Thursday, January 09, 2014

Random Musings

Congrats to icon Lily Tomlin, who married her long, longtime partner, Jane Wagner on New Year’s Eve in New York.

The two women have been a couple since meeting in 1971, and now some forty-two years later they are a happily, legally married couple.

Congratulations!
As many of you know, my sister, undergoing chemo for lung cancer, had seen most of her tumors shrink, which is good news right? Well, not exactly, because as anyone who’s gone through any kind of cancer treatment, or known someone in treatment, knows that while tumors shrink, the cancer cells run and hide in new places throughout the body.

This is what happened to my sister. The cancer has metastasized to her brain, causing several large lesions there. She was suffering all kinds of memory issues and lethargy, and, in talking with her doctor, has decided to undergo radiation treatment.

Radiation was something she said she’d never do, but faced with the issue, she changed her mind. First though, steroids were given to reduce the swelling on the brain, so now she is functioning better. Then came the issue of where to have the radiation. The insurance through her employer had ended — she stopped working last year when she began chemo — but as a retired military person, she was entitled to radiation treatments at a VA hospital. Trouble is, one was about an hour from home, and they couldn’t take her, and the next closest one was two hours from home.

Then it was learned that her employer insurance has not ended, and so now she is back home, taking radiation at a hospital just five minutes away.

So, it’s been a mixed bag this week of bad news and good news, but that’s the way things happen, I guess.
So, Hostages is over and if it ever comes back to TV again I’ll stop watching CBS altogether. What a ludicrous show, so badly written and so badly plotted that it was almost laughable; and yet, like a train wreck, I could not look away.

But the finale tied every storyline up in a neat little bow with all happy endings — mostly. The doctor didn’t kill the president. The family got back together. The president, who raped a girl eons ago, was now being held accountable. The mastermind of the Kill The President plot got the bone marrow to save his wife and then decided he’d turn himself in. His brother, who aided him, as well as a woman who helped, had fallen in love, and even though the brother murdered an innocent man during the series, he and his girlfriend were able to escape and live happily ever after.

The most disturbing issue? Two of the bad guys were black; one helping with the Kill The President Plot and the other the mastermind behind it. Those two, the only Black men on the show, were killed, meaning, I guess, if you’re white and you commit a crime you live happily ever after but if you’re black, you die?

Bad on you CBS.

Better news for TV?

Downton Abby is back; so is House of Lies — featuring the amazing Don Cheadle — and Episodes — with Matt LeBlanc as the anti-Joey.

American Horror Story and Stevie Nicks? Say.No.More.

Also,Josh Holloway has returned from Lost to Intelligence, in which he plays a spy with a microchip that allows his brain to function like a computer or a Smartphone, I guess. Implausibility abounds, but Holloway is nice eye candy.

Plus,  be still my hearts, Justified has returned with the oh-so-handsome Timothy Olyphant; good storylines, great writing and a hot leading man!

So, if you drop by here regularly, you know I love a good f-bomb. I’m fairly good at containing my usage in public, but in private, in the car, at home, writing for this bloggy thing, I love to drop ‘em.

But apparently Martin Scorsese loves an f-bomb more.

His new film, “The Wolf of Wall Street”, is all about excess, with orgies on a plane to cocaine and cash and everything in between, so it’s no surprise that the film has set the all-time record for the use of the f-word.

According to Wikipedia, the word “f**k” is used 506 times on “Wolf” and the previous record holder was Spike Lee’s 1999 film “Summer of Sam” with 435 instances. But “Wolf” isn’t the first time Scorsese has set the f-mark; Scorsese’s “Casino” dropped the bomb 422 times, while his “Goodfellas” dropped it 300 times.

My hat is off to you Mr. Scorsese, you win!
Seriously? The Washington Blade reports that American Idol contestant and openly gay pop singer Clay Aiken is considering running for the U.S. House from North Carolina.

A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says Aiken, a Raleigh native, has taken the initial steps for a run, including consulting with political operatives in Washington, D.C., about a bid for the seat. Aiken made phone calls to gauge support, talked to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and met with figures in Raleigh about a potential bid.

He has also been working with Betsy Conti, a Raleigh-based political strategist who’s worked for former North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue and Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore.

I hope she recommends he go a bit lighter on the mascara if he wants to be taken seriously.
Don’t ever underestimate the power of a queen; or even the Queen.

Prince Harry has been ordered by the Queen to “sooner rather than later” shave off the bushy polar beard he grew while on his charity trek in Antarctica.

Harry returned to Britain just in time for the festive celebrations at Sandringham and though his brother William and sister-in-law Kate said they loved his “Windsor whiskers” his grandmother was apparently not amused.

Harry maintains that beards are a royal tradition and told a well-wisher watching his family walk to church on Christmas morning that he intended to keep his, and a place insider, probably Princess Anne because what else does she have to do says, “The rest of the family liked it and were taking the mickey, especially his cousin Zara who dubbed him ‘Prince Hairy’.”

Prince Hairy. Prince Hottie, too.

PS Who's that next to him? O M G i'd like to be trapped in an igloo with those two!

So, Consuelo Roca-Jones, our youngest feline child.

Carlos goes from calling her Princess one minute to Little Bitch the next, but it has become abundantly clear who is in charge around here.

See, Miss Jones likes to sit in an open window and watch the birds and smell the yard and such. And Carlos, who obviously kowtows to the Little Bitch Princess, has taken to opening a window just so she can perch in it. Trouble is, the heater in the house is running and it’s 30-degrees outside but he doesn’t want to, and I quote, “Make her mad.”

Consuelo 1, Carlos 0.
So, the Polar Vortex brought out all the scarves and hats and gloves and coats, but in Illinois, at one move theater, it brought out the funny.

Take a look at that marquee …


15 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update on "Hostages". I quit watching after an episode was pre-empted locally and I lost track of what was going on. I thought from the start that it was an unsustainable premise and a waste of Toni Collette's talent. How I wish Showtime would bring back "The United States of Tara". That had a fascinating premise with so much potential and great characters. It was abruptly cancelled with no wrap-up. I hate that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry to hear your sister's bad news. I know what it is like to sit by helpless while your siblings suffer. Here's hoping that this story has a happy ending

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your random musing posts; look forward to them every week. Sorry to hear about your sister. I'm glad she was able to get her treatment nearby. My sis did chemo and radiation for her breast cancer after her lumpectomy. I was the only person available to take her to the radiation treatments. Even tho she's older, I got to be the big brother for a while. Mine is doing fine now. I hope beyond all else that yours comes through this. Holding you both in my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry to hear about your sister's continued medical issues.
    I hope the radiation helps.

    And yah for Lily and spouse! I got her autograph when I was 14 back in 1973. She was performing at the hotel my parents & I were staying in in Dallas and I rode up and down in the elevator with her a few times before I got the courage to ask her for her autograph. This was back when she was a major star....
    Glad she can be happy on a personal level now. 8-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Ms Sparrow
    I agree about 'Tara.' I loved that show and Colette was fantastic.

    @Helen
    Thanks. We all do what we can .....

    @Joe
    Thanks. it's a tough road, to be sure.

    @slugmama
    Thanks.
    Plus, I love Lily and Jane marrying after so many years!

    ReplyDelete
  6. xoxoxoxo to your sister and best wishes.

    Consuelo Roca-Jones vs Carlos - really there is no contest. Abby is on Carlos' side.

    ReplyDelete
  7. thank you for the update on your sister. {{{{{hugs}}}}} for her.

    YAYZ for lily and jane; I saw this yesterday and it made me smile.

    GO KITTY GO! show your daddy who's boss!

    liz cheney is as big an ass as her father. she needs to STFU.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Best wishes for your sister's recovery. Such a hard thing to go through, but my Dad did well when he went through radiation.

    And yes, it's loads of fun in Illinois right now. So f*cking ready for Spring!

    ReplyDelete
  9. @TDM
    Thanks; she's doing the best she can.
    And the Carlos/Consuelo Battle will rage on!

    @anne marie
    Thanks for the good thoughts!

    @S'A
    When I complain about the cold here in SC I think of you and then STFU!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm so happy for Lily & Jane, they were so cute, giggling like schoolgirls...

    Clay better watch out if he makes it to DC, I don't think Sen. Lindsey Sashay Graham likes competition from younger belles...

    *Sending healing vibes to your sister and family*

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Wally
    Miss Lindsay has already got her petticoats in a snit!

    And thanks for the vibes!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hate to agree with Liz Cheney, but I do love what Palin has done to the GOP. She was a big part of bringing out the un-electable nut job candidates like not-a-witch, whatever the fuck her name was and Joe "lost to a write-in candidate" Miller. Thanks, Sarah!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I like your random musings. Congrats to the two women who are now happily and legally married.

    Military spouse

    ReplyDelete
  14. "Carlos goes from calling her Princess one minute to Little Bitch the next,"

    Carlos sounds just like the Empress...

    ReplyDelete

Say anything, but keep it civil .......