A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Graphic by Open-ClipArt Vectors from Pixabay In these dark and scary times when most of us ﹘ except virus deniers, stubborn individualists, skeptical libertarians, the occasional inebriated Spring Breaker and #CoronaKatie ﹘ are coping with the New Normality of self-quarantines, social distancing, and trying to remember the symptoms of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, humor is an excellent and essential coping mechanism. Now, I know that laughter is not the best medicine to fight the virus itself; avoiding infected persons, washing hands with soap and water, staying away from places where 10 or more people gather, and being mindful of your surroundings are the best preventive measures. But in a world where the reports of more cases and more deaths assail our eyes, ears, and nervous systems on a 24/7 basis, humor ﹘ even gallows humor ﹘ helps keep us sane and a bit less stressed out. So, without further ado, here are some suggestions for Broadway musicals with a COVID...

Map showing active cases of COVID-19 throughout the world as of 6:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time. Credit: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). An open message to my conservative friends (those who will listen to reason, anyway): The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has hit our shores. As of this morning, there are 4,661 confirmed cases in the United States. 85 persons have died; 17 have recovered. The others are still sick. And, as more tests become available to healthcare workers, the number of COVID-19 patients will increase exponentially. So will the deaths. This is not alarmism; this is the reality of how viral diseases spread. I don't make it a habit of visiting my Trump-supporting friends' social media pages, but (at least on Facebook) my newsfeed often shows me posts from my conservative friends' timelines and comments from posts. The least offensive and relatively harmless posts are ones that are of a religious ...

The number of confirmed cases and fatalities as of March 15, 2019. Credit: Johns Hopkins University.  Life in America in the time of Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19): An ex-beauty queen from Nevada, Katie Williams , has become the poster child for entitled, coddled, and contrarian conservatives who laugh in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. On Saturday, Ms.Williams, who became notorious last year as the Trump-supporting Miss Nevada who was uncrowned by the Miss Nevada organization for violating its ban on political commentary on social media by contestants, bragged about going to a local Red Robin burger joint in defiance of the federal government's recommendation of social distancing to prevent COVID-19's spread. In response to a tweet by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY 14 District) that called for young adults (in the 20-30 age bracket) to avoid gathering at restaurants and bars to help contain the coronavirus, Ms. Williams had this to say: Screenshot of the infamous ...

Screenshot of a COVID-19 tracking map based on figures collected by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSCE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) I don't have any patience for fools. Especially fools who tend to see everything in terms of "conservatives vs. liberals," specifically when those folks tend to support that most foolish of Presidents, Donald Trump. As you are no doubt aware, the world is in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan, China late last year (hence its label COVID-19) and, thanks to the smaller-world effects of jet travel, global trade, and cruise ship tourism (among other factors) has spread to the rest of good ol' Planet Earth. Because it's a novel virus, like SARS was in the early 21st Century, so far there is no vaccine or quick-remedy medicine. Unlike Stephen King's fictional "Captain Trips" superflu from his 1978 novel  The Stand, COVID-19 doesn't have a 99.9% mortality rate that wil...