Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

"Ladies and gentlemen, man the fuck up or you're not going to make it through this show." Dave warns you.  He warns you from the beginning.  He is as funny and as blunt as ever.  And if you can't handle that.  Well, Imma hafta say, that's on you, people. Various critics, bloggers and viewers have had all kinds of names for this show: transphobic, homophobic, insensitive, misogynistic.  But there's also a word some people might think suits it even though they're afraid to use it: truthful.  He tells me right up front that he hates bloggers.  Fair enough, Dave.  He talks a lot about O.J.  He talks a lot about Bill Cosby.  And even though he jokes about something that's never funny (rape) he talks about the man in a way that many of us kids remember him.  I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it is just the truth.  Bill Cosby was a man heavily associated with many of our childhoods .  He talks about police brutality.  Caitlyn Jenner.

Since there's probably no male author that does a better job of writing women, there's probably no other male author I'd even give half a chance of writing about feminism besides Wally Lamb .  In this current novel, he goes back to the old standards: old-school Italian family, Connecticut, and modern-day issues & fiascoes.  Except this time, he mixes in some actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age and a little bit of the Rheingold Girl contests of the middle 20th Century.  He probably does a better job of explaining 3rd Wave Feminism than most scholars that I've seen try and also manages to bring humor and warmth to very unfunny circumstances.  Still one of my all-time favorite authors and still making me think.  Thanks, Wally!

Hygge is all the rage right now.  In a nutshell, I guess the best way to describe it is the Danish art of coziness.  The book tells you how to achieve it, what the benefits are of it, all the different means and places to find and create it and even all the different ways to pronounce it!  I read this book during what would stand for winter in North Carolina this year, but I would recommend saving it for the fall or winter of next year.  The author even agrees that hygge can be found in spring and summer, but it's just not the same.  So why risk it?  Save this book and hygge (hoo-ga) it up during the next cold season.  Oh, and you will probably end up using the word inappropriately around the house all the time.  As in "man, what a day.....I'm ready for some hygge time!"  Or "hey, baby.....let's get hygge!"  You've been warned.....but it's so worth it.  And I'll also say that I don't know if the hygge lifestyle is for everybody.  But

Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear. Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March. Caesar: What man is that? Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 15–19

(A repost of the original from April 2012.  RIP Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  One of the few authors who ever wrote me back when I posted on her. I felt like she was a distant friend.) I casually mentioned a few posts back that I was enjoying Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life .  But the truth is I am loving it.  I am finding eery coincidences between myself  and its author Amy Krouse Rosenthal .  In my head, I am casually writing entries that would be in my own Encyclopedia...... Driveway   I like to back out of my driveway and sit and admire my house before I leave for work in the morning.  It's especially enjoyable if my fiance' has just mowed the lawn.  I am annoyed if another driver comes along, forcing me to move forward before I am done in my silent reverie of admiration. See also Fiance', House Pride. IRL  A reference I make to people I know outside of the web.  Much to the annoyance of my fiance'.   See also E-Roc, The Internets. Yes, It Happened   A common

There has never been a book, movie, documentary or mini-series that made me have more respect for the title and office of First Lady.  This book made me feel a little differently about Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, but it also made me straight-up love Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford.  And made me realize I actually had things in common with Laura Bush and Pat Nixon!  Seriously, in a time when we're all looking to elevate today's modern woman, what better place to start than with the most-recognizable woman in America?  

"And now I'm glad I didn't know The way it all would end, the way it all would go Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain But I'd have had to miss the dance....." (The Dance, Garth Brooks, 1989) There are lots of movies about aliens and making contact.  Some are violent.  Some are scary.  Some are complicated.  The best ones, to my mind, are the ones that make you think well beyond aliens.  Who are we?  What do we want from each other?  What are we afraid of?  How do we handle people and ideas that are different from us?  Would we hurt them?  Would we try to learn from them?  Would we be afraid or curious?  What chances would we take?  Now take all of these questions directed toward alien contact and direct them toward yourself and your life.  Do that, and you have Arrival.  There were a lot of similarities to Contact , one of my all-time favorite films.  There's a strong, brilliant female lead.  There's end-of