Random Friday Thoughts — August 6, 2021

Hello again!

After a two month hiatus, I’m back! I’ve missed sharing whatever random thoughts crossed my mind.

I hope your summer is off to a great start and here’s to those of us that are ready for fall!

Thank you for taking the time to see what I’m thinking about this week.

SOME GOOD COVID-19 NEWS…

By the numbers from the CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) released earlier this week:

• There was a 28% increase in the number of people getting vaccinated last week over the week before (a daily 441,329 people initiating vaccinations — the highest number since July 4th)!

• 49.7% of Americans of all ages are now fully vaccinated.

• 20 states now have half of their residents fully vaccinated! Thank you California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as Washington, D.C. 

• Alabama and Mississippi are the only two states with less than 35% of their residents fully vaccinated.

• 70% of adults have had at least one dose of vaccination! Twenty states have reached this plateau, including Illinois and Minnesota!

COVID VACCINATION FRUSTATIONS

This is great since I’m getting very frustrated with the spike in COVID-19 cases due to the “delta variant” and the high number of unvaccinated people.

I recently shared my thoughts about the summer of 2021 in the COVID-19 world. It was well received and one of the most viewed blogs I’ve written this year.

If you didn’t read it, here’s the link. And, if you disagree with me, do it diplomatically!

Just click on this link and it should open in a new window:

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2021/07/23/the-4-fs-of-our-future-fantasy-frustration-fear-f/

HELL IS FREEZING OVER!

Okay, not really. But, I finally agree with something that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has to say!

The 76-year-old governor, the oldest in the nation, and I don’t agree politically on many things including LGBTQ rights and more.

In the third week of July, Ivey addressed the fact that her state ranks 47th in vaccination rates (just under 52% of adults have at least one dose), according to the CDC.

And, data from Johns Hopkins University shows that Alabama leads the nation in positive COVID tests, with 40%!

When asked what’s it going to take for people to be vaccinated, Ivey said, “I don’t know — you tell me. Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.” 

Ivey added, “Almost 100% of the new hospitalizations are with unvaccinated folks… And the deaths are certainly occurring with the unvaccinated folks. These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain.”

She concluded with this: “I’ve done all I know how to do. I can encourage you to do something, but I can’t make you take care of yourself.”

“LOVE, VICTOR” — SEASON 2

On a lighter note, I absolutely loved the second season of the Hulu original series, “Love, Victor”!

As much as I enjoyed the first season, this one was better since all of the characters showed maturity in dealing with all that’s going on in their lives.

And, I’m not just talking about the teenagers.

The separated parents have important storylines dealing with dating, reconciliation, and, most importantly, dealing with your child coming out as gay and accepting it (or not, because it’s at odds with the Catholic Church).

In October 2020, here’s what I wrote about season one: “‘Love, Victor’ has a great cast including the adorable lead, Michael Comino as Victor, Anthony Turpel as his best friend, Felix, and George Sear (Benji) and Rachel Hilson (Mia) as his two crushes… it’s a well-rounded story that just doesn’t just focus on Victor’s coming of age story and coming out. His parents have their own drama!”

While season two ended with a major cliffhanger, I’m excited to report that hulu renewed the series for a third season last Friday!

SEASON 2 GRADE: A

“MINARI”

This 2020 dramedy featured more drama than comedy, but there were many funny scenes and lines.

While it’s a subtitled film, which is a turn off to some, it’s incredible!

The movie picked up six Oscar nominations this year and a win in the Best Supporting Actress category for Youn Yuh-jung.

It’s the story of a Korean immigrant family moving to small town Arkansas from California in the early-1980s.

Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun of “The Walking Dead”) wants to farm and make a life for his wife and two children. But, they run into obstacles and his mother-in-law, Soon-ja (Yuh-jung) comes over from South Korea to attend to the children.

The ensemble cast was amazing, but Yuh-jung was incredible and definitely deserved her Oscar win.

Yuh-jung became the first Korean actress to win an Oscar and the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award since 1958!

GRADE: A

“THE FATHER”

This Oscar-nominated drama dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease featured Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins (“The Silence of the Lambs”) and Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) in the lead.

It was nominated for six Academy Awards this year and it won two — one for Best Actor (Hopkins) and the other for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Colman was also nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category.

While it was (intentionally) hard to follow, it all made sense in the end.

It’s worth watching just for the incredible acting, but I’d never watch it again.

GRADE: B

“FALSE POSITIVE”

This modern day retelling of “Rosemary’s Baby” on Hulu is an okay movie, but I’d skip it!

The final scene with Ilana Glazer and Pierce Brosnan was great. And, while it’s always a treat to see Justin Theroux, it’s not enough to save the movie!

GRADE: C-

“SCANDALS OF CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD”

Subtitled, “Sex, Deviance, and Drama From The Golden Age of American Cinema” by Anne Helen Petersen (2014) was an interesting read.

Here are some of the things I learned:

Humphrey Bogart: “always defended the underdog and ‘loathed’ social injustice in all its forms, a point supported by his vocal support for African Americans in Hollywood. He was ‘proud’ to have actress Lena Horne as his neighbor.”

Bogart: “In the world of theater or any other phase of American life, the color of a man’s skin should have nothing to do with his rights in a land built upon the self-evident fact that all men are created equal.”

While Bogart was 43 and Lauren Bacall was only 19 when they were introduced for their first movie, sparks ignited. A famous line from the movie, “To Have and Have Not” (1944), brought a naughty smile to my face — Bacall’s Slim to Bogart’s Steve: “You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.”

The book also focused on Judy Garland, Dorothy Dandridge, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Clark Gable, Mae West, Marlon Brando, and Jean Harlow.

ANOTHER AUGUST THOUGHT

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

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — January 17, 2020

Happy 2020!

I hope the new year is off to a great start for you.  Even though we’re only a few weeks into 2020, I already feel overwhelmed with some of the things I’m working off that I’ll share one day!

Thank you for taking the time to check out my “Random Friday Thoughts”.  If you want to comment, feel free.  If you disagree, do it diplomatically!

MOVE ALONG, YOU’VE PROVED YOUR POINT!

We’re now just a few weeks away from the beginning of the voting process for the Democratic nominee for president in 2020.

After a few more suspended campaigns, we’re down to twelve “active major” candidates, which is still several too many!  (It’s a stretch that Bennet, Delaney, Gabbard, and Patrick are still in the race!)

I’m sure the Iowa caucus (February 3), the New Hampshire primary (February 11), the Nevada caucus (February 22), and the South Carolina primary (February 29) will weed out several more of those running.

However, it’ll likely be Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020, that will narrow the field to just the front runners.  Fourteen states have their primaries on that day.

So, Hillary Clinton, it’s time to jump into the race!

Say what you want — diplomatically!

WE CAN CHANGE THE FACE OF INAUGURATION DAY 2020!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

EERIE, SAD COINCIDENCE

Melanie Panayiotou, the sister of pop legend George Michael, died on Christmas Day.  She was in her 50s!

What’s eerie is that Michael also died on Christmas Day in 2016!  He was 53.

They are survived by their father and an older sister.

MILLIONAIRE “LOVER”

My favorite CD of 2019 was also the ONLY album to sell more than a million copies last year!

It’s astounding that the music landscape has changed so much with streaming, downloading singles, etc.!

Taylor Swift’s “Lover” sold 1.085 million copies.  Of that, 699,000 were physical units (including mine) and the other 386,000 were digital copies.

Now I’m getting excited to see what the fourth single will be from the album.  I hope it’s either “I Forgot That You Existed” or “The Man”.

I would have added “Cornelia Street”, too, but it’s a ballad and her last single, “Lover”, was a ballad!

“FAST FOOD NATION:  THE DARK SIDE OF THE ALL-AMERICAN MEAL”

This incredible, eye-opening, and mind-boggling book by Eric Schlosser came out in 2001.

While I know there have been improvements and advancements in raising animals for human consumption and in food processing and distribution, something tells me there are still so many horror stories today that threaten our health and our lives.

Even before reading this book, I was already considering giving up eating meat.  The first step will be to stop buying it for home (except when I’m hosting) and only eating meat when I’m out.

I’m sure I can do it since I gave up beef more than a decade ago!

While I know the research in the book is reliable, if only a fraction was true and our lives weren’t dictated by huge corporations and shady politicians, we Americans would change our eating habits.

Not just because it’d be healthier, but the production of meat, from raising livestock to slaughtering them for food, is so cruel and unsanitary!

A very compelling documentary to watch from 2009 is called “Food, Inc.”, which was nominated for Oscar!

In 2012, I wrote a very interesting blog called “Our Eating Habits Are Killing Us.”

Here’s the link if you want to read it and see some of the monstrosities we serve in our restaurants, including this:

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/our-eating-habits-are-killing-us/

“UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS: A STORY OF LOSS AND AGAIN”

I can’t believe that it took me so long to read Portia De Rossi’s 2010 heartbreaking book about her fight with food addiction and the obsession with weight loss!

I also didn’t expect that reading it would trigger me to fall off the food addiction wagon!

For a recovering bulimic or anorexic, eating is a nightmare.

Once you fall, it’s hard to get back on track.  The scale entices you with weight loss that you can’t do easily just by eating right and exercising.

Every pound that disappears is not just one step closer to a goal.  Sadly, it’s only more encouragement for the physically destructive behavior to continue!

After nine years as a practicing bulimic (1986-1995), I spent the next two decades “on the wagon”.  A separation (and ultimate divorce) caused a relapse for a few months, in 2017, but I overcame it.

And, I know I’ll overcome this recent relapse, too.  I just hope it’s sooner rather than later!

SKIP THIS BOOK!

“Call Me By Your Name” was my favorite movie I saw in 2018.  Afterwards, I read the book by Andre Aciman.

I was so excited when it was announced in 2019 that a sequel, “Find Me”, was on the way.

I was thoroughly disappointed!

I was so excited that I’d see where Elio and Oliver were in life and if they ended up together!  However, most of the book (the first part) was about Elio’s father!

When we finally caught up Elio and in a fleeting moment, Oliver, it was too little, too late.

As for “Find Me”, don’t even look for it!

Pretend that this sequel doesn’t exist and just enjoy the beauty of “Call Me By Your Name” again!

It’s peachy!  🍑🍑🍑

MORE BOOKS I READ LATELY

“Dispatches From The Edge:  A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival” by Anderson Cooper (2006)

What a riveting book about what Cooper saw in 2005 from the aftermath of the Indonesian tsunami, various wars, and Hurricane Katrina.

Anderson also talked quite a bit about his brother’s suicide.

I sure hope that he sought therapy after 2005 because he sounded very depressed and down.

Or, like me, writing is therapy and maybe authoring the book was therapeutic for him!

“Vice:  Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of The American Presidency” (2006) by Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein

I knew from living through the George W. Bush presidency that Dick Cheney was a despicable man.  However, I didn’t know that his wife, Lynne, was also a mean, snake of a woman, too.

But, then again, why should that shock me???

“Christmas in the Old West” (2003) by Sam Travers

A very informative and fun look at Christmases when the West was truly wild.  How people survived back then (1800s and early 1900s) still amazes me!

“The Words Lincoln Lived By:  52 Timeless Principles To Light Your Path” (1997) by Gene Griessman

A great quote from the book, which is perfect for the new year!

Lincoln (1858):  “By all means, don’t say ‘if I can’; say ‘I will'”. 

“THE FAREWELL”

“The Farewell” was my favorite movie of 2019!

Its star was also in my #5 movie of 2018, “Crazy Rich Asians”, in a much different role.

In “Asians”, Awkwafina was comedic relief and in “The Farewell”, she shows off her dramatic acting chops.

She also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical this month, but was snubbed and didn’t get an Oscar nomination!

It’s a the story of a Chinese family going back to their homeland from the U.S. to visit a loved one who’s dying of cancer.  However, the family chooses not to let her know!

GRADE:  A

“JUDY”

What an incredible movie!

If you’re a Judy Garland fan, you’re already familiar with what is covered in the movie.

If you just know Garland as Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” and maybe as Liza Minnelli’s mother, then definitely check out this movie.  It’s on DVD!

Renee Zellweger won the Golden Globe Award earlier this month in the Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama category and will be the one to beat when the Academy Awards are handed out.

“Judy” was my #5 movie of 2019!

GRADE:  A

“BOMBSHELL”

Even after seeing “The Loudest Voice” on Showtime last year, watching “Bombshell” was a different viewing experience about the toxic environment at Fox News.  (Oh, and about the toxic, creepy, nasty Roger Ailes!)

While John Lithgow was incredible as Ailes, it was definitely the women who made the movie — Charlize Theron (as Megyn Kelly), Nicole Kidman (as Gretchen Carlson), Margot Robbie (as a composite character created from many of the women that Ailes victimized), and Kate McKinnon (a co-worker, Jess Carr).

I expected Oscar nominations for Theron the Best Actress category and for Robbie in Best Supporting Actress category and they got them!

“Bombshell” ended up being my #13 movie I saw in 2019.

GRADE:  B

A WARM YOU UP THIS WINTER FLASHBACK!

Since we’re into the “dead of winter”, here’s something to warm you up!

It still astounds me that Kim Wilde only scored two Top 40 hits in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Kids in America” reached #25 in 1981 and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” topped the chart in 1987.

She came close to scoring two more hits with “You Came” in 1988 (#41) and this one, “Say You Really Want Me” (#44), in 1987.

This video is so sexy and hot, but it was deemed “raunchy” in the U.K.!

SUPERBOWL TEASE

And, ahead of her Super Bowl halftime performance, a 2020 megamix of the sexiest woman alive — Jennifer Lopez!

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony