In the summer of 1980, I took my first real vacation without my parents. It was just before my nineteenth birthday. My two best friends, Alan Salkowitz and Scott Sadel, and I decided that another summer with a three-day trip to Betty’s Rooms in Atlantic City was more than we could stand. We thought a trip …
The challenge word this week on illustrationfriday.com is “wise”. Book of Kings (chapter 3 verses 16-28) 16 Now two prostitutes came to King Solomon and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 …
The Monday Artday challenge word this week is “speed”. Neil Simon’s 1965 play (and subsequent 1968 film) “The Odd Couple” told the story of Oscar Madison and Felix Unger. Oscar is a New York City sports writer and a horrible slob. His recently-divorced friend, Felix, has been kicked out of his home. Oscar invites Felix …
Everyone on this earth has felt some kind of unsubstantiated prejudice. At some point in their lives, everyone — the cashier at Target, Michael Douglas, the woman who takes your picture for your new driver’s license, The Pope — dislikes someone for a stupid reason. If you say “Oh no. Not me.”, then you’re prejudice …
James Whale didn’t care what people in Hollywood thought of him. Whale was openly gay in 1930s Hollywood, at time when gay actors and actresses had to hide their sexual orientation at a risk of jeopardizing their careers. He was an innovative director. Universal Pictures owed its stellar success in the 1930s much in part …
Irene Gibbons was an Oscar-nominated costume designer in Hollywood for thirty years. She took over from Adrian at MGM, and went on to establish her own company, Irene, Inc. She was known only as “Irene” in her screen credits. Doris Day wrote in her 1975 autobiography that she got to know Irene quite well. One …
The challenge word this week on illustrationfriday.com is “vacant”. “Every time I appoint someone to a vacant position, I make a hundred unhappy and one ungrateful.” Louis XIV
The illustrationfriday.com challenge this week is “repair”. This guy is one of the coolest guys I know. And I’ve known him for a very long time. Twenty-one years, as a matter of fact. He began to read at three. He recognized Beatles songs and sang Grateful Dead songs at four. He began to master Hebrew …
The challenge word on sugarfrostedgoodness.com is “nice”. Syd Barrett was a founding member of Pink Floyd. He provided the musical direction and psychedelic influence in the band’s early work. He recorded two albums with Pink Floyd and two solo releases before mental illness and heavy drug use put him into a self-imposed seclusion lasting more …
This week’s challenge word on Monday Artday is “zombies”. A zombie is a reanimated human corpse. Stories of zombies originated in the Afro-Caribbean spiritual belief system of Vodou. One origin of the word “zombie” is “jumbie”, the West Indian term for “ghost”. Another is “nzambi”, the Kongo word meaning “spirit of a dead person.” According …
