Luv2play

I was dining in a nice upscale Italian restaurant yesterday and the two people beside me were a mother and daughter, the girl around 10 and mother 30ish. From the moment they sat down both were on the their phones. The mother put her phone down to eat. The girl ate bites between keeping her head down below the level of the table to scroll her phone. I thought to myself this will come to no good end. A parent estranged from her daughter and a socially inept young lady.

Is that Hadrian’s wall?

I looked it up . The actual quote is “We were in love with life. We were making more money than we ever dreamed existed, and there was no reason to believe it would ever stop.” Quite apropos to this story if Alfie.

Paraphrasing Gloria Swanson, “We were young, beautiful and rich, and we thought it would never end”.

That line has been used by many comedians and other celebrities. Chevalier didn’t coin it, I think. We’ve talked about it before but I forget the genesis of the phrase.

50 years ago when I bought my first house I also invested in a set of Baccarat tumblers and St. Louis stemware. Harcourt and Chambourd styles resp. as they matched. They have served me a lifetime and only one got smashed which isn’t bad for attrition.

Why are you shilling for Alfie?

Really. Well my memory failed me. I had and still have her earliest albums and thought Alfie was an early hit. 8 you say. Incredible. I guess Do you know the way to San Jose was also in that list. And I say a little prayer.

These are gay for pay straights. Back when I was a Campus regular you could get them to fuck you or you suck them, it was all in a nights work. And then they went home to their girlfriends. With their pockets stuffed with cash. Their balls might have been depleted however.

Nice gig. Hope he had lots of takers. I have reached the age where adventure travels are in my rear view mirror. Even longer tourist travels are over. I still enjoy a two or three day trip to a big city but otherwise enjoy my garden and home to relax in.

If you were of a certain age like I am, you would also remember the hit tune by the same name taken from the film. Sung by a young Dionne Warwick and written by Burt Baccarat and Hal David. Won the Grammy and made Warwick a star.

Maureen Dowd wrote a very insightful column on MM in the NYT today. One of her best. Captured the magic and tragedy of that very unique person that was Norma Jean.

Oh yes. As another company says, Membership has its privileges.

Another interesting thing is that an auction house has put up for sale items that once belonged to Marilyn. Such artifacts as a bra yellowed with age and more controversially some of her medical x-rays. It was mentioned that she never made more than $100,000 per film while actors such as Elizabeth Taylor made millions. Yet most of her films grossed many times the money that Taylor’s did. An auction held of Liz’s estate for the benefit of AIDs raised millions.

I was referring tongue in cheek to the film that made Michael Caine, the Cockney actor, a star and international celebrity in the 1960’s. I didn’t see the film or never much was enamoured of him but he had a long and successful career in acting. The young man you are referring to is no Alfie aka Michael Caine.

Insider trading is regulated on the traditional financial markets . These new forms of betting should be regulated more struck than now but anyone engaging in them should be aware of what they are getting into. If not, the old adage A fool and … applies.

I’m putting this thread in here as the observance of the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birthday is a look back at the influence she had as an historical figure, an Icon for the ages. While she didn’t directly influence gay culture, it is noteworthy that on her June 1st birthday this year, dozens of gay men dressed as the blonde bombshell descended on Palm Springs, the gay mecca in the desert, to pay her homage. I can only think of one other figure in American culture who inspires this kind of cult worship by dressing as look alikes and that is Ernest Hemingway in Key West. Marilyn broke the mold for actresses in the 1950’s by embracing her sexuality and carving a new image of the blonde sex bomb. Jean Harlow in the 30’s was a precursor but was repressed by her religion and the times. Also her films were black and white. Mae West was another but the censor clipped her wings and she had to resort to comic innuendo. Anyway in the button down ‘50’s the world was ready for a Monroe in America and Bardot in France. She will be remembered 100 years from now, of that I am certain.

What’s it all about, Alfie?

When it comes to retail banking Canada has always been ahead of the US with technological innovations. I credit this to the number of small banks in the US compared to only 6 chartered banks in Canada (there are smaller niche banks but they don’t generally serve the public for all their banking needs). Same with credit cards.

The true expression of bareback.

I agree we have gotten into the habit here of calling the escorts providers. It rather lumps them together with all the other service categories in our lives. Like insurance, cable, telephone, etc. that perform essential services we couldn’t do without. Escorts, on the other hand, provide a luxury service to those who can afford buying sexual services. There, I used the word provide, hence they are providers too. But the term seems very impersonal.

Another thread on this guy says it was a female partner he beat up. Which he denies. Which calls into question who his real romantic partner is.

I always catch myself when I say Turn of the century. As someone who writes a lot of historical tracts, I am now used to saying At the turn of the last century or At the turn of the 20th century to mean 1900.

The guy’s ok but the dog is gorgeous.

Who did he beat up?