Monday Morning Movie Review: Gremlins (1984)

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Over the glorious Christmas Break Dr. Wife and I sat down to watch one of my favorite childhood flicks, Gremlins (1984; that’s an Amazon Affiliate link to a Blu-Ray of the film, along with Gremlins 2 and The Goonies; I received a portion of any purchase made through that link, at no additional cost to you).  She had never seen it before, and as it is a Christmas movie (at least, it takes place at Christmas), I thought we should give it a watch.  I also knew that she would love Gizmo, the plucky Mogwai (she did).

I remember a similar scenario many years ago with my older brother’s first wife:  we all sat down and watched Gremlins, which she had never seen before, and it was a delightful experience.  Dr. Wife was feeling under-the-weather when we did our viewing together, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.  I did as well, even though I did not enjoy wrapping Christmas presents (poorly) while we watched—ha!

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Lazy Sunday CCCXLXI: 2026

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It’s the fourth day of 2026, which works out well, because I typically feature three posts on Lazy Sundays.  So, why not look back at the first three days of this already-eventful year?

How’s 2026 shaping up for you so far, dear readers?

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

It Is My Birthday.

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Today is my 41st birthday.  Dr. Wife is taking me to our favorite local Italian place for dinner, and surprised me with a nice card and a cool LEGO set.  I spent the morning selling two big-ticket items on Facebook Marketplace—both of which have been dangling around my neck like an albatross for weeks—and we’ll be attending the swearing-in of new Lamar Town Councilmembers this afternoon (my term is done).

More updates to come!

Happy Saturday!

—TPP

Phone it in Friday CXVI: YouTube Roundup CLXXVI: Cute Animals

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Regular readers will know how much I love animals.  One of the more surprising changes as I approached middle-age is that I went from being aloof towards the animal kingdom to adoring animals.  I’m not sure what changed or what clicked, but getting my dog Murphy was definitely a big step in that process.

Regardless, this Friday I have a couple of cute animal videos from below and above the waves:

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TBT: Happy New Year from TPP!

The Portly Politico7 Comments

2025 was quite a year!  Dr. Wife and I often talk about how long the year felt, for good and for ill.

It was a year with many ups and downs.  Dr. Wife’s third year of residency has been brutal, but she is doing well as the co-chief resident.  My work schedule has been far more manageable, but financing and buying a house—as well as planning a wedding!—took up a good deal of my time in the latter half of the year (to Dr. Wife’s immense credit, most of the latter-stage wedding planning fell to her—she really nailed the fun details, things I would have neglected or not thought of).  My maternal grandfather passed away; several of her close friends and family have had personal and medical crises.

But we also got married—woooooot!—and bought a house.  We have great dogs and even better families.  We have immensely enjoyed spending so much time together over the Christmas holiday, even if we’ve been rocketing all over the Carolinas moving furniture.  We are excited for 2026!

What are your hopes and dreams for 2026, dear readers?  Leave a comment and let me know.  I think Dr. Wife and I primarily want to get moved into our house completely—and get her through residency!

With that, here is 1 January 2025’s “Happy New Year from TPP!“:

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Midweek Moving

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Dr. Wife and I continue our gradual moving process today with another big load.  This time, we’re heading from her current residence in North Carolina to our new house in South Carolina.

As part of this stage in our moving process, we stayed overnight at her parents’ new house in another part of North Carolina to dog-sit their precious pug:

Her parents gave us an[other] awesome recliner, so I decided to rent another U-Haul in their town to take advantage of our visit.

However, we ran into a bit of a logistical problem:  how do we get two cars and a moving truck down to South Carolina?  Alternatively, how do we get vehicles where they need to be without necessitating a six-hour-roundtrip drive to and from Dr. Wife’s place?

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Open Mic Adventures CLXI: “Clean-Shaven at Christmas”

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Christmastime is pretty busy for yours portly, which means my shaving routine tends to get disrupted.  I usually find myself nearing beard capacity by the time Christmas approaches, so I always take the time to do a thorough shave before the big day.

That being the case, I made up a little song, “Clean-Shaven at Christmas,” some years ago.  My nephews in particular love it, and will sing it—unprompted!—as Christmas approaches (I also taught them to wake up on Christmas morning shouting, “It’s Christmas!  It’s Christmas!”).

So it was that I decided to piece together a YouTube Short of the phases of my shaving with my voice accompanying.  There’s even a gross closeup of where I cut myself while shaving—gasp!

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Memorable Monday Morning Movie Review: Portly’s Top Ten Best Films: #3: The Thing (1982)

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In late 2022 through early 2023, Ponty and I did an exhaustive rundown of our Top Ten Favorite Films.  His was very thoughtful and deliberate; mine was more or less picking through flicks I had in my DVD collection.

That said, I did put some thought into my Top Three, and this flick definitely deserves its slot.

Another note:  I know I’ve been recycling movie reviews a lot this month, so thanks for bearing with me.  Dr. Wife and I have been moving and taking care of all sorts of other tasks while we have some precious time off together, so the blog has—as it so often does—fallen onto the backburner.  She and I watched 1984’s Gremlins last week, however, so I’m looking forward to reviewing that soon.

But I digress.  With that, here is 30 January 2023’s “Monday Morning Movie Review: Portly’s Top Ten Best Films: #3: The Thing (1982)“:

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Lazy Sunday CCCXLX: Christmas Cheer 2025, Part III

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Well, Christmas has passed, but I choose to believe that the Christmas season lasts until Epiphany, so we’re going to keep the good times rolling with a look back at some pieces from this recently-expired Christmas week:

Merry Christmas!

—TPP

Moving Saturday 1 of X

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I’ll have some classic SubscribeStar Saturday content up soon-ish, but Dr. Wife and I just got back from the first of what will likely be several days of moving furniture and such from our respective houses to our new home.  We managed to get all of the furniture her parents gifted us this summer, as well as some furniture I already had.  Additionally, we managed to unload some items at Goodwill.

We’re taking a minute to catch our breaths before indulging in some much-needed protein at the steakhouse.

Stay tuned for more!

—TPP

P.S.—We had a nice Christmas card from regular contributor Ponty and his significant other waiting for us at our new home!  It’s now festooning the mantle in our new living room.