Watching RUSSIAN DOLL season 2

So far so good. But can this character or premise go wrong? 

Re-watching APOCALYPSE: NOW REDUX

Still has this scene.

Re-watching TREASURE ISLAND

Surprisingly nuanced. Seen best as a melodrama. Entire phrases entered the English language thanks to this movie. 

Re-watching 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

"Alright — let's shoot this fucker!"

My personal history with this movie: I first saw this movie on television — The Wonderful World of Disney. I can still recall frames from the Disney comic book that my uncle had. The public library in the 'Bach had a copy of Walt Disney Presents Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which I listened to (love those enormous headphones!) in amongst their LP records. And when our family moved to Winnipeg in the late 70s Walt Disney Presents Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was projected onto a school hallway wall during one of the Movie Nights in our church. I told one of the kids to go into the gymnasium and get brown paper bags of popcorn with splotches of grease, because that signified melted butter. I finally got a bag that was entirely shiny with grease but by then I was sick of popcorn. 

When we visited the Magic Kingdom during our Florida honeymoon I insisted we ride one of the Nautilus submarines. We could see the strings and the "submarines" never broke the surface of the water. We laughed about the "tottering call-YOOMZ."And for years I saw the plastic case of the DVD in the Children's Section of our local video store but never picked it up (I was tempted to, boy oh boy!). 

So this is a movie that dredges up memories. 

Re-watching KING KONG (2005)

Peter Jackson actually did alright — never mind Naomi Watts, Adrian Brody and a pre-Friday Night Lights Kyle Chandler.

In my dreams 

“Mr. Kicks” as performed by Dave & Phil Alvin

Studio version on Lost Time by Dave & Phil Alvin. 

“The most important cassette on the planet”

Steely Dan you say? (The Guardian)

For your edification: 

Re-watching THX 1138

There's a reason why George Lucas kept referring to this film. An easy re-watch for me — the architecture kinda reminds me of my time at the University of Winnipeg. 

So does the action. 

If you have access to Disney+ Andor is actually better. 

Watching THE DIRT

Not as good as This Is Spinal Tap but still pretty good. 

"Does  Spinal Tap do this?"

Casa Bonita

Hey, our family ate there in the mid-70s when the food was still bad. 

Re-watching A SCANNER DARKLY

The only flick that "gets" PKD. 

Re-watching THE LIMEY

"Tell me! Tell me about Jenny!"

Re-watching THE WARRIORS

"I'm having a good time!" 

The power of prayer

Before the stroke I would wake up in the middle of the night. I used to spend that time praying for others. I thought God actually listened to me. I don't pray like that anymore, needless to say. 

But I still pray -- "Religious but not spiritual." I first heard Nathan Gilmour say those words and that's me. I pray out of a book these days. The Book of Common Prayer is good. The same site also has the NRSV Bible, which I also recommend. And the Navigators have a super reading plan. 

Re-watching SICARIO

"Learn. That's why you're here."

Other Father's song about Coraline

Notice how many of the film's motifs are mentioned in this short song. The whole flick is like that. I don't say this often, but the movie is actually better than the book. 

Eglinton Theatre, fall 1995

We met Dan and his beautiful young wife at the Eglinton to see how Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond.  I thought Brosnan was pretty good, actually -- enough to get us back into the theatre to see James Bond. 

The Egliton is also where we watched Kate Winslett and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. There was an intermission for that, I believe. 

The Eglinton -- one of Toronto's last Movie Palaces. 

Anaheim, California, summer 1986

The more things change... 

Brian and I stayed at the Sand-Man motel. During the day we visited theme parks and at night we returned to the Sand-Man and watched Get Smart. 

KAOS Goon: And you accuse me on this flimsy evidence? 

Maxwell Smart: No, I have more flimsy evidence!

I remember DisneyLand. It was so smoggy they actually stopped the fireworks show midway and said, "Maybe come back tomorrow."

At the Matterhorn a ride master said, "No no! Get those people out of the way!" Our train slid to the side and SHUNK! another came rolling in. "Because you folks were so good you get to ride again." The announcer was calmer thus time, but this was a dispensation we could have used earlier in the day. 

Wow, did my head ache! A churro cart passed by and I thought I was going to throw up because of the smell. 

At the Sword-in-the-Stone we stopped. I was going to start mugging for the camera when this kid hopped up and started yanking at the sword. It seemed just too perfect. An eight-year.old boy bending over and sticking his bum into the camera lens -- I could not have planned it better so the photo was taken.  

The Sand-Man was owned by a couple from Northeast India. In the mornings she would change the linens in the suite next door and sing her exotic songs. 

The motel had an outdoor pool that was dry. It was next to an International House of Pancakes and across the street from a pizza joint that served amazing pizza. We only went to both restaurants once, but the food was very good. 

Vancouver, summer 1974

While my parents attended the then-new Regent College (my mother took a course led by H.R. Rookmaaker). I had been a bad little bad little boy in Grade  public school. One afternoon our father took me aside and, demonstrating with twigs on the concrete sidewalk, said, "Now, your brother and sister -- your entire family -- are going one way and you are going another." I (mostly) straightened up after that. 

That was the summer I was fixated on our babysitter, hippies, "The Unicorn" by The Irish Rovers, wax museums, the double-Ferris Wheel at the PNE and Big Jim's Jungle Adventure. 

It's even scarier in my imagination!

"Keep your eyes peeled"

"The origin of the idiom 'keep your eyes peeled' can be traced back to the time of sailing ships when pirates roamed the seas frequently in the 1800s. Sailors used this expression as a reminder to be alert and thoroughly scan the horizon for any potential dangers." The Idioms

Oh, you don't want to run into these guys!

From AUSTIN POWERS: GOLDMEMBER

Words that have entered the lexicon: 

As a Mennonite buddy was quick to remind me , "When it comes to Mennonites we're all Dutch," His brother-in-law was a VanderVleet. 

Re-watching the GET SMART television series

If the makers of South Park have taught us anything it is to never tell a commedian what's not funny ("If it's political it's not correct"). 

More Get Smart here, here and here. 

Cormac McCarthy

I've heard all the jokes about a wolf being Cormac McCarthy's most exquisitely drawn female. But the autographed copy of The Crossing remains among my most precious books. 

Re-watching MONTY PYTHON"S "THE LIFE OF BRIAN"

Eminently quotable. 

"Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" 1956

Louis Jordan first recorded it as a song in 1946, but "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" is actually the punchline of a joke that is much older. 

Watching THE DAYS

It wasn't Chernobyl but Fukushima was still pretty bad. 

"The penny dropped" origin

"The phrase was coined in the 1930s in the British publication of The Daily Mirror. The allusion was made to machines that required a penny to operate. Sometimes the coin would be stuck and someone would wait for the penny to drop for the machine to work." From the Grammarist. 

Re-watching FLUSHED AWAY

Pretty funny. Not as many laughs as Wallace & Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit but still pretty funny. 

Re-watching PULP FICTION

The movie changed everything, and not always for the better. 

Pat Robertson & Henry Kissinger

Apparently Pat Robertson is finally dead. Henry Kissenger is still alive, of course. The sad fact is that people like Robertson and Kissinger will never feel even a fraction of the pain they've caused others. The old, Irish toast comes to mind: "We may not get what we want, and we may not want what we get, as long as we never get what we deserve."

Re-watching SILVERADO

I must be feeling better!

Lionel Richie

Substitute the photo of Lionel Richie with the

 photo of a cat and you've about got it right.

Watching FUBAR

Includes Scott Thompson ("World famous in Canada!") — usually a good sign. 

Fireworks! summer, 1991(?)

I lived in the basement of a house by a ball-diamond. The Fox Theatre was within walking distance. On hot summer nights I would munch on chocolate covered espresso beans on the walk over and get buzzed. The Fox smelled like pee but at least it was cool. In fact, it was frigid. I sat and shivered and watched the movie. A typical Fox double-bill was Hear My Song and Naked Lunch. 

The Fox was just north of the Beach. One summer I took my sister's friend to see the Canada Day fireworks. It had just rained — the light from the fireworks bounced off the low clouds and the water of Lake Ontario. 

Re-watching LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL

Léon: The Professional is a big deal in South Korea. Also, Léon's relationship with Mathilde is just as creepy as Frank's to Athena in Tomorrowland. 

Plus: there are guns and lots of explosions.

Seems to me I first saw Léon: The Professional in a multplex on Yonge Street just north of Sheppard Avenue. I have the blue-ray but I'm not creepy. Oh no no no. 

The HMV music store in downtown Toronto, (1990?)

The HMV store at 333 Yonge Street was a very big deal. On their rooftop they had four searchlights which spun and shone into the night sky. I could see this from the  outdoor swimming pool (which I used once) and ballpark at Coxwell and Girrard. 

I would enter the main floor and get searched by the bodyguard. The guy on the PA was often playing something cool. I can remember one time when he was playing the theme from Loveboat. The main floor is also where I purchased issues of Details magazine when I wasn't buying the rag from Lichtman's. 

The second floor was movies and TV shows  — pretty rarefied stuff, I thought. 

I typically took the speedy escalator up to "Jazz" on the third floor. I asked the fellow there what I asked everybody at Church. "What's the most depressing CD you've got?" (I was nursing a broken heart.)

"I can't help you with that, but try Soulville by Ben Webster. You'll feel like you're in a club"

That was quite the nexus. Sam the Record Man was just north of HMV and Sunrise Records was right across the street. I bought a Lou Reed boxed set at Sunrise, and it took some scrounging , but Terry G. found the Slaid Cleaves CD at Sam the Record Man and introduced us to Slaid's music. I don't know but I believe I got Merry Xmas From The Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Esquivel at HMV Downtown. 

"Sing Me Back Home" by Merle Haggard

I'm a fan. 

Red River Bookstore winter 1986(?)

The Red River Bookstore used to be located across the street from Calvary Temple Church in downtown Winnipeg. I went there once with my buddy Dan. He picked up a copy of Augustine's Confessions and I picked up something by James Jones. 

A guy was playing Television's Greatest Hits Volume II over the store PA. "What'd you think of that?" he asked somebody. 

"I liked Tarzan."

I was hooked. I left the shop and bought the double album. 

Money well-spent.

RIP Astrud Gilberto

1940-2023

Joy Division on the SOMETHING ELSE SHOW

 From Joy Division's (unbeknownst to them) final television performance:  

Re-watching SPIRITED AWAY

Is it a dream? 

Or is it a nightmare?

Winnipeg, spring 1981(?)

During the spring of 1980 my friend from my only year at Sansome Jr. High, Victor P., taught me how to squeeze the rear brake on my CCM 5-speed bicycle and come to a circular stop in the loose gravel at each corner, while singing, "East Bound & Down" or the theme to The Dukes of Hazzard. 

In the spring of 1981 I turned my back to all that and willingly followed my Mennonite guitar-playin' buddy on a walking tour of the Music Shops of Main Street of Winnipeg.  

These were mostly Mel Bay affairs that smelled of mothballs. One had large "white" linoleum tiles and a sunken floor. It was lit with long, buzzing fluorescent bulbs. 

Needless to say I purchased my bass guitar elsewhere — Academy Road I think. I remember a guy in a trench coat pulling a short electric guitar from the hooks in the wall, plugging it into an amp and playing the bejeezus out of it. "Some day I'll play bass guitar like that,"

Or get a photo taken by our father, posing in my stinkiest baseball jersey in front

of the workbench using a 110 camera "won" in the Junior Sales Club of Canada.

Re-watching Cosmopolis

Film by David Cronenberg & novel by Don DeLillo: 

you either love 'em or hate 'em. 

Re-watching HAYWIRE

Earlier wp thoughts on Haywire are here. Yo, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Here are my thoughts on Gina Carano getting shit-canned by the Mouse. 

Re-watching THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE

Pretty funny, actually. 

Re-watching KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE

Earlier wp thoughts on Kiki's Delivery Service are here. 

Currently streaming:

Public Enemies

One reviewer got after me for preferring the movie over the book. I thought the book had been put together by researchers and read that way. Hey, read the book yourself and tell me I'm wrong (I picked up my copy at the public lye-berry). And speaking of the written word: 

Blonde

Joyce Carol Oates can't be beat, but this is a pretty good movie. 

Watching 300: RISE OF A NEW EMPIRE

Like its predecessor very cartoony. There are any number of scenes that would make a platoon eat its teeth.  

Re-watching ZERO DARK THIRTY

One man, so many lives. This is only one movie. 

Re-watching THE WILD BUNCH

"If they move... kill 'em!"

Warming up.

Re-watching RICHARD III, the movie

Yeah, it's Shakespeare (again) but Richard III does what only a movie can do  especially the "Now is the winter of our discontent" scene near the very beginning of the film. 

Helen Coghlan, winner of the FU trophy -- 5 times!

 

YouTube links from here.