June is here! While the calendar says it’s still spring, “meteorological summer” started June 1st, and Memorial Day weekend is the “unofficial” start to summer.
Thank you for taking the time to check out my random thoughts. Have a great month ahead and be proud. I am 365 days a year!
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
Cheers queers and cheers to all of my “straight, but not narrow” friends.
Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Pride every June (some hotter places celebrate it in the cooler months of fall)? It all goes back to the “Summer of ’69”! Now, that should be a song!
Well, we owe a big thanks to the queens that stood up for what would be the forebearer of LGBTQ+ rights and gay pride!
Back in the day, gay bars weren’t popular like they were pre-pandemic. Those “safe havens” catering to the gay community were often targeted and harassed by police.
“The Stonewall Inn”, a bar on Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, was owned by the Mafia. Its clientele were the poor and those that faced rejection by a majority of society.
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, plainclothes policemen, uniformed police officers, and detectives arrived at the bar and yelled, “Police! We’re taking the place!”
Well, one thing led to another. When an officer shoved a drag queen and she hit him on the head with her purse, the mood changed and people started throwing beer bottles. Word spread that people inside the bar were being beaten by police.
Within six months of that police raid on the bar, which became known as “The Stonewall Riots”, two gay activist groups were formed, and one year later, gay pride festivals were held for the first time in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
If you want more than just that little soundbite version of “Stonewall”, here’s the original blog I posted almost ten years ago. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 53 years now!
And, let’s not forget about the Compton’s Cafeteria riot in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district three years before Stonewall.
This restaurant was a popular hangout for transgender women and drag queens. Sadly, even gay bars weren’t very welcoming to trans women and Compton’s was a place where they could meet publicly.
In August 1966, police were called because the women and the drag queens were becoming unruly. After roughhousing from police, a trans woman threw a cup of coffee in an officer’s face.
At that point, the place “erupted”. Sugar shakers, tables, and chairs were thrown, the front glass window was shattered, and the violence moved into the streets on the first night.
Even some San Francisco police said “unnecessary violence” was used by the department.
“LOGICAL FAMILY”
Armistead Maupin is one of my favorite authors and one of the leading advocates in the LGBTQ community. Yes, there were trailblazers before him and many came after him.
However, by bringing his “Tales of the City” adventures to readers of the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1970s, he showed them that we’re just like everyone else. Take that Anita Bryant! (Yes, she’s still alive!)
Since Pride month is here, I want to talk about his beautiful 2017 memoir, “Logical Family”.
You probably figured out what he means by “logical family”, but Maupin says, “Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us. We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives.”
The book covers his conservative upbringing in North Carolina, his “discovery” that he was different, his military service in Vietnam, and his adventures once he moved to San Francisco.
I really loved the story of his history with the virulent homophobe that hired him for his first television job in North Carolina and how one day Armistead would publicly attack this man’s hateful antigay and anti-HIV politics in his home state at Pride.
Yes, that hateful man was none other than five-term U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, who served from 1973-2003.
I also loved his stories about Bryant, his FW (occasional) B relationship with Rock Hudson, and why he “outed” Hudson as gay when it was revealed he had AIDS.
And, there’s there’s the funny story about finding chewing gum on his pants during a meeting! That’s not the kicker. The kicker is what he did on his lunch break and how the gum got there! 😉
“TALES OF THE CITY”
Maupin’s “Tales of the City”, which aired on PBS in the U.S., is still one of my favorite miniseries and my favorite book series of all time.
I watched it for the first time, in early 1994, as I was getting ready to make my big move to Chicago from small town Kentucky — just like Mary Ann Singleton did in the series, moving from Cleveland to San Francisco!
And, I was just as naïve as Mary Ann, too, also thirty years ago!
Yes, that’s a very youthful Laura Linney in the early-1990s!
If you’ve never read the nine-book series or watched the first three series, “Tales of the Cities”, “More Tales of the City”, and “Further Tales of the City”, and 2019’s Netflix “Tales of the City”, please do so.
So enjoyable! I’m going to read the books and watch it again!
“THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN”
And, there’s a documentary on the incredible man, too!
THANK YOU ARMISTEAD!
In a 2014 blog, I praised the author and activist for inspiring me to try one more time to kick off my television weather and news career in 1996.
At the time, I wrote, “Armistead, thank you for giving this small-town Kentucky boy the motivation and the courage to move to Chicago just four months shy of my 30th birthday, just as you allowed Mary Ann Singleton to leave Cleveland, Ohio, for San Francisco.“
Here’s Laura Linney as Mary Ann Singleton in the 1994 “Tales of the City” miniseries, almost 25 years before Ozark’s incredible Wendy Byrde!
Click here if you want to read that blog about my inspiration (it should open in a new window):
Here’s Armistead and his husband, Christopher Turner. They still live in San Francisco.
Oh, by the way, Happy Belated Birthday Armistead!
“SUMMER OF ’69”
Since I mentioned the Stonewall Riot and the “Summer of ’69”, why not share the incredible hit song from one of our LGBTQ allies.
Canadian rocker Bryan Adams cancelled a concert in Mississippi in 2016 over an anti-gay discrimination bill.
“Summer of ’69” was Adams’ seventh hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached #5 in 1985.
Now, in full disclosure, Adams isn’t perfect.
As the COVID-19 pandemic was sweeping the world in the spring of 2020, he made a very racist social media post about having to cancel his shows.
He blamed it on “some fucking bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards”!
He apologized for his insensitive comment and the post was deleted.
“THE REACH OF A CHEF”
Last week, I posted a few interesting things from Michael Ruhlman 2006 “The Reach of a Chef”. Here are a few more just about my favorite city, Las Vegas.
When Vegas became a hot spot for famous chefs to open restaurants in casinos and hotels, the money started rolling in.
Rob Valentino, then president of the Venetian, which features many famous chef-fronted eating establishments, told Ruhlman that in 2005, they did $175 million in restaurant sales and another $100 million in banquet and bar sales.
Valentino says, “I don’t know another hotel in the world that does $300 million dollars in food and beverage.” On top of that, the casino and hotel brought in another $1.2 billion (that’s billions with a “B”), for a total of $1.5 billion!
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
Here’s my favorite picture from the last Chicago Pride I attended. I can’t believe it’s been ten years!
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
The weekend is here and it’s Memorial Day weekend! Thank you for taking the time to check out my random thoughts.
Some of you have a three-day weekend, so enjoy the “unofficial” start to the summer season.
MEMORIAL DAY
However, let’s not forget the reason for this federal holiday — to mourn the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed services.
Memorial Day used to be called “Decoration Day”. From 1868 until 1970, it was on May 30th, but since 1971, the holiday has been on the last Monday in May.
THE SLAP HEARD (almost) AROUND THE WORLD!
I was in Costa Rica during the Oscars and I wasn’t watching.
The next day my sister told me about the drama of Will Smith walking up on the stage and slapping the hell of out of comedian Chris Rock after he made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith!
And, two months later, I still haven’t watched it. However, I’ve heard ALL of the follow-up stories and I’m over it!
Of the Best Actor nominees, I’ve seen three of the performances and I think Smith deserved the win (I still haven’t seen Javier Bardem in “Being the Ricardos” and Denzel Washington in “The Tragedy of Macbeth”.)
Do I think the Academy should take back his Oscar? NO. If they want to ban him from attending future Oscar ceremonies, so be it.
The bottom line is Chris Rock is a comedian (let me stress “comedian” because I saw his lackluster acting performance in the fourth season of “Fargo”) and comedians make rude comments about people. It’s just what they do.
Was Will Smith wrong slapping him in front of millions of people across the world? YES!
Does Smith deserve to lose acting jobs because of his actions? Let me simplify Isaac Newton’s third law — for every action, there’s a reaction.
So, Will, deal with it!
AND, THE REAL SMACKDOWN!!!
“It’s on you!”
Your opinion: O’Rourke out of line? Or, just pointing the honest truth?
FOR THE RECORD
Texas Governor Greg Abbott after the Uvalde school shooting that left, at least, 21 dead: “never again”.
Since he took office in January 2015, there have been six mass shootings in Texas!
AND, THIS…
NBC News: Governor Abbott says the Uvalde school shooter had a “mental health challenge” and the state needed to “do a better job with mental health” — yet in April he slashed $211 million from the department that oversees mental health programs.
I’ll now get off my soap box!
“PAM & TOMMY”
I’m probably one of the few across the world that never saw the scandalous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape back in the 1990s when it blew up the internet. (Okay, I didn’t even have the internet in 1995. That’s probably the reason.)
However, I finally got around to watching the eight episode Hulu original series with Lily James and Sebastian Stan.
Both were amazing in their roles and they could earn Emmy nominations next month.
“Pam & Tommy” was great when it focused on Pam.
It’s likely that many creative liberties were taken in the series. But, if only a portion of the degradation Pam went through in the deposition happened, those lawyers were appalling!
Who cares if she had posed for magazines and made a fortune running on the beach in a bathing suit on “Baywatch”? It was shameful!
In this series, Tommy Lee was very annoying and unlikeable. If he’s like that in real life, yikes!
Whether you approve of people recording or photographing intimate or sexual moments or not, Pam & Tommy Lee were victims of having their private moments exposed to the world.
GRADE: C+
P.S. In full disclosure, after watching the series, I MAY (or may not) have done a Google search and saw the images!
“FINALLY ENOUGH LOVE”
On August 19, 2022, three days after legendary music icon Madonna turns 64, she’s giving fans a birthday present. (Okay, it’ll cost us!)
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.
The 50-track, three disc collection, “Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones” is a 40-year retrospective and is remastered with some remixed songs.
“Frozen” is listed as “(Extended Club Mix Edit) [2022 Remaster]”. Please, please, please let it be this new collaboration with Sickick.
Madonna recorded new vocals for the track and it includes a brand-new verse “remaking the iconic single into an ecstatic trap collaboration”.
You’ve just got to see and listen to this new version!
“DR. DEATH”
This eight episode, 2021 Peacock original series, was great and is terrifying because it’s based on a real case!
Joshua Jackson plays Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a young and brilliant doctor in Dallas building a thriving neurosurgery practice.
All of sudden, patients coming in for routine, yet complex, spinal surgeries begin leaving his operating room dead or permanently disabled.
As the victim count rises, two other doctors, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), set out to stop Duntsch with the help of Dallas prosecutor Michelle Shughart (AnnaSophia Robb).
“Dr. Death” was nominated for three Critics’ Choice Award — the series for Best Limited Series, Jackson for Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television, and Slater for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television.
All three may get Emmy nominations this July!
I’ve gone 57 years without any surgeries (other than my wisdom teeth pulled) and after seeing this series, I hope I never have to have a surgery!
GRADE: B
“THE REACH OF A CHEF”
Subtitled “Beyond the Kitchen”, this is Michael Ruhlman 2006 follow-up to “The Making of a Chef” (1997) and “The Soul of a Chef” (2000).
In February 2021, I featured several insights from his phenomenal 2017 book, “Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America”.
Here are a few interesting notes from “The Reach of a Chef: Beyond the Kitchen”:
While good for the chef and culinary business, Tim Ryan, head of the Culinary Institute of America says this about celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, “I also often hear chefs criticize Emeril’s culinary techniques, but television is entertainment… I like Emeril and respect him. I do wish that he could move away throwing raw spices on his plates”.
And, Ryan adds, “Anyway, it could be worse — he could be screaming profanities at someone, or acting unprofessional, and thankfully Emeril has never done that.” Hello Gordon Ramsey! 🙂
When Emeril Lagasse was starting out in television, he would fly to New York from New Orleans and tape as many as seven episodes a day at $300 each.
As he became famous, the critics’ (chefs and writers) claws came out. Lagasse says, “Everybody’s so critical today. Nobody criticized Julia [Child] for dropping swordfish on the floor and then picking it up, brushing it, and continuing… These days you’ve got the chicken police, the frog legs police, hamster police, they’re coming after you.”
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
As May chugs along, we’re getting closer and closer to Memorial Day and the “unofficial” start to the summer season.
Thank you for taking the time to check out my “Random Friday Thoughts”.
FOOD NETWORK
I’m captivated by the Food Network. What’s surprising is that it debuted in 1993 as the “TV Food Network” and adopted its current name “Food Network” in 1997 and I never paid any attention to it until now.
It started with flipping channels in hotel rooms and catching the always classy Ted Allen on “Chopped”.
In the past six months, Food Network became my default channel. Now I have to be very careful when I turn on the TV not to fall “down the rabbit hole” of watching episode after episode of whatever cooking show is on — just like I do with Kylie Minogue and 1980s music videos on YouTube!
My favorite show is “Beat Bobby Flay”. He’s so charming, witty, and snippy!
I really enjoy Guy Fieri’s “Guy’s Grocery Games” and his goofy humor. He also has “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” and I admire the man’s appetite! (I love to eat, too!) Now, I’m going to have to visit his restaurant on my next visit to Las Vegas!
I find Ree Drummond (“The Pioneer Woman”) so warm and inviting and I’d love to spend a day in her kitchen when she’s baking desserts, and Alex Guarnaschelli is so intelligent and incredible, but I’d be so afraid to cook for her. 🙂
But, the person I love the most on Food Network is Aarti Sequeira. I’m totally mesmerized and I could sit and listen to her read the phone book all day! Well, okay, maybe a cookbook!
I’ll post this delightful video of her making Tikka Masala. Even if you don’t plan on making it, click on it just to hear her beautiful voice!
Could you just imagine sitting down to a delicious, authentic home-cooked Indian feast? I definitely can!
MEETING CELEBRITIES!
My career has given me the opportunity to meet many celebrities (Reba McEntire, Lionel Richie, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Madeleine Albright, Carol Channing, and more).
Also, there have been chance encounter meetings (with a lot of luck) — Hillary Clinton, Shania Twain, and President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter.
Those celebrity encounters were amazing and they were all so gracious.
And, I’ve been in the orbit of two other celebrities that I didn’t approach. (There was a third, but I did get to talk to her from across the room. I’ll elaborate on that below.)
In September 2012, I was next to Florence Welch at the baggage terminal at the airport in Houston. I was there to relax and see the city for a week and Florence was frantically trying to get her bags for a concert hours away with her band, Florence + the Machines.
The other was Carson Kressley.
OH, CARSON KRESSLEY!
Now that I’m a huge Food Network fan, I realize I have an ax to grind.
I didn’t realize how much of a grudge I’ve held for years against Carson Kressley until having to watch his promo for “BBQ Brawl” on repeat this spring.
This goes back to December 2014.
We took a Holland America Caribbean cruise. It just so happened that the “Dancing with the Stars: At Sea” Champions competition was taking place on our ship.
Kressley was one of the celebrities set to perform.
We saw him several times around the ship that week with Kym Johnson and Artem Chigvintsev.
Not once did he even fake a smile to acknowledge our existence when he’d be just several feet away!!! I didn’t need (or want) to carry on a conversation, but some warmth goes a long way.
He might be a great guy, so I’ll give him the benefit of a doubt now that I’m venting. I know that the ship holds close to two thousand people and he may have been overwhelmed by people, but every time we saw him!?
So, now when I hear him rattle off “We’ll be BBQ BFF ASAP OK” in the “BBQ Brawl” promo, I try not to cringe and think “NO WAY” instead of “OK”!
If we ever cross paths again and our QUEER EYES meet, maybe we can say hello socially!
It may not be a delicious Strawberry Basil Bellissimo (vodka, strawberries, basil infusion, and fresh basil) from that cruise, but champagne or wine works for me!
Cheers Carson!
MAMMA MIA, MISS ABBA!
Pug 20-something* is still in the cards. I just don’t know when those cards will be dealt.
(*Pug2020 became Pug2021, then Pug2022 and now it’s Pug20-something!)
I can’t believe it’s been ten years since I had a dog!!!
Miss ABBA, my golden retriever, was born this weekend 22 years ago on a llama farm near Canton, Ohio.
We had a good run for 11.5 years and traveled the country together.
I know Pug20-something will bring me the same joy in my senior years!
“THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE”
I finally got around to seeing “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” which won Jessica Chastain her first Oscar this year.
It was an enjoyable movie, but it was pretty much a “paint by numbers” production. Andrew Garfield, as Jim Bakker, was great, too.
And, like Kristen Stewart in “Spencer”, Jessica Chastain’s performance in “Eyes” is better than the movie itself.
I’ve now seen three of this year’s best actress performances (I still need to watch Nicole Kidman in “Being The Ricardos” and Penelope Cruz in “Parallel Mothers” aka “Madres paralelas”).
Until seeing Jessica Chastain’s Tammy Faye, my pick for the Oscar was Olivia Colman in “The Lost Daughter”.
GRADE: B-
MORE TAMMY FAYE
After reading Tammy Faye’s touching book, “Telling It My Way” in July 2014, I posted a blog and in the first four years, it was read 350 times.
In 2019, when future Oscar winner Jessica Chastain signed on to a movie about Tammy Faye, the number of people reading the blog doubled to more than 700 in 2019 and 2020 combined.
When the movie came out last year, it became my most viewed blog of the year and it’s already the most viewed blog, so far, this year, too! I guess my blog pops up in a Google search for “Tammy Faye”!
Maybe I should put “Tammy Faye” in every blog title! 🙂
The S.O.S. Band, which reached #3 with “Take Your Time (Do It Right)”, in 1980, was my first celebrity encounter. In 1984, at Murray State University, they granted me an interview for a music show I’d be producing and anchoring called “Music Visions”.
In 1993, my best friend, Steve and I were visiting our friend, Paul, and we were having lunch at Planet Hollywood in Chicago. Remember that restaurant chain?
I told them I believed that Kym Sims was sitting a couple of tables over with her family. Our server overheard me and confirmed it was her. He told her and she said “hello” from her table and thanked me for loving her music.
Most of you probably don’t know the name since her only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 peaked at #38 in 1991 (it reached the Top 5 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the U.S.)!
It also made the Top Ten in several European countries and even topped the chart in Zimbabwe!!!
The following summer, I made the biggest and boldest move of my life moving from small town America (Mayfield, Kentucky) to Chicago and have never looked back! 🙂
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
It feels like the seasons jumped right from winter to summer this week across Illinois with highs 90°-95° and heat indices around 100°!
Yuck, is it fall yet? 🙂
Have a fantastic weekend and thank you for taking the time to check out my random thoughts.
Oh, Happy Friday the 13th!
THE PANDEMIC AND COVID TESTING
The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. We’re seeing another surge in infection rates and deaths.
Since masks and mandates are coming down, there’s still one change I hope happens soon.
I want the Biden administration and the CDC to drop its mandatory testing for American citizens returning from foreign countries by air. Currently, you have to have a negative COVID test one day before returning to the U.S.
This is from the State Department’s website: “The order relates to boarding a U.S.-bound aircraft and is meant to protect and preserve human life, as well as prevent further transmission of a highly contagious and often deadly virus.”
This made more sense early in the pandemic when there were more uncertainties and no vaccine.
But, it doesn’t make sense to me now that foreign travelers have to go through the expense of being tested before returning. (Last October, it cost me 10 Euros in Greece and $40 in Costa Rica in April to be tested.)
This is silly because people can travel freely on domestic flights in the U.S. without being tested and this could just as easily transmit the “highly contagious and often deadly virus”.
Drop the testing policy now for Americans traveling internationally and just bring back the flight mask mandates!
I’ll still be wearing mine! Your thoughts?
MY COSTA RICA SOUVENIR
While I’ve been back from my spring trip to Costa Rica for over a month, I finally have the souvenir I bought myself on display.
It’s now part of my memorable mementos’ wall in my bedroom — my photo with President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter and with Hillary Clinton; the Moulin Rouge in Paris where I turned 50 at midnight sipping champagne sitting at the stage; one of my all-time favorite meals at Benny The Fisherman in Tel Aviv; and Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean from Old Jaffa, which I visited during the same birthday trip to Paris.
SHOCKED AND NOT SHOCKED…
When it was announced that Naomi Judd, of the iconic country music duo The Judds, died at the age of 76 at the end of April, it sounded suspicious. In the back of my mind, I suspected suicide because she had battled mental illness for years.
On Thursday, her daughter, actress Ashley Judd, told Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America” that Naomi did take her own life. What shocks me is it was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound!
May is “Mental Health Awareness Month”. If you (or someone you know) are overwhelmed and thinking of taking your life, please make this call and talk!
FREE PREMIUM CABLE
Recently, I had free premium channels from my cable company, so I was able to watch “The Flight Attendant” and other series and a movie to take advantage of the free week!
“THE WHITE LOTUS”
If you need to recharge, but you can’t get away or don’t want to spend the money, there are two series you can check out covering relaxation (and drama) — one in Hawaii and the other in California.
The six episode HBO series, “The White Lotus” was interesting.
A group of Americans arrive in Hawaii and they bring all their drama with them. Geez, after watching this series, I really feel for those in the hotel industry!
While the series was great, there were only two likeable characters — a guest and one employee! Jake Lacy and Sydney Sweeney successfully make their characters very unlikeable! 🙂
Out Australian actor Murray Bartlett (“Looking” and the Netflix revival of “Tales of the City” in 2019) was incredible as hotel manager Armond. While dealing with the guests, he falls off the wagon after being “clean” for years.
And, when he falls off, some very interesting things happen. One scene was totally incredible (adult) and the other was nasty (yet, the person it’s directed at totally deserved it)!
Bartlett and Jennifer Coolidge both won the Critics’ Choice Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Limited Series or Movie made for Television, respectively. Both were also nominated by the Screen Actors Guild.
I expect both to get Emmy nominations in July!
“The White Lotus” was renewed as an anthology series and Jennifer Coolidge will reprise her role as Tanya McQuoid in “The White Lotus: Sicily”.
GRADE: B
“NINE PERFECT STRANGERS”
This eight episode Hulu series is based on the book by Liane Moriarty (“Big Little Lies”).
While my girl crush Nicole Kidman was great (when isn’t she?), the standouts I expect to get Emmy nominations are Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, and Regina Hall.
And, I was totally mesmerized by Manny Jacinto as Yao and I wished he had a larger role.
After watching the series, I read the book. Both were enjoyable, but neither were “Big Little Lies”!
GRADE: B-
“THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT” — THE BOOK
It was a year ago this week that I wrote about Chris Bohjalian’s 2018 bestseller, “The Flight Attendant”, and stated, “it’s incredible.”
I went on to say, “An alcoholic flight attendant wakes up in Dubai after hooking up with a hot man in first class on her flight.
The one night stand or doing the walk of shame would be the least of her problems. She wakes up and the bed is covered in blood! His throat has been slashed and she can’t remember what happened!
Did she do it????”
“THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT” — SEASON ONE
Well, I finally got the watch the first season and it was fantastic. While the book was very bleak, which was fitting with the subject matter, the series took a more comedic-dramatic approach. It worked perfectly.
Kaley Cuoco (“The Big Bang Theory”) was incredible as the alcoholic Cassie Bowden (she’s in denial about being a drunk). And, the men, (soon to be murdered) Alex (Michiel Huisman), Buckley (Colin Woodell), Max (Deniz Akdeniz), and Van (Nolan Gerard Funk) are all beautiful to look at.
And, Zosia Mamet, as Cassie’s best friend and lawyer, was amazing.
The second season is now airing on HBO Max.
GREAT SEEING BANGKOK AGAIN!
While the pivotal murder scene in the book takes place in Dubai, it’s Bangkok, Thailand in the television series.
I was in Bangkok in the spring of 2019 and it was absolutely stunning to see the Chao Phraya River again and the city aglow in lights at night.
The top left photo above is “Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan” (try saying that!), also known as the “Temple of Dawn”, and in the bottom left is Iconsiam, a $1.5 billion mixed-use complex including a high end shopping mall, hotels, and residences.
“FROM HARPER VALLEY TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP”
“Harper Valley P.T.A.” was one of my favorite songs as a kid and it’s still one of my all-time favorites. Recently, I read Jeannie C. Riley’s 1978 autobiography, “From Harper Valley To The Mountain Top”.
Even if it was the late-1970s when the book was published, I was still shocked that she used a quote with the n-word in referencing the blues — a title her father used!!!!
Some of the other things I found interesting about her. I laughed when she talked about not wanting to be noticed one day when she doing something “undercover”, yet she was driving around in a lavender Cadillac. 🙂
Jeannie talked about her own hypocrisy and summed it up, “Not only was I Mrs. Johnson with her miniskirt, but I was philandering Bobby Taylor. I was the widow Jones with her window shades up, I was Shirley Thompson with the nip of gin on her breath. No one was as big a hypocrite as I was. But now, praise God, things are different.”
Jeannie was one of the celebrities welcoming President Jimmy Carter to Nashville in October 1980 at a “Town Hall Meeting” at the Grand Ole Opry House.
“HARPER VALLEY P.T.A.” (JEANNIE C. RILEY) (1968)
In a ranking of my 100 favorite songs in the first era of my life, “Harper Valley P.T.A.” was my #5 song.
“MY LIFE: THE FIRST 35 YEARS”
If you’d like to know the 13 biggest events of my first 35 years and take a walk down memory lane with my 100 favorite songs in those three-and-half decades (1964-1999), just click on the link below.
I had so much fun researching this blog and writing it. Obviously, many of you did, too, since it was one of my most viewed blogs over the past two years.
With all of the heavier rain many of us saw in April, I hope that means a lot of beautiful May flowers.
Hope you have a fantastic weekend and thank you for checking out my random thoughts.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
The last one I celebrated with my mother, Dessie, was May 13, 1990.
Instead of going out to the local Golden Corral, which my mother loved to do, 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.
This was a big deal for my mother because she never got to do much traveling.
We enjoyed our brunch with everything from caviar to prime rib to desserts. The funny thing about the day is that my mother didn’t drink and champagne is one of my favorite spirits.
I would drink my glass of champagne and start drinking my mother’s. Every time the server would come around, my mother’s glass would be empty and they would fill it and top off mine. I didn’t keep count of how many times this happened. All I know is that they probably thought my dear mother was a lush!
Mom, I hope you’re smiling about that now.
And, by the way, my sister, Tammy, was pregnant and didn’t go. But, she eventually got to experience the 101st Airborne brunch.
“FREE” COVID TEST KITS
While we’re dropping mandates and masks across much of the country, we’re seeing another surge in the number of COVID-19 cases.
The other morning while shopping at Kroger, I was baffled by the high price of the at-home COVID-19 testing kits.
I’m definitely not bashing Kroger for selling them for $17.99. I’m mystified that people would actually pay that because you can get free test kits from the U.S. government mailed directly to your home — again, for free.
The first four I received were these exact tests, but the second four I got were a different brand.
“OZARK” FINALE
Well, as with everything, the world is divided and I’m sure there are those that are pleased with the way “Ozark” ended (raises hand) and those that aren’t pleased.
I hate knowing that the four-season run is behind us and I won’t see the incredible Laura Linney playing the cold-hearted, but loving Wendy Byrde!
Give this woman her first “Ozark” Emmy (she’s won four from other series).
Linney made her directorial debut in the 11th episode of the final season (“Pound of Flesh and Still Kickin'”).
It’s this episode that could very well earn Jason Bateman his first acting Emmy (he’s won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for acting for “Ozark” and won an Emmy for “Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series”).
No spoilers please for those that haven’t watched the ending yet!
“HOLLYWOOD BABYLON: IT’S BACK”
I probably would never have read this book, but one of my friends loaned it to me and said that I had to read it.
This 2008 book by Darwin Potter and Danforth Prince is “Hot, Unauthorized, and Unapologetic!” — their words, not mine.
Also, in their words, “All Those Celebrities! All Those Scandals! All That Nudity!… and All That Sin!”, it’s all there.
Like reading a Kitty Kelley biography, which is also not authorized by her subjects, this book is full of outrageous dirt on Hollywood legends — most of which are dead and can’t fight back!
Also, like a Kitty Kelley book, I know it has to be based (somewhat loosely) on factual information or interviews to avoid lawsuits. But, I’m sure in Potter and Prince’s book, there is A LOT of “he said, she said” and “I heard this from a friend of a friend of a friend”.
Now, if only a fraction of these salacious stories are true, Hollywood, then and now, especially then, was full of tramps, a very active “casting couch”, prostituting, “homosexual” marquee names, lesbians, and for sure, “size queens”.
And, for there to be size queens that gossiped freely, the book claims that many of the legendary leading men were you know what! (Insert eggplant emoji!)
Was it fun and gossipy at first, yes! Did it grow tiresome and become a lot less credible the more you read? Yes, but what a read! 🙂
So, take this with a grain of salt. Since it’s already in print, so it must be true (right?), I’ll throw out a couple of names that shocked me the most to be in the list above: Lucille Ball and Nancy Davis (who became Nancy Reagan)!
And, Tom Cruise. (Well, this part was not shocking because we’ve all heard the rumors!)
Oh wait, those rumors about him are absolutely not true! Definitely, most certainly not true, never was a homosexual, never had an affair with a gay porn star — never, never, never.
So, that validation of him being straight should keep me from being sued. He likes to do that, you know, if you make accusations.
In case you don’t remember: In 2001, in a $100 million lawsuit against the porn star, the “Risky Business” star’s lawyer stated, “While Cruise thoroughly respects others’ rights to follow their own sexual preference, he is not a homosexual…”!
“TOP GUN” SEQUEL
Can you believe that “Top Gun”, with star Tom Cruise, came out, oops, strike that, hit theaters 36 years ago this month? Geez, I was barely old enough to drink!
It made an astounding $357.3 million on a budget of only $15 million! (That $15 million would be about $39 million in today’s world.)
The long-awaited sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick”, will blast into theaters this Memorial Day weekend. Boy, have times changed. This movie’s budget is $152 million!
Are you interested in seeing it?
While I went to “the movies” and saw the original, I might watch this one on DVD one day????
LADY GAGA — “HOLD MY HAND” & “THE CHROMATICA TOUR”
Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away”, with music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Tom Whitlock, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song from the original “Top Gun”.
The theme song in the sequel by Lady Gaga, “Hold My Hand”, could follow in Berlin’s footsteps down the red carpet and up on the Oscars stage.
The song was released Tuesday morning and is slowly gaining airplay at Top 40 radio. Slowly!
This summer, Gaga, will embark on her pandemic-delayed 17 date “The Chromatica Ball” Tour. She’ll play in fifteen cities across the world (two dates in Tokyo, Japan and London, England).
“THE 355”
This crime caper was panned by critics, but I really enjoyed it!
Was it totally realistic? No, but most movies are not. Just look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Comics, etc.
Oscar winner Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) is a total bad ass in this movie and leads an all-star cast including Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, and Sebastian Stan.
Having been to Marrakesh, Morocco, and Shanghai, China, I especially loved those parts of the movie.
GRADE: B
“THE GREAT” FUNNY
This Hulu original dramedy is too funny and crazy!
While I’m finishing up season two (it’s been renewed for a third season), I have to share this funny interaction between Catherine The Great (Elle Fanning) and Lady Marial (Phoebe Fox), my two favorites on the show.
When a very pregnant Catherine was picking out her dress for the coronation, she clearly chooses a dress that didn’t suit her friend and former maid, Marial.
Marial replies, “It’s what our grandmothers used to wear before they were beaten to death for wearing something so ugly.”
Okay, when I said that Catherine and Marial are my two favorites on the show, there’s also Nicholas Hoult. He’s very sexy and funny, as Peter III of Russia.
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
It’s hard to believe the end of April is already here. Four months down and if we skip over summer, fall and Christmas will be here before you know it! 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to check out my random thoughts. Enjoy your weekend.
I’M BUSY THIS WEEKEND!
It might be difficult to get a hold of me this weekend, I’m busy!
The final seven episodes of the incredible Netflix series, “Ozark”, drops this weekend. I expect it to be deadly, bloody, and insane!
I’m very sad to the see the four season series end because I love, love, love Laura Linney as the tough as nails Wendy Byrde!
And, I’ve become a huge fan of Julia Garner.
TRASH(Y) PEOPLE
I know this is not a problem unique to Decatur, Illinois, yet it’s one that I’ve really noticed and been sadden by in my two-plus years here.
I live by Lake Decatur and it’s a beautiful four-mile walk around it. Along the Lake, there are many trash cans.
Yet, I can’t believe how many people, which I’ve witnessed, just drive down the street and throw their fast food cups and bags out the window!
How f**king trashy and ridiculous. Even in my apartment complex, people just sit their fast food bags outside their car!
Have we really become this uncaring and lazy? Don’t answer, that’s a rhetorical question. I know we don’t all do this, but it just bites my ass to see it.
This commercial from the early-1970s, my childhood, comes to mind. I’m sure many of you remember it, too.
“KILLING EVE”
Well, Eve may or may not have been killed, but the four season series is over!
While I absolutely loved the first season and enjoy the second and third seasons, season four was mostly a bore.
The first three episodes of the final season’s eight episodes were just a waste of time and mostly filler.
The final episode was the season’s best and Pam was the only highlight of the final season — other than Eve and Villanelle.
SEASON 4 GRADE: C
SERIES GRADE: B-
“DEATH ON THE NILE”
Agatha Christie is one of the biggest selling authors ever and her books have almost outsold the Bible!
Movie adaptations of her novels usually are well received. The last, 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express”, was a great movie and I gave it a “B”.
Well, “Death On The Nile” was pretty much DOA (dead on arrival) thank to the personal life of one of the lead actors, Armie Hammer (“Call Me By Your Name” and “The Social Network”).
In early 2021, several women came forward accusing Hammer with abuse that evolved into many sharing Instagram messages that Hammer allegedly sent involving rape, violence, and even cannibalism!
He denies the messages are real.
Oh, the movie! It was nice seeing Emma Mackey, who plays Maeve in “Sex Education”, in a glamourous role.
Otherwise, skip the movie! I figured out the whodunnit when it was revealed who died on the Nile!
The movie did make almost $137 million on a $90 million budget. However, had it not been for Hammer’s scandal, it probably would have made much more.
GRADE: C
“DOPESICK”
I watched this incredible true life Hulu series last fall.
It’s about the opioid epidemic and how Purdue Pharma got Americans hooked on Oxycontin through a conflict of interest with some departments within the U.S. government. It also covers the trial against Purdue Pharma.
I’m sure when the Emmy nominations come out in July that the series will be nominated along with Michael Keaton (“Batman” and “Birdman”) and Kaitlyn Dever (“Justified”).
It’s based on Beth Macy’s 2018 book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America”.
GRADE: B+
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
Oh, another weekend is upon us! Every Monday morning when I awake for work at 2:40 a.m., I start counting down to the weekend.
Have a great one and thank you for checking out my random thoughts this week!
FESTIVE EASTER!
My sister, Tammy, made a fantastic meal for Easter — an incredible ham with mashed potatoes, pinto beans, corn, macaroni & cheese, and deviled eggs.
Of course, I took a large container of leftovers home with me!
My contribution was a festive and very tasty FRUITY PEBBLES White Chocolate cheesecake!
I always make interesting flavors and have never made a traditional cheesecake. Here are some of my others!
And, last Christmas, I made a strawberry-banana pudding cheesecake! Yum!
PLANT-BASED (BEEF?)
While I gave up eating beef more than a decade ago, I loved burgers and prime rib. But, I just couldn’t see killing beautiful grazing cows for a few minutes of deliciousness.
Now, I can have the experience and not feel cheated anymore.
While Burger King’s “Impossible Whopper” is not new (it debuted in August 2019), I finally tried one and it was amazing.
Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a burger in more than ten years, but if you hadn’t told me this was a plant-based, protein-filled patty, I wouldn’t have known!
It won’t turn me into a fast-food junky, but I might cheat every once in a while!
COVID-19 ENTERTAINMENT MEMORY LAPSES
When the pandemic basically shut down the U.S. and the world, it hit Hollywood hard, too.
Now that productions are moving forward with safety measures and many of our favorite shows are returning (and sadly, coming to end), long recaps are necessary!
In January, when season four’s first seven episodes of “Ozark” dropped on Netflix, I had to think hard about what all happened in the third season that came out in March 2020.
But, who could forget that final scene?
“Ozark” fans, I know we’re counting down to the final seven bloody and deadly episodes April 29, 2022!
While everything came flooding back to me with “Ozark”, I can’t say the same about “Killing Eve”.
When I started binge watching the final season’s eight episodes earlier this month, I was totally lost. Season four started with a time jump and no recap (at least, on demand, it didn’t pop up) of season three that ended in the spring of 2020.
I’m definitely going to miss Eve (Sandra Oh)…
and Villanelle (Jodie Comer).
I’m making no plans next weekend to watch the end of “Ozark”.
Julia Garner is amazing and I love Laura Linney — love, love, love, Laura Linney!
And, while this is not a spoiler because I don’t know, I don’t think both will survive the series finale!
“BOOM! VOICES OF THE SIXTIES”
I just finished reading this 2007 book from former “NBC Nightly News” and “Today” anchor Tom Brokaw.
As an infant in the late-1960s, I didn’t understand any of the turmoil going on around me at the time – Vietnam, antiwar protests, assassinations, the peace movements, the women’s movement, and so much more.
This fascinating book looks at that decade (through the early-1970s with Watergate and President Nixon’s resignation) and Brokaw talks to politicians, entertainers, newsmakers, newscasters, and everyday people about growing up in that time.
And, then they reflect on how that time shaped today’s world and about what was learned (or not learned) from that turbulent time! (Hint: Iraqi War!)
REMEMBERING BARBARA BUSH(1925-2018)
Former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away three years ago last week at the age of 92.
I thought of her because Tom Brokaw talked with the former First Lady for his book, “Boom!”.
He mentioned her 1990 Wellesley College commencement speech, which, ironically, I had written about in my blog less than two months before she died.
After it was announced she would be speaking to the graduating class, students started a petition to keep her from speaking since she became popular because of her husband and not on her own merits.
But, Ms. Bush said the most inspiring thing: “Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the president’s spouse. I wish him well!”
BARBARA STUNS THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT…
In 1990, former PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) President Paulette Goodman asked for support from the First Lady.
Ms. Bush sent a personal response, “I firmly believe that we cannot tolerate discrimination against any individuals or groups in our country. Such treatment always brings with it pain and perpetuates intolerance.”
Needless to say, the “religious right” went ballistic.
AND, DON’T MESS WITH HER FAMILY
During the 1984 campaign season, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro continued her attacks on then Vice President George H.W. Bush.
Barbara had had enough and referenced Ferraro by saying, “I can’t say it, but it rhymes with rich!”
The former First Lady apologized for that comment.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK (STILL ROCK)
Okay, I confess. When I was in my 20s, I was so drooling over NKOTB (New Kids on the Block) back in the late-1980s and early-1990s! Well, Jordan!
I saw them in concert three times.
This spring and summer, they’re hitting the road for the “Mixtape Tour” with special guests Rick Astley, Sal-N-Pepa, and En Vogue!
I haven’t been to a concert since December 2019 when I saw Paula Abdul in Las Vegas!
After seeing this fun new video throwback to the 1980s, I just might have to check them out!
“DEAR EVAN HANSEN”
Ben Platt won a Tony award on Broadway in 2017 for playing Evan Hansen, a high school senior that suffers from social anxiety. The musical also won a Tony.
However, critics sharpened their claws when it was announced that Platt, who was 22 in 2016 when he was playing Hansen on Broadway, would reprise his role in the movie version of the musical.
Well, those claws ripped into Platt, who was then 27, playing the high school senior in the movie.
Um, remember that Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta played teenagers in “Grease” and they were 30 and 24 respectively, when it hit theaters in 1978!
Hell, the “Glee” kids were mostly in their 20s when the series started and they were playing high schoolers.
Okay, focus. I enjoyed “Dear Evan Hansen” with a late-20s Ben Platt in the lead. It was my 12th favorite movie I saw in 2021.
GRADE: B
AND, THIS SONG… WOW
Ben Platt recorded a new song, “You Will Be Found”, for the movie version and it’s beautiful and so touching!
“DUNE”
This Oscar-nominated movie ended up being my 10th favorite movie of 2021.
I never saw the 1984 original and I never read the 1965 book it’s based on. And, I have to admit that I didn’t fully understand it, but maybe it’ll make more sense when part two is released.
But, I enjoyed it because I love Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, and Rebecca Ferguson (I’m still sorry about “The Snowman”!)
If you love science fiction, I think you’ll really like this movie.
GRADE:B
“THE UNFORGIVABLE”
I love Sandra Bullock and I want to watch “Speed” again.
She was great in this Netflix movie about a woman being released from prison for murder and trying to start her life over again.
The acting was great and the shocker (WOW!).
It was my #13 movie of 2021.
GRADE:B
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
As we head into the weekend, some of you are shopping to prepare your Easter feast, some may be coloring eggs and putting together baskets, and others just waiting until Monday to get half-price candy!
Whatever your plans, have a great weekend and thank you for checking out my random thoughts!
HAPPY EASTER!
A flashback to 2001 with Miss ABBA, my golden, as a puppy!
Have a fantastic Easter weekend. I’m be enjoying a feast with my sister. She’s making the meal and I’m making a fun flavored cheesecake. I’ll share a photo next time!
A FUN EASTER THOUGHT
AND, A SERIOUS EASTER THOUGHT
“ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY” IS DEAD!
It’s a sign of the changing times: print (magazines, newspapers, and books), music (digital), and movie (on demand and digital) media is changing and I don’t like it.
I still love to read books and magazines by holding them. I still love to rent movies from Redbox kiosks and I want my favorite movies and series on DVD.
“Entertainment Weekly”, my favorite magazine for decades, started sounding the death knell when it went to once a month in its magazine form.
While it didn’t shock me, I got a notice earlier this week that “EW” will no longer be published and they’ll fulfill my subscription with “People” magazine.
“EW” will still be available online and on social media formats.
“DEXTER: NEW BLOOD”
While many fans saw “Dexter: New Blood”, the ten episode limited series (or the ninth season, but they don’t want you to call it that), in its Showtime run beginning in November 2021, I just watched it on DVD and it completes my “Dexter” series in that format!
You know I don’t believe in spoilers, so I’ll be very careful in my comments. And, if you comment, don’t spoil it for others late to the game!
In August 2021, I wrote: “‘Dexter’ originally ended after eight seasons in September 2013. After 95 great episodes, the series finale was a DUD! By the grace of God, we’re getting another season of ten episodes this fall and winter to make up for that finale! Showtime’s president of entertainment Gary Levine earlier this week said, ‘For me, it’s a revisiting of Dexter and a proper finale for a brilliant season.'” (I gave that eighth and final season a grade of “B” and wrote in 2014, “If the finale hadn’t been so silly, I’d given it an A-.”)
Well, Levine was right about “Dexter: New Blood”! It was a “brilliant season” and a great “proper finale”.
By the fourth episode, I had a theory in place! I was right about what would happen. However, I had the roles wrong! After a certain scene in the final episode, I correctly called how it would end!
It was great seeing Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) again and, this really isn’t a spoiler, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) as the “dark passenger” instead of Harry (their dad) from the original run.
Jack Alcott as Harrison Morgan was great.
He’s come a long way from how we saw him in the season four finale!
GRADE: A
WELL, SAM IS SORRY!
About a month ago, I expressed that my lovefest with actor Sam Elliott was over after his homophobic and sexist rant on a late February podcast.
I’m still okay with him not liking Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog”, but I took offense to him referring to Benedict Cumberbatch and others in the movie as Chippendale dancers, “who wear bowties and not much else… that’s what all these fucking cowboys in that movie looked like. They’re running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the movie. Where’s the Western in this Western?”
Last Sunday, while promoting his new project, Elliott apologized to Campion, the cast, and his gay friends that have always supported him, “I mean my entire career, from before I got started when I was in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today… I’m sorry that I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”
Well, Sam, thank you for apologizing. It may take a little more enticing.
No, silly, not that kind. Maybe getting together for a drink or two (with Katharine, too, of course) would help!
“RED ROCKET”
Simon Rex plays Mikey Saber, a washed up porn star, who returns to his hometown of Texas City, Texas, because he has no other options.
Director Sean Baker brings the same dead end feel to this movie with his characters just trying to make it through the day and life as he did in “The Florida Project”.
Bree Elrod and Suzanna Son are both amazing as the estranged wife and a teenaged girl Saber seduces at the doughnut shop, respectively.
GRADE: A-
“THE FLORIDA PROJECT”
Here’s what I said of Baker’s last full-length movie, “The Florida Project” in March 2018. It ended up being my 14th favorite movie I saw in 2018.
“This movie about people down on their luck and finances living in a “project” (The Magic Castle Motel) in Kissimmee, Florida (near Walt Disney World), is sad and incredible.
The real star of the movie is Brooklynn Prince, who plays 6-year-old Moonee. She’s spectacular for a child actor expressing a happy childhood of not knowing just how bad things are in her life.
Bria Vinaite, is great as Moonee’s white trash mother, Halley.
My sister and I grew up in a bug-infested apartment and we didn’t have much during our childhood, so I could definitely relate to this movie.
Willem Dafoe earned a “Best Supporting Actor” Oscar nomination for his role as Bobby, the manager of the motel.”
I gave the movie a “B+”!
GLORIA GAYNOR DEFINITELY SURVIVED!
“I Will Survive”, Gloria Gaynor’s #1 worldwide hit, became an anthem for women and gay men after its late-1970s release.
Thanks to the incredible Kylie Minogue, Gaynor, the 78-year-old music legend, is back.
“Can’t Stop Writing Songs About You” is the third release from Minogue’s late-2021 release “Disco: Guest List Edition”.
Both women look and sound amazing. Get ready to dance around your living room!
It’s hard to believe that Gloria Gaynor only scored two hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Grammy Award-winning “I Will Survive” topped the chart in March 1979 and her first hit, “Never Can Say Goodbye” reached #9 in 1975.
“Goodbye” was first a #2 Hot 100 smash for the Jackson 5 in 1971, a #22 hit for Isaac Hayes that same year, and a worldwide Top Ten hit (#2 on the Billboard Dance Club songs chart) for The Communards in 1987.
It’s still one of my favorite hi-NRG songs, so I’m sharing it here, too, because I’m sure many of you might never have heard it!
“BLUE BAYOU”
This underrated gem is one of the most touching and heartbreaking movies I’ve seen in a long time.
While not a “true story” about one person, it’s a true story compiled from many people’s lives that were torn apart by the immigrations practices in the United States.
It was my #7 movie I saw in 2021.
GRADE: B+
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
We work to pay bills and live our lives. When we’re lucky, there’s extra money left to buy new clothes, furniture, homes, cars, or whatever you like spending money on.
I live a simple, no frills life, so I spend my money on traveling when I can.
After vaccinations became available and a majority of Americans protected themselves against the Covid-19 pandemic (before the Omicron strain stressed us out), I jetted off to Greece for my birthday in October 2021. It was amazing, even without seeing the gorgeous beaches (I’ll have to watch “Mamma Mia” again for that!)
Once I got back, a great deal on a trip to Costa Rica presented itself, so I booked it.
I didn’t get to mark another continent off my list since Costa Rica is in Central America. As for continents, four down (North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa) and three to go (Australia, Antarctica, and South America). For the record, Antarctica won’t happen and the other two are unlikely!
A couple of weeks ago, I added that new stamp to my passport!
While you may have seen some of the pictures, here are some stories behind those photos — one is scary (and hilarious) from my last night in the country!!!! 🙂
The Wikipedia page on Costa Rica perfectly sums up the country in a soundbite: “Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds.”
Surprisingly, because some people are loud when they should be quiet in nature, I did snap a few pictures of spider monkeys in the wild in the Arenal Volcano National Park…
and a cute little White-Nosed Coatimundi.
I posted that description of Costa Rica because it plays a big role in the beauty, yet the frustration of traveling there.
My Gate 1 Travel trip was the “9 Day Kaleidoscope of Costa Rica with Guanacaste”, which was a step up from the “7 Day Classic Costa Rica”. And, I’m so glad I did that because the two days in Guanacaste (Tamarindo) was definitely worth it for the gorgeous hotel, my room and balcony, and the Pacific Ocean sunsets.
However, of that “9 Day” trip, two were travel days, which were exhausting. Heading there, I drove an hour from Decatur to the airport in Bloomington, Illinois, for the first of three flights! It was a short flight to Chicago, three hours of sit time, then a three-hour flight to Miami, sitting three more hours, and then the final three hour flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.
The return trip was just as long: driving to the airport in San Jose, sitting three hours, a three-hour flight to Miami, trying to get through U.S. Customs in less than two hours to catch a three-plus-hour flight to Dallas. Once there, five hours of sitting before the flight to Bloomington, Illinois, and then the one hour drive home!
But, it was worth it to see Costa Rica. Here’s some of that biodiversity!
I absolutely love taking photos and the one below is one of my favorites. While the church in Zarcero was gorgeous, this is what captured my eye and my imagination!
In my travels, I’ve often talked about how much I love, love, love Mediterranean food and, especially, Mediterranean breakfasts.
This one is from Tel Aviv, Israel…
and, this one is from Greece.
Well, Costa Rican breakfasts are much simpler. One interesting staple of the diet there, even at breakfast, is beans and rice!
While I love beans and I love rice, I don’t eat them too often at home. But, since it’s part of the diet in Costa Rica, I had beans and rice each morning with my eggs. Also, the papaya was incredible!
My favorite meal there was a sea bass, which was preceded by a delicious shrimp and lobster bisque, and followed by pineapple cheesecake.
My favorite dessert was raspberry panna cotta, which came after a tasty Greek salad, and salmon with pesto linguine, my second favorite meal.
Costa Rica was my sixth trip with Gate 1 Travel. The other five were a Danube River cruise (2013), Scandinavia (2017), Morocco (2018), Bangkok, Thailand (2019), and Greece (2021). (My 2016 China trip was through another company and my 50th birthday excursion to Paris, France, and Tel Aviv, Israel was a trip I planned on my own.)
On many of these trips, I meet people that I’ve kept in touch with over the years! Hi Barbara, Maureen, Izzy, Katrina, Marcellus, Matt, Cortney, Shirley, and Robert.
In Costa Rica, I met four amazing people that I’ll be keeping in touch with from southern California. I spent most of my time socializing with Bill and Sandi…
and Kathy and Tim.
An interesting side note is that the four of them live within thirty miles of each other and Costa Rica brought them together!
The most scenic experience was the Arenal Volcano National Park, where I took this selfie.
One of coolest adventures was walking across eight hanging bridges, some of which were hundreds of feet long and hundreds of feet over the vast forest of trees.
Sadly, I was most disappointed with the Rio Frio River Boat Tour because of not seeing too many reptiles and creatures. We did see some small crocodiles, “Jesus Christ” lizards, birds, a sleeping sloth, and a few howler monkeys.
But, a stop for a bathroom break gave me the opportunity to see this beautiful macaw!
And, the flowers and plants were stunning. This was my favorite!
And, this one was the most intruiging!
One of the negatives to the trip was the horrible infrastructure. It took many hours to travel just a distance of 60-100 miles, and even longer in a large tour bus!
If you added up all the hours on the bus from one stop to another, we probably lost two to three days. But, we did see gorgeous landscapes along the way and sadly, forest fires that were burning up parts of Coast Rica.
One shocking (and interesting) thing I learned visiting the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in San Jose on my last night in town was back in 1944, due to the fear of contagion from tuberculosis and leprosy, special currency was minted or pierced for internal use inside sanatoriums and leper asylums!
That’s just crazy!
But, there’s some justification to this paranoia. Almost a century before, in 1856, Costa Rica was under attack by a group of mercenaries led by American William Walker. Walker ended up dumping bodies into the wells which polluted the water supply. This caused a cholera outbreak that killed almost 10% of Costa Rica’s population (nearly 10,000 people)!
And, now that scary and funny story!
My trip started and ended in San Jose, the capital and most populous city (2.1 million of the country’s 5.1 million residents).
Since I had to get up at 2:30 a.m. for my return trip home, I went to bed around 9 p.m. While this may be TMI, it’s important to the story and adds the humor to it.
I sleep naked and usually I have my lounge wear on the bed with me. But, since it was a very early wake-up call, I had the clothes I was wearing home sitting out — across the room.
At 10:30 p.m., I woke up and I thought I heard a noise. I listened for a bit longer and I realized that someone had opened my door! In hotels, I always put the safety lock across the door and I’m so glad I did.
With the new visitors arriving at the hotel that evening, the reception desk must have programmed my room number onto the magnetic key for someone else.
Since I couldn’t reach my clothes, I yelled out, “Hello”, and I heard someone say, “There’s someone in there!”.
I’m totally convinced that it was a mistake downstairs and it scared them as much as it did me. If it had been burglars, I don’t think they would have responded and just left.
So, I almost had someone in my room, but not in the way I wanted! 🙂
Thank you for coming along to Costa Rica with me through this travelogue!
If you ever get a chance to visit the country, the people are very nice and it’ll make you appreciate all that you have even more.
Happy Friday! It finally feels like spring across the Midwest and spring officially begins Sunday!
Um, that has nothing to do with spring or warmer weather, but I’m sweating! Hello Jamie Dornan!
Have a fantastic weekend and thank you for checking out my random thoughts! I’ll have more in April. (I’m sure I’ll have many random thoughts before then, but I’ll share some in April!) 🙂
SAM ELLIOTT — HOMOPHOBIC & SEXIST!
I’ve been a Sam Elliott fan since falling in love with “Prancer” in 1989. It’s still one of my favorite Christmas movies.
Since then, I’ve enjoyed him in “Buffalo Girls” (1995) with Reba McEntire, “The Golden Compass” (2007) with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, his run on “Justified” (2015) and “Grace and Frankie” (2016), and his Oscar-nominated role in “A Star Is Born” (2018) with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
When “Prancer” came out, I was 25-year-old and I found Elliott, who was 45 then, very sexy. No, I didn’t have “Daddy issues”, but in today’s world, I would’ve have described him as a “Daddy”!
Well, that’s history now. I can’t believe how belligerent he is!
Last month, in a podcast, he called the Oscar-nominated movie, “The Power of the Dog”, a “piece of shit.” Personally, I don’t care if he liked it or not. That’s his opinion. If he had stopped there, all would’ve been good.
But, when he went on to blast Oscar-nominated director Jane Campion (“The Piano”), “I love her previous work, but what the f*ck does this woman from down there, New Zealand, know about the American West?”
And, he added, “And why in the f*ck did she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana? And say this is the way it was? That f*cking rubbed me the wrong way, pal.”
And, he wasn’t done ranting.
Elliot adds, referring to Benedict Cumberbatch and others in the movie as Chippendale dancers, “who wear bowties and not much else”: “That’s what all these fucking cowboys in that movie looked like… They’re running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the movie. Where’s the Western in this Western?”
Responding to Elliott’s attack to “Variety”, Campion had the perfect response and is the spelling bee champ, “I’m sorry, he was being a little bit of a B-I-T-C-H. I’m sorry to say it but he’s not a cowboy, he’s an actor.”
Campion has already won awards from the BAFTA, the Critics’ Choice, the Directors Guild, the Golden Globe, and the Hollywood Critics Association for directing the movie.
She’s the first woman to direct a movie with more than ten Academy Award nominations (12) and is the first woman to receive two Oscar nominations for Best Director (1993’s “The Piano and “The Power of the Dog”).
AND, THEN SHE GETS STUPID
In her acceptance speech Sunday night after winning for Best Director at the Critics’ Choice Award, Campion made a “thoughtless” (her word) comment, “Venus and Serena, you’re such marvels. However, you don’t play against the guys, like I have to.”
Say what?
While they may have built their tennis legacy on the court against women, Venus and Serena Williams were always up against mostly men that ran the tournaments and they ruled a predominately white sport!
Campion issued an apology and clarification Monday!
“THE POWER OF THE DOG”
This Netflix movie is truly incredible, but it’s definitely not an uplifting movie.
All four leads in the movie are nominated for Oscars: Cumberbatch (Best Actor), Kirsten Dunst (Best Supporting Actress), and Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons (Best Supporting Actor).
It’s the story of love, sadness, and repressed feelings.
It was my 9th favorite movie I saw in 2021.
GRADE:B+
OKAY, MAYBE I SHOULD FORGIVE ELLIOTT?
Dear Sam,
When, for much of your career, you embodied the look of a late-1970s or early-1980s gay porn star, maybe it doesn’t take much to rattle you seeing “cowboys” that look like Chippendales?
Just saying!
GO RACERS!
Congratulations to my alma mater, Murray State.
The Racers won their first game in the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament Thursday night with a win over San Francisco in overtime 92-87.
They would have played the Kentucky Wildcats (my childhood favorite team), but the Wildcats were upset in the first round by the Peacocks of Saint Peter’s in overtime!
If Murray State wins Saturday afternoon against the Peacocks, this will be their first ever trip to the “Sweet Sixteen” in the “Big Dance”!
“THE GREAT”
This hulu original series is freaking hilarious.
Two seasons are available and it’s been renewed for a third season.
Elle Fanning plays a young and naïve Catherine in the 1700s who moves to Russia to marry Peter III to become the Empress of All Russia and “Catherine the Great”.
It’s funny and naughty with drama, death, and intrigue.
I described it to someone as a “Rated-R ‘Beauty and the Beast’ if Belle had married Gaston and he was the Emperor of Russia!”
UKRAINE PRESIDENT ZELENSKY
While the tragedy rages on in Ukraine (thanks for the heartbreak and despair, Vladimir Putin!), it’s hard not to take notice of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He’s definitely sexy! So, who is this man?
Well, he’s had an interesting ride to the top. He’s an actor and comedian and he was the “Dancing With The Stars” winner in Ukraine in 2006.
And, he was the voice of Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian-dubbed versions of the movies “Paddington” (2014) and “Paddington 2” (2017).
Check out this fun parody video he made a long time ago — scantily dressed! (He’s the second from the left.)
“HALLOWEEN ENDS”
The latest “Halloween” movie and the follow-up to 2021’s “Halloween Kills” is done shooting.
Filming wrapped up earlier this month in Savannah, Georgia.
Last fall, director David Gordon Green said there would be a time jump in the new movie. Both 2018’s “Halloween” and 2021’s “Halloween Kills” took place on the same night.
Green: “Where we’re leaving these characters on Halloween 2018, the world is a different place. So not only do they have their immediate world affected by that trauma, having time to process that trauma—and that’s a specific and immediate traumatic event in the community of Haddonfield. But then they also had a worldwide pandemic and peculiar politics and another million things that turned their world upside down.”
While I was less than thrilled with “Halloween Kills” and I’m glad I didn’t spend money to see it in the theater, I’m very excited to see this one.
The movie is scheduled to hit theaters October 14, 2022.
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
What's Peeps Thinking About Now? It's Probably Random! 