Cross Town Thoughts
NBC’s Peter Pan Live! More like Walken Dead. Christopher’s zombie impression of Cyril Ritchard’s brilliant preening and prancing original Hook. Allison Williams’ creepy Pan surrounded by fabulously made-up rejects from Broadway chorus lines. Very gay and boring all at the same time. We could see the wires.
Tiger’s back on the course. Not Lily. A little rusty still. Spieth impressive. Florida looking good on a rainy cold day. Shrimp Fra Diavolo by the fire instead.
Have we finally reached the pets v. people tipping point? When do the rights of the one trump the rights of the many? Bradley International down the highway had vocal local residents incredulous as they saw a woman with a pig boarding their Thanksgiving flight. Her “support animal” was allowed by U.S. Airways. What? Stunk up the whole plane. Finally they got kicked off.
In the same article, a tiny mention of a woman who is allergic to cats saying she couldn’t breathe and realized it was because her seat mate was holding a kitty. Get it. You love your pets. But, now they have more rights than people. Peanuts and cigarettes are verboten in restaurants, hotels and airplanes. So, why is it the new trend to welcome pets everywhere? Tabby-poo nuzzles up to you on your pillow at the Hilton. I am next to sleep on that bed. Without warning, I could be anaphylactically dead. Publish pet policy at the very least.
Women’s Lib. Coinage of the day circa 1970. Misandry replaced romance. Friedan. Steinem. Started a political movement. The fib. That women could have it all. Work-life balance morphed into a myth. Recent Harvard Business School study says it’s not kids but husbands who determine a woman’s climb up the career ladder. Today’s Supreme Court considers whether pregnancy merits the same benefits as a disability in corporate terms, the UPS case.
Before the Libbers, Helen Gurley Brown maybe had it right. A woman who chose a sexy single life. Starting as a secretary at Foote Cone & Belding ad agency, she rose to the top of the publishing world. Brooke Hauser’s upcoming book, Enter Helen has already been optioned to be made into a movie prior to the book’s 2015 debut.
Just finished Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests. 2014 feminist lit. Post-WWI England when all the good men had been lost and women had to find solace in each other. Makes one wonder. Have women come full circle back to spinning their domestic wheels? What will millennials do.
A recruited group of disaffected youth curried by a culture of violence coddled by a familial feeling of acceptance. That’s my definition. Global gangs. Al Qaeda kinda. ISIL definitely. No borders. No rules. Neglected kids confused by lack of identity and structure. Like those in the NFL? Inner city streets? Law enforcement? Blurred lines. A pervasive disease metastasizing.
It starts at home. Absent parenting. Role models condoning bad behavior. Institutional thuggery. Crimes defined as mistakes. Religious jihad guise. Generational danger. How do we wage a war on this? Airstrikes seem superficial.
Again. Texas Gov Rick Perry is joining the old NeoCons’ chorus warning another terrorist attack on our shores. Darth and Liz Cheney, Donny Rummy, Paulie Wolfowitz on every channel predicting (hoping for?) another 9/11. Those hijackers came from Afghanistan. Not Iraq. NeoCons broke it anyway under false pretenses. Now we are left with ISIS savages. Could they hit us here? Of course. Recruit from UK beheaded our poor journalist. But, it is beyond unseemly to hear these aging apologists lining up to say they told us so if it does happen.
Flashback. Rory hitting golf balls with Jimmy Fallon. Tiger acting as caddy. He didn’t look much different than the toddler on the Mike Douglas show years ago. No. Not Michael Douglas-Zeta Jones. Merv Griffin-era afternoon talk days. Yeah. I’m old. Bon weekend.
Episode 7 of MadMen7. Matt saved his best for last. Focus on the AdBiz. Ditch ancillary characters. Megan mercifully ends the charade. Pete consoles Don with the line of the night. “Marriage is a racket!” Don sheds his Dick (capital D), and returns to being fabulously Draper. Betty & the kids dismiss that phase. Peggy loses her surrogate son. Will her real kid with Pete show up again?
Nuclear Ad family is back. Don’s creative partnership with Peggy recaptures its heart and soul. Joan remains my favorite bottom line girl. So to speak. Roger takes advantage of bittersweet circumstances to enter the M&A era and keep Sterling Cooper intact. Under McCann Erickson. I thought Don would spin himself and a few others off. But, this works in the historical context even better.
As the Sixties ends with everyone gathered around their televisions to watch the first lunar landing in awe, song and dance man Bobby Morse takes us and Bert out in style. The Moon Belongs to Everyone. The Best Things in Life Are Free. See ya next year.
Lots of eves. Long Kristmas weekend. Sinatra helps us trim the post-modern plastic tree. Ornaments. Each has a history. Anne’s Santa, Pear, Penguin. Sylvia’s antiques from Surrey, England. Grandma’s aqua MadMen-era. Joe’s Beefeater gin. Bells, angels, crystal icicles. Fillamento SanFrancisco FatherKristmas topper. Joyful art of gift wrap. It’s all about the packaging.
Traditions are comforting. Lobster Newburg. Who does that anymore? Dates back decades. Pats, Niners. Palate cleansers. Cathy’s cannoli and crackers. Paper crowns and Colitti Confetti. They still rhyme in our world.
Once a glittering mecca, Northampton is called “Paradise City”. It’s the latest title and setting of Archer Mayor’s Joe Gunther detective series. Gunther uncovers a stolen jewelry ring, and encounters some unsavory sorts. I’ve run into a few real-life residents portrayed in this book over the years. And, it’d be wise to be wary. Mayor hails from Brattleboro, Vermont, up the road.
K9Queen loves a good mystery series. I’m looking forward to Joe McGinnis’ local crime exposé. He’s the guy who moved next door to Sarah Palin and has been hunkered down in our Hampshire County Courthouse, at “15 Gothic Street”.
Joe the Flubber. Biden. As I said on the air last night on Cafferty, “Let Joe be Joe. Always off the rails, unfiltered. Yet, he is authentic.” Needs to get a grip, though.
Joe the Plumber. He wants to shoot people who come over the border. Joe Walsh called the President a liar. How did that work out? Joe Klein aka “Anonymous” Primary Colors says Paul Ryan lives in Libertarian Disneyland. Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe, wants to tackle real issues. Why are we spending $Billions a day on tragically flawed wars? Joe Arpaio, from Springfield, MA, now AZ, in bed with Trumpster, still debating Obama’s birth certificate.
And my Joe’s. Grandfather, father, brother, nephew, cousins. All perfecto.
April Summer. Soggy May. Supposed to be a sunny Mother’s Day. Once a year we celebrate Moms. Like Valentine’s Day. Don’t get why there’s one day a year that obligates spouses and children to recognize us for stuff we love doing anyway.
Author Jay McInerney has a new book out about wine, A Hedonist in the Cellar. He was reminiscing about ordering his first bottle as a young man. A lovely 70’s staple, Mateus Rosé impressed his date at The Log Cabin restaurant ‘in Lenox’. Everything West of Boston seems to conflate. It was/is in Holyoke, Jay. An hour away. Jay once dated Lisa Druck aka Rielle Hunter. Wonder if she was that date?
Make Mama ‘Succulent Salmon’. RecipeDetours. So easy.
Side Trek . NYC 