Comedy, tragedy and storm doors.

Consider this a triple whammy blog post covering a wide range of important topics and the entire gamut of human emotions. Well, maybe not the ENTIRE gamut. You be the judge.

Comedy.
I hunted around on Amazon.com today to buy a A Damsel in Distress on DVD and discovered that it hasn’t been released for sale since the olden days of VHS tapes. But the good news is, TCM.com is taking advance orders for a first release expected in August so I signed myself up. In case you’ve never seen A Damsel in Distress, it’s an adorable comedy from 1937 with Fred Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen.

The story is staged in England and Fred does a routine with a stuffy madrigal choir singing the Gershwin classic “Nice Work If You Can Get It” that’s just about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on film aside from the pie fight in The Great Race and Ernest Borgnine’s song and dance in The Best Things in Life Are Free.

Tragedy.

Apparently host Robert Osborne is taking a three-month leave from Turner Classic Movies. I’m so despondent I might stop eating Mongolian chicken! An announcement on TCM.com says he’s “taking a short break from his TCM hosting duties for minor surgery, followed by a vacation.” No kidding, if TCM is lying about any of this I’ll have to start writing VERY SNOTTY LETTERS.

Storm doors.
Big news from Howdygramland ... we’re shopping around for storms doors! I want the kind with these really clever retractable screens so we can enjoy all the beautiful Texas weather that occurs annually for three to five days every April. We’ll probably buy them from Lowe’s and ask our handyman to do the installation for us. My color choice is almond (pictured at left) but I’m having a serious problem deciding what kind of finish I want for the handles — satin nickel, bright brass, oil-rubbed bronze or almond to match the doors (we’re buying two). If you’d like to help me decide please send an email and vote. (If you don’t want to vote you can still send an email just to say “Hi.”)

I meant to tell you something a few days ago but I forgot. The neuropathy pain in my left hand is finally gone — YEE-HA! — but apparently I’m stuck with 100% numbness in my thumb and first three fingers. This makes it nearly impossible to do ordinary things like typing because I can’t feel the keys any more. I’m trying to retrain my left hand, but I’ve been typing the same way since I was eight years old and change tends to make me crabby. For instance, I should probably move this paragraph to the “Tragedy” section except I don’t want to and you can’t make me.

Incidentally, all of you who entered our recent contest should receive your prizes by the end of this week. Thank you for reading this.