The Red House, as seen on TCM - Great Print, excellent sound and picture.

High quality Print of this 1947 Classic Noir!

 Another Crack in the Wall -

Comin' Down by the 'Fall'

The Russian 'Madonna' is the latest to smash at the wall ....

Alla Pugacheva, one of Russia’s biggest pop stars has issued a scathing condemnation of the war in Ukraine and she reported that the government may ostracize her for doing it.

Pugacheva, who has been a huge star in Russia for decades, said in an Instagram post on Sunday that the invasion of Ukraine had made Russia a "pariah," and was making the lives of Russian citizens “extremely difficult.” Her post also followed the government's decision on Friday to classify her husband, the Russian celebrity Maxim Galkin, as a foreign agent after he publicly criticized the war.

The singer, whose celebrity in Russia is similar in many ways to Madonna in the U.S. for her multi-decade longevity and quasi-satirical critique of national culture, used the social media platform to declare that she and her husband wanted peace, prosperity and freedom of speech in Russia—as well as “an end to the death of our children for illusory aims.”

The New Adventures of China Smith - Dan Duryea - Premiere Episode - The ...

Notes by Bill Russo

This is the first episode of 26 produced for syndicated television in 1952, starring Dan Duryea as a vagabond conman and part time Private Eye in Southeast Asia. A bush pilot is hired to drop a leather bag stuffed with money onto a makeshift cross in a remote field. It is the payroll for a large plantation and the owner says the pilot failed to deliver it - but we see in scene one that the pilot dropped the lot exactly at the proper spot. China Smith (Dan Duryea) decides to investigate the situation.

The gates of heaven/are crafted not of iron/ but from fluffy clouds

............................................(Standard Haiku poem by yours truly - 5 syllables first, then 7, then 5 again.) That's my stab at poetry - now you try it......

The Case Against C. Bloom

Destroyer of the Boston Red Sox 

 by Bill Russo

The first thing I want to say about the sorry state of the 2022 Red Sox is that people should stop being angry with C. Bloom.  Many people feel that if the "Bloom were taken off the "Rose" Sox, things would quickly turn around. But the truth is that C. Bloom is going to give the Red Sox exactly what Tampa Bay has - a near empty stadium.  Almost fan-less for every contest!

I have been a fan of the Red Sox ever since my favorite team, the Boston Braves went out of business in the early 1950s. 

I used to listen to Bob and Ray when they did the hilarious pre-game show for the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Braves games.   WHDH radio broadcast the games of both teams.  If you know Bob and Ray, then you can imagine what "Wally" Ballou would have to say about Mr. 'Boom', oops, I mean Bloom.  

I’ve seen a lot of baseball, the good years and the bad years – but 2022 is the worst year ever thanks to one man! No. Make that two men – the Candy Maker, Oh Henry and the inept gardener Bloom, who must be taken from the ‘Rose” Sox, or they will forever be the 'new' Washington Senators.

Washington, first in war, first in peace, and LAST in the American League!

With about 20 games to go as of Sept 8, the team is 5 games under five hundred, and about 20 games behind the dreaded New York Yankees. 

Now if this were Detroit, Texas, or Kansas City, it would be no big deal, they are used to being lousy. But we are talking about the Red Sox, once the best team of the 21st Century, winning it all four times in the opening fifth of this century.  Four Times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 2004, 2007, 2013, 

               and 2018!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But now, under C. Bloom, all the best players have been sold, stomped on, traded, or booted or whatever. Gone, Gone, Gone. If Bloom were a player, he'd be toiling for the Akron Rubber Ducks of the ‘D’ league - he's that bad! 

No on second thought, he'd be playing for this incarnation of the Red Sox - he's that bad! 

When Oh Henry's candy bars fell out of favor, he should have sold the Sox and concentrated on making those messy chocolate covered confections, instead of hiring Bloom, who as a gardener has grown nothing but disappointment and anger in the Fenway Orchard.

Bloom is the worst thing to happen in Boston sports since Harry Frazee.

If you don’t remember his name, you will recall the name of the player he gave to the Yankees, one George Herman Ruth – yes, THE BABE!

Despite all the negative things being said about C. Bloom; as I stated before, nobody should ever criticize "The Bloom" because he is bringing the sox to a par with Tampa.

Pretty soon Fenway Park will be just as empty as "The Trop".

Ladies and Gentlemen.  I rest my case!