Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

"Why do you suppose we always chase the ones that run away?" "Immaturity?" (Dangerous Liasons, 1988) "People die down there!  And dying when you're not really sick is really sick, ya know?  Really!" (Better Off  Dead, 1985) "Maybe we should just forget about fighting the phallacracy for a night and go and have a good time?" (PCU, 1994) "You're like the Ernest Hemingway of bullshit!" (Housesitter, 1992) "When you say things like that you make it impossible for me to hate you!  And I really hate you, Harry!" (When Harry Met Sally, 1989) "If you're from Africa, why are you white?" "Oh my god, Karen!  You just can't ask people why they're white!" (Mean Girls, 2004) "You're so young." "I'm 16.  I'm old enough to know when someone's acting like a total a-hole. Oh.  And you know what?  I bought another S...

Lemme just say straight up that I love the Rocky franchise.  I was born in 1975, so I was practically raised on all these movies.  Even though Rocky achieves major fame, every movie still seems to be about the struggle of the underdog, and I really dig that.  This film is no different.  Adonis may be the son of Apollo Creed, but he has definitely lived the life of the underdog. Full of throwbacks to the earlier films and references to past characters, Creed gives you everything you want if you still love Rocky Balboa and the rest of the gang.  It even gives you a story you can latch onto today and could open up another slew of sequels to a younger audience.  And may I just say: Phylicia Rashad ?  Yes, please.  Her role is small but pivotal and her performance strong as always.  A lot of peeps got mad about Michael B. Jordan being passed over for an Oscar nomination in this role.  I can understand the aggravation, bu...

My hope was to read this book and then watch the movie.  After just getting through a short part of it, I realized that was not going to happen.  Actually, I'm amazed I made it through the entire novel.  But in a time when there are way too many news stories of people (mainly women) being held captive by maniacal men, I wanted to see it through.  It is heartbreaking and poignant and at times I really just wanted to get away from it.  But the story of survival is valuable even as hard as it is to imagine.

Don't Sweat It Fest 5 June 23 - 25 Concerts at The Courtroom 201 E. Main Street Rock Hill, SC Bands include: Mineral Girls, Gasp, Amigo, Motel Glory, Mall Goth, Glass, Terror Pigeon, Dear Blanca, and LOTS MORE! All ages event.  Bring the kiddos!

I wouldn't call it transcendent, but this was a very sweet little period piece that damn near bored my husband to tears.  Maybe if we had more direct ties to the immigrant experience it would have moved us both more.  I just didn't feel like the characters were very well-developed and the main character wasn't all that, uh, likeable.  Likeability is very important to me. If you want to watch a charming film about Brooklyn, might I suggest one of my all-time fave Michael Showalter joints, The Baxter ? Now THAT is a likeable leading man right there, and one of my most favorite movies ever.  

It's Friday afternoon in my office.  It's 12:24 pm and it's quiet. Eerily quiet.  I sit down with my lunch and enjoy a blissful 22 minutes before the phone rings again.  That's probably a record.  And it's wonderful. All of my coworkers are sitting quietly at their desks too.  It's the rare event that we're all eating lunch at the same time.  But today was a special occasion in which management sprang for our meals, so we're all tucking into the gorgeous white Styrofoam boxes our summer intern has brought back for us.  We're spread out all over the wide expanse of our 1 floor office/showroom/ work place.  We don't talk.  We just eat.  Quietly.  And it is heavenly. First off, anybody that has ever had a job knows the difference in how you spend your time if you're salaried or hourly.  If you're a salaried employee you almost always work more than 40 hours.  You rarely take lunch and if you do, it's never for the full ...

I've got this thing for birds.  I love them.  I put out bird seed for them.  I put out houses for them.  I like to listen to them and try to figure out what they're saying to each other.  I decorate my house with them.  I get the feeling there are a lot of artists that share my fascination: "Fly away little bird, Any place in this open mouth world Begs to be fed like a bed that beckons you, But you won't rest." (Fly Away, Indigo Girls, 2006) "I told you, that we could fly.... 'Cause we all have wings, but some of us don't know why......" (Never Tear Us Apart, INXS, 1987) "This little bird, she can fly away No salt on her tail, No cage to make her stay." (No Salt on Her Tail, The Mamas & The Papas, 1966) "All of us with wings!" (Three Days, Jane's Addiction, 1990) "Then my wild beautiful bird You will have flown. Any day now, I'll be all alone." (Any Day No...

This book is beautifully written and realistically imagined as a woman moves toward the end of life.  It's a little hard to follow in how it jumps between present and several time periods of the past, but I am guessing that is how the end of life might and will probably look.  I happen to know that the descriptions of end-of-life transitions and behaviors synchs up exactly with what I have heard from Hospice care nurses and witnessed myself a few times.  It's rare for me to say this, but I believe I liked the 2007 film adaptation better than the book itself. (Of course, it veers off from the book, but when does it not?) I remember seeing it with a girlfriend and how moved we were by the friendship that extended into old age and to the brink of death.  She and I both agreed that we would be there to crawl in bed with the other and to comfort when that time came.  Makes me sad now to think about what life was then and how it may be in the fu...

It was the day after the terrorist shootings in an Orlando night club.  I hadn't spent much time watching the news or surfing online.  It was an unusual day for me in that sense.  But I've noticed lately when tragedies happen.....and they seem to happen more and more often.....that I have to take myself away from them.  I have to shield myself or it all becomes too much.  I treat my head and my heart like a child whose mother still covers up her ears from the dirty words.  So I covered my ears as best I could all day, and then later I did get online.  And I saw this: With permission by Bobby Whitmire for Shutter 16. I saw this picture of Mark Lynch taken by Bobby Whitmire.  And it had nothing to do with Orlando. And I started crying and I couldn't stop.  And I didn't know why. Wait.  I did know why. I looked at Mark and I saw the lines in his face, and I thought about how strong he is in his voice and his opinions....

"And every evening when he gets home To make his supper and eat it alone His black shirt cries while his shoes get cold It's just a dream he keeps having And it doesn't seem to mean anything And it doesn't seem to mean anything....." 

“A first child is your own best foot forward, and how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out. You examine every turn of flesh for precocity, and crow it to the world. But the last one: the baby who trails her scent like a flag of surrender through your life when there will be no more coming after--oh, that' s love by a different name.” Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

"Get up and fight, sucker!  Get up!" (Motivational words for us all, if you ask me.)

All ages festival style show at Amos' Southend. Doors at 4 pm 10+ bands.

"I want to sit there in the sand, watch those golden tans go walking by. I know it isn't fair  'cause you might really care. But it's diff'rent now, The summertime's calling me....."

"When I think of heaven....deliver me in a black-winged bird."