Random Friday Thoughts — August 18, 2023

It’s still summer, but I’m definitely ready for the shorter days, longer nights, and cooler weather.

Oh, I’m really craving an apple cider doughnut, too! Extra cinnamon sugar, please!

SPEAKING OF APPLE CIDER

On my first trip back to Las Vegas in June 2021 once vaccinations made travel possible again, I met someone for a drink at the Salt & Ivy Patio at the ARIA.

I had a drink called “Everything That Glitters Is…”. It was ginger vodka, apple cider  , cinnamon syrup, and lemon  juice. While pricey ($17, it’s Vegas baby!), it was so delicious!

Thank you for checking out my random thoughts this week!

ANOTHER MISS XANADU UPDATE

While spaying is a major abdominal surgery for girl puppies, it’s a common procedure.

Leave it to my problem child to have an allergic reaction to the stitches and develop an infection! We’re definitely on the mend now with the antibiotics kicking in.

Stitches were taken out earlier this week, but it’ll take another week or two for the wound to totally heal.

The cone I bought from the vet was a total waste of $11 since she ripped it off each time in less than a minute.

The onesie from Amazon worked better. However, sizing in China (where it was made) is much different than in the U.S. “Medium” is a tight fit for the pug.

I can’t wait for her to be totally healthy again, but she’s already back to full pug craziness!

SUMMERTIME TREAT

Last week, my boss, Clay, brought an ice cream truck to the station and treated us to tasty treats.

It definitely wasn’t our childhood ice cream truck with pre-packaged sandwiches, Push-ups, and popsicles.

I ordered a peanut butter-banana milkshake to share with Xanadu and my sister, Tammy, and I shared a banana split.

It was so delicious. I haven’t had a banana split since I lived in Mayfield, Kentucky, almost 30 years ago!

ANOTHER SWEET TREAT

Rumor has it that the Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is now at McDonald’s!

It’s a combination of vanilla soft serve ice cream with crispy cereal mix and chocolate peanut butter cookie pieces.

“THE CELEBRATION TOUR” RESCHEDULED

Earlier this week, Madonna celebrated her 65th birthday.

She also posted the new dates for the North American leg of “The Celebration Tour” that was postponed from July after her emergency stay in the hospital.

You know I love Madonna. I’ve seen her in concert four times and I’d love to see this show.

So, I’m saying this with love and not out of spite.

I really hope she revamps the show and lets her dancers do the grueling work. Otherwise, there’ll be many cancellations or postponed shows if she goes all out like a typical Madonna show. This happened with injuries on her “Madame X Tour”.

And, it’s already going to be taxing on her body since the U.S. shows start just a week after 27 concerts in the U.K. and Europe from October through December!

There are 51 scheduled dates in North America from December 2023 through April 2024.

“BOSTON STRANGLER”

If you’re a fan of true crime stories, you likely know the story of Albert DeSalvo, the man notoriously called the “Boston Strangler”. He’s suspected of killing 13 women in the early-1960s.

However, this 2023 Hulu movie, focuses on Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley), a lifestyles feature reporter for the “Boston Record-American” newspaper and how she broke the story of the Boston Strangler.

Carrie Coon played Jean Cole, another reporter that worked on the Strangler series with McLaughlin.

It was a solid movie that focused more on the reporting and investigation of the crimes and how the two women were constantly disrespected by the Boston Police Commissioner and male reporters.

GRADE: B

CAROL BURNETT

Recently, I spent some time with comedy legend Carol Burnett by reading her 2010 biography “This Time Together” and the 2016 follow-up, “In Such Good Company”.

The 90-year-old comedienne has won six Primetime Emmys, a Grammy, and a Tony.

I remember watching “The Carol Burnett Show” as a kid and I just saw her as a funny woman. I didn’t realize just how beautiful she was out of character.

She shared many funny stories in the two books.

The funniest involved her great friend, Julie Andrews in Washington D.C., in the 1960s. Let’s just say she met First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson in a hilarious way!

Burnett is the mother of three daughters. Her oldest, Carrie, died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 38.

ERIN HAMILTON

Burnett’s youngest, Erin Hamilton, turned 55 earlier this week.

In 1999, she released a dance-oriented album “One World”. I loved it!

It produced two Top 20 Dance hits — remakes of Gary Wright’s #2 1976 hit “Dream Weaver” and Cheap Trick’s 1988 #1 smash “The Flame”.

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — July 21, 2023

Thank you for taking time to check out what’s on my mind. As always, I appreciate hearing what you think, too. If we disagree, that’s fine. Just do it diplomatically!

NOTHING ELSE NEEDS TO BE SAID

“Thoughts and prayers for <insert city>”! We hear this many times — usually after a mass shooting here in the U.S.

However, those thoughts and prayers aren’t really going to ease the pain for parents and family members of those killed.

I saw this bumper sticker this week and it sums it all up!

JASON ALDEAN CONTROVERSY AND #1

Country singer Jason Aldean is at the center of a country music swirl of controversy.

In May, he released his new song, “Try That in a Small Town”.

In two months, it’s been slowly climbing the country radio airplay charts. On Mediabase this morning, it’s only at #27.

However, after CMT (Country Music Television) pulled the video from rotation this week, it’s now the #1 downloaded song in America.

Now, keep in mind, something very similar happened in early 2021.

When country singer Morgan Wallen spewed a racist slur (the n-word) in a drunken stupor and country radio (very briefly) stopped playing his music, people started downloading his songs as fast as they could and many of them charted on the download chart.

I have no desire to listen to Aldean’s song or watch the video (which are reported to have racist and pro-violence undertones).

Here’s how “Variety” magazine sums it up in an article.

For the record, I don’t own any Jason Aldean music, but I do like his 2006 hit “Amarillo Sky”.

YOU CAN’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ

Recently, I Googled my name and I guess I’m important enough to have my stats and life on a website.

Some statistics were right — where I work, where I’ve worked, my sister and mother’s name, etc.

However, it didn’t have anything about my married life or if I’m dating. I’m laughing because sadly there’s nothing to tell.

However, this part REALLY MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD!

My sister asked me if I was holding out on her! 🙂

ON A LIGHTER, TASTIER NOTE

McDonald’s is adding a new limited-edition McFlurry next month and I’m definitely excited for it.

The fast food chain will be adding a Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry on August 9th.

It’ll be a combination of vanilla soft serve ice cream with crispy cereal mix and chocolate peanut butter cookie pieces.

Did you try the strawberry shortcake McFlurry they added in April?

“SUCCESSION”

I just finished binge watching the Emmy Award-winning HBO series “Succession” this past weekend.

When the Emmy nominations were announced last week, it picked up 27 for the final season with 14 of them in the acting categories! Over its four-year run, “Succession” picked up 75 Emmy nominations! Yes, it’s that good!

So, my thoughts… almost every one on the show was deplorable and many were totally unlikeable.

My favorite characters were Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) and his sister, Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook).

Roman is a loose cannon and would be a HR nightmare (“sexual harrassment”) in a real-world situation.

While he had many inappropriate comments that crossed many lines, the funniest scene was in season three — (spoiler) — when he accidently sent a d-pic to his father instead of to someone else sitting at the table.

I can’t believe how much I disliked their brother Kendall (“Succession” Emmy winner Jeremy Strong) by the end of the series.

My least favorite character of all was Tom Wambsgans (“Succession” Emmy winner Matthew Macfadyen).

The character I grew to love because of his goofiness (and sexiness at 6’7″) was Greg (Nicholas Braun).

There were many incredible scenes in the four years, but my three favorites were in season four. I won’t give any context to avoid spoilers: Shiv and Tom “clearing the air” on the balcony…

… the showdown between siblings Kendall, Roman, and Shiv, when she was wavering on whether to vote “no” in the final minutes of the series, and when Greg slaps Tom across the face in the bathroom!

GRADE: A-

“MANHUNTER”

Brian Cox was great as the gruff, threatening patriarch Logan Roy in “Succession”. And, because of that I forgive him for his Hannibal Lecter in 1986’s “Manhunter”.

Okay, let’s put this into perspective. I just watched the thriller this year.

It’s based on Thomas Harris’ 1981 book, “Red Dragon”, which kicked off the Hannibal Lecter/’The Silence of the Lambs” series.

If I had watched “Manhunter” before the Oscar winning “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), I might not have thought the movie was so jokey.

William Petersen (“CSI”) was sexy and great as Will Graham, but he’s no Hugh Dancy (NBC’s “Hannibal”).

However, after seeing Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins in three Hannibal Lecter movies, watching a much younger, award winning Cox as Hannibal was like watching a community theater production of “Red Dragon”!

2023 GRADE: C-

WHAM! DOCUMENTARY

I really enjoyed the new Wham! documentary on Netflix. This was a very entertaining 90-minute look at the duo.

It’s crazy that while George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley starting playing music together in high school, Wham was only a worldwide phenomenon for only four years (1982-1986)!

While it wasn’t a George Michael documentary, I wish it spent a few minutes to cover George and Andrew’s post-Wham lives.

George’s was covered in a graphic or two at the end telling how many albums he sold in his solo career!

GRADE: B+

EMMY NOMINATIONS AFTERTHOUGHT

“Welcome To Chippendales” picked up five Emmy nominations, four in the acting categories. This is no shock to me.

Here’s what I said in February when I recommended the series: “Who knew the world behind the Chippendales was so sordid and dangerous! When Emmy nominations are announced this summer, I expect this Hulu series to grab several. Kumail Nanjiani (superb in “The Big Sick”) should easily get a Best Actor nomination and one should go to Murray Bartlett (Emmy winner for season one of “The White Lotus”) in the Supporting Actor category. It was great seeing the always amazing Tony Award-winning actress Annaleigh Ashford (Paula Jones in “Impeachment: American Crime Story”). And, Juliette Lewis (Peacock’s “Queer As Folk”) was as kooky and great as ever.”

GRADE: A

“THE WHITE LOTUS”

The second season garnered 23 Emmy nominations. Of those, nine were in the acting categories.

What’s funny is that in the “Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series”, there were eight nominations — four were from “The White Lotus” and the other four were from “Succession”.

In the “Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series”, five of the eight nominees were from “The White Lotus”.

In February, here’s what I said (and by the way, all four that I mentioned were nominated): “While I enjoyed the first season, I absolutely loved the second season, which was set in Italy. The scenery was gorgeous and so was the cast. Last week, I shared an image of Theo James and Aubrey Plaza. Both were great, but it was English actor Will Sharpe (as Ethan) that had me mesmerized. Jennifer Coolidge won an Emmy for the first season and she returns for season two. In the first season, her rich, lonely character Tanya McQuoid was so annoying. She was so much more likeable in season two! I see a second Emmy coming her way this year.”

GRADE: A

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony