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‘NOTHING TO FEAR’ WITH WINSTON CHURCHILL AND GEORGE CLOONEY

“Nothing to fear, nothing to see, move along.” It’s just Winston Churchill strolling in his front yard. We had a Churchill lesson at his place, then another in his London war rooms. Our dude didn’t have smooth seas on the trip to joining the immortals of history.

DISAPPOINTED WRITER? AREN’T THEY ALL

The disappointed writer hides their feelings in their work. If it’s not their subject, it’s their characters; if it’s not the setting, it’s the theme. The disappointed writer always falls back to their comfort zone. Instead of man vs nature, or man vs society, it’s one whiney writer vs themselves.

TENDER BAR, A PLACE EVERYONE NEEDS

The Tender Bar is a book, a memoir, and a movie. A book and a movie, for the deuce. But it’s more than a book or a movie, it’s a destination I stopped in for a drink yesterday, but it was the wrong bar.

YOUR LANE? STAY IN IT OR HIT THE GAS ON A HIGHER CALLING

The “stay in your lane” reaction comes from the wrong sources. As if anyone knows which lane is right for you, but they sure know which one is wrong. It’s the wrong lane when you take others our of their comfort zone of who they think you are. But people change. Just not those who […]

BOOMER PARENTS: HOW KIDS LEAVE A MARK

A peppy forty-nine year old single man was feeling down, feeling the holiday blues. I did what boomer parents do, I butted in; it’s an auto-response. He said he lived too far away from relatives to visit family and make it all better. I could feel his sadness, so I tried to talk him back […]

PORTLAND FEVER: 1980-1990

    After walking around Manhattan and finding the perfect neighborhood, I wanted to find that neighborhood in Portland. When I did it started Portland fever.   Northwest Portland in late spring reminded me of Greenwich Village on a smaller scale. Like most everything compared to NYC, smaller is normal. Smaller buildings, smaller stores up […]

THREE AGING MEN, AGING BODIES. LADIES’ MEN?

    No one likes admitting it, especially aging men.   Who are the top aging men on the scene? Even though he’s newly married and expecting a baby, George Clooney must be driving that bus. He’s aging? You’d never know. But who ever thought Paul Newman would get old? Or Robert Redford? Instead of […]

AVOID ANNIVERSARY MOVIES

A Divorce Downer Of Old Movies. The plan: A nice wedding anniversary with the family followed by a weekend at the same beach you went to on your honeymoon. If anniversaries are a tradition, so is the beach trip. You book your favorite cabin, the one with unobstructed view of the ocean…from the bathroom. Pack […]

BLOGGING FOR ASPIRING WRITERS

The difference between an aspiring writer and a blogger? Story. A recent boomerpdx reader sent this comment about aspiring writers: Superb blog! Do you have any suggestions for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress […]

FURY: BRAD PITT GOES TO WAR…AGAIN

Taking A Shot At The Great American War Movie. World War II is the biggest war canvas for the biggest stories. It’s that big. War stories from every other conflict miss the moral certainty, the celebration, of wiping evil off the earth. There’s nothing like a Nazi, or an Imperial Japanese soldier, biting the dirt […]