In 10 Words or Less
Talking porn with porn stars

 

Reviewer’s Bias*
Loves: Documentaries, art photography
Likes: Adult-themed documentaries
Dislikes: Feminist politics
Hates: Cliched porn stars

The Film
Getting to really know a porn star seems like a popular activity, with many movies and TV shows dedicated to the pastime. Apparently, watching a person intimately intertwine their bodies with other humans isn’t personal enough, so we get movies like Thinking XXX, which combine the opportunity to hear people better known for moaning talk about their lives and careers, while still getting plenty of chance to ogle their well-known and oft-exposed bodies. It’s the best of both worlds for the perverted and curious.

With Aroused, photographer Deborah Anderson takes advantage of a nude, fine-art shoot with 16 porn stars to conduct interviews getting more in-depth with them. Avoiding any of their work to start, so she approaches the women with no preconceptions outside of their known profession, she chats with them while they are in hair and make-up, shoots them in the buff for her book, and then follows up with a bit of post-shoot discussion. Mixing them all together via topics and themes, you get a decent array of participants, from big names with cross-over appeal, like Jesse Jane, Belladonna and Lisa Ann (of Sarah Palin parody porn infamy), to lesser-known performers, like April O’neil and Brooklyn Lee.

Through the interviews, Anderson paints a picture of the women’s backgrounds, their work in porn, their views on sex and their thoughts on the industry, including negative experiences they’ve had. Though many fall hard into a number of porn industry cliches, like absentee fathers and heavily religious upbringings, many profess to just enjoy sex and money. The most interesting chat though has to be between Anderson and adult-film agent Fran Amidor, who is blunt and insightful about the industry, never sugar-coating the business’ unseemly elements, and the reality that the young girls entering porn today are mainly hungry for attention more than anything else, perhaps making Facebook, Twitter and Instagram gateway drugs for adult films. Her inclusion raises the bar tremendously when it comes to learning anything about this field.

An artist by trade, Anderson makes this film gorgeous to watch, shooting the first half in moody black-and-white, which lends an authenticity to the behind-the-scenes footage and makes the nude modeling a dramatic affair. Once the photos are shot though, the film changes to soft color, as we get up-close and personal with the actresses as they lay around and talk about their work. It has the feel of a round of “pillow talk” following a session of lovemaking, and the switch to color helps define these segments. Though never leering when it comes to showing off the women’s bodies, the camera takes on a definite sense of voyeurism, lingering on a curve here, a nipple there, letting the voice becomes a bit disembodied, as if we’re ignoring what she’s saying to check out her physical beauty. It may not jive with the feminism-focused quotes found throughout the movie, but it certainly makes for a work of art to behold.

The DVD
A one-disc release, this film is packaged in a standard keepcase, and features an aniated anamorphic menu with an option to play the film, select scenes, adjust the set-up and check out the trailer. Audio options include English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. There are no subtitles, but closed captioning is available.

The Quality
The anamorphic widescreen transfer on this film looks gorgeous in both black and white and color. The black-and-white footage has a nice deep contrast and a very clean image, while the color segments feature an appropriate saturation that gets the job done. There are no issues with compression artifacts or any other distractions, and the level of fine detail is very high (occasionally to regretful effect for some of the women) at least when the frequently-soft shooting style allows.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is surprisingly nuanced for a film that’s mainly about talking, with the center channel holding all the dialogue, and the two side front channels holding some voice echo, as well as a frequent subtle score and some bleed-over sound effects like a hair dryer. The rear speakers get some work when the score steps up, but for the most part the surrounds are just softly present.

The Extras
The only extra included is a trailer for the film.

The Bottom Line
Aroused is an unusual film. If you’re a fan of these actresses or you’ve seen other similar documentaries, much of this is a bit repetitive. But the feminist quotes peppered throughout make it seem like it’s aimed at female newcomers, who may be turned off by the second half’s frequent nudity and brief glimpses of hardcore action. Either way it’s a beautifully-shot film for fans of the female form. The disc offers a high level of quality, but nothing much in terms of extras. It’s certainly worth a look if a bit of nudity doesn’t bother you.

Francis Rizzo III is a native Long Islander, where he works in academia. In his spare time, he enjoys watching hockey, writing and spending time with his wife, daughter and puppy.Check out 1106 – A Moment in Fictional Time or his convention blog called Conning Fellow

*The Reviewer’s Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer’s biases lie on the film’s subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.

In 10 Words or Less
All-porn star rock band mockumentary

Reviewer’s Bias*
Loves: Good mockumentaries
Likes: Adult movies
Dislikes: Poor acting
Hates: Reality TV

The Show
Mockumentaries are much harder to get right than they seem. After all, you’ve got to have a really good team to make fiction seem like reality, especially when it comes to the acting. Of course, you could just say “Fudge it,” and shoot a feature-length episode of reality television instead, full of all the manufactured scenarios, drama and women yelling that make me avoid that genre like the plague. That certainly seems to be the tactic chosen by the makers of Tight, the story of the first all-female, all-porn star rock band and their ill-fated first tour.

I’m fully willing to admit that I came away from this film a bit confused, mainly about the band itself. Made up of a quartet of lesser-known porn starlets (Monica Mayhem, Layla Labelle, Tuesday Cross and Alicia Andrews), the group might be a real construction, a Spice Girls for the adult film world, a possibility mainly because of porn’s love of gimmicks and publicity, and the fact that, playing under their real porn names, they are authentically bad, playing small, miserable gigs. However, the film’s authenticity is just terrible, thanks mainly to one of the largest collections of bad acting ever seen in one film.

Now, a movie about a suffering, sub-par band’s awful tour experience can be a terrific thing, as we saw in This is Spinal Tap (a film name-checked on the cover in the inexplicable NY Post quote “the best mockumentary since Spinal Tap.”) That’s not the case here though, as the story is treated as more like reality-TV fodder, with the girls in the band (and manager Bree Olsen) constantly fighting, getting caught-up in forced situations and dealing with wacky side characters like Olsen’s cousin Joel, who co-manages the group in an obnoxiously awful manner that befits a lame sitcom than a mockumentary. Trying to care about the story as anything realistic is an unhealthy task, as the film changes course without motivation or logic several times before eventually finding its interest in the girls petering out far later than that of the viewers.

I certainly didn’t sit and keep track (staying focused on the movie itself was enough of a task) but if I had to estimate, the breakdown of the film is 50 percent screaming fights involving the band, 25 percent unenjoyable music (featuring some of the most repetitive lyrics ever recorded) and five percent gratuitous nudity and/or sex (all mostly softcover in nature) with the rest made up of seemingly random moments of pointlessness. If there are any plot points that don’t involve fighting or bad band performances, they are apparently easily forgotten within minutes of finishing the film’s excruciating 111 minutes. Perhaps if you are a fan of Bravo’s line-up of attitude-heavy, entitled women you might enjoy this stuff, but the terrible acting from pretty much everyone involved is probably too big an obstacle to overcome.

The DVD
The film arrives on a single DVD, which is packed in a standard keepcase with a four-page insert featuring an article about the film written by the co-author of Monica Mayhem’s autobiography. The disc features a static, anamorphic widescreen menu with options to play the film, select scenes and check out the extras. There are no audio options and no subtitles.

The Quality
The one thing the film got right are the visuals, as the anamorphic widescreen transfer offers the look of a shot-on-video reality show well and looks consistently solid, even during darker night and club scenes. The level of fine detail is moderately high and color is appropriate, along with the black levels.

Delivered via a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, the audio in this film is all over the place. It’s not even a matter of authenticity, as scenes in similar settings sound entirely different, which often makes it difficult to understand what’s been said. It’s too bad this isn’t the case during the musical performances, which are unfortunately pretty strong. The mix is simple and straight down the middle, and is free of any distortion.

The Extras
If this was an enjoyable film, the extras would be pretty exciting, because there’s a lotof them, starting with three bits of concert footage, as the band performs three songs in three different cities (running a total of 8:08.) If the movie didn’t prove how bad a band Tight is, these clips should make it as clear as a stripper’s lucite heels. If you didn’t get enough of Tight’s way-out sound, two music videos (6:18 in all) are also available. Surprisingly, they don’t sound as bad here in these low-budget greenscreen videos.

It’s not clear exactly what “Bonus Videos” means, but it includes “On the Road with Ron Samuels” (6:57), a series of appropriately cheesy “entertainment reports” from Tight’s tour. It feels like these were supposed to be part of the film, and they would have helped any mockumentary feel the film attempted to capture, but here they are. You also get Alicia’s audition (1:20), showing her playing the drums to a track. It’s not clear though whether this is supposed to be the real Alicia’s audition for the film or the film Alicia’s audition for the band. Either way, it’s a bit over a minute of mediocre drumming.

Despite the film being nearly two hours long, there’s a pile of 22 deleted scenes (31:19) here, from all over the film, featuring some subplots that didn’t make it into the film, but most of it repeats stuff seen in the film. The clips range from 15 seconds to 2:56, though most are around a minute to a minute and a half.

Also on the disc is a relatively robust photo gallery of tour pictures and promo shots (including one topless photo of Olsen) and a trio of trailers about Tight (the band and the movie) along with 10 other Wild Eye trailers. More annoying than anything in the film or the extras is the lack of any play-all options, which forces you to return to the menu over and over again.

The Bottom Line
It’s never a good sign when you’re watching a movie and think “Well this has to be just about done,” only to discover there’s still over 40 minutes to go. That’s just the case with Tight, a confusing attempt at making a mockumentary about the fringes of the porn universe (a topic that Christopher Guest should be developing right now.) There’s nothing worth suggesting about this entire endeavor, as even the pile of extras offers no reason to spend an additional minute with these girls. There’s got to be something better to do with your time than watch this movie.

Francis Rizzo III is a native Long Islander, where he works in academia. In his spare time, he enjoys watching hockey, writing and spending time with his wife, daughter and puppy.Check out 1106 – A Moment in Fictional Time or his convention blog called Conning Fellow

*The Reviewer’s Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer’s biases lie on the film’s subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.

Sometimes it takes a while for a TV series to warm up to its full potential, or for an already successful series to click with viewers initially unimpressed. I didn’t much care for New Tricks – Season Five when I reviewed it a while back, but stuck with it anyway and, very gradually, I warmed up to its four major characters, three retired police detectives recruited by their middle-aged (and female) detective superintendent boss to solve cold cases.

The BBC-produced program, now distributed all over the world, was humming along quite nicely, with seven-to-ten one-hour episodes per season since its 2003 debut, but it’s now in the midst of a major overhaul. One of its stars, James Bolam, left at the beginning of Season Nine, with two more (Amanda Redman and Alun Armstrong) scheduled to depart during season ten, airing in the U.K. this summer.

Reportedly, Bolam felt New Tricks had “become stale.” Yet, ironically, it was during the show’s eighth season that New Tricks enjoyed its highest ratings ever and, even more surprising, in terms of the writing New Tricks – Season Nine is a marked improvement over the past several years. Season nine’s teleplays are much more character-driven, and even the cold cases themselves, usually New Tricks‘ least interesting component, are more timely and ambitious.

What’s more, Acorn Media’s release of New Tricks – Season Nine is a vast improvement over the previous season’s DVDs. Season nine was clearly shot in high-def (and there’s a Blu-ray release in the U.K.) and that would account for the excellent image on these discs, but then why did past seasons look so murky and unattractive A 12-minute behind-the-scenes featurette is also included.

Scottish actor Denis Lawson (second from left) joins the cast

For those unfamiliar, New Tricks revolves around UCOS, the Metropolitan Police Service’s special branch dealing in cold cases. Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman) leads the (fictional) Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad, which is staffed with much older, retired officers: Brian Lane (Alun Armstrong, age 66 during season nine), Jack Halford (James Bolam, 77), and Gerry Standing (Dennis Waterman, 64).

Jack Halford announces his retirement at the beginning of the season premiere (“A Death in the Family”), an announcement so sudden his friends and colleagues suspect something is seriously wrong with the cynical widower. The episode taps into one of New Tricks‘ strengths, the relationships among the various characters, and by the end is unexpectedly touching and sorrowful. Indeed, the emotional legacy of Halford’s abrupt departure cleverly seeps into subsequent episodes, with Brian Lane, the most psychologically vulnerable member of UCOS, particularly suffering from this personal loss.

Brian also feels some early resentment toward the man hired to replace Halford, Glaswegian Steve McAndrew (Denis Lawson, then 64), a retired detective inspector initially brought in as an consultant on an unsolved missing persons case he’s worked on tirelessly since 2003. Low-key yet loquacious, at first he drives the other team members crazy but his obvious expertise, enthusiasm, and basic decency soon win over Sandra and Gerry, and, eventually, Brian.

Steve’s appearance is also the source of endless amusing banter contrasting London and Scottish living. When Steve complains about London’s fast-food restaurants Gerry counters, “All Scottish cuisine is based on a dare.”

Lawson is well known to British audiences for television series like Holby City and Bleak House, though Americans will know him as the publican in Local Hero (1983) and for his small but memorable role as fighter pilot Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Besides a brighter, less obviously theatrical UCOS set, New Tricks‘ cold cases are much timelier and more interesting, with many story ideas “ripped from the headlines,” as the saying goes. “Body of Evidence,” for instance, about the discovery of a long-missing computer expert at a university hospital morgue, evolves into an intriguing tale of computer hacking obviously based on the revelations of Anonymous. And the season-opener, “A Death in the Family,” about an unsolved murder 160 years ago, once solved may have repercussions with a secret, sensitive agreement between Britain and China. Another show, involving a man who tricks naïve girlfriends into believing he’s a government agent in order to steal their money and control their every move, may be fictional but has an air of originality and authenticity New Tricks has needed for a long time.

Video & Audio

Shot for 1.78:1 high-def exhibition, New Tricks – Season Nine looks great, up to contemporary television standards. The Dolby Digital stereo audio is good and supported by optional English SDH subtitles. Ten episodes are spread across three single-sided, dual-layered discs with a total running time of just under 10 hours.

Extra Features

The lone extra is a pretty good one: a 12-minute behind-the-scenes featurette with members of the cast and crew.

Parting Thoughts

A big improvement over past seasons, New Tricks – Season Nine is heartily Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes film history books, DVD and Blu-ray audio commentaries and special features. Visit Stuart’s Cine Blogarama here.

The TV Series:

The dated, enjoyable yet frustratingly one-note ’80s British sitcom Chance in a Million deals with your typical “boy meets girl, girl falls for boy’s quirkiness, they shack up and marry” setup. Although there’s a lot of absurd, tough-to-believe humor at play in each episode, the cozy rapport of the couple (appealingly played by Simon Callow and Brenda Blethyn) was the key to what made this show a modest hit in its home country.

For those used to the intricacies of modern TV, the premise of Chance in a Million‘s 18 episodes is simple to the point of being almost childish. Year one: the main couple meet-cute and her parents/coworkers adjust to him; year two: they get engaged; year three: we meet his family and they conclude the final episode in wedded bliss. Oh, and there are a lot of comic misunderstandings (sometimes involving scantily clad women) along the way. The whole shebang – an odd mishmash of lowbrow slapstick and adult romantic comedy – has been recently packaged for curious American audiences by Acorn Media in a nifty 3-DVD set.

Chance in a Million stars Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral) as Tom Chance, a dim yet affable fellow who seems to inadvertently cause disaster every where he goes. In the first episode, he meets shy librarian Allison Little, played by Brenda Blethyn (My Left Foot). Although he was looking for his computer dating service match (also named Allison) and she was seeking an unseen-since-childhood cousin (also named Tom), the two hit it off so splendidly that they wind up planning a date for that very night. Their first dinner at a ritzy restaurant runs afoul, however, when yet another absurd comic misunderstanding results in the couple getting covered in food. At episode’s end, Tom offers to help out the temporarily homeless Allison by (platonically) putting her up at his place, but he runs into trouble when the police find him maneuvering a panty-clad Allison through his apartment window.

From the first notes of the opening credits theme (a perky rendition of “Taking a Chance on Love,” arranged by British E-Z Listening maestro Ronnie Aldrich), Chance in a Million establishes itself as relaxed fluff. Tom and Allison’s world is a finite place with only a few ancillary figures (like Allison’s flummoxed parents, hilariously played by Hugh Walters and Deddie Davies). Events happen slowly and there isn’t a lot of character growth, which in Tom’s case is frustrating. Although Callow gives it a game, enthusiastic try, the character is merely a pile of quirks – which include an odd, pronoun-free method of speaking and his way of finishing off pints of lager in a few gulps. Blethyn’s Allison is a more satisfyingly full-bodied (physically and otherwise) character. Indeed, one of this show’s few pleasures is Blethyn’s surprisingly adeptness at sitcom acting; she pulls off Allison’s growing assertiveness over the three seasons well. It helps make the show more bearable, especially considering that each episode plays out exactly the same – far-out coincidence, humorous misunderstanding, lather, rinse, repeat. It may have made for familiar mirth on a week-to-week basis, but shows like this aren’t too conducive to modern-age binge watching.

Produced by Thames (dig their logo, preserved on most of the DVDs’ episodes) and airing on the U.K.’s Channel 4 in 1984-86, Chance in a Million stands as a good example of how different UK sitcoms were from their American counterparts. Hollywood product of the day was generally sanitized, professionally made, and full of jokes while making room for the occasional schmaltzy, so-called “moment of shit” just before the end credits. British sitcoms like Chance in a Million were less interested in moralizing, however, with more of an accent on physical/visual gags (surprisingly, there’s a lot of influence from The Benny Hill Show going on here). Another hallmark of U.K. sitcoms is the lesser production quality – the dowdy clothes, modest set decor and harsh, retina-burning lighting on Chance in a Million make it as much of a product of British TV as the actors’ accents. One style is not necessarily better or worse than the other – it’s just different. Unfortunately, for every Fawlty Towers or Black Adder that holds up well to repeated viewings, there are dozens of Chance in a Million-type entertainments which may as well be forgotten as soon as they’ve been watched.

Long story short: if you enjoy the lead actors or quirky, absurd humor, check it out. If you don’t, avoid.

The DVD:

Video

Shot on videotape with that ever-present bright lighting, the 4:3 image on Chance in a Million is as decent as can be expected for vintage ’80s television (at least the packaging warns of occasional flaws). Except for a strobing video effect that sometimes popped up in the corner of the final episode, the show looks good – and the mastering, with one 6-episode season on a disc, is fine.

Audio

Chance in a Million‘s sole audio track is a nicely mixed yet underwhelming track with clear dialogue, very little distortion, and no obvious flaws. Optional English subtitles are also provided on all episodes.

Extras

Acorn has thankfully ported over some interesting bonus content from Chance In A Million‘s U.K. release, most notably an Alternate Pilot Episode which reveals what worked about the pilot as it aired (Callow and Blethyn’s chemistry) and what didn’t (the restaurant scene and final police confrontation, completely re-cast and re-shot). There are also Audio Commentaries on four episodes from Simon Callow, joined by series writers Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegan. The tracks mostly consist of the three men jovially making observations on the onscreen action, but their fun and have a few good tidbits. An admiring, text-only Note from Simon Callow rounds out the extras.

Final Thoughts:

A cutesy-poo sitcom from Thatcher-era England, Chance in a Million mines much of its wild humor from unbelievable coincidences and the quirky appeal of leads Simon Callow and Brenda Blethyn. Sounds like a hoot, but the show gets bogged down in its own repetitiveness – which makes it a curiosity, at best. Acorn’s nicely packaged DVD set collects the entire series on three discs. Rent It.

Matt Hinrichs is a designer, artist and sometime writer who lives in sunny (and usually too hot) Phoenix, Arizona. Among his loves are oranges, going barefoot and blonde 1930s movie comedienne Joyce Compton. Since 2000, he has been scribbling away at Pop Culture weblog Scrubbles.net. One can also follow him on Twitter @4colorcowboy.

THE MOVIE:

“Let me entertain you, let me make you smile…”

Originally aired on PBS, the documentary Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy explores the storied connection of the two halves of its title, asking the question, “Why were so many famous American composers in musical theatre also Jews” The Gershwins, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim–just about everyone but Cole Porter was Jewish. Even performers, including Barbra Streisand and Zero Mostel.

Using archival performances, new interviews, and, at least early in the show, specially recorded songs by current Broadway performers like Matthew Broderick and David Hyde Pierce, director Michael Kantor looks at the origins of contemporary Broadway in Yiddish theatre, the connection of the art form to the early 20th-Century version of the American Dream, and how the pervasiveness of successful songs influenced pop culture and vice versa. Traditions were assimilated as outsiders found a new voice in a new world.

Critics and contemporary composers decode the hidden messages in the lyrics, while historians and narrator Joel Grey share details of the immigrant experience and the cultural backdrop, including the racially and ethnically mixed melting pot of New York, that gave rise to a truly American art form. Descendents of well-known writers also share biographical details. Amidst all the talk, of course, are plenty of clips from the songs. “Rhapsody in Blue,” “Swanee,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” “September Song,” “Somewhere”–there are plenty of earworms here, and it’s fascinating to hear how many of them transformed a specific experience into a universal feeling. Most of the stories in these plays aren’t Jewish (Fiddler on the Roof being an important exception), and yet all of them are. There is also a surprising patriotic streak running through many of the standards. (Irving Berlin wrote “God Bless America,” after all.)

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy makes both for a great narrative and also an education. In much the same way cinema is still indebted to the early pioneers, so too is 21st-Century Broadway still in thrall to its formative successes. Kantor carries the thread through history, from the early Jazz Age to WWII, social change and civil rights, and finally a more open society that allowed for stories that were more explicitly Jewish, such as Cabaret or even The Producers. Now Spamalot can even include a whole song about needing Jews if you want to have a hit play. The outsiders became the insiders, the product of an alternate history running parallel to life as we know it, reflecting on our existence and, at its best, making the world a better place through entertainment. Which is how Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy functions, as well: informative, but with pizzazz.

THE DVD

Video:
The widescreen presentation of Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is a little disappointing. Colors are fine, and the archival material is nicely cleaned up, but the overall resolution is soft. There is a grainy haze over much of the new footage, as well as lots of jagged edges and blurs.

Sound:
The 5.1 audio mix on the documentary has good volume and clarity, though it’s mostly centered in the front speakers and does not have much of an immersive quality.

Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired are available. That includes the bonus disc.

Extras:
Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is a two-disc set, with the documentary on the main DVD and a bunch of bonus material on the second. The DVDs come in a standard case with two separate trays, a slipcover, and a sixteen-page booklet containing information on many of the contributors to the program as well as added liner notes.

The video bonus materials, which together total three hours, are split between two categories: extended interviews and bonus performances. There are twenty-five interview subjects, each of which you can choose from individually, including lyricist Hal David, Eric Idle, Steven Sondheim, Marc Shaiman, and Mel Brooks. In terms of songs, there are three: composer Adolph Green’s daughter Amanda Green singing “If You Hadn’t But You Did” (Two on the Aisle), Stephen Schwartz performing Sondheim’s “Magic to Do” (Pippin), and Shaiman doing his own “A Doctor, A Doctor,” which he wrote for his sister’s wedding. These are not necessarily full performances, but off-the-cuff renditions for Kantor’s camera.

There is also a text biography of Joel Grey.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The melodic documentary Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is as entertaining as it is instructive, detailing the history of a truly American art form and exploring why its major practitioners have mostly been Jewish. The show is full of great archival performances, displaying how hummable most of these tunes really were, and coupling them with fascinating stories that speak to the history of a nation. Recommended.

Jamie S. Rich is a novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for his collaborations with Jo�lle Jones, including the hardboiled crime comic book You Have Killed Me, the challenging romance 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, and the 2007 prose novel Have You Seen the Horizon Lately, for which Jones did the cover. All three were published by Oni Press. His most recent project is the comedy series Spell Checkers, again with Jones and artist Nicolas Hitori de. Follow Rich’s blog at Confessions123.com.