Random Friday Thoughts — June 20, 2025

This weekend is the first weekend of summer 2025!

For those that love the sun glaring down on you and making you sweat, enjoy it. And, more importantly, enjoy it for me and Pug Xanadu.

We’re counting down to fall already!

SCORE!

A few weeks ago, I was making dinner for my sister and I forgot to get shredded potatoes for a dish I was making, so I ran to the Save A Lot near my house.

The $4 potatoes ended up costing me an additional $57!

The store was having a huge liquor mark down which I was told that they do twice a year!

The winner alone was the bottle of Dewar’s White Label Scotch (that I don’t drink). I got it for five dollars and it usually runs around $25.

And, those boxes of Jack Daniel’s country cocktails are typically $16 a carton!

ALREADY FELT LIKE FOUR YEARS

Last month, at this time, I was thinking that the past four months already felt like four years.

Hoping for miracles! Or, more wine!

“ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR”

The sequel to 2018’s “A Simple Favor” is out now on Amazon Prime.

I loved the first one and gave it a “B+”, writing “It was much darker and funnier than I expected.” It ended up being my #18 movie of the year.

This one is so much better. I’m ready to watch it again.

I loved the story line and I figured out one of the major subplots early and was very pleased to see I was right.

Hello, Lorenzo de Moor, nice to meet you!

Anna Kendrick was very funny in this one and Blake Lively was humorous and so sexy in the movie, especially in the outfit she wore at the fountain! WOW!

A lot of money was definitely spent on wardrobe.

And, while I’ve given up on the “Crazy Rich Asians” movie sequel, it was great seeing Henry Golding again — seeing pretty much all of him!

GRADE: A

SPEAKING OF BLAKE LIVELY

I’m glad “Another Simple Favor” is out because Lively’s name lately has been in the news more for the lawsuit with her director/co-star of the hit “It Ends With Us”, which was my #5 movie last year.

I’m saddened by the lawsuit, especially if Justin Baldoni was that creepy and mean.

While the movie was about domestic violence, it was a great movie — from the storyline to the acting.

When that movie was released, there was talk of a sequel, “It Starts With Us”. While it may happen, I’m not optimistic.

So, I decided to read the two books the movie (series?) is based on by Colleen Hoover. Both were quick reads and enjoyable.

I’d love to see the sequel just to see more of Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas Corrigan.

“CHALLENGERS”

I’ve watched three of Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s movies.

The first was my favorite movie I saw in 2018, “Call Me By Your Name”. I watched it again this spring and I still love, love, love it.

The second, also starring Timothée Chalamet, “Bones And All”, I didn’t really dig.

The third, “Challengers”, starring Zendaya (“Euphoria”), Josh O’Connor (“God’s Own Country” and “The Crown”) and Mike Faist was my #3 movie of 2024.

I highly recommend it.

GRADE: A-

“THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT: 1964”

This is the third book I’ve read from journalist and author Theodore H. White. I read his books on the 1960 (Kennedy and Nixon) and 1968 (Nixon and Humphrey) presidential elections.

I chose those because both were so close and there was so much drama behind the scenes, especially in 1968.

Originally, I hadn’t planned on reading his books about the 1964 and 1972 presidential elections because both were landslide wins for Presidents Johnson and Nixon, respectively. However, I thought, “Why not? I might learn something”.

The 1964 book focused a lot on the Republican nominee U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and his primary fight for the nomination against New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. (After the election, Rockefeller went on to be vice president under President Gerald Ford and Goldwater became Kryptonite to the Republican party!)

One thing I learned is that President John F. Kennedy observed that if it had been Rockefeller running again him in 1960 instead of Nixon, Kennedy says he would have lost.

I was surprised at how abrasive White described metropolitan Black life in the early-1960s, “One can roam the streets of the Negro core ghettos and the eye can, of course, pick up the classic symbols of despair: the mid-morning wino on the corner staggering about with his bottle in a brown-paper sack; the cluster of half a dozen unemployed sitting on a curb watching the sun move across the sky, with nothing to do today and tomorrow or the next day; and the sluts.”

CHRISTMAS IS COMING EARLY THIS YEAR

Mariah Carey is the undisputed “Queen of Christmas” and in just a few months “All I Want For Christmas” will return and top the Billboard Hot 100 once again.

However, the “Christmas coming early” reference today means that Mariah is finally releasing a new studio album!

“Caution”, her last, dropped in 2018!

Her latest single, “Type Dangerous”, is her first hit at Top 40 radio since 2013 when “Beautiful” with Miguel reached the top 20 (excluding “All I Want For Christmas”, which charts each fall and winter).

“Type Dangerous” is a multi-format smash! It’s already a hit on the Top 40, Hot Adult Contemporary, Urban, Urban/R&B, and Rhythmic radio charts.

Mariah definitely has a way with words in the song: “Hit the little girls’ room to powder my nose/Then came in three hatin’ ass hoes/They don’t know the meaning of water nor soap”! 🙂

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — May 2, 2025

Two weeks in a row with random thoughts!

I appreciate those of you that took time to read last week’s thoughts and especially those that commented. I always love hearing what you have to say.

Have a great weekend!

STILL GETTING SETTLED IN

While Miss Xanadu and I have been in our apartment for over a month now, we’ll still acclimating to the new place.

Check out my beautiful housewarming gifts my sister, Tammy, made us — a decorative pug plaque and two Black pug wine glasses!

And, she wasn’t going to drink the Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire and Tennessee Apple whiskeys, so I took them off her hands.

Does that make her a bootlegger? Kidding ATF!!!

METEOROLOGICAL SUMMER — ABOUT A MONTH AWAY

As I age, my favorite season has changed from winter to fall.

I still love snow, but I’m no longer a fan of the bitter cold.

I wonder if living in Chicago and the Midwest for more than two decades and two years in Duluth, Minnesota, has something to do with that?

But, summer is still my least favorite season. However, one thing excites me about the hot months ahead.

McCormick spices things up with five new flavors for the grilling season and the Watermelon Lime definitely has me intrigued.

Of course, it’s the one that is sold out.

One of the others I’d love to try is the Smoky Garlic & Rosemary.

ROCKY SALAD!

While I want my salad crisp and crunchy and I love “Rock”(y) Road ice cream, I don’t care for rocks in my salad.

About two weeks ago, I was having dinner and luckily, I was chewing my salad in the back of my mouth when I bit down on this rock! It was either in the Romaine mix or the second bag I mixed in with it.

I won’t mention the company because they’ve been very proactive and professional with customer service and trying to locate the source of the problem.

However, I believe it was a fluke. It’s never happened before and I hope it doesn’t happen again.

For my troubles, they sent me a $20 gift certificate to Kroger.

Also, I’ll be more alert when making my salad and be on the lookout for any additional foreign objects (or even domestic ones — LOL)!

“THE RESIDENCE”

Shonda Rhimes scores another major hit with the Neflix series “The Residence”.

Over the years, I’ve invested 17 seasons in Shondaland with “Scandal”, “How To Get Away With Murder”, “Bridgerton”, and “Queen Charlotte”!

Her latest success is this eight-episode murder mystery-comedy. A state dinner for the Australian Prime Minister is derailed when the Chief Usher (Giancarlo Esposito) is found murdered.

It’s up to three-time Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba’s detective Cordelia Cupp to find the killer.

And, Kylie Minogue plays an exaggerated version of — Kylie Minogue.

GRADE: A-

“THE RESIDENCE” BOOK

I also read the very informative 2015 book “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House” that the series is based on by Kate Andersen Brower.

It’s a real historical account of working inside the White House or the “Executive Mansion” as it’s more commonly referred to.

In the book, no one was murdered in the White House and Kylie Minogue did not perform “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” “seven f**cking times” at a state dinner. 🙂

However, I came across three real-life events that made it into the series as “fiction”: two gatecrashers at a President Obama state dinner; “Residence” staff (domestics) smuggling bourbon in for Lillian Carter in real life — it’s vodka for the mother of the First Gentleman, played by Jane Curtin, here; and a shower-obsessed president (Lyndon B. Johnson in real life).

LOVE AT FIRST SIP

Let’s continue the Kylie theme since you know I’m a little (A LOT) obsessed.

I finally have her Prosecco Rose in a gorgeous heart-themed bottle — not to drink, but as décor.

One of her signature hits is “Love At First Sight” (#10 U.S. pop airplay, #1 Dance — 2002).

She uses the phrase “Love At First Sip” to promote her wine and the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, made a cocktail for her show there a few weeks ago and it sounds delicious.

This is also my second favorite Kylie song!

1968 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Now, let’s continue with the presidential theme…

Last week, I talked about how writing has changed over the decades and some things in Theodore H. White’s 1969 book, “The Making of the President: 1968”, wouldn’t be written the same way today.

Now I want to share something interesting about President Richard Nixon. In the book, he had just started his first term way before Watergate would end his presidency.

White shared this quote from Nixon’s confidant, Robert Finch, the man he wanted to be his vice president: “He doesn’t want love… he wants respect… he offers the potential of being a great leader. But that’s a judgement that history will have to write…”

In the next paragraph, White wrote, “Whatever judgement history will make on Richard Nixon must wait for years, and will rest on his record in the White House; that judgement must concern itself with the drama of government and policy.”

Not necessarily — one word: Watergate. But, he called it with “drama”!

One interesting thing I learned is that during his eight years as President Eisenhower’s vice president, Nixon was never in the East Room for a grand ceremony or more shockingly, had never been invited upstairs to the living quarters on the third floor.

I knew that Eisenhower and Nixon had a frosty relationship, but wow…

EIGHT YEARS EARLIER…

Back in February, I wrote about White’s “The Making of the President: 1960”.

It was a great book and one thing I found very interesting since it was released in 1961, two years before President Kennedy’s 1963 assassination, it didn’t analyze his place in history and whether he’s viewed more positively because of his premature death.

Near the end of the book, White wrote that Kennedy went to bed on election night because the race hadn’t yet been called. Two security details were ready — one in California (for Nixon) and the other Hyannisport, Massachusetts, (for Kennedy) to protect the eventual President-Elect.

Once TV networks awarded Michigan’s 20 electoral votes to Kennedy pushing his over the 269 needed to win, security moved into place to protect Kennedy.

White writes, “by seven in the morning, security had been established and the President-elect was walled off, as he would be for four or eight years to come, from all other citizens and ordinary mortals.”

Sadly, it ended up being less than three years.

MY FAVORITE SONGS NOW (PART TWO)

Last week, I shared two of my favorite songs right now that you won’t hear on the radio!

I told the story about getting Sirius XM with my new car last fall and how much I miss my CD player. My favorite station is BPM (dance) and here are two more of my two favorite songs right now.

“I’M GOING OUT”

Chic’s Nile Rodgers is joined by an all-star cast including international DJ and producers Steve Aoki, Sam Feldt, XANDRA, and Zak Abel.

“LAST NIGHT I DREAMT I FELL IN LOVE”

In her latest collaboration and a song she performs with zest on the “Tension Tour”, Kylie Minogue teams up with Brazilian DJ and musician Alok on this fun little, very short love anthem!

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — April 21, 2023

It’s Friday and I’m sharing some of my random thoughts.

I’m actually introducing a new topic today that incorporates something I touched on last week.

As always, we don’t have to agree. But, we have to disagree diplomatically.

Thank you for checking out my thoughts and for sharing yours.

COUNTRY MUSIC & MY RESERVATIONS

When country music programmers gave up on playing new music from Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, and other women I love, it was a perfect time for me to stop listening to the genre.

Except for Christmas CDs from Dolly and Reba, the last country CD I bought was Reba’s amazing 2019 Grammy-nominated and radio-ignored “Stronger Than The Truth”.

Recently, I started listening to 99.3 WXFM in Mount Zion, Illinois, in my car and I’m actually enjoying most of it.

However, I’m always hoping not to hear who’s singing, especially the men, since I didn’t want to like a song from racist Morgan Wallen. (No, I’m not buying that he only used that word in a drunken stupor. Alcohol lowers our inhibititions to say, do, or express how we really feel — right or wrong — something our sober mind says “no” to!)

But, Wallen isn’t the only problem and why I have reservations about embracing country music again.

Not only is the format pretty ageist (it stops playing women getting older before it does the men), but it’s still very sexist. Of the 40 most played songs this week on country radio, only seven are by women and one of those is a duet with a man!!!

And, last week, I mentioned that some people are getting bent out of shape after Anheuser-Busch (Bud Light) announced a partnership with trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney.

Kid Rock took his frustrations out by shooting Bud Light cans and “has been” country singer Travis Tritt is not happy either.

He announced he’ll no long work with Anheuser-Busch and drop its products from his hospitality rider and he’s also down on Jack Daniel’s for promoting drag queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race (in a years old campaign).

MY PARTING THOUGHT TO TRAVIS TRITT

Hey Travis, “Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)”!

KUDOS TO HOWARD STERN

Speaking out on the uproar from Kid Rock, Travis Tritt, and other conservatives, the radio talk show host Howard Stern said, “I’m not bothered by gay people or transsexual people. They don’t impact my life, they don’t hurt my life. I love when people are in love. You wanna be a woman? Be a woman. You wanna be a dude, be a dude. Be whatever you f*cking want. As long as you ain’t hurting anybody, I’m on your team.”

EVEN REBA IS SPEAKING OUT

Although her songs have touched on some heavy topics (sex work in “Fancy” and AIDS in “She Thinks His Name Was John”), my country music idol Reba McEntire normally doesn’t take sides in politics or on controversial topics.

However, she did speak out on Tennessee’s anti-drag bill saying she was “disappointed”. Reba adds, “I wish they would spend that much time and energy and money on feeding the homeless children in those two counties.”

When the reporter addressed that her views on the anti-drag bill could alienate some country music fans, Reba responded, “Boy, why? I mean, we’ve got a real problem in this country, and to be worrying about men wanting to dress up as women? God bless ’em to wear those high heels — I feel for ’em. But let’s center our attention on something that really needs attention.”

LOVING THIS COUNTRY SONG

I’ll close on a happy note and get off my soap box with a song that I’m really loving. Thank you again 99.3 WXFM for turning me on to Cole Swindell’s “Drinkaby”.

After I abandoned country music, Swindell blasted onto the charts in 2013 with “Chillin’ It”. It went on to hit #1 and sell more than a million copies!

Since then he’s become a country superstar. He has a total of 17 Top 40 country hits. Twelve have reached the Top Ten and two made it to #1. And, on the country airplay chart, eight have been the most played in the U.S.

His latest, “Drinkaby” is the follow-up to “She Had Me At Heads Carolina”, a remix with JoDee Messina.

Messina even makes an appearance in the video as the bartender!

JoDee’s original, her 1996 debut hit, “Heads Carolina, Tails California” reached #2.

I saw JoDee in concert in the Quad Cities in 2011. It was an incredible show, but I didn’t get a picture. She was very adamant about no photos!

DOG BITES IN ILLINOIS

No, Xanadu (my pug) I’m not calling you out! But, if the shoe fits Cinderella!

Last week was “National Dog Bite Prevention Week”.

In the U.S., 69 million households own a dog and State Farm reports that Illinois is ranked second in the nation for claims of dog bites (255 claims which cost the insurance company $17.5 million in 2022).

Only California leads Illinois (400 claims and $32.2 million dollars).

SPEAKING OF MISS XANADU

The pug is almost four-months-old now and we’ve been a family almost two of those months.

She’s now up to 10 pounds (4.4 pounds when I got her in late February).

“ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT”

I highly recommend the 2022 German war (actually, antiwar) movie, “All Quiet on the Western Front”.

It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The movie won four Oscars, including Best International Feature Film.

At first, I thought it might just be another war movie, but once you got to know the characters and see the pain and sadness of a long, deadly war, the movie carried a powerful punch!

GRADE: A–

OTHER WAR MOVIES

Over the past decade or so, I’ve enjoyed other war movies.

“The Hurt Locker” was my #9 movie I saw in 2010, I gave “Zero Dark Thirty” a “B+” in 2013, “Unbroken” was my #12 movie of 2014, I gave “Hacksaw Ridge” an “A” in 2017, “Dunkirk” was my #14 movie of 2017, and “1917” was my #16 movie in 2020.

“GEORGE & TAMMY”

Recently, I had free Showtime, so I checked out the six-episode series “George & Tammy” about country music legends George Jones (Michael Shannon) and Tammy Wynette (Jessica Chastain).

Chastain won a Screen Actors Guild Award for the performance and will likely be an Emmy contender when the nominations are announced.

If you’re of a certain age, you know George & Tammy were married from 1969-1975 and are two county music legends.

GRADE: B

MY FAVORITE GEORGE & TAMMY DUETS

Since I’m not a fan of George Jones (the man or the singer), I’ll just say that my favorite song of his is “He Stopped Loving Her Today”. It reached #1 in 1980.

As duet partners, George and Tammy scored 13 Top 40 country hits. Eight reached the Top Ten and three made it to #1.

“We’re Gonna Hold On” was my second favorite.

And, “Golden Rings” was my favorite. It topped the chart in 1976 and I still love it today.

MY FAVORITE TAMMY WYNETTE SONGS

Tammy Wynette is one of my all-time favorites. From the 1960s to her last country hit in 1988, she racked up 44 Top 40 solo country hits. 31 reached the Top Ten and she topped the chart 17 times.

My six favorite solo hits from her are: #6 “‘Til I Can Make It on My Own” (#1, 1976), #5 “Stand By Your Man” (#1, 1968), #4 “Til I Get It Right” (#1, 1973), and #3 “I Don’t Wanna Play House” (#1, 1967).

“D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (#1, 1968)

“Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” (#3, 1967)

TAMMY WYNETTE BONUS

While Tammy scored 57 Top 40 country hit as a solo artist and as a duet partner with George Jones, only one of her country hits crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100.

“Stand By Your Man” reached #19.

And, then in 1991, the British band The KLF reached out to Tammy and asked her to be a guest on their song, “Justified & Ancient (Stand By The JAMS).

That song reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Dance Song Chart.

It also topped the charts in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, and Sweden.

Honestly, how many of you remember this song?

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony