woke up this morning with the sundown shining in

(Yeah, yeah, oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in)

I woke up this mornin' with the sundown -- shinin' in
I found my mind in a brown paper bag within

I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky

I just dropped in -- to see what condition my condition was in


(Yeah, yeah, oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in!)

I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in
I watched myself crawlin' out -- as I was a-crawlin' in
I got up so tight, I couldn't unwind
I saw so much I broke my mind --
I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in


(Yeah,
 yeah, 

oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in)



Someone painted "April Fool" in big black letters on a "Dead End" sign
I had my foot on the gas as I left the road and blew out my mind
Eight miles outta Memphis and I got no spare,
Eight miles straight up, downtown somewhere
I just dropped in -- to see what condition my condition was in


I said I just dropped in - to see what condition my condition was in
(Yeah - yeah, oh-yeah)
     [instrumental:  "wwaaaaaannnnnn - wongah-wonga" etc., psychedelic sounds, fading out, then back in...]

-----------------------------------------

The lyrics of that song are genius, and the music all-encompassingly sublime, i-m-o.

{"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In" - written by Mickey Newbury}

____________________________

One night last week, a President Kennedy video appeared when I was on You Tube.  (Hmmm, I think maybe The Algorithm has been researching my views...)




It was what we used to call a "home movie" -- about 6 minutes, Pres. and Mrs. K and children outdoors at their country place (during the White House years) -- near Atoka, Virginia.  

No sound -- a silent movie.

Grown-ups walking, children capering...

Watched about 40 seconds and was sort of -- "OK, I'm good..."

Scrolled to Comments.  One of them said Bob Dylan has a new song out; it's a contemplation of the 1963 assassination.

"Whoa."


Can bet your bippy I was all over that.

!



The name of the song is "Murder Most Foul."

_______________________________

-30-

a streaking meteor

-------------------------------------------------

     That Kenny Rogers song I mentioned Friday seemed like such a departure for Kenny Rogers.  "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)".




     Well, it was not actually a "departure" for him because that song came first, in the 1960s with his band The First Edition -- more than a decade before his popularity grew to star proportions as a country singer in the 1980s.

     But to me it was -- well -- it was confusing.


     FIRST:  I heard "Just Dropped In" someplace, sometime, I don't know where, and it was in my head.  I did not know who recorded it.

     SECOND:  I heard Kenny Rogers sing "Lucille" on TV (1977) and I remembered the song and the name because he was so good.

     THIRD:  I got a job in radio in the 1980s -- it was a country station, so I played a lot of Kenny Rogers for the people.  So to me, as far as I knew, he was strictly a Country and Western singer.

     FOURTH:  Someone at the radio station told me "Just Dropped In" was by Kenny Rogers, and I was like -- "Kenny Rogers sang that?  Really??"  Because Just Dropped In was -- psychedelic rock, which many bands were doing for a brief time in the late '60s -- Beatles, Stones, Eric Clapton and Cream, Kenny Rogers...(Wait.  What??)

     Right?  So then I had a little window into the world, and the past, looking at the idea that a country artist used to do rock.



_________________________________

The songs we listened to last week cover a huge world, musically, as well as time-line-wise -- 1967 - 2015, 48 years! ...

~  "Lucille" -- straight up, down-right Country, from the 1970s

~  "Children Go Where I Send Thee" with the singing group "Home Free" -- this song is a traditional African-American spiritual, so -- old.  The Rogers-Home Free recording came out in 2015.  Recent.  (Time-jumble.)

~  "Islands In The Stream" -- Written by the Bee Gees, this song was named after a novel by Ernest Hemingway.  Rogers recorded it with Dolly Parton:  became a hit in 1983.  (Ernest Hemingway?



  The Bee Gees?  



Is it any wonder I get confused...??)


     Wikipedia calls this song "soft rock" -- but since I played it on a country station, I think of it as Mellow-country.

~  and "Just Dropped In" -- 1967 -- "Psychedelic rock," baby!

________________________________

     When I played "Just Dropped In" from You Tube (a live version, I think, from a TV performance) -- one of the Comments under it, written about a week before Rogers' passing, said:

"This man has been a streaking meteor his whole life."


     That observation got me thinking about --

~ the broad range of time covered by Kenny Rogers recordings, and
~ the range of  musical and lyrical styles reflected in his body of work.




_________________________




"This man has been a streaking meteor his whole life."

-30-

I tripped on a cloud...

Kenny Rogers song of today -- "Just Dropped In To See what condition my condition was in"

I like the album version:
Uploader, the first edition - Topic
656,000 views

-30-

ride it together

That Home Free song from yesterday, featuring Kenny Rogers was more my taste than "Lucille" because -- rhythm, syncopation, -- fast... Haha ... Soul, baby..  grit.  Mmh.

But "Lucille" still great, too.

Today's Kenny Rogers song is
"Islands in the Stream".
     Tap up that title on YouTube and pick your live performance by Rogers with Dolly Parton,, and Play.   Holy Toledo, audiences LOVE that song ... they're clapping...

-30-

go where I send thee

You tube
Type Kenny Rogers home Free
Play

the words that he told her kept coming back

Kenny Rogers' recent passing was a bit of a surprise.

Then I start thinking about -- the songs.

Aahh!  All. Those. Songs.

     He made a contribution to all our lives.  Along with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kenny Rogers gave us art that accompanied and backed up our earthly journey..

     I remember the first time I became aware of him -- he was on TV, and I just happened to notice in passing.  Think it was Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
     He did a song which ordinarily wouldn't have drawn my interest, at that age -- country, slow song with a theme of sadness, or loss.

     But I listened to the whole song anyway because it just sounded great.
His voice -- uniquely evocative, and -- a magical melody.

     I thought, "That's a hit."

     Go on YouTube and type in

Kenny Rogers - Lucille

     Uploaded:. top401977
     297,000 views

and Play.

-30-

I bought a small notebook

Left a good job in the city

Workin' for the man ev'ry night and day

And I never lost one - minute of sleepin'

Worryin' 'bout the way things might have been


Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep in burnin'
Rollin' - rollin' - rollin' on the river.


Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
Pumped a lot of 'tane down in New Orleans
But I never saw - the good side of the city
'Til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen

Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
Rollin' - rollin' - rollin' on the river

Rollin' - rollin' - rollin' on the river

If you come down to the river,
Bet you gonna find some people who live
You don't have to worry, 'cause you have no money,
People on the river are happy to give


Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
Rollin' - rollin' - rollin' on the river

Rollin' - rollin' - rollin' on the river
Rollin' - rollin' - rollin' on the river
Rollin' - rollin' - rollin' on the river


______________________
{"Proud Mary," Recorded by:  Creedence Clearwater Revival.  Written by John Fogerty; producer:  John Fogerty.  Released:  January 1969.  Label:  Fantasy Records.  Genre:  Roots rock; Swamp rock.}
____________________________________

---------------- [excerpt] ------------ John Fogerty:  "Back in the fall of 1967 -- before the release of our first Creedence album -- I bought a small notebook and began keeping a list of song-title ideas.  My first entry was "Proud Mary."  I didn't really know what those two words meant but I liked how they sounded together.


     At the time, I was living in an apartment in Albany, California, near San Francisco, with my wife at the time and our newborn son.  I was still in the Army Reserve and was concerned about being sent to Vietnam.  

One day in the early summer of '68, I saw an oversize envelope on the steps of our apartment building.  It was my honorable discharge.  In the blink of an eye, I was a civilian again.  I did a handstand and flipped a few times on the small lawn out front.


     Then I went inside, picked up my Rickenbacker guitar and began playing a song intro I had been working on.  The chord riff was based on the opening to Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony," which I had first heard on TV growing up. ...

     When I added rhythm to the chords, the song had the motion of a boat.  I had always loved Mark Twain's writing and the music of Stephen Foster, so I wrote lyrics about a riverboat.  The line "rollin' on the river" was influenced by a movie I once saw about two riverboats racing.  

I finished most of it in two hours.  Then I opened my notebook for a song title.  There was "Proud Mary."... 

------------------------- [excerpt from GENIUS website on Internet]

___________________
_______________________

On You Tube, type in

Creedence Clearwater Revival:  Proud Mary

(uploader:  masterofacdcsuckaS)

PLAY!

-30-

300 outfits in a thousand days

     I saw this publication by "People" Magazine -- one of those booklets whose pages are a little sturdier than those of the usual magazine and the covers are almost as thick as those of a paperback book...
"Jackie:  A Life In Style"

     Full of photographs, it shows a yearbook summary next to her picture, 1947 graduation from Miss Porter's prep school -- 

Always Saying:  "Play a Rhumba next"

Most Known For:  Wit

Favorite Song:  Lime House Blues

--------------------------------------------

     On page 16, there's a photograph of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1989, on her 60th birthday.  On the hood of a car, she's lying back against the windshield, sunglasses in place; her hair wrapped in a towel; reading a paperback book:  The Most Beautiful House in the World, by Witold Rybczynski.

     I had that book.  


     Page 46:  [excerpt] ---------- The First Lady and her costumer [Oleg Cassini] collaborated beautifully.  In January 1962 Jackie wrote on White House stationery:  

"Dear Oleg, Your clothes are all lovely--really perfect--all those pretty coats and dresses and best of all was the white satin evening dress with panel I wore last Sat.  Also, I have a lovely idea for an evening dress sometime.  

You must see [Last Year at Marienbad]--all Chanelish chiffons.  I saw a picture of [Brigitte] Bardot in one--in Match or Elle--in black, but mine could be red--covered up long sleeves--transparent."

     In all, Cassini designed more than 300 outfits for Jackie Kennedy during her thousand days in the White House, which she often paired with hats designed by Halston. 


Page 88
     Tina Turner:  "Above all other women, I have a queen, and that is Jackie Kennedy Onassis.  I love her and I always will.  I love her for her life, her strength, her education and for herself."

-30-

"the power of the people is greater than the people in power"

Saint Patrick's Day.

A Reader Comment on SLATE asked,

"Can we drive the snakes in Washington into the ocean?"

-----------------------------------------------------

Other Comments on their article today about coronavirus:


~ I think it's fun that every time a new crisis arises we get to wonder whether or not the U.S. Congress will be up to the task.

~ Panic got boring, now what?

~ Our first priority must be to protect large corporations that sheltered cash overseas during the Obama administration, and then splurged on stock buy-backs, C-suite bonuses and dividend payouts when Trump gave them a tax break; because all that stock they bought back has lost value!


~ I wish those in power would react to the threat to future generations i.e. climate change the way they're reacting to a threat to themselves and their wealth/power in regards to this virus.  

When it comes to Boomers, everything closes.  

When it comes to everything else, it's let's not overreact.




~ What did we talk about before there was Coronavirus?

~ Trumpcast had Bill Kristol on recently.  It's worth a listen, as he seems to honestly self-reflect on what conservatism started out as and how it came to be that they are all lined up behind Trump.


~ Funny how all the consumers and workers staying home has brought the economy to its knees and the job creators are not keeping the economy running with their amazing boot straps.

    Almost as if it is the people at the bottom that create the wealth.




~ On the bright side, my Fear Of Missing Out has gone away

_____________________________

________________________________

     Woody Allen's memoir, Apropos of Nothing, is sitting there on Amazon, and it says, "currently unavailable."

     Sonofabitch.

     Fecking Hachette.


     In consolation for not being able -- nay, allowed (!!!!) -- to read the book, I started watching more of his movies.

     My Friday March 6th blog post was the e.e. cummings poem Woody used in his 1980s film, Hannah And Her Sisters.  Very good movie.  Soundtrack beautiful, and punchy.



     Friday March 13th blog post title:
          "it's going to rain -- do you have enough canned goods in the house?"

--------------------------- This phrase seemed to relate to the grocery-stockpiling which the post was about, and it was borrowed from a wonderful documentary about Woody Allen and his work that is available to watch free with Amazon Prime.

     His second wife Louise Lasser appears in that film and she tells about when she was married to him and they lived in NYC, Allen's father would call over to their house and say -- "It's going to rain.  Do you have enough canned goods in the house?"  Kind of sweet and old-fashioned.

------------------ Another crushing problem:  no more Hardball with Chris Matthews.  (No other show fills that role; there's no replacement, no substitute.  This stinks.)

     To paraphrase Yvonne Elliman,

 "since - I - can't - have - him [Chris Matthews]" 

-- going to re-read his 1988 book titled Hardball.

-30-

it's going to rain -- do you have enough canned goods in the house?

Harry:  When the s**t comes down, I'm going to be ready.  That's all I'm saying.

Sally:  And meanwhile, you're going to ruin your whole life waiting for it.

~ When Harry Met Sally...
------------------------------

     Some people seem to be "stocking up" on some things, in case they have to stay home for a while or get quarantined.

     The New York Times had an article a few days ago, titled, "Stocking Your Pantry, the Smart Way," written by Melissa Clark.


some Reader Comments

Martin
Budapest
------------ Finally, those trophy kitchens in the states will get some use besides heating up chicken nuggets.  I know I'll take flak for this comment, but really the most amazing kitchens I have ever seen during my many decades in the states was in homes where the family seldom did any real cooking.

Nycgal
New York
--------------------- Also what wimps we are if we can't handle a couple of weeks quarantine without the cornucopia of food items from the grocery store.  I think of my grandparents during the depression.  They got by on very very little for much longer than two weeks.

Joel Geier
Oregon
-------------- Yesterday I visited our home-brewing supply store to buy barley malt, hops, and a German bock/lager yeast culture.  The store owner laughed when I told him I was "prepping."  

But if we get quarantined, I have enough to brew 15 gallons -- that's twenty 6-packs of 16-oz bottles -- of very good quality German-style dark bock.  $60 worth of ingredients yields $200 worth of craft-quality beer at retail prices, so it's also a bargain.  

Even enough to share with our neighbors.  The county two miles north of us had their first reported case today, so this was none too soon.



Sarah
Smith
----------- My pantry is stocked with good silver tequila, Cointreau, salt, and limes.



Barbara
Sequim, Washington
-------------------- Our neighbor stockpiled, in anticipation of the Y2K apocalypse.  She passed away in 1999.  Her cases of dried and canned foods went in a garage sale, and what wasn't sold went to the food bank.

Lari
----------------- When this is over or has died down, people are going to be donating a lot of this stuff to food drives.

Jorge Uoxinton
Brooklyn
---------------- If everyone stocks up food soon there will be a shortage.  Let us not panic.  One- or two-week stock is O.K. but no more.  Pleeeeese.


Austin Liberal
Texas
------------------- ...I'd understand concern about vital supplies; I've stocked up on those, packed pounds and pounds of ground beef into meal-size portions, filled the freezer.  But toilet paper???


Val
Vancouver
-------------- Yes disappearing toilet paper - phenomenon happening in Canada too.  I loved the pantry article - perfect advice in an imperfect time.  I love those meals that pull from my pantry, refrigerator and freezer.  Keep cooking America!


tom harrison
seattle
------------------- Here in Seattle I have had no problem finding anything except hand sanitizer (which I don't use anyway).  

One store put a 5-per-household limit on things like rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide but again, I had no problem with those either.  I will know things are serious here when the shelves of coffee disappear.  

No problem with that either.  

Coffee was on sale and I went with the unroasted raw Ethiopian coffee beans at $3.37 per pound.  


I have lettuce, basil, and other herbs growing in the closets.



Mary
Washington
------------------- Buy an Instant Pot, head to the dry good bins, and stock up on rices, beans, lentils, cornmeal, whole oats, faro, wheat berries...  The pot will turn them into simple, perfectly cooked meals with no watching the pot.  It will change what you eat forever at half the cost of canned food.


Gerald
Portland
---------------- This article is only marginally helpful and at times leans more toward a cooking show (or dinner party as another person commented):  I just love spices!  I just can't cook without lemons!  Don't forget that cream cheese!

Mari
Florida
------------------- Would Slivowitz work as a disinfectant?  A Czech relative gave it to us a dozen years ago.  Can't take a sip without gagging.  Been meaning to get rid of it.......


Frank
New Jersey
--------------- One size does not fit all, we are all adults and we know what we should keep in our own pantry.





Alex
Chicago
-------------- This article makes me laugh just a little - if Melissa Clark ever stopped by my kitchen, she'd be appalled.  There's nothing in there except celery sticks and walnuts.  It's full-on bachelor realness.


dtm
Alaska
----------------- Shaking my head.  I'm a bit of a food hoarder, but this is getting ridiculous.  It's as if people are preparing for the zombie apocalypse.  My two cents worth:  frozen Brussels sprouts and blueberries.  I have enough food and water to last for a couple of months.  

If need be, I can melt snow for water.  

And there are always the neighborhood moose if things get truly desperate.  Which they won't.  P.S. Don't forget prescription meds.


CS
Midwest
-------------- Rice and beans, a variety of legumes, frozen veggies, and a wide variety of spices and sauces.  And peanut butter, yes a legume, because we're not barbarians.  It may get repetitive but it will suffice.  Oh yeah, dark chocolate because, well, if I need to explain you'll never understand.


Joyceling
California
---------------- Where is the story about WHY you need a full pantry?  I would like to see a story about the likelihood of the supply chain being disrupted.

Sandy
Bay Area
------------ You forgot ice cream!

Cheryl
Houston
-------------- The idea, I believe, is that (a) even if we are mildly sick, we should stay home to avoid spreading it to people more vulnerable than we are and (b) we may be asked to self-quarantine, whether or not we are sick, to slow the spread, to help ensure that the very sick have access to medical care, like the entire country of Italy is doing.


Margaret
NYC
-------------- I live in a small apartment and don't have much of a freezer.  I have several pounds of meat but can't stock many frozen vegetables and fruits.  I bought jars of applesauce, canned tomatoes, bottled red peppers, bottled lemon juice, and dried fruit.  

I looked into dried vegetables--spinach, cabbage-- but knowing I'd never eat any of it if I didn't need to made me reluctant to spend the money, so I bought canned vegetable soup, which may not be much better but feels more familiar.


R Mandl
Canoga Park, California
------------ Let's get together with the ammo in the basement guy - sounds like a party!


Malcolm Kelly
Washington, D.C.
-------------- Just did "the big shop" yesterday.  Forgot passata, went back for that.  Handy to have are some decent curry mixes and chili mixes to liven things up.  Pork chops in the freezer along with some chicken breasts.  

Honey and apple cider vinegar to make sweet and sour pork or chicken pan sheet dinners, apple slices on top to make automatic apple sauce.  Herbs are awake in the herb garden in my yard, they add a lot to many dishes.  Beer and wine, for cooking and drinking.



Flaneuse
DC
--------------- Write the purchase date on everything with a sharpie - then, first in, first out.


Marie Rama
Athens, New York
--------------------- I love this article by Melissa Clark!  I'd also recommend my favorite pasta sauces by Hudson Green.  They make a 6 vegetable Meatless Bolognese and a dairy-free Velvet Vodka.  

Both are great on pasta and can be combined with beans or rice or lentils and other whole grains for quick, nutritious, plant-based meals in minutes.  

Preparing your own food is another way to secure the safety of yourself and your family until this virus leaves us.


M
socal
---------------- @tom harrison It would be lovely to understand more about growing vegetables in closets.  Do you have a timed light?  Are you growing hydroponically?


M
San Antonio
------------ Don't forget the weed!

John
Chicago
------------ This is counter-productive and not helpful at all.  We need for people to remain calm and go about their lives, not raid grocery stores. ... Wash your hands, avoid Wuhan province and go about your life.  

What will hurt us more than anything is crashing stock markets, mass-cancellations of events, classes etc., closures of vital businesses and total import restrictions (and articles like this).



Wi-Jess
Midwest
--------------- Unfortunately, I can't stock anything I might binge on before the crisis hits - chips, ice cream, Oreos, peanut butter cups, etc.  Unless my husband can hide it from me until it's needed.


Nycgal
New York
-------------- Bread in the freezer, canned soup or stock, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, frozen vegs and fruit.  Frozen oj.  Processed cheese for grilled cheese.  Yogurt.  Powdered milk if you dare.  Snacks!  Lots of snacks.  Just shop like it's 1960.


Working mom
San Diego
---------------- Flour, lard or Crisco, salt and water.  Flour tortillas for weeks.  Beans.  Rice.  I could live on that for a long time.

BGZ123
Princeton, New Jersey
--------------- Please don't forget the directions to the grocery store.  Put one foot in front of the other if you're walking; buckle up for safety if you're riding. - You're welcome.




Stanislav
Europe
-------------------- @Andy my whole country survived 40 years of bolshevism beyond iron curtain pretty much on pickled stuff, one winter at a time.  

Pickled sour cucumber (whole, small variety that does not turn soft) is an evergreen, so is sour cabbage.  Also meat can be pickled, my mom did pickled pork quite often, because we did not have large fridge.  

She'd top the jar with layer of fat, to keep it sealed I guess, or maybe the fat just floated there..Dunno, will have to ask her.  Anyhow, it tastes great, I never liked frozen meat because of that!

-30-

saving our lives with lists of movies

The Guardian ran an article by a film critic titled,

Comfort films to watch while self-isolating -- ranked!

Sub-heading:

     "Hunkering down to avoid coronavirus?  With romcoms, fantasy yarns and at least one disaster melodrama, here's all you need to make the most of your time in front of the TV"

by Peter Bradshaw

_______________________

First, Mr. Bradshaw's list from The Guardian.

Then, my list.

__________________________________

25.  Babe   (1995)
24.  Amelie   (2001)
23.  Casablanca   (1942)
22.  Zoolander   (2001)
21.  Downton Abbey   (2019)
20.  Back to the Future   (1985)
19.  Quiz Show   (1994)
18.  Guys and Dolls   (1955)
17.  When Harry Met Sally...   (1989)



16.  Dreamgirls   (2006)
15.  Love & Basketball   (2000)
14.  Jupiter Ascending   (2005)
13.  Mary Poppins   (1964)
12.  Ferris Bueller's Day Off   (1986)
11.  Clueless   (1995)
10.  The Pursuit of Happyness   (2006)
9.  Paddington 2   (2017)


8.  Galaxy Quest   (1999)
7.  The Princess Bride   (1987)
6.  Notting Hill   (1999)
5.  Duck Soup   (1933)
4.  It's Complicated   (2009)
3.  Waiting to Exhale   (1995)
2.  The Devil Wears Prada   (2006)
1.  Titanic   (1997)

_____________________________


Now -- the Blue Collar Lit. list

(Not "ranked.")


Born Yesterday  (Broderick Crawford, 1950)

All About Eve  (1950, Bette Davis)
Manhattan  (1979)
Annie Hall  (Woody Allen; Diane Keaton)
Witness  (1985, Harrison Ford)
When Harry Met Sally...  (Billy Crystal)
The Last Waltz  (concert movie:  The Band)
The Philadelphia Story  (1940, Cary Grant)

His Girl Friday  (1940, Cary Grant)
Casablanca  (1943, Humphrey Bogart)
Indiscreet  (1958, Ingrid Bergman)
Hannah And Her Sisters  (1986)
Take The Money And Run  (1969, Woody Allen)

Body Heat  (1981, Kathleen Turner)
The Sound Of Music  (Julie Andrews)
North by Northwest  (Hitchcock)
Laura  (1944)

Strangers On A Train  (Hitchcock)
Shadow Of A Doubt  (Hitchcock)
The Seven-Year Itch  (Marilyn Monroe)



Citizen Kane  (Orson Welles)
The Sting  (Robert Redford, Paul Newman)
Criminal  (2004, John C. Reilly; Diego Luna)
All The President's Men  (Robert Redford)
Sweet Smell Of Success  (1957, Tony Curtis)

_________________________________

     Some of the movies on this list have terrific soundtracks, worth listening to even if a person was paying no attention to the plot.


     Just imagine -- when we're all working from home, watching these movies, protecting our health...

-30-

Logic, puréed in a food processor

I feel like I'm lost in a desert and I'm late for something.


Chris Matthews!


Woody Allen!


These young ladies of the "Me Too" movement are attacking the wrong people.  They're crazy!

     "Why have I not fallen in love with you, yet?" spoken in a cheerful, upbeat [not to say manic] way while Chris Matthews was passing by -- is 'sexual harassment'??  Are they kidding me????


     That's a sweet, romantic, old-fashioned (maybe even 'corny') version of light flirting, meant as a compliment, as camaraderie among work-mates....

     It's like they're attacking freedom of speech -- Ladies! - that is the wrong target!



     And now they're affecting my Freedom To Read:  last week I found out Woody Allen has a memoir coming out -- Apropos Of Nothing is the title.  I had just sworn off buying books for a while, but in this case had to make an exception -- I pre-ordered it on Amazon and Amazon said, "Cool, we'll deliver it to you April 7th, the day it comes out."  

And I was like, "Ten-four, thumbs-up" -- and then the next day it's on SLATE and in the New York Times that the publisher, Hachette Book Group, is going to Not-Publish Woody Allen's book after all because Ronan Farrow bullied them out of it.  (!)  (I mean, that isn't the exact wording of their press release, probably, but that sounds like the substance of the situation to me....)   Honestly!!!!


(a.k.a. spineless tap-dancing weasel)


     Mia Farrow (Ronan's mom) has been media-stalking and harassing Woody Allen for approximately 27 years.  Because she was mad that he started dating someone else after she and he had agreed they were platonic anyway.  (What?!)


     These crazy freak-shows are stopping me from having Hardball with Chris Matthews from You Tube each night after work, and they're preventing me from reading Woody Allen's book -- publisher backing out of a signed contract?! -- what kind of ethics do those people have?? -- it's like the Nazis burning books in the 1930s!

               This is not right!




     I feel like I have to get a T-shirt and have it printed up with the phrase "Say it ain't so!" and then have 50 more just like it made up, and just wear those with black slacks for the rest of my life.


Maldición!!!

-30-