Posts Tagged ‘Raul Castillo’

Random Friday Thoughts — February 26, 2021

The shortest month of the year is almost over and that means spring is right around the corner!

Thank you for taking time to check out what I’m thinking about this week!

I always value your opinions even if we disagree. Just do it diplomatically!

DOGNAPPING AND SHOOTING!

UPDATE: A woman brought the two missing dogs into the LAPD’s Olympic station in Koreatown Friday night UNHARMED!

Two of Lady Gaga’s French Bulldogs were stolen and the other one, Asia, escaped after the dog walker was shot in West Hollywood early Wednesday night. 

The 30-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital and CNN reports that he is recovering well.

While they were missing, TMZ reported that Gaga was offering a “no questions” asked $500,000 reward for Koji and Gustav’s safe return!

FORGIVING STUDENT LOANS

Many in Congress want President Joe Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt.student

Biden told a town hall group in mid-February that he was prepared to write off $10,000, but not $50,000.

He added that community colleges should be free and that “any family making under $125,000 whose kids go to a state university they get into, that should be free, as well.”

I’m totally against forgiving $50,000 of debt! Why?

When I went to college and earned my degree in 1989 and I went back to school for three more years in the early-2000s for another certification, I paid for my education both times all by myself. My parents didn’t assist me financially and the government definitely didn’t erase my debt.

And, once I got my degree, it took more than a year (fall 1990) before I was offered a job in my field of study (television news). I wasn’t even able to take that job, which would have only paid a measly $13,000 a year!

After that, it wouldn’t be until the summer of 1996 that I was finally able to start my career. The offer, again, was $13,000!

With that being said, you can see why I have a problem just forgiving student loan debt!

ONE MORE THING…

Did you know that only 1.25 million students were enrolled in college in 1938?

With the G.I. Bill following World War II, nearly 7.8 million of the 16 million veterans that served in the armed forces decided to take advantage of the bill and go to college!

“ARMY OF THE DEAD” IS FINALLY COMING!!!!!!

“Army of the Dead”, Zack Synder’s highly anticipated zombie heist movie, finally has a Netflix release date of May 21st and the first trailer dropped Thursday! I’m so excited because it takes place in my favorite U.S. city!

It follows a group of mercenaries plotting a Las Vegas casino heist during a zombie outbreak. 

The ensemble cast includes Dave Bautista (“Guardians of the Galaxy” series), Garret Dillahunt (“Fear The Walking Dead” and “Justified”), and Raúl Castillo (“Looking”).

While I wouldn’t want it to happen with the real places, it’s fun seeing Planet Hollywood, Paris, and the iconic “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” sign crumble in a disaster flick!

“THE HUNT”

This is the movie that got Republicans and Donald Trump in an uproar — before any of them even saw it!

It’s a very sadistic and crazy survival story!

If you love “The Purge” series, you’ll enjoy it and Betty Gilpin (“Glow”) was amazing.

It was my #11 movie of 2020.

GRADE: B

“MRS. AMERICA”

This nine-episode FX on Hulu miniseries focused on the fight for women’s rights in the early-1970s with an all-star cast.

Uzo Aduba won an Emmy Award for her Shirley Chisholm, the first black candidate for a major party’s nomination for President of the United States.

Cate Blanchett was incredible as the mean, close-minded Phyllis Schlafly. (Her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations are pending!)

I know it was the ’70s, but I still can’t understand how women (a lot of homemakers) could be against equal rights for women. And, about Schlafly again, it shocks me that she’d be opposed to gay rights with a gay soon. Sadly, she’s not alone. It still happens today!

One complaint I had about the series (unless I missed it somehow), how can you have a series about women’s rights and the ERA and not mention Helen Reddy and “I Am Woman”?

GRADE: B

THEY SAID WHAT???

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd U.S. President (in 1807): “The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor am I.”

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Bradley (in 1873): “The paramount mission and destiny of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.”

“GROCERY”

All month long, in February, I’ve been sharing fun things from Michael Ruhlman’s awesome 2017 book, “Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America”.

Here are the final mind boggling or interesting things I learned:

Sugar Crisps cereal was introduced in 1949 by Post. It was the first cereal to be covered in sugar and now some cereals are more than 50% sugar!

Frito-Lay started putting 5% fewer chips in the bag and this added as much as $80 million dollars to the company’s bottom line since chips are a $1.6 billion a year business.

Apples are held in vast warehouses filled with oxygen and carbon dioxide, which puts them “to sleep”. When needed, companies “break the room”, thus “if you’re buying a ‘fresh’ American apple in August, it was harvested late last year.”

Between December and May, as much as 90% of fresh domestic tomatoes come from south Florida.

Americans eat 10 billion pounds of cheese each year!

And, one more fun fact!!!!

A 200-pound man uses 30% of his calories to feed his three-pound brain!

STORMY DANIELS BARES IT ALL

“Full Disclosure”, Stormy Daniels’ autobiography, came out in the fall of 2018 to critical success.

What a compelling story!

I’m not talking just about the encounter with Donald Trump and the subsequent threats on her life after her involvement with 45 came out.

From her very painful childhood to working in a strip bar while still a teenager in high school, Daniels is an incredible story teller.

While the book is a great read, her Twitter account is even better and wittier!

And, speaking of that…. In November, I tweeted Stormy to let her know I enjoyed reading her story and she “liked” it!

(By the way, while thunder and lightning are weather terms, it’s also what she calls her boobs!)

“AFTER VISITING FRIENDS: A SON’S STORY”

I just read this 2013 book by “GQ” editor Michael Hainey’s, which tries to find answers about his father’s death.

As a six-year-old, Hainey always believed that his 35-year-old father died of a heart attack in 1970.

However, as an adult, reading the three Chicago newspapers obituaries of his journalist father didn’t add up, so he started inquiring about the mystery decades later.

Great book!

“THE WOMAN WHO LOST HER SOUL”

Bob Shacochis’ 2013 book is fiction, yet it covers five decades of tragedies based on real-life events — rape and murder in World War II Europe as the Germans invaded small countries, murder in the Middle East and Turkey in the 1980s, to destitution in war and hurricane-ravaged Haiti in the 1990s.

It was interesting to see how the story would be weaved together with Haitian voodoo.

The book is a lengthy one at 715 pages and it’s definitely not happy feely with only one semi-redeeming character!

And, I wouldn’t call it a “masterpiece” as is quoted on the cover!

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 27, 2018

It’s crazy to believe that we’re already heading into May!  Here’s to a great weekend and thank you for taking the time to check out my “Random Friday Thoughts”.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

While a sad occasion, Barbara Bush’s funeral last weekend brought out the best of both sides.

America the Beautiful

Sadly, President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn were unable to attend.

The Carter Center announced that the former president was “on a private trip overseas, and although she is recovering, Mrs. Carter is not yet able to travel following her recent intestinal surgery.”

THAT DON’T IMPRESS ME MUCH!

Canadian country and pop superstar Shania Twain was at the center of a social media storm last weekend.

I admit that I, too, was flabbergasted when she said she would have voted for Donald Trump in 2016!

Twain told “The Guardian”, “I would have voted for him because, even though he was offensive, he seemed honest. Do you want straight or polite? Not that you shouldn’t be able to have both. If I were voting, I just don’t want bullshit. I would have voted for a feeling that it was transparent. And politics has a reputation of not being that, right?”

Okay, everyone has a right to their opinion.  But, just because you’re “honest” doesn’t mean your views are on the right side of history!  And, it doesn’t mean you’re qualified!

Well, needless to say, there was an internet uproar that ranged from “No”, “she’s a has been”, “who”, and this popular meme.

whatever

By Sunday afternoon, Twain was in damage control posting four messages on her Twitter page.

Twain 1Twain 2Twain 3Twain 4

My last thoughts on the matter is that new stars get media training to know how and what to say and what not to say.  She’s not a newcomer, so if that question was awkward, she could have danced around it.

Finally, I still love her music, I’m glad I saw her in concert, and that she was my first awkward attempt at a selfie.

AP Shania

It helped me be more experienced for the selfie that truly mattered. 🙂

Hillary AP

AVICII — DEAD AT 28

Last Friday, I was shocked to learn of the sudden death of Swedish electronic music DJ Avicii in Muscat, Oman.

Avicii and Madonna

At the time, the family said, “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii… The family is devastated…”

While not publicly announced, sources close to family now says Avicii died from an apparent suicide.

“Entertainment Weekly” obtained this statement, “Our beloved Tim was a seeker, a fragile artistic soul searching for answers to existential questions… When he stopped touring, he wanted to find a balance in life to be happy and be able to do what he loved most – music. He really struggled with thoughts about Meaning, Life, Happiness. He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace.”

I know he had experienced health issues and anxiety in the past that prompted him to give up touring in 2016.  But, this is still a shock.

Avicii worked with artists as diverse as Madonna, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, and Coldplay.

Avicii True

His debut album, “True”, was my #11 album of the 2013 and “Wake Me Up” was the biggest hit of his career.

BONUS — AVICII + MADONNA (“GIRL GONE WILD”)

So young and so sad!

SHOCKING PRESIDENTIAL BEHAVIOR (PART 2)

RL Stahl

In her “Reporting Live” autobiography, CBS News and “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl, talks about the time George H. W. Bush, after a contentious interview with Dan Rather, made a rather rude comment comparing her to Rather.

While the microphone was still open, Bush said, “The bastard didn’t lay a glove on me”adding that Rather made “Leslie Stahl look like a pussy.”  (Normally, I’d not spell that word out, but Stahl was brave enough to do it in her book.)

George-H-W-Bush-wife-Barbara-Bush

Bush’s camp told Stahl that he meant to say “pussycat”.

However, Bush’s public apology only made matters worse.  He said, “If I had known the microphone was on, I wouldn’t have done it at all.”

What?  He only apologized because the microphone was still on and not for his juvenile vulgarity?

“LOOKING”

Last week, Comcast gave its customers free access to HBO and other networks.  The last time they did this, I caught the first season of “The Leftovers”.  I still need to see seasons two and three.

This time, I binge-watched seasons one and two (18 30-minute episodes) of the LGBT series, “Looking”, and “Looking: The Movie”, which wrapped up the cancelled-too-soon series.

Looking

It’s the story of three friends, Patrick (Jonathan Groff), Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez), and Dom (Murray Bartlett) as they navigate life in San Francisco’s Castro District.

The supporting cast was amazing, too.

Doris (Lauren Weedman), Dom’s roommate and best friend from childhood, was too funny, and Patrick’s boyfriends (over the two seasons), Richie (Raul Castillo) and Kevin (Russell Tovey) were too sexy.

While the eighteen regular episodes were entertaining and funny, “The Movie” was incredible.

Spoiler alert:  This “movie” trailer might give something away that happened in seasons one and two!

It brought back a lot of memories of me and my party days of my 20s and 30s.

It made me miss one of my friends that’s a space cadet and was never good at keeping in touch and my former “best friend” that chooses not to stay in touch.  Bummer!

“THE SHAPE OF WATER” WORDS OF WISDOM

“Never trust a man even if he looks flat down there!”

Shape of Water

FINAL “SCANDAL” THOUGHTS

Here’s another funny quote between President Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) and her former Chief of Staff Elizabeth North (Portia de Rossi).

Mellie:  “You don’t like me!”

Liz:  “I don’t like people!”

Mellie

I never bought into mild-mannered Gladiator Quinn Perkins becoming a B-613 killing machine.

When Huck, Charlie, and Quinn would torture and/or kill “bad” people or people they needed information from, the whole wrapping them in saran wrap was either paying homage to or ripping off “Dexter”!

Which brings me around to sharing this one again — after all Christmas is about eight months away! 🙂

Dexter Elf

BOOKS #12, #13, & #14

After giving up on “The Walking Dead” following the season eight finale, I just finished reading my twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth books of the year.

This is a technicality — I just finished “The Walking Dead” Compendium One, Two, and Three that I got for Christmas two years ago.

WD

The mammoth books, literally weighing in at around five pounds each, cover the graphics novels from issues 1 through 144.

It was interesting to read them since some characters on the TV series are still alive and they are dead in the books and vice versa.  Also, there are some characters in the TV show that are not in the books.

Toward the end of the third book, we’re introduced to “The Whisperers”, which was an interesting twist.

However, it’s not enough to bring me back for season nine of the AMC series!

“AUTOMATIC” “LOOKING” BONUS

The Pointer Sisters took “Automatic” to the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984 (#2 Dance).

The song, by Ultra Nate, appeared in a nightclub scene in the “Looking” movie (2016).  However, her version topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart in 2007.

It’s just one of her 20 Top Ten Billboard Dance hits! (Seven have reached #1!)

And, check out this hot video.

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony