A Very Un-Brady Lady

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia -- looking good -- Picture courtesy of wireimage

by blogSpotter
My early teenage years spanned the late 60's and early 70's. I was from a somewhat dysfunctional family and sought some refuge in the fake comfort of television sitcoms – Beaver, Hazel and Mayberry RFD to name a few. I was delighted when The Brady Bunch hit the scene – a show which played on the “groovy” vibe of the era and focused more on its teen stars than the adult characters. Maureen McCormick played Marcia, the eldest daughter. She played into the popular cheerleader stereotype with a couple of episodes centering around sibling rivalry with Jan (“Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”) and vanity (“I’ll never date again with these braces!”).

Maureen is from a modest and un-Brady background. Her father was a teacher and her mother was a homemaker. She was the youngest of 4 and the only girl. One brother is mentally disabled and lived with the parents until recently. One brother was a ne’er do well who ended up in a protracted lawsuit with Maureen over family assets. Maureen’s maternal grandfather contracted syphilis in WWI and gave it to the grandmother. The grandmother gave the disease to Maureen’s mother in utero and the condition affected her psychologically for life. Maureen worried that she would also show evidence of the disease, needlessly so.

Maureen got her start at age 8, doing Chatty Cathy commercials. From there, the photogenic girl made an easy segue over to Brady Bunch in 1969. Maureen says that her real family was weird enough that she actually found safe haven on the Brady set. She had a partially-requited love with co-star Barry Williams (French kiss while filming Hawaiian episode); she found wonderful surrogate parents in the forms of Florence Henderson, Bob Reed and Anne B. Davis. Anne was in real life much like her Alice character – a rock of Gibraltar.

The series wrapped in 1974 after 6 wonderfully kitschy years. Maureen fell victim (as did we all?) to the late 70s disco-drug insanity. The pre-Aids polyester era of sex and cocaine drew her into a vortex of addiction, bulimia, one-night stands, and shallow relationships with producers, dealers and actors. She had an abortion at one point because she and the father were barely conscious much less able to birth and raise a child. Maureen is really a sweet, wonderful person when not strung out (in some ways like Marcia sans the Brady clan). Her acting skills never took her far out of the wholesome blonde role so her subsequent career has been mostly TV bit parts (Love Boat, Passions) and “B” movies (Rerurn to Horror High).

Maureen probably found her best role as mother, wife and rescuer to her family of origin. She renounced drugs and married Michael Cummings (a member of her church) in 1986. They are still married and have a teen daughter, Natalie. Maureen cared for her mother as she ailed from cancer and took custody of her mentally disabled brother. She did end up in a bizarre family feud with her slacker brother Kevin. Kevin conspired with the mentally declining, aged father to try and move a family trust (built mostly from Brady residuals) into his name. It turned into a knock-down drag-out court case – Maureen actually signed over much of the money before consulting friends, attorneys and other family members.

Well that’s the story .. of a lovely lady … But I digress. :-) As someone who worshipped at the altar of Marcia, it’s fascinating to see that the real person has bumps and bruises like the rest of but also has come thru in flying colors. Maureen’s most recent TV appearance has been as a contestant on MTV’s Celebrity Fit Club. She lost considerable weight, gained perspective on age and looks and even made amends to someone she’d hated for 30 years – Marcia Brady. A woman this well put-together doesn’t ever have to compete with a TV fantasy; the real girl is far more impressive.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Senator Apparent?

Does Caroline have the right stuff? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Kennedy scion Caroline has recently thrown her hat into the ring to take over Hillary Clinton's New York senate seat. I'd like to preface my remarks with the statement that I revere the Kennedy family and have profound respect for their contributions to America. After reviewing Caroline's political viewpoints (pro-Choice, pro-Human Rights, etc) I'm very aligned with Ms. Kennedy's political point of view. So you can see my position and probably feel a "but" or a "none the less" headed this way -- and you'd be right.

Caroline Kennedy seems to think that "Senator" is an honorarium given for a combination of family prominence and noble thoughts. I hate to break it to her, but Senator is a job title and it really needs to be earned. It was pointed out on the Today Show this morning that Caroline has never held a long-term, full time job. Mind you, her resume is very impressive. She's a graduate of Radcliffe and Columbia; she has a law degree and sits on many impressive boards: NAACP Legal Defense, American Ballet and the Kennedy Library Foundation to name but a few. But everyday work calls for true grit and tenacity -- the kind that generally comes from holding a position of financial or personal responsibility. Caroline's main two stints of employment were long ago -- as a photography assistant at New York Daily News (@ age 20) and as a part-time research assistant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both jobs were before marrying exhibit designer Ed Schlossberg in 1986.

Caroline took a long time out to parent her 3 children (now young adults) and is apparently warming up again to the outside world of working and doing. There is yet another thing to consider -- and this one you must pose delicately. Caroline has a reputation as being quiet, shy and a little bit remote. She's been seen as such since she was a little girl living in the White House. There's nothing wrong with a shy, sweet personality but it's at direct odds with the kind of happy Irish, glad-handing, back-slapping people-centric friendliness of her Uncle Ted.

People have thrown out other examples of politicians who succeeded with little experience in business or in office. (One of them was George W. Bush as Texas Governor -- wouldn't that be a counter-example?). Nay, in both the experience and people department, Caroline is not a match for the job. Her family connections are such that she still may get it, but New York state may not be the winner in that transaction, should it come to pass.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Golden Boy

Sturges, the ultimate writer-director -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Preston Sturges was a wunderkind film director and screen writer of the last century. He died at age 60, in 1959 after a life of hard drinking and fun living. His golden period was a brief 5 years from roughly 1938 thru 1943. In those 5 years, he created some of the wittiest, craftiest screwball comedies of the era: The Lady Eve, Sullivan’s Travels and The Great McGinty. I just watched 1940’s Remember the Night (starring Fred MacMurry and Barbara Stanwyck). It was truly a movie where I laughed and nearly cried. Sturges was a populist, everyman kind of story teller much like his contemporary Frank Capra. But Sturges’ movies were edgy, bright, laden with sexual overtones, sarcastic and a quite bit ahead of their time.

Sturges was born to a traveling salesman, and an aspiring singer, his mother Estelle. Estelle had a bigger-than-life personality and married 4 times (one marriage to a wealthy stock broker). Sturges spent his young adulthood as a Wall Street stock runner, then as an army lieutenant in 1916. From there, he made an unlikely springboard over to acting on Broadway in a play called Hotbed. While acting in 1928, he wrote his own play entitled Strictly Confidential – a play which found a producer and earned an unheard-of $300,000 in one year.

Sturges heard Hollywood calling from this success and parlayed his Confidential success into a wildly successful screen-writing career. He wrote The Power and the Glory in 1933, and soon was earning $2500 a week as a solo screen writer. (Most writers worked in pairs at the time). Sturges broke most of the rules at the time and incurred the awe, envy, wrath and jealousy of fellow writers. He was already Hollywood handsome and strident; he piled huge successes on top of that. By the early 40’s, Sturges was producing, directing and writing his own movies.

Every golden streak must come to an end, and so it was with Sturges. In the late 40’s, he befriended Howard Hughes – a kindred soul with a monolithic ego and money to burn. Sturges and Hughes created their own company, California Pictures. A first (and probably fatal) stumbling block occurred when Hughes wanted Sturges to feature his lady friend, Faith Domergue in a starring role. California Pictures created two (commercially dud) movies of any note – Vendetta and Mad Wednesday.

From this point, Sturges was labeled ‘box office poison’ (Hollywood’s ungrateful epithet for the no-longer-successful). By the mid 50’s, Sturges was battling creditors and the IRS – had to give up his privately owned nightclub called The Players. Following in the footsteps of his mother, Sturges married 4 times and lived a colorful, gin-soaked life. Sturges was a good-looking, macho braggart who could come through with “the goods”. You would have to love this man if you were secure in your own saddle, or loathe him if you weren’t. That he had a career decline is no major detraction; that he wrote and directed some of the best Hollywood movies ever made is truly remarkable and we have to give the Golden Boy his dues.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Breaking or Broken News?

Fair and balanced they say -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
A lot of my conservative friends gravitate to FOX News for their news blurbs. I hear, "FOX is the only one that tells it like it is." The mainstream media (that apparently would be ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC) are just hopelessly liberal. With the likes of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, FOX definitely marches to a conservative beat. It was founded in 1996 by entertainment media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and helmed by CEO Roger Ailes, a GOP strategist. As the only channel for read-meat conservatives, FOX News still gets a trifling sub-20% ratings share. How can that be in a center-right nation that twice put W. Bush in the White House?

I'm going to jostle some cherished notions by suggesting that personal bias is only one parameter at work here; there is also this thing called quality. Here are a couple of angles to check out. I'm comparing FOXNews.com to msnbc.com. I'm also referring to web sites and TV channels somewhat interchangeably since the web sites seem to reflect the TV stance.

BOY WHO CRIED WOLF
Since 9/11 all the news channels seem to run "breaking news" marquees to garner viewership. Why is it that FOX News seems to have them more frequently and over less earth-shaking events? If it's not major or it's a re-hash of news already-aired, it doesn't need to be flashed as "breaking".

FLUFF and STUFF
Looking at today's MSNBC.com web site, they have this layout... Major headlines, more (national) headlines, local, US & World, politics, business and stock ticker. Entertainment, health, science and other topics are selectable on a side bar.

FOXnews.com has on their web site: major headlines, features and faces (showbiz articles), a large ad that looks at first like FOX news content, US, world, business, politics, entertainment, and then many other topics (the web page is very long). What we have with FOX is crummy web page design, emphasis of commercialism over content and an obvious relationship of FOX news to its entertainment forbears.

Gee, why would I prefer one over the other? What I want with my news is a fairly accurate, unfettered, uncluttered presentation without any editorial bent (liberal or conservative). Too often FOX news veers between National Examiner (titillating showbiz fluff) and the Drudge Report which features sledge hammer over-emphasis on, yes, conservative topics. If nothing else, the cheesy Hannity and O'Reilly ads at the bottom of their mega page convey that image. And yes I have drudgereport.com as one of my own sidebar links -- they do have original stories from time to time and I actually go for some alternate views.

So there you have it -- fair and balanced. If FOX News can hide its conservative wolf-ness a little better, the readers will come. Else, we darned progressives will keep looking at those Obama-loving mainstream sites.

© 2008 blogSpotter

My Kingdom for a Navigator?

Yours for $26K -- Picture courtesy of CarMax

by blogSpotter
My 2001 Toyota RAV4 has served me well. It still looks pretty good and only has 53K miles on it. On the other hand, it does have slightly oxidized paint, and torn upholstery in the drivers seat. I’ve recently toyed with the idea of some new wheels. Have looked at 2009 Toyota RAV4, Toyota Highlander and Honda CRX. Brand new, these cars range in price from 25K to 40K depending on models and options.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at Lexus Certified Pre-Owned web site. I saw where a 2007 Lexus RX 350 (35K miles) with 2 years remaining on the warranty was only $28K. Its new listing price would hover at $43K. I went on another lark and looked at www.carmax.com. There, I found a 2007 Lincoln Navigator going for $26K. This car new would list @ 48K, even after our recent gasoline price brouhaha.

More thoughts flicker by … gasoline is back down to $1.69/gallon. Will it stay this reasonable in months to come? Consider the young ladies who’ve dated OJ Simpson in the last decade -- they might have to ask, “Have you gotten that knife-play out of your system?” I might be just as compelled to ask Shell Oil, “Any chance those gas prices will be rocketing back up to $4 anytime soon?”

Newsweek magazine ran a story last week about “luxaholic guilt”. In light of our recent financial meltdown, people who can afford luxury items have started to do it on the down-low. They feel guilty flashing bling and baubles in front of people less fortunate. I might also feel self-conscious in that regard, even though I fail to qualify as wealthy or luxaholic. I have no desire to let anyone “eat cake”.

But look at it this way. When you see a 2007 Lincoln Navigator driving down the street, did they pay $48K or $26K for it? $26K will buy a new Honda Accord and not even the fanciest trim level. When I pay homage to the wealth of the lux-o-mobile owner, it seems that times have changed the requirement. It is not nearly enough for him to park it next to my RAV4 and throw a Nordstrom’s bag in his Navigator’s storage compartment – nay. He needs to show me the purchase contract. Else, he might have bought it from CarMax for $26K and be paying it out at that.

Lux-a-holics – now is your dark, even darkest hour. You cannot hoodwink anyone into thinking you are rich unless you are driving the Yellow Rolls Royce of movie fame, or maybe a Maybach Limousine. Else what you’re driving is negligible degrees better than what I’m driving. Pretentiousness is after all, and in the final analysis, a bitch.

© 2008 blogSpotter

A Thanksgiving to Remember

A cherished holiday memory -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I normally don't do warm fuzzy stories drawn from personal experience. It might make my blog interesting. But 'tis the season to relay personal tales about heart-warming family events. My family isn't especially heart-warming but I'll do my best. I spent 4 days across Thanksgiving in Round Rock, TX. My mother and step-dad have a beautiful house off of Sam Bass Road, and their house is pretty much the holiday hub for all the relatives in North and Central Texas. It was Grand Central Station this holiday, with cousins, aunts, uncles, in-laws, etc, showing up across the time I was there. The Thanksgiving buffet was pretty much available from noon onward, for any stragglers that happened in after the official dining hour.

HONEY

My Aunt Diane (who's close to my age, more like a sister), brought her new dog Honey. Honey is an English Spaniel mix, about 5 years old. She has one blue and one brown eye (I kept saying she reminds me of David Bowie). Her coat is white and brindle -- very pretty. We suspect she was abused in her previous life due to the way she responds to a few things (a little bit shy and skittish). One thing Honey did was stake out the kitchen -- she was very attuned to the food.

While we dined on pumpkin pie and Mississippi Mud cake in the dining room, we heard a big THUMP in the kitchen. Honey had knocked the trash can over, and had scored a big turkey bone.

My aunt was mortified. "HONEY! You know better than that!" We straightened everything up and let bygones be bygones. About an hour later, we were all in the den watching football. I hear my mother say, "Honey! what is that!?" Honey had a Styrofoam plate in her mouth -- with lots of food residue. Looked like she had prepared a little meal. She had violated the trash can again. My aunt was in disbelief. Honey's later misdemeanors included nabbing some turkey foil off the counter and tinkling on the den rug. We concluded that she might need some obedience training, although she's otherwise a sweet and affectionate dog. It actually made for a more interesting holiday in some ways. Her behavior was only a little more over-the-line than some people I've known.

SHELL GAS STATION

I had to put gas in my PT Cruiser before I returned it to Alamo-Rent-a-Car. I was pleased that the entire fill-up was only $12.99 -- gas is cheap in Austin. The screen on the pump posed me a YES/NO question and I didn't have my reading glasses. I thought it was asking, "Do you want a receipt?" and I entered "YES".

It was actually asking "Do you want a car wash?". Much to my chagrin it flashed up a screen with car wash options...
"Rinse only - $3.99, Rinse and Dry - $4.99". I really can't see well without my reading glasses. I thought the last option was "NO THANX - $0.00". This would be a gracious way for someone to cancel out of the car wash entirely. Instead, it said "RAINX - $9.99". I purchased the most expensive option, for an already clean rent car no less. I was in a hurry so no time to fuss with it. I'll just have to eat the cost and consider this "tuition in the school of life". Blind men, always bring your glasses. Vanity, thy name is expensive fill-up.

APRICOT SCRUB

Going thru TSA at the airport is always troubling to me. Maybe it's because I'm nervous and have shifty eyes, I don't know. It seems like I always have a snafu of some sort. I have travel sizes for all my toiletries EXCEPT for shave cream. I purchased a 6 oz apricot scrub at Krogers which was pricey ($8.00) and not even what I needed, but all I could find there. The TSA agent chastised me for having a too-large toiletry and confiscated it -- at least he didn't chastise me for having a girly-man apricot lotion. It would've been too much. Maybe he’ll use it now and smell all apricot-y.

In conclusion, this trip cost me an extra $18, for some things I should've anticipated. This trip was also characterized by a klepto English Spaniel, stealing food off the counter. All told, it was probably one of my better, more memorable holiday travels.

© 2008 blogSpotter