A 2025 wrap-up next week. 

Well, more of a good riddance to a year that the most optimistic part of most of us would categorize as…challenging.  

Because you never want to tempt fate by saying any year was the worst.

But as the Chair finishes his grading – and that’s what this year has done, caused me to more often than not speak about myself in the third person – here are three memorable moments to get you through the fourth week in December.

#1 – THE OUTPOURING OF LOVE FOR ROB REINER

A very smart person told me years ago that when someone you love and/or admire is no longer around you want to think about the way they lived rather than the way they died.

Perhaps you’ve heard that too.  Or read it.  It’s hardly an original thought.  But one that I constantly have to remind myself of when a death that really gets to me happens.

And what really got me after the initial shock over the gruesomely awful murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle Reiner, was the outpouring of love and kindness not only worldwide, but most particularly in Hollywood, aka The Industry.

Aside from the countless remembrances from his famous friends and not so famous fans, I’ve heard stories and heard ABOUT stories from many dozens of people RR gave a start to, was kind to, talked to or took time out to simply notice when nobody else was paying attention.

Everyone without exception thought of him as smart, funny, generous and, as my tribe likes to say, a mensch. 

Not many so accomplished in these parts do you hear that about.

Yeah, he was “Meathead” in All in the Family.

And of course, he directed a string of memorable and varied hit films, the likes of which few can claim – This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, Misery, A Few Good Men and The American President -nearly eight in a row over 11 years (1984-1995).

Not to mention Castle Rock Entertainment, the production company he founded that gave us screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s first movies and Larry David’s first TV series (Note: Um, Seinfeld).

But as memorable as it all was and is, it’s his political activism this gay man of a certain age will remember. RR and his wife stepped up for lots of causes but in particular he lead the fight to legalize gay marriage, both financially and vocally – first to stop California’s proposed 2008 ban on same sex marriage (Prop 8), and later by funding the legal fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It’s easy to step up when everyone else is, or when it directly affects your well-being.  It’s more difficult, and rare, to put yourself on the front line and lead a fight with your time, money and celebrity simply because you know it’s the right thing to do.

#2 – EPISODE FIVE OF THE VIRAL QUEER ROMANCE HBO MAX TV SERIES – HEATED RIVALRY.

It was the gay kiss scene seen round the world and embraced by millions of gays AND straights.  But if you would’ve told teenage Chair that one day he would turn on his television set and see two hot gay guys making out to cheers in front of a crowd of millions in the middle of a hockey rink just after one of them won the fictional equivalent of the Stanley Cup he would have….

Let’s just say it would’ve saved him a decade of woes, not to mention therapy.

But rest assured for decades to come the kiss will be featured in gay bars and pride parades everywhere for its uncomplicated message of love and acceptance.

When I was pressured into watching Heated Rivalry some weeks ago (Note: Okay, I don’t know everything) I figured that at best it was like the USA Network and Cinemax mated to birth a gay television series for Canada for a very select and mostly horny crowd.

Yikes, was I wrong.  (Note: Well, partly wrong).  And the six episode season one that prompted it to  receive a larger, multi-episode season two order is proof.

Yeah, it’s hot and romantic.  But it’s also loving and nuanced with two of the most original young female LGBTQ allies TV has ever seen fit to give us.

#3 – TWO SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FROM THE RESISTANCE TO A TONE-DEAF, BUS & TRUCK TOTALITARIAN ADMINISTRATION.

I will let the posts/tweets speak for themselves. 

The first is from Kerry Kennedy – lawyer, author, human rights advocate and niece of the late Pres. John F. Kennedy.  Along with the rest of us, she was infuriated when the current, ahem, POTUS, this week decided to literally rig the voting system of the Kennedy Center Board and slather his name ABOVE JFK’s, proclaiming the famed arts center The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

The second is from [an impersonation of] Cher from her fans (Note: aka, Fan Fiction).  White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, known to reporters on the Hill as Bullsh-t Barbie, made the unwise decision to diss Cher publicly as an irrelevant relic of the past.

Let me just say this before I give diva and her posse the closing word.

I worked with Cher on a movie years ago. 

YOU. DO. NOT. COME. FOR. HER. 

OR HER ADORING GAZILLIONS OF FANS WHO LOOOOOVE TO IMPERSONATE HER.

SHE (AND THEY). WILL. ALWAYS. WIN. 

Especially when they’re ALL right. Here’s a sampling of a fake, but oh so seemingly real, tweet written in Cher’s voice by her adoring brood (as if there is a difference).

RULE OF THUMB:  THE ONLY THING LEFT OF THE EARTH AFTER THE NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST WILL BE TWINKIES, TITANIUM AND AN AI VERSION OF CHER. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Cher – “DJ Play a Christmas Song”