Peter Boyle and Pinochet

When I was 17, I confused an actor with his role. Peter Boyle, before Carroll O'Connor played Archie Bunker, played a bigot, but he wasn't "lovable" as some found Archie to be. As it turned out, though, Boyle was nothing like the character he played in the movie Joe.

The only time I ever literally fell out of my seat laughing was when I saw the movie Young Frankenstein in the scene when the monster, played by Boyle, was having...difficulties with a blind man, played by Gene Hackman. I thought this was so terribly funny, that I fell into the aisle of the movie theater, convulsing. YF is my favorite Brooks film.

Conversely, I didn't LOVE Raymond, so I never saw the TV show, except for one episode, for which he - reportedly - should have won an Emmy.

If you didn't know the best man at Peter Boyle's wedding was this British expat named John Lennon, I'm sure it'll be in every obit.
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When I was in college, Salvatore Allende was the democratically elected President of Chile. He was also a Socialist. This made the United States government, and President Nixon, so unhappy that they meddled in the affairs of Chile. This action, in concert with what was happening internally within Chile, led to a bloody coup that led to the ascension of Augusto Pinochet and a terrible period of oppression of the Chilean people, not to mention the loss of democracy. It wasn't the first time I was really ticked off with my government for meddling in the affairs of another country, and unfortunately, not the last.

But to those people who are angry with Pinochet's recent death, because they won't be able get their vengeance, I hope that they can find the peace within their hearts to let go of something they simply cannot change.
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My wife is a huge fan of Diana Krall. We must have at least 8 of her albums, many of which I gave her (and the new one's on the Christmas list). We've seen her live, albeit separately. She's also happy that Krall, like she, is an older mother. However, she's "not loving" the names that the 42-year-old singer, and her husband, some 52-year-old guy named Elvis Costello, bestowed on the twin boys: Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James. Frank James - wasn't that Jesse's brother?
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The Metropolitan Performing Arts Center (the Met) in downtown Spokane, Washington changed its name to the Bing Crosby Theater last Friday, for all you Der Bingle fans.
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The American Dialect Society voted truthiness as the word of the year for 2005, and now it's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2006. For some obscure reason, this brought to mind Julia Ward Howe. If she were writing The Battle Hymn of the Republic today, would the line read, "His truthiness is marching on"?