Now the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ are imaginary cartoon characters

I have to hand it to James Gunn, keeper of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” flame. While reading up on movie world happenings for this week’s installment of my film news blog for the awesomely attractive Syracuse New Times site, I came upon the Cinema Blend story that reported how the director had posted on…

The Hotel Syracuse remembers the old as it faces the new

They called this “Suite Stories Ghostwalk,” and indeed the Hotel Syracuse had some stories to tell. But it wasn’t the kind of ghosts of folks who famously die and hang around these old buildings of ours. No, when I signed up as a “back guide” on the last Saturday of 2014 and walked the grounds…

A Modern Philosopher’s Birthday Wish

Originally posted on The Return of the Modern Philosopher:
Happy Tuesday, Modern Philosophers! If I’m reading my birth certificate correctly, today is my birthday. How cool is that? Okay, bad choice of words. It’s -5 degrees outside this morning, so a word like “cool” should not be tossed around lightly. How awesome is it then…

Yeah, I’ve seen that talented young singer on the flat screen

Sitting around talking to the kind and happy family of four in the Syracuse suburb of Baldwinsville on one of the final days of 2014, they all were quite excited about a TV program that was coming on New Year’s Eve. I agreed to put it on my must-watch list. It fits right in with…

For a political volleyball, ‘The Interview’ has no airs

I went to a real movie theater to see “The Interview” on Friday afternoon in Auburn, N.Y., and my dear wife Karen and I sat among 60 or so people who were clearly happy to be there on a snowy day, choosing this particular event out of many available theses or thoses available. There were…

Flat screens, empty stools at the bar and my dear wife Karen

Our tummies full from a great New Year’s Eve dinner at Rico’s Ristorante and the clock still more than three hours from the ball-drop, my dear wife Karen and I headed to our favorite neighborhood bar just blocks from the Little Bitty in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. The lights were on along James…

Rico’s Ristorante does it right on a New Year’s Eve

My dear wife Karen and I have had good times and not so good times while eating out on New Year’s Eve. It can be a tough night. Big crowds. Tense wait staffs. Smaller menus. Frustrated Mark. I come here today to praise Rico’s Ristorante of East Syracuse, N.Y. I’d chosen Rico’s as our New…

Go ahead, ask me what I think and you’ll get Free Advice

I’m not shy about sharing my thoughts on your blog. Yeah, I know that you know. I made that year-end Top Five commenter list on the Monkey Report for a lot of you, didn’t I? Thankfully, as I made my way through the Happy New Years and glad-to-know-yous this past week — all heartfelt and…

‘Sex Tape’ soils the top of my worst 2014 movie pile

My bottom 10 from the 52 first-run films that I saw for my weekly Monday Film Review Blogs on the Syracuse New Times site is over yonder, the first entry for my 2015 Thursday Film News Blogs. Talk about making news … You can read my Bottom 10 for 2014 on the infinitely interesting Syracuse…

Resting my eyes and mind for a few days …

Take a gander, a gaze, a good long stare at that photo of my dear wife Karen and I above. That’s what we looked like before I discovered WordPress. It was a celebration for the wedding of our dear friends Julie and Aaron in October, 2008, nine days before we slipped away to City Hall…