Classic Newsreel of the Month - July 2025

The big news...70 years ago. 

Dinner last night:  Korean fried chicken sandwich from CHX Sandwiches.

Len's Jukebox of the Month - July 2025

 And who else?   Let's all remember the late Brian Wilson.

Dinner last night:  Swedish meatballs.

Moron of the Month - June 2025

 

This one pains me to write it.   The identity of this month's moron will remain incognito because it's somebody I know.   I doubt she reads this blog these days. And, yes, while she is guilty of some truly moronic behavior, I still worry about her long term mental health.

There is clearly something wrong with...well, let's call her...Marisol.

Marisol was a work colleague in the media world back in my NY days.   Pleasant to be on the same team with.   Great sense of humor.  We made fun of the same people.   I only remember one boyfriend in her midst, but I never viewed her as anything but a work mate.

I left the company and ultimately the East Coast.  I heard she gravitated to another media firm.   At one point, I ran into a mutual friend and I inquired about Marisol.  The woman waved her off.

"She's gotten so weird."

This is not something I could confirm from the annual Christmas card we traded.

Through one of the Christmas salutations, I learned she had made some major career switch ditching the media.   Good for her.    But, ultimately I heard she wound up as...I will be nice...a wellness coach.   

But, my thought was...if she's happy...knock 'em dead.

I first started to notice the problems in her social media posts about a year ago.  She started to post a lot of Tik Toks from the extreme left.   You know the ones I mean.   From these hackneyed pundits who take 10% of truth and spin it into a 100% fact...or so they think.  There are videos from both sides of the addled aisle.   But the left ones are always the most visceral.   And insulting if you don't agree with her.  I personally took great offense to her thrashing of the Dodgers for "bowing down to Trump" when they visited the White House.   Had Marisol done a soupcon of homework, she would have realized their visit was an edict from the MLB commissioner.   But, Marisol doesn't have time for a lot of facts.

I watched initially with amusement, but the hatred on her side became more hostile and venomous.  She started to cut ties gleefully with any one who slightly disagreed with her.   I'm still attached largely because I keep my many diverse political views hidden.   But if I didn't, Marisol would have offed me months ago.

When Trump won last November, Marisol went over the cliff.   The first few days post-election prompted almost hourly videos from the bed she seemingly couldn't get out of.  I noticed also that, almost immediately, a fairly attractive woman started to look like an old lady.   

But, like Lazarus, she eventually rose from the dead.  She devoted her every waking moment to destroying the current Presidential administration.   The postings got wilder and featured more fiction.  She moved to more right wing platforms, saying that Instagram and X were the work of the devil.  At one point, she devoted her social media posts to figuring out how she could move to Canada.  And she cut out more and more people.

She devotes time now to going to protests every week.   Because, as she continues to point out, we live now in a fascist country where there is no freedom.

Here's where Marisol earns the moronic ribbon.   One thing I noticed even up to last year was Marisol never denied herself to vacation...alone...all over the place. Last year, in this "freedom-less"nation, Marisol enjoyed a few weeks on international vacations.   Not a bad reward for watching a so-called dying democracy.

And chances are that Marisol will travel again...Trump be damned.   But count on her being alone because that's where it is headed.

As stupid as she is acting, I truly hope somebody gets her the mental health she needs.

Dinner last night:  Leftover SPO.

This Date in History - July 9

 

Happy birthday in Heaven, OJ Simpson.   Honoring you with your very best head shot.

455:  THE ROMAN MILITARY COMMANDER AVITUS IS PROCLAIMED EMPEROR OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE.

The Western Roman Empire is the one with the designated hitter, right?

869:  A MAGNITUDE 8.6 EARTHQUAKE AND SUBSEQUENT TSUNAMI STRIKES JAPAN.

When doesn't it?

1540:  KING HENRY VIII OF ENGLAND ANNULS HIS MARRIAGE TO HIS FOURTH WIFE, ANNE OF CLEVES.

The Frank Sinatra of royalty.

1572:  NINETEEN CATHOLICS SUFFER MARTYRDOM FOR THEIR BELIEFS IN THE DUTCH TOWN OF GORKUM.

So I'm guessing Gorkum's not a good place to sell parochial school candy bars.

1776:  GEORGE WASHINGTON ORDERS THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TO BE READ OUT LOUD TO THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.

With all those cannons firing, they were probably all deaf anyway.

1789:  IN VERSAILLES, THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RECONSTITUTES ITSELF AS THE NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.  

Leave it to the French to be completely redundant.

1793:  THE ACT AGAINST SLAVERY IS PASSED IN UPPER CANADA AND THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES INTO LOWER CANADA IS PROHIBITED.

Who the heck lives in Upper Canada anyway?

1816:  ARGENTINA DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN.

Go ahead and cry for me.

1850:  US PRESIDENT ZACHARY TAYLOR DIES AND IS REPLACED BY MILLARD FILLMORE.

Well, that sounds like a downgrade.

1868:  THE 14TH AMENDMENT TO THE US CONSTITUTION IS RATIFIED GUARANTEEING AFRICAN AMERICANS FULL CITIZENSHIP.

Somehow that didn't get completely enforced for a while.

1877:  THE FIRST WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGIN.

Pass the clotted cream.

1903:  FUTURE SOVIET DICTATOR JOSEPH STALIN IS EXILED TO SIBERIA FOR THREE YEARS.

Should have made it thirty.

1922:  JOHNNY WEISSMULLER SWIMS THE 100 METERS FREESTYLE IN 58.6 SECONDS, BREAKING THE WORLD SWIMMING RECORD.

And you should see how fast he can go when he's being chased by a crocodile.

1927:  SINGER ED AMES IS BORN.

I didn't know he was Jewish either.

1928:  ACTOR VINCE EDWARDS IS BORN.

Ben Casey!

1942:  ACTOR RICHARD ROUNDTREE IS BORN.

Talking about Shaft!

1944:  DURING WORLD WAR II, BRITISH AND CANADIAN FORCES CAPTURE CAEN, FRANCE.

Just to show that it wasn't only the Americans who fought the winning fight.

1947:  FOOTBALL STAR/ACTOR OJ SIMPSON IS BORN.

Still guilty.

1952:  MUSICIAN JOHN TESH IS BORN.

 And the only thing I know him from is Entertainment Tonight.

1962: ANDY WARHOL'S CAMPBELL SOUP CAN EXHIBITION OPENS IN LOS ANGELES.

Mmm Mmm Good.

1974:  JUDGE EARL WARREN DIES.

And there's no report on this.

1976:  ACTOR FRED SAVAGE IS BORN.

Eight years after 1968, which is when the Wonder Years started.

1981:  THE VIDEO GAME, DONKEY KONG, IS RELEASED BY NINTENDO.

Anybody got a quarter?

1992:  JOURNALIST ERIC SEVAREID DIES.

That's the way he was.

2002: ACTOR ROD STEIGER DIES.

The Heat of the Night has cooled.

2004:  ACTRESS ISABEL SANFORD DIES.

Weezie!

2007:  ACTOR CHARLES LANE DIES.

He appeared in every sitcom that ever aired.

2019:  PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL ROSS PEROT DIES.

Years after his campaign did the same thing.

Dinner last night:   Sandwich and salad.

Baba Wawa

 

Today's blog title was a must.  It reminds me of the late great Gilda Radner who got a lot of SNL mileage from impersonating the legendary reporter.  For a few seconds, Gilda even makes it into this new Hulu documentary.

You know I love a good doc, especially if I learn something new.  In this profile of Walters, nothing really jumped out at me as being new information.   She was a hard boiled reporter.  Check.   She was hated by most veteran newsmen like Frank McGee and Harry Reasoner.  Check.  And she revived her career by doing those celeb interviews where she asked what kind of tree they wanted to be.

Check.

It's all here for the taking and it's a serviceable but not particularly relevatory film.  That said, I wouldn't have wanted to see somebody on her staff.   She strikes me as a real tyrant.

Now, jumping forward as far as I'm concerned, Baba should get a special spot in Satan's world for creating "The View."   Yeah, that's the footage that closes the film.

Check.   And vomit.

LEN'S RATING:  Three stars.

Dinner last night:  Grilled sausage and salad.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - July 7, 2025

 Summer fun?

Dinner last night:  Snacks at the Hollywood Bowl.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Pool Time

 

So I'm trying to figure out when I can spend a summer week at my Hastings-Yonkers border apartment and this makes me a little wistful.  I am trying to figure out how much longer I will keep it and boast of this very nice, but growing-more-expensive bi-coastal existence.  Indeed, I had the unit renovated 15 years ago with the idea of putting it on the market.   You see how far I got.

Yes, it is tougher to afford this luxury today, but I do love having this little oasis in the Lenoir Nature Preserve.   My view from the terrace, which covers the length of the apartment, is nothing but leafy trees in the summer and snow-covered branches in the winter.  What is not to like?

I've had this place for 32 years and, statistically, probably have spent less than ten years of nights there.  I've been there through all sorts of blizzards and heat waves and rainstorms and blackouts.   For the snowy days when I was cooped up there for several days in a row, there was a certain decadence being able to do some laps in the indoor pool downstairs.

As for the outdoor pool shown above, I have not used those facilities since I lived there full time.  But, when I did, I became one of those people.   You know, the lazy summer person who just spent one day after another lounging at the pool.

As a matter of fact, the summer prior to my move west I was down at the pool almost four or five days a week.   I took a lot of time off that year and went into the same robotic mode I bet regular patrons of the Hamptons fall into.   

You know the drill.  Get up in the morning.  Look outside.  Ah, hazy, hot, and humid as only New York weather can be in the summer.   I methodically grabbed my towel and my lounge chair.   Packed the newspaper and my current book and my sun screen and a water bottle and my Walkman (yes, Walkman) and headed down to the pool next to our building.  I was there in five minutes, tops.   Seven minutes if the building custodians were slowing the elevator with a garbage pick-up run.

And then I would be there the whole day.   I would go upstairs at lunchtime to eat a quick sandwich and then back to the chair.

This was the first and only time I ever spent a summer like this.  And it heralded a lot of other firsts.

I finished about ten books over a two month period.   This is an enormous accomplishment for me.

I got the best tan I ever had in my life.

I was in the best shape of my life for some reason.   Why else run around in a bathing suit?

I listened to more current music on local radio stations than I had since I was 12.

I met neighbors I had never seen or barely talked to before.

Most importantly, it was the most relaxed I had ever been in my life.

And it never happened again.   I long for one more summer like that.  Oh, unlikely.   I worry about skin cancer.   I'm not in that same shape anymore. And I stopped listening to current day music a long time ago.

But, still, as I contemplate what to do with my New York apartment, I wonder if there could be one more summer like that.   Doing nothing and not having a care in the world.

Dinner last night:  Beef sausage and salad.