Week #12: The Wee Small Hours

I’ve recently noticed that there are numerous old songs that deal with loneliness in the middle of the night; and, my guess is that more than a few of them were composed during the hours when “the whole wide world is fast asleep.”  After all, there wasn’t much else to do.  Ripped from dreamland where your mind’s eye took you through unimaginable journeys and thrown back in the world of consciousness.  You.  Alone.  Awake.  No 24 hour grocery store or coffee shop back then.  No Twitter feeds to read or shows to binge watch.  No emails…

Week #13: The Preppy Handbook

In late 1980 Workman Publishing came out with “The Official Preppy Handbook.”  I bought my copy at Spencer’s Gifts – shows you what a literary masterpiece I’m talking about.  I think they displayed it between the left over Pet Rocks and the Chippendales calendar for 1981 (February’s man of the month was a very handsome, blonde, tan, surfer type wearing boxer shorts*, if I recall correctly.  Like if Ted McGinley had decided to become a calendar model instead of pursue the part of Stan Gable in “Revenge of the Nerds”). Though it was a tongue-in-cheek guide…

Week #14: The Search Continues…

Another new year, new resolutions, a fresh new start, new ventures; and, just as significant, a new hope that certain movies may finally come to DVD or Blu-ray. It may not seem important to you, but for the sake of optimism, each year that goes by signifies another year, month or day closer to when some of my favorite movies might make it to DVD (or even better Blu-ray). I’ve made progress searching year after year trying to find some titles that I consider cherished media masterpieces for one reason or another. Sometimes I relent to purchasing…

Week #15: I Enjoy Being a Girl!

“I Enjoy Being a Girl!”  That was a standard song I would often call on for last minute auditions; thanks to my mom who taught my friends and I plenty of talent show tunes including, “Has Anybody Seen My Gal,” “Honey Bun,” and “Let Me Entertain You.”   My mom would have loved to be a performer on Broadway…maybe in another life, because she knew all the shows and all the songs. The sentiment of the fun, mostly girly, songs she taught us still puts a smile on my face.  And, nothing more than “I Enjoy Being a Girl.”  You…

Week #16: That’s Not a Christmas Movie

Several years ago, my cousin Brian created a topic of discussion via social media on movies that maybe weren’t really about Christmas, but featured Christmas in some way.  Of course, the film that started off the post was the one film that somehow has spurned an endless variety of debates throughout cyberspace for years – is “Die Hard” a Christmas movie or not? It’s amazing how many people have an opinion on a subject that to me seems so obvious.  There are holiday decorations, gifts for under the tree, a Santa suit, festive tunes, a pretty memorable “ho-ho…