I lived in NYC during the heyday of this commercial.

After unexpected, lifesaving open-heart surgery last year, I was directed to make major food and exercise changes. As a result, I’ve lost about 75 pounds in 14 months; I’d still like to drop another 1o or so. What I’m finding is that what I eat is almost as important as how much. I’m on a carb-restricted diet, and I…

I heard Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are feuding in heaven.

“If I Can’t Sell It” is genius - she did it in the big, splashy Broadway revue Black & Blue and brought down the house - you don’t get he full effect in the video, because when she turns and strides off at the end, it turns out that the vast, glittering starry background she’s been singing in front of is in fact her…

So when do we start getting the Liz ‘n’ Dick-style GIFs?

The animated film had more, I think, to do with the play and film Anastasia, from the ‘50s. The movie starred Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner, with Helen Hayes as the Dowager Empress. It’s hokum of a very high order, but the performances are terrific, and the ending is one of the best from from Hollywood’s Golden Age.…

They’ve been adorable, the trip has been a huge hit, and now they’re BFF’s with the King and Queen of Bhutan (she’s Queen Jetsun, which I just find endearing and hilarious). And they get to go home to those two beautiful kids. I have a lot of time for the whole family, really (except maybe the Yorks, most of the…

Yeah, you’re 33 now, we get it.

So how much of this is really “rearranged travel schedule” and how much is “suddenly had sitcom pulled out from under her”?

I saw via a friend’s FB posting this earlier today and figured it was just more clickbait - but now I’ve checked and I’m really peeved. Lots of spam and random noise, but several - going back anything up to six years - from very old friends I would have liked to connect with, includng one from a former colleague who…

...creating a number of spin-off beliefs among African-Americans, including groups like the “Moorish Nation.”

“Violet Trump” sounds like she’d be the short-fingered vulgarian’s old-money cousin, an elderly lady who’s been consistently appalled by every single thing about his life since something like 1978, a woman currently ashamed to show her face at her retirement home’s weekly bridge club.

...the naturopath they saw encouraged them to see a real doctor.

This is basically the look at waaaaay too many Egyptian weddings: foofy, low-cut bridal gowns, with a turtleneck underneath, then the hijab, used as a base for a vast tiara/garland veil combo. Here’s a random (slightly variant, with yards of thick illusion fabric in place of the turtleneck) example:

...but that I will be enthusiastically invited to a showing by That One Friend.

It’s just that she looks so... different. Not really all that much worse, or better, or anything - just not much like Renee Zellweger. Watching the preview for the new movie (which I think is as close as I’ll be getting to it, despite being very fond of the first and more than adequately amused by the second) was just…

It’s not any better on the men’s side of the store. I had to buy clothes this past fall/winter (weight loss, yay!), and every single thing was black, gray, or charcoal, and all in sizes that are perfect if you’re maybe 6'4" and weigh 125 pounds. A 40 chest and a 32 waist should not have to mean hoping against hope…

LiLo’s WeRuBo is all of 22, and he looks about 17. Only the legendary Cinnamon Champagne could be not yet 30 and already a cougar. On the other hand, she’s apparently looking not-terrible these days, so maybe things are working for her, for the moment...

I lived in Ghana for a while; the Ashanti who make up a good part of the population are famous for their proverbs - but not, as far as I could tell, ones that were terribly inspirational. They all seemed to be somehow both very vague and, at the same time, very specific to Ashanti life and history. Wise, I suppose,…

An incredible woman. These days, it can be hard to capture just how revered “The Battle Hymn” was for the generations that followed the Civil War - it was taken far more seriously, in my experience of my grandparents and their late Victorian/Edwardian generation, than the national anthem. My grandmother, who was…