Chris Columbus: thumbs up for the director of "Home Alone" (1990)

Watched Home Alone (1990) with my 8 year old grandson a few days ago. Afterwards I listened to the DVD commentary with director Chris Columbus and star Macaulay Culkin. The duo did a nice job explaining the shooting of the film and I came away with a few impressions:

1) Chris Columbus is the All-American film director, a family man with four kids of his own. Doesn't have a mean bone in his body, based on the what we can glean about him discussing his hit film.

2) Columbus never brags about his role as film director. He speaks generously and warmly about writer John Hughes, star John Candy, and the importance of Macaulay Culkin to the film's success. The audience, Columbus noticed, had almost no interest in the other kids in the film. Hughes noticed audience attention wandered during any kid scenes without Macaulay. Clucking stole the show, was the show and carried the film at the tender age of 9 years.

3) Culkin also has a decent streak. He spoke warmly of his colleagues. He knew the actors in the cast and commented on the work done by the lesser known performers in this and other films.

4) Columbus and Culkin commented on the amount of enjoyment and laughter involved in the making of the film.

5) Columbus credited Joe Pesci with great improvisational comedic skills. Pesci, he said, seemed unsure of what he was doing in the middle of a family comedy.

6) Columbus heaped lavish praise on Daniel Stern, the actor playing Pesci's bumbling partner in crime. Stern had a great feel for the part and replaced an actor who was not finding the right vibe for that character.

7) Many critics, including Ebert and Siskel who gave two thumbs down to Home Alone, missed the boat on Home Alone. So much for the critics.

8) John Candy shot every scene in an intense 24 hour period, working right through the night. Makes you wonder whether that kind of ferocious Hollywood work schedule contributed to the demise of Candy's health. I know he was overweight. Candy loved to perform-- explained the director. But still....

9) The film had an 18 million dollar budget. I'd say they got the money up on the screen.

10) Catherine O'Hara, looking beautiful, does a nice turn at the mom-- a nuanced performance from and never going overboard for laughs. My grandson must have accepted her as the loving mom-- he got a little verklempt when she returns home to reunite with Macaulay.

Chris Columbus, nice guy modesty and all, has had a great Hollywood career.

Drunk Uncle Loves (is) DonaldTrump!

Trump is a tee-totaler but reminds me of "Drunk Uncle," the Bobby Moynihan-created character on SNL. Both have a certain relaxed speaking style. Turns out Drunk Uncle loves Donald Trump! Let's get it directly from Drunk Uncle, and one of his rants from 2015:

"It's Trump time, baby! Somebody is finally saying the things I've been thinking and I've been saying... We both love White Russians... his wife's name is Melania and my doctor said that is what this mole is... These kids today don't even vote anymore... can I eat my flax seeds on my overboard... is this Apple Watch gender neutral... This is how we do it..."

"What do you specifically like about Trump?" ask Colin, the straight man.

"I don't just like him... I love him... He's gonna make America grapes American. He's got it all, he's got everything... he's got money, women, TV shows, Plaza, Ms. America Orange Hair.  He's perfect. Ms. He's like a big, gold beautiful Monopoly man... Yeah, I'm afraid of George Lopez... So I'm not celebrity apprentice, okay... Please that's not me... He's my President because he's finally gonna get rid of every single on of 'em-- crime, crime Colin, crime---crime perpetrated by immigrants!"

But the  Drunk Uncle known as Donald Trump has a twitter account and knows how to use it. The lies, innuendos, attacks, exaggerations, nicknames, make for some spicy reading. Maybe Trump will be nominated for the 2016  Pulitzer Prize for "Best Fiction-- 140 characters or less!

Donald Trump brags he anticipated the Orlando massacre, accuses Barack Obama of having some complicity...  Sounds like Drunk Uncle...

Trump, tweet-master, finds a way to create a spicy narrative. The man certainly has the golden pen when it comes to Twitter. He's like the master of Twitter.  I guess we all have our eyes glued to the over-arching narrative-- Election Day-- the tweet of all tweets.

In the meantime, here's to Bobby Moynihan... a brilliant comedian!

A Mighty Rain Floods Texas

Call it what you will... frog choker, gully washer, the Texas floods of 2016 have arrived.

Texas goes near ten years with a drought and suddenly we've had an intense month or more of nothing but rain. I mean, if my yard was any greener, we'd have to play the Augusta golf tournament in my backyard. And I hear the same thing is happening in Paris, France and they've had to move 250,000 pieces of priceless artworks out of the Louvre Museum basement.

We don't have basements in Texas. But we do collect stuff. I have a NBA trading cards collection, from 1991-92, valued at near $4.00. Lots of shots of Dennis Rodman, Akeem Olajuwon, and Charles Barkley. Actually that estimate may be bit high. They printed too many of those cards. Nobody wants them.

So, like everybody else I've been cutting grass like a crazy man. Gotta keep the grass trimmed just to be able to make my way out of the front door.

I attribute these weird climactic events to global warming. Rush Limbaugh has assured us that this is not the case. Does Rush every step out of the radio studio into his Florida neighborhood? I've got to believe weird climactic changes are occurring in Florida, just like everywhere else.

I wonder if Zika virus has any connection to rising temperatures? I have not investigated Zika or learned much about it. I do note that we are getting more tropical diseases in Austin over the last decade.

Times are changing. Don't recall that we had much of a winter this year--

I don't see anybody making drastic changes to limit man's impact on the environment. They claim people are "getting away from cars."  Everywhere I look, I see automobiles. Google is experimenting with self-driving cars in my neighborhood. Doesn't matter whose driving... cars require energy.

Everybody better put on a life preserver.