For all of us whether you've never seen it, or it's been a long time, we are getting ready to watch the Browns play in the post season.  Yes, the NFL Post Season.  By this time ususally, most of the Browns players have Florida tee times, and in some seasons, we've been eliminated from playoff possibilities by week 7.  

But this year is different, and so are the Browns.  They are different in every way.  The Browns are in, and they didn't "back in."  They earned their place and and now it seems they are taking the next step.  True old saying, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."  Good words, and this is the first and single step.  This week clearly has also given the Browns even more challenges  - and that's a shame.  But that's the world we live in right now.

One of the good truths about the Browns is this. They have actually been better for the past couple of years. But with the absolute wrong people at the helm, the Browns ended up face first in the ditch when they shouldn't have.  But now that the "dudes" are long gone, and we have real football adult people at the controls, the Browns are winning, and looking good doing it.  Every one of us deserves this, and we should enjoy this Sunday night.

I'm going to grow very weary this weekend of the networks playing clips of The Drive, The Fumble, and the 2002 Steelers playoff game when we blew at 20 point lead.  I'm going to focus on who we are now.  These are not the Cardiac Kids, or Kosar's Browns.  (Both eras very good).  But these Browns are different.  Better?  We will find out.  The game itself is different now, far more wide open, lots of rule and officiating changes, and the league has become pass happy which is fine.  But these Browns are still old school for the most part - and new school as well.  That is the difference and what could really help them Sunday, and beyond.

I believe in these Browns.  They are certainly not the best team in the league, but they're good.  And the way they are assembled, they could be tough to deal with well beyond this year.  AND they are very well coached.  The only game they lost this year before the game began was week one at Baltimore.  First game from a new head coach to be expected.  But this team is ready to play every week now.  And they will need to be Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Can they beat the Steelers in a playoff game?  Yes. As where other Browns teams of the past 20 years could not.  If the Browns show up -  and be who they are -  they can win this game and move on as the balance of power is slowly shifting in our division.  But will they?  This would be the biggest win in a generation.  The Steelers have had many great moments in recent history and know how to win these kind of games. And being honest and fair, they are THE BEST franchise in all of professional sports.  Their 45 year run of being really good is nothing short of incredible. 

As for the Browns - their moment was finally arrived.  What they do with their moment  - well, we will find out Sunday night inn Prime Time!

Well there certainly haven't been many occasions to write a movie review lately, but with the deal reached with HBO Max and other streaming services, some blockbusters are now getting to us, and will continue through 2021.  WW84 came out Christmas Day.

I loved everything there was to love about the original in this series. I still think it's the best Superhero movie ever made. I am not huge fan of the genre, but I have seen and reviewed them all, and the original was simply different.  For me, it was just a good movie, not a good comic book movie.  It was set in an historic event, with a terrific look, a nice back story, with great characters and wonderful character development.  The writing was incredible on the first movie.  Gal Gadot and Chris Pine were perfectly cast, and their chemistry was palpable to us.  The story, although fiction, set in WWI was genius, and the toys, bells and whistles of the special effects were sensational. It was a movie where the star of the movie -  was the movie! I wish this had the same feel, even remotely.

WW84 is set in 1984, and without going into huge detail about the story lines, I will say the big problem here is that this simply feels like just another run of the mill Superhero movie, where the first one did not. This is way, way too long and drawn out especially at the end. The story is very ho-hummy, but there are some fun characters introduced here, like Kristen Wiig's,  who is a villain of sorts, and her transformation and journey to that place is fun and interesting.  But her slick performance can't save this.

This lacks the passion of the original. It lacks the slow burn between Diana (Gadot) and Steve (Pine).  This lacks really smart movie making that director Patty Jenkins was so insanely skilled at on the original.  It also lacks an historical event that was smart, paramount and different, as this simply chronicles an era, and does not capture the real essence of that era.  It is also too far of a jump for me from 1918 to 1984.  There is plenty of action of course as I'm sure test audiences of Superhero fans begged for more, and they get it.  But as far as standard movie goers are concerned, that just makes it another CGI fest, and not a better movie.  Like singing, louder is not better -  better -  is better.

This does not capture the charm, fun or smarts of the original in any way.  Gadot and Pine are fine together, but that's not what we want. We want great, but they are handcuffed by a script that was laden with far too much loud action, and not enough compelling or thought provoking story telling that we cared about and was the star of the first.  All of what's wrong here, is in the script.  This movie also is void of a powerful signature scene.  In the original when Diana emerges from the war torn trenches and challenges the Germans in No Mans Land, is as great of a scene in these kind of movies you can have.  None of that here.

This Is A Great Example Of What WW84 Lacks - This Scene And Others Propelled The Original To GREAT Heights!

Is this a bad movie? No.  It's just not in the same breath as the first, and that's a shame.  I caught it on HBO Max and you can too, and that's a fair way to see it. 

Wonder Woman 84  I wanted great again.  We got, just OK.

This week K.T. Olsin  passed away and for many, they may not know exactly who she was. Her short run was a long time ago, but extremely successful.  Not knowing exactly who she was though as an artist, is nothing really new for her.  She was really tough to categorize. She was an original  -  and she was exceptionally talented, and I played them all with pride, because you knew you were playing something very different and original.

80's Ladies - Monster Song!

K.T. Oslin rose to fame at the age of 45.  Completely unheard of, and I can't think of another who has done it.  She blasted on the scene with a vengeance.  The album 80's Ladies to me is a classic, and won about everything you could win.  The single of the same name was a big hit and won a Grammy, and about everything else.  Songs like Do Ya followed and I'll Always Come Back, which I think is a gem, also big songs.  She was honored by about every organization there was, and won everything and did it all at a very interesting time.

Do Ya - Sultry Performance - So Distinct

You see, K.T. Oslin was nowhere near a traditionalist, and that movement was newly underway as that time.  In 1987 -1990 when her run took place, we were going in a very different direction. Oslin didn't sound country, she was a stylist that seemed to live through her songs, and got through her songs rather than soaringly sing them. She was bluesy, she was sultry, she was way different than anything else we were playing and she stood out.  She was all grown up, you could feel her life when she sang. She was terrific!

This Song Is A Work Of Art

She is also a GREAT example of the importance of the written song.  Her songwriting was incredible years before she was a recording star. She wrote for The Judds, Dottie West, and for a great singer named Gail Davies who recorded a fantastic Oslin song, Round The Clock Lovin', (1982) a song K.T. told me once backstage she wished she saved for herself, (she at last did record it) but it was 5 years before she hit it big. Funny thing about her, the same thing that made her popular, is the same thing many didn't care for.  

This Song Was A Big Country Hit For Gail Davies in 1982 -  K.T. Written - It's So K.T.

(BTW -Gail Davies is worth a Google Search, she was GREAT!)

K.T. Oslin was not "country".  She just wasn't. And still isn't, in the traditional sense.  But she found a following, and found common ground on the country charts.  What she was, was GOOD!  And Country fans know good when they hear it.  She had her detractors but when she started walking off with every award possible, the disagreements stopped.  Her run was basically over by about 1991, but what a run!  She found a sound so unique, you had to listen. And that's darn rare.

Her Biggest Charted Song!  2 Weeks #1 - Stick With It - It Happens 

She had major heart surgery in 1995. She then was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2016 and had been in a facility for it until her death this week.  She was 78.  She broke down tons of walls with her age, image, songs, style and pure genius songwriting talent.  I always had a ton of respect for her, hanging around all those years and finally making it big, and I do mean BIG when most artists are starting to wrap it up.

K.T. Oslin - very safe to assume there will NEVER be another.  She beat the odds in all ways possible.

Merry Christmas! 

This Christmas Memory is short and sweet for me.  I can't go through a Christmas morning without remembering that Christmas Day, was the last day my dad was ever home when I was a kid.  And I am so glad we could make it happen.

I was 16, my brother 21, and we went and picked up my dad from Southwest General Hospital. We got him in the car and brought him home for the day.  His future was a forgone conclusion as cancer was well advanced, and had been for a few months, but we got him home.  I'll be honest, I don't remember much about that whole day, other than the fact he was home with us, such as he was.  And I think that was good enough for us.

After a few hours, we drove him back, and I think he was ready to go back, as he needed care that we were not capable of handling. A couple weeks later, he moved to a nursing home.  A few weeks after that he forgot where he was, and a few weeks after that he forgot who I was. Then he passed at 53.  Too young.  Yeah I miss him, but it's been so long ago, I can't imagine my life with him. He was a good guy.

But, I am always thankful for that last visit to the house. The one my mom still lives in, the one on a 2 acre wooded lot. The one they bought in 1959 and agonized over how they would afford a $147 a month mortgage.  He was home one last time, and that is a Christmas memory I will never, ever forget.

Merry Christmas!! 

I've been writing this week about Christmas Memories, and I have to tell you about Hazel Marie.  Hazel Marie was married to my moms father. We called him Grandpa Doc, as he was a Doctor, and Hazel Marie worked in his home office where he treated local people in Lakewood.  My actual grandmother, Stella died before I was born.  So I only knew Hazel Marie.

I guess we liked Hazel, although this woman was absent from any kind of real decorum or good taste.  If something was totally free, or exceedingly cheap, she was all about it. She laughed way too loud, was a terrible driver and made her living by playing the harp at funerals.  She wore tons of fake fur, and knitted 23 hours a day. Plus, she had one of those short, plastic white Christmas trees that spun with a light that also spun and had three different colors on it.  She was an interesting soul for sure.

But what really solidified in our memories was Hazel Marie's feeble attempt at Christmas gift giving.  Making it clear, they had money, she was just - well -  cheap!  One year she crocheted two hangers together in various colors and gave them to us as gifts. (They were sturdy, I gotta admit).  One year for all the girls, (including the 50 year olds) colorful, adhesive contact paper wrapped around paper clips as necklaces and bracelets. But the grand finale was the following.

One year Hazel Marie crocheted all of the boys, (including the 50 year olds) colorful jockstraps!  Why? No one on this planet will never really know.  Probably saw it in some rouge knitting magazine in 1972 and went with it.  Few bucks for yarn and she was good to go.  I was young, maybe ten, and I didn't get it for a lot of reasons. Now, I'm way older, I still don't get it for every reason. But we all took them and thanked her for her effort.

As silly as all of that was and is, we have laughed about it for decades after. All of her tacky gifts that were designed with us, and her inheritance clearly in mind. Every family has a Hazel Marie in some regard.  She outlived Doc and I'm sure enjoyed the fruits of his labor for the time she had left.  We still laugh about her and those silly Christmases that were so long ago.

BTW -  I still have the hanger, it's in Baldwin-Wallace Colors, so it must have been my moms as she was teaching there then.  But the jockstrap?   

NO!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is this week of course, and this time of year we all think back on some of our best Christmas Memories. We take if for granted we can, are lucky to do so.  Here's a short story, maybe you are going through something similar.

My mom turned 93 this year and for the most part has enjoyed good physical health for virtually all her life.  But my mom seemingly is outliving the good health, as her memory is failing and it's getting worse rapidly. Every day. Lucky, she is still in her 167 year-old farm house that she's owned, designed, updated and added on to many times since 1959. There is a qualified someone with her there 24 hours to take care of most everything now.  We are blessed for that.  It's the home she loves and the house we all grew up in.

My mom calls me many times per day these days, and recently has been asking about Christmas over and over.  She knows it's that season as she has her tree up (that she decorated wonderfully) , but I'm not so sure she knows it's this Friday, or even this week.  That is a difficult reality for all of us in our small family. But it is our reality.  I had to take her car away a year ago after 76 years of driving.  Reality really changed for all of us then, and it continues.

My mom was a 35-year college professor where she spent most of that time teaching young people how to speak well and proper in front of other people effectively and without fear. She also consulted high powered executives at big companies in Cleveland how to give a speech, and communicate more openly with other execs, and employees.

She was 91 when this was taken

She was an actor for about 25 years and starred in tons of plays and musicals in Northeast Ohio for most of my childhood and young adulthood. She was an artist and spent decades painting pictures and breathing new life back into old furniture, and selling a lot of it. She had talent in that regard none of knew she had until she was about 65.  She also taught singing lessons for many years as students came to the house, mostly in the summertime, and my mom used the piano to teach people how to hit the notes properly, and with power.

I have much of her furniture that she painted, this is terrific!

That is the most difficult thing for us to see here.  I feel badly for her, not for me.  I feel badly that for someone who spent their entire life teaching, performing and using their immensely creative brain every second of most every day, that it's come to this.  But it has. I think she deserves better after dedicating her life to others education.  But this is where we are.  If I had a Christmas wish, it would be that she could enjoy Christmas this year and have that memory to hold on to for the time she still has to go. Not so much of anything fancy or extravagant, just a memory of the day itself.

I think my siblings and I have digested that this could be her last Christmas, but you never know.  I'm a big boy, and I get what's going on, especially on days where I get 12 or 15 calls from her.  I don't feel badly about it, as it is as much of life as anything.  But I do feel badly for her, and her memory that is aged and is letting her down.

One of her many multi-media paintings

Here's to a Christmas wish, and hoping to make a Christmas Memory, not for me or my memory,  but for a woman who could use just one more memory to hold on to that's good  -  and accurate.  If you've been here, bless you, and I hope you are well in every way.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas this week and we are all getting ready for it.  I think most of us think to Christmases past and remember things we only think about this time of year.

I remember when I was about 20, it was before I got my big break working in Columbus, and I was living where I grew up in Berea still.  My mom asked me to go get a Christmas tree for the family.  So I did, and I went out to a tree farm that doesn't exist anymore to cut one down and bring it back home.

The problem was, I was too busy looking at the trees height, fullness, and color, and it has nice.  So I sawed it down, and loaded it in my car, and drove home.  It was close to Christmas so we decided to put it up that day.  So me, my mom and brother started to put it up, and it proved challenging - to say the least.  The trunk was crooked and not by a little.  The tree holder was an older one, and the afternoon was spent trying to get it straight and not getting the lights on it.  Sheesh!  This thing was so indredibly wrong we needed an engineer to figure this out!

Books under the base, guide wires tired to a doorknob and the piano which was right next to it.  It fell a few times, and after a ton of time, we were no closer to getting it right than we were from the get-go.  At first,  I was mad and embarrassed, but after about an hour, it became laughable, and three of us had a big laugh over it.  Somehow the tree stayed upright all holiday season long and all was fine.   Although I think we had to reinforce it a few times. 

Now, we all have artificial trees and we are better for it, as it takes all the excitement out of the live three thing.  But it must be a good memory, because all these decades later, I still remember, and it still make me laugh.   I have no pictures of it, but sometimes I wish I did!  This was long before we had camera phones,

Merry Christmas!

Wynn's Weekend Watch -  This Date  -  1999 This Amazing Movie Came Out!

Whoopi Goldberg - Will reprise her role as Deloris in Sister Act 3!  (Story) 

Disney - Announced an Enchanted sequel starring Amy Adams called  Disenchanted  (Story) 

New Today In Theaters - This looks great!   Fatale    Hilary Swank and Michael Ealy

Jeff Bridges - Is battling cancer – He has Lymphoma (Story)

If You Love Kelly Clarkson - Her show has been renewed through 2023  (Story)

Peacock - The Office  - is coming back to that streaming service on New Years Day (Story) 

Box Office - The movies had their worst year in 40 years. In 2019 they brought in 11.3 BILLION this year 2.1 BILLION. (438 movies this year  -  last year 910)  (Story)

Garth and Trisha Live! - A Holiday Concert Event   will air Sunday at 8:30 CBS. From their home studio, and we'll see a bit more of the couple's home  (Story) 

Christmas Day Movies - Wonder Woman 1984 /  News Of The World / Promising Young Woman / Pinocchio

Wonder Woman 1984  - Opening Scene Released This Week! 

Wonder Woman 1984 - Was filmed on – FILM not digital – IMAX as well

Recap – Of My Articles This Week - Sad Passing Of Charley Pride / Know Your Dog Better  /  Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Garth

This Weekend – Check out my Country Music Memory Lane (link)

Donate To Help LOCAL Military Families Through NEOPAT HERE - Thank YOU!

This could be fun on Sunday!

Garth and Trisha performing from their house, and they promise to let you see a bunch of it, not just Studio G!

Sunday Night Christmas Special - CBS

Lisa asked about Deana Carter, and if I could talk about her from the late 1990's.  Her chart success was short, but what an album, what memories we all have of her monster song, Strawberry Wine.  I proudly played all her songs for years!

Deana Carter of course, was from the famous Carter family and you would think an easier path to recording greatness would be a given.  But that's not the way it went.  She started young, and had a few small albums at a very young age, but she stopped and went to college for a degree and performed for fun rather than a job while there.  She eventually made a demo tape that Willie Nelson somehow heard and gave her an invitation to Farm Aid  in 1994.

Strawberry Wine - HUGE!

But the big Deana Deal was 1996, and what a year for her.  The album, Did I Shave My Legs For This, hit the charts and exploded with insane success.  It topped the charts and sold over 5 million copies.  That's huge for any album, for anyone, at anytime.  And the lead single, Strawberry Wine,  (Official Video worth a watch)  became an anthem for every generation, and is permanently solidified in the memory banks of now grown adults, parents, and younger grandparents everywhere.  The success of that single is hard to explain unless you lived through it.

This Song Was So Great, Loved IT!

Strawberry Wine to me is a powerful, gritty, honest, 100% immersible song that chronicles a pivotal moment, or a specific time in everyone's life.  We all put ourselves inside the song and felt the same things Deana did when she recorded it. It is about as good of a written song as there is. Her stylistic approach on that gem was perfect, as she was born to sing it.  It was nominated for about everything, and did win the 1997 CMA Single and Song Of The Year.  I remember it so well, it was the same year I won my CMA Award and I was in the front row at the CMA's in Nashville when she jumped into Ricky Skagg's arms in her bare feet to accept the award.  It was a moment of sheer joy!

Strawberry Wine was nominated in 1998 for the ACM Song and Single but didn't win. The album had a bunch of nominations, as did she personally, but only the two wins from the CMA.  I was always stunned by that.  That song which was written by one of Nashville's very best songwriters, Matraca Berg, the absolute right person recorded it, and it is a classic.  Fans will remember the words to that song their whole lives, as it perfectly spoke to them. (BTW that song still sells a ton of digital downloads every year)

Yet, Another Number One!