The Terrible Catsafterme

I should have known that Valerie Harper wouldn’t be that easy to work with. Anyone who managed to get kicked off her own series, get killed off, and then sue the producers (and win) was going to be a worthy adversary. I probably don’t need to tell you that I am referring to the series Valerie, which was eventually changed to The Hogan Family following the great Valerie Harper contract dispute. But even more famously than that, she played the iconic character Rhoda Morgenstern in The Mary Tyler Moore Show for its first four seasons, and then in the spin-off series Rhoda for five more. Read the rest of this entry »

The name Martin Van Buren is not generally met with an outburst of applause and cheering when his name is mentioned. In fact, the average citizen probably would inadvertently leave him of his list if he were asked to make one of all of the United States Presidents from memory. Others might recall that his name was dusted off and brought back to the surface when George H.W. Bush was running for President in 1988 – reminding us that a sitting Vice President hadn’t ascended to the Presidency through vote since the time of our 8th President, Martin Van Buren (who as the 8th Vice President, served in Andrew Jackson’s cabinet). And like Bush, Van Buren would only serve one term, losing his second campaign to William Henry Harrison. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve always found the 1985 film Fright Night a delightful combination of comedy, thrills, monsters, horror, and even a bit of gore. So having been a big fan of the movie already, you can understand why I was ecstatic to find that the five (still-living) main characters of the film would all be assembling for a reunion at the Days of the Dead event in Chicago, Illinois. Meeting any one of these folks individually would be thrilling, but to get them all in one swipe nearly ensured that I’d be making the trek to Chicago for the show on Sunday, November 18, 2012. Read the rest of this entry »

It was my 41st birthday on October 2, 2012, but so far the morning had been spent in the rather bleak location of the concentration camp of Dachau, Germany. Things began to look up a bit as we left there around noon and headed north along the so-called Romantic Road that weaves through 220 miles of the Bavarian region of southern Germany. We picked up the road near its most southern point and followed in nearly 3/4 of the way, stopping about two and a half hour later, arriving in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (which translates as “red fortress above the Tauber”). Bryan & Erine had been here before so staying in this cool Medieval city for the evening had been their recommendation. Read the rest of this entry »