Redford/Streisand: The Way We Were (1973)

The History of Post-1900 Celebrities

Stage Stars
Movie Stars
TV Stars
Rock Stars
Video Stars
Rappers
Internet "Influencers"

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We've always wanted better-looking and more-talented people to represent us. But usually with at least SOME bit of human heart and soul.

But what I noticed when making the above list: There was a big drop-off in talent after Movie. And then another after Rock. What's left now is basically badly-done porn.

We've fallen quite a bit in the past 100 years, huh?

1966 in Movies (Soundtrack: Rolling Stones "Out of Time")

The Andy Griffith Show: Probing the Subconscious

I go through kicks every now and then, where I assign myself the task of either watching 

or reading EVERYTHING on a certain topic: 

 

Movies: 
Joan Crawford movies (not just watching, but writing reviews 

for ALL of them on my Joan site): Yes, done that! Plus have read all the JC bios.

Ingmar Bergman movies: Have seen maybe 2/3 of them. Own the complete Criterion 

box set, but have not started from beginning to watch all in order. 

Have read maybe 4 bios (plus his sister's fictional bio, which was interesting for family dynamics).

Literature:

Sylvia Plath: I've read ALL of her works and all bios.
Ted Hughes: Read maybe 2/3 of his works, and all bios.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: Yes, I've read everything published by him, and all the bios.

Thomas Hardy: I've read all the main novels, and much of his poetry, and some essays. 

Then bought a complete set of all his works and started at the beginning--

got through only the first 3, I think. I've read most of his bios, though.
Dawn Powell: Read almost all novels and bios. No short stories.

TV:

The Office: I've seen each episode at least a billion times. 

(Used to be vastly entertained by all, but upon multiple views: 

It's nearly mediocre once "Michael Scott" left the show. 

Way too much "Andy." No need at all for "Nellie." No need for Jim's sports career.)

 

Portlandia: I'd never seen an episode until just getting my "YouTubeTV" subscription 

a few months ago; there's a whole "Portlandia" channel, showing nothing but! 

It's clever as hell! (It ran from 2011 to 2018, and I missed it the whole time---

had I had access to it earlier, I wouldn't have been so depressed about thinking 

that no one was noticing how INSANE leftists were!)

 

The Andy Griffith Show: Again, thanks to my new "YouTubeTV" subscription. 

I started watching after work on a whim, remembering seeing re-runs from 

my childhood in the '70s. There's a very good, happy vibe around all of the episodes. 

But while watching random episodes, I at one point tried to record ONE of them---

only to discover that YouTube had then recorded EVERY SINGLE episode from all 8 seasons!
Oh, OK---I'll try that! (I was always wondering why Andy's girlfriends came and went---

what happened to them? Maybe now I'll find out!)

I'm currently in the middle of Season 2. Up until now, I'd always chuckled mildly on occasion.

No, I'm not a fan, in general, of basic "country humor." BUT:

Andy Griffith (Andy Taylor) is so handsome (!), and I like his laid-back persona. 

Love Ronny Howard, who is super-cute and a very natural kid-actor. 

Annoyed by Aunt Bee. Barely amused by Barney's usually annoying neuroses. 

But the below made me REALLY laugh out loud for the first time 

since starting my journey with this show! 

This is as funnily weird and absurdist as anything in "Portlandia"!

"O-Tis Campbell..."

Death

First your pets, and then perhaps
A random friend or two
And later, parents or a mate
Time marches on---soon, you!

Charlie Kirk Assassination

NEW YORK POST reader post on evening of 9/10/25:

His voice and his thoughts were his to share. Whether you disagreed with him or not, he still had the right to talk and share them with anyone who would listen. He valued the debate and genuinely listened to people who spoke with him. Violence wasn't the answer here. This is a great example of how no one wants violence and only wants to talk, until violence silences those who want peaceful debate.

RIP Charlie. I didn't agree with your stances in many cases, but I respect your freedom to voice them.

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MY RESPONSE to the above:

I agree. I was a long-time Democrat right up until 2016. (Am now a Trumplican. And am proud to say I've never voted for a milquetoast Bush or Romney.) All that said: What's been going on in America for the past 10 years or so is horrible----the censorship of social media (before Musk bought Twitter), the refusing of most college campuses to allow speakers from the right, the takeover of mainstream media by extreme Leftists, the takeover of all educational levels by extreme Leftists, the takeover of the medical/biological/scientific fields by extreme Leftists spouting non-scientific nonsense about gender and climate. ETC.

The Left has COMPLETELY lost sight of what it originally stood for: Freedom of speech and intellectual honestly being two of those very important things. You guys have gone MAD in the past 10 years. You frighten me and you disgust me.

"The Male Gaze"

Back in the late '80s/early '90s or so, the phrase "The Male Gaze" showed up in an academic essay, and over the past 30+ years, this concept has trickled down to mass culture. The premise being that women in general can't truly be themselves because males are always looking at them and commenting on them. This concept perhaps culminated in the recent #MeToo witch-hunts online that damned most anyone who ever looked at or touched a woman. (Actual sex abuse---that's one thing. But #MeToo went WAY beyond that.)

Well, guess what: Women look at, and comment on, men, too. One example: Sylvia Plath---one of my favorite poets---constantly objectified husband Ted Hughes as a Superman, both physically and mentally. And just recently, now that I've got YouTubeTV, I've been enjoying my "Andy Griffith Show" re-runs---not because the shows are extremely witty or anything (although they are sometimes folksily funny), but because Andy Griffith is so good-looking! I mean, Ronny Howard is very cute to watch, but I'm primarily watching to see Andy Griffith.

People in show business, both male and female, are usually better-looking and more-charming on-screen than the rest of us. That's why we pay to see them at the movies, or watch them on TV. As for literature, most poets have been male, so we usually get their fascinated sexual views on females---but when there's a female poet, such as Plath, we get her equally fascinated sexual views on males.

The "Gaze" is Female as well as Male. The Gaze comes from any human looking at anything he or she is attracted to.

Andy Griffith + Joanna Moore: Down In The Valley (1962)

The gorgeous Joanna Moore made 4 appearances as Andy Taylor's girlfriend on the "Andy Griffith Show" in 1962.

After weeks of watching the show (just recently accessed through my new streaming service): I thought Moore was really extraordinary---beautiful eyes, beautiful manner, and lovely singing voice. She disappeared as a love interest from the "Andy Griffith Show" after this 1962 season, though. 

I learned later after some research: She was married to Ryan O'Neal from 1963 to 1967. 

She was Tatum O'Neal's and Griffin O'Neal's mother. 
She was an utter mess: Drug and alcohol problems, and, according to Tatum, she had a 15-year-old lover who physically abused Tatum. And her kids weren't fed, and they literally shit on the ground while they lived with her. (Ryan O'Neal was ultimately given custody of the kids---the fact that Ryan O'Neal, of all people, was given custody of anybody tells you something about how bad their mother was.)

The magic of Hollywood---because in this "Andy Griffith" episode, she looks like anyone's ultimate dream-woman!

p.s. No offense to the vast majority of Scorpios out there---but Moore was November 10. 
In my own life as a fairly simple Leo, I've been involved with numerous Scorpios---born on November 6, 8, 9, 11: How beautiful and interesting you all presented yourselves at the beginning, and how awful you turned out to be. 

 

Yes, most things in life are random, but this cluster of Scorpios is a bit beyond "random." I suppose there's some sort of Fate involved---me having to ultimately get along with ONE Scorpio before I die! :)

 

I do, though, long for another bright and pleasant Libra. So tired of weirdos and neuroses.

Andy Griffith Show: The Fishin' Hole (lyrics to whistling theme song)

Why the Guilt: Turning thermostat down to 77 degrees from 78!

When I was a kid, living in a rural area outside of Fort Worth, Texas, in the late '70s/early '80s, we (my mom, younger brother, and I) were poor after my parents' divorce in '77. My mom got the house---which I later found out had cost only $75K back then! Can you imagine??---but it was still apparently a monetary chore to keep up, especially since Mom, post-divorce, only had a low-paying entry-level Federal job at the nearby Air Force Base.

To save on air-conditioning costs: One of the rules in the summer that my mom imposed: While I was at home during the day baby-sitting my brother, I had to keep the thermostat set at 86 degrees F in the house. And the temps inside the house always DID hit that mark! After 3pm, I was allowed to lower the thermostat to 78 degrees---in time for the house to cool down by the time my mother arrived home from work around 5pm.

(I know where "78 degrees" came from: In 1976, Jimmy Carter had given a TV speech about the need for energy conservation. He suggested 78 in the summer, and 68 in the winter.)

I was a pretty well-behaved tween, so I never cheated and lowered the thermostat much earlier in the day! Wish I had! (How would she have known? But I didn't know about electric bills, and feared some mass upcharge had I "dared" to lower the thermostat to 80 or something around noon!)

In other sweaty news: When my mother went to bed around 10pm each night, the AC then had to be switched off. Since I was allowed to stay up later watching TV in the summer, it got quite muggy after hours! I remember to this day the backs of my knees sweating!

All of that said: Now that I've long been a grown-up, and long been in charge of my own AC... WHY AM I STILL SETTING MY THERMOSTAT TO 78 DEGREES in the summer?? Because Jimmy Carter said so in 1976? Because it's better than 86 degrees? My own personal body temperature is still way too hot at 78 degrees in the house! The past couple of weeks have been uber-muggy, so I "dared" to set the thermostat to 77 degrees! Good Lord. 

Back when I was first on Facebook many years ago, I posted a query to my old friends from my home-town, asking what they considered a "normal" temp in their houses in the summer. Most said around 72 degrees; one said her husband had to have 68. 

I can today afford to have whatever comfortable temperature in my apartment. But I keep on with the "78" in mind, and thinking that "77" is somehow "radical"! :)