Tag: blogging a to z

C is for Call Me by Your Name

I’m doing this Blogging A to Z thing for the month of April 2026. I did this 10 years ago, and it was pretty random. For this month at least, I’m focusing on queer media – movies, books, TV, etc., by, for, or about queer people.

Call Me by Your Name, based on a novel of the same name, tells the story of a summer romance between 17-year old Elio Perlman, played by Timothee Chalamet in his breakout role, and 24-year old Oliver, who is not given a last name in the book or the movie, played by Armie Hammer. I’ve not read the book, but I understand it’s told in flashback and Oliver not having a last name is a literary device that would make sense to the very erudite characters in the story. I am not that erudite and it just seems like a weird oversight.

But not as weird as casting someone who looked 35 to play a 24 year old doctoral student. Many people took issue with the seven-year age difference between the lead characters in this film, mostly because the younger character was a minor. Chalamet was 21 when he made the movie, but with his slight build and baby face, he passed easily for 17. Hammer, on the other hand, probably couldn’t have passed for 24 when he was 24. He’s also huge, so they really did look like an adult and child on screen together. It was kinda creepy.

But not as creepy as Elio’s parents’ reaction to the relationship. They practically set the whole thing up. First they invited a 24-year old stranger to live in their home and encouraged their teenage kid to spend time with him. Then, after they became aware of the relationship, not only did they not kick Oliver out and fire him, they sent Elio and Oliver off on a romantic weekend together. And months later, knowing that he absolutely crushed Elio’s heart, they continued to treat Oliver like one of the family.

When I saw the movie, there were five people in the theater. We all walked out together chatting about the movie, and all agreed on a few things: the movie dragged until the last 20 minutes, “what the hell was wrong with Elio’s parents?”, “why, exactly am I calling you by my name?”, and that Timothee Chalamet was going to be huge.

And look at him now – dating a Kardashian, making movies about ping pong, and dissing ballet and opera.

April 3, 2026
D is for Driving Home

I’m doing this Blogging from A to Z thing. Today is D.

“Take the left lane to keep right.”

Wait, what…?

That was an actual direction Google Maps gave me on the way home tonight.

I live 50 miles from my office. Obviously, I know my way home. But with both the home and the office being in the northern, more crowded, end of our most densely populated state, the likelihood of a traffic mess somewhere along the route on any given day is pretty good.

So the phone goes up on the dashboard mount as soon as I get in the car, and I say “OK, Google Now…navigate home.” (And yes, I know how silly it sounds. But you need five syllables to get the phone’s attention to use voice control and everything else I tried sounded even sillier. And yes, I know I could launch the app manually, but what fun is that?)

Google Maps finds the best route and occasionally tells me things like “We’ve found a faster route,” or, sadly, because I live in New Jersey, “There’s a 35-minute slow down ahead caused by an accident. You are still on the fastest route.”

And then I use the really bad words that used to require a dollar contribution to the curse jar that sat in the back seat when my daughter was little.

April 5, 2016
C is for Coffee
So I’m doing this blogging A to Z thing for the month of April. I get Sundays off. Day 3 – C.

“Hey, Steve, how do yo like your coffee?”

“Black, like I like…” OK, not going there.

I was 15 or 16 when I started drinking coffee. Mountain Dew just wasn’t making me jumpy enough. At the deli where I worked, “regular” coffee meant milk and sugar. I was a regular guy (yeah, not really…), so I started drinking regular coffee.

I switched to black about 10 years ago. Along with the unlimited carrot sticks, Weight Watchers lets you drink as much black coffee as you want. As my waistline clearly shows, I’ve long since given up subsisting on carrot sticks, but I’ve fully embraced the black coffee.

People tend to be a little incredulous when I say I drink black coffee. They make that face babies make when you feed them lemons and say “Reeaally? I have milk…” Then I have to convince them I actually prefer it black.

Similar conversations start when I say “Scotch, neat.” “Reeaally? I have ice…”

My parents were half ‘n half people. No bread in the house? No big deal – there were kids with bicycles living there. No half ‘n half in the house? GET IN THE CAR!!

So one day when I was about 10 years old, I was in the A&P with my dad – probably on an emergency half ‘n half run – and asked, “What exactly is half ‘n half?”

Dad, in his best terrible Dick Van Dyke cockney: “It’s aff me wife’s and aff me own.”

Ba dum bum! Best dad joke ever.

As someone who actually prefers my coffee with nothing but a mug, here’s my purely subjective rundown on take-out coffee, starting with the best:
1. Quick Chek.
2. Dunkin’ Donuts – better on ice.
3. 7-11.
4. Everyone else.
5. Starbucks. Way too bitter to drink black, but good if you want to add a bunch of stuff to it and skip dessert.
April 4, 2016
B is for Baking

Blogging A to Z (link over on the left). Day 2 – B.

I’ve always cooked, and I’m pretty good at it. Working in food service all through high school and college, you pick up a few things. So, in my kitchen, recipes are suggestions, not instructions.

I rarely baked, though, and when I did, it was always something that came in a mix – Bisquick pancakes, Jiffy muffins, Nestle Toll House cookies in a roll, etc. My reluctance to bake stems from the fact that you can’t adjust as you go. If I’ve got a sauce that doesn’t taste the way I want it, or isn’t the right consistency, I can fix that. Once a pie is in the oven – you just have to hope for the best.

Then a few years ago, my sister who hosts Thanksgiving every year asked me to bring dessert. I made apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bread pudding. And they all turned out really well.

On subsequent holidays, I tried other desserts, and over time, dessert has become my thing. I don’t do fancy decorations, and sometimes the things I bake look a little weird, but they always taste good.

Recently the challenge has been coming up with gluten-free recipes, because my niece has celiac disease. For Easter this year, I made a lemon-honey cheesecake with a raspberry glaze and coconut macaroons. I think it was my best work to date.

Right now, I’ve got a banana bread in the oven. I swapped out some of the flour in the recipe for ground almonds I had on hand, and added a little sour cream to the mix to cut some of the sweetness. It smells good. Hoping for the best.

April 2, 2016