Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Heart Like a Truck (2022)

 

 Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) In this week's song, Lainey Wilson longs to hit the open road. What do you yearn for this morning? More sleep.

2) She says her heart runs on dreams and gasoline. What fuels you? Humor and caffeine.

3) Lainey sings that her heart has been "drug through the mud." The correct past tense of "drag" is "dragged," but in parts of our country, "drug" is sometimes used. Can you think of any other grammatically incorrect song lyrics? Mick wouldn't have sounded rebellious if he sang, "I can't get any satisfaction," but it would have been correct. Then there's the girl in "Ticket to Ride." The lads sing, "She don't care," when she doesn't care. This next one isn't a grammar issue, but there's a Billy Joel song that just grinds my gears. In "Allentown," he sings that "graduations hang on the wall." Graduations don't hang anywhere, Billy, diplomas do. (It bugs me because I really like the song and its message.)

4) She tells us her truck could benefit from being dusted off and shined up. Could your vehicle use a little TLC? No vehicle. But we've had a lot of rain and mud and many of the cars and especially the buses I see could stand to be cleaned up.

5) Before making it big in country music, Lainey supported herself by doing odd jobs, including appearing as a Hannah Montana impersonator for kids' parties. What's the most unusual job you've held? I haven't had any unusual jobs. I babysat, worked as a receptionist and then a secretary (now admin), a writer and now a shop girl. All pretty standard stuff.
 
6) In addition to singing, Lainey has acted, appearing in 5 episodes of the series Yellowstone. Are you a fan of the show? Nope.
 
7) She loves Southern comfort food like mac and cheese and biscuits and gravy. What's on the menu at your place this weekend? It's still Lent, so that fish sandwich I like is back on the menu at my local bbq place. Maybe I'll grab one.

 
8) In 2022, when this song was on the charts, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Have you ever been to Scotland? Nope.
 
9) Random question – Let's pretend you're back in Kindergarten. Which of these would young you prefer: a toy kitchen set, kid-sized gardening tools, or a mini trampoline? Trampoline!

 

77 movies and 11 panel discussions

Read all about it here

The 2025 TCM Film Festival schedule dropped today! Will and I spent about an hour texting back and forth. Then Karen and I exchanged Facebook messages. We three from our movie group are making the pilgrimage to Hollywood and we've been comparing notes. At times we have 5 movies and a lecture to choose from! Fortunately we each go our own way, so we don't have to agree. Which is a good thing. Because we don't agree. For example, on the first night, Will is excited to see Teacher's Pet with Clark Gable and Doris Day, and nothing could stop me from kicking off the festival with Kate and Liz and Monty in Suddenly, Last Summer.

I'll see Michelle at the screening of the restored Cinderella. We're Facebook friends but since she lives in Colorado Springs, this is the only time we meet in person. I hope I'll run into Trudy again this year. And there's Lisa with the three names. Likewise John who loves Technicolor melodramas and his cat. And very tall Kris. (People bitch about Facebook all the time but I love how it keeps us old movie nerds connected between Fests.)

This is really happening. Three weeks from today. YAY!

 

Thursday Thirteen #405

Pizza. I love pizza. I believe it's replaced the redoubtable cheeseburger as my answer to the "what food could you eat every day" question. I'm spoiled because in Chicagoland, delicious pizza is readily available. Within walking distance from my home I have four choices, and none is a national chain. This is notable because when I used to visit Henry in Key West, I was appalled by what passed for pizza. It was just sad. You might as well just have DiGiorno from the freezer case. 

 

But I digress. Here are 13 tidbits about pizza ...

1. Thin crust is my favorite. Love those luscious little squares in the middle.

2. Bar or tavern style is getting more popular around here. Also cut in squares like thin crust but somehow the toppings go all the way to the edges, no outer crust. It's magic! I'm told this is how they eat thin crust in Boston and New Jersey.

3. Sometimes I crave deep dish. So-called because it's baked in a deep dish, which is is why my late friend Henry used to argue that, "this is not pizza, this is a casserole." The crust is super buttery and the pie is really juicy, with chunks of tomato. The toppings aren't really "toppings" because they are baked in. You cannot eat this without a knife and fork.

4. The New York Style place near me closed. I don't know why it didn't catch on. I don't know how I'd like an entire pie, but I did like grabbing those big, individual slices to go. The crust was fun. All fold-y. Those giant triangles were good re-heated, too. (Come back, New York Style pizza-by-the-slice place! Come back!)

5. I've had wood fire pizza. Not crazy about it. I've been told (at least by Henry) that this is Neapolitans prefer their pizza. OK. Whatever. I don't like the air pockets in the crust.

6. California Pizza Kitchen is popular in the faraway burbs. I like the pizza itself well enough. They certainly offer an eclectic selection of toppings. Mostly I gravitate to the non-pizza items on the menu, though.

7. I am a purist. I prefer plain cheese pizza.

8. Pepperoni was named America's favorite topping. Not for me, too spicy. If I go with a topping, I'll choose #2 on the list: sausage.*

9. Anchovy was listed last. I'm sure this surprises no one.*

10. I'm told there are people who dip their pizza crust in sauce. I have never seen anyone do this, though, and I've never seen dipping sauces on a dine-in pizzeria's menu.

11. Pizza is a weekend food. Most pizzas are ordered to go on Friday and Saturday. I tend to get mine on Saturday.

12. It's a great team meal. In my old life in advertising, pizza was always brought in as a bribe to get us to stay longer at all-agency meetings. At the card shop, pizza was ordered as a reward for the folks who worked late doing inventory.

13. Tip your driver. I prefer to get my pizza to-go and was surprised to learn that more than 80% of us don't tip the pizza delivery person. Well, shame on us.

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

 *Here's the survey.

WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. I'm still in Jolly Old England, this time with a thriller by Lisa Jewell. Two women, strangers, find themselves at a pub on the same night. Josie is there with her husband, celebrating her 45th birthday with an intimate dinner. Alix is there with a big party, also celebrating her 45th birthday. They end up in the ladies' room together and discover that they not only have the exact same birth date and year, they were born in the same hospital! Josie is a housewife and part-time seamstress who lives in a flat near the bus stop, Alix is a podcaster and influencer with a big house. Josie has a dog, Alix has a cat. They couldn't be more different, yet they are "birthday twins." 

What feels like a neat coincidence to Alix is a catalyst for Josie. She pitches herself as a subject of Alix' podcast as a woman who wants to make changes in her life. Dark secrets are revealed. Dark shit begins to happen.

 

Is this about exploring the path not taken? Is it about the toxicity of secrets? I'm not deep enough into yet to say. But this has sucked me in completely.

2. What did you recently finish reading? Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by MC Beaton. I revisited the first of 25 mysteries in the Agatha Raisin series. I recalled the contrasts that charmed me about Aggie and Co.: the bucolic Cotswolds and bustling London; the sweet characters (Mrs. Bloxby and Det. Wong) and our tart heroine, Agatha. I also remembered the bare bones of the mystery, but not whodunnit. I realized anew the mysteries themselves are not what it's important here. It's the atmosphere created and the evolving characters that keep me coming back.

3. What will you read next? Don't know.