050610: Random Musings

Well, the Old Broad hasn't been randomly musing for quite a while. At least, not in the blogosphere. Been concentrating on getting some reading done for my other blog, so the OB hasn't been parading around much, the last month or so.

But I wanted to note a couple of recent anniversaries. One sad, one happy.

First the happy. On May 6th, 1960, England's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones in Westminster Abbey, in the first ever televised royal wedding service.

I remember I was in junior high at the time and fascinated with England, royalty, and weddings in general (already dreaming of my own, just like any red-blooded American teen of the time). I watched the service on TV, glued to the set. Well, there were no video recorders in those days: you watched the show, you caught the re-run, and that was it. And the whole thing was in black and white: the TV broadcast (at least we didn't have color TV then) and all the newspaper and magazine coverage. So that's the way I remember it. But here's what it looked like in the real world:

A final weird note: Several years later, when I finally had my own wedding, we used the same music Princess Margaret had on her big day. I have absolutely no memory of what that was, but I know it sounded wonderful both times.

And the sad one? This week (May 4th) was the 40th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University in Ohio that left four students dead and nine others wounded. I recall that time of the world very clearly, but I'm not quite so clear on what I was doing that particular day. I've always remembered being at the laundromat doing laundry when I heard the news. But that was a Monday, and it really seems like I would most probably have been at work or in class at the time. I do remember that the Kent State Massacre, as it came to be called, brought about a marked change in the way we looked at the world back then. Things got much more serious after that. The summer of love was ancient history and it really did seem like the older generation was trying to kill off their errant offspring, just to teach us a good lesson. Not true, of course, but that's how we read it at that moment. Must have been all that tear gas clouding our brains.

No Ifs, Ands, Or . . .

You just never know when you're gonna be rear-ended, visiting the local mall.

I posted this on my Joysweb blog, for Wordless Wednesday. But somehow, I felt it belonged on OBOP, as well. (Click on image to enlarge.)

032410: Random Musings

Checked my email on my Pre last night before I went to bed, and noticed a message from GoodReads saying I'd won a book in the First Reads program. So I signed in this morning and found that, lo and behold, I had. I'm supposed to be getting Live to Tell, by Lisa Gardner – I've seen her on TRU-TV. Very good! I won one of the First Reads giveaways once before, about a year ago; but the book never arrived. So now if the book actually shows up this time, I'll be really happy.

A bit of sad news today: Robert Culp died this morning after falling and hitting his head, while he was out walking near his home in the Hollywood hills. He was 79. He was always one of my favorites – even before he starred with Bill Cosby in "I Spy" on TV in the '60s. Of course, he'd been around for years before that, and I especially liked him in the "Demon With a Glass Hand" episode of "Outer Limits." But "I Spy" was great, too. I always loved the off-hand humor tossed around between the Cosby-Culp characters, and the exotic locales. And I especially loved the way they dressed – all those tennis shirts and white sneakers gave it a very spiffy, mid-1960s American look that was extremely appealing and cool. Beach Boy chic. And Culp was, of course, very good-looking no matter what he was wearing – that was certainly another attraction. If I wasn't so determined to fight nostalgia whenever it rears its ugly head, I might say it's just about time to see if "I Spy" is available on DVD.

Monday Check-In (on Tuesday)

OK, so I missed Monday. Actually, the whole month of March has been sort of a blur, so far. Don't know why it's gotten past me so quickly, especially since February seemed to drag on and on and on and on and on and . . . well, you get the point.

Anyway, I was going to start a little weekly wrap-up post yesterday – a sort of review of the week just gone by. But obviously I've already let things slip – my usual pattern. I've been neglecting my blogging activities lately, letting real life get in the way. Don't like to do that, but sometimes stuff just happens. I have been getting a bit of reading done, though, which is good for my book blog. But my other blogs have suffered from the lack of attention. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just divide up all the various memes and features between this blog and my book blog, and let Joysweb die a natural death. Something to think about.

But, hey! It's spring! The new season officially began this weekend (Saturday?), and we actually had a few really lovely springlike days. This year, for the first time in a long while, we seem to have everything starting up at the same time. The crocuses and daffodils are coming up, the forsythia is blooming, and all the trees have little buds about to pop open. No azaleas yet, but the cherry trees have tiny blooms; and they're supposed to be at their peak in a couple of weeks, just in time for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. I'm hoping to go get a peek at the trees around the Jefferson Memorial this year, since it might be the last chance I get before we move away from this area. But if not, the trees right here in Northern Virginia are always pretty spectacular, too. I need to get out and take some photos in a day or two, after everything gets just a little further along. In the meantime, here's a shot of some of the crocuses and daffodils coming up in an area where there was a huge pile of soot-encrusted snow just a week or so ago.


More to come . . .

Watching Hollywood Watching Itself

We watched the Academy Awards last night. A mistake, and I knew it would be, but there wasn't much of interest on any of the other channels, and I probably won't feel like taking on a movie until I get my new eyeglasses next weekend. So, the Oscars it was. And, as awards shows go, it wasn't really bad. Nobody misbehaved or broke down uncontrollably or made crude remarks (well, if you don't count all that nonsense Sandra Bullock came up with about Meryl Streep). In fact, it was so smooth it was downright boring. There were no gate crashers (at least they didn't show up on stage), no streakers, no protesters. Nothing really to set it apart. In fact, even the "tribute to the dead" part wasn't really as wrenching as usual – it went by so fast, it seemed like there must have been only three or four industry-types who died last year.

I could have done without all that silly preamble stuff – actors telling us about what they think of other actors before the awards were actually announced. Who cares who loves who? Just get on with opening the envelopes, please!

I didn't like the interpretive dance production in the middle of the show, either. What was that all about anyway? It seemed to go on for hours, and I never really understood exactly what they were supposed to be interpreting.

And I didn't care much for all the beautiful teenaged presenters, either. I guess that makes me a curmudgeon, huh? Or just a mean old broad, but that's OK. I know the networks have to try to appeal to the "younger audience" (or think they do) – but it would be nice if the kids could at least look a little more engaged, and a little less bored when they're on stage. Sullen is sullen, no matter whether it's done by an adolescent vampire-movie star or the local McDonald's cashier. And it ain't pretty, folks.

I don't usually watch the show, these days. There was a time when I wouldn't have missed it for anything, but I'm really not that much of a movie fanatic anymore. M and I hardly ever go out to movies (although we did make it out over the weekend – more on that later); and although we do see quite a few movies on DVD (thanks to Comcast and Netflix), our tastes are extremely esoteric and selective. Long gone are the days when we saw every film that comes out during the year, domestic and foreign. So it's not at all uncommon for me to have seen not a one of the nominated films or performances. In fact, of the films mentioned in any of the categories this year, I've seen exactly two – Star Trek and Crazy Heart. I was glad Jeff Bridges won for Best Actor – he was truly magnificent as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart; but not having seen any of the other performances, I really didn't have any other candidates to root for.

It was not the greatest show the Academy has put on. Steve and Alec were OK hosts, but they seemed really reigned in all night, and all but disappeared halfway through. Not exactly two wild and crazy guys. I'm hoping for a return of Billy or Whoopi or Ellen or even Jon next year. Not that I'm promising to be watching next year. About midway through the show, M switched over to the Celtics/Wizards basketball game, and after that we watched the Oscars in bits, here and there. Which didn't seem to detract too much. The game was much more exciting, and everyone involved looked like they really wanted to be there.

030710: Random Musings

Reading the comics this morning, M said that in the old days (remember them?) he always used to identify with Dennis the Menace, but now he identifies with Mr. Wilson. Fortunately, he doesn't look like Mr. Wilson, and I don't look like Mrs. Wilson – yet.

And speaking of the comics, we noticed this morning that quite a few of the strips had puns as their central theme. (Well, M noticed – he's the one who reads all the funnies, faithfully.) Was today National Pun Day, or something? (Punday – get it?) When that happens, I always wonder if it was really just a coincidence, or if the artists all got together and planned it, like high school kids all plotting to wear purple socks on Tuesday or something. And do high school students still do things like that? I suppose these days, if they want to irritate their teachers, they just bring their attack weapons to class – AK-47s are much more effective than those purple socks.

And what does that have to do with the comics? (I hear you ask.) Well, nothing, actually. These are random musings, after all.

030510: First Friday in March

All I can say is Wow!!! When I went to my LibraryThing account this morning, I had a notice that I've "snagged" a book in the February edition of the Early Reviewers Program. It's been a year since I was smiled upon by the almighty algorithm – a very long dry spell. So I was thrilled and amazed, since I had pretty much given up hope of ever getting another book, given the enormous number of requesters the program has these days. When I first signed up, there were only a few hundred of us, and the chances for getting an early reviewer book in any one month were relatively good. No longer the case. But at least I'm happy for the moment. Now, if the publisher actually sends the book, I'll be even happier. [Update: book received, read, and reviewed. See The Brontes Went to Woolworths.]

Today was a medical day for M and me. Nothing major – we just had our annual eye exams. But anything that involves doctors or dentists (or even pharmacists) always gives me the shakes. And last year, we managed to keep putting our vision checkups off until they slid into this year; so it had been almost two years since our last exams. And now that M has been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, I do worry about his eyes a little more than I would have in the past. The optometrist dilated his eyes this time, and even though I know that's fairly routine, it was still nervous-making (for me). It sounds so serious (and slightly painful – guess you can tell I've never had it done myself). But everything was OK; no developments to be concerned about (although the doc did admonish me a bit about having the checkup on a yearly basis). M decided not to get new glasses, since his prescription is almost exactly the same, and he loves the glasses he's got now (well, everybody does – they're great glasses). I'm getting new lenses, but keeping the frames I already have since I like those, too. So after plunking down a fast five hundred bucks, we were good to go. Came home, had a light lunch, and then napped most of the afternoon. Old folks need their rest, you know.

And speaking of old folks, I was a little appalled at the way I looked in the mirrors at the optometrist's office. Who was that elderly woman? See, kiddies - the really weird thing about getting old is that nobody really knows how to do it or what to expect. Even though you've watched others go through it, you're not prepared when you get there yourself because hey, you've always been young! Old sort of sneaks up on you when you're not paying attention, and grabs hold before you know what's going on. Surprise! So it's quite a shock to glance into the mirror one day and find this pathetic crone staring back.

Just wait. Life is cruel. If you survive young adulthood and parenthood and middle age and all the other atrocities laying in wait, you'll get here, too. And then you'll see.

I Love a Parade

So why does your blog have such a weird name?

I knew you were going to ask that.

It's called what it's called because I'm an old broad (better that than a little old lady), and I'm putting myself on parade out here in the blogosphere. Right?

Actually, though, "Old Broad on Parade" or "Old Broads on Parade" is a phrase that's been running around in my head for years – long before there was a blogosphere to go parading around in. I just didn't have any real use for it until now. Once upon a time I thought it might make a good title for a musical comedy, if I ever wanted to write one (I wrote the theme song, but never got any further). Or maybe a national publication aimed at the Boomer-and-beyond generation. But alas. Now it's just ended up as the title of one more obscure pile of rants out here in cyberspace.

Life goes on.

So this is my first real post on this blog. I have others. Blogs, that is. I have a book blog (A Little Reading, which I consider my main blog), and a blog that I use for posting memes and photos and other little fillips (Joysweb). But I'm thinking that this blog (OBOP, for short) is going to be mostly a journal-type blog. Just for my daily thoughts and trivia. I don't really expect to try to build a readership, so I'm not too worried about style or content. Should be fun, if I can keep it going. Let's just see what emerges (as Jerry Brown used to say).

Hello, World!

More to come.