This Was SO Pretty Girls, I Could Not Resist!

 I say this every  year, dolls, but I mean it.  I have an ambivalent relationship with the month of August.  It goes back to childhood, when it made me aware I had only one month left, until school.  Heaven help today's students with what they are now facing!!!!!!!!!!!

Aside from all that, this is when the famous "Dog Days Of Summer" hit us, children and adults, where we are just so fed up with it all, we wish for cooler weather.  Some of us welcome in a new cultural season, but good luck with that one!

I chose a pretty pic for August, in the hope that it would bring hope greatly needed to a month that comes just before the year winds down.  Because, dolls, once you get into the "ber" months, that is it.

And as for THIS year, there will be a lot to say, or not.  Come December 31st.

My hope for August is it brings some good surprises.  We are getting a new TV on Monday, and I have lost much weight, with meds, diet and exercise, so I hope my diabetes improves, and, of course, a slew of books to read.  I wish I could photograph the pile of read books in my bedroom.  It is almost literally from floor to ceiling--and I am shooting for that.

So, let August make up for yesterday, which had me SO down I started watching "The Sleepover" again.

And that is not a good sign!

But I have moved on!  Happy August, everyone!

So. How Was Your July, Darlings???????????????

When Brick told Maggie to "jump off the roof," he must have been talking about this July, darlings, because this was one of the most sizzling Julys I can remember.  Like Maggie, it made me feel like...like...a "cat on a hot tin roof."

But the month was filled with books love, and a degree of sadness.  The books came from what I read--and I am reading so much I cannot keep up on what I am writing.  The love comes from David, whom I value even more, now that he is working from home.  The joy came from watching  the virtual Jessie Mueller concert, singing such classics as "If I Loved You," which only Jessie can sing so well, besides going back to her debut in the 'Clear Day' revival!

And the sadness came from the death, on July 26, of Olivia De Havilland, which did not even get the coverage it deserved.

As tragic as the July 8 death of Naya Rivera was,--I SO related to Santana on "Glee!"--having been murdered by Lea Michele, Olivia deserved far more coverage.  Which she will get very shortly.

Thank God for books and air conditioning.  As I age, the heat only gets worse.

This cat does NOT like a hot tin roof, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, Girls, This Commercial Is Destined To Become An Icon Of Annoyance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  The phrase above may even replace the current "Karen."

                                   I am not sure if Geico has retired the lizard, or whatever species of reptile it is, but its riff on ID's "Fear Thy Neighbor" is hilarious and annoying, in a way unseen since Connie and Jack were spokespersons for Consumer Cellular.

                                     I would love to see a series of commercials featuring Cynthia.  Because, let me tell you, darlings, every neighborhood has one.  Apartment buildings have crazy neighbors, and are more hemmed in.  But in a Cynthia dominated neighborhood, every time someone disapproving--in their eyes--steps out of the house, there is bound to be trouble.  Look what she does here, when she destroys a neighbor's mailbox!

And just look at the actress, playing Cynthia!  Perfect casting!  An absolutely controlling neighborhood bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait for more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pure Emma, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        Even if the title page had been ripped off, darlings, as I began reading, I would have recognized this as an Emma Straub novel.  She delivers another beautiful, suburban character study of people, parents, children and grandchildren, all caught in the scheme of things we call Life.

                                        The book has an arresting opening--Astrid Strickland is crossing a local street, and witnesses a neighbor, Barbara, getting hit by a bus.  Before you start thinking this is going to be a downer, girls, it is not.  While this tragedy reverberates through the entire book, Straub takes on the Generation Gap, which did not stop with the Sixties, as well as transgender and other sexual orientation issues.  If the story seems like more Emma, that is true, but not necessarily a bad thing.
No one writes more cogently on the adult suburban scene than Emma Straub.  I LOVED "All Adults
Here," which marked my official return to contemporary fiction--the first book I bought when the bookstores opened.

                                 You've done it again, 'Em!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Love You, Dr. Fauci!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Girls, I have something to confess.   I find Dr. Anthony Fauci kinda cute!
To think, he was born on Christmas Eve, in 1940!  Which means he turns 80 this year!  I would never have taken him for 80!  I hope I look half as good when I get there!

                                           Dr. Fauci is also probably the most brilliant man in the country, right now, and the only one I listen to.  And it is not just his looks that make me do so; it is his common sense and intelligent medical judgement!

                                             It is no wonder Dr. Fauci is so beloved.  He is personable, compassionate,
and when he talks about Covid he is not an alarmist.  There is nothing I hate more than a doctor who is an alarmist.

                                             I am amazed he has lasted so long with this administration.  Perhaps someone in there has a degree of sense to keep him on.  Which speaks well of Dr. Fauci.

                                              No wonder Brad Pitt graciously consented to play him on "Saturday Night Live!"  No wonder he was selected to throw the opening pitch at the Washington Nationals'
Season Opener--and what do I know, or care about baseball?  Maybe if the Oscars ever come back, he and Brad can host?  Or how about the TONYS????????????????????????????????

                                                 We love you, Dr. Fauci!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                   You are America's Physician!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How About This Schoolmarm Bitch????????????????????????????????

                                                   "School Days, School Days,
                                                    Dear old Golden Rule Days"--
                                                          Old Childhood rhyme

                                        Now that Nancy Pelosi has read this blog and had a makeover, it is time for Betsy DeVos, this week's winner of the Raving Queen Bitch Of The Week Award, to do the same!

                                          Come on, Bets, look at that skin!  So tight and wrinkled?  You need some major work, darling.

                                           Guess you are too busy being the U.S. Secretary Of Education, meaning another Trump sycophant (which should be Psycho-phant)! 

                                           What a joke! "Golden Rule Days," indeed!  Were you to have your own way, all schools would open in classrooms, regardless of how many teachers, or innocent children, sicken and die, because all you are interested in is your own hide--which needs work!!!!!--and eliminating the Educated, so that the dumb Working Class schlubs that think you are so great will go on supporting you!

                                              As one of the Educated, I say, bitch, get off my property, and get
yourself to a stylist and get a makeover.

                                                Because the nastiness shows in your face.  Like Dorian Gray!

                                                You are slowly morphing into Colleen Gray at the end of "The Leech Woman!"

"Eat It, Bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                               Girls, I am telling you, for cooling off, and having a barrel of laughs, at the same time, you have GOT to see the climactic scene of the 2017 original, "Happy Death Day."

                                Darlings, the film is "Campus Camp," a combo of "Groundhog Day" and "Scream."

                                The place is Bayside College in Somewhere America.  A killer is on the loose, and serial killer John Tombs is known to be in  the area.  Of course, in Hollywood movies, when you put two girls together as roomies, one of them has to be a psycho.  In this case it is Lori Spenger (played by Ruby Modine, who just happens to be Matthew Modine's daughter!).  Lori has low self esteem issues, even though she is a nursing intern,  Her roomie, Theresa "Tree" Gelbman, played by Jessica Rothe, is conventionally blonde and pretty--everything girls like Lori want to be!  Now, girls, we all--and I can attest to myself--have had to deal with this kind of resentment at some point in our lives, but we never went to the point of Lori, did we?  At least, I did not.

                                  Lori calls Tree a "stupid little whore," and a "cheap slut."  But the sad thing is, Lori wants to be a cheap slut, too.  Tree is, indeed, because she is having an on campus affair, with a married professor, Dr. Gregory Butler.  But Lori wants him too, even though, the asshole prefers Tree.  So, Lori tries to play the plain, nice girl, wish Tree a "Happy Birthday," gives her a red velvet cupcake, with white creamed icing and a candle.

                                  Tree doesn't eat it, and continues dying, reliving the death over and over.

                                   In the best scene, the last, Tree bursts in to her room, determined to get out of town.  Lori acts all concerned, and hands her the cupcake, but Tree remembers back, and now knows Lori is the killer.  She can't believe Lori is getting all worked up over a guy, but let me tell you, plain girls have it hard.  There is a fight that, had these been A-list actresses, would have rivaled "The Turning Point."  Tree takes the cake from Lori, and holds it, saying to prove it is not poisonous, by taking a bite.  Lori makes excuses, so Tree says she will take it to the police.  Lori shoves Tree, locks the door, and when they are on the bed, Tree shoves the cupcake into Lori's mouth, uttering the classic line, "Eat it, bitch!"  As Lori tries to get the cake out of her mouth--near a window, of course, Tree grabs a chandelier, which just happens to be above the bed, coming at Lori, feet first, as Lori goes flying out the window.

                                   These seconds are priceless.  She hovers in the air for seconds, then drops, and splatters all over the front of the sorority house, causing a future pledge, Emily to scream in hysterics.  You can bet Emily won't pledge this sorority.  Even if she does return to Bayfield College.
Which I doubt.

                                     So watch out for Red Velvet Cupcakes, girls!

                                      The only question I have about this movie is, where was Andrea Martin?????

                                      You just GOTTA love it, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!