Frankly, I find it dumbfounding that I haven’t heralded this magnificent film sooner. Truth be told, it ranks in the Top 5 of my all-time faves. I’ve got the poster hanging on my wall. (Got if for a couple bucks too, at a yard sale. It’s worth a lot more. Nice.)
The Film Babe and I caught it on HDTV channel last night just by chance. Early on in the film too, so we didn’t miss much.
As if we didn’t already know, it’s always startling when we realize that, all other of life’s powerful forces notwithstanding, nature rules. Period.
Sometimes, she can be a mutha. Like now with this snow and ice storm we are experiencing in the heartland. When trees and limbs are cracking from ice, and streets are impassible and snow is covering ice, and power lines are down and the spouse is going stir crazy, etc, etc.
The flip side, of course, is that it’s really beautiful outside. Unless the view is of some major oak tree crashing into the second floor.
So says Valentine McKee, a character which happens to be a guy. And happens to be played by Kevin Bacon, all six degrees of him.
And that of which he speaks are these thirty foot long underground snakes — “suckoids,” one character calls them — plaguing the town of Perfection, Nebraska and its surroundings. The snakes are voracious, consuming people and animals and anything that gets in the way. Like cars and buildings.
As you can tell, it’s up to Bacon and Fred Ward as Earl Bassett and Reba McEntire as Heather Gummer to save the town. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite the hyperbolic reaction by public and press to today’s inauguration of Barack Obama, it is impossible to overstate it symbolic significance.
In my lifetime, a Louisville couple was prosecuted and persecuted for selling their home to a black family. A regional restaurant chain threatened to close its locations in town if it was forced to serve blacks. Etc, etc.
Today’s moment has been a long time coming.
It is not the end of the road.
But today’s lesson is that, with perseverence, good often triumphs over not-so-good and it should be heralded to the highest degree.
You don’t need me to tell you yet again how despicable the outgoing president and his let-them-eat-cake administration have been. I’m not alone. And it’s not just partisans who now realize what a revolting development W’s eight years in office turned out to be.
I shan’t dwell on it. In 48 hours, W will be free to crony up with oil buddies every day for lunch without having to worry about a country to lead. He can concentrate on spring training without silly old position papers to attempt to digest. It’ll be a good thing for him. A better thing for the rest of us.
You’ve seen the commercials, I’m sure, the ones with that snappy huckster with the State Fair Official Microphone hooked around his ear and the ultimate barker’s rap. His name is Vince. His product: ShamWow. They’re towels — Made in Germany — which allegedly hold twenty times their weight in liquid. Ten year warranty.
“Not available in Stores.” His quote exactly. It appears on the screen.
The Film Babe and I bit. Went for the double deal. Four — count ‘em — four ShamWows. Plus four Mini ShamWows
Only $19.99. Plus S & H. That would shipping and handling. Another ten bucks or so. But, hey, these things are indispensable for the house, the car, the boat, the garage.
So I go online and order. Knowing full well that every www. shuckster in the cybergalaxy is going to have my email address by the next morning. Spam ensues. Actually not too bad.
The lesson in all this: ShamWows are available in stores. And you don’t have to pay S & H. The day after I ordered them I saw a bunch on a shelf at Walgreens.
So, I guess what I’m saying is this: You can’t believe everything you see on TV.
I just think it’s a really good idea to try to remember the emotions of our youth. Doing so allows us to act toward youngsters in ways that honor them and ourselves.
My teenage niece, who lives in an all Big Blue family, has fallen for the Cardinals. My sweetie, the Film Babe, takes her to the U of L games while I get the privilege of sitting at press row.
The Film Babe is out of town. I was going to pass those seats to the Notre Dame game along to some friends as a pay back for favors done. My niece kept calling to see if she was going to get to go to the game. Even had a friend she hoped to bring along.
I started going to U of L games when I was 7 years old. In those early years, the tickets belonged to my dad’s company. He never knew until game day if he’d get them, and, if he did, whether there would be one for me. I would always be nervous on game day, praying I’d get to go. It was a stunning disappointment when I wasn’t able to. So I felt my niece’s pain.
I gave her the ticket. Her friend got the other one. I drove them into the game.
I’ve been meaning to start this little exercise for awhile. Sharing what life lessons I learn each day. Not that we learn something worthwhile and new every day, but most 24 hours add something to our experience. So I’m going to pass them along.
Today’s Lesson: If there’s some really sweet piece of music on the radio when your radio sounds at wake up time in the morning, there’s a better chance for it to be a serene day. (Of course you must wake up to music not some braying alarm.) Of which I was reminded when Tony Williams and the Platters gorgeous rendition of “My Prayer” awakened me this a.m. I was able to linger, savor the song, then arise with a smile on my face, conscious of the love in my heart for the Film Babe and my great group of friends and my gratitude for yet another day.
So charming is the whole experience that is Bellarmine basketball, I feel compelled to issue at least one plaint. For objectivity’s sake, mind you.
The Bellarmine Knight, the mascot I’m talking about, is butt U.G.L.Y. In an age when cute reigns so much that ESPN features college mascots in its marketing, the Bellarmine Knight stands out as something else entirely. His is a surly — not to be confused with Sirly — look. King Arthur would have kicked the guy off the Round Table simply for unacceptable negativitude.
Which is not to say that the student section didn’t have the Knight’s back, giving him a standing O when he nailed a three from mid court during pre-game shenanigans.
The point is that if that’s all I can find less than exhilarating by a Saturday night at Knights Hall, methinks it’s about as much fun as you can have at a sporting event these days. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve always espoused the theory that Louisiana politcs always rank highest on the meter registering political shenanigans. Given what’s happening in Illinois, I’m ready to rethink my position. There is chicanery afoot of the highest order.
And I’m not talking about the state’s helmet-headed governor either.
What is happening to the apparently decent Roland Burris I wouldn’t wish on the most scurrilous of scalawags, say, Dick Cheney or some similar skank.
Rod Blagojevich, despite his possible criminal culpability, is still governor of Illinois. One of his constitutional duties, and rights, is to fill vacant seats in the U.S. Senate. Despite the allegations that the guv tried to sell the seat, there hasn’t been a bit of evidence, rumor or innuendo that one of the folks involved in such a scam was Roland Burris.
Therefore it is incumbent for the authorities responsible in Illinois to certify his selection. And it is incumbent that the U.S. Senate thereafter seat Mr. Burris. Common sense and decency require nothing less.
Am I hallucinating? Did I watch the U of L hoopsters piss away a 7-point lead with 50 seconds to go, then beat UK on a trey right before the buzzer? From 25 feet? From Edgar Sosa?
Is the kid on top of the press table screaming? Are the fans who days ago were blaspheming him now hearing “One Shining Moment?”
It’s a couple hours after that celebration has faded into its own wacky parade. I’m watching the DVR of U of L’s fuhrschlunginer three-point escape. I’m still rubbing my eyes, not hearing that CBS tourney theme or “This is It!” But, wondering if Sosa is now somebody to love, I’m hearing the Airplane: When the truth is found to be lies … Read the rest of this entry »
Frankly, I find it dumbfounding that I haven’t heralded this magnificent film sooner. Truth be told, it ranks in the Top 5 of my all-time faves. I’ve got the poster hanging on my wall. (Got if for a couple bucks too, at a yard sale. It’s worth a lot more. Nice.)
