Tag Archives: Barack Obama

Bye Bye Love

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Jeez this bug that I have just won’t go away. Been feeling it since about last Monday and here it is almost a week later and after spending just a few hours outside I’m tired. Last night after I watched The Mayor of Sunset Strip, I watched Stardust starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfieffer. To quote Juan, I was whelmed.

Not over or under, but simply whelmed. Enough that I couldn’t be bothered to turn off the dvd. It was ok, but overall a disappointment. Hard to believe that was Sienna Miller, who looked so much like Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl, in this she was far from it. My brother Frank liked the movie.

He just told me as I called to wish him a happy birthday. He seemed to have just an average day for his birthday which is how it goes sometimes. Plus since he works for the board of elections he had to work today, on a Sunday which didn’t make him happy at all.

After Stardust, came Saturday Night Live. That wasn’t as good as it had been the past episodes this season. And with Sarah Palin on the show I think I threw up in my mouth a little. I just don’t like her. At all. Josh Brolin was good but when he first came out for the monologue he looked like Butch Patrick. I don’t find him attractive though I know people that do.

Andy Samberg was a disappointment as well. His scene with Mark Wahlberg was a bit off. Wahlberg knew his lines, but Samberg seemed riveted to the cue cards. Or maybe he was acting as if he was terrified of Mark Wahlberg, who I though was one of the funniest spots on the show.

Kristen Wig. I like her but perhaps she is funnier in small doses. Like Lewis Black, who is funny for five minutes a month on the Daily Show, but not strong enough for an hour long special on HBO.

Adele was the musical guest and she was ok. She seemed like another singer from the Amy Winehouse/Duffy genre. It’s not bad but really not enough to distinguish from other female R&B stylists.

Amy Poeler has only a few more weeks before she leaves the show and gives birth. She’ll be missed, especially on Weekend Update where she was the funniest thing on that whole spot. I went to bed at 12:45, just couldn’t risk seeing Sarah Palin at the end of the show.

Woke up feeling ok, went out for foodstuffs and the paper. After breakfast I watched a documentary called Champion on Danny Trejo, an actor you’ve probably seen in some movies. He had a hard life, a junkie at 13, life in San Quentin followed. Now he has a successful career in movies and also counsels younger people encouraging them to stay of of jail and off drugs and booze.

Somehow that wound up in my Netflix queue. It wasn’t that bad a documentary but then again it wasn’t that good. I watched the BBC and a rally in North Carolina for Obama. The big news today was Colin Powell supporting Obama. Is Colin Powell still relevant? After the WMD’s fiasco at the UN, who really cares what Colin Powell has to say?

McCrazy of course mentioned that he has a former secretary of state backing him, Henry Kissinger. I suppose for some, having a war criminal back you is quite the feather in the cap. I don’t think Kissinger can leave the country lest he be arrested for the bombing of Cambodia and Laos all those years ago and tried in the Hague. But then again McCrazy has G. Gordon Liddy’s backing so maybe he wants the backing of the tarnished and tattered Nixon crew.

I walked around Hoboken and saw Rand and Lisa at their Gate Sale and then visited Fred and Lois at their sale. Then I walked downtown to the Neumann Leathers Building and stopped by Tim Daly’s studio where I talked with Sheilah Scully who just so happens to be Tim’s wife. Came home, made a nice penne, pesto and chicken dinner and now I’m tired.

I spent all day wondering who Joe Gideon was, and now that I just watched the ending of the Simpsons with a Fosse character in it I realized Joe Gideon was played by Robert Schneider in Bob Fosse’s loosely autobiographical All That Jazz. Now I can go to bed.

I Believe in You and Me

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Well it’s Friday and I had hoped that I would be fully functional, but no, still in the 90% range. But no, that’s not how it works out. Still I am better than I have been most of the week. I am glad I made the decision to do nothing at all this weekend as opposed to the unconscious decision of not doing anything at all.

Last night I broke my ‘fast’ and watched O & RM. Both were entertaining, mainly with Olbermann in the wings at the Letterman show, looking like he was ready to jump in after Biff Henderson measured the size of his ample skull.

And Rachel Maddow had live clips from the Alfred E. Smith dinner at the Waldorf Astoria featuring John McCain and Barack Obama making fun of each other. It was actually very funny, Bill and I were laughing out loud. Whoever wrote their lines did a great job.

Went to sleep and didn’t beat Bill up again which was nice, I know he appreciated it. He was up and out once again leaving me to sleep for a few minutes before I stirred and got out of bed. Had some coffee, showered and was soon at the bus stop.

Missed my usual bus which Casey might have been on if he didn’t catch the bug I may have accidentally given him.

On my way across town this morning I was prepared in case Obama was still around. He wasn’t staying at the Marriott like I thought, he was staying at the W Hotel. Sure enough he spent the night at the hotel.

I had my camera out and loitered on the sidewalk making small talk with a security guard at a smaller hotel next door. She was ready with her cellphone camera. I wound up standing around for 45 minutes then told to stand behind a barricade far away enough to totally miss Barack Obama getting into his car. So once again I got pictures of secret service agents and detectives who were a lot more interesting to look at yesterday.

Work was quiet yet again. I was able to get a birthday card out to my brother Frank for his birthday on Sunday. After lunch and finishing whatever tasks I had I was out on the street at 3:00.

Walked across town, got on the bus and was soon back in Hoboken, where I am now- doing laundry. Had a phone call from Vivek who was trying to figure out how to use the scanner. I tried talking him through it finally telling him that it was pretty much intuitive and he could figure it out.

Just found out that Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops passed away in his sleep at 72. He had a great voice and I always had a soft spot for the Tops, more so than the Temptations. When Bill and I started going out, one Sunday when I knew Bill would be rehearsing at his church, I decided to surprise him.

I got dressed up in a suit and tie and rode into the city from Weehawken. He was surprised to see me and after talking he went to the piano and started playing a song, I Believe in You & Me. My first thought was, ‘oh god, what a corny song’ since I was more familiar with the Whitney Houston version and not the Four Tops even though it was the wedding song for my brother Brain and his wife Karen years before.

Bill really put his heart and soul into it, he’s such a joy to watch when he’s playing the piano and singing. By the end of the song I had tears running down my face. It’s sort of ‘our song’ now with Bill sometimes sending me text messages saying ‘I believe n u & me’ which is still sweet years later.

Here’s a clip that I found on YouTube after finding out about Levi’s passing. Very touching, have the tissues ready.