Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter While we were recently visiting the family cabin recently—which is shared by three extended families—my wife started poking through the refrigerator. It contained a variety of half-used bottles of salad dressing, hot sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and various other sundries. She was—of course—checking expiration dates. Some of the …
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Category:Michael DiMilo
The Couch Potato’s Guide to Old Hollywood: The Legacy of James Stewart
Liberty Films, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter I was flipping around the TV dial a couple Saturdays ago, and there wasn’t much on—more ubiquitous reruns of Law & Order, even more overbearing chatter on MSNBC, and an endless line of banal reality shows. Then I happened to flip to TCM and caught the …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Best of the Best: The Films of Martin Scorsese
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Siebbi, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons His films are deeply embedded into the fabric or our culture. From the grittiness of Mean Streets, Raging Bull, and Taxi Driver to the gentility of The Age of Innocence, the black humor of The King of Comedy, or the epic scope of The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese has left a …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Best of the Best: The Films of the Coen Brothers
Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter From their very first production, the quirky genre-bending thriller, Blood Simple, to their latest film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, an anthology of short films simultaneously deifying and lampooning the Western genre, the Coen Brothers have made films that are—to say the very least—unpredictable. Their stories have …
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Independence Day
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Article by Geoff Carter Our nation just celebrated The Fourth of July. Any American can—hopefully—tell you what this holiday is all about. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, severing all American ties with Great Britain. The founding fathers were sick of being taxed and …
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Uncomfortably Numb
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Something woke me up in the middle of the night last week. I lay in bed, dumb with sleep, trying to figure out what it was. And then my phone pinged me from the nightstand. Again. And then again. And then again. It was trying to tell me …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Best of the Best: Frances McDormand
Red Carpet Report on Mingle Media TV, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons The Ten Best Films of Frances McDormand By Geoff Carter She can be as tough as a bar of iron. She can also be compassionate, kind, and forgiving—or as fierce and determined as a mama bear defending her cubs. Her scathing tongue can …
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Toys in the Attic
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I was trying to find a certain book the other day. It wasn’t in any of the bookcases downstairs, so I headed up into the attic and walked into what can only be termed a natural disaster. Boxes upon boxes littered all three of the rooms. Everything from …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Best of the Best
Nicolas Genin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons George Clooney’s Top Ten Films By Geoff Carter He epitomizes cool. George Clooney exudes an aura of ease, intelligence, and confidence reminiscent of old school stars like Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, or Cary Grant. He can be complicated, too, embodying the angst and disappointments of a typical middle-aged …
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Living in the Past
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. –Thomas Jefferson We’ve been taught to respect and believe these hallowed words since we were children. Of course, after a close examination of U.S. history, no one—except perhaps a child—is naïve enough to believe them. Shortly …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Home Sweet Home
Photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels By Geoff Carter It looks as if we’re finally over the hump. It’s the beginning of the end. Covid infections—and deaths in the U.S.—are on the decrease and shrinking daily. We’ve been told we can actually gather in public again without fearing for our health, and that those of us who are …
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Face to Face
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoffrey Carter “He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” –George Orwell On May 13th, the Center for Disease Control changed course somewhat abruptly on its mask policy, announcing new guidelines. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky stated “”Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and …
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