Once again the cinema's "Beautiful People" were there for Hollywood's annual celebration of itself. It's all about that little gold guy, Oscar. (I hear his name and all I can think of is the slob in the "Odd Couple" or a famous hot dog - I must not be one of the "Beautiful People").
There it was again, displayed for all the world to see. Hundreds of thousands of people, willing to risk everything for one thing. Freedom. The past two weeks, we've watched a powerful real-life struggle for freedom played out in a place called Liberation ("Tahrir") Square in Egypt. Once again, the unquenchable passion to be free has changed a nation.
The Valentines are flying today! Our grandchildren are doing their part at school today. The florists are freaking out today and counting their shekels tonight. And I did my part to help the struggling greeting card company that some suspect invented this day!
This is crazy! We live where snow is pretty rare - but not recently! Today, we're getting the latest in what's been a sudden parade of winter storms. I just went out and measured 9" in our yard - and it's still coming! Why am I singing, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?" Christmas never looks like this around here! Check the calendar, Weather Guy - it's almost Valentine's Day!
The spring fashion collections in Paris will be showing a very stylish new hat this year. The cheesehead.
Yes, the Green Bay Packers - whose fans are known for those hats that look like a chunk of cheese - have won the Super Bowl. For now, at least, cheeseheads rule. I'm very happy for them. But I'm not doing the hat.
I'll bet my friend "Steve" had his "cheesehead" hat all dusted off and ready to go yesterday. Yes, it looks like a big hunk of cheese on your head. "Cheesehead" is what they call Green Bay Packers fans, and, man, did they have something to cheer about this year. Their beloved Wisconsin warriors were in the Super Bowl!
Only in America. A day named for the chubby cousin of a rat. A town whose main event is a groundhog playing peekaboo. As Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff says, "I love dis country!"
We even have a movie called "Groundhog Day." It's actually set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the home of the king groundhog. But it was hearing about the premise of the movie, not the location, that intrigues me.
This growing unrest in Egypt could be a really big deal. They're the largest country in the Middle East...the guardians of the vital Suez Canal...a key to peace with Israel...and a moderate voice America has counted on for stability in that volatile region.
It still sickens me to see it. Those plumes of smoke over Cape Canaveral - the awful trail from what had been the Space Shuttle Challenger. Teacher Christa McAuliffe and six other crew members were gone before our eyes. Hard to believe it was 25 years ago. Hard to believe the memories and the feelings are still so vivid.
I suppose if treating victims with traumatic injuries is what you do every day, you're not easily moved emotionally by what you see. Unless it's something really above and beyond.
