Kick this around

Posted on April 17, 2017 | Leave a comment

13-reasons-why

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.

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Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Television

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Bury the lead, please

Posted on March 22, 2017 | 1 comment

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. 

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Posted in Entertainment, Humor, Television

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History repeats itself

Posted on March 16, 2017 | Leave a comment

vandy northwesternVandy, 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.

webberMichigan 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.

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Posted in Basketball, Humor, NCAA tournament, Sports

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On being brave

Posted on February 18, 2017 | Leave a comment

lionI 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.

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Academy Awards, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Movies

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Image

She persisted

king-letter

#resist

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Posted on February 8, 2017 in History, Politics

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One ringy dingy

Posted on January 29, 2017 | Leave a comment

Finally — some good news!

Lily Tomlin

The very funny Lily Tomlin will be presented with the Live Achievement Award at tonight’s SAG Awards.

Since Lily’s parents are from Paducah, Kentucky — a city very close to my hometown — this feels like a big win for small town girls everywhere.

I saw Lily in Paducah. She was eating with a friend at Chuck e Cheese. The waitress recognized her, and then she was very quickly surrounded by fans. She was really nice about it, which made me like her even more.

Actually, any celebrity that eats at Chuck e Cheese is a friend of mine.

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Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Humor, Life, Restaurants

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Tell the truth

Posted on January 23, 2017 | Leave a comment

“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.” — Teddy Roosevelt

— The Kansas City Star, 18 May 1918

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Posted in Commentary, History, Politics, quote

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