Tales from the Corners

With the recent passing of actress/writer Carrie Fisher, I'm reminded how the entire 'Star Wars' franchise impacted those of us in Generation X. Back in December 1979, Dan Freed and I were well into our film-making hobby. On a lark, we filmed our first Sci-fi send-up titled The Star Lords Here is that clip

From Atlanta Jewish Life magazine March-April 2002 As rabbi of the second largest Conservative congregation in the nation for 20 years, Rabbi Arnold Goodman has made quite an impact on Atlanta. As he retires from the rabbinate, congregants and community members alike reflect. By Robert J. Nebel The glass front doors to Ahavath Achim (AA) Synagogue in Northwest Atlanta have been pulled open countless times since the building was constructed off Peachtree Battle Avenue in 1958. Many different people – Jews and gentiles alike – have passed through the doors: rambunctious youngsters, troubled adolescents, young couples, divorcees, widows and widowers, and the elderly have come seeking faith, guidance, reassurance and community. For the past 20 years, they have also come for Rabbi Arnold Goodman, the Conservative 2,100-member family congregation’s senior rabbi. In August, Goodman will be exiting the synagogue’s glass doors for the last time, as he retires and moves to Israel

Director/Producer/Writer Mel Brooks plants one on George Michael in 1985. Michael died at age 53 on 25 December, 2016 Image from the Whamerica page Carrie Fisher died at age 60 on 27 December, 2016 From Pinterest page Just like some on this planet, I'm a tad tired about the "2016 was s*it" meme. Enough already! It's a coincidence that a collection of uber-talented famous folks passed away this year with both George Michael and actor Carrie Fisher during the last week of the year. One Facebook Friend observed that with the smattering of media outlets these days, we're going to see more humans become famous. Thus, we will probably always see multiple famous people pass away in any given year. Certainly we had an unprecedented U.S. presidential year and tragedies in Orlando, Paris and Berlin. Those are stories that could happen at any time, anywhere and any year. It almost sounds somewhat childish and paranoid to scream about how terrible a given year has

Morguefile/kconnors The late comedian George Carlin had a bit in his act about the environment. It went along the lines of that it’s not the planet that is screwed up, but rather, its people. Nothing could be more true than what has happened in the ruling to allow movers and shakers in Sea Island to develop homes on and near an environmentally sensitive area. On December 22, a Fulton County, Georgia judge ruled that the Sea Island Co. can build a sea wall to protect its beach and build eight highly expensive homes to be built on what is known as a “spit” of land that runs below the Cloister Hotel on the island. The project that we’re talking about in this blog post is a site where the Atlantic Ocean continually ate away at its beach during this past autumn’s Hurricane Matthew. So why build such expensive structures when ultimately it will all be washed away at some point in the future? One could argue that a man-made sea wall could be beneficial to save and preserve

Remembering at this time of the year when this 1999 profile on me was produced:

Morguefile/diannehope Whenever we get towards the end of any given year, I’m amused by some of the buzzwords/terms that have cropped up in pop culture. I’ve done this before, but for some reason, I’m more intrigued with these buzzwords than ever before as 2016 comes to a close. I know that I’m missing a lot of buzzwords/terms here so that is why I inter-wove other terms within some of these listed items. Still, I’m missing a lot because this was a “yuge” year in pop culture. 1.     “Alt-right” Even syndicated talk radio host Sean Hannity is befuddled over this term to describe those who hold uber-arch conservative political and cultural views. The term permeated the American lexicon during the latter stages of the United States 2016 presidential election. Okay, I always make the disclaimer that I take no position on the issue. What I will say is that combining computer keys with labeling certain folks in society seems to be a fresh trend, but I must confess that it almost seem

With so much talk about Russia these days, I’m reminded of our 1982 film ‘re-make’ of Comrade: X. In our version, hero Stephen Norman Harlow stumbles upon Russian plans to take over the White House. The question that comes to mind these days is, “Were we then-15-year-olds well ahead of our time?” Makes one wonder.

Wow, it looks like U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump has some words about HBO's "Westworld"

from Morguefile/thesuccess After participating in my second half marathon (and eighth race overall in the past 16 months) on Thanksgiving Day, I was thankful that the wet weather was holding off on that day, but knowing that we needed the wet stuff. Me and millions were even more thankful that we finally received some rain during the last few days  of November! As the North Georgia wildfires were burning while getting some containment, the weather gurus were filled with anticipation of the impending moisture. It was party time in one sense as we put a slight dent in our drought. The downside of the recent system featured four tornadoes on November 30. At least three of those twisters were EF1 tornadoes leaving damage, but thankfully no one was hurt. In fact, Cobb County's tornado siren got a workout. The tornadoes' aftermath left us with true December temperatures with lows in the 30s - which is something that we haven't experienced in a long time. Didn't w