“Mama says, ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’” My daddy liked to say, “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” The fictional Mrs. Gump and the quite real Mr. McCartney were probably kindred spirits. Many of us were taught that “stupid” was a bad word and should never be […]
Trump referring to COVID-19 as the “kung flu” created a backlash against the racist nature of the comment, but it’s doubtful that this will hurt him with his fans. So let’s double down with a little oriental wisdom. Before folks get their hackles up, dictionary.com assures me I can still use the “O” word as an adjective, just not as […]
So these days, the soapbox in the park (Hyde Park for the lucky few) has been replaced with the platforms provided by social media. Virtually anyone can become a talking head. Not a bad thing, I would say, as I’m standing on one right now. Plus there are pressures, both internal and external, that push us to take stands on […]
Well, it’s official. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended the eligibility for consideration for Oscars from December 31, 2020, to February 28, 2021. So, 2020 literally will be two months longer than originally planned—at least for all us film buffs. Now to be fair to 2020, it is not the worst year of my life, at […]
The release of the film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gone with the Wind falls almost exactly at the midpoint of a timeline from the beginning of the Civil War to today. The movie version won the Oscar for best picture of 1939 and became the highest grossing film in history, when receipts are adjusted for inflation. […]
Before the days of personal shoppers and professional stylists, there was a person known as the saleslady. She could be found in the ladies department of virtually every shop and department store above the level of Sears or Penney’s . When there were new arrivals of dresses or shoes, she would judiciously put back, in the appropriate size, any offerings […]
My daily routine isn’t exactly structured and certainly not particularly interesting. This morning was no different. With the first cup of coffee in hand, I went outside to sit and check into the world. Reflexively, I picked up my phone to see if anything crazy enough to warrant writing about had happened. Fortunately, I thought better of it and put […]
The algorithms that determine what shows up on my social media feed (which is to say Facebook, as I don’t do any of the others) are a mystery to me. I don’t know how they determine who shows up at the top or even who gets an appearance way down after scrolling. This last week, one of those sponsored things […]
Even before seeing What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? for the first time, I’ve always loved a good horror story. Even some that aren’t that good, so long as they fit into what has been dubbed the psycho-biddy subgenre of film. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? generated ten times its budget at the box office and got one Oscar […]
Main streets across America have different names. Fifth Avenue in New York, Chicago has State Street (that great street), and Dallas has plain old Main Street. As for my hometown, Tyler has Broadway, which conjured up in my gay boy mind a more glamorous thoroughfare, even though it was technically—and ironically—U. S. 69. The biggest and nicest movie theater in […]
