Nouveau White Trash

When you think of white trash the people you may think of are generally poor, lazy, high school drop outs. They're prone to violence, careless and sloppy as all hell, cheats (in every way possible), racist, misogynistic, mullet wearing, they listen to and actually enjoy Kid Rock and Ted Nugent. Their drink of choice is Mountain Dew and bottom-shelf tequila (or something equally heinous) and if they’re not a tweaker, they’ve got at least one in their immediate family. Trailer parks versus fine homes are envisioned.  

Proud ignorance, thugishness, lack of attention to hygiene and household cleanliness as well as a complete absence of moral and financial discipline are all qualities that come to mind.

Amirite?

I’d like to propose that the U.S., specifically our very own burnt orange Prez Pedo, has brought about a new, more egalitarian age of white trash-dom. Trump and his complete vacuum of class and dignity, has ushered in the age of nouveau riche white trash.

To start with – his very own distinctly dull-witted, druggy, grifting, boobish spawn absolutely clown themselves every time they manage to capture a camera's focus. None of them seem to have a clue as to how imbecilic they look and sound.

Then there’s the scary Mar-a-Lago crowd. Mein gott, you’ve all seen the party pics with the freakish plastic women with chests which could easily serve as flotation devices in case anyone falls into the pool. Unfortunately the eight gallons of makeup each of them wear, would run creating a biohazard. This might cause a delay in service at the omelet bar which could unduly upset the geriatric investment bankers who bankroll all the fake gazongas. This could get ugly. *uglier*

Now we land in Pedo’s junk drawer of losers (AKA the Cabinet). All of them – rich, fluorescent skanks, doltish douches, and melodramatic, hamfaced morons.

Killer Kristi, moldy radish brained Kegseth, coke snorting, lying Rubio, the Education Secretary whose main “qualification” for office was being involved in professional “wrestling,” the imbecilic Treasury Secretary, RFK Jr. FFS!!! And let’s not forget Concentration/Death Camp Miller. This is certainly not a complete list of the intelligence and morally exempt refuse! These people are the absolute pinnacle of white trash-dom.

We have an complete motherfucking White Trash Administration.

Have you heard about Pedo’s Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer ? 

1) Her husband, Shawn DeRemer sexually assaulted not one but TWO women while visiting the Department. 

2) She’s apparently running a Nazi Labor Department.

The Labor Department’s account on X in January posted a video that featured a slideshow of artworks depicting glorified scenes of American history.

The caption above that video said, “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage. Remember who you are, American.”

Social media users noted similarities between the Labor Department’s post and a Nazi Party slogan.
The slogan “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer,” which the U.S. Holocaust Museum notes was used by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, translates to “One People, One Country, One Leader. (source) 

3) Lori had an affair with one of her staff – one of her security detail. Is this why hubby’s getting handsy with Lori’s employees or is he just a big douche of his own accord? 

4) She was into travel fraud. That is, she had her office set up “professional events” as an excuse for personal travel. 

Farther down the GOP trash line…

An Ohio Republican mayor has been charged with voyeurism after he was caught on camera sniffing teen girl’s underwear.

According to investigators, the teen had hidden a small camera in a bedroom in the home. On 13 January, she reportedly received multiple motion alerts indicating recordings had been captured. Deputies say the footage showed Dingus smelling at least four pairs of her underwear “for several seconds” and also “touching his groin area over his clothes”.

Richland county children’s services passed the report along to law enforcement the same day the alleged incident occurred, and a deputy later interviewed the girl at her school. (source) 

His name is Wesley Dingus. No, fer reals. His name is Dingus! I would have changed that the minute I hit 18 if I was him but //shrugs// Maybe, when you’re a panty sniffing pedo, having a self-identifying last name is good?  

Dingus
    noun
a dim-witted, silly, or foolish person

The Butler, Ohio mayor is also facing numerous charges for running over a man wanted for violating parole in July 2025. Swell, emotionally balanced guy, eh?

Remember Dylann Roof? He’s the white supremacist, neo-nazi mass murderer who gunned down nine people at a bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on July 17, 2015.

The judge for his Roof’s bond hearing – the one who called Roof's family "victims" in the church shooting, while in the presence of the actual victims' families – is a big fan child sex abuse material. I was so shocked...NOT.

There ya have it folks, the GOP – white trash from top to bottom. 

What's In A Name?

A group of pedophiles should henceforth be known as a ‘trump” – a trump of pedophiles. You know, like a murder of crows only WAY less cool and FAR more skeevy and dangerous.

Quick Martha, dial up Terminator Exterminators™. I hear there’s a trump of pedos headed this way.

Did you know?

According to a report just out by the Bureau of Justice Statistics: 
In 2023 U.S. citizens accounted for 96% of the people in the U.S. who were been charged with federal human trafficking offenses.
92% of those fuckers were men.
63% were white men.
17% were Black men. 
16% were Hispanic men.

Extra added tidbit – 1.7% of those charged were non-citizens who were in the U.S. legally.
Only 2.3% of the 1,160 scumbags charged in 2023 were undocumented immigrants.

So much for Prez Pedo, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, Pam Bondi, and all the other hate mongers blaming immigrants for the crimes committed primarily by wealthy white men.

Projection 
     noun
the process by which one attributes one’s own individual characteristics, affects, and impulses to another person or group. This is often a defense mechanism in which unpleasant or unacceptable impulses, stressors, ideas, affects, or responsibilities are attributed to others. 

Such defensive patterns are often used to justify prejudice or evade responsibility; in more severe cases, they may develop into paranoid delusions in which, for example, an individual who blames others for their problems may come to believe that those others are plotting against them. 

In classical psychoanalytic theory, projection permits the individual to avoid seeing their own faults.

Also

Gaslighting Psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.

Examples of Gaslighting 
Denying Reality: "That never happened," "You’re imagining things," "You're remembering it wrong.”
Minimizing Feelings: "You're too sensitive," "It was just a joke," “You're overreacting.”
Countering Memory: "You have a terrible memory," "That's not how it happened.”
Blame Shifting: "I wouldn't have done that if you hadn't...", "It's your fault I got angry.”
Isolation Tactics: "Everyone agrees with me, you're the only one who thinks that.”

Gloria Allred, the high-profile attorney representing several of the Trumpstein survivors has said, regarding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest:

“The state has acted quickly to make this arrest but there still has not been any action on the part of the police on allegations that Andrew has committed crimes against women.

Apparently allegations concerning the state trade secrets and/or allegations of financial crimes are given priority and quick action while allegations of rape and child sexual abuse and sex trafficking take many years to investigate and do not result in arrests and accountability for victims who are women and girls.” (source) 

Yup, our bullshit patriarchal planet thinks the theft of, fer instance, the formula for Colonel Sanders' blend of 11 herbs and spices or Big Mac’s special sauce, is a greater crime than the rape of 11-year-old children.

Still, at least old Randy Andy’s been busted for something. His reputation’s irredeemable trash now. That’s more than what’s been done to any of the wealthy U.S. child rapists. 

How 'bout we take billionaire Les Wexner down a few pegs or maybe a billion? He’s the owner of LBrands, which created Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and Abercrombie & Fitch. Anyone up for a boycott? Anyone?

If our on-the-take Department of Injustice won’t do anything (and they won't), it’s up to us to make them feel some financial pain.

One more added bit – apparently Andy’s faithful domestic partner/former wife Sarah Ferguson was extra special tight with Epstein as well.  She’s now couch surfing with friends (fellow sleazebags?) in France and the Middle East and delusionally thinking that, at 66 years of age, she’ll just hire a PR team and make a dramatic comeback.

Ya know, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but at least I’ve never gotten involved with a trump of vile, barbarous, greedheaded, pedophile monsters.

Rotting Oranges and Other Disintegrating Fools

I saw rumors all over the interwebz late last night.

Israel threatening to release Epstein deets/videos of Prez Pedo if he won’t bomb Iran.

Iran threatening to release Epstein deets/videos of Prez Pedo if he does bomb them.

Mike Luckovich

What’s a sexual predator gonna do? Are we going to war with Iran because Netanyahu wants a war and has enough heinous dirt on Donnie to make that happen?

THIS IS WHY WE SHOULDN'T ALLOW CRIMINALS TO HOLD OFFICE!!!

Meanwhile, JDouche and his startlingly offensive excuse for a personality strikes again! He’s making damn sure the U.S. doesn’t have an ally left on the planet.

"The problem that we have with Europe is not that we don’t like Europe, even though you hear that from the European press. It’s not that we don’t respect our allies. It’s that they are doing a lot of things to sabotage themselves", Vance said. (source) 

Hey Captain Oblivious, ya wanna try rephrasing that stunningly inept, failed go at statesmanship? Instead of a quadruple negative, how about something positive along the lines of “The United States wants to assist Europe in attaining its goals and dreams in…” 

Obviously VP CouchFuck’s diplomacy skills are about as advanced as those of a third grade playground bully. No…I take that back. JDouche is a failed third grade playground bully. He aspires to such lofty goals but they elude him. He remains, forever, a humiliated failure on the world stage.

Off topic – I don’t think ol’ JDouche is wearing eyeliner anymore. I wonder what’s up with that. Maybe his puppet master, Thiel, told him it’s unflattering? Plus, Douchey looks tired to me. You? Being a clueless jerk must be exhausting, eh?

Perjury Pam, Prez Pedo’s personal lawyer and the unholy protector of rich pedophiles everywhere, is an accomplice to crimes against humanity. 

• She’s lied under oath that the client list didn’t exist even though she’d previously said the list was "on her desk.” 
• While Florida's Attorney General she didn’t step into the 2008 non-prosecution agreement that let Epstein dodge heavy federal charges. 
• Her and her DoJ team of pedo protectors refused to meet with any of Epstein/Trump’s victims.
• The utterly haphazard, chaotic, firehose releases of files were done to overwhelm us, throw us all off balance, and destroy blowback. It’s not working. Hah Hah!
• The incredibly incompetent redaction process where abuse survivors were exposed but perps were hidden. On purpose, of course.

Yeah, PP’s an Epstein/Trump co-conspirator. Gee, DUH! It’s not just me saying this either. A panel of independent experts appointed by the United Nations human rights council weighs in:

The experts said crimes outlined in documents released by the US justice department were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny. The crimes, they said, showed a commodification and dehumanisation of women and girls.

“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” they said in a statement.
~~~
The UN experts also raised concerns about “serious compliance failures and botched redactions” that exposed sensitive victim information. More than 1,200 victims were identified in the documents that have been released so far.

“The reluctance to fully disclose information or broaden investigations, has left many survivors feeling retraumatised and subjected to what they describe as ‘institutional gaslighting’,” the experts said. (source)  

Unsurprisingly, our so-called justice department has not responded to The Guardian’s request for comment.

Speaking of entitled fucking predator twats, the pedo formerly known as Prince Andrew has been busted in the UK on “suspicion of misconduct in public office.” On top of raping minors, looks like Andy was giving away UK biz secrets.

Thames Valley Police previously said it was “assessing” reports that Mountbatten-Windsor sent confidential trade reports to Epstein in 2010, when the former prince was Britain’s special envoy for international trade. (source) 

I wonder if he’ll toss out any useful, damaging. tasty morsels about Epstein's Disaster in Chief bestie? Ya know, Andy’s got nothing left to lose. He could help the world by taking out an evil dictator with what he knows. 

He probably won't but…wouldn’t it be nice?

Steppin' Stones

Woke up with Micky Dolenz singing (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone in my head. Christ on a melting clock, I loved the Monkees and was so disappointed to find out that they weren’t a real band. Mike Nesmith was a real musician and songwriter. So was Peter Tork (bass, guitar, banjo, keyboards, and French horn). Micky Dolenz was an actor who learned to play the drums for his part on the show. Davy Jones? He was a jockey who could sing. Behind the scenes, other songwriters wrote their tunes and session musicians covered everything except the vocals.

I was a kid when I found this out but it bugged the hell out of me. I wanted them to be a real band, songwriters, genuine wacky creative talents.

Similarly, when I found out that Art Garfunkel was getting songwriting credits on all of Paul Simons tunes in the ‘60s but was just contributing vocals, I was pissed. Yes, dude had a lovely choirboy voice. He provided a sweet voice BUT he didn’t co-write those poetic songs. I hated that my girlfriend Jean went all swoony over him – acting like he was more than a singer.

Mind you, being a talented performer is grand – Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Joe Cocker anyone? Just don’t try to put yourself out there as an original artist. Fer gawd’s sake.

Maybe it’s like it’s Patrick Stewart playing Oberon in a A Midsummer Night's Dream. I’m certain he was absolutely brilliant but he didn’t write the play – Shakespeare did. Stewart would NEVER in a zillion years claim or imply that he’d had anything to do with the writing of the play though.

The songwriting team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote a lot of the Monkees’ songs. Neil Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager, Neil Sedaka, Harry Nilsson, Carole King and her husband Gerry Goffin also wrote for them.

The teevee show was cancelled after two short seasons. Frank Zappa supposedly asked Dolenz (who, remember, had only just learned to play for the show) to be his drummer but I can’t believe this was a serious invitation. Either that or Frank was tripping his auditory cortex clean off. I mean, Zappa wrote compositions with time signatures like 7/4, 11/8, and 19/16. Yeah Micky, that invitation wasn’t meant to be taken so earnestly. 

An aside: One of Zappa’s drummer was Terry Bozzio who I had the unbelievable luck to see at a drum festival in Amsterdam. This was probably three million years ago when early hominids were first sparking doobies along the Leidseplein. Bozzio was massively BRILLIANT. His playing was fucking transportational. My soul soared into the stratosphere. Swear ta Bast!

This interview with Micky Dolenz at The Guardian’s  website reminded me of their movie Head. I saw that way back in 1980 or ’81 at some odd little backstreet cafe/movie house in Cambridge’s Central Square. Back then, Central Square was still gritty with The Red Bookstore (located near the Massachusetts chapter of the Communist Party), the Orson Welles Cinema (picketed by nuns for showing a movie portraying the Virgin Mary as a pregnant basketball player), and Mary Chung’s – the small, dark Chinese restaurant in which I regularly dined.

In any case, Head, I dimly recall, was a real trip and I’d love to see it again. It was written by Jack Nicholson. Apparently I can watch the whole thing on YouTube. Huh. Waddyaknow.

Mike Nesmith died from heart failure in 2021. He was 78.
Peter Tork died in 2019 from a rare cancer – adenoid cystic carcinoma – at the age of 77.
Davy Jones died in 2012 of a heart attack. He was just 66 years old.

In the dream previous to the (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone one, I was designing business cards for my company’s rebranding. We were no longer going to be an offset print and copy house. Nope. We were going to specialize in assassinations and demolitions of mega-corporations.

I was kind of stuck on the logo. The old one (a cartoonish English Bobby) just didn’t seem to fit the new biz identity. Huh.

Landlocked

I don’t think I could live in a landlocked state or country. I imagine this’ll come as no surprise if you’re a long time reader of this here blog. I’m kind of big on proximity to the water. I could do a  lake maybe but I really prefer to be on the coast – closer the better.

Here in Valhalla we’re one house back from the seawall. That’s about as far as I’m willing to go.

When my friend Susan, who grew up across the street from a beach on the Cape, moved to Minneapolis, I was stunned. HOW could she possibly live so far from the water!!!

Well, as it turns out Minneapolis contains 22, count ‘em, 22 lakes. 13 of those babies cover at least five acres too. So, Susan’s not on an ocean but she’s definitely not far from water. 

There are 27 landlocked U.S. states. Seven of these border the Great Lakes though. Nebraska is most landlocked of all the states as one must pass through four states, minimum, to reach an ocean. Sheesh.

Kansas, by the by, is the only US state without any natural lakes. Any that you do see, should you find yourself there for some strange, unfortunate reason, are man-made. Kansas has three rivers though. Whoopee.

Oklahoma has some small oxbow type natural lakes but any others you might come across there are man-made. 

Utah, Wyoming, Iowa, Montana, Missouri, and West Virginia are pretty damn dry and far from oceans too. I wonder if that’s a contributing factor to MAGAtism. Wouldn't be surprised.

Texas has just one natural lake but the state's on the Gulf on Mexico so, for all it’s myriad sins, at least it’s not landlocked.

I realize I’m one of those folks who’s just innately tied to the ocean. Well, the shoreline anyway – I'm not a boat person. Some people are bound to mountains or forests or desertscapes. To each their own and shit.

Here’s the thing though, being far away from the ocean can be inconvenient. You’re not close to major ports. Very little is manufactured in the U.S. at this point so if you’re in Bumfuck Iowa, your iPhone, car parts, lobster tails, real Champagne, viagra and ozempic all come into coastal ports and are put on a plane or truck before they make the journey to your landlocked state. The cost for the extra miles of transportation is added to your bill. Also, how fresh and tasty do you think that frozen seafood is compared to what I can get down the street at my local pub? (That is, IF I ate shellfish which I do NOT. They look like giant bugs, fer gawds sake!)

I was looking at a map of Africa yesterday, as one does, and realized that the continent has a LOT of landlocked countries – 16 in total. Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, and Eswatini to name just three.

There are 16 landlocked countries in Europe as well. Switzerland, Czechia, and Belarus fer instance.

15 in Asia, including Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, and Nepal. All these names spark up my wanderlust. If I had the money and was physically robust, I’d love to take a year and do a slow tour through all these countries.

South America has just two landlocked countries – Bolivia, Paraguay.

Of all the places I’ve visited, and I’ve not been to nearly enough different lands, the most beautiful, diverse and perfect for me has been the Isle of Skye. It’s on the ocean, there’s woodland, the craggy mountains of the Black Cuillin are brilliantly majestic. The Quiraing has to be seen, hiked, embraced to be believed.

What would make it absolutely ideal would be:

A)  If it were more remote so there were fewer (less?) tourists.
B)  If Doc Plotkin and the rest of my NF2 pit crew (surgeons and other assorted neuro specialists) were located there too. Hey, I’m sure they’d love the place! Alternatively, maybe they could install a Star Trekian transporter beam and just beam me back and forth from Skye to MGH every couple of weeks.

Medicare will cover that, right? RIGHT?!!!

Ruby Slippers and Mother Wounds

Jen, Oni, Kevin and I just finished the third season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I’m just heartbroken that she’s been kicked off Shy Baldwin’s tour. Shy is the Johnny Mathis/Harry Belafonte/Nat King Cole-esque character who Midge has been opening for during the U.S. portion of his 1960 world tour. She’s booted just before they’re to leave for the European leg.

Why? She was incredibly nervous before her set at the Apollo. She’d gone up to Moms Mabley after her set to meet and praise her. Mabley’s manager broke in and dragged Midge because, ya see, Moms should have been the comic directly opening for Shy in Harlem at the Apollo – not some white girl.

Midge feels horrible AND scared. How is she going to win over the audience. Reggie, Shy’s manager, suggests Midge talk about Shy and the upcoming tour.

She does but in true Midge over-the-top, foot-in-mouth tradition, she goes too far, focusing on his love of extravagant fashions and fabrics. She even mentions Judy Garland’s shoes. *cough* Friend of Dorothy *cough* Inadvertently? Thinking only of how beautiful and sparkly they were? DOH!

Her act is well received. By the end of the show there doesn’t seem to be any blowback – no tabloid gossip columns rumormongering about how Shy Baldwin is not just Black, he’s a *gasp* homosexual! I expect the fallout may be coming in season four unless, now that Midge has been ditched, Baldwin’s story arc is over. We'll see.

This ep was set in 1960. The Stonewall riots were nine years down the road. In 1960, homosexuality was still listed as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. Baldwin’s career as a crooner would be over if the papers found out and blew up his personal life (and they would).

Here in real life last week, Prez Pedo and the evil Heritage Foundation machine behind him, had the Pride flag removed from the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village. The flag has since been re-raised. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed making the Pride flag a congressionally authorized symbol (meaning such flags would be safe from removal countrywide).

"Rights that are not secured in law can be threatened and symbols that are not protected can be stripped away. The flag that lies here is not decoration," Schumer said.

House Rep. Dan Goldman will sponsor it in the House.

In other Maisel character doings – I’m falling farther and farther out of love with Midge’s mother, Rose. When she left her family and went off to Paris to have her own life, unencumbered by bourgeois trappings and rigid mores, I thought, “YEA Rose! Such brave growth. What a hero.” When she rejected her misogynistic, hidebound male relatives and her trust fund (controlled by them), I cheered her bravery. THEN I watched as she callously condescendingly, snootily even criticized Midge’s comedic aspirations and performances. In last night’s show, she actually juxtaposed Midge’s stand up comedy routines to prostitution!

That, mes ami, went over the fucking line. Ya see, my own mother did that to me. In fact, she accused me of being a hooker in front of company in our house. Why? It came out that I was an art major (which she should have known. I mean, I made no secret of the fact that I changed my major from music to art) and that I took life drawing classes. These are figure drawing classes where the student draws from a live, usually nude, human model in order to study anatomy, proportion, and form. In fact, I modeled for a lot of classes myself. Why? I needed the money for books, art supplies, food and clothes. Plus, I was socking away dough so I could get out of town as soon as I graduated.

In case anyone is at all unaware, there’s a HUGE difference between the sort of nude modeling that’s done in art schools and the kind that’s done in bordellos or by a certain, current First “Lady.” Modelling for art classes does not involve sex. Mostly it's about numb limbs from sitting in one position for hours on end. Also, boredom.

So, Rose is dead to me now. Mother wounds – do those fuckers ever heal?

Movie, Movie, Movie

Tell me WHY I was awake at 4AM thinking about movies I’ve loved and haven’t seen in years. You know, if I were to have a library of film, these would NEED to be included.

Two by John Sayles – I imagine he’s made a bunch more brill flicks but these are the two I’ve seen and gotta have in the Maderer Memorial Film Library.

The Brother from Another Planet – Joe Morton is an escaped mute, space alien, slave trying to find a new life on Earth. His spaceship crash lands on Ellis Island and he ends up in Harlem. He finds work, community, and tries to avoid the slave catchers.

Return of the Secaucus Seven – seven friends spend a weekend together in New Hampshire. It’s a reunion of college activist chums plus an extra or two. Relationship dramas, basketball, skinny-dipping, a dead deer, an overnight in jail – a winding story ensues. 

The Big Chill was the glammed up, big money, nostagia-soundtrack, Hollywood, rip off of this.

Daughters of the Dust – an astoundingly beautiful movie by Julie Dash.

In 1902, a multigenerational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina—former West African slaves who carried on many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions—struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland, even further from their roots. (source) 

Liquid Sky – I don't recall the story line at all BUT the movie resonated heavily because it reminded me SO much of a night I spent at a bar/club in Chicago. It was summer of 1978 or '79 and my second season with a traveling carnival. That summer we mostly traveled from neighborhood to neighborhood on the South Side with occasional forays into the suburbs. One night, after the show shut for the night, one of the ride jocks and I went to the punk club O'Banion's. Swear to god, whoever dreamed up the sets for Liquid Sky had spent a few nights at O'Banion's.

Big Night - in the 1950s, two Italian immigrant brothers on the Jersey Shore run a restaurant which is not thriving despite its great chef. The brothers arrange for a big night as a way to boost the restaurant's profile – a five course free banquet with jazz/swing celeb singer Louis Prima as guest of honor. Food porn, joy, drama, and comedy follow.

God, what a great flick!

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean – this is the movie where I discovered, and fell in love with, Robert Altman (yeah, somehow I missed everything he did before 1980 – go figure) and found out that Cher can really act. A James Dean fan club in a small West Texas town reunites after 20 years. 

I saw this movie when it came out 44 years go and it still comes to mind as a true classic.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen – who doesn’t love a Terry Gilliam movie? I mean, really now. This is Baron von Munchausen’s surreal journey to save a town from defeat. He’s swallowed by a sea-monster, takes a trip to the moon (whose King is played by an uncredited Robin Williams), dances with Venus and escapes from the Grim Reaper.

I TOTALLY need to see this again. All I’m really remembering now is how visually dazzling it was.

Run Lola Run – Lola’s boyfriend, who’s a bagman, is on the U-Bahn on his way to deliver big money to his dangerous bosses. He loses the loot and has 20 minutes to come up with replacement dough (or the original) or he gets offed. Somehow it’s up to Lola to save the day. Three different possible scenarios are played out with much running. 

Just watching this, I feel like I get a good cardio workout.

Stop Making Sense – yes, I know I can’t hear the music anymore but, Jesus Psycho Killer Christ, the energy levels, the visuals, the drumming! As with Lola, watching this, I feel like I get a solid cardio workout.

Fellini's 8½ – question: WHY is it always referred to as Fellini’s 8½? Was there another 8½? Ya know, Kronbachl’s 8½?  Stawarski’s 8½? Leichenberg's 8½? 

Marcello Mastroianni (swoon) plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project – an epic science fiction movie – is collapsing around him, as is his life. I remember surreal humor. FABULOUS. My absolute favorite Fellini film.

Derivative pedophile director, Woody Allen ripped it off to make Stardust Memories. Yes, yezzz, I know it's usually called an hommage. This was my favorite of the kid fucker's movies, back before I knew of his extreme heinousosity.

Léon: The Professional – who doesn’t love a flick about an assassin who’s good with kids and plants?

Blade Runner – of fucking course!

Alien Resurrection – the best of the series, in my opinion.

Zardoz – oh C’MON! It was the early ‘70s and it was awesome.

All About Eve

To Sir, With Love

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Wings of Desire

Smoke Signals

Truly, Madly, Deeply – I went to see this by myself after Kevin died. Good thing and smart that I went to an early matinee on a weekday. I ugly, sloppy cried AND laughed throughout. God, I was a mess but WHAT a good movie.

Good Morning, Vietnam

The Fisher King 

There's so many more that I want to see again. Put me in a darkened room in a comfy chair with snacks, cranberry juice and a way to order in/order up the flicks and I may never come out. 

And now for something completely different

It’s Saturday. Valentines Day. The temperature in Valhalla MAY actually rise above freezing today!!! 

It’s a fine day to engage in some self care. Ya know, NOT doomscroll all damn day. At the very least, I'll severely limit my news reading. I can start a new book instead. The Librarians by Sherry Thomas just popped up as available on Libby. I do love murder mysteries. 

I’ll get back on the damn elliptical later too. Yesterday I was a complete and total slug – some days are like that. The trick is not beating myself up about it. It’s okay, a good idea even, to take a couple days off each week. I think what gets me tense is that I’m  afraid of falling victim to Newton's First Law of Motion. The part where an object (i.e. ME) at rest stays at rest. I can absolutely see myself doing just that. In my last life I was, undoubtedly, an exceedingly pampered, lazy house cat.

So then, here’s a boatload of memes and such which have nothing to do with the horrors our government is currently perpetrating. 

You’re welcome.