Todd Jacobucci

I was born and raised in the state of Connecticut.   My grandparents on my mothers side lived in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania called Aliquippa.   I was lucky enough to have parents that fostered my relationship with my grandparents.  Aliquippa was close to 600 miles from where we lived in Connecticut yet we made that trip at least once a year.  It was always a lot of fun.  My parents,  two sisters and I would jump into the car full of excitement.    This was a great time.  The trip to see my grandparents via car took about ten hours, so it was a real opportunity for the 5 of us to talk and be around each other with just us.  No friends, no television, no computers or smartphones back in those days.   Just us.  So we would talk and talk and talk during that ten hour journey.     We'd always talk about Aliquippa, our grandparents, the amusement parks we'd be visiting, how much fun we would ...

For some non specific reason, I've been listening to a lot of 1980s music lately.  I don't generally do that because I find that most 1980s music sounds ridiculous today.   It was however the music I grew up with and because MTV was a brand new entity at that point, for the first time not only could you hear the music, you could see it as well.  So, when I find myself thinking of music from the 80s, I can always attach the videos with the songs.    This visualization inspired a thought - since I'm currently listening to 1980s music and I can see it in my mind as well - I thought - why not consider the films of the 1980s?   Have they aged well?  How do they look today?   As I've said, I don't think the music of that decade aged well - I feel certain of that.  But could I come up with ten movies from the 80s that are still great today???    Well, I had to give it quite a bit of thought but I think I have..   I'll call it The...

I find movies are interesting to look back on.   Probably as wine connoisseurs like to look back on fine wines.   Has the movie aged well?  How does it look today?  How did it affect you in the past?  How does it affect you today?   The thing I find really interesting in looking back on movies is how do they make you feel now?   In other words, if we are discussing the 1990s, these films are now 20-29 years old.  For most people, even though the movie hasn't changed one bit in that time frame, they have.   So, people will view it differently now.  Having said that, it still remains that a good movie is a good movie and it will still be a good movie 10-20-30 and sometimes even 40 years after it first came out (The Godfather 1 and 2 as examples).     I think some really terrific films came out in the 1990s.  I gave it some thought and have produced my top ten.   I'll name the movie and the ...

This is certainly an odd topic to discuss.   I thought it might have some relevance for some people though.   There definitely are deaths that occur that completely shock us.   To make this a topic that will apply to everyone - I am only using the deaths of famous people.    I was born in 1965 so I am going to list 5 deaths that completely shocked me - including the dates of these deaths.   I will place them in chronological order: 12/8/1980:   It wasn't actually this date that I found out, I found out the next morning while getting ready for school.   My mother sat myself and my sister down at the breakfast table with the most concerned look in her eyes.    She said something terrible happened last night.   I can remember getting a bit nervous because of the look in her eyes.  Such sadness but at the same time, so much concern.  So my sister and I said "What is it Mom??  What happened??".   I r...

As far back as I can remember,  one of my first interests in life was sports.  I can remember looking over my Father's shoulder as he read the sports page each morning.    It wasn't until the 1970s though that my interest in sports really took off.   Looking back on it now with some 40 years of wisdom there were some areas in sports that were really special in the 70s.  What stands out the most is the Heavyweight division of boxing.  It was quite a bit simpler then.   You had two ranking agencies, the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association.   What made the Heavyweight division so outstanding in the 70s was the great fighters.  Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers, Ron Lyle, George Foreman, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes.   Plus some great fights, the one that stands out to me the most being Ali vs. Frazier 3 - also know as "The Thrilla in Manila".   It was just a great era for Heavyweights.  The NFL was ...

Is there anything like the love of a dog?   I don't think there is.   It may sound a bit cynical but I find it's true.  There is a lot of gray area with human beings.  But with dogs, nothing but love and loyalty.   I had a dog named Jack.   He was a Pure Bred Shih Tzu.  Originally he was my sister's dog.   When I'd visit her,  there just seemed to be something special happening between Jack and I.    I'd walk in her door and he would run up to me - tail wagging, excited, looking so happy.   If I stayed for an extended period of time, he'd follow me from room to room.  If I stayed over night,  he'd insist on sleeping with me.   I found out later from my sister that when I would leave her home, he would start whining.   This went on for a couple of years.  Eventually my sister said to me "He wants to be with you -why don't you take him?".   So, one day I did. ...

I have a great interest in World War 2.   Specifically the European Theater.   It may be hard to believe but  it's true - all of the insanity that took place in Europe during the war all comes back to one man. Adolf Hitler.   Yes, Mussolini was aggressive as well, but he was limited in a sense.  The Italians just weren't up for what he wanted to do (create a new Roman Empire).  Mussolini's forays into North Africa and Greece proved disastrous.  Unfortunately for Europeans of that time, there was one man who did admire what Mussolini was doing, once again Adolf Hitler.  It was Hitler who mopped up after Mussolini's military failures, while at the same time conquering Western Europe and making the fatal mistake of invading Russia.   So, to me, all of the insanity comes back to Hitler.    Even Stalin, although we'll never know if he would have invaded Germany, was not the man that instigated the battle between Russia and...