Left to my own devices

I stand by most of what I write on this blog. Sometimes I will re-read old posts and nod my head in agreement. Other times I may shake my head and wonder what I was thinking. Such is the case with the  post from six years ago  where I talked about my Top 10 favorite scary films. Movies such as Aliens and Se7en made the list and, while those are really good in their own right, they are not really "scary" or Halloween-type horror films. The list needed revision, folks, and here it is (in alphabetical order):

Our latest Pic of the Week is actor Justin Long, known for (among other things) the Jeepers Creepers and Drag Me To Hell movies. Happy Halloween!

Who we are changes over time. Some may deny this, but they would be wrong. I was reminded of this recently when I came across an article that, on the surface, takes umbrage with the ancient philosophical phrase of "know thyself," but also manages to go deeper and talks about how people change, yet may not fully understand that they've done so. It also questions why we do the things we do. Is it because we truly want to do them, or because it's about who we think we are, or what people like us are supposed to do? I think it could possibly be all of the above. The following passage from the article particularly stands out: The problem is this: If we change while our self-image remains the same, then there will be a deep abyss between who we are and who we think we are. And this leads to conflict. Leaning into these ideas a bit more, I am reminded of the evolution of understanding I've come to over the years in, first, knowing myself and, also, knowi...

Actor Zac Efron turns the big 3-0 today, so let's all wish him a happy birthday!

Assertiveness isn't always easy for yours truly. At times, people have mistakenly assumed I've agreed with them about something, mostly because I was too willing not to push back and rock the boat with them. A polite nodding of the head, slight wincing of the face, and averted gaze is, apparently, enough for some to conclude agreement. This tends to occur when I'm up against someone with an aggressive personality. Call it conflict avoidance, if you must. Recently, I talked back to a guy who is always very pushy with his views, very dominant (even if he's not aware of it), and whom I almost always do my usual polite wince and nodding of the head routine. He'd previously pissed me off with something he'd written to me online, and I'd let it slide, but then he did it again, and so I asserted myself and let him know that it wasn't on. In fact, I copped an attitude and used words that actually made me feel uncomfortable, but got the point across. The g...

"Step out from the mask you stand behind Fearful lost and blind Time to take the time The pressure’s on you Hide away, hide away No tomorrow, just today" - Brilliant , Ultravox Today was National Coming Out Day , so of course it gives some pause for reflection on my own coming out story. It was in April 1993, my junior year of high school (go Chargers!). In the six years of writing this blog, I have alluded to how I came out, but never really delved into the intricacies of how it came about. What better day to do so than today? My first (small) indications of homosexuality manifested in grade school. While in first grade, I thought a fifth grader looked cute. In fifth grade, I would stare, longingly, at a boy in class, until he caught me looking at him. There were some infatuations with boys in middle school, and a first sexual experience during freshman year of high school. Everything up to that point had been, for the most part, based in the phy...

Ok, we're now three-fourths of the way through this year's calendar, so I thought I'd rank the thirty-eight 2017 movies I've seen so far. Here they are.... 1. A Quiet Passion 2. Baby Driver 3. Dunkirk 4. Get Out 5. Kedi 6. A Ghost Story 7. Wonder Woman 8. Columbus 9. Brad's Status 10. Marjorie Prime 11. Maudie 12. Logan 13. Spider-Man: Homecoming 14. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 15. Brigsby Bear 16. Atomic Blonde 17. The Big Sick 18. Split 19. Kong: Skull Island 20. It 21. Wind River 22. A Cure for Wellness 23. The Hitman's Bodyguard 24. Norman 25. Kingsman: The Golden Circle 26. Logan Lucky 27. Alien Covenant 28. Ghost In the Shell 29. War for the Planet of the Apes 30. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 31. Life 32. Annabelle: Creation 33. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 34. My Cousin Rachel 35. Baywatch 36. The Bye Bye Man 37. mother! 38. It Comes at Night It will be interesting to s...

This weekend, Ashley & I saw the British synth pop group  Saint Etienne in concert at Park West in Chicago. Ashley got me into the band back when we first met. Having only been familiar up to that point with their club hit He's on the Phone , I soon became a fan listening to their back catalog. Their live performance was, to say the least, memorable and impressive. Having such a great concert experience with Saint Etienne got me to thinking of all the other live performances I've seen over the years. By my count, it's been about nineteen concerts in a little over twenty years. It feels like a lot, though I know for some it barely scratches the surface of their concert-going experiences. As it stands, I've enjoyed most of the shows I've been to. Some more than others. Of course, you know I had to list and rank them.