Kelly Kazek

Huntsville

Columnist at AL.com

Author, award-winning humorist for @SouthernThing. Seeker of oddities and World's Largest Things.

Articles

Disney fans will freak over this $19.5M mansion with themed rooms, indoor racetrack, 18 bathrooms

3 days ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

An estate with Disney-themed rooms listed at $19.5 million – and valued at much more – will be up for auction June 5-18, 2025. Located on 154 acres in Hyrum, Utah, the property at 200 East 7000 South has more than 70,000 square feet of living space across several buildings, including a 40,807 square foot main mansion. Click through the gallery at the top of the story to see more photos.
15 things to never say to someone from Alabama

4 days ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

There are some phrases we Alabamians hear all the time and more than a few that truly annoy us. It’s been nearly 10 years since I initially wrote this list, so I changed it up a little to reflect the changing times. Tell me what you’d add to the list by emailing [email protected]. There is no such thing. College football is serious. Now pick a side so we can get down to business. Say something so I can hear it again.
See trailer for season 5 of ‘Stranger Things’ as Netflix announces release dates

5 days ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

Netflix announced yesterday when it will release the final season of “Stranger Things,” but be prepared: it’s being released in three parts. It’s been nine years of alternating between exciting episodes of the massively successful show and long stretches of waiting for new installments but it looks as if the end will really come in 2025. Netflix verifies on its website that this will be the final season.
Actor who portrayed one of TV’s most iconic characters is dead at 87

1 week ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

Loretta Swit, known for her long-running role as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Hoolihan on the CBS sitcom M*A*S*H died today at age 87, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Swit, who was also an outspoken advocate for animals, died just after midnight Friday of “suspected natural causes at her home in New York City,” The Hollywood Reporter said, citing a police report. She was born Loretta Jane Szwed on Nov.
Popular Alabama actor playing new DC universe villain in second season of ‘Peacemaker’

1 week ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

Jasper, Ala., native Michael Rooker has played his share of bad guys, or at least characters with questionable values. In the long-awaited season 2 of the hit HBO Max show “Peacemaker,” Rooker takes on a new villain, according to showrunner and “Superman” director James Gunn. “His name is Red St. Wild, and he’s the world’s foremost eagle hunter who is on a mission to kill Eagly,” Gunn, who also directed the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films and “The Suicide Squad,” told Entertainment Weekly.
Walton Goggins, Alabama-born star of 'White Lotus and 'Gemstones', surprised by ‘heartthrob’ label

1 week ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

Birmingham-born actor Walton Goggins is everywhere these days. And by “everywhere,” we mean on three concurrent, popular TV shows: “Fallout,” “The Righteous Gemstones” and “The White Lotus.” He’s also currently voicing Cecil in the animated show “Invincible.”In addition to all that, Goggins has been a favorite of talk show hosts -- Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers -- and gracing magazine covers, including Cultured’s Cult100 issue where he posed in a yellow Speedo.
15 of the most beautiful buildings we’ve lost in Alabama

1 week ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

When I write about historic buildings and homes, I often receive emails from people who don’t understand why some of our most beautiful structures can’t be saved. “Who would tear down that beautiful home?” they ask. Most times, demolition is a last resort. While today’s world is filled with preservation and historical societies and more buildings are saved than ever before, plenty are lost, mainly because of the high cost of restoration and preservation.
The tiny Alabama town that celebrates peanut butter

1 week ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

These days, peanut butter is so ubiquitous that people write songs about it, but in the 1920s, peanut butter was a unique food item, and Alabama was on the cutting edge of production. Companies in a few small Alabama towns have produced peanut butter over the years – and two still do (more below) – but the tiny Pike County town of Brundidge celebrates its peanut butter manufacturing heritage with the Johnston Peanut Butter Mill Museum and a festival held each October.
11 ways Alabamians changed the world

1 week ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

Although not everyone on this list changed the world in big ways, each person made a contribution to society that made a difference in the way we live, work and play. And each has a connection to Alabama. Take a look at the things we wouldn’t have if not for creative Alabamians:Waldo Semon (1898-1999) of Demopolis, Ala., was a chemist who invented dozens of synthetic compounds, including a type of synthetic rubber bubble gum that was never marketed.
The rise and fall of one of Alabama’s grandest hotels

1 week ago | al.com | Kelly Kazek

Before the Civil War, Selma, Ala., was a bustling city of about 3,000 souls situated on the Alabama River. Like most towns in Alabama at the time, Selma’s economy was centered on growing, ginning and shipping cotton. In 1860, city leaders created the Broad Street Hotel Co. to build a grand hotel to house cotton merchants who visited, according to the 1960 book “Alabama Hotels and Resorts” by James F. Sulzby. They determined it would be an architectural marvel. A Feb.