The Last Day At Sea
April 9th, 2011
My Mom, Bob, and I had seen some busy days. We had toured Miami, Key West, and Cozumel. I had even more frenetic traveling coming up at the end of the trip. So it was nice to have one nice, full day to spend dripping around the Imagination cruise ship and doing little to expend much energy on our final day at sea: Thursday, February 10, 2011. I started off the day about as leisurely as possible, by sleeping in, grabbing breakfast, and lazing around the cabin for a few hours, then summoning the energy to shower and get into my swim trunks and make my way to the pool area for two hours of laying out, catching some serious rays, and listening to the iPod. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s a lesser celebrity encounter, I’ll admit, but somehow I think it’s a rather cool one. For those who remember the cartoon series The Archie Show and got a kick out of their song Sugar, Sugar– which actually climbed all the way to Billboard’s #1 spot for four consecutive weeks – you might think it’s cool too. I know President George W. Bush would, because he professes that Sugar, Sugar is one of his very favorite songs. So who exactly is Ron Dante? His name is surely not commonly known in conjunction with The Archies – because as far as anyone knew, they were merely a fictional, cartoon band. But there was a definite and distinct voice behind them and it belonged to Ron Dante. 
Good news for those who love the Disney park postings: here’s another two-parter. And good news for those who don’t: this will likely be the last Disney park posting of the year. Even though we were still in the first quarter of 2011, I had already spent some time at Disneyland in 
While it’s probably true that Christopher Serrone only got the job playing the role of young Henry Hill, because of his physical resemblance to the actor playing the older Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), he did an admirable job in the part. I find Goodfellas to be one of the all-time great films, always worthy of a repeat viewing. So I was quite excited to get a chance to meet Christopher when he was scheduled to make an appearance at the Chiller Theatre show in Parsippany, New Jersey, on Saturday, October 30, 2010. 
Knowing Virginia Karns Patterson was truly one of the most unique and fulfilling experiences in my life. I had met many celebrities – mostly in the Laurel & Hardy and Our Gang realm – up to that point, but never had I carried on a true friendship with any of them. Virginia was mostly known for her role as Mother Goose in the 1934 Laurel & Hardy film Babes in Toyland. She also had supporting roles in several other Hal Roach short subjects which included Four Parts (Charley Chase series), Soup and Fish (Todd-Kelly series), and Music in Your Hair (starring Billy Gilbert and Billy Bletcher).