Priest-killing’ time.

Some of the great steps of modern cinematic history, and I visited them today.

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Posted at 9:41 pm in Same ol' same ol' |
 

72 responses to “Priest-killing’ time.”

  1. Little Bird said on October 28, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    I never saw that movie until I was about 17, and then I laughed through most of it. I love the music from it though.

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  2. Deborah said on October 28, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    I had to call Littlebird and ask her which movie it was from. I didn’t remember it at all. But that movie scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t sleep for weeks. When she saw it years later, because I wouldn’t allow her to see it until she was nearly an adult, she laughed all the way through it. Goes to show you what a difference a generation makes.

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  3. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 29, 2011 at 12:09 am

    Are those in Alexandria, VA? Or somewhere in DC proper? I’ve been taken to see them, but it’s been a few decades.

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  4. Dexter said on October 29, 2011 at 2:03 am

    Goddam if I laughed through any of it. It scared the beejeezuss outta me. I did laugh when a friend told me he had to drive home with the dome light on …then of course when I saw it I had to also.
    Maybe if you just have it on at home and just glance at it a little, you could laugh at it…but seeing it on the big silver screen at the old Holiday Theater in Northcrest in The Fort, in a packed house, the crowd had a collective terror that swept up all the audience.
    The following night I had to work, a Saturday night…skeleton crew, and I was assigned a job where nobody else was even near me, and most of the factory lights were off to save energy. I was so scared , terrified even, I was totally mentally spent, drained by quitting time. “MERRIN !!!!! ”
    Oh Christ, that movie was the best! And I wish I had never seen the fuckin’ thing!
    JmmO: Georgetown.

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  5. Jolene said on October 29, 2011 at 2:04 am

    They’re in Georgetown, Jeff. A place for trendy people to torture themselves.

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  6. Jolene said on October 29, 2011 at 2:23 am

    I saw the movie w/ a friend who was dating a former priest. She left the moving saying she was glad to have her own Jesuit at home.

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  7. Dorothy said on October 29, 2011 at 6:57 am

    That movie was all the rage when I was in high school but I did not see it until at least 10 years later. And Mike and I laughed through it as well. I guess the novelty of it was gone by then and we’d seen so many parodies and clips from it, we were anything BUT frightened by it.

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  8. nancy said on October 29, 2011 at 8:42 am

    Yes, it’s Georgetown. The incredibly steep, creepy steps the priest falls down at the end, although I regret to tell you: There’s no window at the top. Hope to see you later, Jolene, although this weather — pft.

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  9. basset said on October 29, 2011 at 9:42 am

    OK, I’m ignorant… what movie?

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  10. coozledad said on October 29, 2011 at 9:56 am

    Budget cuts or no budget cuts, they really need to finish that wheelchair ramp.
    Basset: The Exorcist, I think. At first I thought it might be The Omen. Seems like a couple priests might have been fried to advance the plot in that one, too.

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  11. Joe Kobiela said on October 29, 2011 at 10:09 am

    With that weather report you may be there awhile.
    Pilot Joe

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  12. Kim said on October 29, 2011 at 10:19 am

    Two days ago the weather was incredible – and I suppose you could say the same for your current weather situation. Enjoy the city. We were just up last week to meet my father-in-law, a WWII vet who had an Honor Flight. What an experience, to see the memorials with a stoic German who acknowledged, for the first time ever, he hated the Army but credited it with every good thing that happened in his life after serving. Thinking about it, this is probably perfect weather to view the Korean War memorial, which 2/3 of my kids pronounced creepy, largely because of the fear in the eyes of the guy at the back left.

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  13. caliban said on October 29, 2011 at 10:33 am

    Much cool stuff about the movie. Don’t look if you still want to figure it out for yourself. I didn’t think the movie was terribly frightening. I mean, the bobbing for corpses in the unfinished swimming pool scene in Poltergeist was way scarier, as was the too-long JoBeth Williams thinks it’s safe to take a bath scene at the end. And the malevolent clown toy gives me the creeps just thinking about it. Alien and the first sequel were way scarier. Hard to figure what one person finds disturbing and another ridiculous. The John Carpenter iteration of The Thing scared the hell out of me, but the Elm Street and Halloween movies, derisible.

    If these two don’t creep you out, you need to see a psychiatrist. “Come play with us Danny.” On the other hand, Blair Witch was just bad, and not even in a so bad it’s good way. I left because I couldn’t put up with all the gasping and shrieks in the theater.

    Anyway, you know what Beetlejuice said about the movie:

    I’ve seen “The Exorcist” about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it! Not to mention the fact that you’re talking to a dead guy, now what do you think? Do you think I’m qualified?

    S, the woman I live with won’t watch Beetlejuice with me because it’s “scary”. I think it’s one of the funniest movies ever.

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  14. Connie said on October 29, 2011 at 10:48 am

    I’ve never seen the movie, so thanks for finally giving it away. I remember choosing not to join the dorm gang when they went, and being glad I hadn’t joined them after their return. I have in fact never seen the movie, but haven’t we all seen enough clips and paradise to have a pretty good idea how it goes.

    And Caliban, I also think Beetlejuice is funny. The Dayo scene has joined our must watch when possible list.

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  15. caliban said on October 29, 2011 at 11:40 am

    Excellent compressed Beetlejuice video:

    http://www.fanpop.com/spots/beetlejuice-the-movie/videos/5582083/title/youtube-beetlejuice-five-minutes

    Day-o. Catherine O’Hara goes the whole ten on this. There are so many small flashes of humor by reference in this movie, its perfect for multiple views. When Beetlejuice changes Otho’s hipster clothes into a polyester leisure suit, the look of abject terror cracks me up every time. Whoever cast Sylvia Sydney as Juno, guide to the dead, had a flash of genius. Tim Burton, no doubt, who in my opinion has never made a bad movie.

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  16. Judybusy said on October 29, 2011 at 11:41 am

    The only time I saw The Exorcist was when I was an exchange student in Brazil, with a bunch of other 17-year-olds. I remember a lot of laughing and asking me to translate sometimes when they couldn’t catch the English. I think we re-wound the head-spinning scene about five times.

    Tonight, we’re continuing a Halloween tradition by getting together with good friends. Everyone brings food, booze and a scary movie and we watch a couple. Faves in the past have been The Ring and The Village. Caliban, one year I brought Alien; I hadn’t seen it in a while. Still scary! Tonight our contribution is Shutter Island. I wanted to get some classics such as Bride of Frankenstein but there were waiting lists at the library. It brought up the problem of not having video stores any longer. We’ve also opted out of the DVD service from Netflix. I’ll just have to plan ahead next year, or break down and buy somehting.

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  17. Julie Robinson said on October 29, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who opted out of watching Exorcist. Horror movies–meh. Our annual viewing pleasure is Mummy Daddy from the first season of Steven Spielberg’s short-lived anthology series Amazing Stories. Hilariously funny as it takes on every movie cliche possible. Worth looking for.

    Today I hit the double nickel and couldn’t be happier with the bright sunshine we have. It’s a Fort kinda birthday; I’m celebrating with a Vera bag, DeBrand’s chocolates, and spinach lasagna at Casa’s. Happyhappyjoyjoy.

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  18. beb said on October 29, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    Bassett, don’t feel bad, I had no idea what movie they were talking about. The only stairs in movies I could recall was the one in the Laurel and Hardy movie where they had to take a piano to top.

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  19. caliban said on October 29, 2011 at 12:57 pm

    I think The Hunger, with Catharine Deneuve and David Bowie is a very good Halloween movie. For classics that mostly nobody has ever seen, try Isle of the Dead or Cat People by Val Lewton. Incredibly spooky and atmospheric. I’m sure I saw both of those up late on Friday nights on the Morgus late night movie show in Detroit:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-tPQhbz5l4

    The Tingler was another Morgus favorite.

    Seeing movies with foreigners is interesting. I saw L’ horde sauvage (The Wild Bunch) in a packed theater in Geneva, the summer it came out. Some grotesque Ugly Americans laughed their way through it. And seriously, there is little to laugh at in that Peckinpah classic. The director said he intended to give the audience “some idea of what it is to be gunned down.”

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  20. Dave said on October 29, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Beb, Laurel and Hardy was the first thing I thought of. I love Laurel and Hardy, but I knew those weren’t the steps. I went to see The Exorcist with a date but don’t remember the end at all, had no idea what our hostess was referring to with her pic.

    Julie, birthday wishes, my wife turns 30×2 a week from today, she also wants something from DeBrand’s. I’ve got to go see what I can do about that. I’m not a great gift-picker-outer, but I think she might like a Nook. Or a Kindle, but she usually mentions Nook.

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  21. Julie Robinson said on October 29, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    Dave, I’m about to reveal a deep, dark secret about becoming a great gift-picker-outer. Ask your wife what she wants, and from where. And if she has a picture. It’s that easy.

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  22. caliban said on October 29, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    Cherry on top of the GOPer Bananas Split. Just in time for Halloween. Whose votes does he attract? Everybody but Newt and Ron Paul, I’d guess.

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  23. caliban said on October 29, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    Anybody that’s not doing anything in particular tonight that feels like watching a scary F-in’ movie, TNT is showing 1408 at 8pm. A good Steven King adaptation, with the excellent John Cusack. Mucho metaphysical, and pretty damn frightening.

    Actually, the Val Lewton b/w spooky classic Cat People is on Turner Classic (highly recommended by me). The erotic subtext is awesome.

    Anyone with kids to entertain for Halloween, well Who Ya Gonna Call? (I love this song. I ain’t afraida no ghosts is as good as Well, I’m talkin’ ’bout Shaft. There is a decided debt Ray Parker owes to the BarKays, too.)) Another great choice is The Witches (I think it was a Roald Dahl story), with Anjelica Huston devouring scenery shamelessly. Outstanding kid/adult movie. It’s about accidentally running afoul of a world-wide witch convention.

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  24. caliban said on October 29, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    Spectacular cover of funk classic by bunch of Japanese kids in a club. Back in the day, there was bullshit about Ray Parker being sued for plagiarizing I Want a New Drug. Bar Kays could have sued both for stealing Soulfinger. Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Hard to believe looking at her this little lady sounds like she does. Amazing voice.

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  25. coozledad said on October 29, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Maybe these people can be the first up against the wall, along with Rick Santelli.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/what-the-costumes-reveal.html?_r=3

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  26. Judybusy said on October 29, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    caliban, you’re right about The Witches being based on a Dahl story. I love that movie–a little creepy but in a fun sort of way. Great for kids, as it’s just scary enough, and no gore.

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  27. brian stouder said on October 29, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    Happy birthday, Julie! Pam LOVES that spinach lasagna from Casa’s (I usually get something with polo in the mix)

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  28. Deborah said on October 29, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Happy birthday Julie!

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  29. Dexter said on October 29, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!

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  30. Kirk said on October 29, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    Don’t watch many scary movies, but “The Shining” certainly had its moments. And the scene in “Close Encounters” when Melinda Dillon and the kid are alone in the house (until the aliens snatch him) is terrifying.

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  31. brian stouder said on October 29, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    First time I watched Jaws, I was somewhat traumatized, and was quite afraid of sharks (a pointless fear, being a resident of Indiana, but we digress). Other monster movies that bothered me include The Blob and The Birds. The Wizard of Oz was deeply affecting, when I was a kiddo – and has since bloomed into my all-time favorite movie.

    Bonnie and Clyde has a large helping of horror within it, which bothered me a great deal when I first saw it. (Estelle Parsons absolutely makes that movie)

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  32. caliban said on October 29, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    Ykou all want to crash down on Jesuits. Fine and dandy. Teillhard knew more about than how the humn race was becoming god thn you ever imgined. Or I’m a moron on this subject. However you say.

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  33. Connie said on October 29, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    Brian, I was absolutely terrified of those flying monkeys, every single time. And as a little kid I thought Lassie was the scariest show of all time. Every week, oh no, will she make it this time?

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  34. Connie said on October 29, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    Hey Brian, my daughter’s former marching band took first in state class B today. How was your first marching band season?

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  35. moe99 said on October 29, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    Happy Birthday, Julie!

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  36. LAMary said on October 29, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    I think I’ve mentioned this before, but my former school board rep, and later councilwoman, Jackie Goldberg, lived in an older (by LA standards) house in Angeleno Heights. She used to hang a sheet on her clothesline and show movies for the neighborhood kids in the summer, and one night she showed The Music Box, that Laurel and Hardy movie with the piano on the stairs. As everyone was watching the movie, it dawned on them that the house in the movie was Jackie Goldberg’s house. They were sitting behind the house. Jackie never knew that until she showed the movie in her backyard.

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  37. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 29, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    Caliban, you might enjoy “The Rite.” No Jesuits were harmed in the making of that movie.

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  38. Little Bird said on October 29, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    I may have laughed through The Exorcist, but when I saw The Blair Witch Project, I couldn’t go home to my apartment all by my lonesome. I crashed at my best friends apartment. Along with the third part of our group who also went to the movie. That movie gave me the heebie-jeebies!

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  39. Dorothy said on October 29, 2011 at 11:05 pm

    Happy double nickel birthday, Julie!

    Beb – one of my favorite movie with stairs/steps: The French Connection
    Brian – The Blob scared the daylights out of me the first time I saw it. And last year we saw Estelle Parsons on stage in “August: Osage County” in Cleveland. It was amazing! She was terrific!

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  40. Dexter said on October 30, 2011 at 12:50 am

    I just watched two short YouTubes of The Exorcist and the creepy chills came back…No Mas!

    Kirk: Lloyd the bartender in “The Shining” was my favorite. “Your money’s no good here, Mr. Torrance.”

    Stephen King was furious all through the dailies and especially at the finished film, but I thought it was OK.

    The Blob, brian? Oh hell yes! I saw it when I was eight and it was so cool! It was paired with this B movie that caused me deep psychological harm….
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051756/
    It’s a tight little 78 minute film that features aliens inhabiting humans…when the plug is pulled, the monster-clones turn to pea-soup/ baby shit right in their buttoned up suit coats and dresses.

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  41. moe99 said on October 30, 2011 at 12:57 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE5xZKszXMQ&feature=player_embedded

    bad lip reading for Herman Cain

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  42. MichaelG said on October 30, 2011 at 2:07 am

    Happy birthday, Julie. May you double the double nickel.

    Mary, your movie on a sheet story reminds me of movie time in Vietnam. We would get to the rear area now and then and there would be nightly movies on a screen made of four sheets of four by eight plywood affixed to some sort of frame and painted white. Everyone’s fave was the old Combat TV show. Projector clattering way, lots of action, lots of shooting. Guys loved watching that old WWII combat action. We drank beer and cheered and hooted and enjoyed the flicks to the max with airborne flares in the sky and our weapons leaning against our legs. The war on the screen was so different from ours that it would divert our attention from our own reality. God, we were so young and immortal and too many of us weren’t.

    Now, several days after my right eye was fixed, the vision in it is surprisingly improving to the extent that that I can close my left (heretofore dominant eye) and work on the computer without glasses. I think that in a few days my right eye may take over as dominant. Can’t wait until my left eye is fixed. I still can’t get over how dim and yellowed and distorted vision is in what I had thought of as my good eye.

    Paddy, it seems cruel to me that your health care provider is making you wait before fixing your second eye. It’s going to go bad anyhow so why wait? My second eye is seriously bad now so there’s no question about fixing it. I wonder if Kaiser would make me wait if it wasn’t fucked. Anyway it seems to me like those assholes are just stalling and hoping that you’ll be run over by a garbage truck so they won’t have to pay.

    I made a seriously killer pot of hot and sour soup this evening and sucked down some wine. Fresh wood ear mushrooms don’t have much taste. Life is OK.

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  43. Linda said on October 30, 2011 at 4:35 am

    I saw the Exorcist when I was 14, and it was so upsetting that I had to walk out. But when I saw the Blair Witch Project, all I could think about was that the kids were so whiny, I was rooting for the witch. Got into an argument with a library patron who insisted I find a book about the real Blair Witch project, which he KNEW was REAL.

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  44. Deborah said on October 30, 2011 at 7:34 am

    Moe that Bad Lip Reading video of Cain is pee your pants funny. There is one about Perry too.

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  45. basset said on October 30, 2011 at 9:06 am

    I have not seen any of the movies in this thread, excepting Close Encounters, and I’m not sure I got all the way through it.

    No scary movies for us this weekend – had the neighbors over for dinner last night, watched the last half of “Concert for Bangla Desh” and all of “Concert for George.” Not quite all, actually, skipped the Ravi Shankar part but everyone does that.

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  46. caliban said on October 30, 2011 at 10:09 am

    basset, Close Encounters is a hard slog. Mostly Richard Dreyfuss self-adoration. But once the aliens actually deign to make contact, it’s magical.

    The only electronic music I ever took to. Keith Emerson played this when I saw ELP in the old Boston Garden, fourth row. My ears are still ringing.

    Linda, I was restrained in my seat for most of Raging Bull. Godamighty that was a dogass movie glorifying a wife-beating asshole that wasn’t a good boxer. And nobody wrote a script. DeNiro just said “fuck” every other word in all of its varieties. I seriously objected to that movie.
    basset, I love the Ravi parts. If you play stringed instruments, that’s got to get you going. BeatleGeorge was a neophyte, I just bought an electric version. Way fun. Then there is how much fun can be had with a sitar:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0JvF9vpqx8

    Little Bird, that is what I mean. There is no telling what and why an individual finds frightening. Steven King seems to understand this. My ex was horrified by the violence in the first version of Walking Tall. Didn’t phase me.

    Blair Witch was ludicrous and ridiculously sophomoronic. Like Porky’s without the titties.

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  47. 4dbirds said on October 30, 2011 at 10:17 am

    Happy Birthday Julie!

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  48. caliban said on October 30, 2011 at 10:35 am

    Are Republicans connected remotely to reality? That is scary. Man’s inhumanity, as the lifeblood of a whole political party.

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  49. Dexter said on October 30, 2011 at 11:30 am

    Linda, love it! My family vacation to Charleston , many years ago…we all piled into the van and drove to a big screen showing of “Forrest Gump”. Serious critics dump all over this film but a lot of folks loved it, as you will see almost every week if you have cable TV.
    I loved it, it employed “the erasing technique”
    http://www.sinisefans.org/gump/gumpfx.html
    to make Lieutenant Dan become legless , and computer tricks to insert Forrest into JFK’s and LBJ’s Whitehouses.
    After the movie, my then-17 year old niece said, “Well, there was a real Forest Gump.”
    At least Forrest could run his way out of the Blair Witch woods.

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  50. coozledad said on October 30, 2011 at 11:44 am

    Caliban: You’ve probably heard this. There are parts where the double violin sounds like a baritone vocalist.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9bPyEOqsFw

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  51. Dexter said on October 30, 2011 at 11:56 am

    So have yourself a pleasant Halloween Sunday..if you CAN !
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0CGzPaJUOE&feature=related

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  52. caliban said on October 30, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    Cooze, when I was a kid, my dad had a doctor friend named Mohinder Singh that bought me a sitar. It’s an amazing instrument. There is no telling where this could go. It is fairly obvious Americans are fucking blind, Are they deaf too?

    Yeaah, the great Mohinder greatest triple jumper that ever lived. Sports rules, and not because I was good at it.

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  53. caliban said on October 30, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    It’s Sammhain. Read the Charles de Lint books, you will like them.

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  54. caliban said on October 30, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    Is there some sort of homer fool thaat doesn’t understand playing at Jax is a homegame for FLA? This is college football bullshit, and nobody else has to deal with it. So, we kick they ass. Go Dawgs.

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  55. brian stouder said on October 30, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    Connie – we loved our first season of marching band. I think it was just a marvelously good thing for our son Grant; a genuinely positive avenue (or on-ramp) for him in the big transition into high school.

    The only irritating thing was the appearance of WOWO’s hard-right lip flapper in the announce-booth at a few of the contests, but you’ll have that, eh?

    Anyway – a few hours ago we stepped out and saw a HUGE, HUGE plume of black smoke rising in the sky south of us; clearly a fire that was not yet under control.

    A quick check of the old-fashioned ‘internet’ – a fellow in a passing car stopped when he saw me staring at the pillars of smoke, and shouted across “MOMPER INSULATION IS BURNING” – and we learned what was happening. The site of the fire is within a mile or two of right here.

    And here we are, about 3 hours later, and although there is less smoke, the thing continues on.

    http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/main-street-closed-for-fire-at-momper-insulation

    You just never know, eh?

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  56. alex said on October 30, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    Happy birthday, Julie! My big five-oh was Wednesday and I went to Casa’s that evening (had the veal marsala) but waited until yesterday to have friends over for a milestone birthday bash.

    What a week this has been. We weren’t even sure we could throw a party because we had a collapsed ceiling due to a roof leak and the house was trashed. But we hired a lady who’s an out-of-work auto detailer to clean the house and it has never looked more fabulous. And the new ceiling is almost up—with new lighting and a new attic access door with fold-out stairs. Having an open ceiling also afforded us the opportunity to put new recessed lighting in other rooms. Best birthday present ever. Thanks, Mother Nature. Next time, hit the living room so I can cathedralize the ceiling like I’ve always wanted to do.

    Right now awaiting trick-or-treaters.

    On edit: Brian, we saw the smoke all the way from Cedar Canyons. And that was at 2:30 and the fire began at 11:30 per the news. (I thought insulation was supposed to be fireproof. Good lord!)

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  57. alex said on October 30, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    Brian—

    Just noticed the sticker atop my Sunday paper—a Momper Insulation ad.

    On edit: It didn’t say “Fire Sale.”

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  58. brian stouder said on October 30, 2011 at 5:55 pm

    Happy birthday, Alex, and as Steve McGarret might say, welcome to Five-O!

    The fire continues, and the wind seems to be straight north, so that we have a pretty foul smell in the air. Our canary-in-a-coal-mine is our bunny in the front yard; if he keels over, we’ll know that we should have evacuated!

    edit – the fire has apparently rekindled; at this moment the smoke is blacker than ever, and billowing heavily…

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  59. 4dbirds said on October 30, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    Happy Birthday Alex.

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  60. basset said on October 30, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    >>basset, I love the Ravi parts. If you play stringed instruments, that’s got to get you going. BeatleGeorge was a neophyte, I just bought an electric version. Way fun.

    no, Caliban, I started playing guitar about the time George put the first sitar on a Beatles record… and mandolin a few years later than I should have… and I still can’t connect with Indian music, can’t get hold of the structure.

    George finally realized that he was never going to be really good at the sitar because he’d started too late and wasn’t willing to make it his whole life… better to hire it done when he needed sitar on a record. Actually, he wasn’t an outstanding guitar player either, in a technical sense… but he always played what was right for the song, at least on the tracks which made it into public release. McCartney was the only Beatle who was anything special on his instrument, the rest of them weren’t that technically great but what they played worked, and that’s what’s important.

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  61. coozledad said on October 30, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    Basset: I always thought Paul was the band’s most versatile guitarist. He developed very good guitar technique while Stu Sutcliffe was the bassist.
    I never realized how androgynous Stu was until the recent publication of some of Astrid Kircher’s photos. Stu was new wave before anyone else, from the looks of it.
    Speaking of androgynous, Rick Perry needs to lay off the Jim Beam and Peruvian flake before scheduled appearances. Nijinsky was shitcanned for more butch performances.
    http://gawker.com/5854674/just-how-drunk-is-rick-perry-in-this-video
    or for those impatient or easily nauseated people, try this link:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7M4gz97Y9W8#t=138s

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  62. brian stouder said on October 30, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    Cooz – that video is genuinely pathetic; I don’t think I’ve ever seen – nor will ever see again – a more spectacular political flame-out, than this unfolding scarey-Perry entropy campaign.

    At one time, I really thought that secessionist sack of shit would be The One, but he smacked the wall early, and he’s been tumbling and rolling and spinning ever since. And – since he has scads of money and no brains at all, we’ll get to see and hear lots and lots more of him, before he shuts his pie-hole and goes the hell home.

    By the way, the next time someone natters about “The (ignored) Tenth Amendment” or “The Terrible 16th” (damned taxes!) or “The Terrible 14th Amendment” (damned American-born babies with skin color!), hit ’em back with the amendment that the 1% crowd breaks every damned day, every chance they get – the 7th amendment – the one that says in any dispute of $25 or more, you have a right to a jury trial…..unless of course you signed away that Constitutional right when you agreed to “binding arbitration” – since corporate America doesn’t want ANY PART of any damned “jury or your peers” getting a crack at them! (but we digress)

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  63. Linda said on October 30, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    Happy birthday to Alex, and Julie! There’s so many of you peeps with birthdays around now–I’ve got 2 nephews w/ birthdays next week, on Wednesday and Saturday.

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  64. moe99 said on October 30, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    Here I thought Herman Cain was the second act Michael Steele, when all along he’s the next Clarence Thomas:

    http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=9BF98DF6-86A6-4B3B-BB63-1E4E3AA9FD97

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  65. coozledad said on October 30, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    Moe: He went much farther than they wanted. The only question was how they were going to take him down.
    The only thing that tempers my schadenfreude over this is the source. Politico is always going to reinforce the orthodox foregone Republican conclusion. Useful, instructive story, but they’re still tools.

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  66. Julie Robinson said on October 30, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    Thanks to all for your good wishes, and happy belated birthday to you, Alex. I wouldn’t wish a roof leak on anyone, but you made lemonade from the situation. Nay, not just lemonade but limoncello.

    One thing I’ve learned about getting older; my body doesn’t like long car trips. I drove up to my mom’s in DeKalb, Illinois this afternoon and I’m stiff everywhere. Oh well, it’s better than the alternative!

    Instead of making myself crazy listening to news on my long drive, I popped in an audiobook I just got from the library, about a blind cat, called Homer’s Odyssey. If you liked the one about the library cat, you’ll like this one. If you’re a cranky sophisticate, you probably won’t. To each his own.

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  67. Deborah said on October 30, 2011 at 11:47 pm

    Happy birthday Alex. It seems like we have a lot of October birthdays here at NNC.

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  68. Dexter said on October 31, 2011 at 2:06 am

    “From my laboratory
    In the castle east,…”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tHyRQOdqf0&feature=related

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  69. caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 7:51 am

    “I happen to know there were sealed settlements reached in the plural. I think that anybody who thinks this was a one-time, one-person transgression would be mistaken.” Settlements in the five figures. Did any of these women have a going away party at Pepperdine where they showed off their kneepads? Because the Clinton comparisons are coming, fast and furious.

    Paul may have been a better guitar player than George, but not nearly as inspired.

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  70. basset said on October 31, 2011 at 8:07 am

    Geoff Emerick (Beatles recording engineer who did “Rubber Soul” when he was just nineteen) spends a substantial portion of his book going on about how George held things up by taking too long to learn his parts and in some cases just being unable to play what the others wanted… apparently there was a pretty significant personality conflict at work there, Emerick liked Paul but makes it clear he didn’t have a whole lot of use for George.

    And for today’s Halloween song, I would recommend Fairport Convention’s version of “Tam Lin”… and this is a short one, some of the traditional arrangements have close to thirty verses:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam_Lin

    I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
    To travel to Carter Hall for young Tam Lin is there

    None that go by Carter Hall but they leave him a pledge
    Either their mantles of green or else their maidenhead”

    Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
    And she’s gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she

    She’d not pulled a double rose, a rose but only two
    When up there came young Tam Lin says “Lady, pull no more”

    “And why come you to Carter Hall without command from me?”
    “I’ll come and go”, young Janet said, “and ask no leave of thee”

    Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
    And she’s gone to her father as fast as go can she

    Well, up then spoke her father dear and he spoke meek and mild
    “Oh, and alas, Janet,” he said, “I think you go with child”

    “Well, if that be so,” Janet said, “myself shall bear the blame
    There’s not a knight in all your hall shall get the baby’s name

    For if my love were an earthly knight as he is an elfin grey
    I’d not change my own true love for any knight you have”

    Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
    And she’s gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she

    “Oh, tell to me, Tam Lin,” she said, “why came you here to dwell?”
    “The Queen of Faeries caught me when from my horse I fell

    And at the end of seven years she pays a tithe to hell
    I so fair and full of flesh and feared it be myself

    But tonight is Hallowe’en and the faery folk ride
    Those that would their true love win at Miles Cross they must hide

    So first let past the horses black and then let past the brown
    Quickly run to the white steed and pull the rider down

    For I’ll ride on the white steed, the nearest to the town
    For I was an earthly knight, they give me that renown

    Oh, they will turn me in your arms to a newt or a snake
    But hold me tight and fear not, I am your baby’s father

    And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold
    But hold me tight and fear not and you will love your child

    And they will turn me in your arms into a naked knight
    But cloak me in your mantle and keep me out of sight”

    In the middle of the night she heard the bridle ring
    She heeded what he did say and young Tam Lin did win

    Then up spoke the Faery Queen, an angry queen was she
    Woe betide her ?ill-fought? face, an ill death may she die

    “Oh, had I known, Tam Lin,” she said, “what this knight I did see
    I have looked him in the eyes and turned him to a tree.”

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  71. caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 8:53 am

    Cool beyond belief. The other Willbury’s.

    And what woman could resist the Hermanator? Kommissar Karl has undoubtedly got tape. They are Republicans after all.

    Elvira, mistress of the dark.

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  72. caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 8:59 am

    How about Thomas the Rhymer, basset.

    lyrics:

    http://www.elyrics.net/read/s/steeleye-span-lyrics/thomas-the-rhymer-lyrics.html

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