Category Archives: movies

Stan Lee’s fan base — kids of all ages

Posted on November 15, 2018 by oddmanout215

After reading of Stan Lee’s death, I took an imaginary walk through my old neighborhood, past Mitchell schoolyard and Most Blessed Sacrament church,  to Chester Avenue and Whelan’s variety store, which stocked the Marvel comic books I read in my … Continue reading →

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Trump’s plan to stop school shootings

Posted on February 22, 2018 by oddmanout215

Donald Trump thinks real life is a reality TV show, or an old cowboy movie. To counter the threat of more mass shootings in schools, he wants to issue guns to 20 percent of schoolteachers in America. The movie version … Continue reading →

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Seeking disaster’s bright side in Atlantic City

Posted on January 17, 2015 by oddmanout215

Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian is like Voltaire’s Pangloss, or Eric Idle in Life of Brian. He always looks on the bright side of life, even life in Atlantic City, which has been in a downward spiral for years thanks … Continue reading →

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Notes on Anita Ekberg, ‘sex goddess’

Posted on January 13, 2015 by oddmanout215

News of Anita Ekberg’s death at 83 got Swamp Rabbit and I and other Federico Fellini fans thinking of Ekberg’s small but memorable role in La Dolce Vita (1960), her only good movie and one of the greatest movies ever … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, humor, mainstream media, movies | 1 Comment

Regarding Coca-Cola (corporate America’s rotgut)

Posted on February 12, 2014 by oddmanout215

I recently discussed with my friend Swamp Rabbit the sappy Coca-Cola commercial that features, as Guardian UK put it, “a multi-lingual rendition of ‘America the Beautiful’ sung by children and illustrated with a diversity of New Americana scenes…” The usual … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, campaign finance reform, Congress, down and out, globalization, humor, mainstream media, movies, Occupy Wall Street, plutocracy, The New Depression, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Power broker vs. broken newspaper

Posted on October 16, 2013 by oddmanout215

Swamp Rabbit chugged his hangover remedy, a carrot juice and swamp grass mix, as I complained to him about the sorry state of the mainstream news media — in this case, The Philadelphia Inquirer, which is owned by the same … Continue reading →

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Stranger than Strangelove

Posted on September 22, 2013 by oddmanout215

I was back at the shack, beside myself with angst, reading to Swamp Rabbit about a catastrophe that almost happened a half-century ago: A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that … Continue reading →

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J.D. Salinger groupie tells all — again!

Posted on September 16, 2013 by oddmanout215

My friend Swamp Rabbit, an autodidact who tries to hide his deep knowledge of American literature, was surprised and appalled by a recent piece in The New York Times by the writer Joyce Maynard. It began: In the 50 years … Continue reading →

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When life feels like ‘Groundhog Day’

Posted on April 7, 2013 by oddmanout215

I was biking through a school-free drug zone, on my way to a temp job, cultivating bad habits. Not overtly bad habits — Marlboros and meth, and so on — but rather those drab little habits meant to ensure the … Continue reading →

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Cruising mean streets in the popemobile

Posted on March 23, 2013 by oddmanout215

The mainstream media love big, easy stories — natural disasters, inaugurations, papal elections. The election by the College of Cardinals of Jorge Bergoglio was a softball lobbed right over the plate, and the media knocked it out of the park. … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, mainstream media, movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments