Need a Laugh? Ten timeless Comedies

Need some laughs but can't think of a movie to watch?

Thought I'd share some comedies that I'm happy to see again and again!

Some Like it Hot, 1959
Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon

 
 
Two guys, one girl, and tons of laughs. True comedic genius.


Four Weddings and a Funeral, 1994
Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell

Yes, the English do actually have a pretty good sense of humor, and the chemistry between Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell is delicious.


Annie Hall, 1977
Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

 

Neurotic and insecure "pre yuppy" New Yorkers with too much time on their hands to analyze their lives.....(a prelude to Seinfield)?
 
Young Frankenstein, 1974
Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr

Who knew a classic horror film could be re-made with such hilarious results?... and remember, it's "Frankensteen".


Groundhog Day, 1993
Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell

Funny and poignant, a real reminder of what we can do with a day, and an attitude adjustment.


Dodgeball, (A True Underdog Story), 2004
Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan

Just the mention of this brutish childhood game makes me wince. How perfect that this movie matches the underdogs against the bullies! 


To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, 1995
Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo

Three macho actors as drag queens. You have to give them credit, they play it real, giving the film depth as well as humor; (as it is a comedy). I loved Stockard Channing as the small town woman who learns a valuable lesson from the girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deuce Bigelow, Male Gigolo, 1999
Rob Schneider

Rob Schneider is adorable as a pathetic, but sweet excuse for a "replacement" gigolo to pay off money owed to an acquaintance he's afraid of.


Happy Gilmore, 1996
Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen

Adam Sandler's real breakout film as a comedic writer and actor. The Bob Barker bit was odd but good, and who can forget Carl Weathers as "Chubbs".

Finally, saving the best for last.......

Trading Places, 1983
Dan Akroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis

"Timeless" says it all! Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd are at their absolute best in this film, as is Jamie Lee Curtis.

This was a republish of my blog from April 2013. 

 
All photos courtesy of Bingimages.com

Anna Wendt

How's your Mask Wardrobe?

Do you remember how you felt the first time you wore a mask when leaving the house? I do.  It was a little surreal. I had an unused surgical mask from the medical school where I work sometimes as a patient actor. We never had to wear them before so I had saved it in a Ziploc bag just in case I ever needed it. I put on the mask when I got in the car then of course feeling silly I realized I didn't need it until I got out of the car.

It just seemed so unnatural to be wearing a mask when I wasn't a doctor or in a medical facility. I remember before the pandemic sometimes seeing people wear masks on airplanes and thought "Isn't that a little much?"....I don't think that anymore.

I had used my surgical mask once and I thought I had to throw it away so I did. I didn't want to ask my husband for one of his since he's a physician and they were in short supply all over back then. So I looked into do it yourself masks and saw a short YouTube video on how to make your own face covering with a bandana, and that's what I did for about a week until the cloth masks I'd feverishly ordered on Ebay showed up in the mailbox. 

We now know the bandana masks aren't quite as effective as they don't have a very tight seal. So I don't wear one much anymore. Although it was fun to be featured in a piece in the local newspaper showing how people were making home made masks out of scarves, plastic bags, coffee filters, and other things that were lying around the house. Using everything except toilet paper of course, as we couldn't waste that!

Las Vegas Review Journal's mask feature

My mask wardrobe now consists of about 8 masks. There's the blue sky one I got in a 3 pack at The Gap, the homemade cat one I got on Ebay, and my new favorite, my shiny mask. I saw it online and thought "That's cute! I need a dress up mask in case I end up going out when things loosen up a bit"...so I ordered it. I tried it on when I got it and it looks great! It's funny how wearing a mask is starting to seem like normal everyday life. 

I think masks are going to be around for awhile so I expect my mask wardrobe to grow. It is what it is, I might as well make the best of it. 

My current favorite masks

Need a Haircut? How to Sell or Donate Your Hair!

Since many of us haven't had a haircut in months and are now considering venturing out for one or doing it at home, I decided to re-post one of my more popular articles from a few years ago...

Did you know you can sell or donate your hair?

People need wigs and hair extensions due to hair loss from medical problems or for purely cosmetic reasons such as hair extensions, hair pieces and ponytails.

My friend Nicole recently grew her hair so long she was tripping over it when she walked!...Okay not quite that long, but she seriously needed a haircut. She decided to get it cut in a certain way so that it could be donated.

How to cut your hair and then sell it:

To sell your hair it's best if it's not treated with color or perms because you can usually get more than double the money for untreated hair. Of course your hair also has to be healthy and free of damage.

Your cut strands also have to be long enough to sell, which is at least 10 inches.

You should use gentle shampoo (two brands that make great sulfate free shampoos are  LOréal and Wen). Don't cut your hair until you have found a buyer because freshly cut hair is best! Blonde hair or light brown are the best selling colors followed by brunette, then red.

You can sell your hair through third party websites such as Hairsellon.com and Onlinehairaffair.com. Have someone take a photo of your hair from the back, (remember, don't cut it yet), then set up an account and put it up on the site.

The going rate ranges from about $300 to $1,000 on average, but the longer your locks the more money you will make.

Don't want to worry about the process of selling your hair but don't want to waste it when it could go to a good cause? Donate your hair for wigs for people who suffer from hair loss for medical reasons such as Alopecia and chemotherapy.

To donate your hair:

For donation, a minimum of ten (10)  inches of hair is also preferred.   Layered locks are acceptable if the longest layer is ten inches. Colored or permed hair is accepted but not hair that is bleached out.

Where to donate? For more information on how exactly to get the hair on your head to a person in need, below are two helpful websites.

There is a well known organization called Locks Of Love, go to LocksOfLove.org for more information and to find a participating salon if that's easier for you than sending it in.

Once you have decided whether to donate or sell your hair it is best to have it professionally cut. To show you what to do, here is my good friend Nicole Pano with a quick 45 second video...How to cut your hair for Donation or Sale

To the Graduates, Class of 2020

By Guy Chapman

I graduated high school in 1994. My school experience was vastly different than yours. For me, high school was a much more relaxed experience. You could come and go as you please. There was no common core, and standardized testing hadn't taken over every aspect of the classroom experience. There was no distraction of social media, and the internet was still a new and somewhat mysterious commodity. Incidents such as Columbine were five years away from my timeline, and certainly not a regular and annual occurrence.

For the 2020 graduates, you may have all of us beaten when it comes to "challenging." No one knew that the beginning of Spring Break was also going to be the end of the school year. The various schools still have fliers posted proclaiming: "We will resume normal business hours on Monday, March 16."

No, we would not. By March 13, it became clear something was terribly wrong. By March 17, the world began to really shift. In certain buildings, St. Patrick's Day decorations promised a holiday that no one would be celebrating. Instead, Spring Break went from an intended one week from two and a half months. I suppose Alice Cooper's "School's Out For the Summer" song was never meant to be that prophetic in its lyrics.

For what it's worth, you are still 2020 graduates no matter what a global pandemic says. We've had to come together to find a way to manage, and so have you. That's worth a lot. You didn't give up. This situation did not "beat" you.

I expect for a lot of high school and college graduates, you feel left out on some of the elements of this particular rite of passage: Skip days and Senior events, caps and gowns, a walk across the stage, photos of you holding your diploma, the after parties that you'll never really tell your parents how crazy you got that night, but they already know because they were once in that place themselves. That last carefree summer you have before you truly have to start properly "adulting."

What's important to remember is that even without all the decorations and symbolism of this particular moment in time, it still happened. You're into a new phase of your existence where you get to call the shots on your life more than you have ever before. It's exciting and scary, and it generally lacks a safety net. But you didn't go this alone. Your teachers were right there with you having to navigate this uncertain storm to ensure you succeeded. So were your parents. So was the community in its support.

It's okay to be disappointed right now. But over the years, the graduation experience simply becomes a "tick box" on a life checklist. You aren't going to remember the speeches that night. To be candid, you certainly aren't going to remember the parties. And you'll get to experience the graduation event again when you have kids of your own. It will take on a different meaning then. Perhaps all the "pomp and circumstance" is meant more for the parents in the long run. A graduation of succeeding in their own "adulting."

If you feel discouraged, take a walk around your neighborhood. Take a look at all the signs in the yards that celebrate the work of your teachers and your fellow students. There are signs all over the community. You didn't get the traditional graduation experience, but you absolutely aren't forgotten.

In the end, the Class of 2020 may end up being the strongest graduating class we'll see in our lifetime. Our current life has given you lessons no book could ever teach. In this present unknown and lack of structure, we've seen everyday people carry out acts of intelligence and compassion. This will define our values, our larger view of the world, and prove how necessary being properly educated in all areas is. What you do with that education now is up to you.

While finding that first real job or enrolling for college may be an uncertainty for now, defining the kind of world you want to live in can start as early as today. You really are our future, and us older generations are going to be looking to you to provide the kind of world we all deserve to live in.

But no pressure, of course.

Hang in there, Class of 2020. This year really was your challenge. Things don't always go to plan, but life doesn't provide a script to always say or do the right thing. Some of the best works come from improvisation, so I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish during this strange time.

You've got this. You always did.

Special thanks to writer Guy Chapman for contributing this article. 

One American's View of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Like many Americans my head is spinning lately over the COVID-19 Pandemic. I remember when I first read about it back in January, they said it was a SARS like coronavirus from China and was spreading to other countries. So I knew it'd be a global issue, but like most of us could not have begun to predict how it would impact our country.

I sit here in shock that in my city of Las Vegas they are shutting down several casinos for two weeks. As far as I know that has never happened, at least at this level. Casinos do not close. The employee layoffs are already starting. Also, nationwide professional sports are suspended, cruise lines have stopped cruising, schools are closed and the list goes on. We are being advised to stay home and self isolate and keep our distance from others when we do have to go out. Now many are talking about the airlines making a drastic change soon as well. This was all unimaginable a few weeks ago.

I've been practicing social distancing this past week but not really before that. All I had been doing was buying a little more groceries and supplies than I usually do. But things really hit on Friday when the President declared a National Emergency and the general public took notice; mostly by flooding grocery stores!

These things are happening all around us but most of us don't know anyone who is actually sick with COVID-19 yet. We are being warned by the Center for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization that things will soon get really bad for us. We don't hear much from China, but have been told that their numbers are finally slowing down after quarantining hundreds of millions of people for several weeks. The latest report shows 80,880 cases today whereas it was 79, 828 two weeks ago, which is only 1,052 new cases. 

Dr. Li Wen Liang 

Dr. Li Wen Liang, A Chinese doctor who first tried to warn his colleagues and his country about this newest coronavirus back in December was shamed and silenced by the Chinese government for "making false comments on the internet." He was diagnosed with COVID-19 February 1st and died six days later, survived by his son and pregnant wife. Now China reveres him. Too little too late.

I've been following the stories of this virus and checking Worldometers.info site that gives updates on the COVID-19 numbers. I took a screenshot on March 1 when Italy had 1,128 cases and 29 deaths. They started their lockdowns on March 9. Now on March 16 they have 24,747 cases and 1,809 deaths. The United States reported 70 cases on March 1 and only 1 death. Today it says 4,727 cases and 93 deaths. The U.S. is short on testing kits and when they are more widely available later this week we'll get a clearer picture of how many cases we actually have. The numbers don't seem very high yet but we are being told by experts such as Dr. Fauci, the Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that they will grow exponentially and when they do we will be overwhelmed. He says that although what we are now doing seems alarming it will later on seem like it was not enough. Those are scary words. This message is also being broadcast to us by as countries such as Italy, South Korea, Spain, and Ireland.

Most of us don't know what to think. Because the news is coming from not just inside our country, but outside of it as well, I tend to trust it. But many question the information because it's so extreme and there are few to no signs of illness yet to the average person or anyone they know. They do have every right as Americans to state their opinions and ask questions. For me, since the information is coming from various countries and international health organizations that don't give a squat about America's politics, I do believe what they are telling the rest of the world. Also, if our media is trying to invoke fear to destroy the economy to bring down our current President then why would they go so far as to ruin their own stock values, businesses and cause job losses of their own friends and family, which consist of people from all parties?  Seems self sabotaging. In a few weeks I suppose we will all know much more about what should have been done, or not done during this time. 

One thing we can ALL agree on as Americans when this is over, is that our country, (as well as other nations) should have put a nationwide pandemic protocol in place decades ago. We've had plagues before like when Spanish flu hit in 1918 and Polio after that, as well as several other smaller ones since. They should have known this kind of situation would happen again someday. Having a protocol would have prevented these sudden and shocking societal and economic decisions that are making people panic buy and more seriously lose their jobs and businesses. 

I have faith in our country that we will learn from this and in the future have an actual plan we can set in motion early enough to avoid what is happening now.

What Would You Have Done if You were Harry and Meghan?

Leave it to two of the world's most famous millennials to make a precedent setting move that has shocked the world. Many have a strong opinion about the recent decision by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to live as private, independent people and no longer serve as senior members of the Royal Family, nor be financially dependent on it.  

A lot of people wonder, how can someone walk away from royal life? Isn't that as good as it gets? Everyone is clamoring to know and admire you, and you have seemingly endless financial resources and security for your entire life. What could be better than that? Actually, a lot, like living your own life on your own terms, something most of us Americans and non royals take for granted. 

Royal life has a distinctively dark side. Everyone knows the struggles Prince Harry's late mother Diana suffered due to her life as a royal, and the cruel treatment of her by some of England's press and paparazzi. It contributed greatly to her depression, anxiety, bulimia, and her death. 

I've often wondered how it felt for Prince Harry to lose his mother at 12 years old, leaving him to live almost his entire life without her; all the while knowing that she actually died trying to outrun the paparazzi! In addition, he has lived his whole 35 years on this planet under a microscope. Although the press did not follow him and William to school every day like they did before Diana's death, he still had to participate in many media events and photos in order to maintain peace with all of them.  Once he was an adult the media was all over him again. It's no wonder he has been depressed and anxious much of his adult life, as he has freely admitted. 

When Harry and Meghan got married in 2018 I wondered if she realized what she was getting into. I thought to myself would I want to be her? The answer was a definitive NO. Marrying a royal means that as soon as that ring is on your finger you have a full time job. Full time. Forever! There is no real line between your personal and your professional life. You're  under the spotlight with everyone, the press and the public judging your every move including your appearance, choices, your family, and your children. I don't care how great the guy is, and Harry seems like a good one, it's just too much for most people. I wondered how an American who was used to freedom of choice would handle it. The beautiful Meghan Markle was already a celebrity as we all know, so she had a better chance than many in navigating the shark infested waters of public life, but apparently the couple and now their baby Archie as well have been hounded by racially charged abuse and harassment. There is probably a lot the public doesn't and might never know about the reasons for this major decision. Perhaps Harry feels it's the only way to protect his new family. 

Most of the English press will not give Harry and Meghan any empathy or understanding for their choice to be free and to use social media as their way of communicating to the world, as they have specified. This is because if a member of the royal family says "I don't need the press I'll be my own press," then many others may follow suit. And if so then what use is the press? That is their fear. 

As far as finances go, Meghan and Harry will be just fine due to Harry's inheritance from his late mother Diana, Meghan's contributions as a former actress and his investments from his own salary, serving ten years in the Army and two tours of Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot. Their net worth is said to be around $35 million dollars. In addition they'll have opportunties for profitable ventures in the coming years as they are now no longer tied to the same rules as they were before.

If the royal family handles this correctly, acting like it's not a major issue and future Kings Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince George are the real royals anyway, it may just be an unexpected wave and not a major storm. It could even help the royal family to have a positive attitude in the press about it, (no matter what they may think privately), since the public loves Harry and Meghan and they will always be royalty in the hearts and minds of most.