Five years ago, right around this time, the world began to fold in on itself like origami. I’ve seen a lot of people posting their memories about it, so I thought I’d add mine. At the end of February and start of March 2020, my husband and I drove down to Disneyland for a long weekend to enjoy the Food
I grew up in the 1980s, and there were three movies that were key to any sleepover when I was a kid: You needed at least two of these for a sleepover to be a success. But if Blockbuster (or that one grocery aisle that had movies you could rent) didn’t have them, there were acceptable alternatives: (I realize Clue
“Are you American or Mexican?” The question was asked in good faith and curiosity by my nail tech, who was helping me determine which shades of green would look good on my fingernails. As I have olive skin/yellow undertones, it’s a valid concern. Still, in the current climate (I live in the U.S.), such a question may not always be
I’ve seen a Jack Prelutsky poem circulating on Bluesky, and… I want to like it. I want to like his work. I used to like it—love it, even—but as the saying goes, “Don’t meet your heroes.” I grew up… not poor, exactly, but we didn’t have excess for anything unnecessary. When Prelutsky’s book The New Kid on the Block came
Two days ago, I posted a book review of Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights on my YouTube channel. Reading the book (and reviewing it) necessarily made me think about my time on film sets, which of course made me think of interning for Lynda Obst. The very next day—yesterday—I saw the headline that Lynda had passed away. She was young; the same
The house we moved into after our first child was born was haunted. We didn’t know it when we bought it, but it became clear not long after. It was a split-level ranch, which on its own probably should have alerted us. When you walked through the front door, one flight of steps to the right went up and another
I have only watched the first episode of AMC’s take on Anne Rice’s vampires, but I have some mixed feelings. And yes, I understand why some changes were made, and I don’t have a problem with those. I don’t think Louis needs to run a slave-owning plantation in order to tell this particular story. His being a person of color
What did I accomplish in 2021? Well, I released a couple books. Went on a couple family vacations (remember those?). And tried to make peace with my health. In spring of 2021, our schools reopened with a reduced schedule. Kids who wanted to continue learning from home could do so, but all three of our kids wanted to go back.
Tonight we watched The Last Blockbuster. It was… cute. Nostalgic. It didn’t remind me of my childhood because we always rented movies from the grocery store; our Kroger had its own rental counter, and that was way easier than going to some other location. So I didn’t do Blockbuster until I was away at uni. And even then, I didn’t
Umm… okay. So that was fun. I guess? Only the first two episodes of WandaVision are out, and it’s clear that there is more going on than at first meets the eye. Which is a good thing, since I think—fun as this is—it would tire out kind of quickly. For those not in the know, WandaVision is Disney+’s latest Marvel