Once again, Easter comes right in the middle of Passover. How many fun foods can one girl eat in a week???

Which do I love more?

But I’m celebrating one extra “holiday” this week, as well. The first night of Passover, which was Wednesday, fell on the same day as my favorite day of the year. So do you know what that special day was? I can tell you the answer now without joking—it was April Fool’s Day! It’s the only day of the year that Mr. X tells me he loves me, (so he can get the words out of his system, but then take them right back, to keep me on my toes.) And that’s no joke. But I love it! (And a big thank you to all the gullible pals who I “got” once again this year!)

As for Easter, I totally hadn’t realized the date of that holiday this year, (it’s this coming Sunday, in case you all were out of the loop, too,) and had made plans to review a play that day! Wanting to always be reliable, I’m forging ahead with those plans, and hope that at least the audience members will be a tad festive for the holiday. I know that I will! (But will I choose to rock my “chick in a colorful basket” earrings or my yellow Easter e-word ones? How’s a girl to choose?)

A passover set-up at a seder I once went to. Photo by Karen Salkin.

The main reason that I care about Passover is to pay tribute to my heritage. And, okay, because I have affection for the special foods, too. (I first made my nutty—in both senses of the word—Tower of Matzahs recipe during the Pandemic Passover, and let me tell you—that odd dessert is delicious! It was even during the crazy time when I didn’t have the proper ingredients during that lockdown! If you want to give it a whirl yourself, here’s the recipe for you: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/recipe-tower-of-matzahs-recipe.)

Pretty Easter.

And the colors and camaraderie of Easter are what draw me to that special day. I’ve loved it ever since I starred in my third grade Spring play; at the end, I donned a flowered chapeau while the rest of the cast, (my classmates, of course,) serenaded me with a rousing rendition of In Your Easter Bonnet.

No matter what you do this week-end, if you’re a celebrant of either holiday, or both, I wish you the happiest Passover and the hoppiest Easter! (Goony of me, I know.)

I’m always all in on St. Patrick’s Day. Mr. X recently asked me why that is, (after seeing me celebrate it for a gazillion years,) and I replied because it’s just such a fun, easy and colorful holiday.

What I wish us all today!

But I can’t do much for it today, for several reasons, chief among them being that it’s also the first day of…March Madness!!! For you nescients out there, that’s the college basketball championship tournament, which takes place over the next three weeks. I try my best to watch every second of the incredible action. (No worries—I’ll report on it all at the end.)

On top of that, today is two days after the Oscars, so I’m still working on my review of all that madness. (I hope to publish it tomorrow.) I’m also writing theatre reviews and articles about the various Oscars Gifting Suites. Let me tell you, March is a crazy month!

So, I’m making today’s celebration of St. Paddy’s Day short and sweet. The most important thing to remember about the occasion is that if you do not wear at least a wee bit of green, people who are doing the day right have carte blanche to pinch you!!! Mark my words. Even if you’re just sitting in the house with one other person! I’m always safe because I polish my nails in varying shades of emerald for the special day, even if it’s just Mr. X and me sitting in front of the TV.

And if you’re craving my usual March 17th articles, complete with sweet and interesting Irish blessings and pix of all my green manis though the years, just go to one of the two “Search” boxes on the right of the site, and enter the holiday’s various titles there. Or go to the “Date” archives, also on the right side, and look at every “March” throughout the years, and you’ll find them there.

Happy St. Paddy’s Day! Have a wee good one. And let your leprechaun flag fly!

Exactly as it happened four years ago, Valentine’s Day is actually tomorrow. And the romantic holiday being on a Saturday means that it will be absolutely crazy to go out to celebrate.

Romantic ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

So, I suggest that everyone maybe emulate Mr. X and me, because, also as it happened that quadrennium ago, Valentine’s Day is coming right smack in the middle of the Winter Olympics!!! So, since love is what this holiday is about, I’ll be doing what I love—watching those Olympics!!! So, Happy Valentine’s Day to them and me! (And Mr. X, as well—he enjoys the Games along with me, but he doesn’t get as nutty over them as I do! Does anyone, really?)

Complicating Valentine’s activities for many couples is that this is also the NBA All-Star Week-end. So tomorrow is All-Star Saturday Night, which is one of the favorite nights all year of sports fans everywhere, including yours truly, of course. So that might cause a few problems for couples all over this country—many guys will want to stay in and watch the fun proceedings, while their ladies will be insisting on going out! (Stereotypical of me, I know. But think about it a minute, and you’ll realize that I am correct.) I feel bad for all of them.

So I hope that Mr. X knows just how lucky he is to have a bae who wants to spend Valentine’s Day and Night at home even more than his hermitic self does!!!

I’ll end this article about this love-centric 2026 weekend by declaring my love for all my readers and followers; I hope the feeling is mutual. So, to all of my supporters, and even those visiting INAM for the first time, I wish you a super Happy Valentine’s Day! Much love from me to you.

I don’t have a lot to say about today or tonight except to congratulate us all for making it through yet another super-tough year. And to hope that, in these very trying times, the end of 2025 brings the end to many of our troubles, as well. And that tomorrow can be some form of clean slate, even though I know it’s never really exactly what we expect.

This says it all today.

I never love getting political in this e-zine, but sometimes I must express my disdain for all the destruction caused by Orange Hitler and his henchmen. I recently noticed that at this time nine years ago, (in 2016!,) I wrote: “I usually don’t look too far ahead in life, (rather, just forward to fun events,) but I found myself trying to imagine just what I’ll have to write on this page next year at this time. I just hope that the incoming administration of buffoons and dangers hasn’t gotten us into another World War by then.” And all these years later, I’m more trepidatious than ever. I really can’t believe we’re experiencing all of those horrors again, and actually worse ones this go-round! I have to keep telling myself, “Only three more years,” and pray that we still have a country, and world, by then, for normal leaders to fix.

So now, to bring the room back up a little, let me advise that, when the present gets to be a bit too much to handle, let’s all try to focus on positivity for the foreseeable future. And when we look back over the past year, also try hard to concentrate on the good times that we’ve had in the previous twelve months, no matter how few that may be.

My sincere thoughts to all of YOU!

And most importantly right now, here’s your two-week notice for the most special event of every year, (to me, at least,) my birthday! (January 14th, if you can’t figure-out what the exact date will be in two weeks.)

But for now, I wish each and every one of you a very Happy New Year!!! Please stay safe out there! And I’ll meet you all right here again next year. (That’s my perennial dumb joke meaning in my very next column, which will be on Monday.) See you then!

Even though Mr. X and I still haven’t gone back to decorating our house or getting each other Christmas presents, (as we did majorly every year until we lost my beloved mother on Christmas Day fourteen years ago,) we have had a lovely holiday season, as I hope that all of you also have.

A decoration at the Rodeo Drive Tree Lighting. Photo by Karen Salkin.

In this past month, I’ve gone out with friends a lot, including to parties and to see special plays, musicals, and dance shows. But my usually-reclusive bae came out with me a few times, including to even one soiree! That makes not just me happy–he appears to put a little smile on the faces of everyone who sees him! 

But we mainly celebrate the season in the most plebeian of ways—by watching as many Hallmark Christmas movies as possible! A bit nutty of us, I know.

A tiny tree that I drew on a holiday poster at a theatre. No worries about vandalism, though–they asked us to do that! Photo by Karen Salkin.

Mr. X is the one who actually began that tradition for us. After several years of just moping around, dreading Christmas because of the sadness it had come to represent due to my mother leaving this level of life on that date, he decided the gooniness of those movies was just the distraction we needed. And he was correct!

He really doesn’t want to watch them anymore, but guess what? I do! I like a silly tradition. But at least this year, when the stories start off awful, I let us abandon them, and move on, which I never did before.

Half the fun is rating them! There were few “A”s this year, but the ones that did rate that highest mark were actually sort-of wonderful. (As many of you may already know, my little mother was an English teacher, and when she loved an essay, she gave it an “A++ Adorable!” I’m still looking to give that one out myself.)

Here are our faves this season, (even if some of them are actually from years past):

And a long time after I drew MY little tree, this one appeared in a TV movie! Just sayin’. Photo by Karen Salkin.

Christmas By Starlight—The absolute best one! I gave it an A+++! The two stars, Paul Campbell and Kimberley Sustad, even wrote this very amusing and heartwarming story! (But, alas, they are married to other people in real life.)

Northern Lights of Christmas—I pretty much predicted what the ending would be from the get-go, but I wasn’t sure exactly how we would get there, so that made it interesting. And, outside of the usual cannot-possibly-get-all-of-that-done-in-just-a-few-days scenario, the rest was actually believable.

’Twas the Date Before Christmas—I loved this very different one, with two attractive and believable leads.

Oy to the World—This one got an A on just the clever title alone! The story, obvi, includes a synagogue and a church. Of course. Very cute. Being Jewish myself, the girl’s family kept cracking me up. And the guy, Jake Epstein, is a Broadway musical star, so his few tunes here are particularly good.

Mr. X and my famous Christmas Fireplace sweater that we trade off wearing during the holidays. Can you guess how that fireplace keeps going? Photo by Karen Salkin.

Christmas on My Mind—This is yet another silly amnesia tale, but it’s still cute. And I liked that the two significant others of the leads are attractive themselves, and not the usual buffoons.

My Southern Family Christmas—I liked it more than Mr. X did, most likely because it’s very different from the norm. It stars a very plump young woman, and has just a hint of romance, which is actually a sort-of believable one. And it’s a story of finding her bio dad, which I’ve never seen in a Hallmark movie before. So, I give it credit for all of that.

There is one that I gave a “D” to. I actually wanted to give up on it early on, but Mr. X found it moderately entertaining, so we finished it. It’s The Mistletoe Inn, and not only is the story the stupidest, with the ending being easily figured-out in the first few minutes, but the lead actress, Alicia Witt, is just awful. She’s completely devoid of charm, and has zero chemistry with the cute guy lead, David Alpay. We should have seen her falling for him all along, not just when she realizes who he is. And she speaks in such a weird baby-ish manner; her voice is like the proverbial nails on a chalkboard to me. So I suggest you avoid that one at all costs.

But I have to stop that not-kind-for-the-holiday talk now, and tell you that I believe that Hallmark, and some of the other channels, like UP and even the CW, will run the movies until the new year begins. So you still have your chance to catch-up with us a bit. I suggest putting your PJs on right now, and staying in bed or on the couch, watching these movies, for the rest of the holiday! (If only, right?)

Photo by Karen Salkin.

Even though Mr. X and I don’t exchange presents anymore, nor do I with my pals because of my Christmas loss sadness, (although a few very kind friends still gave me some fabulous ones this year,) there is one easy gift I always ask of you guys, my readers. And you don’t even have to leave the very device you’re reading this on to do it!

So, have you guessed what it is? It’s that I’m hoping that if you don’t already follow me on my social platforms, that you’ll do so now. I hope that will also be somewhat of a gift for you because then you won’t have to go looking for my new columns every day—they’ll all come right to you! How’s that for a win-win, which we can all use right about now?

Okay, here’s all the info you need to follow me:

X, the former Twitter: @MajorCelebrity

FacebookFan Page: It’s Not About Me TV
Instagram: majorcelebrity
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCF7mwI2jwcB2xB9dBCBxLZg

And finally for my pix today, Happy Holidays to you all! Photo by Karen Salkin.

And, if nothing else, please remember to “bookmark” or “favorite” this e-zine. Just enter ItsNotAboutMe.TV into your list of “Bookmarks” or “Favorites” on your browser on your computer. (I actually don’t know how to do that on a phone. So maybe one of you can enlighten me, and perhaps all of us, in the Comments section below.)

Thank you so much for doing any of that! I guess that will be “Happy Holidays to me!”

And, of course, I wish all of you a super Merry Christmas! And please stay safe.

Hanukkah doesn’t start until Sunday, but I’d always rather get ahead of a holiday than be late to the party. So here I am, reminding those who celebrate, two days in advance.

I love a happy holiday! And Hanukkah is always just that.

And, not to get political here, but for many this year, it’s made happier by the long-overdue release of the Israeli hostages. (I wrote this two years ago in my Hanukkah article back then: “This year, though, with all the sadness in the world right now, especially the horrors that have taken place in Israel, the occasion has more gravitas than ever.  So I feel that we all need to keep that situation in mind.” And I finished it with, “I feel I need to close this out with the serious side of this holiday. I hope that everyone, whether or not this is your holiday, will please spare a thought for what the many less-fortunate Jewish people are going through this year. I’m praying that the heartbreaking Israeli conflict will be over soon.”)

Just a year ago, all of us were saying prayers that the hostages would be home by the holiday this year, and those prayers were finally answered a couple of months ago.

But it’s not solely happiness on that front. Many of the hostages were killed, and the survivors will have tons of pain forever after. So the world at large needs to keep everyone less fortunate in their hearts and minds.

I’m sorry to have just brought the room down, but I felt that I had to pay that small tribute to my people at this time of year.

Pretty gelt and dreidels.

So back to a more light-hearted celebration of Hanukkah! I’ve been wearing a lot of blue, (which is basically the color of the holiday, as opposed to the green and red of Christmas,) in the lead-up to it, along with rocking my Hanukkah socks! (I’ve never claimed to not be goony!) I’m looking forward to lighting one of my colorful menorahs, although I can’t decide between my crayon box or sports balls ones. (Menorahs are supposed to be fun, so having cute ones is not at all disrespectful or sacrilegious.) And, for once, I already have a full box of Hanukkah candles! That’s a shock because I’m rarely this prepared. I also bought a few bags of “gelt” for Mr. X. (They’re foil-wrapped chocolate coins, of course. But I do hope that he gives me some real gelt, which means “money,” for you readers not of my same ethnic persuasion.)

And that’s about all I have to say about the holiday in this very strange year. But I really do hope that you all have tons of fun—light those candles, spin those dreidels, and scarf those potato latkes! May it all be wonderful for you and yours.

I wish a very Happy Hanukkah to everyone who celebrates. And please do your best to stay safe!

Yes, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but I consider the entire next five days, including today, to be official parts of this holiday. I’ve long referred to tonight as “Thanksgiving Eve,” and I used to throw fabulous get-togethers on it, both at my house with Mr. X and then at the dance clubs I ran, to celebrate. They were always the most fun fetes of the whole holiday season! And I’m still very thankful for those times.

How adorbs!

But now I have something fun in a very different way to be grateful for this year. It’s actually a two-parter of gratitude. First is that I’ve been alive for a little over a decade since my mini-stroke! On top of that bit of luck, (or divine intervention,) my “strokiversary” calls have been going great! As those of you who have read my recent-ish column* about it being ten years since I had my stroke know, the way I’m celebrating my bonus decade of life is to call someone I rarely speak to, (which includes everyone outside of the five or ten people I see all the time,) one a day for this entire year. (But I am taking tomorrow off from the project, as well as Christmas, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, my birthday, Mr. X’s birthday, and Yom Kippur, in that order!) *(If you missed the article, and are curious, here’s the link: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/karens-thanks-its-my-ten-year-strokiversary.)

So far, in these six weeks, everyone has seemed very happy to hear from me. And speaking with them has elevated my soul! I’ve loved it when a few people even said they picked up my “blocked call” because they were hoping that they were that day’s strokiversary call!!! That really warmed my heart. (And gave a bit of a boost to my affected brain!)

To You and Yours!

I’m so thankful to have thought of celebrating my good fortune, (of being alive for so long after the medical incident,) by reaching-out to others, which brought them all into my year-long celebration.

I try to always count my blessings. And in speaking with so many people recently, I realized something else to be thankful for—I’ve never hated any level of my life. That is so lucky! So many people at least hated their high school experience, but I had such a good time back then that I’d be happy to still be there! And I had a good time at all four of my colleges, as well. So that’s just more to be grateful for, at all times, but especially tomorrow, when we officially give thanks.

And I have one more thing to be grateful for right now, which has nothing to do with me! It’s that…Robert Irwin and Witney Carson very deservedly won this season of Dancing With The Stars last night! I love when the right duo wins! And in this case, besides that Robert has become an incredible dancer, with zero previous training, he’s one of the nicest, kindest, most appreciative people I’ve ever seen! He really is the male version of his sister, Bindi, who won this same show a decade ago. What darling people they are! That victory really started-off my weekend of special gratitude in the right way.

Robert Irwin and Witney Carson with their Mirrorball Trophies. Photo by Karen Salkin.

So now, I’m happy to say a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who reads this e-zine—I always appreciate the support more than you know.

And I wish you all a beautiful and very Happy Thanksgiving! With lots of things to be grateful for.

I love when Halloween is on a Friday, as it is today. It’s especially fun for the people who also celebrate El Día de los Muertos, which is tomorrow. And then, after a (hopefully) fun-filled couple of days and nights, you can just relax and regroup on Sunday. And start looking towards Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Xmas!

Karen Salkin out and about in her 2025 Halloween finery! Photo by Mr. X.

I couldn’t wait for today—I began rocking my orange duds way back on the 7th. I began rolling them out slowly this year, with just orange tees and a sweatshirt; all my fun Halloween shirts and sweaters had to wait their turn. But just a week later, on the 14th, came the perennial pièce de résistance—my Halloween fingernails! I actually started them a tad earlier than necessary because I wanted to entertain the girls in my eye doctor’s office, including the fun doctor herself, whom I adore! And…she loved them! (As long as I didn’t poke myself in the eye with the pointy ones!)

Okay, this is a dumb story, but a new one, and a bit scary to me, (because it’s Halloween, of course,) she here it is: A few years ago, my good friend Lyndsey gave me a fabulous set of Halloween glue-on nails, which, of course, I used right away. Then the very next year, Mr. X and I saw a completely different set of them in a store while we were buying something not even close to being in the beauty category, (I think it was actually small furniture,) and I thought I should get those, too, just in case. (How many people do you know who feel the need for an extra set of Halloween nails?!)

So the first year I wore the pointy ones from Lyndsey, and the next year I wore the more-detailed, square ones that we had picked-up ourselves. And I love them both. And then the third year, I wore the first set again.

A cute Halloween display in LA. Photo by Karen Salkin.

So this year, I thought I could either wear one of those or just paint one of my fabulous Halloween designs myself. For example, one year I made every fingernail into a piece of candy corn! Crazy, I know.

So I decided to wear one of the glue-on sets, but I couldn’t choose which one. So I figured that I’d just go with whichever one I found in my messy house. I was positive that I knew where at least one of the sets was. But guess what? I could not find either one of them! I knew where just one nail was by itself in the bedroom, (don’t ask me how,) and I knew where another one was in a little dish in the living room, but that was it.

And this is where the fun lesson comes in, because I can’t just give you a stupid, stupid story like this without making it worth your while. So here is that lesson: Eons ago, my friend Joan in Rhode Island taught me that when you can’t find something, you ask your Angel for help. I already believed in that kind of stuff, but this was the capper for me: We were in a store that had a gigantic basket of pairs of little earrings on cards. I spied a gorgeous one, but when I picked it up, there was just one earring on the card! The basket was so big that it would have taken hours to try to find that other single jewel. That’s when Joan said the magic words, “Ask your Angel to help you find it!” She didn’t have to convince me—I asked, and had the earring in my hand in about ten seconds!

And I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s most likely been decades. So I hope all of you will use that tool, as well—obviously, you have to ask your own Angel, not mine, of course.

Karen Salkin’s 2025 mixed-and-matched Halloween nails. Photo by Mr. X.

Getting back to this story, I didn’t want to bother my Angel with something as shallow as finding the rest of my Halloween nails, but I finally broke down and did. And I cannot tell you how I found individual nails in places I would have never thought to look, such as boxes that I packed up when I was organizing the house a little bit a few months ago. I found nine in total! Of a combo of both designs! Some were a little bit too big for the individual nails I was using them for. But I just made it work. And then I just polished my longest nail, my right pinky, black so it would kind of blend in with the designs of the rest of them.

And that is what my scattered self has been doing since October 14! I know it is such a silly thing to care about, but I’m telling you, people really perk-up and smile and get a kick out of them, so that makes me very happy. People have been going nuts over them, (along with my Halloween wardrobe that I’ve been rocking early,) everywhere I’ve gone for the past week. And I promise you that I’m going to put these nine away very carefully on November 1st! (Or 3rd—you never know with me—I may just get one more 2025 weekend out of them.)

I actually had some fun going-out activities planned for tonight, (because after all, I needed someplace to show-off my nails on actual Halloween!,) but can you guess why I chose to cancel them? I’ll give you a minute. Ready? It’s to stay home and watch…Game 6 of the very dramatic World Series! (Have you met me?!)

But I hope that you all have something fun to do today/tonight.

Happy Halloween, everyone! Please stay safe! And get some good treats!

Well, my Jewish New Year is here once again. My pals and I are always surprised by its occurrence because, unlike the universal New Year, which is always on January 1st, the one my tribe celebrates changes every year. (I didn’t grow up religious, so I still don’t know why. I sort-of doubt that anyone knows the real reason for it.)

My wish for everyone who observes this holiday.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always enjoyed the Jewish holidays during this time of year. (Coincidentally, today is the first day of Fall, so that makes the holiday feeling even better!) Back then, I liked getting dressed-up and going to my local temple to hear words of wisdom from a higher-up. It made me feel somewhat special.

But when I arrived in LA as a teenager, the situation was immediately different. I met few Jewish people at all, and the family of the one Jewish friend I had in those early days wasn’t kind enough to include me, (which actually goes against a couple of the basic tenets of Judaism—kindness and inclusivity.)

After a year and a half here, I moved to Rhode Island, where it got worse—I didn’t know even one Jew! So, of course, my observance of the holidays waned. (I wasn’t going to do them alone, and was actually too young to even know how to do them!)

It’s actually sort-of an amusing tale of how I got back into the celebrations. The deets are too long a story to tell them all here, so maybe I’ll relate the tale in one of my YouTube channel’s videos some day. But here are the basics:

After finishing college in Providence, and then teaching there for a bit, I moved back to LA to be in my friend Bridget’s wedding. It was September, and my friend Jeanine and I were getting an apartment. But, until we found one, we were staying in a UCLA fraternity house. You read that right—not a sorority one, a fraternity! And the guys wanted us out because they were all moving back in for school. So we had just a couple of hours to find someplace else. (And trust me, we definitely didn’t want to be the only two girls there for their kegger that night!)

Jeanine had nary an idea of where we could go, especially with very low funds, and I had been back in town for just a few days, (after not living here for three years!,) but I knew that I had to be the one to save us somehow. Long story, (that will be in the video,) but by some miracle, I came up with finding an old friend I hadn’t seen in four years, who had a new wife, (and the two of them had just moved here from Brooklyn a few weeks before,) and begged to stay with them for a few days, (which turned into weeks!)

Mitchell and Sheralyn were kind enough to not only say yes, but also pick us up from the fraternity house, (along with Jeanine’s copious plants—don’t ask,) and, shockingly after all that, we’re still friends to this day!

Our time with them included the Jewish high holy days, and the couple was Jewish, so when Sher was going to temple, and also fasting for Yom Kippur, I figured it was only polite to join her in those practices. And I’ve kept it up ever since!

The apples and honey we should all be enjoying today.

My Rosh Hashanah won’t be as exciting this year, but peace is what I’m after these days. I’m going to stay home tonight with Mr. X, have some chicken noodle soup, and enjoy some apples with honey, which signifies a “sweet year” to come. (I recommend that spiritual taste treat to everyone, no matter your ethnic persuasion.)

And perhaps I’ll also apologize to anyone I’ve wronged this year, (as my “people” are supposed to do for this next week or so,) even though I cannot think of anyone I’ve slighted in any way. (But I can think of several who have done that to me. Oh well.)

And now, to all of you who celebrate at this time of year, I wish you the happiest and healthiest of New Years. L’Shanah Tovah!

Labor Day is not one of the heavy holidays, (as Memorial Day and several of the religious holidays are,) so I say—go for the fun over the next few days!

Cute.

Take that break especially if you’re a worker, (and who amongst us isn’t?,) because we’re celebrating our country’s labor force on Monday.

And here’s something novel for my SoCal peeps to do this weekend: It’s the Cinecon Classic Film Festival, which runs from tomorrow night, August 29th, through Monday, Labor Day. What makes it especially interesting is that, among several personal appearances in conjunction with their classic films, such as The Pleasure Seekers and The Rare Breed, you will get to see Ann-Margret and—wait for it—ninety-four-year-old old school sex symbol Mamie Van Doren!!! OMG! It all sounds fascinating and there’s something for everyone over this weekend. For the complete schedule and more information, please visit www.cinecon.org.

Ann-Margret is one of the stars you can see this weekend at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival.

If I decided to go out for a bit, that’s where I would head. But I’m sure that we all know how I’ll be spending this entire holiday week-end. And that is…watching the US Open, of course! On Monday, I previewed the action of this tennis tourney, (and discussed some of what had already gone on in the earlier Fan Week,) but I published the article before I finished watching the opening day’s last match, which was the craziest one any of us had ever seen. (You can catch-up with all those thoughts right here: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/tennis-the-2025-us-open-began-yesterday.)

So I have to tell you what happened in that very entertaining insanity of the first round Daniil Medvedev-Benjamin Bonzi match on Sunday night. (And what better time to give you this long-ish lowdown than on a four-day holiday week-end, when you have so much time to just relax and read?)

It’s hard to encapsulate that absolutely insane match, but I’ll do my best to make it as brief as humanly possible. Meddy, one of my fave players, was playing a much lower-ranked guy, but one who has surprisingly beaten him twice before, in the best-of-five match. Ben was serving for the match in the third set, and he had a fault on his first serve, which meant he had one more serve for that point. As he began bouncing the ball, an elderly photographer came out of the back and started walking on the court!!! (We still don’t know why he did that, but his credential has since been revoked, he was kicked-out of the tourney, and now he’s suing the tournament!) So the chair umpire gave Ben an extra serve, a decision which many of us feel was unfair, but with which some of the commentators agree. And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Daniil Medvedev inciting the crowd to make noise during the weird situation.

Medvedev went crazy, as Mr. X and I feel he should. He vehemently questioned the umpire while inciting the crowd to make more noise than I’ve ever heard at a tennis match! And the madness went on for…six and a half minutes!!! And then, the only one imploring the crowd to quiet down was…Medvedev!

And when Bonzi finally got to serve again, he hit…another fault! And on his next serve, Meddy won the point! And then he won the set! So they went on to a fourth set, which Meddy also won, and at 6-0! It was looking very good for him. And in the deciding fifth set, he was up a break. Twice! But then…he lost.

I knew he’d be disappointed about that, but I thought he would be at least satisfied with himself for turning what looked like it was going to be a straight-sets loss into a dramatic going-the-distance one. But…as he sat down after the handshake, he began destroying his racket like a madman! And that wasn’t necessary to do in front of everyone—he could have quickly walked off the court and obliterated his equipment behind the scenes! So now his already huge fine, (for yelling at the ump,) will most likely be doubled for “racket abuse.” Oysh.

Daniil Medvedev smashing his racket after his first round loss.

And that was just the first night! So much more drama has already happened since then, with, I’m sure, more to come. So I’m glad that for this entire holiday weekend, I’ll be able to just kick back and do nothing but watch it all. And, of course, report back to you next week.

But, for now, I wish you all a fabulous, fun, perhaps relaxing, and especially safe, Labor Day Week-end. Have a good one, and remember to not work during it! At least not too hard. And don’t forget to wear white all weekend because, as “they” always advise, the unwritten but much-known old school rule is that it’s gauche to wear white after Labor Day! So you have until Monday night to get use out of your colorless summer wardrobe, even here in sunny SoCal.