my mother didn’t drink and champagne is my favorite.  I would drink my glass and then start sipping my mother’s. 

Every time the server came around, my mother’s glass would be empty and she’d fill it up and top mine off.  I didn’t keep count of how many times this happened. 

All I know is that she probably thought my dear mother was a lush!

When my mother died, Tammy’s first son was just a toddler and her second son had just been born a couple of weeks earlier.  They never got to know what a great woman their grandmother was and would have been to them.

I just wish Tammy’s two grown sons treated her better and acted like they knew how much she’s done for them and is still doing for them!

The bottom line is that no one is guaranteed time to take anything for granted!

As I reflect back on my life with my mother, I was so fortunate to be loved! She wasn’t just my mother — she was my biggest supporter, my rock, and my friend.

Now, my sister, Tammy, is that person for me!

Mom, I’ve been comforted through many dark times over the past 30-plus years just knowing you’re still with me — in my heart and in my memories! 

So, this Christmas, when I celebrate with my best friend, Tammy, I’ll think fondly of my mother Dessie, my “Mom” D’Nell, and my “Mom” Betty hanging out together!

Oh, Miss Betty, give Miss ABBA and Mr. Panda sloppy wet kisses for me and extra treats!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — August 26, 2022

It’s Friday so that means I’m ready to share a few things with you and the first one is personal! Shock!

Thank you for checking out my thoughts and have a great weekend.

SINGLE LIFE <INSERT YOUR DESCRIPTION HERE>

I recently watched a Netflix series that really spoke to me. It made me think a lot about my single life and the past five years and what needs to change over the next five years.

In last December’s Christmas letter, I stated, “I’m still single and the dating life is, wait, what dating life?  Good thing I enjoy my own company!”

In early 2017, my ex and I decided to end our eight-year relationship.

While that relationship was played out in public through social media and this blog, when I finally opened up about our break-up months later, I wrote, “If and when another relationship comes our way, we both might be more reserved to make it public…”

Well, I did.

However, I think the wires got crossed somewhere between that comment and Cupid. I still want to go on dates and if something real presents itself, I’m more than willing to take the plunge!

So, if you happen to have a face to face with Aphrodite, tell her we need to have a glass of wine and talk!

Until that happens, here’s the amazing Kylie Minogue with “All The Lovers” from the “Aphrodite Tour”! Watch this just the beautiful theatrics! 🙂

On second thought, if I have the chance to see Kylie live in concert in 2023, I’d put off love for another year! But, then again, why can’t I have both? 🙂

“UNCOUPLED”

Neil Patrick Harris leads this eight-episode, Netflix series, alongside Tisha Campbell, Tuc Williams, and Marcia Gay Harden. This is the show that got me to thinking about my life.

Michael and his boyfriend have been together 17 years and he’s planning a surprise 50th birthday party for his partner. However, it’s Michael that gets the biggest surprise right before he and Colin walk into the party. Colin tells him that he’s moving out!

The series is very funny, sexy, and naughty!

The one thing I didn’t like was Michael’s excessive whining and crying about moving on without Colin.

Don’t get me wrong! I shed tears after my marriage fell apart, but life goes on!

It’s a lot different moving on in Panama City (FL), Duluth (MN), and Decatur (IL) than it is in New York City, where there’s a buffet of hot men to choose from! Yes, they probably have a buffet of issues, as well, just like those in Panama City, Duluth, and Decatur! 🙂

And, I loved that one of Michael’s best friends is a television “weatherman”. When they were talking, he makes a comment Michael didn’t like and Michael ends the phone call with this zinger!

It’s so great seeing Campbell again, even though she’s been actively working since 1990s “Martin”. She plays Michael’s real estate agent colleague and friend Suzanne.

Here’s hoping for a renewal for a second season soon!

GRADE: B+

“THE BLACK PHONE”

This summer blockbuster hit theaters in late June and is now on Peacock.

The $17 million Blumhouse Productions horror/supernatural thriller now has a box office take of $155.6 million!

It takes place in the same time frame as the original “Halloween” movie — 1978 — in North Denver, Colorado, where several young boys go missing and the police search for “The Grabber”. (Yes, there are some winks to the John Carpenter classic!)

Ethan Hawke is creepy and great as the masked villain in the movie. And, young stars Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, as siblings Finney and Gwen, are incredible.

Since I was a kid about Finney’s age in 1978, the premise of the movie seemed very real and scary.

Discussions are underway on a sequel.

GRADE: A-

MORE “LOVERS”

Since Kylie Minogue’s “All The Lovers” was my second favorite song in the second era of my life (1999-2021), here’s the steamy and erotic official video!

“THE SHIELD”

So, it only took two decades, but I finally watched the cutting edge FX series, “The Shield”, that ran from 2002-2008.

While I won’t blatantly give away detailed spoilers, I’ll speak freely because it’s been twenty years and you’ve probably watched it if you wanted to! 🙂

After watching this 88-episode series and seeing Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) getting away with his dirty deeds all the time, it made me think of “Dallas”. How did people keep watching that snake J.R. Ewing be so nasty and hardly ever having to pay for his actions?

I wish the series had explored more about the cat strangulation and Julien’s gayness later in the series. It just went away!

My favorite characters were Claudette (CCH Pounder), Danny (Catherine Dent), and Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins). My least favorite characters were Julien and Shane’s wife, Mara.

I loved the guest starring roles with Oscar nominee Glenn Close and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker!

By far, the sexiest series regular was was Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell). I love how he went from a regular looking Joe in season one to a stud in future seasons!

And, Guillermo Beltran in the final season was so hot! He was played by Italian Francesco Quinn, the son of actor Anthony Quinn.

Here’s a shocking story: Quinn died of an apparent heart attack in Malibu, in 2011, at the age of 48!

And, we can’t forget the short stint with Alex O’Loughlin!

One last note about the worthwhile series — the finale with Shane — WOW!

GRADE: B

“THE UNDOING”

As you know, I absolutely love Nicole Kidman.

She was fantastic in this 2020 six-episode HBO thriller with Hugh Grant from creator and writer David E. Kelley.

The acting was spectacular and even earned Donald Sutherland a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie.

One of the funniest lines in the bleak show was used twice by a lawyer that was hired by the family.

After she stated something, someone said something to the effect of “you’re kidding” and she replied both times, “I don’t make jokes. I’m not funny!”

GRADE: B

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — August 19, 2022

It’s Friday and that means I’m back with some things that I’ve been thinking about over the past week.

I appreciate you taking the time to check them out. If we disagree, that’s cool. Feel free to tell me about it — diplomatically.

Enjoy your weekend!

GAME, SET, MATCH*

(* Changes are pending on this policy, so this story is developing and could change at any time!)

In another life (in other words, if I could have a “do over”), I would have played basketball in high school and perfected my tennis game.

As a teenager, I loved (and lusted for) Swedish legend Bjorn Borg.

Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, and Martina Navratilova were also my favorites.

I didn’t care much for John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors and after reading their autobiographies recently, my teenage feelings remain intact! 🙂

I’ve always been a fan of Serbian hottie and 21-time Grand Slam winner, Novak Djokovic.

However, I disagree with his views on being vaccinated against Covid-19.

Although I wish that everyone had gotten vaccinated back in the spring of 2021 and we would have saved more lives and altered the state of the pandemic. But, it is what is and that didn’t happen.

While Djokovic is not associated with the wider anti-vax movement, he RIGHTFULLY believes it’s a personal choice and an individual’s right.

He didn’t get to play the 2022 Australian Open, where he was the defending champion for the past three years, because all players had to be vaccinated.

And, at the time, he’s not getting to play in the U.S. Open in New York City later this month into early September for the same reason — he’s unvaccinated.

This is not a vaccine mandate from the U.S. Open, it’s from the American government — unvaccinated non-U.S. citizens cannot enter the country. 

Here’s my problem with his whining. When I traveled to Greece last fall and to Costa Rica this spring, the U.S. government required me to test negative within 3 days of returning home last fall and test negative a day before returning home this spring.

I didn’t want to take that test to return home for fear of being positive and being stuck in a foreign country. But, I paid for the tests both times and both were negative. I did it because it was U.S. policy.

If the imaginary Joe Smith, a minimum wage worker from Birkenhead, outside of Liverpool, England, wanted to visit his cousin in Newark, New Jersey, he’d have to vaccinated to enter the U.S.

Just because Djokovic is a multi-millionaire and one of the top tennis players in the world doesn’t give him any more right to come into the U.S. unvaccinated than any other non-U.S. citizen!

Djokovic, it’s the way it is!

“BIG SKY”

Last week, I talked about the Peacock reboot, “Queer As Folk”.

I fell in love with Jesse James Keitel and I’m now going to check out the ABC series “Big Sky” to see more of the non-binary, trans actress.

Plus, Reba McEntire has joined the crime thriller for the third season!

If that wasn’t enough, I have a sweet tooth for “eye candy” — Ryan Phillippe, Omar Metwally, and Jensen Ackles!

GRACE AND FRANKIE

I finally got around to watching the seventh and final season of Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie”. While I love Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Martin Sheen, I was ready for it to end.

While four episodes dropped last August and the final twelve episode debuted this past spring, I just wasn’t too excited to jump back into it (plus I was watching other series at the time).

Well, I’m done. I was very happy with the final season dealing with memory loss, aging, and fearing death.

I wasn’t thrilled with the storyline of a psychic telling one of the leads that she was going to die on a certain day and it became the focus of the last season!

My favorite characters other than Grace (Fonda) were Brianna (June Diane Raphael) and Joan-Margaret (Millicent Martin).

And, the two characters (*not actors*) that made my patience wear very thin were Frankie (Tomlin) and Sol (Sam Waterston) — just too eccentric and whiney, respectively!

BIRTHDAY GIRL…

Earlier this week, Madonna turned 64.

To celebrate her birthday, the “Queen of Pop” on Friday released “Finally Enough Love”, a 50-track, three disc collection, which is a 40-year retrospective of remastered and remixed songs.

Madonna is the only artist in music history to score 50 #1 hits on a single Billboard chart — hers is on the Dance Club Songs chart.

Here’s a fun version of “Music”, one of the songs that’ll be on the compilation, from a recent visit with Jimmy Fallon.

& DEATH ANNIVERSARIES…

Last week, I mentioned the 45th anniversary of Elvis’ death is this week and shared my three favorite Elvis songs: #3 “Kentucky Rain”, #2 “Suspicious Minds”, and at #1, “Blue Christmas”.

This week also marks the 4th anniversary of the passing of Aretha Franklin. So, in honor of the “Queen of Soul”, here’s my favorite Aretha Franklin song (a #1 duet with George Michael from 1987).

And, my favorite Aretha solo hit, “Freeway of Love” (#3, 1985).

Ironically, both Elvis and Aretha died on August 16th, Madonna’s birthday.

THE REIGN OF TELEVISION!

While the 1982 book “America in Search of Itself: The Making of the President 1956-1980” by Theodore H. White is mostly about presidents and presidential campaigns of that era, the chapter on television was a great read.

According to White, only 4.4 million American households had television sets in 1950. But, by 1980, that number was at 80 million — as close to saturation as statistically possible!

A turning point for television and newspapers was in 1963 when network evening news on CBS and NBC expanded from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. It was estimated that by the end of that year, about two-thirds of Americans were getting ALL of their news from the three networks — 50 million to 60 million viewers!

That was also the first year that Americans relied on television for news more than newspapers forcing some big city papers to cut out afternoon papers.

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — August 12, 2022

It’s been two months since I last shared my “Random Friday Thoughts”. I hope you’re enjoying your summer. I’m ready for fall and winter and the holidays that come along with it.

Thank you for taking the time to see what’s on my mind. Happy Weekend!

MONKEYPOX & AIDS

As the world moves into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re now seeing a resurgence in cases of Monkeypox, a virus first found in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The viral infection generally produces fever and a rash with lesions a week or two after exposure. Those lesions usually last a few weeks before drying up, crusting, and falling off.

The coverage of Monkeypox is really starting to piss me off and yes, journalists are to blame!

MONKEYPOX CAN AFFECT ANYONE!!! However, a large number of people affected so far are young or middle-aged gay or bisexual men with new or multiple partners.

Didn’t we learn anything from the coverage of AIDS in the 1980s???? While AIDS (then referred to as “gay cancer”) was first noted in the gay community, it was a deadly disease that affected all walks of life.

However, the stigma was already driven home to the world that AIDS was a gay disease, which prompted the Reagan administration to pretty much ignore it because it affected those people (queers)! (And, then drug users and Haitians — they weren’t a concern to “right wing” conservatives either!)

Let’s not repeat that ignorance now with Monkeypox.

National media, don’t lead your stories with the gay angle! It can affect anyone!

OLIVIA, I ALREADY MISS YOU!

Earlier this week, I lost another one of my five childhood singing idols — Olivia Newton-John.

Sadly, she now joins Karen Carpenter, Donna Summer, and Helen Reddy.

Here’s Helen when I saw her outside Chicago in 2013.

I never got to see Donna Summer or Karen Carpenter in concert.

As for my only survivor, Tanya Tucker, stay safe and healthy.

Here’s Tanya when I saw her in Las Vegas in December 2017.

NOW, BACK TO OLIVIA…

I was so excited to see Olivia Newton-John in May 2014 in Las Vegas and it was a beautiful show.

While prohibited, I’m glad I broke the rules and snapped this photo just before Olivia left the stage!

Many books have been written about her, but her own 2019 memoir, “Don’t Stop Believin'”, was incredible. I think I’m going to read it again now!

And, I know most of you have seen her 1978 blockbuster, “Grease” and have probably watched it many times.

“Xanadu” (1980) is another one of Olivia’s movies that I enjoyed. Critics hated it and it was a box office bomb. However, over the years, it’s become a cult classic.

One movie that you have to check out is “Sordid Lives” (2000), where Olivia plays Bitsy Mae Harling, a hardened lounge singer with a “reputation”!

The tagline to the movie sums it up perfectly — “A Black Comedy About White Trash”! And, Leslie Jordan, Beth Grant, Bonnie Bedelia, and Delta Burke are amazing!

For that full blog and the countdown of my favorite 13 Olivia Newton-John songs, click here (it’ll open in another window so you won’t lose your place in today’s blog):

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/thank-you-for-the-beautiful-music-and-a-lifetime-of-wonderful-memories/

And, the cast of “Sordid Lives” singing Tammy Wynette’s “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” is worth it alone to click on my Olivia tribute link above! 🙂

“LOVE, VICTOR”

I really enjoyed the final season of hulu’s “Love, Victor”.

While I loved the series, it really showed a lot of maturity in the third season and it gave most of the cast real story lines.

If it wasn’t for the totally, let me stress, TOTALLY, unreal series finale, I would have given season three an “A-“!

SEASON 3 GRADE: B+

“QUEER AS FOLK”

I also really enjoyed the latest re-boot of the “Queer As Folk” series on Peacock.

While some of the eight episodes were not as thrilling as others, I loved the LGBTQ+ and racial representation that the two versions lacked!

And, that cliffhanger! I didn’t see that coming!!!

My favorite characters and actors were Ruthie (Jesse James Keitel) and Noah (Johnny Sibilly).

As of this writing, the series hasn’t been renewed for a second season.

GRADE: B

IN CASE YOU DON’T CLICK ON LINKS!

Before I talk about the late Elvis Presley, earlier in the blog I re-posted a love letter (now a tribute) to Olivia Newton-John and I counted down my 13 favorite ONJ songs.

If you don’t click on links, you won’t know #13 to #4, but here are my three favorites!

“SUDDENLY” (with Cliff Richard) (#20, 1981)

“LET ME BE THERE” (#6, 1974)

“XANADU” (#8, 1980)

“ELVIS PRESLEY”

Next week (August 16) marks the 45th anniversary of the death of the “King of Rock and Roll”, Elvis Presley.

While I remember his music as a child and I still recall that day as a 12-year-old, in 1977, when he died. I even got to visit the outside of Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly after his death.

Last year, I read Bobbie Ann Mason’s 2003 biography.

While an easy read, it was more of a glorified Wikipedia page and a love letter to Elvis. While Mason (who is from my hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky) covered Presley’s rise to fame and his descent into drugs, it was sugar-coated and not very realistic.

Also, the book featured NO pictures! Boring!

Here are some of the things I learned:

In the summer of 1954, 19-year-old Presley recorded “That’s All Right” in the Sun Records studios and a popular Memphis disc jockey at WHBQ played the record. It was so popular that he played it fourteen times that night!

After Elvis made his Grand Ole Opry debut in October 1954, the Opry manager reportedly told Elvis he wasn’t right for the Opry and he didn’t want any more of that “n-word music” on his program and to go back to driving a truck!

In 1956, with many network television appearances and five number one hits, in April alone, Elvis made $77,000, which is equivalent to about $750,000 today — that was just in one month!

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches were always an Elvis favorite. (Although I’ve never had one, I want to try it!)

Also, Elvis liked his eggs cooked hard and his bacon burnt. Actually, he liked most of his food burnt!!!

What I found very creepy was that when stationed in the Army in Germany, Elvis took Priscilla Beaulieu, barely a teenager, from her parents and brought her back to Graceland. She claims they were not sexually active until she was of legal age. She became his wife (and ex-wife) and the mother of Lisa Marie Presley.

After she left him for her karate instructor, Elvis ordered a hit man to kill Priscilla’s boyfriend, but he was talked out it!!!

ELVIS — THE MUSICIAN

Elvis is the best selling solo music artist of all time, selling more than 500 million records worldwide. He won three Grammy Awards.

In the U.K., Elvis has the most #1 singles (21 — three of his early number ones topped the chart again in 2005.) He’s ahead of the Beatles (17), Cliff Richard and Westlife (14), and Madonna and Ed Sheeran (13).

And, in the U.K., he’s tied with Robbie Williams for the most #1 album (13) for solo artists. For all musicians, he’s behind the Beatles (15), tied with the Rolling Stones, and just ahead of Madonna and Bruce Springsteen (12).

Here in the U.S., Elvis is tied for sixth place for most #1 albums (10) behind the Beatles (19), Jay-Z (14), Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, and Drake (11).

As for #1 singles in the U.S. (Hot 100 and pre-Hot 100 charts), Elvis is in third place with 18. He’s behind the Beatles (20) and Mariah Carey (19).

My three favorite Elvis songs:

“Kentucky Rain” (#16 — 1970)

“Suspicious Minds” (#1 — 1969)

“Blue Christmas” (#33 — first made commercially available the year I was born — 1964)

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — June 10, 2022

Hope your June is off to a great start as we’re already one-third of the way through it.

Have a fantastic weekend and thank you for checking out my random thoughts.

BREAKING NEWS….

CNN reports that President Biden is expected to announce Friday (June 10) the CDC “will end COVID-19 testing requirement for air travelers entering the country”.

This will go into effect midnight Sunday for U.S. bound flights.

Interestingly, I blogged about wanting this policy dropped just four weeks ago! And, it was just earlier this week that I tweeted the President, the White House, and the CDC! 🙂

I know this has nothing to do with the change, but it feels nice to think you might be heard!

GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!

It’s now been just over two weeks since an 18-year-old with no criminal record and no documented mental illness killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

His shooting spree also injured 18 others (fifteen students, two police officers, and his grandmother at home).

Since then, there have been more than three dozen mass shootings in the U.S.!!!

Democrats are screaming tougher gun control and Republicans want more done about mental illness. Well, both are right. But, nothing gets done from either side of the aisle with just talk, talk, talk and soundbites!

About gun control, I don’t want your damn guns. But, I don’t think civilians should have access to Glocks or AR-15-style rifles, which the National Rifle Association calls, “America’s rifle”! How sweet!

Just think of how many more mass shootings have been added to that list!

LET’S TALK MENTAL ILLNESS…

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter worked hard to bring mental health issues to the forefront.

President Jimmy Carter signed the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 into law in October, a month before the 1980 presidential election.

Ronald Reagan, seven months after taking office, signed The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 into law.

This repealed most of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980!

ENTERTAINMENT & MASS SHOOTINGS

In the wake of the Texas school shooting, CBS pulled the season four finale of “FBI” because the storyline involved a suspected student’s participation in a deadly robbery.

This has happened many times in the past.

I was a huge fan of NBC’s “Hannibal”. In the spring of 2013, show producer Bryan Fuller decided to pull the original “fourth” episode of the first season, “Oeuf”, most likely because of the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting in December 2012. 

In this episode that aired in international markets and on streaming services, Molly Shannon plays the “criminal of the week”, a teacher who brainwashes foster kids into killing other kids and their old families.

At the time, my problem with this was that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings took place almost five months earlier. If the producers were that uneasy about the theme of this episode, they knew that back then and could have done some editing or re-shoots to maintain continuity in the show! 

I guess it worked out for them. I ended up buying the season one DVD just to see that missing episode!

“QUEER AS FOLK”

The eight-episode reboot of “Queer As Folk” debuted on Peacock Thursday.

I watched the first episode and it’s incredible. I loved the LGBTQ+ and racial representation that the two original versions lacked! I’ll be watching the rest of it this weekend.

Did you watch the 10-episode U.K. original in 1999-2000 with a very young Charlie Hunnam (“Sons of Anarchy)?

Or, the five-season, 83 episode, U.S. version on Showtime from 2000-2005. (I watched the first few seasons of the U.S. version and finally caught the U.K. version.)

Okay, I digress.

I’m mentioning the new reboot for three reasons — it’s Pride month, it’s new programming, and because the storyline revolves around a Pulse nightclub-like shooting and rebuilding a community after a tragedy.

What are your thoughts on when entertainment is a little too close to reality?

DOING A DOUBLE TAKE!

Okay, let’s lighten the mood!

I posted my senior picture from high school last week on Facebook and I had someone say I looked like a young Keanu (Reeves). When I was younger, I heard that a few times — and thank you! 🙂

A few weeks back, my friend, Steve, sent me a photo and at first glance, I thought, when was that taken and who are those men?

Well, I clicked on it and realized it wasn’t me. Well, unless I’m a really young and muscular, sexy, porn star! (Or, so I’m told that he’s in the adult film industry!)

We sure like that high hair! 🙂 This was on my first trip to Vegas in the early-1990s!

THE PICK TO PLAY MADONNA

It looks like Ozark’s Julia Garner will be playing Madonna in the new movie following the early years of the icon’s life!

“What are you looking at? / Strike a pose / Strike a pose / Vogue (vogue, vogue)”

WHY THE RAINBOW FLAG?

When the LGBTQ movement took off in the 1970s, there was no widely accepted symbol.

Some used the Greek symbol for lambda, but not many knew what it meant. Others want to use the pink triangle, which is how gays during the Holocaust were branded. Yet, people that was too bleak.

Gilbert Baker decided to make a new symbol for the movement and debuted the rainbow flag at San Francisco Pride on June 25, 1978.

While there have been variations of the flag since then, six colors are readily acceptable today on most rainbow flags.

Baker’s original flag had eight colors.

“FIRE ISLAND”

I’ve never been to Fire Island and I’ll probably never go. If I could travel back in time and know then what I know now, I’d love to be there back in the late-1970s and early-1980s during my teenage years.

This Pride month, Hulu is offering a new LGBTQ movie following a group of friends heading to the gay mecca for what could be their last time together there.

The biggest names in the movie are comedian Margaret Cho, “Saturday Night Live” breakout star Bowen Yang, and Conrad Ricamora from “How To Get Away With Murder”.

While the movie is a romantic-comedy, it’s more of a buddy movie. It’s about friends looking out for each other and fighting for each other when the going gets tough.

And, it’s about flaunting what you’ve got.

After a sluggish start, the movie found its footing and ended up being enjoyable, even if the ending wasn’t all that believable!

It was great seeing very sexy Ricamora again (I’d so date him and his character) and the very adorable Charles Scully (“You”). And, “Fire Island”, thank you for introducing me to Zane Phillips and Miss Peppermint!

GRADE: B

MISS PEPPERMINT, “IF” YOU’RE NASTY

Okay, I had heard of Miss Peppermint before “Fire Island”.

Earlier this spring to celebrate Janet’s birthday (Miss Jackson if you’re nasty”), Peppermint released an incredible remake of “If”.

“If” reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1993. It’s still one of my all-time favorite Janet songs!

Here’s the original video.

And, I saw Janet on her “Unbreakable World Tour” in October 2015 in Omaha. Here’s some of “If” live!

SAL MINEO

Most people, if they remember Sal Mineo, know him from “Rebel Without A Cause” from 1955.

After just turning 17-years-old, in 1956, Mineo became the second youngest to get an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for “Rebel”.

Sal was nominated again in 1961 in the Best Supporting Actor category for “Exodus” — becoming the youngest actor, at that time, to have two nominations.

And, some might remember him as the actor stabbed to death outside his apartment in early 1976 after returning home from theatre practice with less than $22 in his pocket and a cupcake he’d bought for his dinner!

I recently read two books about the actor. He was much more successful than he’s remembered for!

Michael Gregg Michaud’s “Sal Mineo: A Biography” (2010) was a great book.

One of my favorite tidbits was a conversation between two of Sal’s girlfriends.

Susan Ladin told Jill Haworth: “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be the first Mrs. Mineo”. And Jill replied, “If it wasn’t for Bobby Sherman, you’d be the second Mrs. Mineo”. (Jill told the author that she walked in on Mineo and Sherman having sex ending her sexual relationship with Sal.)

The other book was by a writer that claims to have had ongoing sexual encounters with Mineo.

Here are some revelations from H. Paul Jeffers’ 2000 book, “Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder, and Mystery”.

While many thought that James Dean was having an affair with both of his co-stars from “Rebel Without A Cause” Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood, Mineo denies they had sex.

In 1973, Jeffers claims Sal told him, “If I’d understood back then that a guy could be in love with another one, it would have happened. But I didn’t come to that realization for a few more years, and then it was too late for Jimmy and me.”

DON JOHNSON & SAL MINEO

Also, from Jeffers book….

Future “Miami Vice” star Don Johnson acted in a 1969 Los Angeles theatrical production directed by Mineo. It was a gay-themed prison drama with nudity and Mineo’s character raping Johnson’s much younger character.

A few years later, in 1973, Johnson said, “Basically, I guess I’m an exhibitionist. I’m very proud of my body. I’m pleased with the way I look and the way I carry myself. I feel that it’s all there to be used — the looks and everything else. Some people have great minds, and they were given them for a reason. I have never been accused of having a great mind, but I do have my looks.”

Johnson lived with Mineo at the time and there were rumors that they were lovers.

Johnson says, “Of course there were some wild stories that went down because of us, which was fine, because they helped sell a lot of tickets. And there have been some outrageous stories about us! God, God, God!”

SUMMER BREAK

Like those that have the summer off, I’m taking a late spring break.

I hope it’s a nice one for you and I’ll be back soon with more random thoughts.

Bon Appetit this Pride Month!

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony