Rant #2,013: Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

Happy Halloween!

I guess I am saying that mostly for the kids, because let's be honest about it, today's Halloween doesn't even come close to the Halloween that I had as a child.

But it is Halloween, so happy holiday to you all.

I guess I could stop my Rant right there, but I am not going to do that.

In today's world, we hardly get any trick or treaters at my house.

We have the candy, we dress up the house, but we might get one or two stragglers, but generally, we don't get anybody during Halloween.

The times are so different today. Today, kids go with their parents, and they generally only go to houses that they know, so that pretty much leaves us out, even though my family has occupied this house since 1971.

We have a "kid" in the house, but he is 22, so no, the parents with young kids don't know us.

The schools have organized events revolving around the holiday, even the local mall does.

But the problem with these well-intentioned events are that they are planned.

The fun that we had on Halloween way back when was that everything was unplanned--you never knew what you were getting--and that was half the fun.

I lived in a development with 20 buildings, each of which had three sections and 13 floors apiece, with about seven apartments on each floor. There were thousands of apartments to visit during Halloween,

And boy, did we get candy!

If we were industrious enough, we could get bags and bags and more bags of candy, and even some pennies mixed into the sweet stuff.

I remember that after trick or treating, my sister and I would dump the contents of our bags on the kitchen table, and we would go over what was inside with my mother.

I am not a candy eater, so I used to give all my candy to my mother and sister, who both ate candy like some of us eat steak.

I kept the change, of course, and I am sure that money helped me pay for my comic books and my bubblegum cards.

Sure, once in a while we would get something bad in our stash--my sister got an apple filled with pins one year, and we always got open candy which was immediately dumped--but generally, everything was fine.

One year, our door got bathed in a succession of one rotten egg after another, but by that point, we knew that the development had changed, and I guess this was a sign that it was time to leave.

And I guess that also was a signal that Halloween for me, for all intents and purposes, was over, and honestly, it has been over since that last year in our old neighborhood and since we moved out to Long Island.

Even in the 1970s--when I didn't trick or treat anymore--I could see that the holiday wasn't the same. It just was not the same in a suburban setting as it was in an urban setting, and I was done with it anyway.

Becoming a father in the late 1980s, and then a divorced father, presented other Halloween problems. In the early years of my daughter's life, sometimes my ex-wife and I would split the day, and by the time I had my daughter, a lot of people simply would not open their doors anymore.

Other years, I got her one year, my ex-wife got her another year, but honestly, it never worked out the right way, things were uneven, and try as I might, Halloween became a chore for me, and I don't think my daughter got much out of it, with me at least.

When my son came around, I went with him from house to house--he had no friends to go with--and, well, I saw first hand how Halloween changed.

We would go in the neighborhood, some people opened their doors, many didn't, and he got what he got. At least there were no time limits on me as there was with my daughter, but it simply was not the same as when I was a kid, no way, no how.

Heck, today there are even controversies about costumes, everything from an Anne Frank costume to one where the tattooed skin of a character is show.

People have their kids make their own political statements during Halloween. They wear costumes that reflect their parents' beliefs, on various levels, including empowerment.

People today get upset at Halloween. Why?

It is supposed to be a happy holiday, but adults have completely stolen the holiday from their children, and that is simply plain wrong.

So have a good Halloween everyone.

At this point, let's just say that the kids will have fun, but they simply do not know what they are missing.

And maybe that is a good thing, because if the kids knew what they were missing, I don't think they would be too happy with the holiday that they were left with.

Classic Rant #666 (February 1, 2012): The Number of the Beast

So, we have reached Rant #666, the dreaded number of the beast.

What will happen today to justify this blog reaching that number?

Will I be visited by the devil himself? Will something come that will hit us all in the head?

Will my angelic personality turn devilish?

Will I eat a Devil Dog as opposed to broccoli?

Yes, I know that I often have the devil in me, but I am not the anti-Christ, I am just a good Jewish boy.

But let's look at the number 666.

666 is the sum of the first 36 natural numbers, so if you add 1, 2, 3, 4 ... and through 36, you will get 666.

Honestly, that is about the only other thing I know about the number.

I've never been into devil worship or numerology, so my interest in the number really isn't that great.

But for some people, 666 is the worst number there is.

I know that if you are part of the Aryan nation, and you get a tatoo, this number will probably be scrawled across your body.

No wonder these clowns are perceived as idiots by most people. And they are just that.

I know I am rambling here, but reaching Rant #666 is a pretty good accomplishment.

Only 34 away from 700--which I should reach sometime in March--and only 334 away from 1,000--which I should reach in 2013.

Oops, 2013 ... the number 13 is perilous to some people as much as 666 is horrid to others.

I guess I can't win, can I?

Rant #2,012: Don't Let the Rain Fall Down On Me

Today, I am going to use the rain as both an actual thing and as a metaphor for what is going on in Hollywood.

First, the supposed purveyor of everything "right" in the world--I mean, they have had the audacity to tell us who to vote for and how to live while they lounge in their multi-million dollar worlds bathed in total fantasy--has unearthed another deep dark secret, and if anything can top the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, this has to be it.

Kevin Spacey, one of the most well-regarded actors in this emerging Sodom and Gomorrah world that Hollywood is being exposed as, has not only come out as gay, he has come out as a pedophile, admitting to sexually attacking a young 14-year-old boy years ago.

The young boy is another fellow actor, Anthony Rapp, who is one of the stars of "Star Trek: Voyager."

Spacey has admitted that he has had numerous sexual encounters with men over the years, has now chosen to live as a gay man, but you have to wonder if all of this is a smokescreen to cover up the fact that he attacked an underage child years ago,

You know, to gain sympathy for himself, living in this cruel world as a gay man.

I don't think anyone would care if he came out as gay, and that was that, but then this thing gets thrown into the mix, and you really have to wonder ... what other deep, dark secrets is Hollywood hiding, and why has it taken in some cases decades for it to all come out in the wash?

And talking about the wash, I could have washed my clothes outside yesterday with just a little detergent.

It rained and rained and rained some more, and yesterday has to go down as one of the worst Sundays, weather wise, that people in my part of the world have seen in a long, long time.

The interesting thing is that the weather forecasters, with all of their advanced analytics at their disposal, predicted that it would be much, much worse than it really was.

The South Shore of Long Island was supposed to get hit with a convergence of two storms, and while this sounds eerily like what happened exactly five years to the day with Hurricane Sandy, while this weather disturbance brought lots of rain, and later gale force winds, it became pretty much a distant cousin of Sandy, with neither the poof nor the punch of that storm ... and for that, we all have to be grateful.

Some forecasters predicted near five inches of rain, and while we didn't get that, we got plenty yesterday.

For all of those people who work outside, I am sure they got drenched to the bone, but that was pretty much it.

And again, we all have to be grateful with that.

Five years later, and many people in my neck of the woods are still reverberating from Sandy. One more similar weather occurrence could have pushed these people over the edge.

Happily, that didn't happen.

The rain is supposed to stop today, and Halloween is supposed to be a good one for the kids.

With Hurricane Sandy, Halloween pretty much got wiped out where I live, so at least the few trick or treaters in my neighborhood will have their holiday.

Good for them.

Classic Rant #665 (January 31, 2012): P.K. Limited Music

Today is a crossover day, as I am linking this blog up with my Colgems Records Blog at http://colgems.blogspot.com/.

I want to highlight a pop group from the late 1960s and early 1970s to which I hope you would give a listen to.

P.K. Limited held down the fort as the Colgems label was on its last legs.

Colgems had one main artist--The Monkees--and a slew of one shots, wannabes and acts that simply fell through the cracks.

P.K. Limited was one of these under-appreciated acts.

The group--originally known as The Loved Ones but actually Dan Peyton and Marty Kaniger, two songwriters for Screen Gems/Columbia Music--recorded numerous tracks for the label, with some being used as singles, others as soundtrack music, primarily for the film "Getting Straight."

They kept the label going right before it was absorbed by Bell Records.

I really don't have that much other information on them, other than to say that they churned out a couple of pretty nice songs at the end of the 1960s and into the very early 1970s.

Peyton vanished off the face of the earth, but Kaniger re-emerged in the 1970s as a member of the band Big Daddy. This group took current tunes and recorded them 1950s doo-wop style. They put out a few albums in the 1970s and 1980s, and are still around, I believe.

Again, P.K. Limited never had a hit record, and I doubt too many people have heard of them, but they put out some fine records in the late 1960s, and they are worth a listen.

Go to the Colgems blog site for some MP3s of their work.

Rant #2011: Bits and Pieces

Yes, this is the second "Bits and Pieces" rant this week, but that is how it goes sometimes.

Lots of stuff to talk about, just nothing that I would devote an entire column to.

So here goes.

Fats Domino Passes: Legendary New Orleans rock and roller Antoine "Fats" Domino died earlier this week. He was 89 years old.

Domino was one of the most popular rockers during the early days of the genre, and had numerous hits that showcased his New Orleans style music that included bits of gospel, rock, rhythm and blues, cajun, and jazz, among other genres.

When you choose the seminal sounds of rock and roll, you almost have to have on your Top 10 list songs like "Blueberry Hill," "I'm Walkin'" and "Ain't That a Shame," and Domino's signature piano playing is on all of them.

He was so engrained in the culture of New Orleans that even after he became a wealthy man due to the success of his recordings--and the successful cover versions of his tunes recorded by many others--he remained in his hometown until the end.

In fact, when Hurricane Katrina hit, he was among the missing for a while, but he eventually was found. He lost just about everything in his mansion, all his gold records and other memorabilia.

But as one of the first entrants into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--and one choice that no one could argue about--Domino left behind a treasure trove of music that will last the ages.

Robert Guillaume Passes: Broadway, TV and movie actor Robert Guillaume also died this week, also at 89 years of age, and although he did many other roles as an actor, who could argue that his Benson was one of the greatest characters ever created for a TV series?

Guillaume was pretty much a Broadway actor when he read the original script for "Soap," ABC's sendup of soap operas, and he decided right then and there that he had to do the role of Benson, the butler who really and truly was the only voice of reason on that show.

Although the role could have been a subservient one, Guillaume and the writers took it one step further, making Benson not only the smartest character on that show, but also its most popular.

He took the character to his own show, "Benson," but even Guillaume later admitted that his second portrayal of the character was never as good as the first on "Soap," simply because he didn't have as much freedom on the second show to be as blunt as he had on the first show.

Whatever the case, both shows were incredibly popular, and Guillaume established himself on those shows as one of TV's most popular personalities.

Play Ball ... In 100 Degree Heat: The World Series is known as the "October Classic," but not only does it often stretch into November due to scheduling and the length of the series, but this year, it might as well be held in the middle of July in the tropics.

In what has forced many meteorologists to scurry around looking for temperature records, the 2017 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros might go down as the warmest in history.

During game one, the temperature was over 100 degrees, and with Los Angeles going through a fall heat wave, it was doubtful that the temperature would go any lower.

And yes, there was some relief coming ... Houston has "only" been hit by 90 degree temperatures, and it really doesn't matter, because with Minute Maid Field's retractable roof, it is always 68 degrees indoors.

Kellogg's Pulls "Insensitive" Corn Pops Illustration: In what has to do down as probably the most idiotic story of the year, the PC Police appear to be at it again, as Kellogg's has pulled boxes of its popular Corn Pops cereal because it was brought to their attention that the cartoon on the back of the box was "insensitive."

On the back of the cereal's box is a cartoon depicting various forms of Corn Pops doing various jobs, having fun, and just living life to the fullest. However, a "darker" yellow Corn Pop is shown doing what could be construed as "janitorial" work, and that got the dander up of one cereal buyer--who happens to be a comic book writer on Marvel's "Black Bolt" title--who contacted Kellogg's about the "insensitivity" of the cartoon, saying that since it was the only darker Corn Pop on the box, it was teaching children racial insensitivity.

The box with the cartoon was pulled. Kellogg's released a statement saying that they were all for diversity, and was sorry for not having monitored the situation.

This is all so scary, that a major corporation has to apologize for a cartoon character being construed as being subservient because of the coloring used to portray that character.

Next, are we going to see the PC Police go after Daffy Duck because he is all black? How about Cocoa Puffs itself, because it is a "black"-colored cereal?

Using this incident as a clear example, we, as a society, must rid ourselves of this PC nonsense, so we can all think with a clear head again.

Joe Girardi Out as Yankees' Manager: In one of the shockers of post-season baseball, when the focus should be on the aforementioned World Series, instead we are getting bombshell after bombshell about successful managers losing their jobs.

First it was the Red Sox firing John Farrell; next, it is the Yankees and Joe Girardi agreeing to part ways.

I still can't figure out if this is akin to a firing--Girardi's contract was up for renewal, so he wasn't technically "fired"--or if it was a bit so something else, maybe like the almighty dollar, but Girardi managed the team for 10 years, brought them to the World Series in 2009, won that Series, and the Yankees never had a losing season under his direction.

In fact, the Yankees came within one game of the promised land this year, and promise to be one of the most exciting teams to watch next season and for several seasons.

With their core of young talent, this parting of ways reminds me of when Buck Showalter also had a similar break from the Yankees in 1995, right before the team had their "Core Four" dynasty.

With a current Core Four in place--Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Greg Bird and Aaron Judge--the Yankees are right on the cusp, but they evidently will have to do it without Girardi.

Who will succeed him? I am sure there are a lot of people who would give their right arm to manage this team right now, so we will just have to wait and see.

That is it for now. Have a good weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Classic Rant #664 (January 30, 2012): Eating Underground

This was an extremely slow news weekend.

Nothing much happened to report on, at least where I live.

But one story did make some news.

A legislator in Manhattan is proposing that eating be banned on the New York City subway system.

That's right, banned.

The bill, proposed by state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), stipulates that anyone caught eating in the subway gets a $250 fine.

Evidently, the proposal came up as criticism of people's cleanliness habits on the subway mounted.

Another bill proposes to ban garbage pails on the subway.

Thousands of people use the New York City subway system to get to work throughout the five boroughs. When I worked in Manhattan, I certainly used it, and yes, you do see all kinds on the subway.

As far as eating, you see people eating candy bars, drinking a can of soda, munching on chips.

And you also see people eating full meals, like spaghetti, tacos, pizza, you name it.

And they often don't clean up after themselves.

So the thousands of pounds of leftover food that has to be cleaned up from the subway cars each and every day is often the dinner for the millions of vermin that live and breed in the subway.

The legislator said that with this ban, the vermin population will go down, because these pests literally live off the discarded food that subway riders leave on the subway and don't eat.

It's a fine idea, but it will be completely impossible to enforce.

The New York City subway has taken generations to and from wherever they had to go. It is as much part of the city framework as, let's say, the Empire State Building is.

It is often the only free time straphangers have before they get to their work or other destinations.

Eating on the subway is part of its ambience. Vendors hawk every type of food right at platforms on even on platforms.

How is the city going to ban eating on the subway with it so part of the New York City culture?

They can't. It would be an impossible task.

Sure, they banned smoking on the subway, but honestly, that was more a health issue.

When you eat a slice of pizza on the subway, you are really only hurting yourself, with the extra calories you are piling on.

I would instead run an informational campaign, alerting straphangers that it is polite to clean up after yourselves, not leave food on the train when you exit.

I think that that, ultimately, would be the best way to lessen the mess that the subways have to put up with.

And remember, the fast food is named "Subway" for a reason.

Not that that really matters at all, but the subway is what it is, and no legislation banning food on the subway will ever work.

It is a waste of time and a waste of taxpayer money.

Rant #2010: In the Navy

Rarely have I let my two writing worlds collide on this blog, but something happened on Tuesday that I feel is worth writing about here.

Before I go into this story, let me explain to you what I write about. The writing that helps put bread on my table has to do with an area called “military resale,” which is basically military stores for service members and their families, plus military retirees.

These are commissaries, which are akin to civilian supermarkets, and exchanges, which are department stores.

At one time, each military service—the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guard—had their own commissaries, but in 1991, the military commissaries were consolidated under the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA). Each of the services continues to run their own exchange stores, under the names the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES); the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM); the Marine Corps Exchange (MCX); and the Coast Guard Exchange (CGX). Also existing under the military resale umbrella is the Veterans Canteen Service (VCS), which has stores in military medical facilities across the country.

Military resale is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry, and during fiscal 2016, these stores generated more than $15 billion in sales, a good portion of which is poured back into the services for programs for service members, their families and retirees.

Few outside of the military know about this industry and its stores, but these facilities provide products, goods and services for military members and their families, and they often do business in out-of-the-way places serving this clientele, and do so on a worldwide basis.

Anyway, now that you have that basic background, I will provide some further background before I delve into the main story.

There has been a lot of scuttlebutt in Washington about trimming governmental costs, and many people, including those with political power, believe that doing away with these stores might be a great way to save the couple of billion dollars a year it costs to run them.

They believe that a penny saved is a penny earned, and the money devoted to them—DeCA gets a yearly stipend, the other stores do not—might be better used elsewhere.

They kind of figure that the civilian industry might be able to shoulder the burden presented by the possibility of shutting down the military stores, with service members and their families continuing to get their military discount—cheaper prices and no sales tax—with this money still funneling back to the government to be used for various military programs and services.

Think “Walmart Military” if you will.

Others think consolidation is the key—where the commissaries and exchanges are run under the same umbrella agency—and this would also cut costs.

Many say that this would not work, because commissaries and exchanges are two different retail animals that cannot mesh.

But on Tuesday—and now I am finally getting to the news story—a move was made that might give a small window into what the politicians and the military resale business are actually thinking.

Robert Bianchi, a former Navy rear admiral, since retired, who has headed NEXCOM as its CEO for the past five years, was named by the Department of Defense (DoD) as DeCA’s interim director and CEO, meaning that for probably the next eight months, he will be both the top guy at the Navy stores and the top guy at the commissaries.

This has never happened before, and I will bet that some people familiar with this industry are scratching their heads, wondering how he will do both jobs at once.

More importantly, in my mind, this could be a precursor toward a total consolidation, and perhaps this could be a trial run for such a situation to happen.

Legislators have been talking about at least refining the way military resale does business, because it affects not just military members and their families, but it also effects taxpayers.

Why not save some money by putting all of these stores—and there are several thousand stores around the world that are run by the military services, if you include not just main stores, but also convenience stores, gas stations, fast food outlets, and many, many other venues—under one governing body?

Many people have been opposed to such an idea, saying that it simply cannot work and would dilute or obliterate what they refer to as “the military benefit,” but with Bianchi being named to run both the commissaries and to stay on as the leader of NEXCOM, this whole thing smacks as a trial run to a full consolidation scenario.

Rather than jump into it whole hog, why not see, for a couple of months, if something like this can work, on a smaller scale?

Sure, Bianchi is not running all of the exchanges, just NEXCOM, while he will be heading DeCA, but it might give proponents of consolidation a small sample size to work with in proving their point that such a situation could work.

Look, I realize that this story means little or nothing to about 99 percent of the country’s population, but to that 1 percent, this could turn out to be a huge story.

But whatever the case, this is an interesting story, and bears worth watching over the next several months.

(And now, as a byproduct of me writing about this, you have a full peak into what I do for a living, and quite frankly, why this blog is so important to me as an outlet to use my writing chops to write about other things.)

Classic Rant #663 (January 27, 2012): Sweathog Memorial

As a teenager, I really enjoyed ABC's "Welcome Back Kotter."

The show was about a class of remedial students known as "The Sweathogs," who were perpetual students in their high school.

Then one day they get a new teacher, Mr. Kotter, and all of a sudden, while they didn't become good students, they become at least students who cared--about their teacher, if nothing else.

The show was about as old fashioned as could be--one wonders what today's TV would do with such a show--but it was a hit.

John Travolta came out of that show, as did Gabriel Kaplan, as did Robert Hegyes.

Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein on the hit show, died yesterday. He was just 60 years old.

The actor, born in New Jersey, did many other things in show business. Right after "Kotter," people kind of forget that he was a regular on "Cagney and Lacey."

But in my mind, he will always be Juan Epstein, the Jewish/Puerto Rican member of those Sweathogs.

The show was probably the first to openly show kids who weren't brains or even average students. In today's world, they would probably be labeled as Special Ed kids, but back then, that monicker meant something much different than it means today.

Juan Epstein was the real comedian of the bunch, and he even looked a bit like Harpo Marx, but with a Latin accent.

Hegyes played the role to perfection. In real life, he was a mix of Hungarian and Italian, but his looks lent him to a role like this.

The Sweathogs' comic hijinks made Travolta a star, and the others became kind of his, and Kaplan's, support act.

But Hegyes' character never wavered. To me, he was the true star of the show. Maybe I gravitated to him because his character was openly Jewish--unlike Kotter, who was Jewish but wasn't very open about it--and that endeared the Epstein character to me, since so few openly Jewish characters were on TV then, and for that matter, now.

He had been in ill health for a long time, but when he appeared on the TVLand awards a year ago, there was talk of a "Kotter" reunion show, and Travolta was probably going to participate.

You just know Hegyes would have been there with bells on.

Rant #2,009: You're No Good

Note: This Rant is a little off the beaten path today, and I would proceed with caution, as it delves into "adult" subjects that are normally not spoken about here. 

I guess that that description will further whet your appetite, but at least you have been warned.


I often talk about how I simply don't like today's television and movie offerings.

I find them bloated, uninteresting and pretty much boring from top to bottom.

When I have the time, usually on the weekend, I go through places like YouTube and Daily Motion to find older movies from the 1940s through the early 1970s that I might have missed the first time around, but want to see now.

I also find movies that I saw, generally as a teenager, that I haven't seen for years.

I have found some great films, and on the other hand, I have found some really bad films.

And then, there are films that defy all descriptions like "great" or "bad." If I find an adjective to describe these films, I will let you know.

I found one of these films this past weekend, and I have to say that this movie defies any description I can give it.

It is in a class by itself, a class that I have not defined yet, but one where this movie stands out as being so outrageous, so insipidly bad that it must be seen to be believed, simply to witness something that someone thought was a good idea.

That movie is "Lady Godiva Rides," not to be mixed up with any other film with Lady Godiva in the title, including "Lady Godiva at Coventry" or even "Lady Godiva Rides Again," which I believe was a British movie featuring England's answer to Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors.

Anyway, the film I am talking about was released in 1969, but it appears dated for that year, and most probably was filmed a year or two or even three years earlier.

This film, directed by Stephen Apostolof, stars such luminaries as Marsha Jordan, Harvey Shain, Deborah Downey, and Elizabeth Knowles.

Not that anyone has ever heard of these people--that doesn't necessarily make a film bad--but there are just so many things wrong with this film, that the lack of any recognizable names is the least of its problems.

The film starts out as what one would call a "period piece," in Victorian England in probably the early 1800s. The infamous Lady Godiva has gone into hiding as the wife of a nobleman--her famous long blond tresses are now brunette--and she has an affair with someone well below her pay scale by the name of Tom Jones (no, not the singer, but you do know that name, from the classic Henry Fielding novel of the same name). The nobleman finds out, walking in on the two when they are in the middle of their ecstasy, and gets shot by Lady Godiva for doing such a thing.

She and a number of other wenches need to leave Merry Olde England for one reason or another, and are able to get onto a pirate ship headed for America. Nobody knows that Lady Godiva is part of this bunch, and that is the way that she wants it to be.

Once in America, the scene shifts to the Wild West, and the women--whose way was paid to the New World by a saloon keeper/pimp--employs the women as hookers.

Lady Godiva's boyfriend from England manages to track her down, but runs afoul of the saloon keeper, and they end up having a duel, which she kind of impacts.

And that is the basic story.

But what is in between all of these scenes has to make this probably if not the worst, then surely the most bizarre movie I have ever seen.

Remember a few paragraphs up when I said that the film was released in 1969 but actually looks like it was made a few years earlier?

Well, by 1969, nudity was the big "in" thing in films, and even motion pictures released by major studios had their fair share of naked women.

Well, this film seems to have been filmed when nudity in film was only the domain of underground films, those early adult films that found an audience in the mid 1950s through the mid 1960s.

In this movie, you see lots and lots of topless shots of a pulchritude not seen in anything less than a Russ Meyer skin flick.

The women drop their tops for no reason, and at a moment's notice, yet during the numerous "sex" scenes in the film, their tops are barely seen, and what is seen is more closeups of French kissing than one can see even in Paris on a hot day.

And while the women are bundled up in Victorian dress of the day, when they strip down to their skivvies, they are clearly wearing modern (for 1969) underwear.

And often while they are stripping down for no apparent reason--such as to sunbathe or to take a shower on board the pirate ship (as if none of the pirates care about such things being out to sea for months at a time), there are a few long-strung-out musical numbers, one where all the girls jiggle and shake for about 10 minutes and featuring a black bongo player who one of the women looks at longingly but does not touch, and another featuring an actress (I think) who must be female impersonator Devine's long lost sister (or brother).

In addition to all of this, we have some "mild scenes" of S&M, lesbian love, mud wrestling between two almost totally naked women, catfights, horrible British accents (or no accents at all--the woman playing Lady Godiva uses no accent other than an American accent, for instance), bad color on the screen (it often goes in and out), and some of the worst acting I have ever seen in a film.

And when long shots are shown of the ocean-going vessel that the women are on, well, it simply looks like a boat floating in a bathtub.

Yes, it is as if those involved with this travesty made up a list of everything they could fit into the film, and checked each item off when it was used. "Let's see, we used the belt whipping scene already, how about two women ripping their clothes off here, maybe later we can have two women beating each other up, with smiles on their faces to make it look authentic ... ."

And all of this lasts more than 100 minutes.

I just can't figure out the intended audience for such a movie, but I have to say, it did keep me interested, because I simply had to see how low this film would go ... and boy, did it go lower than low!

You couldn't make up this film if you wanted to, but evidently, somebody did.

Now that I have finally seen the entire film, I can say that it probably is, in its own way, a sendup of the aforementioned Russ Meyer's then quite outrageous skin flicks, but this film makes Meyer's movies look like close cousins of "Gone With the Wind."

If you know who Doris Wishman was, she was kind of a female Russ Meyer, with her movies going over the same ground as Meyer's did, but at several levels below the "standard" that Meyer created for his films.

This particular movie seems to be in the middle of Meyer and Wishman's fare--trying to be as sumptuous as Meyer's movies, but only coming out a step or two above Wishman's fare.

The ladies are lovely--even using current standards versus how women looked in 1969--and perhaps that is what keeps one from just chucking the whole thing.

The film is not pornographic by any stretch of the imagination--even by today's rating standards, it is probably an R--but it just looks so dated, even for that time, that I have to ask again who exactly was the intended audience for such a film?

And believe it or not, this film evidently is out on video, and there are a few mentions of it on the Internet, but very little in detail.

I guess you are just going to have to see this film, and judge for yourselves if this is the worst movie ever made.

I haven't quite decided yet, but I know it is definitely in the running for that honor.

So yes, I still do not generally like films of today, but there were plenty of clunkers made way back when too.

If you have a chance, and about two hours to kill, you must see this film.

I guarantee it is an experience that you will never forget--although you will try your darndest to put it out of your mind.

You can watch it on YouTube right here by clicking onto this link: https://youtu.be/89yUiuMB3ho?list=PLCy2gEj8313pMg2fcxYa2KOaz960lrqlC

Rant #2,008: Good Thing

It is a rare occasion that tears come to my eyes, in particular in the morning.

Sure, I have to go to work, but I don't cry about it (at least on the outside).

But I heard about this story as I turned my TV on, and I just felt that I had to write about it today.

Even if you are not a sports fan, this story, on the morning of the day that the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers is set to start, is sure to touch your heart.

We have all read about the wildfires in California that have burned thousands of acres of land and have destroyed thousands of homes.

One of those homes was where nine-year-old Loren Jaden Smith lived. Not only did these fires destroy his home, but it took away from him and his family many personal belongings, things that a price cannot be attached to.

Smith is a huge baseball fan, and is devoted to the Oakland A's. Among other things, the fires took away his baseball card collection.

The Little Leaguer decided to write a letter--hand written, of course, since his family's computer is also gone--to the A's, telling them of his plight.

A local TV station got wind of the letter, and forwarded it directly to the A's president, Dave Kaval. The letter was also read by a number of A's ballplayers.

The letter also became viral, and many others read of young Smith's plight. The A's put up an address for donations.

What happened next was incredible.

Not only did the A's outfit the entire Smith family with team uniforms, but they provided the Little Leaguer with a treasure trove of memorabilia--not only baseball cards, but everything else under the sun, including autographed balls, pillows, yearbooks and even stuff from other major and minor league teams, which donated items to the young fan upon hearing of his plight.

The A's set up a meeting between young Smith and a few A's ballplayers, and promised other surprises when the meeting was held.

With cameras rolling, the A's not only invited Smith to throw out the first pitch at a 2018 game, they also provided him and his family with season tickets for the upcoming season.

After young Smith thanked the A's for what they did, he proceeded to give away many of the things he was given to his friends--other kids who lost their homes in the wildfires.

The A's have donated more than $450,000 to the relief efforts in California, but you can bet that their donations to Smith and his family--and the donations made by other teams to the kid--will be their most prominent move this off season.

And what does the Little Leaguer say about all of this? His wish is that the A's make the World Series again. They have not been in the Series for over 30 years.

Although I am a Yankees fan, here's hoping that this kid gets his wish somewhere down the line.

Classic Rant #662 (January 26, 2012): Hol-ier Than Thou

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are possibly the most annoying of all Hollywood couples.

They prefer to remain partners, not married, which is fine if that is what they want.

They adopt kids from other countries, as if they are the white martyrs looking to convert the black heathens. There are plenty of kids to adopt here, and if they wanted one of color, there are plenty of kids who would love to call Angelina and Brad parents.

The two are ubiquitous, carting their family off all over the place when they make a movie.

Of course, unlike just about all of us, they can afford, financially, to make their own rules.

The latest news about them is that based on news reports, they are softening their stance on their own possibilities of marriage.

"We'd actually like to, and it means more and more to our kids," Pitt told the Hollywood Reporter.

Obviously, their children are smarter than their parents.

But what riled me is their reason for not getting married.

Evidently, Jolie and Pitt vowed not to get married until all people in our country can get married, i.e., same-sex unions.

First of all, isn't that a holier than thou attitude?

You are basing your own commitment on the rules and regulations of a country that you don't even live in full time? What is that all about?

And who are you to talk about rules and the rights of others?

You are entertainers, not politicians.

More importantly, anybody who believes this nonsense is as full of hogwash as they are.

They aren't getting married because they are simply afraid of the commitment.

They enjoy all the perks and privileges of being married without having that piece of paper.

And with their wealth, what would happen if they split? Who gets what or whom?

Please, don't insult our intelligence by saying that you aren't getting married because not everyone can.

That's like saying that you can't quit smoking until everyone quits smoking.

It is ridiculous, no matter where you stand on the same sex marriage matter.

Even Pitt said it.

"But to be in love with someone and be raising a family with someone and want to make that commitment and not be able to is ludicrous, just ludicrous."

So do it already, and don't bore us with your histrionics about why you aren't doing it.

Rant #2,007: Bits and Pieces

Hello again. How was your weekend?

I am going to start the week with some news bits that I didn't think deserved extensive coverage, but should be spoken about in shorter morsels.

Here they are.

Astros Beat Yankees and Get Into World Series: This was a very, very tough series, but you have to give kudos to the Houston Astros for beating the New York Yankees and advancing to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Home cooking" defined this series, with each team looking totally inept at their adversary's ball park.

And with the Astros having four games at their home park, and the Yankees three, well, that pretty much defined this series.

And as a Yankees' fan, I am severely disappointed, but looking at the team, I think it is safe to say that with a tweak here and there, this team will be back in the playoffs in the future.

Good luck to the Astros--who, by the way, I picked to win the American League pennant way back at the beginning of the season--who are going to need everything they have to beat the Dodgers, who are back on their game after going through a late season sleep.

And by the way, with the Astros representing the American League in the World Series, they become the first team in baseball history to represent both the American and National League in the World Series, having been the National League representative in 2005.

National Anthem Singer Takes Knee at Nets Home Opener: Well, I was there, I saw it, and I didn't like it.

Singer Justine Skye, who sang the National Anthem at the Brooklyn Nets' home opener on Friday night, decided to make the whole thing political by taking a knee as she sang the last line of the song, and people were not too happy about it.

As she warbled "And the home of the brave," she decided to take a knee, replicating the protests that have disrupted the NFL season, as players have taken a knee to protest what they believe to be racial injustice in this country.

The players have a right to do this, although the thrust of what they are doing is completely and totally misguided, and the same goes for Ms. Skye, who took it upon herself to put the focus of opening night on herself, and not on the game.

And take it from me, people were not too happy with her stance, or lack thereof.

There were boos and catcalls from the fans, including myself, and the local Channel 11 WPIX-TV, in reporting the incident, stated that most fans in the audience were upset at the singer's decision--and they got that spot on.

So upset were fans that the Nets put out a press release on the incident, distancing themselves from it all, stating that they had no idea that Skye was going to do this.

So what happened during the Nets' second home game yesterday afternoon?

The singer of the anthem for that game, whose name I admittedly don't know, gave a Black Power salute as she finished the song.

Here, she claimed that it was part of the emotion she was feeling as she sung the anthem, and it had nothing to do with anything else.

Please. This has go to stop. Not only is it completely misguided, it is taking the focus off the game and turning people off who pay good money to see these games.

Enough is enough.

(And by the way, the Nets--who stood for both playings of the anthem, as the NBA insists that they do, won both games, so perhaps they benefitted from the focus being off of them, which is fine for their record, but really isn't the way it is supposed to be.)

Delightful Weather in the Northeast: Yes, it is nearing the end of October if you want to believe the calendar, but the weather in my neck of the woods was over 70 degrees the past few days, making the weather about 20 degrees better than it actually should be during this time of year.

Sure, it is nice not to have to wear a jacket during this time of the year, but on the other hand, it is causing havoc with a lot of people's immune systems--have you seen more people with fall colds than you have seen this year?

Heck, my wife and I are just over whatever we had, upper respiratory episodes which cost her two days of work and me one day of work.

And yes, we both went into work sick, exposing our co-workers to what we had, but that is the nature of this beast, when personal heath and work collide.

Sometimes, you just cannot take off, and that was the case with us.

Now that we are pretty much over whatever we had, I guess we can enjoy the weather, but my allergies are beginning to act up, so there is no benefit to this weather for me.

Are we going to go from extended summer right into winter?

It appears to be so.

That is it for now. Speak to you tomorrow.

Classic Rant #661 (January 23, 2012): Jackie the Hall of Famer

Here's a 50-year anniversary that will likely go pretty much un-noticed.

Fifty years ago today, Jackie Robinson became the first black member of baseball's Hall of Fame.

And he was voted into the shrine during his first year of eligibility.

That doesn't eclipse the day he put on the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first black player in the major leagues. But it is still an incredible accomplishment.

He not only broke the color barrier in the major leagues, he also broke it in the most revered sports hall of fame of them all.

Robinson was the fireplug of the Dodgers during their glory years in Brooklyn, mainly in the 1950s before they left for greener pastures in Los Angeles. He was their "secret" weapon, bringing a whole new dimension of speed and wreckless abandon to the game that was almost more important than the fact that he was the major league's first black ballplayer, setting the tone for all who followed him to this day.

I guess you can say that General Manager Branch Rickey got lucky; not only did he choose the right person to break the color barrier, but he also got someone who could actually play the game to a higher level.

Other sports' color barrier breakers weren't as lucky. For instance, in the NBA, not only was the guy who did it something of a stiff-Chuck Cooper--but it is disputed as to whether he was actually the one who did it. There are others in the mix, and many say it was Sweetwater Clifton or even others.

I don't know what they based "the first" on in the NBA, but whoever it was, he didn't have the grandeur of Jackie Robinson.

And who did it in the NFL and NHL? Who knows?

Robinson could do it all, and do it in spite of barbs from other teams and fans.

And Rickey knew he had something of a thick skin, and he could take it.

Even some on his team hated him.

But Southerner Pee Wee Reese, another Hall of Famer, set the tone.

If a Southerner could accept this man, than anyone could.

And they did, eventually.

Robinson was as important to the civil rights movement as Martin Luther King was, in his own way.

King did it from the pulpit, Robinson from the diamond.

But their efforts led to more acceptance, more understanding, and more opportunity.

Robinson had something of a tough life after baseball, because there were, at the time, no opportunities for old black ballplayers as managers, general managers or executives.

It took another former ballplayer--Tommie Aaron, Hank's brother--to become the first black manager in professional baseball (at the minor league level), but that was yet to come.

Robinson died young, but his legacy lives on.

I will be taking two days off from this blog for some medical testing--nothing crucial--and for some other things, but I will be back on Thursday. Speak to you then.

Rant #2,006: Him Or She, What's It Gonna Be?

If you need an affirmation that the world has gone completely mad, and that the PC Police have infiltrated every bastion of sanity that we have, then this story will demonstrate that we, as a society, have gone off the deep end, trying to please everyone while stupefying everyone in the process.

Yes, that is a wordy beginning, but if you haven;t heard about it ...

Playboy Magazine is going to be featuring its first transgender Playmate of the Month in its November issue.

Yes, that is right, a magazine whose very basic tenet is to cater to men who need a nudity fix with the opposite sex will be featuring a nude model who is, well, at least who was born, male.

No matter where one stands on transgender rights, this is just so wrong on some many levels, that some are even saying that this decision is what put Hugh Hefner in his grave.

I won't go that far, but I will bet he is turning over in his grave at the mere thought of this.

Yes, whatever you want to say about Playboy magazine, it has always been a forward thinking publication, either creating or jumping on bandwagons related to anything sexual.

And yes, it often has done this to justify its own existence.

Playboy magazine was one of the first publications to believe in civil rights, female rights, sexual rights, and the rights to live one's life by one's own rules.

It did this pretty much to justify featuring naked women in its pages--"it was their choice to do this, and they have every right to do this as women."

But now, we have a case where the PC Police have stepped up to the plate in a big way, and basically told us within the pages of the magazine that, well, there are no differences between men and women,

Frankly, I disagree,

This has nothing to do with transgender rights. I believe that all human beings have a right to live. I do believe that there are some unfortunate people who are born with one mind yet their body does not fit that mind.

I also believe that Playboy magazine is one of the last bastions of maleness, where a male can be a male and enjoy naked photos of women who feel that it is their right to pose this way.

To put in a transgender person simply completely goes against the grain of everything that Playboy magazine has stood for for over 60 years.

The main audience for the magazine is probably heterosexual men, and yes, probably some gay women.

What having a transgender model in the pages does for that group is beyond my comprehension.

Like for most print magazines, circulation is falling, and I guess they feel that featuring such a model in its pages might give it a circulation bump, at least for that issue.

Look, we all know that any publicity is good publicity.

If Playboy featured your "standard, garden variety" female in the November issue, no one would give a hoot.

Since Marilyn Monroe, they have featured hundreds of such scantily clad women, and while they are nice to look at, heck, I hate to say it this way, but you've seen one boob, you've seen them all.

But you put a transgender model in there, and yes, you generate publicity that is priceless, and that is just what the publication has done for its November issue.

(It is interesting to note that this is not the first transgender model featured in its pages, only the first in the U.S. flagship edition of the publication.)

Playboy is notorious for jumping on bandwagons, and this is yet another bandwagon that they have jumped on as it moves into the sunset.

Here's hoping that this is the first--and last--time Playboy tries such a thing, and it probably will be, because by transgender model No. 2, such a thing will be old hat, and nobody will care.

Been there, done that.

Have a good weekend. Speak to you on Monday.

Go Yankees!

Classic Rant #660 (January 20, 2012): Divorce Split

I am a divorced man.

No, don't get the wrong idea, I am a very happily married man now. I am married to the greatest woman in the world, who I love to pieces.

My first marriage, which didn't last too long, wasn't a good one. The person I thought that I would live with for the rest of my life turned out not to be that person.

The only thing I have to show for it are a few battle scars, finances that are still creaky, and a beautiful daughter.

Nothing else.

But I kind of know what Newt Gingrich is going through as he tries to march toward the Presidency.

No, there were no infidelities involved in my first marriage, and my then wife and I weren't into having an open marriage like Gingrich is purported to have suggested to his then wife.

But I kind of knows how he feels anyway.

He has been married a few times, appears to have a good, solid marriage with his current spouse, yet all this nonsense continues to creep up about how his other marriages failed.

In 2012, we are still chastising people because they were part of a failed marriage.

On my end, my divorce impacted everything from my credit rating to my social relationships with others.

Thank God I met my current and future wife. She set me on the right course in so many ways. We'll be married 19 years this June and have a great son too. I love her dearly. She is the greatest thing to happen to me ever.

Anyway, when my first wife left me, I immediately contacted all my credit cards companies. Many of the cards we had were jointly held, so I wanted to protect myself from my soon to be ex-wife maxing them out.

Everything went pretty well. I managed to remove her name from just about every card, but the Discover card gave me a major headache.

Not only did they cancel my card immediately, they asked for immediate payment of my balance.

They were the only card to do so. I guess that was their policy back then, when they were run by Sears.

And I noticed that the "divorced man" label stuck to me like glue.

Every time I had to fill out an application for something, my marital status was questioned.

Is it anyone's business that I was divorced?

I guess certain entities thought it was, because of the money thing.

I paid child support, not anything directly for my ex-wife's upkeep (no alimony, using an antique term), so why should it have mattered to anyone?

But it did.

So, whatever I feel about Newt Gingrich, I get where he is coming from.

His past marriages really shouldn't have a bearing on whether he would be a good President.

Yes, I know that infidelity is not an attribute we want our Presidents to have, but heck, even JFK--whose inauguration anniversary is today, back in 1961--had his flings, as did Bill Clinton.

But they didn't get divorced.

Ronald Reagan was divorced, but somehow, it rarely came up when he was President.

And that was good, very good.

Sometimes, people just fade away from each other. There's no fooling around, just flailing around.

So why hold it against someone that they are divorced?

In 2012, where we look the other way for so many other "indiscretions," why is this even an issue?

Rant #2,005: Love Is Like a Baseball Game

Congratulations to the New York Yankees, who moved one step closer to returning to the World Series after knocking off the pesky Houston Astros to take a 3-2 lead in the best of seven American League Championship Series.

The series moves to Houston on Friday, and you just know that Minute Maid Park is going to be as crazy as Yankee Stadium was in cheering on the hometown heroes to overtake the Bronx Bombers in this exciting series.

Last night, I did something that I have never done before, and what I did is mix old school and new school in watching the game, which the Yankees won 5-0.

The work program that my son is in has intermittent business meetings, and none of them are very close to home. One was scheduled for last night, and I had to drive him to this meeting and pick him up.

The meeting was several miles away, and I left work early to pick him up and drive him there. With the Yankees game beginning slightly after 5 p.m., and with the anticipation that we would not be home until about 9 p.m., there were few options for me to watch the game, and I used those options to be fully engaged in what was happening in the Bronx.

First, I listened to a good part of the game on radio. Local announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, who have been doing this for years, brought the game in loud and clear to listeners, providing a local feel to the game that national announcers simply cannot even approach.

The game in New York is simulcast on WFAN's AM and FM outlets, and I chose to listen on FM, where the tone is crisper than it is on old fashioned AM, so I guess I was old school lite when I chose FM over AM to listen to the game.

I listened to the game this way while driving, but when I was idle--and after I bought a pizza to eat for dinner, which I shared with my son when he was done with this meeting--I watched a good portion of the game through the Fox Sports app on my phone.

Although the picture was clear, the app constantly froze up, but popped right back to action as quickly as it froze up.

No, it was not the most ideal way to actually watch the game, but it was certainly a different way to watch the action.

I watched the game this way for about 90 minutes, and when my son was done with his meeting, we made the long drive home, with the radio on loud and clear.

We arrived home about a minute or two after the game ended, so it marked for me the first time I have ever watched and listened to a Yankees playoff game without a television.

And it was a nice mix of old school and new school, too.

The two teams have the day off today, with the next game on Friday in Houston.

Once again, this will pose some logistical challenges for me as far as watching the game is concerned.

Many weeks ago, I purchased tickets for myself and my on to see the Brooklyn Nets' opening game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, so we have seats there for the game on Friday.

The Yankees-Astros game will start later than the previous two games did, at 8 p.m., so the baseball game and the basketball game will be played pretty much concurrently.

We will be at the game, so what am I going to do to keep tabs on the baseball game?

Well, I will still have my phone, so while I won't technically watch the game, I will certainly keep tabs on it.

And I am sure there will be updates on the big screen at Barclays Center, too.

So while I won't technically be watching the game, I will certainly know what is going on.

And being that it could potentially become the clinching game for the Yankees to move into the World Series, I might just record the game at home--using an old school VCR/DVD combo machine.

I guess I am an old school guy, but also using new technology, I can be new school too.

Whatever the case, let's go Yankees!--no matter how I actually watch the game.

Classic Rant #659 (January 19, 2017): Marky Mark and the Funky Hunch

Again, we have an entertainer shooting off his mouth on something he knows absolutely nothing about.

In a recent interview with Men's Journal, actor and former rapper Mark Wahlberg made a remark about the 9/11 attacks that is making a lot of people think that he must be an idiot.

Wahlberg was originally scheduled to fly on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center, but he ended up taking a different flight a week earlier. When he spoke to the magazine about what could have happened if he didn't change his plans, the former Marky Mark said, "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry.'"

Yes, it appears that Wahlberg truly believes that he is like many of the characters he plays on screen, characters who routinely save the world without batting an eyelash.

But to give him some credit, Wahlberg quickly apologized for the remark. He was reported to have said by several outlets that his comments were "irresponsible and that "to speculate about such a situation is ridiculous to begin with. I deeply apologize to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive, it was certainly not my intention."

When are celebrities going to learn to shut up and do what they are being paid huge bucks to do? Although he did apologize, Wahlberg's remarks are completely insensitive to the plight of all of the passengers--all of them true heroes--who perished as a result of the terrorist incidents in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., including those on Flight 93.

And to all of those on the ground who lost their lives as a result of these cowardly attacks.

I don't know what gets into these people when a reporter sticks a microphone in their faces. They get this "high and mighty" ego stance, and shoot off their mouths with nothing but blanks.

The world is their pulpit, and I guess they feel the need to share their thoughts, however insipid, with everyone on the planet.

My goodness, these people are nothing more than entertainers, they are not heads of state or policy makers.

Talk about your craft, your new movie, your new recording, but please, don't talk about things that are way beyond your possibility of understanding.

Shut up already!

Rant #2,004: The Same Game

First, was that Yankees' game something else last night?

Incredible!

There is nothing like playoff baseball, and I do mean nothing. While the entitled ingrates in the NFL discuss standing for the national anthem, baseball players stand ... and run, hit and pitch like there is no tomorrow.

But getting back to reality, and honestly, baseball has soothed my soul lately, I again am facing a really tough time looking for a new job.

I have had pretty much zero success even getting a job interview--either on the phone or in person--and the latest episode demonstrates to me that the hill I am trying to climb is indeed steep, and it is getting steeper and steeper.

I was contacted on Monday by a company that I had contacted via an Indeed post for a copywriter position right here on Long Island.

It seemed to be a good fit when I applied for the job, and I was pleased as punch when the very day I sent in my resume, I was contacted by the company, which asked me if I was available for a 5:30 p.m. interview on Monday.

I sent them back an email stating that yes, I was available, and I could do the phone interview in my car as I drove home from work.

They were amenable to the idea, and we set the phone interview for 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

I briskly left work, got into my car, and waited for the call.

No call came.

I emailed the company, saying I was waiting for their call, but no call came during my drive home.

I arrived home, and after eating dinner, I went into my email some time later, seeing that they sent me another email, saying they were "running behind" and would set up another appointment "at my convenience."

I sent them back an email stating that I would be available, once again, at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday for a phone interview as I drove home from work.

Again, I left work, went into my car, expecting a call from them, and I received nothing.

I got home, went into my email, saw nothing, and I then sent them another email, stating that I had awaited their call, received no communication at all, and if I did not receive a call from them today, I was reporting them to Indeed.

Of course, reporting a company to Indeed is a complete and total waste of time, but how else could I have acted after having been burned twice by this company?

I received back the expected reply, yesterday at 9:20 p.m.:

"Larry, 

Last we spoke I told you I was running behind and I'd do my best to call you, otherwise we could plan for tomorrow. 

But at this time Larry, we have decided to discontinue further communication and are going to pull your resume from future consideration. 

We wish you the best of luck in your search."

I wrote them back this morning before I came to write this Rant, and here is my reply to them:

"Again, I ask, where was my call yesterday.

That is not the way to do business. You put people in a bad situation by promising one thing and doing another.

I have been looking for a new position for nearly a year. I have not had much luck finding anything.

Your initial communication gave me some hope, and then, well, you flat out lied to me.

I even understood the first day, sent you a communication that I would be available yesterday at the same time, and you ignored it.

If you can live with that, fine, pull my resume, but I mean, if the situation was reversed, what would you think?

Again, this is not the way to do business. I gave you two days to contact me, you did not, and I still believe this is a scam.

Am I supposed to sit here day after day wondering if you are going to contact me?

My talents are better used elsewhere.

Good luck to you in your future pursuits, but I would act more professionally than you acted with me."

Sure, I could have said nothing, but heck, I do believe that this is a scam, so I felt that the reply I made was warranted.

And after going through this with them for the past few days, is this a place I really want to work for?

So here I sit, in the very same situation that I was in a year ago, with absolutely no movement at all.

Thank God my place of work is still open, but for how long?

That is what all of us are wondering.

I am doing my best to do my best, and it comes out as mush.

Let's go Yankees!

There is nothing more to say.