Chris Loves Paula profile picture

Chris Loves Paula

chriscmanson

About Me

I write about music and other interesting things for the Destin, Florida Beachcomber (www.thebeachcomber.org) and work full-time for the DeFuniak Springs Herald, one of the oldest and finest newspapers in north Florida. I have also contributed to Rock & Rap Confidential (www.rockrap.com) and Mad Magazine (www.madmag.com). I frequently appear with the Shalimar, Florida-based comedy troupe Act4Murder (www.act4murder.com), which is where I met the True Love of My Life.

My Interests

Music, acting, writing, drawing, loving P.H.

I'd like to meet:

Clint Eastwood.

Music:

Anything I can put a face to. Most of my "friends" here. Anyone kicking it in and around Destin, Florida, too.FAVORITE ALBUMS: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Raising Sand" James Brown, "Star Time" Elvis, "NBC-TV Special" The Clash, "London Calling" The Beatles, "Second Album" Johnny Cash, "At Folsom Prison" Stevie Wonder, "Songs in the Key of Life" Firesign Theatre, "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers" Al Green, "Call Me" Genesis, "Duke" "Moby Grape" Derek and the Dominos, "Layla" Richard Pryor, "That Nigger's Crazy" Def Leppard, "Hysteria" Sleater-Kinney, "One Beat" Drive-By Truckers, "The Dirty South" Gang of Four, "entertainment!" Peter Gabriel's third LP, the one with the melting face on the cover Ennio Morricone soundtracks Gary "U.S." Bonds, "Quarter to Three" Brenton Wood, "Gimme Little Sign" Anything by Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith.FAVORITE SINGER EVER: Paula Hilton

Movies:

"Atlantic City," "Fargo," "Juno," "No Country for Old Men," "JFK," "Once," "Short Cuts," "Meet John Doe," "Hatari!", "Once Upon a Time in America," "The Godfather Part II," "True Romance (Director's Cut)," "Pulp Fiction," "Heavenly Creatures," "A Hard Day's Night," "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," "Bad Lieutenant," "Across 110th Street," "Babe the Gallant Pig," "Dumbo," "The Muppet Movie." I also like anything by Robert Altman, Preston Sturges, Buster Keaton, Jerry Lewis... just about anything by Spike Lee or Martin Scorsese or the Coen Brothers... among newer filmmakers, Miranda July, Jason Reitman, Spike Jonze. Guilty pleasures: Anything with Charles Bronson, the dumber the better... really shitty teen sex comedies from the 80s, especially the one where the guy, anticipating an evening of hot sex action, tells his pals he's gonna "go home and warm up"! How riotous!!

Television:

"The Wire"; "SCTV"; "The Odd Couple"; "Wheel of Fortune"

Books:

Recent reads include Stephen King's "Duma Key," Lee Child's "The Hard Way," Eric Clapton's "Clapton: The Autobiography," Robert B. Parker's "Now and Then: A Spenser Novel" (excellent), Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up" (excellent), Dave Marsh's "The Beatles' Second Album" (masterpiece), Dennis Kucinich's "The Courage to Survive." Favorites: "When Romeo Wrote Juliet" by P. Hilton and B. Holtcamp; "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, "Case Histories" by Kate Atkinson, "Elvis" by Dave Marsh, "Chronicles, Volume 1" by Bob Dylan, "Cash: The Autobiography" by Johnny Cash & Patrick Carr, "The Jerry Lewis Films" by Okuda & Neibaur, "On Writing" by Stephen King, "Elements of Style" by Strunk & White, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon, "All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren, "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens, "The Fifties" by David Halberstam, Any R. Crumb Comix Collection, Anything by Elmore Leonard, Peter Abrahams, Bentley Little, George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben.

Heroes:

Paula, brave and strong (and very, very lovable).

My Blog

My Stunning Mystery Companion

In case you're wondering why I have this silly grin on my face now, it's because love finally found me after 40 years. I have been involved with a wonderful woman named Paula for almost three weeks no...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:23:00 PST

Last Fives

Last five CDs I listened to: The Mars Volta: Amputechture, Various Artists: We All Love Ennio Morricone, TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain, Arcade Fire: Neon Bible, John Lennon: Remember. Las...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Thu, 08 Mar 2007 09:02:00 PST

Quote of the Week

I just read this book, a great one, by Marc Fisher "Something in the Air" a history of radio. And one of the interviewees said something I really thought was amusing. I'd actually heard this before, b...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:17:00 PST

Anna Nicole Is Dead?

Why couldn't it have been that dipshit Paris Hilton?
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:07:00 PST

National Sick Day

I propose that we have a National Sick Day, a day on which we will all call in sick from work. It should be on a Monday. And workers lucky enough to have such benefits will be paid for both holiday an...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:03:00 PST

You're Getting Older!

The 40-something is sitting at the bar singing to himself--"Happy birthday to me..." "So it's your birthday?" the 50-something bartender says. "Was I singing aloud?" the younger man says. "Sorry." "He...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Sat, 03 Feb 2007 09:35:00 PST

My Favorite Rekkids of 2006

I didn't listen to everything, but here are my favorites: Jennifer Glass: Little Shout. An incredible songwriter and even better singer. Bob Dylan: Modern Times The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: What's Goi...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Sat, 27 Jan 2007 09:00:00 PST

War Is Stupid

The young private asks his sergeant, "Who am I supposed to shoot at?"The sergeant replies, "Just shoot at anyone who doesn't look like you.""Don't nobody look like me, Sarge."
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Thu, 18 May 2006 03:22:00 PST

Keeping It Honest

The blog is a great outlet, because as a writer, I can tell the truth...something I always wanted to do anyway. In fact, my girlfriend Maria Bello and I were just discussing this during a break in our...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Wed, 17 May 2006 03:58:00 PST

Love Is Alive in Destin, Florida

These kids I work with just got married, and goddammit if they're not really in LOVE. Fuck, man, I'm so happy for 'em, you know? It's like they're kindred spirits. I used to be such a pessimist about ...
Posted by Chris Loves Paula on Wed, 17 May 2006 08:42:00 PST