Ed likes to watch re-runs of the Hatfields and McCoys, a film made by Kevin Costner, who also appears in it. I have watched some of it, not by plan, but just because it is occasionally running in the background.

I don’t understand the appeal of this film. It is about people I would never want to know. If they have redeeming qualities, I haven’t seen them. Any family that would allow a disagreement to escalate to the point of murdering the other family is so infantile that I see them as the precursors of Trump supporters and I have certainly had enough of them. Also, for me, the appeal of people who barely know how to read and write is marginal. Plot wise, best case, they all kill each other, end of film. Applause, lights up. Time to eat.

I haven’t been able to get excited by any film Kevin Costner has made since he became a producer-director, and any appeal I thought he had 30 years ago has been completely overshadowed by his choice to do stories I have no interest in.

Now I am going to rant about what is available on daytime TV on the weekends. It’s awful. For my treadmill 30-minute stint, I tune around to get old re-runs of Law & Order, or a movie without too many commercials (good luck with that). When all else fails, I get the home improvement, choose a house and renovate it channel. I like most of those. And it is always interesting to see how a house can be transformed. I do a lot of deep breathing to get me through, when the commercials are on. Most of what is available are sports channels and sell- you-stuff shows, with salespeople whose schtick is so programmed, I want to punch them out.

I wish I could tailor make our standard Dish contract package. Is it possible for me to say, for instance, please remove all religious programming, all Westerns, all sports events? I don’t even need a discount. I just want to avoid clicking on 100 channels to get past this stuff. Can they do this? It’s worth a phone call.

Ed did stream a retrospective of 40s/50s big band music recently. Despite my eschewing most popular culture, these bands and their music are immensely nostalgic for me. The Dorseys, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman. And who can say no to the Andrews sisters singing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”? I loved Ella Fitzgerald before she switched totally to scat. I don’t need vocal pyrotechnics. The voice quality and the melody do just fine for me. And the adulation of some modern day critics for some young thing with a wispy voice and her very own angst-ridden song, that she wrote all by her precious little self, makes me want to vomit. What is exciting about a voice that sounds like someone blowing air at you? Also, I didn't have teen angst. I always knew who I was. It's a gift. So their mewling is lost on me.

OK, I’ll shut up now.