Not the Wawa!

My sister sent me a video recently of some bad-assed kids in Philly tearing up (and stealing from) a Wawa. It broke my heart! One of the things I enjoyed about living in Philly and South Jersey was the Wawa convenience store. They had good coffee, ATMs that didn't charge a fee (at least back when I was living in the area), and tasty breakfast sandwiches. We didn't have Wawa stores in Michigan where I grew up and I became an instant Wawa fan when I moved to the East Coast. To see a Wawa vandalized by a bunch of juvenile delinquents made me sad and angry. I hope they catch every one of those kids and throw the book at them. Consequences and repercussions, folks. Do the crime, do the time. 

What is wrong with people? Ugh.

Guilty Pleasures

As I've gotten older, I've let go of the idea of reading books or watching movies that I'd be ashamed to admit to others that I actually liked (i.e. guilty pleasures). I firmly believe you should read what you want to read and like what you like. My current guilty pleasures are the low-budget Bad Ben films. I've watched three of them now (Bad Ben, the Haunted Highway, and the Mandela Effect) and every one made me laugh. The guy who made the films (named Tom Riley in the movies) is such a crackup. His accent reminds me of Philly and South Jersey where I lived for a time and the movies are so ridiculous. We all need a break from the gloom and doom that's filling the airwaves lately and my escape from all of that is stuff like Bad Ben. I fully realize I have a low-grade sense of humor. I'll laugh at just about anything. I sent the trailer for the first Bad Ben movie to someone I work with who thought it looked awful. Whatever. He's too high-brow to appreciate the genius of Bad Ben. (I also enjoy Svengoolie movies that come on Saturday night.) I like what I like and I'm not ashamed of it!

Who Has the Time?

I've been spending far too much time watching stuff on Netflix and I have some thoughts:

1. Echoes: Why did this have to be 7 episodes when 4 or 5 would have been sufficient? I only really watched to see Matt Bomer. His beard is coming in gray now. Wow! I don't know why that surprised me. He's in his 40s now. I don't know why he was in the hot mess that is Echoes, but he did the best he could with his part. Couldn't they have gotten a young man who looked a little like him to play the younger version of himself? The guy they chose looked nothing like Matt. The same goes for the actors they had playing the twins. And Michelle Monaghan looked too old to be Matt's wife. They're probably close in age in real life, but she just looked so much older that it was off-putting for me. She also wasn't cute enough to be Matt's wife. Sorry...not sorry. 

2. The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist: While watching this documentary about Manti Te'o and the guy who catfished him, I kept wondering, Who has the time to do something like this? I have never understood how people who basically cyber-stalk others have the time to do so. Don't they have jobs? Don't they need sleep? Don't they have to run errands and do cleaning? I don't get it. 

3. Untold: Operation Fragrant Foul: After watching this documentary, I still don't understand why Tim Donaghy did what he did. He had a great job, he was respected in his job, and he was basically living a good life and he threw all of that away for (if it's to be believed) not much money. His downfall started when he kept close ties with some neighborhood hoods he'd grown up with. Those guys didn't have anything going on for themselves. They were small-time crooks and he let his relationship with one guy in particular bring him down. It's not even sad, it's pathetic. I got the feeling his so-called "friend" actually wanted to pull the rug out from under him and wasn't a friend at all. But the friend isn't to blame. He may have opened the door, but Tim walked right through it and kept on walking until his crimes caught up with him.

And last, but not least (and totally unrelated to Netflix), RIP to the Queen. I was talking to my sister and the monarch's death and how she's only Queen I ever knew. She's been Queen longer than I've been alive and I'm not 20 or 30 (or even 40) years old. She had a good run. As an American, I have never had much interest in the Royal Family. I could care less about what they do, who they do, etc. Even the whole Harry/Meghan thing doesn't interest me (and there's an American involved). But I know how it is to lose a mother and a grandmother and I'm sorry for that family and for their loss.

Bubbly...Nine Years Later

Do you remember what you were doing the night of September 29, 2013? I do! I was at a Michael Buble concert at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, NY. Now, nearly ten years later, I went to yet another Buble show last night in Roseville, IL at the Allstate Arena. Other than seeing Leslie Odom, Jr. last December in Chicago, I haven't been to a concert. Covid has held me back from major inside gatherings, but I made an exception a week or so ago when I saw a commercial about Buble's concert on TV one Sunday morning. I decided to bite the bullet and see him. I enjoyed his Brooklyn show nine years ago. He's a true entertainer and he knows how to keep the crowd engaged and put on a show that's worth the money. He didn't disappoint last night either (although I could have done without the small Elvis tribute...not a fan). His version of "Cry Me a River" brought tears to my eyes. The orchestra, the arrangement, everything was great.  He also did many of his hits ("Home," "Everything," "Sway") in addition to some new songs. We all need a break from non-stop doom and gloom and Bubbly fit the bill for me to break the cycle of darkness. I wore a mask throughout the show although most people didn't. Every time someone coughed around me, I worried that I was sitting in a Covid haze of bacteria, but there's nothing I can do about it now.