mojoscriber...

One of the benefits, if you can even call them that, of the COVID-19 pandemic is the glut, the excess, the plethora, my cup-runneth-over of free time to catch up on things like movie watching.  While most of it was dreck, occasionally a gem turns up. Quentin Tarantino’s supposed  last feature film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” put a 2-1/2 hour smile on my face.  The thing was so fucking nostalgic from the 1969 street scenes to the iconic 93 KHJ Boss-radio soundtrack to the shit in Rick Dalton’s kitchen cabinet, I found myself rewinding and freeze framing just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  And after two plus hours of build-up and foreshadowing, the alternate reality conclusion totally caught me by surprise and made me love it even more.  If you are a child of the ‘60s, you cannot miss this one, pandemic or not...

Among my list of things to master while sheltering in place against COVID-19

Glad to see they’re keeping up the old barn. It certainly doesn’t appear to be almost 60 years old...

An amazing night in Anaheim, from mom’s honorary first pitch to the last one that sealed the no-hitter.  Sometimes baseball can be a great great game...

While walking my dog on a beautiful Saturday morning, I passed by a local Chabad nestled among the homes in our neighborhood.  We have a relatively large Orthodox Jewish population and obviously Saturdays mean Shabbat which means a lot of local activity.  Standing post in the Chabad driveway was a young security guard wearing tactical gear.  I failed to notice if he was armed with a weapon; I doubt it except for perhaps the non-lethal variety, but the camouflaged uniform definitely sent a message.  Walking home, it saddened me that they needed to take this preemptive measure, but I totally understand. I personally haven’t heard of any specific threat but something obviously must have happened. This is a wonderful community and I hope for nothing but a peaceful day for our neighbors...

This is pretty funny, eh?

It’s July 1st... Happy Bobby Bonilla Day! Only sixteen more installments until the Mets are off the hook

Powerful coming-of-age story that was all at once tragic, gut-wrenching and in its own way, triumphant. The author did a wonderful job making sure I became fully invested in the lives of her richly developed characters; I couldn't put the book down. And now I finally GET the significance and influence of Tupac Shakur. For that alone, this journey for me was worth it. About five or six years ago, I read The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson about the migration of Black Americans, the descendants of slaves, from the Jim Crow South to various points north and west during the early to mid 20th Century, through about 1970. It saddens me that 50-years later we still haven't found the key to unlocking the shackles of inequality that has been the history of the African American people. Unfortunately, the current political and social climate in this country does not project a positive trend for that movement.