The Next Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again

After the positive feedback from my recent movie blog The Top Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again I thought I'd strike again while the iron's hot.

If you recall in that post, I mentioned my list was more like 20 movies, but thought it was too many for one blog-post.

I want to stress these aren't necessarily what I consider the best films ever.  I saw a horror movie in 2020, Saint Maud that I consider a masterpiece--but I couldn't sit thru it again. 

These movies are 'wonderful comfort movies', that I enjoy revisiting whenever I can.

So in ascending order...

10.  Every time I watch Butterflies Are Free (1972) I'm struck by Edward Albert's portrayal of a young blind man.  It's flawless. He's a 20 year old aspiring musician, living on his own for the first time (in a very slummy apartment in hippie-San Francisco) and Goldie Hawn lives in the adjoining unit, an aspiring actress who spends most of the movie in her underwear eating his food.  She's wonderful.

I love when Goldie takes him shopping for some far out threads, but there's a scene where she pretends to move on and Edward's world is suddenly very dark again.  It makes me tear up every darn time.  Goldie won an Oscar for her performance but Edward Albert deserved the prize.  I'm glad I own this on dvd.

9. Breaking Away (1979) is about 4 young men from blue collar lives who just graduated high school with no idea what's next--except for David who loves his Italian bicycle, singing opera and dreams of becoming a professional bike racer--in Italy.  His father (Paul Doolie, God bless him) is a used car salesman in Bloomington Indiana struggling to understand what happened to his boy.  

This coming of age drama was released one month after my own high school graduation, and like these four boys I knew college wasn't in my cards either--at least not yet.  But it's poignant and original, and after all these years this movie still resonates with me.  

8.  This movie bears the distinction of being the first thing I recorded on a vcr when I got one in 1983.  (I think it aired on Sunday Night at the Movies but I can't be sure.)  It's The Final Countdown (1980).  I replayed the recording so much I wore out the tape.

The USS Nimitz is a nuclear aircraft carrier in 1980 (102 aircraft, 6000 men) that is mysteriously thrown back in time to 1941--right before the Japanese are set to attack Pearl Harbor.  The captain (Kirk Douglas) must now decide if he should use his vessel (which contains more firepower than the US & Japanese fleets combined) to stop one of the greatest attacks in American history. 

I'm not into war movies, but I do love time travel stories--and I love this one.  Also, this movie is unapologetically patriotic.  It's like a Navy recruitment film, but it works.  Watch this just once and you'll want to enlist, I guarantee it.

7.  I miss Jill Clayburgh.  I can't believe she's been gone since 2010.  The first time I saw Starting Over (1979) was the night of my 18th birthday.  I'd been on my own for a few months and this cheered me up so much.  After Burt Reynold's wife Candice Bergen announces she's leaving him to pursue a "disco songwriting" career, his brother (Charles Durning) convinces him to leave a slushy New York City and start over in slushier Boston.

Charles wants to fix Burt up with their friend Jill Clayburgh--who is dubious of Burt the first time she meets him, let alone all the baggage he comes with.  And then his ex-wife decides she wants him back... did you know this movie was written by James Brooks of The Mary Tyler Moore Show?  

I feel the need to watch this every couple years, and every time Candice Bergen breaks into her hit song "Better Than Ever" to a stone-faced Burt Reynolds I burst out laughing.  It's so good!

6.  I can't remember the first time I saw Moonstruck (1987), but boy did I fall in love with Cher here.  Cher plays Loretta, an Italian bookkeeper on the brink of middle age who is swept off her feet by her fiancé's younger brother Nicholas Cage.  The film is laugh out loud funny, but when Cher agrees to attend the opera with Cage, gets a glorious makeover and meets him at the Met... his look is priceless and so is hers.  It almost stops my heart every time.

5.  I'm going to say something that will bring the house down.  I am not a fan of Singin' in the Rain.  I'm not.  But I am a huge fan of Gene Kelly, and in 1944 MGM loaned him out to Columbia Pictures to star in Cover Girl (1944) with Rita Hayworth & Phil Silvers.

MGM later regretted this--the movie was a huge success.  I'm talking Oscars.   

Three pals dream of hitting it big, so what happens when one of them becomes a Broadway star?  "Make Way for Tomorrow" steals the show, but I LOVED the Broadway finale with giant sized 1940s magazines--Vanity, McCall's, Coronet, Woman's Weekly just to name a few--all with a living cover girl.  

My God this movie is awesome.  I'm glad I own it on dvd.

4.  Betty Hutton is picture perfect as Annie Oakley (sorry Judy Garland, originally cast) in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) as the real-life Wild West Show gunslinger.  I just loved how her jaw dropped every time she saw handsome Howard Keel!  And of course, "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" & "Anything You can do I can do Better" are show-stoppers.  Did you know this movie was unavailable until 2000 because of music right disputes with Irving Berlin?  It was worth the wait.  Note: Bobi, thank you for reminding me of this one--it's my third favorite musical. 😊

3.  Jimmy Stewart is a photojournalist with a broken leg, in that marvelous run-down Greenwich Village apartment.  Thelma Ritter is his home nurse.  And Grace Kelly the socialite is in love with him!  Yes it's Rear Window (1954) and I've probably seen this 15 times, easy.  

Here's a fun fact--my first time seeing it was at our local theater in 1983, after Universal Studios bought & released 5 of Hitchcock's movies he had squirreled away for 30 years.

It was released on RCA Videodisc a year later.  I snapped it up and probably watched it 10 times with my sister.

Note:  Steve from Toronto, thanks for reminding me about this one! 😊

2.  How many times have I seen the best Star Trek movie of them all?  Countless.  I first saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982) on a date with a very Trekkie woman named Amy and the moment Spock died, she literally screamed "Noooo!!" in the theater.  When I frantically whispered "Amy--stop!" she cried "Have you no emotions!!"  I swear to God, I'm not making that up.  

Fyi, when Leonard Nimoy died in 2015 I cried like a baby.

 1.  Wizard of Oz (1939)  Judy Garland, I am yours forever.  The End.

Finally, if I didn't give Honorable Mentions to The Graduate, When Harry Met Sally & every Charlton Heston movie between 1968 & 1973 (Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man & Soylent Green) I'd have to make a third list and we don't want that, do we? 😏

Meanwhile, at the Tiffany: Some of the people in here are pretty out there

Recently, a woman who lives down the hall from me knocked on my door.  I’ve seen her a few times on our floor, rode the elevator with her a couple times, but we’ve never spoken to one another.

So I said hi, can I help you?  She asked me if I ever smelled marijuana in my apartment.  I said no, never.  She said “I smell it in mine sometimes, could it be coming from upstairs?” 

I said that was certainly possible.  Whenever the woman who lives above me cooks something with garlic, I can smell it down here—it must come down through the heating vent.

She said “I haven’t smoked pot since I was 19 and that was over 50 years ago, but it’s not a smell you forget. Have you ever smoked it?”

I was pretty surprised she asked, but said no, I never did.

She said “If I got some pot would you like to smoke it with me?”   

What the--!!  I said no thank you, and she should be careful.  Steiner has a strict policy regarding marijuana.  Not even for medical purposes unless you ingest it, like those cannabis gummies.  She said she hoped she didn't upset me.  I said of course not, and asked if she was an undercover cop or something.  She laughed and said no.

Later that night I told my (very Christian) friend Diana what happened.  Diana said "She probably thinks you're a real square." 

There is another woman on my floor (a little younger, name unknown) who keeps to herself, talks to no one—but she recently hung a sign in our laundry room that read:

Below her loud words she taped 3 tiny pieces of fuzz on the bottom of the paper.  Even without my glasses I could see it was just dryer lint—is she crazy?  Steiner does not like crazy.  They do not like reports of bedbugs either.  In the 7 years I’ve lived here, 4-5 tenants on various floors have reported bedbugs—and all 4-5 tenants were gone in a couple months time.

I don’t know what happened to them.  I don’t know if it was their choice to leave or Steiners.

Lastly, I recently had a couple run-ins with my 70 year old neighbor Dee.  The first was a couple weeks ago, when I was exiting the building as she was coming in, and she asked if the recent ‘door slams’ from her apartment bothered me.

I said they made me jump a couple times, but it was no big deal.  She said “That’s Rosa, honey!  She’s my housekeeper.  She’s here one day a week, I’m not going to say anything.  Good housekeepers are hard to find.”

So are good neighbors Dee, and you are taking yours for granted but whatever.

The second time was a couple nights ago when her tv was louder than usual.  When I knocked on her door, she shouted “YEAH?” without opening it.  I said it was me and asked if she could turn it down a little.  She shouted “I CAN’T HEAR A WORD YOU’RE SAYIN’ HONEY!”

I shouted back “NEVERMIND I’LL CALL STEINER AND LET THEM HANDLE IT.”   Jeez Louise!

She opened her door then, just wide enough to peek out and asked if her tv was too loud.  I said yes.  She said she had hearing aids but often forgot to put them in.  She added “I don't know how far my tv is from my couch, probably 20 feet."  I said “I have a pretty good idea.  The same as mine, 7-8 feet.”  

She said “No honey, Steiner told me when I moved in all the apartments are different.”

Oh Dee… they meant there are 3 layouts: studios, 1 bedroom units, 2 bedrooms.  We both have 1 bedrooms, yours is a mirror of my own.  I was friends with the tenant who lived there before you, plus I caught a glimpse of your stuff the day you moved in.

I wish I could show Dee this layout I came up with showing my apartment and hers, but she might not appreciate my view on things.  Especially when my view includes her things.  The End!     

Until my next post is ready, here's some food from this weekend

I hope everyone (who celebrates it) had a nice Easter.  I wasn't going to post these pics of my Easter weekend dinners, I am actually close to finishing up a new blog-post about my neighbors.  But I couldn't resist.

Forgive my boasting, but this was a delicious meal.  Just because you live alone doesn't mean you have to go without!  These were the best scalloped potatoes I've ever made (the secret is to drop a quartered onion into the pot and let them slow cook forever) and also the creamiest devilled eggs I've ever made.  I always get the mayo-mustard ratio wrong.  They'll never be this good again.

Finally--I'm in serious love with this ham.  It used to be sold only twice a year for Christmas & Easter, but you can now get it year-round at Kuhn's.  It's a spiral cut, roasted red pepper pineapple juiced ham.  I love it on a buttered roll with a little bit of ketchup.  

Oh darn it, nothing for dessert but some chocolate cookies but I'm stuffed anyway.

As long as I'm here, I wanted to show you what I had for dinner Saturday night while watching The Ten Commandments.

Last week my friend and former classmate Pen (we grew up on neighboring farms) told me she was making sloppy joes to take to a church dinner but had to make them from scratch as she had no Del Grosso sauce in her cupboard.  

She also made them with deer meat instead of ground beef, which she assured me were quite tasty.  Well, we both grew up with venison in our diets, so this wasn't surprising.  I told her I was glad her sloppy deer joes were a big hit.

It did inspire me to make them this weekend (but beef for me, not deer).  I think Gia Russa makes the BEST Sloppy Joe sauce.  I add a tablespoon of brown sugar and a tablespoon of minced green pepper.  Perfect, every time.

This is what real friendship is--I sent Pen this pic of my Sloppy Cow Joe, and said "What's wrong with this picture?"   She answered "Well, that isn't Squirt soda in that glass, but that doesn't make this wrong."

She was absolutely right--Kuhn's was out and I had to settle for cranberry ginger ale instead. 😊

Okay, that's it!  A new post is coming in a couple days, thanks for letting me share.  Happy Easter everybody.

Thinking out Loud: The storm before the calm (well, I hope it's what it is)

Before I say anything else, can I offer a couple small apologies... my first is for another blog post with my big head at the top.  I just don't have much of an outside life at the moment.

The second is for the content that follows, which I'm sure is going to be more of the same old / same old.  I feel the need to write, but I don't really have anything to write about.

Ever since my long covid relapse last September (why) I've been dealing with "swollen face mornings", then inflammation in the eyes & mouth that subside a bit around sundown.  

A couple of ice packs or cold washcloths get me thru the night until bedtime at 11:30.

Last Friday (the same day I posted my movie blog) things went off course and there's been a lot of flare-up in both of my temples.  I'm trying to remain optimistic and hoping it's a looney last push of sorts before dying out completely.  

Would love to see it gone by summer, keeping my fingers & toes crossed.  I'd appreciate it if you could do the same. 😉

Y'know, it just occurred to me that I'm now the same age as my Grandma Morris was in this photo.  (Around 64 1/2 years old.)   

This was the night of my high school graduation in June 1979.  That's my Grandpap Morris in front, Grandma, myself, my beautiful Mom & my very dark Dad in the rear.  

Gosh this seems like a hundred years ago.  

Here's a strange little story.  For years my grandpap carried a little leather coin purse in his front pocket.  He passed away 3 years after this photo was taken, in October 1982.  (He was 71.)  

At the viewing the night before the funeral, I asked Grandma if I might have his coin purse after all was said & done and she said "Of course McDougall, Ace would love for you to have it."  

We parted company, and went off to talk to other friends and relatives.  A bit later, Grandma came over and took my hand, and pressed something into it.  I look down, it's Grandpap's coin purse.  I said "Aw, thanks Grandma!  I didn't know you had it with you."  She just smiled but didn't say anything.  She walked back over to Grandpap's open casket to talk to Uncle Kenneth (Grandpap's brother) and it hit me.  He always carried it with him.  

To this day I wonder if Grandma fished it out of Grandpap's pants pocket when no one was looking.  I'm pretty sure she did.

FYI, after I finished school and moved to the city, I carried it every day in my own pants pocket.  I'm retired now, and don't have much use for coins, but it still sits on my dresser next to my billfold.

Right now I'm waiting for someone from Maintenance to come to my apartment.  This past weekend, I had my kitchen window open and the wind was gusting in, and I had my window blind stretched out as I was trying to clean it when SNAP!  The string broke.

I reported it on Steiner's website, and was told to expect someone on Tuesday.  They said "You may be charged if a replacement blind is necessary."  

Charge me, charge me!  This blind has too many layers of grease & grime!

Well, I was just informed my guy is running a couple hours behind schedule and I'm starving, so I went ahead and prepared my Early Bird dinner.  

Pasta with dried herbs (basil & parsley) with ground turkey meatballs, steamed broccoli and chopped cocktail tomatoes.  Shaved parmesan cheese over everything.  It's pretty tasty stuff.

Finally, here's my new window blind--the timing couldn't have been more perfect, I'd just finished washing up my dinner dishes.  I thought I'd have to beg for a new blind, but Manley brought a new one with him.  I like this one, there's no drawstring--it's very sturdy and you just push it up, pull it down.

That's it for now--thanks for letting me share my day, everyone.

The Top Ten Movies I've enjoyed again & again (Mary Poppins isn't one of them)

I can remember the first time I went to the movies.  It was with my Grandma Morris, who took my sister Shawn and myself to see Mary Poppins.  We were both too young.  I remember being confused by the giant faces and booming voices, and my sister (almost 2 years younger than me) wouldn't stop crying.  

That was 60 years ago, and since then I've seen a few thousand movies.  That's not an exaggeration. I've written over a thousand movie reviews on my blog's Movies page since 2008 alone.  

Like anyone else, I've seen a lot of good films, bad ones, some real gems and the rare masterpiece.  (I'm thinking about you, Elephant Man.)

But there are a few movies--a small number--I've watched and rewatched so many times, I've lost count.  I'm not saying they're the best I've ever seen, but I will sit down and watch these in their entirety every chance I get.  So in ascending order...

My Top Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again

10.  For as long as I can remember, The Ten Commandments (1956) has played on network television around Easter and I think last year was the first time I missed it.  (ABC aired it a week ahead of schedule because of basketball--basketball!)  It's an all night, commercial laden affair and leaves me feeling like a certified Christian afterward.  I'm not fooling around.  It stirs something in me, every time.

9.  Spencer Tracy calls Elizabeth Taylor Kitten, she calls him Pops and Joan Bennett is the very definition of a nonplussed wife & mother.  It's Father of The Bride (1950) and this is post-WWII upper middle class America at it's finest.  My gosh I love this movie so much.  It's as laugh out loud funny as it is sweet, a real time capsule of an era we'll never see again.   

8.  Growing up in the 1970s, To Sir With Love (1967) seemed to air every other week on the Sunday Afternoon Movie.  Never tired of watching it, I still don't.  Sidney Poitier, fit and wise and elegant, instructing a class of unruly East London kids on the subject of adulthood.  I loved Lulu before I knew who Lulu was.  One of the best movie title songs, and one of the best movie endings--ever.

7.  I love Bette Davis, love all her films.  But Now, Voyager (1942) is my favorite and I've seen this one more than her other films combined.  From her start as the lonely spinster Aunt Charlotte, to becoming the chic darling of Boston society, her love of Paul Henreid and all their delicious smoking... when Charlotte Vale says "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."  I swear to God I swoon every time.  It is that romantic.

6.  Remember Flip Wilson's line, "The Devil made me do it"? Every couple years I'll see Rosemary's Baby (1968) pop up somewhere and something compels me to watch it in it's entirety.  Casting Mia Farrow was a stroke of genius, and while many of Ruth Gordon's admirers say Harold & Maude is her finest work, I disagree.  She is nothing short of brilliant here.  This movie is a dark, dark masterpiece.

5.  When Young Frankenstein (1974) opened at my local theater, my best friend Dan was supposed to meet me out front and didn't show.  My mom had dropped me off and said she'd be back in 2 hours.  I didn't want to go in alone, but it was late, cold and pouring down rain.  The theater was packed and I had to sit beside a long haired college type.  We laughed so hard together I thought I was going to have a stroke.  Madeline Kahn and those lightning bolts in her hair... God how I miss her!

4. One late night in December '77, Mom and I were up watching tv when a trailer for The Goodbye Girl (1977) came on.  We both thought it looked good, and Mom asked if I'd be too embarrassed to see it with my old mother.  (I was 16, she was 37.)  We did right after Christmas and both got a big kick out of it.  I loved this pair so much, and every chance I get to see them again I'm taken back to that first watch with Mom, who is now my own Goodbye Girl.

3.  In the summer of 1985, my 10 year old sister Courtney asked me and our sister Shawn to take her to see Back to the Future (1985).  Shawn said sure, I said I didn't want to.  Shawn asked why not.  I said "Because I don't like that show 'Family Ties', and I don't like that kid who plays Alex Keaton.  And I can't stand that trailer they keep playing where he learns his dad is a Peeping Tom.  Shawn said "You're going, and you love Michael J. Fox and you want to be him!"

I later learned Michael J. Fox and I were the same age, only 3 months apart.  So we went (along with my friend Brenda, who I invited to tag along) and as the movie played I knew right then it was destined to be a classic and in my Top Ten Favorites for Life List.  And for the record, while I don't want to be Michael J Fox, I do love the guy.

  

2.  In the fall of 1970, MGM re-released George Pal's The Time Machine (1960) and my older brother Duke and I went to see it at a Saturday matinee.  Rod Taylor as the handsome, inquisitive time traveler--he was terrific.  And I loved his co-star.  No, not Yvette Mimieux--the time machine!  I sat there utterly gobsmacked, and this has been a yearly watch for me ever since.

1.  "You're psychotic!"  "No, I'm employed..."   I've seen and loved every movie with Dustin Hoffman. Tootsie (1982) is hands down my favorite.  (The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy & Kramer vs Kramer are all tied for second place.)  I love this film so much it's crazy; I've probably seen it 30 times.  At the end of the picture, when Jessica Lange tells Dustin Hoffman "I miss Dorothy..."  my God, I do too. 

Love the cast, the story, the hopeful ending.  I just watched it again 2 nights ago on YouTube.   

PS.  The list of movies I watch again & again was closer to 20, but I knew it was too much for one blog.  So I hope you liked this, Part 2 may be coming soon.

A couple thoughts on a windy, sunny Sunday afternoon

This is me on a Sunday afternoon, around 3:30pm.  It was a beautiful day in Pittsburgh, 73F with returning birds chirping happily away.

(News alerts say thunderstorms are on their way in the next hour or so.  I love a good storm, don't you?) 

It's hard to believe that just 4 days ago, we awoke to 2 inches of snow on the ground and a frigid temp of 20F.  My friend Diana said it was "Winter's Last Hurrah".  I had a haircut appt at 10am, and walked thru a blizzard to get there.  

Afterwards I sat in my barbershop another 30 minutes, waiting for the snow to die down.  Just another Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

I tried going outside earlier today for a bit, but my scalp and face had a pretty adverse reaction to all the sunlight.  Came back inside, laid down for an hour or so... it's just a waiting game.

I wish I had a clue how long these long covid symptoms plan to continue.  Aside from a couple afternoons in early December and February, it's been a pretty constant battle since it returned September 12.  

It makes me feel abnormal, isolated.  I was already weird before all this, and this doesn't help! 

I've never minded being a hermit, but when you don't have a choice... anyway, I just need to remind yourself, it could be worse.  I am hoping, hoping this will end by summer.

Hey, can I include a little rant here?  Do you see this "Very Local" app on my tv screen, second row, far right?

It's for locally produced programs--a little bit ago I watched a documentary about rehabilitating inmates by having them train guide dogs at the prison downtown.  But I suppose my favorite feature is the news. It airs the most recent local broadcast from WTAE-TV, our ABC affiliate.  

However, every commercial break--EVERY ONE--is for one of those cheesy, awful gambling apps you can download to your smartphone.  I think those things are the absolute worst, and you just know some poor sucker is going to blow the few bucks they have for a hopeful "big score".  Phones are too convenient for gambling!  I think that people who want to use these apps should be required to register and prove they have the resources to waste if they're married with a family.  End of rant.

Speaking of addictions, as long as my tv is up there... a couple weeks ago I signed up for "You Tube Premium Lite".  It's $7.99 a month and allows you to watch everything on YouTube (with the exception of music videos) ad-free.

Those ads are what kept me from watching more than a few YT videos in one sitting.  (They aired twice as many ads if you watched YouTube vids on your tv instead of your computer, so I never did.)   Now I catch myself watching that YT app a good hour a day or longer.  It's why I'm on here writing another blog post so soon instead.

Today I'm having a Sunday dinner of chicken tenders (I made a pan of these a couple weeks ago and froze 6 baggies worth), garlicky spinach and white cheddar mashed potatoes.  A friend recently asked why I go to the trouble of cooking every day.  She said if she was single like me she'd be having cold sandwiches or cereal for dinner.   

What can I say, I like a hot meal to end my blog with.  Thanks for letting me share.  I wish I could share this chicken too--it's good.

These might be relics now, but I am still the Trek Master

Recently, my friend Margaret from the blog 'Stargazer' posted a photo of a little dog with snarling teeth and a horn on his head, and a black cat wearing a gold Star Trek tunic.  She wrote "It's Trivia Time, does anyone know what Star Trek episode this dog is from?"

It took me 0.02 milliseconds to recognize the dog from the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within", where a malfunctioning transporter begins beaming things up--twice.  It was a brilliant episode, and a frightening one as well when a duplicate Captain Kirk goes on a violent rampage.

After I responded with my answer, she said "Right!  The black cat is from the episode with Gary Seven, do you remember that one?"

I almost spit up my Romulan ale; did she seriously just ask if I remembered the 1968 episode "Assignment: Earth"??  That would be like asking if I knew the name of the spaceship that Captain Kirk & Mr. Spock flew on!

All joking aside, I am very grateful to have good friends like Margaret from Washington, Jase from Colorado, Roger from Georgia, and Chuck & Robin from Canada who enjoy Star Trek too.

I thought I'd use this as an excuse to show off my Star Trek TV dvd collection.  I told my Trekkie friend Roger recently that given the awfulness of the new show Starfleet Academy, I was streaming Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Paramount Plus instead.

He said "You should consider buying Deep Space Nine on physical media, DVDs are making a comeback."

I do not believe dvds are making a comeback, but I still almost choked on my Tarkalean tea.  I DO own Deep Space Nine on dvd!  I own all the Trek shows, movies, everything!  I am the Trek Master!

But in a way, Roger is right.  I don't own the "official" episodes of DS9.  When they were first released in 2004, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was $599.99 for the boxed set.  I couldn't bring myself to pay that much, so I began looking in some pretty shady corners of the internet.  

I found a Chinese company that sold bootlegs of Trek TV shows, and I got all seven seasons of DS9 for $79.00 total. 

The set arrived in these wonderful silkscreen boxes.  I loved their packaging so much, I didn't feel guilty for buying bootlegs.  The discs were high quality, affordable--and even had an option to hear the episodes in Mandarin!

Finally, a couple years before I retired (and was still in my old apartment) I found a graphics website RixGrafix where you could download his artwork and make your own DVD boxes.

I wanted a more uniform option to display my Star Trek dvds, so I downloaded the art for all the Trek series, and printed them at an office supply store on hi-grade paper on my lunch hours.

I bought 50 dvd cases from a DVD container warehouse, and they turned out really nice.  The first picture below is my Star Trek: The Next Generation dvds in their fan art boxes.  

The second photo shows Star Trek: Enterprise, Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager.

When you line them up on your shelf, the spines form a spacey Trek collage.  😏

I no longer display them.  When I moved to my new apartment in 2017, I sold or gave away my bookcases, and all of my Trek dvds went into storage.  As long as I can stream them on Paramount, that's where I'll watch them.

Oh and for the record, I went on Amazon last night to see if ST:DS9 was available to purchase, it is.  But unlike that $599 price tag in 2004, they're only $66.00 now.  I'm not buying, but good to know. 

Microblogging, Teepee style: The Good, the Sad and the Ugly

It's been awhile since I did a "Micro-blog" (written on a variety of subjects under one title) but I've got several things on my mind.  So if you'll indulge me...

1. Missing any teeth?  I am, 3 molars in my lower left quadrant.  And Japan may save the day.

Back in September (when I assumed I was recovered from long covid and underwent a lengthy dental procedure which somehow triggered a relapse)  I was all set to begin preparations for an "implant bridge" for 3 missing molars.

I may not have to go that route.  Japan is completing testing of a drug that will REGROW TEETH IN PEOPLE WITH MISSING TEETH.

Apparently people are born not with 2 sets of teeth, but 3.  A protein in our system called USAG-1 prevents the third set from coming in.  Japan has created an intravenous drug called TRG-035 that inhibits the protein and causes missing teeth to grow in, with no adverse affects.  

This has been tested successfully on mice, ferrets and 30 people with missing teeth aged to 64.  The ADA said it should be on the market in 3 years and will have a profound effect on dentures and dental implants.  Let's hope so.

2. Do you have any strange habits you can't really explain?  Here's one of mine

Every morning when I make my bed, I rub a lemon fresh Clorox bleach wipe over my fitted sheet.  I put on the top sheet, and do the same thing again.

Why am I doing this?  I wear an extra large t-shirt to bed (and nothing else).  I change my sheets every dozen days or so.  But there's something about getting into bed every night with that faint smell of disinfecting lemon that really turns me on.  Am I a weirdo?

3.  Remember Susan Richardson from 'Eight is Enough'?  You should see her now

This show ran on ABC from 1977-1981.  Susan Richardson played Susan, the "jock" of the family.  Born on March 11, 1952 she turned 74 a few days ago.  This was her then, and how she looks now.

You should play this 20 second video of her.  She hasn't had an easy life,  I'm just shocked and saddened how poorly she's aged.  It seems like every day I'm reminded I'm getting old myself.  

And finally, speaking of aging... last week one of the people who read my blog (Carole) sent me a link to a long-covid drug study being done in Massachusetts.  Thank you Carole.

I contacted them, and was told the study was closed to new enrollees but even if it wasn't, I was over the 50 years age limit.  They expressed their regrets but asked if I'd still answer some questions and I said yes.

They said people in the study had been dealing with this for 2 years or longer.  I said mine began in January 2024, about two weeks after recovering from covid.  I said it was 16 months of hell, and then in the spring of 2025 I began having "well days" every 2-3 days.  I told her I belonged to a senior club at the time, and used those 'well days' to visit the center and go on a couple restaurant outings.  Finally, near the end of July 2025 it was mostly gone for good.

(It returned Sept 12, 2025 after that disastrous dental procedure and yadda yadda, you know the rest.)  It's pretty much been bad ever since, with no "well days" like l experienced a year ago.  In fact, every blog-post I've written this year I've been tempted to say I'm taking a break.

The woman I was talking to (Stacey) asked if I was maintaining a healthy mindset, I said yes and no.  I said I was dealing with depression and guilt, she said that was not uncommon.  I said I had three friends I talk to on the phone--Mary from the Senior Center, Diana & Pen who I went to high school with a hundred years ago.  I added that I write a blog and follow others blogs, which helps me feel less alone.  

Stacey asked me to contact her again when I feel I'm making a recovery, I said I'd do that.  That's it.  Thanks for letting me share, everybody.

In a world without Star Trek...

(Friday morning, 9am.; there's a gentle knocking on my front door.  When I answer it, there's a young woman there.  Very attractive, Afro-American, mid-twenties.)

HER: Good morning sir, am I disturbing you?

ME:  Good morning, not at all.  Can I help you?

HER:  Yes--hee hee!  I moved into #412 this week and wanted to get my wash done.  Steiner told me to pick an empty block of time on the calendar in the washroom, but there's no one using it right now, and your apartment number is on there for this morning.  Do you need it?

ME:  Actually, I'm 402.  My neighbor Dee is 401, that's her block of time right now but she isn't home.

HER:  Do you think she would mind?

ME:  Well, she left a little while ago to run a pan of noodles up to the Catholic Church on Lincoln Avenue for their Friday fish fry.  She may want to use it when she gets back.  But I don't think anyone else is scheduled on there after her today.

HER:  Okay, thank you!  I like your door sign, is that Jewish?  I love the Jews!

ME:   Thank you... no it's not Jewish.  It's uh, Vulcan.

HER:  Oh.. Balkan.  What country are they from?

ME:   I think that's a bunch of countries but not Balkan.  VUL-can. 

HER:  Oh, Vulcan!  What country are they from?

ME:  Um... a tv show, Star Trek.  You know, Mister Spock.  He was a Vulcan.

HER:   I don't, I'm sorry!  But you seem very gentle!

ME:  Ha, okay... thanks, and nice to meet you.  Welcome to the Tiffany.

Later, after Dee comes home.  Another knocking on my door.  This one is pretty loud.

ME:  Hi Dee, what's up?

HER:  Can I use your phone?  I let my daughter borrow my phone up at Assumption, and the ding-a-ling left and took it with her!

ME:  Sure--here ya go.  Just tap the phone icon on the bottom.

(Dee calls her daughter and tells her she needs her phone back right away for her pills.)

HER:  Here y'go, thanks.

ME:  You're welcome.   Hope you have a nice--

HER:  Why do ya got a man on your phone?  None of my business.  Is he a soccer player?

ME:  No, that's Captain Kirk.

HER:  Did you say Catherine?  You know I wear a hearing aid.

ME:  CAPTAIN.  Captain Kirk.

HER:  Captain Cook?

ME:  No Dee, forget it.  He's a character on Star Trek.

HER:  Sorry, I don't watch the Disney Channel.  My granddaughter does though.

😢😢😢