“This is just like television, only you can see much further.”

                    Chance the Gardener in Being There

It’s hard for me to think about the GOP candidates as anyt… Read full post »

“Everybody’s talking at me.

I don’t hear a word they’re saying,

Only the echoes of my mind.

People stopping staring,

I can’t see their faces,

Only the shadows of their eyes.”

            Fred Neil (music), Harr/… Read full post »

 
(In case you can't see it, it says
"drive thru viewing 6-8 p.m.)   

Peggy Scott Adams married into a family business that is quite unusual, a drive-thru funeral home.  She said the Adams Mortuary (are you hearing the Addams Family theme song too?) in Compton, Californ/… Read full post »

“Must every day involve a fight with an American?”

            Maggie Smith, as the Dowager Countess of Grantham 

I’m a TV baby.  I was raised on I Love Lucy, Lost in Space, The Honeymooners, Family Affair,… Read full post »

 
Anthony Horton, photo by Nura Qureshi

On Sunday night, 43-year-old author and tunnel dweller Anthony Horton died in a subway tunnel fire on the F line just north of 63^rd Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City.  He was born in New York City and grew u/… Read full post »

I brought Mom some painting supplies today after reading about the 2009 documentary, I Remember Better When I Paint, about the positive impact of art and other creative therapies on Alzheimer’s patients.   As I mentioned in my last post, Mom used to be very good drawing, and she did s/… Read full post »

Although she didn’t become famous, my mom and Rita Hayworth have a few things in common.  In addition to being an incredibly talented actress and singer, Mom used to draw.  Her drawings were of an ethereal nature:  plants, gardens, girls in diaphanous gowns and the family cat Mit/… Read full post »

 
Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

The press is calling Romney’s recent statement a “gaffe”.  The statement:  “I’m not concerned with the very poor.  We have a safety net there.”  I think this/… Read full post »

I live in Bergen County, New Jersey, now infamous for attacks on local synagogues.  19-year-old Anthony Graziano of Lodi, N.J. has been accused of firebombing three synagogues this month.  He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree attempted murder, bias intimidation and aggravated assault f/… Read full post »

A trend in trousers developed over a year ago that are akin to harem pants, but not as comfortable.  They are “drop-crotch” jeans.  They have since gained momentum and are for sale at such retailers as Oak NYC, ASOS and even the GAP.

“Fashi… Read full post »

Satchel

Newt’s latest rival is a new breed of politician, of the canine persuasion.   He is Satchel, the bull terrier, hailing from Knoxville, Tennessee and running solo in the “Bully Party.”  He is familiar with Tinkertink69, the feline competitor, but feels… Read full post »

“Demi, why you do this to me, Demi . . . why?”

            The Exorcist (Mrs. Karras to Father Damien Karras)

“Whip-it” is the street name for nitrous oxide (aka “laughing gas”) contained in a small metal… Read full post »

 
(Heath Ledger as The Joker)

“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you . . . stranger.”

            The Dark Knight  

“I've had enough bad experiences and growth to last me p… Read full post »

“To be shelterless and alone in the open country, hearing the wind moan and watching for day through the whole long weary night; to listen to the falling rain, and crouch for warmth beneath the lee of some old barn or rick, or in the hollow of a tree; are dismal… Read full post »

 
The Utah ski lodge  

Republican hopeful Mitt Romney owns homes and adjacent property estimated at $30 million, not including his Canadian home, co-owned by siblings.  If the race were to be won on the basis of wealth alone, Mitt would be our man.

Read full post »

When I visited Mom at the nursing home yesterday, I noticed that all her cookies were gone.  Last Sunday I brought her a bag of Pepperidge Farm soft-baked oatmeal raisin cookies and a bag of Ginger Man cookies.  It’s possible that she ate them all, but it is/… Read full post »

Whoever thought a Pillsbury Doughboy lookalike could be “sexy.”  Not me.  But he must be hot.  Maybe it's that bad boy thing he's got going on.  Why else would ex-wife Marianne refuse the prospect of an open marriage to share him with Callist/… Read full post »

"No wire hangers!”

Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest

The breaking story in Shreveport, Louisiana yesterday was fashion-related.  Caddo Parish District 3 Commissioner Michael Williams is gunning for/… Read full post »

“God damn the Pusher Man.”

            Steppenwolf

I don’t know about you, but I find that some of the most entertaining TV commercials are those for prescription drugs.  The networks show them around dinner time.  T… Read full post »

Photo: Reuters

The passing of Kim Jong-il has brought wicked cold temperatures even by North Korean standards, mourning bears, and now, according to North Korean state news agency KCNA, flocks of magpies are doing their bit for Jong-il and country.  I can understand the weat/… Read full post »

Public Service Enterprise Group, aka “PSE&G,” is our electric and gas provider in New Jersey. The company motto is “we make things work for you.” Well, that has not been the case for us. Luckily last night was not as brutally cold as it had been Wednesday (dipped down to 1… Read full post »

“And I need a little angel

Sitting on my shoulder,

Need a little Christmas now.”

            Jerry Herman

I feel those January blues setting in, the post-Christmas, post-New Year’s, where-the hell-is-my-life-going and wha… Read full post »

  
Photo by Amy Byrnes

The big news in New Jersey yesterday was about birds.  About 55 miles south of my town, in Tinton Falls, residents were assaulted by an estimated 7,000 seagulls that perched on the rooftops of a townhouse development and pooped themselves silly. … Read full post »

Happy New Year, all!  My husband and I spent our New Year’s Eve in a most uneventful way:  eating dinner and watching a British crime drama on Apple TV.  He was asleep before the clock struck midnight, and I went upstairs to read in bed at 11:55 p.m.  It sounded like… Read full post »

“This land is your land,

This land is my land,

From California to the New York island

From the red wood forest

To the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.”

                   &… Read full post »