'Coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in...'

Well, I bet you thought I walked out the door for that loaf of bread and disappeared into the night sky like ol' Jack Bauer. Never to be heard of again. But, you know how that goes. Sequels fly out of monkey's whatevers... Not that anyone's been asking but while you all were out enjoying camping, hiking, or 6 flags festivities, a crappy summer cold morphed it's way into my lungs and laid me low for weeks. And just as I flipped the switch on that bad boy, the dormant, snoozing, (60 years and counting) chicken pox virus spewed out a shingles jail break on my upper bicep. The only 'good' thing was that it missed my tattoos. The nerve pain was a mofo. Am I whining? Well, uh, yes. Luck of the draw? Why, yes. Vaccination? Uh, yeah.

1. BS. (Before shingles). Jim Jarmusch. His latest film, 'Only Lovers left
Alive.' Brilliant. Straight to cult classic. Tilda. Jim Hiddleston, and John Hurt who was fabulous as Marlowe. The soundtrack has some great chops. Detroit. Tangier. A stylized, moody, witty script filled with scintillating dialogue, Jarmusch glitter, whizzing across the celluloid and tickling the synapses.

2. PS. (Post shingles). Snowpiercer. Directed and written by Bong Joon
Ho. A huge box office hit in South Korea, the current buzz of the summer movies. In an off year for the industry, it's refreshing to see a film that in the end, pricks your cerebral cortex. Tilda again. In a supporting role. Chris Evans who surprises. One more time with the great John Hurt.

3. Migration of the children. El Presidente sent a plane full back to Honduras a couple of days ago. It is the first deportation of the waves of undocumented children and babes in arms. The thousands of children streaming over the border, leaving dangerous countries, have tossed gasoline onto an already fiery debate. On one side, humanitarians. On the other, citizens who favor deportation. Protests abound in border states. Uh, what was that song, Karen Carpenter sang? Huh. 'Bless the beasts and the children.' Drop a quarter in the juke.