Sunday Stealing

Make a difference today

1.  What is the favorite piece of art you own?

I have this, numbered and signed by the artist. I love it and never get tired of gazing upon it. Klaus Voormann is a real Renaissance man. He not only did this, The Beatles Anthology CD/video cover, he also did the famous Revolver artwork. And he's an accomplished bass player. That's him plunking out the first chords on Carly Simon's "You're So Vain."



2.  The most expensive bill you paid last month.  Comcast Xfinity.
 
3.  What’s the last thing you apologized for? Crowding the aisle at Ulta. That store is awfully tight.

4.  If you could do today over, would you change anything? I wouldn't have wasted as much time as I did watching a rather hysterical TLC documentary about Princess Diana's death. No, Princes Philip and Charles did not have Diana killed because she was carrying Dodi's baby. Because they wouldn't do that, because she wasn't pregnant, and because orchestrating an assassination in a tunnel would be ridiculously difficult.


5.  What is the largest TV screen in your house? 20". It's a 17-year-old set and it's hopelessly out of date, technologically speaking. But it still works and it seems a shame to toss it into a landfill when the picture and sound are still so good. When the smaller set in my bedroom finally kicks the bucket, I'll move this warhorse back there and get a new set.

6.  What did you buy today? Moisturizers. Murad and Neutrogena.

7.  I wish I had a million dollars.

8.  How many photos did you take today? None.

9.  Last thing you wanted and didn’t get. Thousand Island dressing. I forgot to pick it up at Whole Foods.

10.  What was the last new thing you tried? I read a story I wrote in an open forum.

11.  Who is your hero? Right now, my friend Barb. She is facing a tremendous amount of adversity with grace. I admire her, and hope I can help her.

12.  Today I feel really secure knowing that when I start receiving Social Security, it will be enough to help me make ends meet.

13.  Whose life did you make a difference in today? My cats, Connie and Reynaldo. Because of my opposing thumbs, I can open the kibble and fill their bowls.

14.  What would have made today perfect? If the Cubs had won. Alas, they did not. I'm not even sure they're in first place anymore! (I can't bear to check the standings just now.)

15.  Did you thank anybody today? Oh, sure. Like when someone held the door for me, bagged my purchase for me, etc.

Bonus: If you were a Muppet, which would you be? Beaker. I like Beaker.

August Happiness Challenge: Day Twelve

Rizz enjoys paying the mortgage

On Day Twelve, I'm happy for Social Security.  I received a statement from the Social Security Administration today. It explained that if I began taking payments as soon as I'm eligible, at age 62, I'd get $1,849/month.

That would more then pay my mortgage and monthly assessment.

Since I'm a big fan of having a roof over my head, this made me happy.

Let's hope Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to leave Social Security alone, honors his word.

If you want to play along, just come back here (meaning to this blog, not this individual post) each day in August, looking for the Happy Cub. Every day I will try to have a post with the headline: August Happiness Challenge: Day [X]. Leave a comment and then post your own daily happiness, with August Happiness Challenge in the title to make it easy to find.

Prayers for my country

Last weekend, a mosque in Minnesota was bombed. My President still has not issued a statement.

Today, in Charlottesville, a woman was killed in a rally where my fellow Americans were waving Confederate flags and swastikas. My President denounced "violence on many sides." He repeated that phrase, "on many sides."

Why do I keep expecting better things from him? After all, he began his political life as our Birther in Chief. Where did he think that dog-whistle rhetoric would lead?

My heart is sore. I do not want to believe that the 49% of the country that elected Donald Trump is racist and anti-Semitic.

I hope that in the coming days, I'll see more and more Republicans come forward. For now, I'll hold these tweets dear.

The Hot 100

Thank you, Endomental! I love this list.

Rotten Tomatoes aggregates the 100 most popular movies into a list, using the criteria of number of reviews and their fresh/rotten ranking. Technically, it could change every time a new review is posted. So here's where we stand today.

BOLD -- I've seen it
BLUE -- I've seen it and liked it
RED -- A fave!

1          The Wizard of Oz (1939) 

2          Citizen Kane (1941) 

3          The Third Man (1949)

4          The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) (1920) 

5          All About Eve (1950) 

6          Metropolis (1927)  

7          Modern Times (1936)  

8          It Happened One Night (1934)  

9          Singin' in the Rain (1952)  

10        Casablanca (1942)  

11        Laura (1944) 

12        Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens) (Nosferatu the Vampire) (1922) 

13        Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) 

14        A Hard Day's Night (1964)

15        La Grande illusion (Grand Illusion) (1938)

16        North by Northwest (1959)

17        Repulsion (1965)

18        Sunset Boulevard (1950) 

19        King Kong (1933) 

20        The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) 

21        Rear Window (1954) 

22        Rashômon (1951)

23        Psycho (1960) 

24        The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

25        The Philadelphia Story (1940)  

26        Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) (1956) 

27        The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 

28        All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

29        The 400 Blows (Les Quatre cents coups) (1959)

30        12 Angry Men (Twelve Angry Men) (1957) 

31        A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 

32        Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

33        Rebecca (1940) 

34        Vertigo (1958)

35        Rosemary's Baby (1968)

36        Frankenstein (1931) 

37        Touch of Evil (1958)

38        The 39 Steps (1935)

39        Gone With the Wind (1939)

40        The Last Picture Show (1971) 

41        The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 

42        Roman Holiday (1953)

43        On the Waterfront (1954) 

44        Battleship Potemkin (1925)

45        Anatomy of a Murder (1959) 

46        Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 

47        The Lady Vanishes (1938)

48        The Leopard (1963)

49        Chinatown (1974) 

50        Cool Hand Luke (1967) 

51        An American in Paris (1951) 

52        The Searchers (1956) 

53        The Gold Rush (1925)

54        It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

55        Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

56        The Red Shoes (1948)

57        The Big Sleep (1946) 

58        Mary Poppins (1964) 

59        To Be or Not to Be (1942)

60        City Lights (1931) 

61        The French Connection (1971)

62        Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

63        His Girl Friday (1940) 

64        Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

65        Throne of Blood (1957)

66        Barry Lyndon (1975)

67        Freaks (1932) 

68        Badlands (1974)

69        Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

70        Mean Streets (1973)

71        The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

72        Spartacus (1960) 

73        The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)  

74        Forbidden Planet (1956)

75        The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) 

76        101 Dalmatians (1961) 

77        The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) 

78        Duck Soup (1933)  

79        Fantasia (1940)  

80        2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 

81        The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

82        Some Like It Hot (1959) 

83        Bringing Up Baby (1938)  

84        Ran (1985)

85        Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

86        Peeping Tom (1960)

87        One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 

88        The Birds (1963) 

89        A Fistful of Dollars (Per un Pugno di Dollari) (1964)

90        Rebel Without a Cause (1955)  

91        Paths of Glory (1957)

92        The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)  

93        Goldfinger (1964)

94        Night of the Living Dead (1968)

95        Don't Look Now (1973)

96        Dr. No (1962)

97        The Apartment (1960) 

98        From Russia With Love (1964)

99        L'Avventura (1960)

100      To Catch a Thief (1955)