Sunday Stealing
1. Last movie you watched: Green Book
2. Last movie you watched in a theater: Wonder Woman
3. Film you’ve always wanted to watch, but haven’t: Crazy Rich Asians
4. Favorite movie soundtrack: Forrest Gump
5. Your favorite movie duo: Aragorn and Legolas from The Lord of the Rings. (What, you thought I'd say Batman and Robin?)
6. Movie you like because of its story: Under the Tuscan Sun
7. A film that disappointed you: The Hobbit. It was nowhere near as good as The Lord of the Rings.
8. Favorite scene from a movie: The ending of The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, when Aragorn, now king of Gondor, tells the Hobbits, "My friends, you bow to no one," and he bows down to them, as does the rest of the people there. I always cry at that scene, even though I've seen it at least 20 times.
9. Your guilty pleasure movie: Dirty Dancing.
10. A movie you keep going back to: Steel Magnolias.
11. A quote you admire from your favorite movie: "It is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of love and kindness." - Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings.
12. A movie based on a true story: Green Book.
13. Your favorite actor/actress: I don't really have one.
14. A sequel you’re not a fan of: I thought the last Shrek movie was poorly done.
15. A film you know by heart: The Lord of the Rings (all 12+ hours of it).
16. Your favorite opening scene: I can't think of one.
17. A film that was based on a book and was executed well: The Lord of the Rings.
18. A comedy film: Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
19. TV series you’re binging on now: Stargirl.
20. A TV series you think is underrated: Supergirl. Up until this last season, when it became a bit convoluted, it has had very good writing.
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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Saturday 9: Sunset Strip
Saturday 9: 77 Sunset Strip (1958)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) 77 Sunset Strip was one of TV's early hits, running for six seasons. Before this morning, were you familiar with this show?
A. I had never heard of it before. It's a little before my time, and I'm not a big TV watcher anyway.
2) The show's jazzy theme is punctuated by finger snaps. When you snap your fingers, is the left-handed snap as loud as your right-handed snap?
A. Actually, the left-snap is louder than my right, which is odd because I am right handed. Maybe it is from playing the guitar, which requires left-hand strength to note the frets.
3) The show revolved around Bailey and Spencer Investigations. Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer were among TV first "private eyes." Who is your all-time favorite TV PI?
A. Sabrina Duncan, played by Kate Jackson, on Charlie's Angels.
4) Their office had "a fancy label," meaning an attractive address, on Los Angeles' Sunset Blvd. Tell us about the prestige area of your neighborhood.
A. That would be the area known as Ashley Plantation. This was once a big farm. In the late 1990s, the land was sold and developers built 40-50 McMansions (like 10-15 rooms) around an 18-hole golf course. The houses cost $500,000 and up. During the Great Recession, I went through and counted over 20 for sale signs. We could see that was going to be an issue - there were rumors of people living in these huge houses with no furniture - long before the recession came. Folks came down from the northern states and found they could buy these big poorly built houses for what it cost to live in a small house up there. But we don't really have the job infrastructure to support that lifestyle. The people who do live there - I have no idea what they do for a living or how they earn enough money to make a house payment. Most people who have been here before Ashley believe that they're using inheritance money to make the purchases, but obviously that's conjecture. It is the premiere subdivision in the county, though.
5) Next door was Dino's Lodge, the real-life restaurant and bar owned by entertainer Dean Martin. Are you a Dean Martin fan?
A. I barely know who he is.
6) The valet at Dino's was Kookie. He was known for his perfect hair, his slang ("ginchy" meant cool, "germsville" was the hospital, "a dark seven" was a bad week) and his desire to someday be a private investigator, like Stu and Jeff. Do you think you'd be a good detective?
A. Probably. I was a good news reporter, and I don't think that investigative journalism is that far away from detective work.
7) Stu and Jeff had a loyal secretary named Suzanne, played by French actress Jacqueline Beer. In real life, she was married to adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, who famously traveled from Peru to French Polynesia by raft. Does 100 days on a raft, sailing the south seas, sound fascinating to you?
A. Not in the least.
8) Clint Eastwood was fan of the show and, in the 1990s, tried unsuccessfully to bring 77 Sunset Strip back. Is there a show from the past you'd like to see "rebooted?"
A. I thought they were going to reboot Cagney & Lacey, and I was interested in seeing that, but apparently it didn't happen. And wouldn't it be fun to see an updated version of The Brady Bunch? Just think of the topics - meth, COVID, drug addiction, video games - endless fun. (That was sarcasm in case you didn't catch it.)
9) Random question: Thinking about the last week, did you nag anyone? Or were you the one who was nagged?
A. Oh, I'm always the nagger. My poor husband had a bad case of gout last weekend and he caught hell over his diet and not taking his medication. Nag, nag, nag.
______________
I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) 77 Sunset Strip was one of TV's early hits, running for six seasons. Before this morning, were you familiar with this show?
A. I had never heard of it before. It's a little before my time, and I'm not a big TV watcher anyway.
2) The show's jazzy theme is punctuated by finger snaps. When you snap your fingers, is the left-handed snap as loud as your right-handed snap?
A. Actually, the left-snap is louder than my right, which is odd because I am right handed. Maybe it is from playing the guitar, which requires left-hand strength to note the frets.
3) The show revolved around Bailey and Spencer Investigations. Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer were among TV first "private eyes." Who is your all-time favorite TV PI?
A. Sabrina Duncan, played by Kate Jackson, on Charlie's Angels.
4) Their office had "a fancy label," meaning an attractive address, on Los Angeles' Sunset Blvd. Tell us about the prestige area of your neighborhood.
A. That would be the area known as Ashley Plantation. This was once a big farm. In the late 1990s, the land was sold and developers built 40-50 McMansions (like 10-15 rooms) around an 18-hole golf course. The houses cost $500,000 and up. During the Great Recession, I went through and counted over 20 for sale signs. We could see that was going to be an issue - there were rumors of people living in these huge houses with no furniture - long before the recession came. Folks came down from the northern states and found they could buy these big poorly built houses for what it cost to live in a small house up there. But we don't really have the job infrastructure to support that lifestyle. The people who do live there - I have no idea what they do for a living or how they earn enough money to make a house payment. Most people who have been here before Ashley believe that they're using inheritance money to make the purchases, but obviously that's conjecture. It is the premiere subdivision in the county, though.
5) Next door was Dino's Lodge, the real-life restaurant and bar owned by entertainer Dean Martin. Are you a Dean Martin fan?
A. I barely know who he is.
6) The valet at Dino's was Kookie. He was known for his perfect hair, his slang ("ginchy" meant cool, "germsville" was the hospital, "a dark seven" was a bad week) and his desire to someday be a private investigator, like Stu and Jeff. Do you think you'd be a good detective?
A. Probably. I was a good news reporter, and I don't think that investigative journalism is that far away from detective work.
7) Stu and Jeff had a loyal secretary named Suzanne, played by French actress Jacqueline Beer. In real life, she was married to adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, who famously traveled from Peru to French Polynesia by raft. Does 100 days on a raft, sailing the south seas, sound fascinating to you?
A. Not in the least.
8) Clint Eastwood was fan of the show and, in the 1990s, tried unsuccessfully to bring 77 Sunset Strip back. Is there a show from the past you'd like to see "rebooted?"
A. I thought they were going to reboot Cagney & Lacey, and I was interested in seeing that, but apparently it didn't happen. And wouldn't it be fun to see an updated version of The Brady Bunch? Just think of the topics - meth, COVID, drug addiction, video games - endless fun. (That was sarcasm in case you didn't catch it.)
9) Random question: Thinking about the last week, did you nag anyone? Or were you the one who was nagged?
A. Oh, I'm always the nagger. My poor husband had a bad case of gout last weekend and he caught hell over his diet and not taking his medication. Nag, nag, nag.
______________
I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.
Thursday, July 09, 2020
Thursday Thirteen
Today, I'm simply going down my Facebook feed and respond to posts that are there, except I'm doing it here. I generally do not react to things on Facebook as it is problematic and I don't like to argue. But sometimes I need to get this stuff off my chest.
1. First up, a headline that religious organizations received $7.3 billion in the loans/funding money the federal legislature handed out back when the pandemic struck. My take? They don't pay taxes, they shouldn't be receiving tax-money hand outs. I have always thought churches should be taxed, and my stance on that has not changed.
2. Next, a story from one of my local stations that says the Secretary of Education "slams" school districts that plan limited openings, rejecting part-time openings of school districts. My district is one of those that has, at least for the moment, planned a limited opening. My take? I think each district should decide how it wants to handle things depending on the circumstances and the numbers of viral load, etc., which means the planning may have to change mid-semester if the viral overload quickly shoots up. I see this as a public health crisis, not a minor inconvenience that is causing someone to cry over an election. I prefer live children to dead ones, and with the cases here locally skewing downward in age, with those 11-20 suddenly being the ones who have coronavirus, it makes sense to try to keep physical distance efforts at a maximum, not a minimum.
3. A friend has posted a tweet from #45. He indicates South Dakota has a border with California and misuses the word "there." (It should be "their border.") My take? Well, the man is no stable genius. If you have to say you are one, you probably aren't. (Do they not have spelling and grammar check on Twitter? I don't use it so I don't know.) He also congratulates people for not wearing masks. Is he trying to kill us all? *Update: I have since learned this tweet was false and #45 did not actually tweet this.*
4. A quote from a friend about moving forward in small steps. Good advice. Sometimes that is what it takes to get through a day. Take it second by second if you have to. Sometimes I do. Actually, most days I do.
5. Another quote from a friend: "Many years ago, Golda Meir, the former Israeli Prime Minister, once quoted the following: "One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the future". No truer words were ever spoken! God Bless America!" My take? I presume this is about the removal of Confederate statues and changing the names of buildings to remove Confederate legacy. I say it's about time. The south lost and should have gotten over it about 155 years ago. Removing names does not remove history. We have history books, museums, and family stories galore to keep the "legacy" alive if someone must. Also, why can't God bless the whole world?
6. A fellow blogger and Facebook friends writes: "On alleged bounties, White House targets leakers, not Russia - Two weeks after Americans learned about Russia allegedly putting bounties on the heads of American troops, the White House is taking action. Team Trump, however, isn't targeting Russia; it's targeting leakers . . . confronted with allegations that Moscow put bounties on the heads of American troops, the White House is eager, not to punish Russia, but to punish U.S. officials who helped expose the controversy. nbc" - My take? Sounds like something this administration would do. Talk about gaslighting and deflecting. Sheesh.
7. A friend posted "Lowes donated $25 million to help minority businesses reopen. Home Depot donated $7 million to Trump. Go to Lowes." Hmm. My take? I looked it up. Lowes did make that donation. However, the Home Depot donation was years ago, and while Home Depot gives more to Republicans than Democrats, it makes contributions to both parties. I still generally go to Lowes, though. I like it better. So this is slightly misleading.
8. A post about the bubonic plague returning. My take? It's never left. There have always been cases of it hither and yon. I've read about it recurring for years. This year is no different. It just feels like it because of all the other shit that's happening around us.
9. A post from a friend who says she isn't risking her life to go anywhere - except to vote if she must, and she'll wear a hazmat suit if she has to. My take? Good for her. We should all be able to vote by mail if we want to. We receive our driver's licenses and other government-issued items by mail, I don't see why we can't vote by mail. I trust my voter registrar and those who work for them - I know them personally. Distrust in others seems inbred in some people, though. Those folks would call Jesus Christ a liar if he stood right in front of them, brown skin and all. The military votes by mail. If they can do it, I don't see why the rest of us can't.
10. A headline post that says "The White House is hoping Americans will "grow numb" to the Covid-19 Death Toll." My take? I am keeping score. I will not grow numb to the numbers. I am watching the numbers rise in my little county and I am pretty sure that until they start dropping again, I will not have a haircut, go to the dentist, or leave home without a mask. I think the government officials are guilty of mass murder, frankly, for their total bungling of this. And yes, that includes #45, his adult family members (since they are all "working" for the people at his command or whatever, I have never seen so much nepotism in all of my life), and the vice president.
11. A post about how all the flights in a certain airline are haunted. My take? This is hilarious and probably the best thing I've read so far today.
12. A story from the New York Times about the Supreme Court allowing employers to "opt out" of paying for birth control. My take: I wonder if they can "opt out" of paying for Viagra? I personally see it as part of women's health care and it should be available and paid for with health insurance. After all, no woman asked to be born a woman and it's not our fault we're the ones who carry the babies. Yet men sure love to penalize us for that. Dickheads.
13. A story about a comet that's visible on the low horizon in the early morning hours. My take? Yay comets!
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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 664th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
Wednesday, July 08, 2020
Taking Care of Myself
For those who read regularly and may wish to know, my mammogram went fine. I have an abnormality but they are simply watching it. Apparently, it's been there since at least 2014, so I am not worried about it.
Mammograms are an annual endurance test for women, though I admit I had started doing mine every 1.5 years or so. I think it's a lot of radiation to be spewing at your chest on a yearly basis. Still, I think a woman should have one at least every two years.
So go take care of yourselves, ladies. I know it's hard and a little scary right now, but the hospital was diligent about taking temperatures and keeping folks separated.
Mammograms are an annual endurance test for women, though I admit I had started doing mine every 1.5 years or so. I think it's a lot of radiation to be spewing at your chest on a yearly basis. Still, I think a woman should have one at least every two years.
So go take care of yourselves, ladies. I know it's hard and a little scary right now, but the hospital was diligent about taking temperatures and keeping folks separated.
Tuesday, July 07, 2020
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