MSM - vol IV - Remagen Bridge

What's so special about this film, " The Bridge at Remagen ". A sympathetic filming of war, is presented - for both sides. Robert Vaughn as the noble German colonel who must blow the Bridge at Remagen to a) prevent an easy crossing of the Rhine by the rapidly advancing Allied Armour Corps b) to trap 200,000 German troops fighting the Allies east of the bridge. Given too few troops and inferior dynamite ( I don't know but its not the best stuff for the job )Vaughn struggles to maintain his righteous view of Germany and the war effort ( but its hard ).

Racing up front for the U.S. is George Segal ( captain ) prodded by Bradford Dillman ( colonel ) who is trying to impress E.G. Marshall ( the general ). Segal is instructed to cut off the German troops by blowing the bridge, gets there AND then wow ! lets hold the bridge cuz we can use it the reach German soil fast. Peter Falk gets to be a scrounging, black market Sgt who is cynical and pretty much cold blooded ( fairly atypical for Mr Columbo hisself ).
Oh, the good guys win !

MSM vol III

The " Roughriders " is a coming of age movie for the U.S. . John Milius ( yep, same one as in vol II ) gets to revel in the Teddy Roosevelt Mystique or American imperialism gone gaga.
 Teddy always the opportunist is looking for a war and since he can't fight, he sends the U.S. fleet to the Phillipines and he'll send a bunch of cowboys, college grads basically anyone who can ride and shoot or neither to Cuba.  However, since his life insurance is paid up - Teddy goes too !.
Milius considers this film, the fighting years of TR,  a prequel to the " Wind and the Lion " only needing the pre-prequel, TR The Younger Years.
The boys come to-gether as Americans and a bonding experience after the Civil War. Altuistic and jingistic they train and become the U.S. 1 st volunteer calvary.
Milius, however, lets us see behind the hype and in a poignant scene after the taking of San Juan Hill ( you got it, the San Juan Hill ) - the American flag waves over a water tower w/ the logo for " American Sugar Company " as in lets make the world safe for American interests.
Tom Berenger as TR and some excellent casting in Sam Elliott et al.

MSM vol II

 " The Wind and the Lion " a John Milius film about a true event of hostage taking by Riffian Berbers.
A real man's picture w/ swords and rifles and big talk. ( or big stick cuz this is Teddy Roosevelt's gig )
The hostage switches from a man ( real story ) to a lithsome fraulein played by Candace Bergen. The Raisuli switches from a mid-eastern chap to a Scottish inflected dude, Sean Connery.
Even John Milius credits David Lean  ( " Lawrence of Bessarabia " ) for the bulk of shooting - sweeping desert vistas etc.
Raisuli says " Mrs. Pedicaris you are a great deal of trouble " which sums up the movie from the love interest side.
Teddy:  " they may grow to fear us and might even respect us, but they will never love us " which sums up the political side concerning U.S. policy - then and now.

MSM - not a drug

Must see movies:

Lawrence of Arabia
Saving Private Ryan
The Wind and the Lion ( no not the Chronicles of Narnia )
Roughriders

Jeremiah Johnson
The Outlaw Josie Wales
Kingdom of Heaven
The bridge at Remagen

" Jeremiah Johnson " for example, is a loose adaptation of a story about " Liver Eating Johnson " a Mountain Man of the 1850's.  Robert Redford is the hero starting as a tenderfoot trapper who luckily falls into hands of Bearclaw Chris Lapp for mountain tutelage (  " bloodkin to the grizzly that bit Jim Bridger's ass " ). Yep, he succeeds and " some folks think he's up there still ".
A Sidney Pollack film shot in under a month (?) w/ a teensy budget.  Colouful w/ majestic shots of the Rocky Mts ( " the Andes is foothills for children to play in " ).
Everytime that I see " JJ ", I want to be a moutain man. Except in the film JJ sleeps outside in a blanket under a pine and wakes up in the morning and his horse has frozen to death. Personally, I use an electric blanket for sleeping. Apparently, electrical outlets are scarce in the Rockies in 1850.

Bearclaw ; you come far pilgrim
JJ            : feels like far
BC          : were it worth the trouble
JJ            : huh, what trouble ( he's been shot / stabbed / hatcheted / arrowed / lost a wife and adopted son
                                               / fallen in the river and used rags for mittens )

But I do want a Hawken gun ( " it were a genuine Hawken, can't get no better " ). This is , of course , a muzzle loader that will make you deaf and burn off half your face if you're not careful.

You need to register a black powder rifle. M says the rifle is a threat. My line is " Yeah, the blackpowder rifle is a threat, as in , stand 6 ft away at least, b/c I want to shoot you. No ,don't get any closer "

Thor and Hobbit triviata

Xmas gift was   " Thor " in blue ray. Usually, I pooh-pooh blue ray but  am really enjoying  the experience, the colours are vivid and the whole thing is exciting.
Last night, relatives were expressing  opinions about the roles of" Thor ","  Iron Man " etc. and the upcoming " Avengers ". How will they forge a complimentary show w/ so many characters and such powerful images already established in their own features.

And I must make a correction, last night relatives claim that the " Hobbit " due out is one film only.  This info  is unconfirmed in writing.

dedicated to ER, just in case she becomes a follower

A delightful turkey dinner to-night, complete w/ rice,  to go with the gravy. the gravy is good enough to be its own food group.  ER's mother was the chef du jour ( ER is bilingual aussi ). Prochaine, a convivial gabfest amongst the relatives, very Xmassy.

Art.     I've decided that we can define art as costing more than the frame. We seem to get these lithographed still-lifes etc where the frame costs more than the litho or photo. Realizing that some lithios cost a fortune  ( which burns my butt ) however, now we add non mechanically produced as well.

Is this like texting ?

Xmas day broke - slightly dreary skies. Watching Green lantern for the umpteenth time w/ close captioning, of course. Lady Godiva hot chocolate and coffee, which is very apropos b/c the chocolate comes from last Xmas,
Breakfast is biscuits and bacon - very traditional, here.
Dinner is, as mentioned, tortiere avec pomme frites, au jus.

+ thoughts for Dec 25

Its Xmas, we need positive thoughts.  Weather, sunny, blue bird skies and little fluffy wisps.  We don't need to drive to-day or to-night, delivered stuff last night. Its starting to get a little weak when not driving is positive.
B/c we eat turkey on Boxing Day at a cousin's, our Xmas dins will be a tortiere ( French Canadian style meat pie ).
I'm really trying for positive here. I love meat pies and french fries and gravy ( favourite pub meal for sure ).

Merry Christmas ( really )

The gods must be angry - again

In " Clash of the Titans " the new one. the gods aren't being worshipped. This means Stephen Harper doesn't need to worry here in Canada - you know situation normal, for gods.
Spyros,  father of Perseus- hero and son of Zeus ( by faking his looks ),  looks up and says " I'm sick of being grateful for scraps ".
This quote may not be in the best of Xmas sprirt(s).
Of course, now we can turn to the Conservatives and say " We're sick of being grateful for all your scraps "

The Hob  - bit to be released in about a year is in two parts. OMG -talk about a stretcher. To be fair Tolkien did write four books w/ history of Middle Earth  - Men  , Elves, Dwarves and all the other critters.
Thus, there can be references for almost all the characters.
Simple relationships such as Gimli from LOTR , the son of Gloin ( one of the dwarves in TH ). The Company in TH do visit Elrond ( of the quote " I was there three thousand years ago, when the strength of men failed " in LOTR ) and the Last Homely house.
But how they'll squeeze a women into this, w/ a shoehorn for sure.
Bilbo is 50 when he sets out in TH as was Frodo in LOTR.  I think both share the bloodline of Belladonna Took. (?)
Gandalf is there.

All the news

I'm trying to write something everyday, so if entries look bizarre or rather random... its b/c they're rather random.

Korea is in flux, we say that in the west b/c we haven't a clue as to whats going on w/ the Kim family in the gov't. They got nukes so we pay close attention. Imagine no Hyundai s being shipped.  They may take back all their Sushi restaurants.

Our weather is definitely not Xmas like. The mood is pensive as in " will there be some indicator that it is Xmas " snow for example..... bells.....certainly the date isn't doing it.

Just me !     Maybe ?

the view from here

Resting and restless, living things move on the lawn
The breezy wind flickers the beige white leavings dotting
Faded red dogwood stems, grass greening on in the cool

Info and then info

The start : googled Emily Blunt. EB is the poster child for Opium, the perfume. On you tube,  she seems to be a hit b/c she wears black tights and has great legs. EB was in " The Devil Wears Prada " and when I noticed her, she was the love interest in " The Adjustment Bureau " another Matt Damon vehicle. While scanning the London Telegraph for soccer news, there was an EB interview which highlighted the very lucrative Opium gig.

Lingo

Chief Dan George as Lone Wadi and Clint Eastwood - the outlaw, Josie Wales - in the " Outlaw Josie Wales "

LW: Guess we're not going to see that Navajo girl anymore
JW :Well it seems, anytime I get to liking someone, they ain't around long

LW: I notice when you don't get to liking someone they ain't around long neither

Yep, a whole bunch of people get whacked in this one

" A man like Wales lives by the feud " Fletcher ( semi bad guy ) played by john Vernon

A new feature of this site - D.Y.K.

Did You Know: " Chariots of Fire " and Star Trek TNG (w/ Cpt Picard ) have this in common.
Alice Krige, pourquoi, you ask. She is " Sib " the love interest in CofF and the Borg queen (Picard's something interest ) in TNG.

Still working on those pesky dwarf names. Bilbo is added to the Company so that the number wasn't 13 apparently unlucky for hirsute beings too !. So, it was Gandalf and 12 dwarves. I'm sure Winkin, Blinken and Nod were in there somehow - sure would make it easier, eh.

No service

To-day, no service was " your attendance has been appreciated, the crown thanks you and no longer requires your services " Yipee , yup all done with jury duty

If to-day were a fish " I'd keep it "

sitting in the dock of the courthouse - not the bay

Yep , pulled jury duty - oops, pulled panel duty, its not jury duty til' you're selected for a case.   Met a SF fan ( way more fan than me ) and as we discussed the " Hobbit " book and movie to come, we asked who are the dwarves in the H.

For my latest acquaintance, they are : Thorrin,  Gloin , Oin, Bifur, Bombur, Bimbo , Nori, Dori , Ori , ....missing 4 I'm kidding about Bimbo.

Aha, add Balin son fo Fundin ( King of Moria II )  Bofur ????

A Sequitor - nuance

I used the word nuance to describe the singing of J E.   In the movie " Diner " set in Baltimore. the guy played by Paul Reiser determines that " nuance is not a real word " as in what is a nuance really. Also starring are Daniel Stern, Tim Daly, Kevin Bacon, Ellen Burstyn and ..... ( I'll think of him later , I'm sure )

youth and voice

In L.V. caught a PBS Great Performances and saw Jackie Evancho ( you can YouTube her ). She is 11 yrs old and sings with a mature voice and phenomenal nuances.

On a video Jackie sings " Angel " S. McLaughlin, the lyric that jumped out was :

waiting for " the break that will make it OK "  What we all need and some get

been there, ala Meatloaf

There are two VHS tapes that I have where I regret not being able to access a DVD copy. " Tribute to Harry Chapin " on what would have been his 42 ?  nd birthday. I also have the CD  for " Tribute " Contributions by Pete Seeger, Bruce , Richie Havens ( doing WOLD ) , Pat Benetar and Terry Klausner ( whom I'd hadn't even heard of ).
On the show Harry receives the Congressional Gold Medal for service to the country. At the time of the show only four other song writers had received the Medal -Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin and
George M Cohen.
The other is called " 70 s Celebration w/ the BeeGees, Spinners, Stylistics and Donna Summer. But the highlight had to be Meatloaf doing " Anything for Love "

So, the quote goes to Carla or whoever it was that paired w/ Meatloaf .  She wears a translucent long white skirt reminiscent of the paraphrased " Wherever in silks my Julia goes,Her outline through her girdle shows " and it does !!

" I know the territory, I've been around
It'll all turn to dust and all fall down "

" Colourize my life, I'm so sick of black and white "

When I'm 62 or If I'm 62

Discovered that a childhood friend has died of a coronary event. Yep,62
Pause to consider and shiver. I thought 40 was old once. Ha, 70 is sounding reasonable.

Hell, boy, the Golden Army !

No, its not swearing its the title of HB II.
Synopsis. Red devil looking creature tries to live a normal life w/ a woman who can " flame on " mostly on command. The Golden Army is awakened by a lonely, disgruntled elf prince, Nuada Silverlance. My last name sounds so prosaic after that Silverleaf bit there.
The good guys win and walk off to rest in Ireland ( ? )

Guillermo Del Toro, director

P.S. : there are Cuban cigars involved

Dylan via Garth Brooks

The movie is  "Hope Floats " w/ Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr. The theme song is " To Feel My Love " written by B. Dylan.  BTW Martina McBride also sings this

Daddy says " Childhood is the best time of your life "
Mommy says " Childhood is what you spend the rest of your life trying to get over "

ala CP

" Now, they've too many cars, too many clothes
 too many parties ,too many beaus

They have learned that the fountain of youth
Is a mixture of gin and vermouth "

Two Little Babes in the Woods ( Cole Porter )  slightly paraphrased, I'm afraid

Grn Lantern - again

Ranking the super hero movies:
Worst :  Green Hornet
             Watchmen
                Spiderman
              Ironman
               Batman ( s)
              Superman (s)
              Captain America
              Thor
              Green Lantern

re: previous post, contentment issues

In a Donna Leon, Inspector Brunetti novel, Paula and Guido are discusssing the insidious nature of the final unction - i.e. person dying,  you can seek redemption by donating to a worthy cause, church gets richer.  Guido says " Do you say such things to Chiara ? "
Paula " No Guido, I said I wouldn't interfere in the children's religious upbringing "
Guido " What if Chiara never discovers what we've been talking about ? "
Paula " Then, she will be much happier "

Scary, eh. Ignorance is "happiness " or contentment

The aftermath - jet travel

In the ads for Puerto Anywhere,  south, they never mention how you'll feel for two days after you get home.
Maybe, it's excitement letdown  -  it's really your body saying " what have you done to me " having flung it across the globe at 500 MPH.

chez here

Coming home : We got tail winds and shaved 15 - 20 minutes off the trip from L.V.  No line up at customs, efficient officer - out in a flash. 1 Hr later our luggage is available on the carousel.  Park'n Fly van came right away ( you call ahead at valet prking ) Paid in a jiff at the computer kiosk ( M did it ) while the line up was ten deep at the counter.

L.V. last day here

Greeted by rain and cool. Starbucks is packed - laptops and net books everywhere. Free WiFi !

You know, I think my father was a contented man when he was 86 + years old. I figure by then he thought he'd seen it all and was OK with it.
I was hoping to beat my father to contentment by at least a decade or two. This past few weeks, I think I'm getting close.  However, its not like I did this on my own. M is still working on me - I'm a W.I.P.

they call the wind Mariah - sort of

Here in Vegas, big winds moved in, avg spd 20 MPH w/ gusts to 50 + and cool to cold, for Ontario people this is Sept normal.
These winds are called the Santa Ana s