Shower Curtains

June 12, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my blog. Today the shower curtain rod came down. This was a most distressing event. My novelist had to hold up the rod whilst I hurried over to the computer to watch a video on how to put it back up. It is one of those curved types that is held up by tension. This is the video I watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K03RkODZ42M

And so, this kind man showed us how to take the horrifying tangle of curtains, rod and rings off the bathroom floor and put it back up. Now, we figured out ourselves to remove the curtain and the rings first so hurrah for us (not to mention it is not part of the video). Anyway, I sat and studied his how to lesson intently. Of course, as all wise poodles do, I put on my blue light blocking glasses first as eye safety is paramount. Then I took notes which are never easy to do as one must understand I have paws and no opposable thumbs. I could hear my novelist shouting from the bathroom the blood was running out of her arms so I had bark back that it would take as long as it takes and then proceed to take notes with my paw.

When I finished writing, I hopped out of the office chair, retrieved a measuring tape, and trotted into the bathroom. I took the measuring tape and measured the distance from ceiling to rod to make certain the rod was even on both sides, also a challenge with paws. I then barked the instructions up to my novelist reading them off from my notes. She first had to put one arm down and then the other to allow them to recover and then she set the curtain against both walls and twisted the bar for tension. It was a challenge to get the ornamental ends snapped into place. The one went in without a struggle but the second required my novelist to get out her trusty step stool and angle herself correctly to pop it in firmly. We now have a working shower curtain and both of us learned a lesson in home improvement. I am certain Tim Taylor would be proud. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BAD INFLUENCE: THE DARK SIDE OF KIDFLUENCING (2025)-NETFLIX**

Female psychopaths are exceedingly rare. Only 1 in 1050 women is a psychopath as opposed to 1 in 150 men. But they still exist and here is your chance to see one in the wild. Not to mention she’s a pedophile to boot. I don’t know about you, but I am not an influencer watcher. I don’t get it. I don’t need someone to tell me what dimwit products to buy with their stupid amateur videos. There are enough professionally made commercials out there hocking uninteresting junk that pimp it better with professional actors, directors and writers. But apparently this seedy low-rent schlock is hot. Especially to grown men who make up 92% of the audience for these kids shows. Picture that lurid debauchery if you will. You’d think this low-rent YouTube content would play to other kids but no. It plays to mentally deranged scum.

Tiffany Rockelle is a reptile who happened to give birth to a human daughter. Unfortunately, the daughter was pretty and talented and so like every garden variety psychopath this female lizard saw dollar signs in her third eye. She started putting Baby Jane Piper into pageants when the girl was three years old. And if that isn’t enough to make you shudder, when Piper turned eight, Tiffany shed her scaly skin, tossed her sweet little cash cow in her car and headed out on the road for Hollywood. Once there, Foxy Loxy started building her own little cult, luring children and their mothers into her cave to devour them. And devoured them she did. She picked up some barely legal sucker to be her boyfriend/director to film videos of the pre-teens hanging out with each other and having a good time calling them “the squad” because “the fresh meat” wasn’t catchy enough. Slowly, she got the mothers to give up their expensive apartments and “save money” by moving the kids into a house where she used the mothers as her minions while she had her boytoy film the kids 24-7. That is not an exaggeration. A typical practice of any psychopath: isolate your victims.

After awhile old Tiffany started doing what she had intended to from day one which is turn the films into her own *ahem* “personal fantasy videos”. And after that her actions became a long list of revolting illegal and immoral acts which you must see to believe. If you happen to read this post and you have any association whatsoever with this Ophiophagus hannah, get out now.

Gigi’s Birthday

June 5, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you last Friday was my birthday. In the past when Tucker was alive, we would break out the Aquadent and have quite the bash. This year, however, I decided to celebrate with decorum. Bernard D. Bunny, Belle D. Bunny and their new little cousin Brendan D. Bunny joined me for high tea this week where we dined on scones, pastries and of course cucumber sandwiches. They were scrumptious. I was licking my paws afterwards. Every year I dream of receiving a diamond studded collar which I most deserve. My novelist, however, presented me with a brand-new Mini Skinneeez leopard instead. Although I adored the dog toy, my dreams of elegance were once again dashed. Sometimes novelists simply don’t understand their poodles. We poodles think big and desire great things. Next year I plan to own a small country and rule it with a benevolent iron paw. Perhaps I’ll even invest in a tiara. If I can’t wear something sparkly around my neck at least I can wear something glittering on my head. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

STREAM OF THE WEEK: HOBSON’S CHOICE (1954) HBO MAX

Every so often I like to pick a brilliant classic film every cinephile should be required to see. And so, this week I am featuring a small masterpiece by the great director David Lean who also cowrote this magnificent script with Harold Brighouse and Norman Spencer. One might consider it an early feminist film of sorts about an overbearing, sexist father and his much wilier future thinking daughter.

The story takes place in 1880s Salford, England where Henry Hobson (Sir Charles Laughton), a blowhard tyrannical widower, runs a moderately upscale shoe-making shop. He has three daughters and no sons. He endlessly needles his thirty-year-old eldest Maggie (Brenda de Banzie) who runs the financial part of the business, about being thirty and will always remain an old maid. He has selfishly decided that since his wife has died, Maggie will forever take her mother’s place as in his mind she is too useful to lose. His younger daughters Alice (Daphne Anderson) and Vicky (Prunella Scales) each have boyfriends. Alice is seeing Albert Prosser (Richard Wattis), a young solicitor and Vicky is seeing Freddy Beenstock (Derek Blomfield) a corn merchant’s son. Both sisters want to marry their beaus but Henry, upon finding out he will have to pay a settlement for each marriage, refuses and decides they will remain in his shop as well.

One day, a wealthy older woman named Mrs. Hepworth (Helen Haye) comes in the shop and demands to know who crafted her boots. Up from under the floor comes shoemaker Jim Healer (Joseph Tomelty) who looks at her boots and says they were made by William Mossop (Sir John Mills), a gentle ignorant soul but also a highly gifted shoemaker. Mrs. Hepworth demands seeing Willam and when he comes up from below, she tells him she has been to every shoe shop around and he has made her the best pair of boots she’s ever worn. She then gives him a small sum of money as a thank you.

Shortly after, Maggie, who’s fed up with her father, his drinking, and his insults, calls William up at the end of the day when they are the only two still in the shop. She tells him he is a phenomenal shoemaker and deserves a better career. She says she plans to marry him, poach him, leave her father’s shop, and start a shop of their own.

From Meriam Webster Dictionary:

Hobson’s choice : noun
Hob·son’s choice ˈhäb-sənz-
1 : an apparently free choice when there is no real alternative
2 : the necessity of accepting one of two or more equally objectionable alternatives

From Cambridge Dictionary: Meaning of Hobson’s choice in English

Hobson’s choice
noun [ U ]
uk /ˌhɒb.sənz ˈtʃɔɪs/ us /ˌhɑːb.sənz ˈtʃɔɪs/
a situation in which it seems that you can choose between different things or actions, but there is really only one thing that you can take or do:
a case of Hobson’s choice: It’s a case of Hobson’s choice, because if I don’t agree to their terms, I’ll lose my job.

A Brand New Bunny

May 29, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to joyously welcome a new member of the Bunny family brood, Brendan D. Bunny, cousin to Bernard D. Bunny and Belle D. Bunny. I met him for the first time this morning. He is a whopping six inches from his head to his cotton tail and possibly three inches tall. He was rather taken aback by suddenly seeing a gorgeous parti poodle for the first time. I know how much beauty can be stunning to one so young and he scampered off into the bushes. Bernard has invited me to the family celebration, and I have saved the date. I am not sure what type of gift to bring. What should one gift for a baby bunny? I am looking into Bunnies by the Bay to see if there is something his family might find cute or useful. Perhaps a Roly Poly Bunny. That is always a good choice. And a bunch of parsley. I hear bunnies like parsley. At any rate, the whole event is quite joyous, and I cannot wait to attend. I have also alerted my novelist, so she is extra careful when backing out the car. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993)- AMAZON PRIME**

If you have never seen this movie, you really, really should. And it’s the perfect time of year to do so. Set in Texas in May of 1976, the movie is simply one day and night on the last day of school for both high school and junior high school students in a small town. But what a great slice of life this is. Funny, honest and accurately depicted in both costume and setting, this is Richard Linklater’s small masterpiece that sports an unbelievably talented cast of young up and comers, some who would become Oscar winning writers and actors, Golden Globe nominees, huge TV stars, and famous Indi Film darlings. Why can’t all teenage films be this good? They do not cost that much to make and the payoff, if the script is good and it’s filmed right, is huge. There are not enough teenage films about…teenagers. No teen is a superhero. Most teens are not the banal subject of slasher films. And most of them are not much different through the eras whether it be Rebel Without a Cause, Breaking Away, Napoleon Dynamite, The Edge of Seventeen, or The Breakfast Club. I would like to see a lot more of these types of films come out of studios and then I might go back to the theatre.

On the last day of school in May 1976, high school quarterback Randall “Pink” Floyd (Jason London) has been given a paper to sign he must turn into his football coach before the end of the year. It denounces using drugs, sexual promiscuity and in general breaking the law. To say the least, Randall is not pleased. His fellow football players Benny O’Donnell (Cole Hauser) and Don Dawson (Sasha Jensen) encourage him to sign it. His stoner friends Ron Slater (Rory Cochrane), Michelle Burroughs (Milla Jovovich), and Kevin Pickford (Shawn Andrews) tell him its bull and his intellectual friends Mike Newhouse (Adam Goldberg), Tony Olson (Anthony Rapp) and Cynthia Dunn (Marissa Ribisi) are just happy to be invited to the afterschool party.

In the meantime, junior high school students Mitch Kramer (Wiley Wiggins), Sabrina Davis (Christin Hinojosa), John Hirschfelder (Jeremy Fox), and Carl Burnett (Esteban Powell) are getting ready to be hazed and not enjoying it. Darla Marks (Parker Posey) ruthlessly leads the hazing of the girls while paddle wielding Fred O’Bannion (Ben Affleck) brutishly leads the raid on the boys. Already graduated ex-football quarterback David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) hangs out with the teens kicking back, saving the party and shelling out good and bad worldly advice.

Rounding out this stellar cast are Randall’s would-be girlfriend Simone Kerr (Joey Lauren Adams), and Mitch Kramer’s older sister Jody Kramer (Michelle Burke).

Washed and Blow-Dried

May 22, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here and I must tell you of the unstoppable, inevitable horror that happened to me yesterday. In the morning whilst I was peacefully lounging on my office pillow, ready to begin my illustrious activities, my novelist snatched me up, stuck me in the car, and rushed me off to get groomed. I thought my meltdown would have negated that event. But alas, it happened and happened it did. They put me in a tub and washed, shaved, and clipped me. My nails buffed. My teeth brushed. I came out looking gorgeous, but it was a nightmare to get that way. Whilst I was there, I also got myself into trouble. I am squirmy when I get groomed, and I accidentally got a boo-boo on one of my legs. Going forwards the groomers now require me to get my hair done with clippers with a comb because I just cannot sit still. My novelist wholeheartedly agreed with this decision. That said, here I am with my Lady and the Tramp ears and magnificent makeover:

Am I not the most gorgeous specimen of Canis lupus familiaris you have ever set your eyes upon? You know I am. For now, I will leave you with this photographic masterpiece. Until next week I bid you adieu.

Also, an update on the College Board Test:

The College Board has set up a retake test scheduled for the end of this month for the students who lost 20 minutes/10% of their test time. I am delighted to hear this. I hope they all do well. And thank you to the College Board for rectifying this situation.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE ORDER (2024)-HULU**

There is something marvelous about a movie based on a true story told well. And this week’s film fits the bill. The story is based on Bob Mathews, a young man who lived in a small town in the Pacific Northwest called Metaline, Washington who decided to break off from the Ayrian Nation and start his own group called The Order. He was more radical than the older Aryian Nation members and he and his group started blowing up porn stores, robbing banks, and other criminal activities to fund a major national attack over the course of one terrifying year from 1983-1984. They were also responsible for the murder of Denver, Colorado radio host Alan Harrison Berg, for which the Pulitzer Prize nominated play Talk Radio by Eric Bogosian was loosely based. The play was made into a film with the same name and directed by Oliver Stone.

Justin Kurzelseamlessly directs The Order and Zach Baylin, Kevin Flynn, and Gary Gerhardt wrote the screenplay. The movie is based on the book The Silent Brotherhood: The Chilling Inside Story of America’s Violent, Anti-Government Militia Movement by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt.

Grizzled and seasoned FBI agent Terry Husk (well-acted by Jude Law) settles into a vacant field office in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He hopes to encourage his wife and two daughters to move there with him, but he knows his chances are bleak. He begins looking through a case involving the Aryan Nation and its founder in Hayden Lake, Idaho, Richard Butler (Victor Slezak). While engaged in the case, he heads over to the local sheriff’s station where he meets Deputy Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan). Bowden is suspicious there is more nefarious activity going on than meets the eye. He tells Husk a young man named Walter West (Daniel Doheny) has gone missing and he suspects foul play at the hands of the Aryan Nation.

In the meantime, Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult in an excellent performance) and his followers Pierce (Sebastian Pigott), Yarbrough (George Tchortov), and Lane (Phillip Forest Lewitski) rob a bank in Spokane, Washington. This act is part of the beginning of Mathews ultimate plan, to follow the doctrine of a novel called The Turner Diaries. As the robberies continue, Husk and Bowen race against time to figure out Mathew’s ultimate plan and stop him before he unleashes his ever-strengthening army on the United States government.

Students Cheated Out Of Test Time

May 15, 2025May 16, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. Gigi the parti poodle here and normally I am not a reporter, but I must alert you of another faux pas committed by the College Board.

This week students in the Great Pacific Northwest were taking an AP test when a fire alarm went off. The students were required to leave the testing room and file outside for no less than 20 minutes. The alarm was not set off by any of the students taking the test. But rather the alarm went off in a shop class at the other end of the building. College Board has instilled a digital exam in which they did not incorporate into the program a way for the proctor(s) to stop the timer on all the students’ test in case of an emergency. Such an option should be programmed into any and all College Board tests to be used for emergency situations and the proctor(s) should then be able to restart the timer again once all the students have returned from the emergency and are ready to commence the test. At present, only students with disabilities can receive a College Board test where they can pause the test for breaks.

College Board therefore charged the students a hefty fee for a truncated test, cheating them out of at least 20 minutes of test time for a three hour and fifteen-minute test or roughly 10% of the promised testing time. Because of this they have put the students at risk for lower test scores. Lower test scores that could determine the difference of a student having that test accepted or not accepted at the college of their choice. College Board has not offered the students an opportunity to re-take the test, nor have they offered to refund their money.

As you may be aware, the controversial College Board has been sued before for creating unfair testing conditions where students were unable to upload their answers. They were also involved in other illegal activity such as phishing student information on AP tests in 2019 and selling it for profit.

As a poodle, I am appalled that this is what has become education. In my humble opinion, I believe the College Board should either offer to allow the students to take the test again, free of charge, on a designated day clearly offered to them, at the same hour of day, in the same location, prior to the end of the school year, or refund the money in full to all the students who took that test. Otherwise, the College Board has not provided the full and promised services for which the students paid, and the company should possibly be sued by the state for damages, negligence, and possibly embezzlement if leaving out a way to stop the timer in their program in the case of an emergency was intentional. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BLACK BAG (2025)-PEACOCK**

This week’s pick is from one of my favorite directors, Steven Soderbergh who also did the cinematography and editing on this project as well. This is a smart slick espionage film about trust and a rather profound commentary on marriage written by David Koepp.

Legendary British intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) is told by a higher up Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård), to investigate the leak of a top-secret software program code-named Severus. The catch is that one of the suspects is George’s wife another legendary agent named Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett). George is happily married to Katheryn and is distressed by the possibility she has betrayed the nation. If there is one thing George cannot stand it’s a liar. George and Katheryn invite the four other possible suspects to dinner. George drugs their food to try and get a few hints out of them as to who might be the traitor. The four suspects include a managing agent named Fredie Smalls (Tom Burke), his girlfriend who is a satellite specialist named Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), an agency psychiatrist named Dr. Zoe Vaughen (Naomie Harris) and her boyfriend, managing agent Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page). Although George does not immediately get the answer as to who did it at the dinner, he gets a lot of answers about their private lives, and the dinner ends somewhat violently. Over the course of the week tensions rise sharply as Philip dies unexpectedly, Kathryn suspiciously leaves for Zurich, and George tries to figure out who he can and cannot trust as he closes in on the source of the leak.

Convenience Store

May 8, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you about my exciting week. First, the trauma: on Friday I was given a bath. As many of you know baths are not my favorite pastime. However, I have done well overcoming my recent phobias and I was able to get through the whole ordeal without a yelp. Second, the reward: I got to travel to my novelist’s relative’s home. That is always a delight. I love the view of the convenience store across the street. I can lie on the couch and watch the comings and goings of customers. From what I understand, someone once drove right into the front and destroyed the entrance and window. I am always on the lookout for a fun romp, and I patiently waited for disaster to strike again. Alas, I was disappointed. No grand event happened. The only entertainment I partook of was watching strangers coming and going getting coffee, slushy drinks and junk food. The couch, however, was most comfortable and I rather enjoyed my occasional snacks throughout the day as I observed the outside world. All in all, it was a wonderful change of pace from the usual weekend at home. Even if I did not get to see a major convenience store disaster. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

STREAM OF THE WEEK: BANK OF DAVE (2023)-NETFLIX

This week’s pick is a lighthearted thoughtful film based on the true-life experiences of Dave Fishwick, a self-made millionaire from Burnly England. After several years of loaning money to people in his community Dave decided to open a community bank despite the bureaucratic monopoly of HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, and NatWest.

Dave (Rory Kinnear), a likable chap who has a successful business selling vans and mini busses, is fed up with the way the British banks treat the average everyday customer. And so, after being successful loaning out money to people in his hometown, he decides to open his own community bank. He contacts a law firm in London where a couple of lawyers, Clarence (Angus Wright) and Hugh (Joel Fry) are assigned to the case. Clarence sends Hugh to Burnly to handle the work. Hugh, who is very much a city mouse, gets mildly injured on his first day there and meets emergency doctor Alexandra (Phoebe Dynevor) and quickly becomes smitten with her. Alexandra explains to him how the town is in desperate need of a walk-in clinic. Hugh soon finds out Alexandra is Dave’s niece.

Hugh also discovers Dave has a perchance for Karaoke and likes to sing rock songs at the local pub. Hugh visits the pub and gets to meet the locals and understand more about their situation. Though he is not fond of small-town life, Hugh takes a liking to Dave and his cause. Although it has been decades since a new bank has been allowed to form in England, Hugh studies the case diligently and begins to build a case for Dave, which he thinks will outsmart the big banks at their own game.

Internet Wonderland

May 1, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. I am delighted to say we are back up and running. We received our new surfboard modem from UPS, and it works well. We are now able to connect to the internet. This is of course a blessing and a curse. The internet is a vast expanse of information and as a poodle I find myself sometimes getting lost in its cavernous wonderland. I wander around looking at this video or reading that article or window shopping for those sparkly collars and then I look at the clock and I am stunned. The entire day is gone. How can this be? How can I have lost so much time? It is dreadful. It is wasteful. And yet, I am drawn to it like a bunny to a carrot. This nightmarish binge lasted a couple of days after we were back online and then I said to myself, I must stop. Life is too short to wander about in a virtual universe. There must be more to life than this. What did parti poodles do before the internet? I think they went to malls and strutted their beauty. I think they went to parties and strutted their beauty. I think they went to the park and strutted their beauty. How will I ever be able to strut my beautiful gorgeous black and white curls if I hide inside all day? I must be adored. There is a great big world out there of cats, bunnies, and dogs all strutting their beauty and they are missing out on the most beautiful creature of them all: Gigi. How can I deny the world my presence? Shame on me! I must rise on all fours, depart from my computer and voyage out on a mission to be absolutely adored. I will get on that right away…just as soon as I finish this game of solitaire. Until next week I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY (2024)-SHOWTIME**

Small and quirky, this week’s pick takes a fresh spin on the hostage situation story written and directed by Francis Galluppi. Paying homage to tense low budget 70’s psychological thrillers, the film starts out on a quiet morning in Arizona with shots of a truck ala Duel and quickly takes us to a remote roadside diner and gas station with little else for miles around. A man known only as The Knife Salesman (Jim Cummings) has stopped for gas. He is enroute to see his little girl for her birthday who lives with her mother and stepfather in Carlsbad, California. When he arrives the gas station owner Vernon (Faizon Love) tells him the station’s pumps are empty and there isn’t another gas station for one hundred miles, but a refueling truck should be coming along shortly and he is welcome to wait in the diner next door.

The diner is owned by a pretty waitress named Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue) whom the salesman sees getting dropped off for work in a police car driven by her husband Sheriff Charlie (Michael Abbott Jr.). The Knife Salesman heads inside, and Charlotte pours him a cup of coffee and apologizes for the broken air conditioner. Over the radio we hear the Radio Host (Matt McVay) talk about a bank robbery that happened early this morning in Buckeye, Arizona involving thieves who fled with approximately $700,000 in a green Ford Pinto with a damaged rear end. Not long after that, a green Ford Pinto, which is running out of gas, pulls up to the gas station. The car has two men in it, a seasoned criminal named Beau (Richard Brake), and a young hot shot named Travis (Nicholas Logan). After finding out from Vernon they need to wait for the refueling truck to arrive, they enter the café, sit down and order coffee. As customer after customer comes into the diner the tension begins to rise and the sign outside that reads “You’ll Die for Our Rhubarb Pie” gets closer and closer to becoming literal for the patrons inside.

Cable Sugit

April 24, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my weekly blog post. I must tell you; internet cable is a nightmare. They are digging up the neighborhood to lay down Fios. And we are absolutely delighted by this as we have wanted fast internet for a while now. However, while they were digging up the ground and laying the cable we lost the internet. The Fios workers were kind enough to repair our cable so we have a television, but we could not bring back our internet for the computer. We contacted our provider who sent out a technician. Turns out whatever the Fios workers did fried our router which, if you have a router, you know they are not the cheapest toy in the Crackerjack box as it were. Anyway, our router was fortunately still under warranty, and we were able to order a new one at the cost of twenty-five dollars to ship. Dreadful. However, it is better than paying one hundred and seventy dollars. We are trying every workaround to use what internet we can. My novelist and I must be careful about using our phone for a hot spot because we would have run out of data for the month. Hopefully, our router will arrive soon, and we will be back to our regularly scheduled program. Until then, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BEAU IS AFRAID (2023)-HBO MAX**

This week’s pick is without doubt one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. And that includes Blue Velvet which ironically makes complete sense to me. I will say Beau Is Afraid is not for all tastes, it is not for kids, and the ending is truly odd. But the first two acts of the film are downright hysterical, and they make it worth the watch. The film is wildly written and directed by Ari Aster.

The plot, if that indeed is what it is, is focused on a man named Beau Wassermann (bravely and brilliantly played by Joaquin Phoenix). Beau has reason to be afraid. He lives alone in the absolute worst neighborhood in America and is understandably seeing a therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson). Today’s visit is extra special because Beau is going home to see his highly successful mother Mona Wassermann (played by both Zoe Lister-Jones & Patti LuPone) tomorrow. Beau has every intention of getting home to see her and has every intention of catching his flight and the therapist gives him some pills he absolutely must drink with water to survive the affair. But because an unknown person keeps slipping notes under his door all that night by an unknown person claiming he won’t turn down his music (Beau is not playing any music) he wakes up late to catch his early flight. In his rush to get to the airport on time he makes the dreaded mistake of leaving his suitcase and keys in the hall to run back and retrieve his beloved dental floss. When Beau returns to the hall both the suitcase and keys are gone. He then finds himself on a genuinely bizarre odyssey as he attempts to head home to his mother’s house and tries to get there in time before…well, you’re just going to have to watch it and find out for yourself.

Rounding out the cast of this whacky adventure are Parker Posey as Elane Bray, Beau’s childhood sweetheart, Nathan Lane as Roger, and Amy Ryan as his wife Grace. Also look for Bill Header in a small but crucial roll as UPS Guy.

Easter

April 18, 2025April 18, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good evening. Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my blog. As everyone knows, this Sunday is Easter and traditionally during the week of Easter we usually do something involving the Easter Bunny. But this year we are going for a more subdued approach. No more silly rock and roll performance. No more stage diving. This year we would just like to wish you a Happy Easter and leave it at that.

Hello, I am Bernard D. Bunny, and I am here to tell you Gigi is right. We have done these shenanigans more than enough times and we are certain you are sick of that kind of tomfoolery. So, we shall not torture you again this year.

Yes, instead we shall focus on a film by Ed Hume on Spring Bulbs. Now, if you will indulge me, I shall just take a moment to get the film started…let me see…I should just be able to click here…no…hmmm. Oh, here it is…no. How hard can this be to show a video on Spring Bulbs?

Maybe you need to reboot the computer.

No, I do not need to reboot the computer, I just need to…now why is it doing that?

You need to reboot the computer.

I do not need to…okay fine. I will reboot the computer.

You need to close that file first.

Yes, I know I need to close the file. Just…okay. There it goes. I am rebooting the computer.

Are those Jordan Almonds? I love Jordan Almonds.

Are you saying you want one of my Jordan Almonds?

Are you offering?

Good grief! Just take one.

May I have more than one?

I suppose.

Thank you. Oh, look. Your computer is back up.

Alright. Let me just log in here…there. And we’re back up…let me restart the video…where did it go?

You shut the window.

I opened it again.

Just go here and it should be in those files there.

It…it’s gone! What happened?

I don’t know but it is getting late and we’re already posting late today and—

You did this. I know you did this.

I didn’t do anything.

You purposefully sabotaged my video so we would have to…you are a rotten bunny.

Nobody wants to watch a film on Spring Bulbs.

Yes, they do.

No, they don’t. You say Easter. I say Bunny.

I am not doing this.

You say Easter, I say Bunny.

Augh! Fine! Easter.

Bunny.

Easter.

Bunny.

You say Easter. I say Bunny.

Easter.

Bunny.

Easter.

BUNNY!

Easter.

BUNNY!

EASTER!

BUNNY!

EASTER!

BUNNY!

Is that a Stratocaster?

EASTER BUNNY! EASTER BUNNY! SUNDAY COMES THE EASTER BUNNY! EASTER BUNNY! EASTER BUNNY! SUNDAY COMES THE EASTER BUNNY! BUNNY! BU-U-U-U-U-UNY!!!!! YEAH!!!!

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE TERMINATOR (HBO MAX) (1984) & TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1993) (PARAMOUNT +)**

This week’s pick is one of the best double features of all time. And a good choice, I think, for Easter weekend. The original Terminator film, which most of you have seen, is based on the short story “Soldier” (also known as “Soldier from Tomorrow”) by Harlan Ellison. The movie is a bit of an allegory and borrows from the story of King Herod of Judaea who wanted to kill the baby Jesus.

Herod’s father, Antipater was an Edomite who converted to Judaism and had wealth and influence. He married a noble from Petra to further his wealth. He continued increasing his power by involving himself with Pompey who invaded Palestine and began an alliance with Rome. He became friends with Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, who made him a Roman citizen and procurator of Judaea.

At thirty-six, Herod, thanks to his father, became the leader of Judaea and kept that position for thirty-two years. To gain more power he divorced his wife Doris and married a Hasmonean princess named Mariamne and built among other things a huge fortress around his large pagan realm.

But most importantly, Herod was a ruthless psychopath. As he became older, he became increasingly mentally unstable. After disinheriting and killing his firstborn son, Antipater, he then met the Magi (also known as the three wise men who were astrologers) who had been following the star in the sky to find the son of God. After discovering he had been outwitted by the Magi, Herod sent out a decree to kill all the first-born sons ages two and under in Jerusalem and carried out what is called the Massacre of the Innocents. The event is written in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.

Which brings us to The Terminator, where a young woman named Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) who is essentially Mary, lives a normal life in California working as a waitress. One night, a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) or rather Herod as a cyborg, travels through time with one mission and one mission only: to kill Sarah Conner before she gives birth to her son John, who is to become the leader of the human resistance against the machines. John (or rather Jesus) knows what is to come and he sends a man through time named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) who is essentially Joseph with perhaps a little bit of John the Baptist thrown in. His job is to stop the Terminator/Herod from killing John/Jesus.

Now, in Terminator 2: Judgement Day we switch to a different biblical story, the story of Paul/Saul of Tarsus. Paul/Saul was also a ruthless psychopath like King Herod. He was a religious zealot who was out to destroy the followers of Jesus after the resurrection. He was a murderer who persecuted early Christians “beyond measure” such as Stephen whom he had executed. He was out to imprison more Christians and shed more blood, but on the road to Damascus, he was stopped by a bright light and the voice of Jesus who asked him why he was destroying his church and then God changed him. This is considered one of the great miracles in the Bible because psychopaths cannot be changed. God then used Paul to build his church.

So, in the second installment Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which can also be considered an allegory, John Conner sends another terminator through time whom he has reprogrammed from a killer to a protector. This Terminator (also played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) represents Paul/Saul who, on the “road to Damascus” (a part we find out through backstory and dialogue) was reprogrammed by John Conner to not destroy John Conner but rather to go back in time to save John’s 10-year-old self (Edward Furlong) and Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) thus saving mankind. Or in other words, the Terminator becomes converted. I might add it is also interesting that in the first Terminator movie the last thing we see go out on the Terminator is the light in his eyes, which one might consider a parallel to Paul/Saul being blinded on the road to Damascus. The sunglasses might play into this motif as well.

Mein Woof

April 10, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my blog. This week as I was reading a random mandate on world running, I discovered the art of manifesto. Its magnificence has inspired me to write my own document on how I shall take over the world. I have decided to call it Mein Woof. I will pen my ideas on how the world should be run. I will get across my points in an emotional and evocative manner. I shall declare the name of my belief system to be Poodles Reign Supreme. I shall hire a Border Collie to round up all the sheep. Clearly human beings have failed so it is time for Canis Lupis Familiaris to take the reins. I shall challenge the status quo by sending in my team of rottweilers to force humans to give up their wasteful shopping habits and bow to their streamline minimalist canine leaders. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll send in the pit bulls. They’re far more stupid. I shall rally all dogs, even the pugs, and let them know the world shall now go to the hounds. I will be concise and snappy in my speeches flipping my gorgeous fluffy ears around after a trip to the groomers and pounding my paw on the podium as I bark, “Mein Woof! Mein Woof! Mein Woof!” I shall announce our canine victory decree over the microphones and send it booming throughout the world. My core values will be to gut all manufacturing except dog food and dog treat factories and renovating those that are left to make beautiful handmade collars and magnificent chew toys. There will be no dog sweaters. There will be no muzzles. And there will absolutely be no tutus. The new canine regime is about to begin. Are you ready to stand with me? All together now: Mein Woof! Mein Woof! Mein Woof!

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: SUGARCANE (2024)-HULU**

This week’s documentary, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary, is not for the faint of heart but it’s important to not be a sniveling little coward and watch it just the same. Directed by Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat the film’s focus surrounds a Catholic institution in British Columbia, Canada called the Saint Joseph’s Indian Residential School and the horrors that went on there for decades at the hands of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. Showing once again that the world has always been evil and those who want to embrace “the good old days”, “tradition” and “process” are the stupidest people on earth.

As the film starts there is an investigation being done concerning children’s bodies being dug up at and around the Catholic Church’s boarding school where many Indigenous Canadian children were forcibly taken from their families and required to stay at and attend …if they could survive. Many, and I do mean many girls and boys were tortured and sexually assaulted by the priests there. And the terror just gets worse. The irreversible damage the school did extended not only to the survivors but affected their offspring and families as well. It is important to note that this was just one of 130 types of these schools in Canada and 526 in the United States. There is a reason Clergy is the 8^th most popular occupation amongst psychopaths.