With the new year has come a new realization . . . or, more accurately, a new willingness to admit to something I’ve realized for a while now: I’m getting stale.

Now, cut that out! Things aren’t that bad . . . yet.

It’s actually this blog that’s getting stale. Because I have, for the most part, been focused on the daily news — some good, but mostly depressing or at least worrisome — and it is, by its very nature, repetitious. I mean, the events in Russia, Ukraine, China, the Middle East, etc., are ongoing, day after endless day. The cataclysmic wildfires in California are still raging. Donald Trump is still president-elect of the United States. And Elon Musk is still . . . well . . . Elon Musk.

Fortunately for the world, there isn’t always something new and disastrous to write about on a daily basis. And I’ve tried searching for good news, happy events, things that make you say “Awww!” And there aren’t a whole lot of those, either.

So I’ve decided to try to make stuff up on occasion — today being the first of those occasions. And, borrowing from an old friend who used to create the annual Library Quiz in my former law firm, I thought I’d start with a little quiz of my own . . . though not nearly as cerebral as his were.

If anyone is still reading at this point, I invite you to reboot your brains by identifying the books, movies, and TV series that featured the following characters, and — for extra Brownie points — the respective authors or actors. There are no prizes, no winners or losers; it’s just for fun.

These are, by the way, some of my personal favorites; it is not a comprehensive list of anyone else’s idea of the “best” or “classics,” though I have tried to avoid really obscure works.

So, without further ado, here we go, starting with an easy one:

Boo Radley (book and movie)
Raskolnikov (book) (hint: Russian, as though you hadn’t guessed)
John Galt (great book, terrible movie)
Bartholomew Scott Blair (book and movie)
Roxie Hart (movie and Broadway show)
Tevye the Dairyman (book, movie and Broadway show)
Lara Antipova (book and movie)
Holly Golightly (movie)
Josiah Bartlet (TV series)
Melanie Hamilton (book and movie)
Lady Mary Crawley (TV series)
Count Aleksey Vronsky (book and movie)
Vladimir Putin (trick question, to see if you’re paying attention)

Well, that baker’s dozen should be enough to keep you Googling for at least five minutes, which — if you’re anything like me — is about the limit of your patience with such nonsense.

But this little exercise did serve its purpose, which was to keep my mind occupied for a half hour or so trying to remember anything I have read or seen in the last 50 years — which, I have to admit, also becomes more challenging every day.

What a load of fun!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/12/25