February 2026 -- This & That

With such cold winter weather, I have had plenty of time in the house to ponder of late. Here's what I have been thinking:

1.    We have been hit hard with snow to start the new year here in the Mid-Atlantic region, and that always makes me wonder – how do the snowplow drivers get to the plows with the roads covered with snow? Do they sleep at the location of the plows? And even beyond how they get there, how does the first plow find the road to plow? How do you get to the Garden State Parkway or NJ Turnpike when they are covered with snow? It’s not like they have any tracks to follow. I’d watch a documentary on snow removal – as long as my driveway has been cleared! I saw video of NYC snowplows transporting tons of heavy snow to waiting “hot tubs” strategically stationed around NYC to melt and eliminate the snow. Would someone like to pick up my snow? There is a pile in my front yard right now that I could burrow into and make an igloo. I think it might still be here on Memorial Day!
2.    Along the same vein, I can’t recall in recent years a period when the temperature stayed under 32 – and, for that matter, when it has spent days hovering around zero -- for such a long time. When the thermometer reads 20 degrees, it seems almost balmy. I did all the required things you do in a cold snap, like opening the cabinets under the sink and letting the faucet drip to prevent the pipes from freezing – but it is just TOO COLD. My face hurts when I go outside. No comments on that, please.
3.    I don’t understand why every day, right after lunch, I just know I am going to fall asleep. I can sense a nap coming on, and no matter how loud the TV is or how much light streams into the family room, before long, I’m out for a nice stretch. Contrast that with the bedtime ritual, where I seldom feel like I am about to fall sleep, despite a comfy room and bed and all the right conditions. And if I do get to bed and fall asleep at a reasonable time, that just means I’ll be up by 1 AM for that first trip to the bathroom. I know it isn’t just me, is it? But that afternoon nap is sweet!
4.    What’s with these British family feuds, and why are we forced to hear about them? Whether it is Harry and Meghan feuding with the King and the Prince or Brooklyn Beckham denouncing his parents (who gave him a fairly nice life, let’s face it) over his wedding and wife, the actions of these people are not newsworthy and instead of required reading should be avoided reading.
5.    It is frustrating when things work and then suddenly they stop working. Take my scanner, for instance. Last year I used it for all my tax materials. This year it doesn’t show up on my computer as part of my HP printer. Yesterday, my car inexplicably lost access to the navigation system, the radio and the phone. I didn’t think the car could run without the radio on! Then I had to stop the car for an errand, and, when I restarted it, everything was back except the phone, which I assume had somehow lost its Bluetooth connection. So, the problem has been solved, but who knows what happened in the first place? Some kind of update, I assume.
6.    We can’t be too careful with our personal information, such as passwords. I put mine in an organized document and saved it with a password on my desktop to protect it. I did a great job, because even I can’t get into the document! What was that password?
7.    The other day I found tissue remnants all over the washing machine, meaning that someone left a tissue in her pocket. I’m not naming names, but we all know I live alone. Many people to whom I told this story commiserated with me, because we have all done this at one time or another. It looks like somebody had a party and used tissues for confetti. This should be my biggest problem.
8.    My friends and I were talking about the inimitable and indomitable Cher recently with awe. She is 78 years old and has scored hits in 7 decades of music. She looks much younger than her age, dates a 39-year-old man, and can still kick ass on the stage, wearing outfits that defy her years. If only we could ALL turn back the hands of time like Cher does.
9.    Does anyone still pay extra for fancy checks? Why? Will PSE&G think better of you if you pay your bill with a check full of puppies? I never understood why someone would feel that paying their electric bill on a check featuring birds or seashore scenes was worth the expense. For that matter, does anyone still use checks to pay their bills?
10.    Did you watch the Superbowl Halftime show with Bad Bunny? I don’t know his music, but the show was so imaginatively staged and so full of joy, that I cannot understand why anyone would object – unless it is out of sheer racism. Puerto Rico is part of the US, and Bad Bunny was born there, which makes him as much of a citizen as any of the rest of you. All I know is that the music had a good beat and you could dance to it, and that’s the standard we have used since Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. As for the other music, just play the Whitney Houston version of the Star-Spangled Banner. It was magnificent, and no one will ever perform it as well as Whitney!
11.    Since 2016, I have done my best to avoid watching the news. But the tragic story about Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother has me tuning in again. My heart breaks for the family as the authorities examine every possible lead that will resolve the case one way or another. Savannah is accustomed to reporting on these stories; being the center of one must be unbearable. I expect to be watching this on Dateline at some point in the future.
12.    I have watched entirely too much curling in this year’s Olympics, but that’s what has been on during the daytime, and I got hooked. Besides, participating in curling seems attainable for an average person, as opposed to hurtling down a mountain on a snowboard or skis. Or having some strong and graceful man throw me through the air across the ice. And I don’t see the joy in the luge, where you lie on your back on your sled and race down an ice-covered track. What’s your view there? The sky? I can relate better to the summer Olympics, where people run and jump and play tennis and soccer. Not that I could actually do those things, but they SEEM like something I could do. And I wouldn’t be cold doing them!
13.    With the world in such a contentious and bleak state, I find myself upset, mad and depressed. I think the only thing that is getting me through this terrible period is watching the uplifting stories provided by Steve Hartman in his “On the Road” series. Whether the story is about a school that was named after its janitor, or a little girl bonding with a lonely, elderly man at the supermarket, or a group of high school kids who show up every week for breakfast at the home of a grandmother whose grandson was killed in a car accident, or a policeman who pulled over a young woman and told her he wouldn’t give her a ticket if she continued her education (she is now a nurse), or any number of acts of kindness provided by friends and strangers, these stories lift my spirits and give me some degree of solace. That, and the fact that pitchers and catchers have reported to training camp. There is still hope!
 

 

Tina's January 2026 Movies & More

The new year started out with some new programming and old favorites. Asterisks indicate shows that I had not seen previously. Ratings are based on one to five cans of tuna, with five being the top rating. 

1. I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not* (2026, Netflix) – In 1975 Saturday Night Live burst on the late-night scene with its irreverent “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” that included a tall, good looking, young Chevy Chase. Hired as a writer, he persuaded producer Lorne Michaels to let him be part of the cast, and soon, with his clever “Weekend Update” and numerous pratfalls, he became SNL’s breakout star. One season was enough for Chevy, who quickly went on to star in movies. This documentary traces his career, his talent and triumphs, along with his problems with drugs and alcohol and sometimes nasty behavior. You get the impression that he thought he had the most talent and didn’t mind letting everyone know. 3½ cans.
2. Cover-Up* (2025, Netflix) – Journalist Seymour Hersch is best known for his detailed and extensive coverage of some of the biggest stories of the past 50 years. From the My Lai Massacre to the Watergate scandal, the Pulitzer Prize winner worked hard to track down insiders who could tell the real stories and not just accept the words of the military or government. Hersch is the print version of Mike Wallace – no one in charge ever wanted to see him show up to cover a story. Here his memories and extensive notebooks tell the tales of some of the most important stories in our lifetime. 4 cans.
3. Flight Risk* (2025, Netflix) – Downtown Abbey’s Michelle Dockery sheds her Lady Mary Crawley character (and English accent) to portray a US Marshal assigned to escort a reluctant witness (Topher Grace) from Alaska to New York to testify against a mobster. He is cuffed and chained to their small plane and unable to communicate with the marshal or pilot, both of whom are wearing headphones. The plane ride is bumpy and the radio isn’t always operational. The pilot of the small plane (Mark Wahlberg) has other ideas, and before long, he and Dockery are trading punches in the tiny aircraft. Any time a movie is shot in a confined space, the tension in the scenes is heightened. Not the best movie, but interesting to see Lady Mary as a badass. 3½ cans.
4. The Martian (2015, Hulu) – What if you made it to Mars but couldn’t get back? That seems to be the fate of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) when a storm prevents him from joining his crewmates as they head home from the red planet. Left alone with minimal supplies, Watley figures out how to plant and harvest food, get water and stay safe until NASA can figure out a way to rescue him. He eventually rigs up a way to communicate with NASA and works hard to just stay alive until they can get him. Damon hits all the right notes as a clever, resourceful guy who uses his smarts to survive. 3½ cans.
5. The Housemaid* (2025, Montgomery Cinema) – As always, the book is better than the movie, but I can attest to the suspense level on this one being very high. Sydney Sweeney plays Millie, out of jail on parole and hired as a housekeeper for a wealthy couple. SHE (Amanda Seyfried) is nuts, a real psycho who almost immediately after hiring Millie begins to plot against her. HE (played by a very handsome actor named Brandon Skelnar) is gorgeous, devoted, understanding and kind. This movie is filled with tension (and ominous music) and with twists you don’t see coming. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop – and it did. No spoilers. 3½ cans.
6. Marty Supreme* (2026, Manville Cinema) – If you go to this movie expecting to see a sweet sports story about a gifted table tennis player, you will be very surprised. Timothee Chalamet stars as Marty, a man with one goal – to be the world champion table tennis player. But he needs money to travel to England and Japan to compete, and he comes up way short financially. He is a hustler on the order of a pool shark, taking on all comers for modest winnings to finance his trips. His desperation leads to lies, cons, wildly fabricated stories where he imposes on everyone in his orbit for places to stay and to get the cash he needs. He is not exactly an upstanding individual, but you have to admire his moxie. This is one intense movie, and Chalamet is sensational in the title role. It is much less about table tennis than the action surrounding Marty’s goal, although the table tennis is incredible to watch (you can’t help but wonder – how did they do that?). The director, Josh Safdie, also directed “Uncut Gems”, and this movie has the same frenetic pacing and obstacles for the “hero” to overcome. Only after seeing the movie did I learn that it is based on a real person. Be aware that it is not only intense and somewhat violent, but it is also long at two-and-a-half hours. 4 cans.
7. Hamnet* (2025, Montgomery Cinema) – As an English major, I thought I knew a lot about Shakespeare, but I sure didn’t know anything about this story. A young man falls completely in love with a woman whose name I couldn’t even understand. They keep having babies and he keeps going on trips to London to pursue his writing, leaving his wife and children to be cared for by their supportive community. When there is a terrible tragedy, the man, who turns out to be William Shakespeare, is inspired to write his classic play, Hamlet. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal play the star-crossed lovers. A little too dramatic and tragic for me. 3½ cans.
8. Queer Eye, Season 10* (2026) – I love this Netflix franchise, which offers its final season of improving the lives of ordinary people with the aid of the “Fab Five” group of gay men with expertise in home design, food, clothing, personal care and counseling. Most of the people they help, who have been nominated for improvement by friends and family, are grateful for the assistance, but this year there was at least one woman who was very resistant. Even so, these fabulous gays worked their magic. However, I felt shortchanged when episode 5 ended and so did the series. I was counting on double that amount because I was not ready to say goodbye. I will miss all of their good ideas and quirky personalities. Thanks for the ride, guys. It was fabulous! 4 cans.
9. Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man* (2026, HBO) – If you love clever, funny, sometimes sophomoric comedies, you have to love Mel Brooks. The 99-year-old is responsible for “Blazing Saddles,” “The Producers” (on stage and in the movies as a musical and also a movie without music, all of which Brooks wrote), “Young Frankenstein,” Spaceballs,” and many more. Melvin Kaminsky was just always funny, and humor saved him from the rough times of serving in the Army during WWII, getting divorced and not working. But after he married Anne Bancroft, I think he did his best work. Anyone who can make me laugh about Hitler really has a demented and hysterical approach to humor. This 2-parter could have been a little shorter, but it was entertaining. 3½ cans.
10. Julie & Julia (2009, Hulu) – The incomparable Meryl Streep – looking incredibly tall – plays beloved chef Julia Child, and Amy Adams plays Child’s superfan Julie Powell – a young woman living in Queens with her husband – in this combination of their respective stories. Julia Child’s story is of her years in France with her beloved husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) as she decides to attend the Cordon Bleu culinary institute and become a chef and, ultimately, a cookbook author. When she begins to write the definitive book on French cooking for an American audience, she faces plenty of challenges. Julie, on the other hand, challenges herself by vowing to go through Child’s entire book, making 571 recipes in 365 days, a daunting cooking task but great subject matter for a blog. The stories are told in parallel fashion. Child, full of enthusiasm and with a one-of-a kind, patrician, strange voice, is completely charming, adoring her husband, enthusiastically adapting to life in Paris and transforming herself into a master chef. How they ever got her to appear that tall is an amazing movie feat. Julie tackles her challenge with relish and feels a growing kinship with the woman she grows to love. This movie made me hungry! 3½ cans and a hearty serving of beef bourguignon.  
11. Miracle: The Boys of 1980* (2025, Netflix) – Just in time for the Winter Olympics, this documentary retells the story of one of the greatest achievements in sports, the 1980 upset of the Russian Olympic Hockey team by a bunch of college kids brought together as the US Olympic Hockey team by Coach Herb Brooks. Here, the surviving members of the team recount their path to glory. I remember the upset and the subsequent US win over Finland that brought the Gold Medal to the US at the Lake Placid Olympics. I remember those cute guys – now aged senior citizens! – as they upstaged the Russians and went on to Olympic fame and glory. Do you believe in miracles, intoned sportscaster Al Michaels. Yes, we do! 3½ cans.
12. Melania* (2026) – Are you kidding?  I wouldn’t watch this piece of vapid fluff propaganda if you tied me up and dragged me to a theater. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos funded it and should be ashamed of himself, pandering to…never mind. Enough. Never. No way.