Making Progress

You don’t have to put in a massive effort today. Solve one problem. Take one meaningful step toward your objective. Acknowledge the accomplishment and build on that progress tomorrow.

TV and Streaming Roundup - April 2022

Reacher (Amazon Prime Video)

Alpha good guy takes on a whole bunch of very nasty bad guys. Ridiculously entertaining and entertainingly ridiculous.

Pros: Excellent cast and production. The main guy looks like a cross between Adonis and Hercules.

Cons: Extreme violence. Ludicrous body count.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video)

Twenty or thirty minutes into the first episode, you might question whether the show lives up to the hype. Override the impulse to give up on it and watch the whole 53 minutes. Your mind will be blown.

Pros: A star is born

Cons: None

Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

MI5 has a bureaucratic purgatory for disgraced spies led by the sloppiest Gary Oldman you’ve ever seen. Very British.

Pros: Riveting but realistic action sequence in the first episode. Excellent production.

Cons: None yet.

The Offer (Paramount+)

The story of the making of ‘The Godfather’. I don’t have Paramount+, so I haven’t seen it, but the subject is intriguing.

NCIS: Hawai’i (CBS)

I’m loving this one. Every episode has been excellent. The action is as good or better than anything that I’ve seen on broadcast TV. The cast is wonderful. The team is led by a female agent, which creates an interesting dynamic in the cops and robbers genre. She’s also one of the most beautiful women that I’ve even seen.

Pros: Everything about it

Cons: They can’t make them fast enough

Alien Pizza

When the aliens come, don’t let them try pizza. They might not leave.

Tweets From Afar

Elon Musk just bought 9 percent of Twitter. Get ready for tweets from Mars!

Latin Pop

I want my money back! I bought a “Latin pop” album. It’s not even in Latin! Caveat emptor.

Looper (2012) starring Bruce Willis

Looper (2012) starring Bruce Willis

‘Looper’ has been on my list of films to see since it was released, since I’m a fan of writer/director Rian Johnson’s movie ‘Brick’ (2005). When the news of Bruce Willis’ health struggles broke yesterday, I recalled that I’d wanted to watch ‘Looper’, so I decided to rent it.

Pros

- Inventive plot

- Visually unique (sets and effects)

- Good pacing of the story. Information comes in bits and pieces.

- It has a twist which was craftily exposed

- EXCELLENT cast and solid performances (including two members of the ‘Brick’ cast)

- Thought provoking

Cons

- Extreme violence

- Unsettling cruelty

- Borrows ideas from a number of other movies

- Some minor continuity issues. (A character knows about loopers, but it’s never made clear how they knew this, since loopers are secretive.)

- Vague ending raises questions

Rating: 6.5/10

The Godfather (1972) - Positive Comments Only

The Godfather (1972) - Positive Comments Only

I’ve criticized ‘The Godfather’ over the years, so I thought that it would be a good exercise to find some nice things to say about the film. Here’s my list of 100 percent positive comments about ‘The Godfather’.

- ‘The Godfather’ was a truly original film. It was not derivative in any way. Movies had portrayed organized crime before, but ‘The Godfather’ showed the underworld in a unique way.

- ‘The Godfather’ has at least a half dozen iconic scenes and many memorable lines.

- ‘The Godfather’ had such a fresh vision that it became an instant classic. It didn’t take time for lines like “I made him an offer he can’t refuse” to enter the cultural lexicon.

- Once you see ‘The Godfather’, it sticks with you forever. It’s unforgettable.

- ‘The Godfather’ added the word ‘cannoli’ to my vocabulary.

- Al Pacino was really, really good in the film.

Culture War Questions At The KBJ Hearings

When Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) asked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to define what a woman is, this would have been a clever response: “A woman is an adult female human, as opposed to a bitch, which is an adult female dog.” An even better response: “I’ll let you know when I see one.”

Movie List

Favorite romantic comedy: Two Weeks Notice

Favorite action movie: Die Hard

Favorite comedy: The Naked Gun

Favorite drama: Brick

Favorite Sci-fi Film: District 9

Favorite Sci-fi Comedy: Back To The Future

Favorite Bond Film: For Your Eyes Only

Favorite Star Trek Movie: IV The Voyage Home

Favorite Black and White Film: Bringing Up Baby

Favorite Foreign Film: Shall We Dance? (Japan 1996)

A movie that frightened me: Failsafe

A movie that terrified me: Deliverance

Favorite film based on actual events: Apollo 13

Movie I love that everyone hates: Romeo Is Bleeding

Movie I hate that everyone loves: The Fugitive

Worst Movie Ever: Eraserhead

Best Movie Ever: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Being Productive On Your Off Days

The late, great jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson said, "You learn to perform by performing on your bad days."

You might need to alter your approach at times when you can't rely on your normal energy level. Start slowly. Take on smaller tasks. Limit your expectations. Write things down to keep yourself organized. Ask for help, and take breaks when you need to.

Success won't climb into bed with you. You have to go out and chase it.

I've done some of my best work on days when I felt exhausted. The amazing thing is that I didn't feel exhausted when the work was done. I felt exhilarated, energized, alive. Action is powerful medicine. Accomplishment is a healing force.

You can never live a day over again. Once it's passed, it's gone forever. Find a way to make the most of today.