Miley's Twerk Isn't Up to the Standards of a Full-Blown Shimmy!

It’s not always easy to pack an overnight bag and head to Broadway, so a local theatre, Cinemas Palm D’Or, brings Broadway to the desert. The most recent showing is the 2036th, and final, performance of Smokey Joe’s Café, which features the music of Leiber and Stoller, music anyone living through the 50s, the 60s, and maybe the 70s, will recognize, but anyone who enjoys a dynamic, fun-filled couple of hours of theater will enjoy.

On Broadway showcases a male quartet with the standard ranges of low bass to highest tenor, complete with the “moves” that make any great quartet even better. The female quartet is equally as accomplished in both singing talent and dance moves, but it is the music that steals the show. There are individual performances that come in at the top of the chart, as well as cast performances that had the audience standing and begging for more.

One number, in particular, had me howling with laughter and wondering why Miley Sirus stirred up such a large pot of disfavor with her “twerking” performance: the shimmy, complete with the fringed outfit that shimmies right along with the music. We used to shimmy, some better than others, and twerking seems tame when compared to the shimmy in all its wiggling and suggestive glory. Those who can, do, and those who can’t wish they could when it comes to the shimmy. There is a YouTube video of this performance that brought the house down, as well as other videos of spectacular performances.

If you have an opportunity to see the filmed version of the Broadway stage play, Smokey Joe's Cafe, I highly recommend it to you as a fun-filled, face-paced 2 hours of music you’ll recognize and fight hard to avoid singing along with the performers on the stage.

Neighborhood Watch

My smallest dog, Cinnamon, discovered last week that she can see out the front room window. When that window is open to let in the cooler Fall air, Cinnamon can bark unceasingly at sights/sounds both real and imaginary. What a noisy little neighborhood watcher she has become!!

My other two dogs also spend time sitting in the window area and watching what's going on. The neighbors across the way are cleaning up their yard; the neighbors next door to them were out cutting their grass with a noisy electric mower. A group of kids were playing in the empty lot across the street and squealing with joy when they found one another. When all three of the dogs get to barking, it's a loud cacaphony of strident sound.

Captain Phillips

My movie buddy and I wanted to see the film Captain Phillips, so we bought our tickets and popcorn and settled in. We made it through all the movie trailers, but when the actual film began, I realized it was not what I had thought it was. I'm not a fan of the hand-held camera technique, but a bit of it is okay; however, this film is nothing but hand-held cameras and too much of anything is too much.

From the time Capt. Phillips climbed aboard his ship, I became more and more nauseous and, after 25 minutes, I had to walk out before my head exploded. The film is filmed all in hand-held camera mode: the camera keeps moving side to side, up and down, across and back -- and I have issues with vertigo and can barely make it through the snack bar roller coaster enticement.

A little bit of shakey cam can enhance the drama and/or help to tell the story, but there really is too much of a questionable camera technique.

Making the Call

I don't lose things, but sometimes I do misplace them. I'm such a creature of habit that I react subconsciously to the put it back where I found it early childhood training. However, I'm of an age wherein the mind isn't as sharp as it used to be, so if I misplace something, I just sigh and go back through my previous actions until I find it. When I don't find it, panic sets in -- and, hence, having to make the call to my credit card company when I didn't find my credit/debit card in its niche in my purse. I distinctly remembered the last time I had the card (at the local Von's gas station), so I stopped by there to see if my card was there. Yeah, slim to none chance of that being the case, but I was rewalking my day yesterday and that was the last time I remember using my card.

I called the card company and after being asked a half-dozen times to provide the card number for my lost card, I was finally directed to a human being. I told him that if I had the card, I could tell him the number ... but the reason for my call was that I couldn't find my card. We went through the whole process of reporting it, canceling it, and being assured that a new card is on its way sometime this coming week.

The last thing he said to me was that if I found the card in my pants pocket, I could not use it because it was now inactive -- and halla, I went to check the pants I wore yesterday. There was my card, along with the receipt for the gas I had purchased. Alas, too late, but better to be safe than sorry when it comes to a missing credit/debit card.

Responding to the Call

I get irritated when people come down on police officers, saying that they don't care about or respect others. Well, here is a story that clearly shows not all cops are in that category.

This story involves the police department in the hill country town of Fredericksburg, TX who reported finding a man's body last Saturday, in the early evening, in the Pedernales River near the state highway-87 bridge.

The dead man's name would not be released until his family had been notified. The victim apparently drowned due to excessive beer consumption while visiting "someone" in Kerrville, TX.

He was wearing black fishnet stockings, 4 inch spiked heels, a red garter belt, a pink G-string, purple lipstick, dazzle dust on his eyelids, 2-1/2 inch false eyelashes, and an Obama T-shirt.

The police removed the Obama T-shirt to spare his family any unnecessary embarrassment.

OK: so I cut and pasted this from someone much more clever than I because I haven't laughed this hard in a really long time.

What If The Republicans Are Right?

Back in the day, my former husband wanted to buy a motorhome, which required a trip to San Diego to go shopping. We went from one car lot to another without finding what we were looking for, but finally we came across a coach with an excellent lay-out, solid construction, and outstanding reputation: a Mini-Winnebago. I was ecstatic to find just what I was looking for as a family recreation vehicle, and husband seemed to agree. This was it; however, when we started off on a test drive, the engine light came on. Immediately, we shut off the engine and told the sales rep about the light. He said not to worry; sometimes, the mechanics who prep the vehicles forget to recheck the oil they add upon delivery. They would do that now and then we could proceed with our test drive.

Ex-husband refused to budge: we either got another coach that had never seen the engine light come on or we would move on to another lot. The salesman lowered the price and offered a 100% guarantee and he still wouldn’t budge. I argued that this was the perfect coach for us, spacious, comfortable, with a separate seating area away from the kitchen, and 3 separate sleeping areas, listing all the features that it had that we had not seen in any of the other coaches. Ex stubbornly refused to purchase that one and we were off to another lot.

Ex-husband found a coach he really liked and I was appalled. It was a smaller footprint than the Mini Wini and the design didn’t allow anywhere to sit while meals were being prepared. There was an overcab bunk, which I refused to crawl into, and the dining table top made into a small bed for two children, 2 constricted sleeping areas for a 4-person family. The construction didn’t seem as top drawer as the Mini Wini and I said no, no, no – for a dozen different reasons. Just the fact that I said “no” was reason enough for ex-husband to decide that this was the motorhome for us – and he refused to go back to the Mini Wini for another look-see or to look at other coaches on the same lot, or travel to yet another unexplored sales lot. He wanted what he wanted and it didn't matter what I said or did because he was not going to change his mind.

I told him that I refused to co-sign the loan and would not partake in trips involving that coach as I absolutely could not see it working well for a family of four. He signed all the papers and proudly drove the motorhome to a friend’s home in the area, feeling that he had bought a great recreational vehicle for his family to enjoy. When a friend asked me (in front of ex-husband) why I had agreed to purchase it if I didn't like it, I told him that I had not agreed -- but my opinion was disregarded completely.

The first night we slept in it (yes, I caved in and went on vacation, pissed off and not looking forward to it at all), I slept on the tabletop bed conversion because there was no way I was going to climb into the overcab bed. As I turned over in my sleep, the support brace broke off the bench seating and the whole thing fell to the floor. I was right about shoddy construction and the decision not to buy this model, but being right didn’t mean diddly as we were stuck with it because it was more important for the husband to be right than to compromise.

Hence, the Affordable Care Act. The Republicans are generally saying slow down, think this through, and give it some time before we commit one hundred percent to a program that seems to have too many potential problems attached to it. The Democrats say if that’s what the President wants, that’s what he’ll get, and we’ll work the kinks out after the fact. The President whines like a kindergartener, worried about his presidential legacy that is based on ObamaCare as he hasn’t done much of anything else to brag about. He’s exasperated and that’s reason enough to pass the legislation.

Maybe the Republicans are right and the President and the Democrats are wrong. Maybe this is being rammed into law without thinking it through for the long run. Maybe we should all be taking a closer look at the construction details, and rather than be pleased by what seems like a good, cheaper deal on the surface, check the support braces before sleeping on the tabletop conversion.