Cher and Cher Alike

I'm at the local record store a short walk from my house. Everytime I buy something there, the clerk says something about the purchase, and usually it's an esteem boost, a slam dunk, a compliment about my taste in music. Sometimes he says nothing -- let's just call it a knowing glance of approval.

This time, the approval is 2/3 guaranteed, because I have two Bob Dylan CDs to buy, along with ... Cher: The Greatest Hits.

What will the clerk say, I think to myself, as I sift through my potential purchases? As I approach the register I stack the CDs with Dylan on top twice, and then Cher.

He checks out the first CD, looks at me, nods, and approves.

Next Dylan CD: He glances up, eyebrows raise. Approval.

Then he sees Cher's greatest hits. There's a pause.

"Wow, I didn't see that coming," he says.

I pay the bill and slowly leave.

Tony Awards Are Tonight

Let's. Go. La Cage!

More on that spectacularly entertaining 2010 production sometimesthis week.

Cars Have No Color Anymore Nowadays in Today's Society at the Present Time

So muted, so dull, so conservative: a blaze of whites, greys and blacks. No pizazz, no punch, where the heart of the matter is just blending in.

I'm talking about car colors. Look at a supermarket parking lot. Drive down the highway. Look outside your window.

I thought about this the other day while watching Bewitched. Look below at that glorious yellow convertible Bonneville that Samantha drives! And look at the other cars behind her, especially that "Hurley-blue" Dharma Initiative baby blue van, and the bell pepper red "Old Thyme" car.



We need more cars like this on the road now. Wouldn't it brighten our outlook?

Our current pallet of drab cars ... what does it say about us? Should we blame the sour economy? 9/11? I'm told by interior designers that "in" colors for housing interiors generally mirror the national mood. Is this what has happened to our cars? Did eight years of George Bush ring all the fun out of us, did the War in Iraq coat us in gloom so much that a colorful car became ... tacky and inappropriate?

I say let's keep hope alive and bring the color on.

Come on, bright orange "Brady Bunch kitchen" Ford Focus! Let's go, Powder Blue Altima! It's time for you, lime-green BMW 7-series!

Let's bring some color back to our cars, OK?