Nina Simone

I've blogged before about Nina Simone, specifically about the recent documentary on her life What Happened, Miss Simone? that is excellent and highly recommended. Now that the Zoe Saldana movie is back on the front burner and due to be released soon, I'm putting my two cents in about that hot mess. First, when I saw recent pictures  of Zoe from the film, my first thought was that she looked like Robert Downey, Jr. from the film Tropic Thunder when his character is in blackface. I don't understand how Saldana could allow herself to be made up so freakishly. If the filmmakers wanted so desperately for her to star in this movie, okay, but did they have to make her look so awful? She's never going to look like Nina Simone, so why not just let her look as she does? Give her an Afro wig and call it a day. The way she looks is an embarrassment to all parties involved.

Sit Down

Sometimes you get a standing ovation and sometimes you get the hook. Sometimes you should stand up and sometimes you should sit down. Well, it's time for Marco Rubio and Sam Smith to have a seat. Let's start with Marco. He's won, what, one primary yet he keeps believing he'll be the Republican nominee. Keep hope alive? More like keep delusion coming. I watch him at these rallies and you'd think he was actually at the top of the heap, but he isn't. He's on the bottom. Dude, it's time to sit down.

As for Sam Smith, he also needs to take a seat. He's someone I've blogged about before and, after a no bueno performance at the Oscars, he actually won for "Writing's On the Wall" and then proclaimed to be the first gay person to win an Oscar. That was news to other gay folks who have won. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't like Sam Smith. I don't like his singing and I don't like his face (the beard isn't helping). He may be a very nice guy, but clearly he's a few cans short of a six pack with his Oscar performance and speech. Take a bow, Sam, and then take a seat. 

Cocked

I went to see the play Cocked yesterday at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago and found it...interesting. The play is about an interracial lesbian couple whose lives are thrown into chaos when the white woman's loser brother shows up unexpectedly. The play started out fine. You find out that there are problems in the lesbian couple's relationship and that they're planning to move from their lovely Andersonville condo because their downstairs neighbor is a nuisance. The neighbor's dog barks constantly, the guy (who's an ex-Marine) plays Call of Duty on full blast when he's home, and he has made his neighbors' lives hell. Aside from living above this PITA (pain in the ass), the lesbians have problems in their relationship also. Anyway, the loser brother shows up and he convinces the black woman to purchase a gun from him for protection against the hostile Marine downstairs and chaos ensues. This play went to Crazyville pretty fast and during the last hour, I found myself frequently thinking, This is ridiculous.

In other news, I got a chance to see Chicago's Oz Park yesterday before the play, hence the picture of the Tin Man below.

Is It Over Yet?

This has been an odd week for me. I'm going through some drama at work. (Really, who isn't?) For my situation, I certainly hope some positive results come from the drama but I have a bad feeling things will return to business as usual. In other news, I had two doctor's appointments earlier this week as check-ups on previous issues and everything seemed fine, but this afternoon, I started feeling lousy with issues totally unrelated to my previous issues. With my luck, I'll end up back at the doctor next week. That's what happens when you're middle aged. Thankfully, we didn't get any lasting snow here in the Chicago area after the all-day snowstorm we had Wednesday. The folks in the southern part of the state and along the Illinois/Indiana border really got slammed, but with temps supposedly going into the 50s this weekend, maybe they'll be able to dig out.

It's hard to avoid the political situation (although I try), but every week, pretty much every day, there's more news about the Republican clown car of candidates that, while shrinking in size, still manages to roll on. I'm so ready for the "real" candidates on both sides to be selected so we can all move on. I have to laugh when I hear these "establishment" pundits in a tizzy about Trump. Hey, folks, Trump is the monster the GOP created. They built him and now they don't want him? He's saying a lot of things you'd hear on Fox News or read on the WSJ's editorial pages on any given day, yet they act like they don't know what he's up to. You birthed this baby, now take him!

Patti Pie vs. Hattie Pie

I finally got a chance to try one of Patti LaBelle's sweet potato pies from Walmart (yes, Walmart) and, as a lover of sweet potato pie, I must say Patti's was pretty, pretty good. It's very sweet. Most sweet potato pies I've tasted from local grocery stores just aren't good and that's a shame. My grandmother Hattie used to make sweet potato pies regularly. I can't ever recall going to my grandparents' home in Alabama and not having sweet potato pie. Since my grandmother's passing, my father has taken over making pies and he does a great job, but his pies aren't Hattie's pies and Patti's pies aren't Hattie's pies. My father gave me a recipe for making the pies and I need to start making my own, but I don't enjoy cooking. However, at least I know I can get my sweet potato pie fix with a Patti pie now. It's not a Hattie pie, but it certainly fills the void.

So...It Was the Goat?

I went to see The Witch this weekend. I'd been waiting to see this movie ever since I saw a trailer for it last year. It looked sufficiently creepy and scary. Unfortunately, the parts shown in the trailer were about the best parts of the movie. Read no further if you haven't seen the movie and want to see it. After seeing the movie earlier today, all I can say is that I'm glad I went to the early show and only paid $6 because (A) I was falling asleep during the movie, (B) I had unanswered questions at the end (like what happened to the twins), and (C) the goat did it. Seriously...the goat. The goat, named, of course, Black Pete because he was a black goat, represented the devil and he brought all of the death and weirdness to this pilgrim family. A goat. Okay. Aside from that, I do think the movie was beautifully shot. Everything was just gray and depressing. I don't think I saw the sun shine once in this movie but the grayness went along with the sadness of the family. I also thought the acting was very good. On the whole though, it just didn't work for me.

Before the movie started, I saw trailers for other movies and there wasn't one I wanted to see. The trailer that annoyed me the most was one featuring Jake Gyllenhaal called Demolition about a man (Jake) who loses his wife in an auto accident and has to learn to live again through the help of a lovely blonde customer service rep (Naomi Watts) who's also a single mom. Oh, and Jake also has to destroy the lovely home he and his wife shared (like, physically destroy it, hence the title: Demolition) in order to become whole again. Really? Yes, really. God, Hollywood is in serious trouble if this is the kind of stuff that gets the green light out there. And, I've said it before but it bears saying again, why do people keep trying to make Gyllenhaal happen? He's not particularly talented nor is he even good looking, yet he keeps getting one chance after another to try and be the next big thing. How many movies has he been in that tanked? Southpaw, Nightcrawler, Prisoners, Love & Other Drugs, The Prince of Persia, and the list goes on. Enough already with this guy.

Winter Weather

Maybe the groundhogs were right. Maybe spring is coming early.