My Childhood Introduction (and Immediate Farewell) To Boxing

Just another fond memory of my casually violent 1970s childhood.

A History Of Unintentional Violence (Towards Myself)

I can still picture the horrified expressions of my mother and father when I proudly entered the living room that evening to show off my ‘work’ with Dad’s razor.

A Father’s Vengeance, 1977 Style.

Two of my favorite films from 1977, but for entirely different reasons.

Nightmare Fuel Duel: Knife-Wielding Psychos & Killer Sharks Versus…Clowns?

Last night, my 8-year-old and I watched portions of the Horror movie 'greatest hits'/mashup Terror In The Aisles (1984). Here are some of his observations.

Today’s Homemade FAKE Criterion

 

The Cycle Of Violence Is Never Absolute

While my dubious reaction to being bullied, by becoming a bully myself, might seem to make the case for the existence of a "cycle of violence", it wasn't a cycle. It was simply a reactionary behavior, which ended as soon as someone gave me that fully-deserved, retributive beating.

My Eighties Adolescence: “Help! Help! I’m Being Oppressed!”

Now that a significant amount of time has passed, especially since I've become a parent, I’ve reflected back on that incident a few times and asked myself what, if any, lesson I took away from it. What I realized, even during my teenage years, was not to strike bargains, deals, compromises, etc., hastily. Think things through before giving your word to someone.

My Seventies Childhood: Beware Of Grown-Ups With Rope

Call it twisted, sadistic, thoughtless, or extreme, but it succeeded in convincing us that we had no idea what in the hell we were talking about.

Funny How Memory Works Sometimes

No matter how many times I explained this to my mother, I got the feeling she was never quite convinced.

Sidewinder’s View: Saturday Night Fever (1977) [SPOILERS]

Saturday Night Fever is not a polite movie. Or a feel-good buffet of sunny escapism. It's a frequently gritty slice-of-life character drama, stocked with complicated characters, illustrating some hard, uncomfortable truths.