Bacall's Bottom Line on Life

Jim Hampton made this meme for me. Thanks, Jim!

The Monster Man on the March

Every morning, more news of the monster man, busy slouching from Pennsylvania Avenue toward Bethlehem, even hiding there right behind the other headlines — about the collapsing American infrastructure, about the Christian-homeschooled hate bomber, about the immigrant children torn from their parents — always grinning his idiot rictus grin.

The Mindfulness Market

I admit it.

While standing in the supermarket checkout line the other day, I squandered five bucks on a small PreventionGuide booklet called “The Mindfulness Manual.” It’s full of tiny articles with titles like “Clear Your Mind,” “Boost Your Joy” and “Put Down Your Phone.”

Okay as far as it goes, but mostly the kind of simple-minded stuff you find in the cheaper women’s magazines — a lot of it about as mindful as a casserole recipe. Mallika Chopra wrote the “Find Your Purpose” squib, so I guess she’s gone into her family’s guru business.

The continuing ham-handed corporate attempts to monetize mindfulness interest me, because they show both how powerful the concept is and what a buzzword it’s become.

'Love, Simon,' And Why Not?

Just back from Love, Simon, a gay Little Shop Around the Corner that couldn’t be more Capra.

The film was touching and sweet without being cloying — or such was my opinion, clearly shared with the 30 high school girls in the audience who saw it with me.

The rest of the cinema was full of 80-year-olds watching some stupid caterwauling Jesus movie.

Highlights include Simon’s fantasy of a rainbow disco college and his high school’s dreadful production of Cabaret.  

Nick Robinson, the regular-guy heartthrob who plays Simon so effectively, is straight, but said the movie caused his brother to come out.

Me and My Library

We just put these lighted shelves in last year. They hold 700 volumes, and require a ladder.