I loved grape soda as a child, and more than once have lamented the lack of diet options.
How about a liquored up one?
Henry’s Hard Grape is all grown up — 4.2 percent alcohol by volume, as you can see — with cool retro branding.
I appreciate both.
I was curious enough to buy a six-pack, and it’s pretty tasty. But my diet soda sensibilities are offended by the cane sugar. To this day, it’s hard for me to drink anything with calories.
Those six hard sodas are gonna last me a good long time.
Posted in Advertising, Dieting, Food, Humor, Life
Tagged advertising, alcohol, branding, calories, cane sugar, diet, diet soda, food, grape soda, Henry's Hard Soda, Humor, soda
A big thank you to the Barnes & Noble in Nanuet, New York.
They featured my book You’re a Leader, Charlie Brown in their list of graduation gift recommendations, and even tweeted out a picture. (Tagged me, too.)
I’ve never been to Nanuet, but it has suddenly made the short list of my future vacation spots.
Coincidence? Not even.
Posted in Books, Comics, holidays, Humor, Travel, Vacation
Tagged Barnes and Noble, coincidence, gifts, graduation, leadership, Nanuet New York, Twitter, vacation, You're a Leader Charlie Brown
Did you read The Handmaid’s Tale in high school as I did?
The dystopian work of fiction was horrifying to my teenage self but far-removed — nothing I could realistically see occurring in my lifetime.
Then Trump happened.
Now every event portrayed in the television adaptation that dropped yesterday on Hulu — only three episodes, quite frustrating for binge watchers like me — seems like a warning of things to come if we are not vigilant.
Women universally stripped of their rights to work and own property, then treated as property and debased. The LGBTQ community hanged for simply being. It is terrifying and dressed up as a return to traditional values.
I signed up for a free trial to Hulu just to watch this series. I think everyone should.
It’s that important.
Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Life, Philosophy, Politics, Television
Tagged binge watching, books, commentary, dystopian, entertainment, Hulu, life, philosophy, politics, Television, The Handmaid's Tale, traditional values, Trump, women's rights
A bouquet of rods for you on this, National Pretzel Day.
They are Rold Gold — only the best will do.
Posted in Food, Holiday, Humor, Photography
Tagged bouquet, National Pretzel Day, pretzels, Rold Gold, salty snacks, snacks, special delivery
If you haven’t started watching Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, or are in the midst of the series, don’t worry —
There are no spoilers here. Just one question (and kind of a tangential one at that).
Do bicycles not have kickstands anymore?
We see Clay Jensen ride around town as he tries to solve the show’s central mystery, and he throws his bike down on the ground like an unloved toy. He has bounced that thing off of cement, buildings, trees — you name it — and it’s been shoved into a lot of car trunks, too.
That bike gets no respect.
I have to think a kickstand would be a major improvement. But perhaps they just aren’t cool in 2017.
I don’t know….I may need 13 reasons way.
Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Television
Tagged 13 Reasons Why, bicycles, binge watching, Clay Jensen, entertainment, Humor, kickstands, mystery, Netflix, no spoilers, Television
SPOILER AHEAD — Do not read before viewing the March 22nd episode.
Okay, that’s done.
This season of The Americans has been grim, even by their standards. It has also been sadly sex-free due to its focus on Paige and our favorite spies’ campaign to recruit a Russian defector by befriending his son.
Sometimes it feels like an episode of Pretty Little Comrades.
So imagine my excitement at the halfway point when they gave us a glimpse of Martha shopping the sparse shelves of a grocery store in Russia!
And that was all of her — no other scene, mention or clue.
Geez, guys, couldn’t you have ended the show with that scene? Everybody loves a cliffhanger.
Posted in Entertainment, Humor, Television
Tagged Pretty Little Liars, spies, spoiler, The Americans
Vandy, take heart —
You’re not the first team to lose a NCAA tournament game in the final seconds because of a brain fart.
Ignore the histrionics of the play-by-play announcers. Turn off the post-game shows. Consider hypnosis?
I’m old enough to remember a really big blunder that kept the storied Michigan Fab Five out of the Final Four. It was way back in 1993 before the Interwebs.
Michigan vs. North Carolina in the Elite Eight. North Carolina up by 2 with 11 seconds to go. Trapped on the sidelines, Michigan star Chris Webber called a time out that they simply didn’t have, and got dinged with a technical foul. North Carolina went on to win the game and ultimately the national title.
Sure, I remember that brain fart to this day, but Vandy — your game was just a first-rounder. There are plenty of bracket busters ahead that will inspire much more ire.
Take heart.
Posted in Basketball, Humor, NCAA tournament, Sports
Tagged basketball, brain fart, Chris Webber, Humor, Michigan, NCAA tournament, North Carolina, Northwestern, Sports, Vanderbilt
I almost didn’t see Lion.
From the trailer, I could tell the movie had the dreaded Disney structure:
Child has a beloved family.
Child is ripped from his beloved family within the first five minutes.
Child spends the rest of the movie looking for his beloved family.
Let’s face it — that story line is hard enough to watch when little cartoon characters are involved; I wasn’t sure I could stomach it with real people.
And I wasn’t altogether wrong.
But this true story — and the actors who portray it — are so compelling, I couldn’t have looked way if I had wanted to. It is heartbreaking and life-affirming, all at the same time.
And I hope, in the course of my life, I can be one-tenth as brave as that little boy.
Posted in Academy Awards, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Movies
Tagged Academy Awards, beloved family, brave, cartoon character, Disney, entertainment, lion, Lion movie, movie trailer, Movies, Oscars
The Sticky Egg 
Cold case
We have had more than enough reasons of late to question our leaders and institutions. So, perhaps you’re not ready for yet another in your entertainment viewing.
This seven-part documentary series examines the unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, who was abducted and killed in Baltimore in 1969 at age 26.
The circumstances surrounding her death are just one element of the story. The apparent cover-up by the church and police is even bigger and more disturbing.
And the entire investigation of this ‘cold case’ was led by Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, retirees and former students of Sister Cathy at Archbishop Keough High School.
The information they bring to light is shocking and sad — even more so because it took this long.
Sister Cathy Cesnik — and all the students at Archbishop Keough — deserve justice.
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Posted in Commentary, documentaries, Entertainment, Religion, Television
Tagged Abbie Schaub, Archbishop Keough High School, Baltimore, Catholic Church, documentary, entertainment, Gemma Hoskins, Netflix, nuns, religion, review, Sister Cathy Cesnik, Television, The Keepers