1)
This week's song is about a girl who grew up on the fairy tale
Cinderella. The online teaching platform study.com says Cinderella has
been remained popular for centuries because the moral is that kindness
is a virtue that will be rewarded. As an adult, do you still believe
that's true? Obviously not. The other night, from behind the Presidential seal, Donald Trump derided Sen. Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas." (Her sin? Applauding ongoing aid for Ukraine.) I wonder what casual cruelty from the man occupying our highest elective office teaches today's children. We seem to be living in a "might makes right" world where kindness and empathy are dismissed as "woke."
2) This girl also likes romantic movies. Think of your favorite screen couple. Did they live happily ever after? No. But in The Way We Were, Streisand and Redford broke up gloriously.
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| See 'ya, Hubbell. |
3)
While "I Can Love You Like That" was a Top Ten hit here, it reached #1
in the Canada and Zimbabwe. Could you find Zimbabwe on a globe? With no precision whatsoever. I'd just point at Africa and apologize for not knowing more.
4)
The members of this week's group, All-4-One, hail from Mojave,
California. July and August are the hottest months in Mojave, when the
afternoon temperature hovers between 87º and 97º and often climbs to
100º+. Do you thrive or melt in hot weather? I melt. I think anything over 80º is gaudy.
5) After
having several hits in the 1990s, All-4-One saw their popularity wane
in the new millennium. While they never disbanded – and will be touring
throughout 2025 – the members have pursued separate interests. For
example, co-founder Delious Kennedy started a YouTube channel featuring interviews with celebrities from the 80s and 90s. Do you spend a lot of time on YouTube? If yes, what do you watch? I've fallen down an OJ Simpson trial rabbit hole. (Spoiler alert: He gets away with it.) It's interesting how different it all looks to me now, 30 years away from white-hot emotion I felt at the time. Oh, he did it and he was a bastard. But there was such a difference between what we saw and the evidence presented to the jury. Also, Johnnie Cochran was a really, really good lawyer.
6)
In 1995, when this week's song was popular, Michael Jordan "unretired"
and returned to the Chicago Bulls. Tell us about a decision you wish you
could undo. I wish I'd been more patient with Bonnie from my movie group. She died this past December. In the 7 or 8 years that I knew her, she struck me as silly. Sweet, but dim. After she died at age 74, I found her obit and learned she worked her way through school as one of Illinois Bell's only female telephone installers, went on to teach journalism at a prestigious Chicago college, and knew Gloria Steinem. Her vagueness was probably tied to a medical condition I wasn't aware of. Everyone is struggling with something, right? I must remember that.
7) 1995 saw Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in GoldenEye.
007 was also played by Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger
Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Daniel Craig. Do you have a favorite Bond? I suppose Pierce Brosnan, because frankly I find him attractive. But I admit I'm not much of a Bond fan.
8)
One of McDonald's best-selling 1995 Happy Meals featured The Power
Rangers. 30 years later, those Happy Meal action figures are still
available on eBay. Have you recently purchased anything on eBay? Recently? No. But I have found things there.
9) Random question – Which compliment would please you the most: to be smart, great looking, or likeable? Smart.
