I was just thinking about the last time I bought a box of cereal. It's been years! I remember constantly begging my parents for Froot Loops or Corn Pops as a kid, and sometimes they would acquiesce. It was such a treat to crack open a brand new box, especially if there was a toy inside! What was your favourite childhood cereal, Peckers? Do you still enjoy cereal in your regular breakfast rotation?

Greetings, Manor slutinos, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, a day which is frosty and cold for most of you, so tonight, at "Box Job!", the Manor's exclusive after-hours nightery, only hot libations will be served, including Irish Coffee, Mulled Wine and my favorite, Spiked Hot Chocolate. Even better, DJ Li'l Scratch will be playing tunes by a mesmerizing one-LP wonder, or a talented jazz songstress who scored a single LP deal, lots of club dates, and then moved on to a second life - in this case one just as interesting as the first. From the daughter of a speakeasy-singing mother to West Coast jazz crooner to successful, politically-active hippie restaurateur, Pat Healy lived many lives. Born in 1927, wee infant Pat was sometimes left to sleep in a dresser drawer at home while her mother sang and performed all night long at speakeasies and nightclubs in Cleveland, Ohio. Yet later, little Pat accompanied her. Is it any wonder she wanted to become ...

Gay history is being made as we speak - or rather, American gay history, which is an important distinction. More on that in a sec. First, as you may know, "Heated Rivalry," a 6-part Canadian series about two closeted gay hockey players, appeared seemingly out of nowhere on North American TV screens this past November. Connor Storrie, a previously unknown, 25 year-old American actor, and Hudson Williams, a little-known Korean-Canadian actor one-year younger, are its stars. To say that audiences swooned is a vast understatement. Almost instantly, the show became a ratings bonanza and a genuine cultural phenomenon.  So far so interesting, but with just as much immediacy, magazine pictures and videos of Connor began appearing, and it became crystal-clear that his real-life persona was vastly different from the tough, manly-man Russian hunk he played on the series. He was unquestionably gay - even if he declined to answer questions about his orientation - or someone you might rega...

The 2026 Winter Olympics kicked off last night in Italy, and Mariah Carey performed at the opening ceremony. The 56-year old diva's rendition of Domenico Modugno's 1958 song Volare  received mixed reviews. Many in the audience claimed she was lip-syncing, and they were amused at the phonetic spelling of the lyrics on her teleprompter. Surely there is an Italian singer who could have performed the famous song? What she lacked in enthusiasm, she made up for in glamour: Carey wore this Roberto Cavalli dress and $15 million in diamond jewelry. How bell-eee-see-mah! Sources: The Sydney Morning Herald, Page Six, Wang Zhao

 We are honored to have "Jaws" from the 1976 cinematic masterpiece.  Jaws will be showing his cooking mastery by making the classic Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits. 

Just saw this beaut today when I pulled into the nearby Walgreens parking lot, which is not a glamorous area of town. Are those bullet holes? I don't know cars of this vintage very well - I'm more used to 1950s vehicles, with soaring fins and gleaming chromium - but I think it's a 1929 Ford Model A. That's what I'm going with, anyway. 1929 was pretty momentous (Black Friday and the ensuing Great Depression), but not all the news was bad. "Hallelujah," the first Hollywood film with an all-Black cast, was released:  Also, "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" came out and was a gigantic hit. It starred almost every actor on the MGM lot and featured a cheerful little ditty called "Singin' In The Rain."  It's been covered dozens of times, most famously in the 1952 film of the same name, "Singin' In The Rain," possibly the greatest musical of all time. Whatever kind of Wednesday you're having, whether it's sunny as blaz...

Here's Margot Robbie at the Paris premiere of Wuthering Heights . She sported a Chanel dress designed by Matthieu Blazy adorned with feathers and silk petals (pictured below). What do you think of this look, Peckers? Are you planning to see Wuthering Heights ?  Photo credits: Chanel & Vogue

Greetings, music sloots, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with music to keep you warm - even scorching - especially for those if you in bone-chilling, snow-laden lands hither and thon. Did you know? At the Manor, every climate is represented. Just turn a corner on our grounds and it's Fall, then Summer, and so forth. We've got that Narnia-type shit going on (sans closets). But I digress. Tonight, at "Sweating Like A Skerd Gerbil" bar and gourmand nuttery, DJ Li'l Scratch is bringing us a songstress who's smooth with a refreshing spike of 'tude, which is really the best way to describe Marlena Shaw, an unheralded diva who conquered jazz, soul, R&B, disco, gospel and blues, and all with equal aplomb. In other words, she's surfed with the times, from The Apollo Theatre as a ten-year-old phenom, to the present day, where she performed at a major jazz festival in the Netherlands. Some divas never stop. Until they have to. Sadl...

The Internet needs to be spanked, because a group of stinky-poos came for Liza this week. But luckily, Liza, glorious legend that she is, snapped back. And it was all because of her new album cover, which troglodytes were quick to say resembled Rhianna's "Girl Gone Bad" album cover from 2007. "Nyah, nyah, nyah," the lesser-thans sneered, acting as if they caught Liza make a major whoopsie (or a major Beyonce) (you decide). But Liza kindly, yet firmly. put them in their place. She knows Rihanna, of course, and “I did a tribute to her ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ with the album art. Some people got it, and some people didn’t! But nobody needed to be unkind. With social media, everyone can be a critic. And I realize people use this space to amplify their voice. To those who defend me when my age, decisions, appearance and art are under fire, I’m very grateful. It takes courage to stand beside a friend when things are difficult. You know who you are. And I love you very mu...

Credit: Getty Alexander Skarsgard has been spotted in flip flops not once, but TWICE this week. His first offence was photographed above while he attended the Sundance film festival in chilly Utah. It appears he didn't suffer from frostbite on his little piggies, so the 49-year old decided to grace us with his bare toes again this Friday for the SNL promo video he shot with Cardi B and Chloe Fineman: Credit: NBC How do you feel about these looks, Peckers? Would you like to see more Hollywood men sporting flip flops?

Dancer Maria Catharina Wilk (1853-1928)

 

Well if you do then you're in luck, because in 1961,  "Spartacus" was still riding high in theaters. John Gavin in a towel in a sauna? BRING IT! Plus there were lots of great shows on TV, including "Perry Mason," "The Rifleman," "Dennis the Menace" and "Lassie," and if you flipped on the radio while you were driving around in your new Starliner, you undoubtedly heard this song a LOT: I know it's supposed to be a sad song about a guy being done wrong by a girl, but it's so much FUN, and Dion clearly feels the same. And whether you've been done wrong or you've been done right, feel free to tell us all about it. After all, it's Open Post, darlings! Photo Credit: AK

Have you ever seen a pair of Crocs and wondered, "how can I make these uglier?" Well Lego has answered your prayers by announcing a multi-year global partnership with the shoe brand. For $200, you can now buy Lego-brand Crocs. The company website says it's "fun footwear that inspires you to build, rebuild and reinvent what makes you you." But could you ever rebuild your dignity after buying a pair? Remains to be seen.  Source: Lego

Greetings Manor hors, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday! Did you know? Today is National Bubble Wrap Day, so if you have some, by all means enjoy popping those air-filled plastic nubbins. Pop-pop-pop! Such fun. Also fun, a lively jazz and Broadway songstress who was brought to new heights in 1949 after being spotted performing at Greenwich Village's The Cinderella Club  (where Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk frequently gigged) by none other than Mae West, who promptly cast her in her Broadway revival of "Diamond Lil." That's quite a gal to give your career a boost. And tonight, at the Manor's exclusive "Canyon Yodeling" club and taco joint, DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning her irresistible tunes. How irresistible? Let's just say that Frank Sinatra himself called her "the world's greatest saloon singer."  Yes, it's Sylvia Syms (not to be confused with the British actor with a similar name), who was born in ...

High in the cold, clouded forests of Virunga National Park, where the air thins and the trees feel ancient, a miracle happened. On January 3rd, community trackers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spotted something rarely seen: twin baby boy mountain gorillas, both miraculously alive, both clinging to their mother in the high-altitude forest. Their mother is twenty-two year old Mafuko. She is strong, experienced, and a tenacious survivor. This is the 8th time she has given birth, so she knows what it will take, but her task will not be easy. Her family, the Bageni, is the largest gorilla group in Africa’s oldest national park, a living lineage of sixty-nine bonded lives with memories and instincts moving together through the mountains. What makes this so special is that less than one percent of recorded gorilla births will result in twins, and their survival is never guaranteed. The first four weeks are everything for these fragile babies. It determines if they have a chance. It ...

Here's Cristin Milioti attending the Buddy premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT yesterday. She wore head-to-peeptoe Saint Laurent for the occasion.  The top half of this outfit looks very appropriate for the chilly Utah weather. But the whole look takes an unexpected (read: horrifying) turn when she wore lacy lingerie shorts with sheer tights tucked into pink peep toe shoes. The contrast is jarring, and the colour scheme is confusing.  What are your thoughts on this look, Peckers?