Random Friday Thoughts — March 15, 2024

Happy Friday! Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day weekend and may the luck of the Irish be with us all.

Thank you for checking out my random thoughts!

PI DAY

Thursday was “Pi Day”, you know 3.14159 and a million-plus numbers.

So, on March 14th (3/14), people celebrate with pie — pizza and dessert pies.

My favorite fruit pies are peach and cherry, but my favorite pie is Sawdust Pie — a specialty at Patti’s 1880’s in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.

That’s Patti’s above and mine is below. I’ve made it many times!

YUM!

OSCARS AFTERTHOUGHTS

My schedule doesn’t allow me to stay up late on work nights to watch television.

So, I learned of the Oscar winners and the highs and lows of the show from my social media feeds.

Clearly, Donald Trump didn’t like Jimmy Kimmel’s hosting: “Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos. He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger, and more glamorous.”

Kimmel read the rest of his online post and responded, “Blah, blah, blah.”

Asking if you could guess which former president just posted that, Kimmel added, “Anyone? No? Well thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still [watching] — isn’t it past your jail time?”

On a less controversial note, I loved the energy and the look of Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” performance.

“DADDY”

In late February, on New York City’s “Eyewitness News Morning at 10” weatherman Sam Champion responded to an upcoming delicious-looking food segment about a NYC restaurant, “Is there an adult beverage for Daddy?”. 

Well, this was funny enough or shocking enough for “Entertainment Weekly” to write a feature on it.

However, what made me laugh out loud was this line from the story: “EW has reached out to the local station and a representative for Champion for comment.”

What do they need a comment on? The definition of a “daddy”?

For the unenlightened: “daddy (n.) – an attractive (usually dominant, often older, often masculine) person“.

Sam clearly works hard to look good, so I’m not objectifying him. I wish I had his commitment!

Sam is happily married to Rubem Robierb and they’re such a cute couple! They were married in December 2012.

Now, Sam is three years older than me and he and I are from western Kentucky. He started his television news career at our local NBC station in Paducah, Kentucky, in the 1980s.

As a teenager, I had the biggest crush on him!

Last week, I reached out to Sam via X (formerly Twitter) and asked if he had any old photos from his Paducah days. His reply (yes, he replied) was very funny.

Well, not exactly “Wiped Clean”, Sam. My persistence paid off!

Now you can see why I had such a crush!

THIS IS ABOUT RIGHT! CHEERS!

I’m so team “Boxed Wine”. That’s too funny.

BACK TO THE OSCARS

Did Oscar winner (two-time Oscar winner now) Emma Stone call Jimmy Kimmel a “prick” after his comment about her movie “Poor Things”?

His first joke landed, “Emma, you were so unbelievably great in “Poor Things”. Emma played an adult woman with a brain of a child, like the lady who gave the rebuttal to the State of the Union on Thursday night.”

However, later on, he said of Stone’s movie, “Those were all the parts of ‘Poor Things’ we’re allowed to show on TV.”

It was at that point that Stone mouthed something that social media believes was “prick”! Who knows, since Stone is usually funny and sarcastic. She could have been mad or just playing along!

“POOR THINGS”

Speaking of Stone, she picked up her second Best Actress Oscar Sunday night for “Poor Things”. (Her first was for 2016’s “La La Land”.)

While I haven’t seen “Killers of the Flower Moon” yet (I loved the book), I picked Emma to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, especially after seeing the movie last weekend.

Now, about the movie — I never watched the trailer and I didn’t really pay attention to what it was about.

If you go into the movie because of the Oscar nominations pedigree, you just might be shocked.

It’s a very bizarre movie and I didn’t expect to see all of Emma Stone! And, while I’m definitely not a prude, I was surprised that the Oscar winner was exposed so much in the movie! Good for her comfort level there!

The acting is superb and Stone deserves the Oscar! Mark Ruffalo was great as was Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef.

GRADE: B

“THE WOMAN IN ME”

I just finished Britney Spears’ biography, the #1 best seller, “The Woman in Me” that came out last October.

Last fall, I wrote, “Trust me, with the stuff the pop superstar has been through, if she’s honest, this should be an interesting read.”

It was definitely an interesting and enlightening read.

Britney’s dislikes: Her parents, her sister Jamie Lynn (“total bitch”), Diane Sawyer and “Meredith fu**ing Viera”!

She loves Mariah Carey (never Mariah, always Mariah Carey), Jennifer Lopez, and Madonna.

Spears reportedly got $15 million from Simon & Schuster for telling her story!

“BODIES” 

This intelligent Netflix series is incredible. It’s a drama that’s creepy, thought-provoking, and sexy.

It takes place over four different time periods (1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053). In each, a man’s naked body is found with a gunshot wound to the eye. However, in the 2053 version, he’s not dead.

So, you follow the investigation in each time period and then realize there’s a connection to the time periods in the future. As Netflix states: “To save Britain’s future, they’ll [the four detectives] need to solve the murder that altered the course of history first.”

It’s definitely a smart show that you can’t be dozing off on or playing on your phone while watching.

GRADE: A-

HELLO SEXY KYLE SOLLER!

In “Bodies”, Kyle Soller played DI Alfred Hillinghead in the 1890 portion of the show.

40-year-old Soller is an award-winning actor that’s had much more success in theatre.

“THANKSGIVING”

This November 2023 release is now showing on Netflix. It was a box office success making $46.5 million (three times its budget) and a sequel is expected in 2025.

Acting in this slasher movie is horrible, but the worst offender is Patrick Dempsey — not his acting, but the accent he uses!

After several people are trampled to death at a store on Thanksgiving night, someone is seeking revenge on the kids responsible for inciting the riot that led to the rush of people into the store.

The highlight of the movie was the kills (and the gore). Usually, gore is something that usually turns me off in a movie. Gore doesn’t bother me, but I like suspense more (“Halloween”)!

In “Thanksgiving”, gore saves it from a “D” grade!

GRADE: C-

THIS MADE ME SMILE!

And, this is appropriate if you’ve seen “Thanksgiving”.

Well, back in the day when I ate beef, this is how I liked mine prepared.

However, unless I’m in a “Society of the Snow” scenario, I won’t be eating people!

MY FIVE FAVORITE BRITNEY SONGS

I’ve seen the legendary Britney Spears twice… once in July 2011 at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with Nicki Minaj opening for her.

And, I saw her again in Las Vegas in March 2017.

Ahead of that concert, I posted my 20 favorite Britney songs. Today, I’ll share the Top 5!

#5 “WOMANIZER”

#4 “I WANNA GO”

#3 “TOXIC”

#2 “TILL THE WORLD ENDS”

#1 “EVERYTIME”

BRITNEY VEGAS EXTRA

While the “Everytime” video is incredible and my favorite, here’s part of her live version of the song from the 2017 concert I attended.

THAT’S IT

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

Anthony

Sticks, Stones, Bones, & Words

I love what I do.

I wanted to be a meteorologist before I even knew there was a word for it. I developed a fascination in weather by cutting the weather maps out of the newspapers as a 4-year-old.

As a teenager, I confirmed I wanted to be a television meteorologist.  For that, I have “Good Morning America” weatherman Sam Champion, who was working at WPSD in Paducah, Kentucky, back then, along with WPSD meteorologist Paul Bouchereau to thank.  Also, there’s former “Good Morning America” meteorologist John Coleman, who started the “The Weather Channel” back when it was fun and cutting edge.

It’s hard to believe my first network affiliate job was in 1996, more than a quarter of a century ago, in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. It was seven years after I graduated at Murray State University after gaining “experience” as a weatherman in the 1980s.

I am still grateful to this day that Mike Michalak, the news director, in Rhinelander, hired me!

My career has taken me all across the country and I’ve lived in some great places and some I’d never wish on my worst enemy. I’ve met some amazing people and some that, again, I’d never wish on my worst enemy. Okay, that part may not be true!

I’ve seen so many changes over my time in the business. I love computers and I don’t miss the plexiglass maps I used in college.

Normally, I’d draw on the two weather maps with a marker and wash it off the next day.

However, since I was getting my resume tape together to look for my first job, I spent the Christmas break cutting out fronts, rain and snow symbols, and high and low pressure systems from poster board and taped them to the plexiglass to make it look classier.

OMG, I’m still laughing (and thankful) that Mike hired me!

Another big change in the industry is how viewers communicate with us. That’s the real reason I’m venting today.

Back in the day (the 1990s), if you wanted to complain about the news or someone on the news, you had to call the station or write a letter and mail it!

These days people just fire off emails and social media rants without putting much thought into what they’re saying and they definitely don’t proof them!

Let me say that over the years, I’ve developed a thick skin when it comes to viewer comments. Back then, it would upset me.

Now, it just pisses me off — not because of their comments, but because I’m professional and diplomatic in my responses and I can’t really say what I’m really thinking!

This week was an especially trying one.

All of the forecasters in our area were calling for a decent snow, including me.

On the morning of the snow, I called for a range of 1″-6″ across our large portion of Central Illinois. We ended up getting 1″-4″!

But, that wasn’t enough for some and the vitriol came swift!

One guy called us “shitty weathermen” (I guess the two female meteorologists in the market are safe!).

Another guy emailed me and said we all need to go back to “metrological [sic] school”.

He didn’t like my “diplomatic” response when I told him how much snow had officially been measured in Decatur because he was just guesstimating the accumulation outside his house.

I closed with “You have a great day and be safe.” and “P.S.  No thank you on going back to school.  And, it’s ‘meteorological’.”

Well, that didn’t set well with him.  

He replied back calling me “worthless” and closed his own postscript, “PS, “maybe” your PEOPLE skills need some work too. Your first reply sounded somewhat hostel [sic]. You failed at being diplomatic…..”

I’ve always replied to people when they send messages — good or bad. However, when people just want to argue, you’ll get one or two replies from me and then I ignore you.

My second (and final response) to him was “Have a great day Stan!”

And, he’s wrong!

In my initial response, I was truly being diplomatically because, in my mind, I had a three-word response for his belligerent email.

It starts with “Go”. And, only my dear sister and best friend, Tammy, knows the rest of it for sure! 🙂

As the wise poet Taylor Swift exclaimed in 2014…

I feel better already. Writing is such great therapy!

Anthony

P.S. While the nice people and their comments definitely outnumber the naysayers and mean people, here are three goodies from way back in the day.

These brought a smile and an eye roll to my face while writing this blog! 🙂

* In a letter to the station in Lubbock, Texas, on a story I did (1997):  “there are plenty of people who are angry at your substandard investigative reporting.”

* Email from retired USMC Major Eric K. (August 2006):  “I was very disappointed in your forecast…. I do know that if a Marine Corps weather specialist would miss a forecast by so much they would find themselves forecasting weather in Alaska.  So, keep working on it.  You will get better.”

* QC Media Review Message Board (March 2007):  “Anthony is fine but lacks spark.”

Remembering The Woman That Inspired Me To Go Into Television News

While I credit my mother’s strengths, and weaknesses, to getting me to where I am today in life, she never saw me working at a commercial, network-affiliated television station.  She did see me on television as a weathercaster and music show host (“Music Visions”) on MSU TV-11, our campus television station in Murray, Kentucky, back in the 1980s.

She was always proud of my straight As in high school, for which I thank  my favorite science teacher, Roxanne Ferguson, and my favorite math teacher, Vasteene Rives.  They inspired to me to follow my dreams of being a scientist.

As a teenager, I confirmed that I wanted to be a television meteorologist.  For that, I have current “Good Morning America” weatherman Sam Champion, who was working at WPSD in Paducah, Kentucky, back then, along with WPSD meteorologist Paul Boucherau to thank.  Also, there’s former “Good Morning America” meteorologist John Coleman, who started the “The Weather Channel”.

However, the person that inspired me the most to get into the television news “rat race” was a woman who tragically died on this day back in 1983.

While some Americans first learned of Jessica Savitch on the radio in New Jersey and New York in the 1960s as the “honeybee”, while she attended Ithaca College in New York, her first television job was at KHOU in Houston, Texas in 1971.

She worked her way up from being a reporter to becoming the first woman news anchor in the South three months after starting there.  It didn’t take long for the big markets to seek her out.  In 1972, she was hired at KYW in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fourth largest television market in the country, for the weekend newscasts.  She then became that station’s main anchor.

From there, NBC News came calling in 1977 and offered her a position as the Washington correspondent.  Although it was tough on her because many thought she was given the position for her beauty, she fought to prove herself and become the weekend news anchor.

On air, Jessica was magical.  The camera loved her.  America loved her.  And, I  loved her.  As much as I wanted to be a television weatherman, I remember as a teenager sitting on my bed reading the newspaper to the wall pretending it was a camera and wanting to be just like Jessica Savitch.

It’s often said that fame and success comes with a price.  And, that’s true.  For Jessica, the price she paid for success was rumored to be drugs.   I won’t say that it’s true or it wasn’t because I wasn’t there.

Nevertheless, her private life was a mess.  It started with her abusive boyfriend back in Houston, who was a reporter at a competing station and continued with her two failed marriages in 1980 and 1981.  Her second husband, Dr. Donald Payne, committed suicide in the basement of their Washington DC townhouse  with her husky, Chewy’s, leash knowing that Jessica would find him.

It had to be rough on all women, including Jessica, working their way up in the male chauvinistic world of television in the 1970s.  For women, it meant you had to work twice as hard as men to accomplish less and it also meant that you made enemies.  Enemies that would make  recorded tantrums public.

Being a television personality, I’ll defend Jessica here.  I have been burned several times by the production crew, directors, and producers with timing issues.  You are the person on the air that is cut off, rushed, or made to look bad.  You are the face that people at home see when things go wrong.

As the rumors swirled about Jessica’s possible drug use and erratic behavior, it all reached a climax with this NBC News Digest from 1983.

Jessica blamed it on a faulty teleprompter (the magic words of the scripts on the camera that an anchor reads), yet her publicist said it was adverse reaction to prescription medication and a glass of wine at dinner.  Nevertheless, it added fuel to the fire about Jessica.

Jessica began dating Martin Fischbein, the Vice President of the “New York Post”, and seemed happy.  On the evening of October 23, 1983, they drove to New Hope, Pennsylvania, to have dinner at Odette’s Restaurant.

When Jessica and Martin left the restaurant in heavy rain, she got in the backseat with Chewy.  In the inclement weather, Martin apparently missed the posted warning signs and the car dropped fifteen feet and sank in the mud to the bottom of the old Pennsylvania Canal’s Delaware Division, which is on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.

Jessica, Martin, and Chewy were trapped inside and they all died.

The official cause of death was asphyxiation by drowning.  No drugs or alcohol played any part in the crash, according to the coroner’s report.

In the fall of 1983, I gave a speech about Jessica Savitch and her death in my “Introduction to Radio-Television” class at Murray State and I made a “B” for my presentation.

Jessica, I still think of you 29 years after your death and I thank you for inspiring me and so many young women that followed in your footsteps.  You set the standard for television news that is still being mimicked today.

Anthony

They Said What??? Ben Affleck, Elton John, Lady Gaga, & Sam Champion

“GOOD MORNING AMERICA” WEATHERMAN SAM CHAMPION

(discussing his upcoming wedding and the outpouring of support):  “I felt like we lived in a small town… I was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and to me that’s exactly what it felt like. We walked out on the street and everyone was like, ‘Hey, congratulations.’ Thank you for the tweets, and the Facebook and just coming up on the street and saying the most wonderful things.”

ACTOR/DIRECTOR BEN AFFLECK

(to Sam Champion):  “I want to congratulate Sam.  It’s to our shame that you can’t get married in every state in the union, but one day I hope you will be able to. It’s very exciting. I was very inspired…a moving, love story.”

ELTON JOHN

“I know a lot of people, and perhaps especially religious people, will say that David and I should count ourselves lucky for living in a country that allows civil partnerships, and call it quits there. Well, I don’t accept this. I don’t accept it because there is a world of difference between calling someone your ‘partner’ and calling them your ‘husband’. ‘Partner’ is a word that should be preserved for people you play tennis with, or work alongside in business. It doesn’t come close to describing the love that I have for David, and he for me. In contrast, ‘husband’ does. A ‘husband’ is somebody that you cherish forever, that you would give up everything for, that you love in sickness and in health. Until the law recognises David Furnish is my husband, and not merely my partner, the law won’t describe the man I know and adore.”

FORMER CEO OF WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT & REPUBLICAN CONNECTICUT SENATORIAL CANDIDATE LINDA McMAHON

“I have changed my position on DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act, which states marriage is between a man and a woman] because, with gay marriage now approved in the state of Connecticut, I don’t think it’s fair.”

REPUBLICAN MICHIGAN STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOM McMILLIN

“Well, I think that the thousands of people that have been in that lifestyle and come out would say that it was their choice when they were in and came out of the lifestyle.”

“ONE MILLION MOMS”

(protesting the as-yet-unproduced Jennifer Lopez lesbian-themed television show, “The Fosters”):  “Hollywood is continuing to push an agenda that homosexuality is acceptable when scripture states clearly it is a sin. As Christians, the Bible also says that we must speak up against sin. If we remain silent then we are guilty of sin also.

LADY GAGA

(tweeting after vomiting several times on stage in Barcelona, Spain):  “Was praying nobody saw but actually its quite a good laugh if u need one! Check out Lady PukeGA doing Swan ‘Vomit’ Lake.”

They Said What??? Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mitt Romney, Madonna, & Sam Champion

CIRCUIT DJ & MUSICIAN DEADMAU5

(looking for more attention after last spring telling Madonna “F*** off, you f***ing idiot”.  In March, at a large dance festival in Miami, when introducing hot DJ Avicci, Madonna asked the concertgoers, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?”, which is slang for a club circuit drug):  “I should have been more relentless, but I thought I looked like I was after attention, and then it became an exercise in futility dealing with her fans. There’s no such thing as winning against 10 million idiots. You’re farting against thunder on that one.”

ACTRESS SALMA HAYEK

“Do I envy Madonna’s body? Yes. Do I thank God that she has it? Yes! If you’re fifty-something and you look like Madonna, and you put a lifetime’s work in the way you look, then flash it to the world!”
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE MITT ROMNEY

(to President and Mrs. Obama at the first presidential debate last week in Denver): “Congratulations to you on your anniversary.  I’m sure this is the most romantic place you could imagine, here with me!”

“GOOD MORNING AMERICA” WEATHER ANCHOR SAM CHAMPION

(after announcing his wedding to his boyfriend later this year):  “I’ve never been happier to share a bit of personal news!!”

VICE PRESIDENT WANNABE PAUL RYAN

(criticizing President Obama’s decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriages as between a man and woman only):  “It’s not the president’s job to pick and choose which laws he likes. A Romney administration will protect traditional marriage and the rule of law and we will provide the Defense of Marriage Act the proper defense in the courts that it deserves.

FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

(admitting that he officiated two weddings while governor):  “I don’t have to be for gay marriage. I’m for that she (Kennedy) gets the kind of wedding and the kind of ceremony that I had when I got married with Maria (Shriver).  I, personally, always said that marriage is between a man and a woman. But I would never enforce my will on people.  If they want to get married, let them get married.”

MADONNA

(to a Vancouver, British Columbia fan):  “I hope you can appreciate how hard we’re working up here.  You’re wearing a T-shirt that says Open Your Heart and you don’t know the words to the song? What the f—?”

Anthony