Bite Me, Tony

Since my last post, we returned to that French place of which I previously waxed ecstatically. Our friend, Kevin, met us for lunch and immediately conveyed his displeasure with the decor ("It looks like a diner!"). Things appeared to be heading downhill after Kevin took one look at the menu and proclaimed it not French enough . Hmmm. Kevin sometimes tends to make insulting and condescending comments to people without really intending to be hurtful or come off sounding like a self-absorbed, entitled prig (which he mostly is but we like him anyway). He sorely lacks certain social graces when it comes to conversing with those he considers the  hoi polloi. S pecifically, there is no filter: Kevin often shares things that would be better left confined (with chains, if necessary) to his own inner sanctum. I think a character in the old Boston Legal TV series may have been based on him.  Whenever we hear Kevin begin a sentence with, "Forgive me, but....", we know it's

Yesterday was all about having appointments and running errands on the east side of Ft. Lauderdale . What with my cataractic eyeball I am, temporarily, leaving the driving to C, at least until after said cataract is excised next month. I literally hate driving in South Florida anyway, so I don't mind being confined to the passenger seat. Rush hour or not, the traffic here is always pure evil incarnate; it's like I-95 and all its adjacent tributaries and side streets are possessed by the souls of every boogeyman ever conceived. Jason, Freddy, Ghostface, Michael Myers....yep, all souls imprisoned within the highway's concrete and asphalt, which has been, for over 20 years, in a continuous state of disrepair and reconstruction.  After spending several hours running hither and yon yesterday, we decided it was time for lunch and headed to Zuckerello's , one of our favorite Italian restaurants. To celebrate our wedding last year, we hosted a small dinner at Zuckerello's

The 2022 Oscar nominees were announced last Tuesday, accompanied by the usual chorus of moans and groans over who was left out, who should have been left out, who will win versus who should win, more handwringing over Netflix being a contender, and other various and sundry bits of what-the-fuckery. But, is there anyone who really cares, at this point, other than the studios and the film people who are nominated (and not)? Sure, I suppose most cinephiles worth their salt will tune in on March 27 but I cut way back on my salt some time ago ( Crash winning over Brokeback Mountain ? The Artist  beating out  every other film nominated in the same category ? Give. Me. A. Fucking. Break.) One year, I did happen to pass by the television (C is an Oscar-watcher) in time to see Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announce the wrong winner in the Best Picture category , a contretemps both mortifying and strangely gratifying in a perverse sort of way.  I also find the posing and preening on the R

Tales From the Bookcase: 10 Favorites Read in 2021 (Part 2) I suppose I should mention that, while National Literacy Month was in November (better late than never, I suppose), one of the reasons I'm posting about books is to try and encourage those who don't normally enjoy reading much to give it a shot. And, even if you are a regular reader, maybe you'll be moved to try something outside of your preferred genre (if you have one). In other words, my evil intent is to entice with the come-hither tomfoolery of these mini reviews. It may work, it may not, but here are the final 5 books on my list of 10 favorites from last year. 6. A Maggot by John Fowles. Okay, so if the title alone doesn't cause you to run as far away from this book as possible, the fact that it is written in early 18th Century English style prose should further hasten your departure. And that's not even taking into account that the book is comprised of fictitious period newspaper clippings that are