#TheBrlnWall

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2020

I'd like it to be the year 2020 already.

While looking over my blog yesterday, I clicked the button "new post" while brainstorming what to write about. Did I possibly want to write a follow-up to 'A Wedding, a Grudge and Miss Havisham' after being interrogated by a friend who was clearly judging me and hoping I'd want to mend things with my ex-friend Goldie? By the way, I am looking at that part of my past differently.
But as I tried to think of how to start the piece, I kept procrastinating, avidly reading and watching the news. I'm gobbling up stuff about progress in environmental science and about President-elect Trump's official Cabinet choices. There are simply far more important things than my inconsequential past.

'Worth the Trouble' by Jamie Beck, a Book Review

Everything's okay. That's the summary of my reaction to this romance novel. Two good-looking, decent people struggle with their mutual attraction, have sex that is enjoyable without being explicit and eventually find a good middle ground with a happy ending. It's okay.

Thoughts

1. I cannot think of anything to write for a joking article titled, "How to Prove to Coworkers That You Are, In Fact, Not a Cat". I haven't yet been able to turn out something like this.

2. Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I've watched the now-defunct show "Magic City" because of him. Love him. And I want Steven Strait. That said, the show, which unfortunately was cancelled in 2013, was just pretty good. It contains things I find compelling, but...it was sometimes as if I was drawn up to a front row seat and left...disappointed, shifting in my chair, reaching for my phone. To help alleviate my guilt about saying that, I have to mention that Danny Huston was awesome, playing a self-centered murderer for whom torture came as naturally and mundanely as blinking, with more screen time, and possibly more darkness, than the Axe Man he played on "American Horror Story". Also, Jessica Marais was both a survivor with an ugly past and a ridiculously attractive manipulator who broke a young man's heart. Elena Satine was magnetic as a self-respecting working woman and embodiment of female sexual empowerment, and Olga Kurylenko, played one of my favorites - a well-meaning, talented, bighearted stepmother in love with her husband. That said, yeah, I'm sorry, but it was mediocre.

3. Saw the movie Steel Magnolias for the first time recently and liked it more than I expected to. After all, it ends with the Easter Bunny riding on a motorcycle.

Stacey Ballis' Writing

I'm having thoughts about a novel I read, Off the Menu.

I Just Watched "Stoker"

I recently watched Stoker for the first time.

I was excited about the 2013 film as soon as I saw the cover. I mean, the colors, the tree branches around the title, the font, and the main character, India's odd expression...Also, the cover stated that the film had been directed by Park Chan-wook, the director of Oldboy. This was such good news that I was excited to see it!
So I had a movie night with my roommate and felt permanently changed by a flick they said depicted how "Everybody's crazy"...at least on screen.

'The Hook Up', a Book Review

I've been having a summer fling with literary works and it's time to have something online to show for it!

I recently read The Hook-Up by Kristen Callihan for the second or third time since buying it in July.

‘Friends Without Benefits’, a Book Review

               This is my fourth Penny Reid novel, and I appreciate how she adds depth to story lines and to main characters. Her books do not settle for having either of those key story elements be dumb and two-dimensional.

                                                         

'Thirty-Two Going on Spinster', a Book Review

I’ve recently finished reading the novel Thirty-Two Going on Spinster, about a thirty-something self-proclaimed “spinster” named Julie who keeps living in the apartment in her parents’ basement for ten years after college graduation, working the same corporate assistant job she doesn’t like, reworking mathematical formulas and gossiping on the smokers’ balcony with her work friend Brown.

Photos and the Future

When I date someone, I like to have very few photos of us together, especially on social media. 
In this post, I go on to mention redheads, dancers, a cat and Beyoncé. 

Stand-Up Comics I Love

 I need laughter & find the craft of comedy to be fascinating, can not get enough. So here's a disorganized list of talented, funny people I seek out online when I get an itch on my funny bone.

Dave Attell. -  He's so talented, man. He's one of the comics I love. 2014 DVD Road Work,  Hey, Your Mouth's Not Pregnant and the special that made me a fan of his, a Comedy Central show. 

Jim Gaffigan. - Gaffigan on Comedy Showcase, making me a fan for life. Mr. Universe, Jim Gaffigan Show.  

How to Break Up Without Really Doing It

So about the dissolution of my thing with Tom...

"Mint Green Polo", a Writing Exercise

              "I had thought, fiercely believed, sniffled, shouted and pushed, kissed, groped, slaked, baked, yearned and sacrificed and oh, look! Look at the couples, some visibly nervous, some smiling, and one particular groom with what must have been a death wish because there, in his beloved mint green polo, was Kev..."

A Wedding, a Grudge & Miss Havisham.

So one of those aforementioned ex-friends is getting married this year. Let's call her Goldie.

I knew it was coming, since I've met her fiance and he's a fantastic match for her, blah blah, but...still, it's quite the moment when you hear about a major upcoming event in the life of someone you used to care about very much who is now a stranger. You can be struck by a memory or two without any preparation. It makes me wish I weren't sentimental. By the way, I don't have many ex-pals but to you, dear readers, I've spoken at length about one and mentioned one or two more. Some of them I went to school with for ages, so our history, good and bad, is now ancient but still profound, and Goldie is one of those people.

This Dog Won't Go Gentle Into That Good Night

"...She's a female version of Archie Bunker, a canine Cartman."

Cookies with Appropriate Fortunes

Check this out!
I picked up Chinese for dinner tonight for myself and my roommate and got some Kung Fu Panda 3 fortune cookies with the meal!

When Asked About Marriage

Hint: The lead singer of Every Time I Die writes amusing short essays that answer reader questions, and he once compared those unpleasant moments where you're pressured about marriage to the movie Gremlins.