Posted inEntertainment Web/Tech

In one day, I’ve become a 71 year-old TikTok addict

This isn't a cry for help, even though I'm addicted. To TikTok, the video-sharing service that has aroused Trump's ire -- which led me to download the iPhone app this morning, in part because my default position is that whatever our Idiot-in-Chief is against, I'm for, since Trump is almost always wrong. Last Thursday Trump signed an executive order aimed at TikTok.  In the order, which takes effect in 45 days, any transactions between TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens will be outlawed for national security reasons. In practice, experts told NPR the order likely will mean the viral…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

What two old people say while watching Hamilton on Disney+

It took my wife, Laurel, and I three nights to finish watching Hamilton on Disney+. One reason is that the show is long. Another is that when two 71-year-old people watch Hamilton at home, there's a lot of pressing the stop/start button. Thankfully, we weren't watching on Broadway. If we talked through a live performance like we did through the streaming version, we would have been thrown out of the theatre pretty damn quickly.  Here's some of what you would have heard if you could have been a fly on the wall of our TV watching area. Laurel: Stop the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Sexy Super Bowl halftime show by J. Lo and Shakira offends some, but not me

Call me courageous -- Brian, you're so brave! -- but I've got to take an outspoken stand on yesterday's Super Bowl halftime show featuring Jennifer Lopez, a.k.a. J. Lo, and Shakira. I am unabashedly in favor of beautiful women wearing as little as possible during a musical performance, and dancing in a sexually provocative manner. There. I said it. Let the .000001% of men who disagree with me take me to task, along with the almost equally small percentage of women who believe that female performers should cover themselves demurely on stage, and dance as if a Puritan God was…
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Posted inEntertainment

Why my wife and I are hooked on The Morning Show

Since my male ego is so small, a fact I'm tremendously proud about, I readily admit that my wife was right. Laurel kept saying, we should start watching The Morning Show, and I kept responding, but the reviews I've read haven't been very positive. Well, we've been firing up Apple TV+ almost every night since taking our first plunge into The Morning Show, and now we're both enthralled by this compelling drama.  Rotten Tomatoes has it right. Critics aren't wild about the series. But viewers love it. Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are indeed great in their roles. So are…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

I hate DirecTV even more than I hate Trump

Let me explain the title of this blog post. Trump isn't sitting under our television, controlling what my wife and I are able to watch in our rural south Salem (Oregon) home where the only TV choices are crappy DirecTV and crappy Dish Network. So DirecTV has a much larger direct impact on my life than Donald Trump does. That's why I'm complaining about DirecTV rather than Trump, even though both are hugely irritating. There's always something to hate about DirecTV. Let me count three of the ways, starting with the most recent -- which is the biggest current reason…
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Posted inEntertainment Film

Beyonce’s Coachella show was mind-blowingly beautiful

Thank you, Netflix. There's no way my wife and I would have seen Beyonce's astounding  2018 "Homecoming" show at Coachella without streaming it the past two nights, courtesy of our Netflix subscription. For one thing, the many shots of the crowd showed that if anyone our 70'ish age saw the two live performances (over two weekends), they sure weren't in the front rows. For another, our willingness to travel long distances and put up with large crowds to see a concert are long behind us. So it was a gift to be able to sit at home and stare with…
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Posted inEntertainment Philosophy

Netflix, like life, works in mysterious ways

I've used psychedelics, meditation, and philosophy to understand the mystery of the cosmos -- with decidedly mixed success. But now that I've reached what feels like the astoundingly old age of 70, I'm pleased to find wisdom any way it appears to me. Such as, through the unexpected workings of Netflix. Which led me yesterday to a better appreciation of what is really important in life. My mini-enlightenment began when I noticed that "A Star is Born" was available in our Netflix DVD queue as of February 20. So I elevated it to next in line and mailed back the…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Photos of 2018 Salem Art Fair & Festival

I hugely enjoyed today's Salem Art Fair visit.  Here's photos, and commentary, of what caught my eye (and also my stomach) this afternoon. I share photos of my Art Fair purchase, a coffee mug with an unusual bumpy glaze. The Art Fair is a great $5 bargain, especially since this also pays for entry to evening entertainment. I'm probably returning tomorrow.
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Posted inEntertainment Sports

U of O softball way more entertaining today than OSU baseball

I'm an end of season softball and baseball fan, because we have DirecTV and they still don't carry the Pac 12 Network after so many years, I've stopped counting.  But today ESPN showed important games for both the University of Oregon softball team, which needed a win over Kentucky to advance to the Women's College World Series, and the Oregon State baseball team, which needed a win over UCLA to have a chance of winning the Pac 12 championship, plus get a better seeding in the NCAA playoffs. My conclusion: women's softball is way more entertaining than men's baseball. Now,…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Shout! is a hugely enjoyable Enlightened Theatrics musical

Whether or not you were there in the 60's and early 70's (I was) to groove to tunes such as "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" and "Son of a Preacher Man," you'll love Enlightened Theatrics' Shout! The Mod Musical at the Grand Theatre in downtown Salem.  I saw Shout! last night at a preview performance where the five women who sing, dance, and act with marvelous professionalism came back on stage after the show in street clothes to respond to questions from the audience, along with other members of the production. What blew my mind further, which was already…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Enlightened Theatrics continues to knock productions out of the Acting Park

In case you aren't a baseball fan, the title of this blog post is a big thumbs-up to the quality of the plays and musicals the Enlightened Theatrics folks have been gifting Salem through their Grand Theatre productions. I feel bad that my wife and I went to see their most recent play, The Foreigner, only last night -- which was the next to last performance, the last being a matinee this afternoon. So my praise of the cast is intended to help spur people to go see the next Enlightened Theatrics productions, as shown above.  The highest praise I…
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Posted inEntertainment Health Living with a catheter

Five observations about Ed Asner’s show, “A Man and His Prostate”

Last night my wife and I saw Ed Asner perform "A Man and His Prostate" at the Elsinore Theatre here in Salem, Oregon.   It's an entertaining reading by Asner of what a different Ed, Ed Weinberger, wrote concerning what he went through after he collapsed while on a vacation in Italy. Since I'm not going to describe the show in much detail, you can read a review to learn about it.  What I want to do is share five observations of A Man and His Prostate based on my personal experience of being also a man, with a prostate,…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Next Fall is a great Enlightened Theatrics play. Go see it!

Main point of this review: There's five days left to see Enlightened Theatrics' current production, the play Next Fall. Get your tickets. Now. The last shows are Wednesday-Sunday, November 8-12. My wife and I loved Next Fall -- one of the most enjoyable plays we've ever seen. There's even a two-for-one ticket offer that likely still holds: Next Fall is about a gay couple who bicker, argue, make up, break apart, drive each other crazy, help each other be sane, cry, laugh, and otherwise display all the strengths and weaknesses of every other long-term committed couple, homosexual, heterosexual, whateversexual. Having…
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Posted inEntertainment Family

“La La Land” — inspiration for rebels and fools who dream

My wife and I saw "La La Land" on Christmas Eve. Great movie. I'm a sucker for films about people chasing their impossible dreams, facing down their fears and insecurities, being kicked in the butt by life then turning around to ask for more.  Watching the climactic scenes of La La Land, I was moved by how dedicated jazz musician Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) pursued their passions in the face of daunting obstacles.  At one point I remember thinking to myself in the darkened movie theatre, "I want to be like them!"  Then a second…
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Posted inEntertainment

“Plaid Tidings” at Grand Theatre: meaningful fun escapism

Ever ready to accept free tickets, I jumped at the offer by Enlightened Theatics' Carlos Barata to see their current Plaid Tidings production gratis in exchange for a blog post review.  In case you're wondering whether what I'll say here is colored by the hue of those two $25 tickets, I reply: "Of course it is! I will add in one extra laudatory adjective beyond what I would have written otherwise, because I want to assure other entertainment enterprises in Salem that, yes, my blogging can be bought in exchange for free tickets. However, you won't get much in return,…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

Pac-12 Networks now on Sling TV. Because of me! (I like to think)

I DID IT! (in my magical thinking brain, at least) Just five days after my annual blog post rant about DirecTV not carrying the Pac-12 Networks -- and the Pac-12 Networks not being offered on any streaming service -- today a deal has been announced between Sling TV and the Pac-12 Networks.  SAN FRANCISCO– Pac-12 Networks announced today a new agreement with Sling TV to make all six Pac-12 Networks regional feeds, which collectively offer live coverage of more than 800 sporting events, available to Sling Orange and Sling Blue customers who subscribe to the “Sports Extra” add-on pack as…
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Posted inEntertainment Television

Will 2016 be the year DirecTV carries Pac-12 Networks?

This is the freaking fifth year I've complained about DirecTV not carrying the Pac-12 Networks. Count 'em: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.  (See here and here for links to my previous blog post rants.) Today, once again, I had to scramble to watch the Oregon Ducks football opener against UC Davis. Yes, after some Googling I found a free online stream of the Pac-12 Networks broadcast. But I'd much prefer to watch the game on my big screen television than on my 13" MacBook Pro. I hope both DirecTV and the Pac-12 Networks realize they're acting like idiots. Their five…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Enlightened Theatrics made “The Wizard of Oz” new for me

Thank you, talented cast members of Enlightened Theatrics' current cultural gift to Salem, a marvelous stage production of "The Wizard of Oz."  You've restored the pleasure I felt as a child when I'd watch, and re-watch, the classic movie version of The Wizard of Oz. It was shown annually on television from 1959 to 1991.  So, since I was born in 1948, I must have seen it close to half a dozen times before I went off to college in 1966. What pushed me over the Oz edge, though, was raising a daughter born in 1972. I remember watching the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Odysseo by Cavalia in Portland is a thrilling horse production

Last night, Laurel and I saw the newest version of Cavalia's marvelous "horse show." (I put that in quotes to indicate that it is like no horse show you've ever seen before.) Which, like the show we saw five years ago, also in Portland, basically is an equine Cirque du Soleil.  In 2011, I blogged, Cavalia is a magical horse show -- Portlanders, go see it!    I don't know why I omitted my fellow residents of Salem in the title, so now I'll add -- Salemians, go see it! As noted in my first post about Cavalia, my wife…
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Posted inEntertainment

Photos of 2016 Oregon Country Fair (a fair like no other)

Ah, bliss. Today Laurel and I made our annual Oregon Country Fair journey in space (south to Veneta, outside Eugene) and time (back to the spirit of the 60's).  Even though the day was cloudy, cool, and occasionally a bit rainy, the fair was as weirdly enjoyable as it always is. Here's photos of our experience. (click to enlarge) Even before we got to the ticket-taking area, there was a dragonish' indication that this fair is like no other in the country. Indeed, the freaking cosmos.  Arriving at a bit after 1 pm, we got a delicious Indian-food lunch from a…
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