01/16/2010

Linda and I went to see "Young Victoria" last night. Impressive. Three and a half stars. Put it on your must see list.

I don't know much about Queen Victoria except the adjective "Victorian" was named after her. The time of her reign was known as the Victorian era. The movie peeked my curiosity and I want to learn more about her. I went to Borders and picked up a Queen Victoria biography. All my blog readers can look forward to future blog/s where I write about what I learn about her.

01/14/2010

I pulled out my dusty old guitar last night. I can't remember the last time I played it. It was so badly out of tune, I was in need of assistance. I called on my beautiful bride Linda. She pulled out her accordion and played a few notes for me to hear. After the guitar was in tune, we did a little jamming. Linda wanted to play some polkas. We got down. We rock and rolled out a barrel of fun. Actually, my rudimentary guitar playing combined with Linda's beginning accordion playing didn't produce much music but we did have a few laughs.

Linda wanted me to hear some of her favorite childhood polkas so she dialed them up on You Tube. Who would have thought, but there is an ample supply of polka videos to choose from. One better than the next and most featuring an accordion. I especially enjoyed a young eastern European named Tony. He was smoking. White hot.

You cannot go on You Tube looking for polka videos with out running into the champagne music of Lawrence Welk. I shed a nostalgic tear when I saw him. I grew up watching his show every Saturday night. It was my parents favorite television show. Ted Mack did the Geritol commercials. Geritol was a liquid dietary supplement. Snake oil. There are Ted Mack Geritol commercials on You Tube if you are curious.

I "Googled" Lawrence Welk. There were a number of surprises. One: He was born and raised in America. Who would have thought with that accent. He grew up in a German speaking community in North Dakota. Two: His family homestead is a tourist attraction. I can't imagine working fifty weeks a year and when I get my well deserved two week vacation, spending it visiting the Lawrence Welk family homestead in Strasburg, North Dakota. I really don't get it.

"Leap Year" thoughts

My wife Linda and I went to see "Young Victoria" last night. I dropped Linda off at the front door of the Cinemark since it was about 8 degrees outside and went to park the car. When Linda got to the the ticket window, "Young Victoria" was sold out and she made the unilateral decision for us to see "Leap Year." Being a kind, loving and attentive husband, I accompanied Linda to a movie I didn't want to see. I don't have anything against romantic comedies / chick flicks. Who doesn't like fairy tales? I like "Pretty Woman." When I looked through the movie section earlier last night when we were trying to decide which movie we were going to see, the Chicago Tribune gave "Leap Year" one and a half stars. The add for it didn't have one positive review included in it. Another bad sign. The critics were right. Save your money. It pains me to say this since I like Amy Adams but... Jesus couldn't have saved this movie.

Aside from a few twists and turns, we all know how a movie like "Leap Year" is going to end. Every once in a great great while someone like Tom Hanks has the guts to kill the dog. Killing the dog wouldn't help this movie. I wouldn't recommend renting it on DVD either. it isn't worth $4.00. If you insist on seeing it, wait for cable.

1/8/10

Today would have been Elvis' 75th birthday. Happy birthday to the king. Anything I would write about him would be an understatement. Rolling Stone magazine rated him as the third most influental of all time behind Bob Dylan and The Beatles. I disagree. He was and still is the king.

First day

Dolly Parton was the subject on biography tonight. Got curious and "Googled" her. She was born in Serierville, TN, the forth of twelve children. If you can believe what you read, her family was dirt poor. They lived in a one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, TN. She turns sixty-four this month.

I would think Dolly doesn't have to worry about money any more. What a luxury. Dolly is blessed.

Every time I "Google" something, I think about my friend Luigi in Italy. My wife and I spent three wonderful weeks there in the fall of 2006. We met and became friends with a couple there. Luigi and Claudia. He was an MD in Rome. My wife was having trouble sleeping with the seven hour time change. She asked me to ask Luigi if he could write her a prescription for a few sleeping pills. He asked me which one she wanted. I think I said Ambien. He said he could do it but he needed the generic name not the brand name. I told him I didn't have a clue. He said it was simple and proceeded to pronounce Google in phonetical Italian. He said
"google lay."