Star Wars 1977

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Yes, Star Wars was originally released on May 25, 1977. Notice I did not say Star Wars: A New Hope because that was not what it was called then. Anyway, my children and I were talking recently about what made Star Wars such a cultural phenomenon. Looking back it’s really difficult to explain exactly what it was like when the first movie came out. That has less to do with the world at time than it does with the movie itself, I think. No one knew what to expect and what we got certainly wasn’t anything like what we might’ve imagined. So where to start?Read More →

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum

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Having grown up on the 1939 movie, literally every Christmas, it’s easy to forget that it was based upon a fairly lengthy series of children’s books by Frank L Baum. The first book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was first published on May 17, 1900 and was illustrated by W. W. Denslow, a long time collaborator of Baum.  Having finally gotten around to reading the original books in recent years, I thought it might be fun to celebrate by comparing a couple of images from the original book to the same scene from the 1939 movie. Dorothy in the tornado Okay, honestly those are nothingRead More →

John Wick

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We got a new high speed internet connection a couple of weeks ago so my son & I immediately decided to have a movie DAY since we weren’t busy elsewhere. Of course, the next question was what to watch? We finally settled on John Wick. Ended up watching the first three movies, one right after another. So, I’ll say it again. WOW! The weird thing is that essentially they are very violent, blood and all, movies which normally I don’t like that much. And yet it was more like watching a ballet at times. With guns and fists. My son said that they are probablyRead More →

magnifying glass

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Lately, what I’ve been amazed by is how many new-to-me “quirky” TV mysteries I’ve run across on Britbox through Prime. It must be that time of year or something. I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I love mystery series with a bit of humor and, well, let’s just call it eccentricities to them. And these four have that in spades. So, in the order I found them: Pie in the Sky (1994-1997) This one is an older series that I think I’ve tried before. I liked the premise of a police detective who wants to open his own restaurant but, of course,Read More →

magnifying glass

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(first posted March 12, 2021) But that’s not the most intriguing part. It was originally published in 1925. By a man. Oh, and there’s more. It’s the first Charlie Chan novel by Earl Derr Biggers titled The House Without a Key.  As far as I know I’ve seen most of the Charlie Chan movies many times. I actually like them. Now I know that those movies are a point of contention regarding the fact that a white man was cast, not once but multiple times, as an Asian. It’s a valid point. It’s also how things were done then. However the thing that’s always struckRead More →

Nick and Nora of The Thin Man movies

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I have the complete set of six The Thin Man movies staring William Powell and Myrna Loy. They are simply perfection, individually and collectively. Periodically I will pull them out and rewatch them in order, usually a couple a night for several nights. They’re only like an hour and a half each so that’s workable.  Occasionally I will get in the mood to go right to my two favorites – Shadow of the Thin Man and Song of the Thin Man. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you which of those two is my top favorite. I enjoy them equally just for different reasons. It’sRead More →

Let's get comfortable!

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Well, if it’s a really good flashlight, that is. So, a couple of weeks ago we had a high wind event with winds that reached lower hurricane levels. This is a very unusual occurrence for our area seeing as we are in western Kentucky. There wasn’t a lot of widespread structural damage but our electric grid took a major beating as several hundred poles came down. As a result we had no electricity from mid-day Friday thru late Sunday afternoon. We were probably lucky to have it back that fast, too. But, seriously, by the second day of our blackout I was totally bored. I finallyRead More →

Aang and Po

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Yes, I will admit it, I absolutely adore both the Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series and the Kung Fu Panda movie trilogy. Possibly even more than Scooby Doo. I mean I devour most things Scooby Doo but I also know they have their faults. These two animated “series”, however, are almost perfection personified. Both have to do with martial arts. Each has a level of depth and character development for a children’s series that is incredible to behold. Depth not always found in so-called adult fare, either. The people who put these two series together didn’t just throw some fun at kids. They tellRead More →

love

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As many years as I’ve been reading romances I’ve never taken the time to look up the history of Valentine’s Day. So, I did some reading online and found it fascinating but one reference in particular caught my eye because I suddenly realized I might’ve stumbled across the origin of “scrapbooks” in a rather unexpected place. 😉 Check out this quote and see if you catch what I did: Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations withRead More →

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I make no secret about my love for Lois & Clark. I saved this one for Valentines Day because it makes me smile. So curl up with your super bestie. Or a good book. Both work.Read More →

Ten Nights of Love

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I was reminded this week in a big way about my Ten Night of Love post series by something on the All About Romance blog. After I commented there with a link back I thought I should look them over and make sure they are still presentable. I gave them a serious technical edit and format review in 2020 but the occasional quick check never hurts. Which led to this “It’s almost Valentine’s Day” reminder that they are on the site. Full list of current Ten Nights of Love posts (in reading order and including some posts I added as addendums to the original series):Read More →

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I don’t even remember how I ran across this article. But wow, this list of rules for rebooting classic TV and movie properties should be taken to heart by Hollywood. Especially the last one. Just saying. Seriously. Because that seems to be the way things go lately when something literally flops and it ain’t pretty. Or nice. Yeah, I’m looking at you… VELMA.Read More →

The Addams Family

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So have you watched the new Wednesday series on Netflix yet that’s based on the daughter from The Addams Family? If you haven’t, you may be the only one who hasn’t. Just saying. This was really good and I’m not entirely sure why. I know I liked it. My son and I stayed up until around 3 am one night during the holidays to watch all of it. It was one of those “just one more episodes and we’ll stop” situations. Only we didn’t until we were done. So, yeah, I enjoyed it. Although, why? I’m not sure exactly, so I started checking out someRead More →