The Week in Reviews: Films, Books, Fashion and Fun

[I review movies "World War Z," "Fill the Void," "The Great Gatsby," the Martin Short concert, share a couple of good books and dole out fashion tips.]

**Films**

World War Z (2013)

I have three questions about this movie:

1.  If zombies are the living dead, how come we can shoot and kill them?  Aren't they already dead?
2.  Why do zombies bite people i.e. non-zombies?  Why do they want to turn people into zombies?   What's it to them?
3.  Why did Brad Pitt agree to star in this mess?

Rosy the Reviewer says...the beginning was very intense, but the film became laughable as it went on.  On those grounds alone, though, it could become a cult classic.  But Brad Pitt is one fine looking man.





Fill the Void (2012)

A young Hasidic Jewish woman is pressured into an arranged marriage in this small but compelling Israeli film.  Yadas Haron's performance is exquisite.

Rosy the Reviewer says...an uncritical and rare glimpse inside an ultra-conservative religious group filmed by an adherent of that group.  Fascinating.

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Speaking of fine looking men, Leonardo DiCaprio is one, and I don't think he has yet gotten the acting recognition he deserves.  I was expecting to not like this film as I find Baz Luhrmann a bit over the top as a director, but I really, really liked it.  There have been many attempts to film "The Great Gatsby" and my daughter's theory is that the book doesn't translate well into a movie because the book's strength lies in Fitzgerald's beautiful prose, but I was totally captivated by this film.  I don't think the critics agreed, but this film is definitely worth seeing.  All locations were in Australia.  Could have fooled me.  I thought it really was East and West Egg.

Rosy the Reviewer says...A colorful, poignant take on a literary classic, but I could have done without the modern soundtrack.  Highly recommended.





Mud (2012)

Two young boys befriend a fugitive.  Don't like movies with kids as the main characters and don't like Mathew McConaughey, especially with fake teeth.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like movies starring kids and Matthew McConaughey, you might like this but don't expect him to look hunky here.  He doesn't.





Wizard of Oz in 3D

What a fun way to spend an afternoon. 

Went to see "The Wizard of Oz" in 3D and on Imax and what a treat it was. 

It brought back many memories.  My Dad bought me the 78 records of the movie and I don't mean just the soundtrack, it was the entire movie.  As I watched the film I realized I knew every word of the script and songs!  I also remembered that when I first saw the film, we went over to my grandparent's house to watch it because they had a color TV and we didn't.  When the movie started, I cried because the movie was in black and white.  I thought something had gone wrong with their television.  I haven't seen a feature film in 3D before and I am a believer.  I just wish I hadn't seen the preview for the new 3D Hobbit movie (which I am definitely going to see now), before Wizard came on.  It just can't compete with the modern effects, but it still has some surprises.

I was wishing I could take my grandson to this, but as I thought about it, I wondered if the classic films like this can compete with the Disney films like "Cars," my little grandson's favorite film and one he is an authority on.  The classic films move at a slower pace than many of the current offerings aimed at children, even with the added 3D effects.

Here is what went into converting the film to 3D.

Any classic films you think would benefit from the 3D makeover?

  

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you have little ones, take them to this.  Or if you just want to have some happy memories, take yourself. 

Just for fun, here are some "Wizard of Oz" factoids (thanks to IMDB):

• The horses in Emerald City palace were colored with Jell-O crystals. The relevant scenes had to be shot quickly, before the horses started to lick it off.
• Many of the Wicked Witch of the West's scenes were either trimmed or deleted entirely, as Margaret Hamilton's performance was thought too frightening for audiences.
• The ruby slippers were silver (like in the book) until MGM chief Louis B. Mayer realized that the Technicolor production would benefit from the slippers being colored.
• The famous "Surrender Dorothy" sky writing scene was done using a tank of water and a tiny model witch attached to the end of a long hypodermic needle. The syringe was filled with milk, the tip of the needle was put into the tank and the words were written in reverse while being filmed from below. (We've come a long way with special effects)!
• During the "Wash and Brush Up Co." scene in the Emerald city, the lyrics "We can make a dimpled smile out of a frown/Can you even dye my eyes to match my gown" are sung in counterpoint to the orchestra playing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." 
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #10 Greatest Movie of All Time. 

For more trivia, click here.

And if you are a Pink Floyd fan, you will enjoy the coincidences between the film and their "Dark Side of the Moon" album, which can also be found on that trivia link.  It's really quite amazing considering the band denies any connection.

**Concerts**

Martin Short at the Paramount

He was all over the place - he sang, he told stories, he was Jiminy Glick and Ed Grimley and it was hilarious.  I can't imagine anything scarier than doing a one-man show - up there all alone on the stage - but he pulled it off, 90 minutes of Martin Short hilarity.  Hard to believe he is 63.  He moves around the stage like a young man.

Rosy the Reviewer says...If he comes to your town, go see him.  You will have a wonderful night.

And did I tell you I have my tickets to see Cher?



Well I do!

**Books**

The Astor Orphan  (2013) by Alexandra Aldrich

A memoir by an ancestor of John Jacob Astor, one of the richest men of the earliest 20th century, except she was a poor relation.  I like to read about rich folks but this one misses the mark.  Doesn't really shed much light on this dynasty.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Kind of a bore.  Not enough stuff about rich people.  You can skip this one.

The Girl: Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski (2013)  by Samantha Geimer

Here is the "real story" of the infamous rape case involving Roman Polanski and an underage girl and why he left the U.S. never to return. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...This won't win any writing awards, but it's a compelling story  with a twist in that "the girl" feels Polanski got a bum rap.

**Fashion**

According to Harper's Bazaar, there are 10 key buys for fall. 

Mmmmm...I wonder how my wardrobe measures up?

Ankle boots - check

Soft cuddly oversized clutch -

   Does a koala backpack count?

Turtleneck

   I already have one of those.  It's called my neck.

Tulip skirt

   Yeah, but I may never wear a skirt again

Hand held bag

   Nope but does a gym bag count?

White coat

   Not a chance.  That's all I need.  I would look like Frosty the Snowman

White pant

   Yes, but, hey, it's after Labor Day.  I thought those were a no-no

Motorcycle jacket

   Sigh.  Yes.  I just need a motorcycle and someplace to wear it

Chelsea boot

   In case you don't know what a Chelsea boot is (I didn't) it's a "low flat jodhpur style boot," if that helps - "the ultimate work to week-end shoe."  Since most of my days are weekends, not sure if I need this

  

Over-the-knee boots

   Yes, but I can no longer pull them over my knees.

Just for fun, I thought I would add Sofia Vergara's "Must Haves," from the same Harper's Bazaar issue, but she lost me at the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace.

Other tips:

Mixing prints is a hot trend for fall. 

The key is to keep everything in the same color palette.  Here is my attempt.  A Nordstrom saleswoman complimented me so I must be on the right track. 

And the double chin in this picture is an optical illusion.

And smoking slippers are also hot. 

These are not slippers in the "hang around the house" sense.  These are meant to be seen!

 What are your fall fashion tips?

Well, that's it for this week.

See you next week when I will share 25 things you don't know about me.  I just know you can't wait!

Until then, I wish you much happiness!

 Thanks for reading!  If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe or share it with your friends.

The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the Ending

Despite our 37 year age difference, I am struck by the parallels in my daughter's and my lives.

 

 

Both of us aspiring actresses who became librarians (what else do you do when you give up on acting?).
We both followed love and moved thousands of miles away from our families to start a new life.
We both quit jobs and moved somewhere where we knew no one to start a new career.

And now we both find ourselves at the same crossroads, but for very different reasons.

We are both currently unemployed - I because I have recently retired from a 40 year career; my daughter because she has just graduated from the University of Washington's online I School (they don't call them library schools anymore - not sexy enough). 

She is entering the library profession just as I am leaving it.

What will happen next?

As we work that out - I, how I will replace my working life with a meaningful retirement; my daughter, finding her first professional job - I am struck by the similarities in our situation. 

Some situations defy the 37 year generation gap.

Both of us spend time each day searching...she for a job, me for meaningful activities and purpose. 

We are both coping with bouts of boredom, depression, uncertainty, loneliness and stress that comes with starting a new phase of our lives. 

Speaking of the generation gap, the generation gap of the past was much different from what it is today. 

Though there is one to the extent that young people probably don't enjoy hanging out with old folks that much, baby boomers have a certain "street cred" to their children. My daughter and I can relate about many things - music (I mean, our kids are still listening to "our" music), social media, fashion, current events and work.

My mother and I had a 40 year age difference (I think I was one of "those" babies) and boy, you could tell.  She didn't understand rock & roll, she wouldn't have been involved in social media even if it existed then, she had very strict ideas about fashion (jeans were for farmers so I never wore jeans and, when I was in college, she once kicked me out of the house for going to the eye doctor in a very nice pants suit because "what would the neighbors think?) and her idea of current events was reading the evening paper.  As for work, my mother was a housewife.  Though she would wax poetic about the time she was the secretary to the bank president, when she married my father, she quit her job and did what most women did in the 1930's, she stayed at home and took care of the house and him.

So as I matured, my mother and I didn't have the same experiences to bond over.  Even when I had my first child, she remarked that she didn't even remember giving brith.  "They knocked me out," she said, and that was fine with her. She had a caesarean and swore that was the way to go.  I was born at exactly 10am so the doctor could get in a golf game. ( It's my understanding that many caesareans were scheduled around that in those days and there are many more like me born at exactly 10am).  She was 72 when I had my first child so by then she didn't have much advice for me, recognizing that things had changed.  She didn't go to college (though she lamented the fact), never had a career, her husband never cheated on her (as far as I know) and she never experienced divorce, all things that were part of my life.  She didn't get feminism, didn't believe in questioning authority and she would correct people's English, right to their faces.

I once gave her a subscription to Ms. Magazine so she could understand my feelings about feminism and what I was dealing with in my life and career. I wanted to share that with her.  Later, she very politely asked me not to renew the subscription because she didn't like the "bad words" in the magazine.  So much for her seeing through to the content - and to me for that matter. 

As for questioning authority and all of the protesting that took place in my youth, she would always say, "The President must know what he is doing," though when her friends' sons started dying in Vietnam, she was against the war.

But despite that, my mother's and my lives ran parallel to a certain degree. 

Just as I moved thousands of miles from home (which must have broken my mother's heart), so too did my daughter move far away.  Just as my mother had children late in life, so did I.  And now, as I think of her all alone after my father died, I can relate to some of what she must have been feeling because raising her children was the center of her life.  She never complained. Her generation kept a stiff upper lip, something us Baby Boomers aren't as good at. Well, I'm not, anyway.

Despite our differences and that generation gap, my mother was always there for me and I know she loved me.

So as I said, my daughter and I have more to relate to and our lives are currently in parallel.

My daughter's husband recently accepted a professorship in a new town, miles from where he and my daughter started their life together.  While she was in library school, she worked full-time as a manager in retail.  So she quit that job to follow her husband to his new job and now must adjust to unemployment and the stress of finding a job and embarking on her new career.

Almost ten years ago, I likewise quit a library management job to move from California to Seattle where we knew no one.  The reason?  Part financial, part adventure.  I was able to restart my career and have now retired.  But I too am looking for a new job - the job of retirement.

As we both make this transition, I am drawn back to my search for a first library job.  Like my daughter, I moved to a new place to start my search.  I centered my search in Northern California which was probably not such a smart move.  This was the mid-70's and it was one of those library job slumps that seem to happen every ten years or so, though my daughter should reap the benefits of baby boomers retiring.  When you restrict your job search to a specific area, you are already limiting your options.

In those days, I didn't have the benefit of some of the job searching tools my daughter can use.  There was no Internet.  I had to rely on print ads in library publications and going door-to-door.  Yes, we used to do that in those days.  Under the guise of "seeking information," we would make appointments with people whose jobs we wanted and try to get help and leads.  And we would even do "cold calls." My job hunting base was Berkeley and I will never forget driving up and down the Peninsula, stopping at libraries, cold calling, hoping to meet with the library managers in hopes of finding something.  One day I stopped at the Menlo Park Library and the librarian kindly met with me.  She was very kind but when I expressed my frustration considering I had been an all A student in library school and even won the highest academic award available, she looked at me sympathetically and said, "My dear, everyone has those credentials."  My bubble was burst.

I eventually ended up in a small County Library in rural Northern California, supposedly mostly populated by retired policemen from Orange County.  Not the best place in 1974 for a girl with frizzy hair, a penchant for hippie clothes and granny glasses and a decidedly liberal air.  For the interview, I tried my best to look "straight."  I bought a polyester wrap dress from Penneys, pulled my hair back and tried to look the part, but my friend laughed and said so matter what I tried to do, I would never look like a librarian. I can't tell you how many times people have said that to me over the years, "You don't look like a librarian."  I am not sure what that meant or what a librarian was supposed to look like, but deep down, I think I took that as a compliment, considering the poor image librarians had then and still do to a certain degree. 

"You don't look like a Librarian."

I went to the interview and must have done OK because I got the job, but I should have been warned by the fact that after the interview, as I was driving back to the Bay Area, drinking my diet Seven Up,  I was followed out of town by a local cop all the way to the County line. I guess he wanted to make sure that gol' darn stranger got out of Dodge. 

Though I was happy to start my career, that job wasn't a good fit since it was difficult to make friends, my college-graduate husband who had very long hair, was not able to find a decent job, and the marriage ended.  But when you are young and just starting out, you sometimes have to take what you can get and make the best of it.  I lasted there three years, and since it was a small library, I learned everything about running a library since I was called upon to do everything from children's story times to difficult reference questions to lugging books from branch to branch.  So when I moved on to a larger library system south of San Francisco, I was well-equipped to move up quickly, which I did. 

It wasn't until much later that the person who hired me for that first job told me she hired me mostly because I "would be good" for that town, meaning she thought they needed someone like me who was different. Thanks.  Didn't know that was in the job description and not recommended for a particularly happy life.  But she was lucky.  I was a good librarian.

My daughter is also limited in where she can find her new job. I hope she will have more options than I seemed to back then and that she doesn't take the first thing that comes along if it doesn't feel like a good fit.

At some point my daughter will find a job and embark on her career, and I wish her the opportunities I have had to make a difference.  A library career is a meaningful one.

So when my daughter gets a job her "beginning" will end.  She will be off and running.

Now that I have retired from my career, my "ending" has begun.

But that just starts the cycle again, because our lives are full of new beginnings.  Every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.

At some point, my daughter will find the perfect job and I will find my true calling and these days of uncertainty will be behind for both of us.

And then our lives will take off in a different direction again.

I just hope that one day our directions will lead us closer together.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!  If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe or share it with your friends.

 

The Week in Reviews: Daytime TV Talk Shows Deconstructed

I have already admitted to my television addiction and I am working on it, I truly am.  Really.  I am.  Believe me?

But I do particularly like talk shows. 

And this isn't just because I am retired now and could spend all day watching the talk shows.  Even when I was working I would tape a select few and enjoy them after hours.

Since it's been a slow week for me for movies, concerts and other pastimes,  I thought I would take a look at the new talk shows and some of the old ones as a public service to you.  I have done extensive research, hours and hours -- so you don't have to.

As a summary, it appears that most of the new shows are adhering to a formula of all or some of these segments:  taking a cue from "The View," panel discussion with or without quasi-celebrities, questions from the audience and takeaways such as nightgown makeovers and healthy food truck choices.  All very important stuff!

 

 

The New Shows

Steve Harvey

Pros
He's a likable, funny guy who appears to be trying to combine Dr. Phil with "Ellen."  He is trying a variety of segments in his show including a panel of "celebrities" to talk about the issues of the day and an "Ask Steve" segment, where audience members ask questions which gives him a chance to be funny, but also to solve their relationship problems and pitch his book. 

Cons
Not sure I trust a guy who writes a book called "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man."  And he should take a cue from Ellen and do some stand up.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Looks like this one could hang around awhile.




Bethenny

Pros
She is an Ex-housewife (NYC) who shows a vulnerable side (if crying a lot shows vulnerability) that people seem to relate to. Ellen loves her and is producing her show.  (Notice that Ellen and I are on a first name basis).

Cons
As with the Steve Harvey Show, Bethenny has a quasi-celebrity panel discussion (I mean, Lance Bass and Rich Wakile, from Housewives of NJ?), followed by a segment where she takes questions from the audience. She also might play a game with the audience called "Would you ever?" where she asks questions of individual audience members such as "If you were in a dressing room and heard a mother call her daughter fat, would you intervene?"  And then she might end the show by fitting women for bras. Weird. Looks like she hasn't figured out what format works best. It seems to change on a daily basis.  Her enthusiasm for some of the topics and guests seems forced.  And that vulnerability?  I think it masks a person who is hard as nails. But they haul out children and old people so she can show her vulnerable side.  Also no big name celebrities and not on top of what is currently trending. One segment on a 911 operator giving her wedding dress to a distraught bride whose dress was stolen is old news (sorry, I know them all!) Also her voice is shrill and annoying as hell.

Rosy the Reviewer says...I predict this one won't make it despite Ellen's support.  It's too all over the place and she is just too annoying.




"The Queen Latifa Show"

Pros
This show could take off. Queen (May I call you Queen?) comes off very down to earth and intelligent.  Her format is similar to Ellen's, with a DJ and a variety of guests, heart-warming reunions, cute video segments.

Cons
So far these early shows have quite a bit of butt-kissing and if Ellen is her target, I don't think she can compete, especially without Ellen's humor and if she can't attract the big celebrities.

Rosy the Reviewer says...but, with Queen Latifa's personality alone, this one could go the distance.




The Trisha Goddard Show


Pros
Instead of trying to model herself after "The View" or "Ellen," Trisha is going the Maury and Jerry route, combining DNA testing, shouting, body guards and fist fights.  During my "research," I encountered such titles as "Hot Mess Family Makeovers" and "Your Mother Slept Around --You're Not My Granddaughter" (even I can't make these up!)  At least she doesn't need the big name celebrities.  She's a Brit, which is a welcome change.

Cons
Trisha who? 

Rosy the Reviewer says...Not a good sign when the show can only be found around here at 3am.  That's pushing the "daytime" element a  bit, but if you are an insomniac, could be amusing.  And at least no questions from the audience, panel discussions or low calorie crispy treat recipes.  Just good old-fashioned yelling and punching.
 



Kris Jenner

Pros
Was only on for six episodes

Cons
Was only on for six episodes

Rosy the Reviewer says...was only on for six episodes.




Katie

Pros
Katie Couric is very likable and intelligent.  It's like visiting with the girl next door except the girl next door knows people like Robert Deniro.  She tries to do "important" shows with themes such as domestic violence or reincarnation.   She also can get the entire cast of an upcoming movie, if that's your thing.  Big name celebrities are not a problem for her.  It looks like she wants to be the next Oprah. 

Cons
She's a bit too perky.  If I might misquote slightly what Lou Grant said to Mary on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," "I hate perk!"  She also is using that new cliché of questions from the audience, which I find annoying. And Oprah she's not, though her show seems to have more coherence than the other new shows.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Some hits and misses. The Jury is still out on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Stand-byes

 

Dr. Oz

 

 

 

Pros

Gives out good health information

Cons

Talks about poop too much

Rosy the Reviewer says...but poop is important.

Dr. Phil

Pros
If Oprah likes him, he's OK with me. He links his shows to current topics in the news and has gotten more "show bizzy," interviewing Nick Carter and other celebs on such topics as addiction in addition to the usual mothers-in-law from hell and horrific neighbors.

Cons
Self serving, smug, overly dramatic and keeps pushing his new book. And what kind of therapist yells at his subjects?

Rosy the Reviewer says...but if Oprah likes him...



The Talk

Pros
A likable group that is growing on me.  Love Sharon Osbourne.

Cons
"The View" wannabees; Don't like Sarah Gilbert.  She reminds me of Debbie Downer.

Rosy the Reviewer says...moving up on "The View," but will never be "The View."



Maury

Pros
You know what you are getting because every show is about the same thing.

Cons
And what you are getting are DNA results to see who is the father of the baby mama's baby - over and over again.

Rosy the Reviewer says...how many times can you hear "You are NOT the father!"





Jerry Springer

Pros
If you like "Fight Club," you might like this

Cons
Breaks all of the rules of "Fight Club."

Rosy the Reviewer asks...why is this show still on?  Who are the people watching this thing?  And why?






Live with Kelly and Michael

Pros
Kelly

Cons
Michael

Rosy the Reviewer says...Where is Regis when you need him? I just don't get this show.  Is it aimed at my age bracket?  Because if so, it's even too old for me, even without Regis.





"The Wendy Williams Show"

Pros
She says whatever she thinks and can be quite outrageous as can her audience during the "Ask Wendy" segment.  They ask her about everything from relationship issues to sex toys.  Her strengths are the dishing and free associating she does about celebrities and her own life at the beginning of the show.  She has an opinion about everything and everyone and is quite humorous in a "New Joisey" sort of way.

Cons
I can't help but be distracted by my thinking she was once a man.  It must be her height. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...She is way over the top but quite humorous. An acquired taste.  Worth it just to hear her say her catch phrase, "How U doin?" 

The Crème de la Crème

The View

Pros
This was the first ensemble talk show and with Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg at the helm, there is more substance here than most.  They are always on top of what is trending now and get all of the big celebs. All the better now that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is gone.

Cons
Joy Behar is gone and unclear how Jenny McCarthy will do (2015 update:  We know she didn't do well and was cut.  Now if they would just get rid of Raven-Simone.)

Rosy the Reviewer says...this is the flagship.





Ellen

 

 

Pros
She channels the old variety talk shows of old, like Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas, and she is funny as hell.  (This is why Ellen and I are on a first name basis. I promised her a good review)

Cons
Not fond of the dancing she does at the beginning of the show

Rosy the Reviewer says...no other talk show like this right now during daytime. Brings back happy memories. 




One final thing about talk shows in general.  This latest craze of running a Twitter feed along the bottom of the screen during the show is so annoying.  I hate it.  Why do these shows think we care what their Twitter followers think?  Most of it is inconsequential crap.

So I hope this helps you make your decision about what talk shows you should watch.

If you care.

Or not.

 

 

What  do you think of the daytime talk shows? 

Any favorites?

 

 

Well that's it for this week.

 

Until next time,
I wish you great happiness.

 

 

Confessions of a TV Addict

Hello, my name is Rosy and I am a TV-aholic.  I am addicted to television.

It all started before I was five. 

I know it's difficult to believe, but I am of a generation that can remember not having a television. 

Before we had one, I remember standing on a neighbor's porch, peeking into their living room to get a glimpse of their television.  My grandparents had a television before we did and we would go over there on Friday nights to watch the Friday Night Fights and on Sundays to watch Ed Sullivan.  Friday nights were so boring for me, though, that I would lie on the floor and braid the fringe that hung on the bottom of one of my Grandmother's chairs.  I guess my addiction had not kicked in yet.

When I turned five, my Dad bought us a television.  But it wasn't until I was seven that my addiction really kicked in and that was the year "The Mickey Mouse Club" started. 

I was enthralled.  I was already a Disney fan having seen all of the animated films so animation was my big thrill.  Didn't care for the nature segments much.  But then as I grew older, there was

 

 "Spin and Marty"

 

"The Hardy Boys," and one of my favorites, "Corky and White Shadow."

"The Mickey Mouse Club" was on every day after school and I couldn't wait to settle in with my peanut butter toast and glass of milk.

As I got older, I graduated to "American Bandstand,"  I Love Lucy, "Bachelor Father," "The Donna Reed Show,"  The Fugitive"  and "Dr. Kildare."  My girlfriends and I would argue over who was the most swoon worthy TV doctor, Richard Chamberlain who played Dr. Kildare

 or Vince Edwards who starred in "that other show, "Ben Casey." 

What do you think?

It was a heated topic. I was firmly in the Richard Chamberlain camp.  I even had a Dr. Kildare pillow case that I practiced kissing on.  

People bonded over TV shows back then.  There were only 3 channels so it was much easier to find someone who was watching the same programs as you.

As a teenager, I fed my musical obsessions with "Shindig!" and "Hullabaloo."  Everyone from the Animals to the Zombies performed on "Shindig!"  That's when my interest in Rock & Roll became firmly entrenched.

My Dad worked extra jobs so wasn't home that much, but we bonded over old movies.  That was the era when the only movies you saw on TV were the ones from the 30's and 40's and they usually played at 11:30pm and 1am.  My Dad and I would sit up late and watch them.  He was a real softie.  If there was a sad scene or one of those really, really happy ones where the separated lovers would find each other again and run into each others' arms, he would get teary, but would always take pains to cover it up by laughing a bit and wiping his eyes with his handkerchief (men used handkerchiefs then too), but pretending he was wiping his forehead.  I remember when a tornado came through, everyone was down in the basement except my Dad and me.  We were watching the movie "My Darling Clementine" on TV.  When the all clear was sounded, I was sent off to bed and never did find out how it ended. 

All of those hours watching old movies with my Dad, not only leave me with wonderful memories of him, but I gained a knowledge of actors and actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  I am hard to beat at Trivial Pursuit when it comes to old movies.

In college, my roommate and I would gather with some of the other girls in the dorm to watch "The Monkees" on the communal television.

In my sophomore year, I married and moved to married housing.  After my husband was drafted and sent to Vietnam, my television helped me keep track of the war and what might be happening to my husband.  Hard to believe that every night the war was on the news with pictures of dead bodies and reports of body counts.  We have been at war for years now and we hardly hear about it. 

So the TV was also a companion late at night. 

I would come home from play rehearsals and Johnny Carson would keep me company and help me get over the jitters of sleeping alone.  Since the show was live, I saw some of the great moments:  Don Rickles kissing Frank Sinatra, Ed Ames throwing the tomahawk and hitting the target right in the groin.  An absolutely classic moment.

Johnny was the king of the double take and would really crack up when something spontaneous happened.  And just think of all of the comics he launched.  I saw them all. If Johnny liked you, your career was made. All I have to do is hear "Heeeeeers, Johnny" and many happy memories come back.

Now the late night talk shows don't do it for me, partly because I am not up that late anymore and my latest obsessions are reality TV, everything from the great competitions like "The Amazing Race" and "So You Think You Can Dance" to the more lowbrow "Housewives" franchises.

So I admit to my addiction. 

I know that is the first step in overcoming it.  And I know as a newly retired person, I need to keep that aspect of my life in check. 

But I also have the feeling I am not alone. 

I am always amused by people who say, "I don't watch television," but they seem to know everything that is on! 

Watching television has a certain stigma to it which I think is not well-deserved, unless you are like me - addicted. 

Television is not just entertaining but educational, and as a librarian, I felt it was essential to be on top of popular culture so that if a library customer asked me who was voted out of "Dancing With the Stars" last night, I not only knew what she was talking about but who was voted out!  I found it essential to be aware of what people were watching. 

Well, that's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

If you are starting to wonder if you, too, have a problem with watching too much TV, you might reflect on the following:

Signs you may be watching too much TV

• You know every "Real Housewife" by name, even the ones from D.C.

• When you take leave of people, you say "You're Out! Auf Wiedersehen" and kiss them on both cheeks.

• You think Downton Abbey is real and you are planning a vacation around going there.

 

Well it's kind of real.

• You know what "Smize" and "Tooch" mean.

• You actually enjoy arranging your TIVO Season Passes.

• You are starting to crave really bloody steaks and notice that it seems to happen after watching "True Blood."

• You feel like singing a Journey song every time something momentous or emotional happens.

• As soon as you sit down in a chair in front of the television, your wine guzzling poodle assumes the position for a long nap on your lap.

• One of your life goals is to meet Phil Keoghan so he can say to you "I'm very sorry to have to tell you that you have been eliminated from the race."

• You spent the whole weekend watching a "Sister Wives" marathon and are seriously considering plural marriage.

Well, there you have it. 

I have acknowledged my problem and I plan to work on it.  I really do. 

But can I start after "Dancing with the Stars" is over?

If you are not too ashamed to admit you watch television,

what are some of your happy TV memories
or your "addictions?"

Thanks for Reading!

 

See you Friday

For

The Week in Reviews

(What to See or Read and What to Avoid)

 

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to click on the share buttons to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, email it to your friends and LIKE me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer