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Leave the trumpet-blowing to the musicians
I am actually a very shy person. If you find that easy to believe, good; I’ve done what I’m supposed to do. I may be outwardly shy and non-confrontational but sometimes, inside, I well up with megalomaniacal self-belief. In my head I act out little vignettes where I not only get my point across but…
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An unexpected surprise
Thinking about that title, aren’t all surprises “unexpected?” Hmm, well let’s not get bogged down in semantics. As an adult, I know that if I’m to pass along a food or beverage recommendation, it should be about a restaurant with a delicious grown-up entree (like the Corn Chowder Fettuccine at Grand Central at La Plaza…
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I’ve turned to crime
Contemporary television viewing is decidedly different than in years gone by due to “on demand” streaming services and the modern practice of binging, wherein the viewer watches several “episodes” of a show in one sitting, sometimes without bathing or eating (Doritos, Slim Jim’s, or a big bowl of popcorn don’t count). This means the tales…
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Good
You know the way it goes. You project. You anticipate. You plan. And then, at the risk of personifying an immaterial concept, fate has a hearty laugh in your face. It’s the idea that nothing ever goes as you expected (or wanted) it to. The ancient Stoics were a clever bunch. They realized fate’s capricious…
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Orange please
I have already told you of how my life of crime was over before it began thanks to an ill-fated attempt to steal a flashing orange traffic barricade in the dead of night with a bunch of friends when we were teenagers. But that was not my only brush with the law. In my 30s,…
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From Madeleines to Saltines
My first encounter with Marcel Proust was not academic, or even literary. As a teenager, I was obsessed with Monty Python, which I’d come to know through a dedicated, bordering on religious, listening to Dr. Demento every Sunday night on 94.7 KMET (“the Mighty Met”), at the time the most listened-to Sunday evening radio program…
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A plug for Matt
Modern life is nothing less than amazing. Take a look around the room you’re sat in right now. You are surrounded by more technology than accompanied Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon! I think that is remarkable. But one thing that is undeniable is these wonderous things which make our lives…
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Directing Traffic
“Hollywood” as an industry goes through cycles. Of course, you have the big studios which each have the facilities to complete an entire television show or film “in house.” But economic conditions sometimes dictate outsourcing to specialty studios that can often provide work at a more cost-effective price point. It was during one of these…
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I am not weird
For years, I thought I was weird. You see, I go to bed between 9 and 10 o’clock in the evening, wake up in the middle of the night (actually the early morning – between 1 and 2 am), I am wide awake till roughly 4 am, and then I go back to bed and…
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The Penguin Lessons
Last March, I wrote a movie review here. I mentioned how I tend to steer clear of recommending movies (or tv shows, or albums, or books) because I realize that tastes vary and what I think is good you might regard as rubbish, and vice versa. I could tell you my favorite tv show right…
Your mileage may vary.