RIP, Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra passed away 48 hours ago.

He came from an era where baseball was about the game and the fans. It was not about multi-million dollar contracts, super model and Hollywood girlfriends and the McMansions. It was about the purity of the game, the enjoyment of the fans and the honest hard work and talent that it takes to get to the major leagues.

Born to immigrant Italian parents, Yogi knew of hard work and persistence. Like many of his generation, he served in World War II. He was married to his late wife Carmen from 1949 until her death last year, he leaves behind 3 children, several grandchildren and one great grandchild.

He represented honesty, integrity, hard work, humility and simplicity. Beyond his legend as a baseball player, he was a husband, a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, a gentleman and a human being.

RIP, sir. While your physical presence may be gone, your spirit and your legacy will live on.

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Throwback Thursday-Muppet Triple Feature-The Muppet Show (1976-1981), Muppet Treasure Island (1996) & Muppet Babies (1984-1991)

The Muppets, created by the late Jim Henson, have been in our lives since 1955.

The first incarnation of the Muppets I am going to talk about tonight is The Muppet Show (1976-1981). Setup in a variety format that was popular with audiences of the era, the show mixed skits, the various muppet personalities and the featured celebrity guest of the week.

For it’s time, the show was entertaining, well made and kept audiences coming back for five years. Not bad for a show where the main characters are made of cloth and string.

In 1996, in an attempt to mix classic literature with the muppets, Muppet Treasure Island was born.

Sometimes in an attempt to educate and simultaneously entertain, one or both elements are lost in the mix. In the case, both are lost.

Finally, for  those of us who remember the 80’s through the fog of childhood, Muppet Babies (1984-1991) brings back fond memories.

Taking the muppets and shrinking their world to the size of pre-schoolers, this show was part of the lexicon of the then very young generation.

Do I recommend all three? The first and third for nostalgia’s sake, yes. The second, I could easily pass on.

Throwback Thursday-Along Came Polly (2004)

To many, marriage seems like the ideal way to live. There is almost a fairy tale aspect to the idea of marriage. But what happens fairy tale is just that and someone else who is real comes along?

In Along Came Polly (2004), Reuben (Ben Stiller) has just married Lisa (Debra Messing). But the marriage is over before it has begun when Reuben finds that Lisa is already cheating on him during their honeymoon. Returning home, Reuben hopes to move on from his all too brief marriage.  When he reunites with a former classmate, Polly (Jennifer Aniston), she turns his ordered world upside down.

Will Reuben let Polly into his life and allow a little mess or will he pretend that he likes his life as it is?

The movie fits very squarely into the rom com genre with Ben Stiller being one of the regular male leads in films of this genre. As is the same with his leading ladies, Jennifer Aniston and Debra Messing.  But to be truthful, this story is an old one that feels rather over done. I just wish instead of firmly staying within the genre and the standard expectations of the audience, the filmmakers decided to step out of the box a little.

Do I recommend it? Maybe.