Last Trash Talk Before The Election
Welp, we have almost made it to November 3. As I type this, there are less than 72 hours to the opening of the polls for Election Day. The long national nightmare will be very far from over, irrespective of which candidate wins. But, and this is important, the relentless onslaught of annoying campaign commercials, mailers in your mail box and robocalls calls and texts will be over, and that will be a huge relief. I don’t trust the polls, especially the national ones. State polls are a far better indicator, but even those are fraught these days, but they are far more important because the electoral college is what really matters, and that is state by state. Polling is hard now. The saw about cell phones skewing polling is really true. Some people, including me, won’t answer them for rando callers. It also skews more urban. So, who knows what the ground will look like on Wednesday November 4, we shall see!
There is one other bit of unfortunate news, Sir Sean Connery has passed. Here is a great obituary from the BBC. Everybody knows the various Bond movies, and they were all great in their own way. I’d like to focus on some of his many other notable roles. He won an Oscar for The Untouchables. But his work was every bit as spectacular in The Wind And The Lion and Hunt For Red October, not to mention as John Mason in The Rock (a fantastic flick). And let’s not forget his portrayal of William von Baskerville in The Name of The Rose, also spectacular. What are your favorite roles and lines, here is a list? RIP Mr. Connery.
On to the games. In the NCAA, there are not a ton of really promising matchups. Texas at Oklahoma State could be one. OSU is pretty solid, and has a very decent defense. Watch out for OSU this year. Most of the national focus is on Ohio State at Penn State. Clearly the Buckeyes have to be favored, but you never know against PSU at home. Boston College is at Death Valley to play Clemson, who will be without star QB Taylor Lawrence because of a positive Covid test. I will still take the Tigers, but no Lawrence is a big wrinkle.
In the Pros, all eyes are on Scribe’s Steelers at Baltimore, and that is a tossup. If they get any contain whatsoever on Jackson, which is not easy, I’d pick the Steelers. But that is a huge if with the reigning MVP. Saints at Bears looks pretty interesting, as does Niners at Squawks. The SNF game is Dallas at Eagles. Ugh. MNF has Tampa Bay at Giants. That also looks to be an ugh.
Lastly, F1. This weekend is the “Emilia Romagna Grand Prix”. No, I do not know exactly what “Emilia Romagna” is, that is new to me. It apparently is a region of Italy with Bologna as the capital. What I do know, however, is that this marks the return of F1 to the Imola Circuit, also known as the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the home of the former San Marino Grand Prix. It has not hosted F1 since 2007, there have been many renovations and upgrades in the meantime. The circuit looked quite fast in qualifying, where Bottas nudged out Hamilton and Verstappen for pole. Pierre Gasly did a great job to place P4 on the grid. The two McLarens placed P9 and P10, continuing their resurgence. Should be fun.
Okay, that’s it for today. Kind of a traditional Presidential election thing around here, music is Elected by Alice. Go out and vote. Biden is not perfect, no candidate ever is, but he is light years better than Trump. Cast yer ballots, mine is already in!
My favorite Connery roles are from Name of the Rose and Hunt for Red October. Two very good stories, set in very different worlds, and Connery was central to telling both of them well.
He was also good in “Robin and Marian”, as an older Robin Hood. (Audrey Hepburn as Marian, Nicol Williamson as Little John, Robert Shaw as the older Sheriff.)
He also did a cameo as King Richard at the end of “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”
The Man Who Would Be King is basically Connery and Michael Caine blowing up the screen together. A huge treat to watch.
Awwww, I’m late to the party–The Man Who Would be King was one of my favs, for the very same reason you mentioned, Bobcon: Caine & Connery.
The third Indiana Jones movie. The scene where father and son simultaneously answer the fetching Nazi and realize they have more in common they should is priceless — and it is entirely believable because of Connery.
Re the election . . . on both sides of the state line in metro KC, voter turnout is already amazing. The two largest counties in the area (Johnson Co in KS; Jackson Co in MO), the local clerks are predicting better than 80% turnout when all is said and done. That bodes well for Democrats running statewide, including Barbara Bollier in the KS Senate race and Nicole Galloway who is looking to unseat Missouri’s governor Parson (who is following the Donald Trump approach to COVID). Lots of fired up local voters, but they are also nervous about what’s going to happen elsewhere in the two states.
My job is to clean out my 83 year old mother’s inbox of upsetting or predatory political emails. So I have the joy of 10 minutes plus per say deleting and unsubscribing.
I have tens of thousands of unread emails on my phone – I know, sloppy mailbox maintenance – and I bet half of them are from Jaime Harrison.
I’ve probably received a similar number of unread e-mails since I’ve donated to several candidates and got my e-mail address on their rosters. But I guess I have more disciplined maintenance habits, dumping them all on a daily basis unsubscribing when possible.
The thing that I find distasteful about almost all of them – and these are all candidates whose views I support – is that the level of appeals for more $$$ is always rooted in fear and artificial “deadlines”.
Most of them have misleading subject lines like “Candidate X loses” and the first line of the e-mail is something like “We don’t want to have to say this the day after the election, so please send $$$ by midnight tonight or bad things will happen to our guy”.
Appeals to fear and sensationalism and the cheap entertainment contained in that approach seems to be fully embraced by both major parties when raising campaign dough, I’m sad to say. I have received a precious few e-mails thanking me for my past donation and politely appealing for more without resorting to the !@# that most of them do, but they are quite rare.
I just ignore the hysterical pleas. We’ve donated what we can, and that’s that. What gets me is that within an hour I’ll get one email or text saying “woe is us, all is lost because YOU didn’t donate more” followed by “Polls show us smashing our opponent – but don’t get complacent now!” … both from the same campaign it seems.
Since I wrote the post above, I got an e-mail from Ameripac, which is chaired by Steny Hoyer, that tried a new tactic I haven’t seen before: “our data shows you as intending to vote for Trump, please re-affirm your commitment to the Democratic party by sending us $$$”. I can’t tell whether that’s outright trolling from Steny and his Strategists or there’s some fake-news list out there that shows up my name as a Trump voter. Either way, they’re counting on an outraged reaction. I unsubscribed.
I’ve gotten a version of that one too. That went to spam. Mostly I unsubscribe, but the really obnoxious ones go to spam.
I delete nearly all of them, and unsubscribe to those I have no intention of donating to.
The only campaign that has been texting me a lot for additional contributions is Biden-Harris. I get that, with the US insanity rate of roughly 40%. If they have been sending emails, I only sporadically check my personal email, so it might as well be going to the great bit bucket in the sky.
The “thank you” postcards from some of the candidates have been nice, I wasn’t expecting snail mail like that. The one that stood out was the one from Katie Porter’s campaign. No begging for more money, just a sincere thank you. I hope she hangs onto her seat!
I’ve been getting robocalls which are clearly bogus Biden fundraisers, with the money going who know where but probably a GOP-associated group.
What is the tell? They actually refer to the “Democrat Party” at one point.
I’ve been getting robocalls from a small conservative PAC on Trump’s behalf, asking for both my vote and my money. If the fact that they are calling me is indicative of the quality of their database, they aren’t going to get many votes or dollars.
Having voted ‘overseas’ (Canada, eh?) in WA two weeks ago, I am viewing the situation down South anxiously.
Incidents like this:
“According to local Democrats, the same group of Trump supporters has been following the bus around the country in an attempt to disrupt events in key battleground states.
Rafael Anchía, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, said some of the agitators had been carrying weapons.” –
“Armed Trump trolls harassing Biden Bus on I-35, ramming volunteer vehicles & blocking traffic for 40 mins,” he said, before accusing Mr Trump’s son Eric of inciting “violence”. – https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/us-election-biden-event-in-texas-cancelled-as-armed-trump-supporters-threaten-campaign-bus/
In another account (via twitter), I read that police were called and showed up but refused to intervene even though a vehicle was allegedly rammed.
Police refusing to do their jobs in the face of right-wing political violence evidences the current threat to democracy.
WA State voter: we are 100% vote by mail. dropped my ballot off inside the County building.
Sports: yeah Dodgers!!
Connery: ah. “The Man Who Would Be King”, “Robin and Marian”, and stumbled upon an oldie but wacko fun one on TCM during my covid-fueled insomnia – “Hell Drivers” from 1957. Gravel Truck drivers compete to do the fastest runs every day wrapped around a corruption story. Wild action sequences. Sean in a support role. look for it!
Also “Time Bandits”.
Voted by mail in Calli and you can track your ballot here. https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-status/wheres-my-ballot
F-1 I don’t have the means $$$ to pay for it so I’ll read about later.
Go 9ers and it will be tough to beat the hawks at home but I think the 9ers can.
College football I don’t care.
Sir Sean Connery, I liked everything I’ve seen of his. He could play a wide range of rolls.
I do hope biden wins but sadly for few changes that truly need done I don’t the second coming of FDR and that is who we really need at this time.
Oh well nap time
Yes, I particularly liked him as a Spring Roll. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Seen on twitter:
David Huggan @DavidHuggan1
Replying to @007
Oh no. Before he died Roger Moore was active on Twitter. Someone tweeted “It’s my birthday today, how about a shout-out from the best Bond ever?” and Sir Roger replied “I don’t think Sean’s on Twitter…”
Now that’s just beautiful! What a contrast to a bunch of individuals nowadays.
I’m watching all that from Munich (the town with a Covid-19 test tent instead of Oktoberfest this year), but I dearly hope that you get rid of Donald.
Please vote as if your life depended on it. I fear ours does. too, but we have no say.
Listening to Obama speaking in Flint right now, and Mrs Dr Peterr said, “That man needs a new job. How about Biden making him Secretary of State?”
Sure. More war overseas. More drone jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner- maybe he can get that down with Biden.
More instant credibility with world leaders, which would go a long way toward mending the worldwide damage to the US reputation done by the Tillerson/Pompeo State Department.
Whoever gets the position, that’s going to be their most critical and most immediate job.
Fair enough. The reputation of the US is in tatters fer sure.
They also need to rebuild the State Department after the gutting done back in 2017. You can’t rebuild or repair relationships without the people to do the work.
It’s probably safe to say that there are a lot of very qualified people who used to work at the state department and would be glad to get their jobs back in a Biden administration with Obama as Secretary and promises of an attempted return to normalcy. They ought to be on speed dial. They will be faced with a staggering amount of work.
He would make a great Secretary of State.
William Howard Taft took a seat on the S.Ct., so there’s precedent for bringing a president back into government in another capacity.
I’ve read that Taft preferred being a judge to being president. Obama may not want to be a judge.
I think the suggestion was to make him SecState.
I gotta admit I did a couple of blinks when I read your comment. And I agree.
It could be an interesting test of egos, but that’s the kind of stuff you negotiate ahead of time.
Even two years would be a good start, considering it will take at least that much time save the ship of state; get the holes patched, the ship pumped out, and then dragged off the reef. In the maritime industry that person is called a salvage master.
The ship is then handed back to the owners to make permanent repairs, get the plant back in operation, sign on a crew, and get ready to start hauling cargo again.
As wonderful as it would be to have Obama as Scty. of State, that cabinet position is 4th in line of succession, so I’m not sure that it is legally a possibility.
I don’t think there’s anything preventing a former President from running again or ascending to office. I think Teddy Roosevelt ran again after Taft.
That was before the 22nd Amendment. It’s still possible to serve one term, sit out one or two, and run again, but it doesn’t tend to work out well.
Long before the 22nd. I also am not sure it applies even under this scenario now. The operative term is “elected”. That said, which ascension under succession would not be. But if there was an issue, Obama could simply be skipped over in the line of succession. It is not a problem.
That makes me happy. Thanks for the clarification.
Football Team update:
Football team followed up their loss to the previously defeated Giants with a win over the Cowboys, vaulting Football Team into second place in the NFL East with a 2-5 record, just half a game behind the Eagles in a race for the worst playoff team ever.
If things go at their current rate, an NFC East team is going to stumble into the playoffs at 6-10 or 5-11, and leave some team around 11-5 sitting out. The league may be forced to enact a special Snyder rule disqualifying a division leader that doesn’t even come close to mediocre.
My upset special of BC over Clemson looked really good for much of the game with BC up 28-10. But Clemson stormed back and won. The Wolverweenies, however, got slayed at home by Sparty from Michigan State. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving Harbaugh.
As noted above, I’m going with the tossup in the Stillers at Ravens. It’d be interesting to watch so, of course, the networks had to f’k with me and give me … some other game.
Figures. At least I’ll have beautiful fall weather to walk around in, rather than watch some teams I am not interested in.
I kinda like the Owboys at Iggles. As I’ve said before, two bad teams can make for interesting, entertaining football. You never know what kind of strangeness will erupt nor how it will twist the game. Consider the Iggles-Giants game the other week. Who knew Future Of The Giants’ Franchise QB Daniel Jones couldn’t run 80 yards, untouched after a QB draw, without falling on his face. How could you predict that? Come on. That’s entertaining. It’s right up there with that Lions at Iggles game a few years back which they played in blizzard conditions. It was just like backyard football when you were a kid. You could see how much fun the players were having, slipping and sliding in a foot of new snow. Entertaining! And last week, some other bad team tackled Owboy Andy Dalton so hard they broke Carson Palmer’s leg. Again. (Steeler joke from a couple years ago, when they played the Bungles, beat up on Dalton and on the same day ex-Bungles QB Palmer really did get his leg broken while playing for the Cards.)
Also, it seems fairly clear that the argument over who was more responsible for and vital to the near-2-decades of winning by the Cheating Cheaters of Cheatertown is coming to a clear conclusion. At present, Head Coach and General Manager Cheatin’ Bill has put together a team some sports-talk radio guys are charitably calling a tomato can. And on the other end of the East Coast some guy nicknamed “Biebs” is dropping picture-perfect passes into the outstretched paws of another guy named “Gronk” and winning.
What’s really disturbing is that very few people actually watched and fewer commented on what was really a great World Series. All but one or two of the games were quite gripping, low-scoring contests. Yeah, they featured the best and worst of analytics-driven baseball. I hate it, if only because it makes building a run quite a bit harder and leads to the kind of thing we were all yelled at for in Little League: trying to hit the ball out of the park with a huge uppercut swing. Once upon a time there was an episode of Star Trek DS9 which featured a game of baseball between a team from the station and a team of Vulcans. As you might expect, the Vulcans played totally logically, totally soullessly and totally boringly and the motley crew of station folks played with heart, verve and joy. I forget (and it really doesn’t matter) how the episode came out, but I mention it to point out that analytics will kill baseball. If the commissioner doesn’t get there first, telling us through the PR folks and media cutouts how boring it is. Turning a very human game, a very analog game and one in which failure is the norm into a product of digital engineering is a quick way to ruin it.
Speaking of Commissioner Manfred, two things. 1. They boo because they care. It’s obvious you don’t. 2. Don’t show up sloppy drunk to give out the trophy. You’re disrespecting the game.
Yeah. You didn’t see that. It was going on 1 am ET when it happened.
Which brings me to one more thing: play the World Series on a time schedule that lets the East Coast (which still has the majority of the population) see the game end some time before the kids fall asleep. Every game – every fukcing game – ended after midnight ET. I’m old enough to remember and actually did watch the 1966 WS (I wept when my hero Sandy Koufax lost game 2, this kid not knowing then that was the last game he’d ever pitch. I wept some more after that.) and all those games were played in daylight. People watched. I don’t give a damn about scheduling so the West Coast can see it – King Roger the Clown and his minions running the No Fun League did quite well, and the League better, for many years when there were NO teams in Los Angeles. Rather, if baseball is to be important it has to act important, and that starts by scheduling itself so people adapt their schedules to baseball’s schedules. Not by sucking up and hoping they’ll watch. Start the game at 7ET sharp with all the hoopla before 7. Even a 4 hour game would be over at or before 11. You hear stories – true stories – of kids in the 50s and 60s sneaking transistor radios into school so they could listen to the games, and teachers making like they didn’t see the earbuds. They couldn’t watch the games, but they were still fans.
One more thing about baseball. All those Astros cheaters who Manfred immunized? The payback has been delayed, not forgotten. Don’t be digging in.
In Korean baseball, the Dinos wound up in first and their playoff picture was not clear until every last game had been completed. Looks like fun to come there.
The beauty of voting early is I don’t have to listen to the fcuking ads and, to the extent the campaigns track who has already voted (some campaigns in some states do), I’m off their robocall list.
Helpful note: if you hate receiving those robocalls and blast emails now, stop giving money to candidates. It won’t help you this cycle, but it’s an investment in your future happiness. If you’re reading this site, chances are you don’t make enough to be able to give enough to have any major campaign give a shit about what you say or what you want. If you aren’t a whale, the campaigns and candidates don’t really care. Stop giving and after a while they’ll go away.
Happy Standard Time tonight. Enjoy the extra hour.
Forgot to mention: Sean Connery. Just about everything he did, I liked. Not mentioned earlier – he had a bit part in “The Longest Day”, before he was Bond. You could see he was going to be a star.
Also worth mentioning “Never Say Never” opposite Kim Basinger. A lot of wry commentary in the subtext poking sharp sticks into the Bond franchise.
He’ll be missed. He is missed already.
“Happy Standard Time tonight. Enjoy the extra hour.”
This is my favorite night of the year, as I get an extra hour of sleep before preaching in the morning.
One of my friends, a football lover (her then-husband preferred computer games) said it was great with no pro football in L.A. because *no blackouts*. (I miss watching the No Fun League with her.)
I remember when the Giants were in the series in 1962, one of the teachers brought in a TV so we could watch part of the game. (That was 7th grade, for me.)
I brought my 6 transistor radio to Florin Elementary School, I was in the fifth grade sneaking a listen to the 7th game when I could on the earphone during school then listening to the end walking home.
Of course heartbroken at the end feeling exactly like Charlie Brown.
“Helpful note: if you hate receiving those robocalls and blast emails now, stop giving money to candidates.”
Uh, no. Whoever had my cell phone number more than 5 years ago still gets 10 text messages a day. The better solution is to create a Gmail account dedicated to spam trapping, open a Google Voice account with local number attached to it, and give that number when you donate any money to any candidate or organization. You can choose to forward from that number to your regular number when we’re not in an election season, unforward as election approaches.
This is right — research with brand new unlisted numbers has pretty well established that illegitimate contacts by spammers are not driven by specialized lists.
The cost of dialing/email is so low that it is cheaper to simply blanket everyone than to do any kind of serious list maintenance and targeting. There might be a very basic sort by something like area code, but the old recommendations about not interacting with spammers or avoiding giving any kind of hint of affiliation publicly are not true now.
That is not necessarily true regarding genuine contacts by genuine candidates who respect unsubscribe requests — donating to one Democrat in your state may result in getting legitimately contacted by another Democratic campaign.
But the spammers and scammers don’t care.
I was/am a huge Celtics fan. Used to go to their practices when Russell was playing, when people could do such things Met him a couple times. I think he is the greatest team player ever. I was at the game when Reggie Lewis stumbled and fell on the court. It was the precursor to all his heart problems. I thought of Lewis immediately when Jones stumbled. Said a prayer for Jones that it wasn’t deja vu.
Brady just had to make the right play. Belichick had to put all the parts in place. In an automobile or bicycle race all components have to work/mesh as well as possible or no win. Brady is the greatest ever at his position; Belichick is arguably the greatest ever at his. Honor greatness is what I say.
Grew up with baseball in the fifties and sixties. Used to chew orange flavored bazooka bubble gum when I wanted my favorite team to win the series.The butterfly effect. In 1960, seventh game, I had about nineteen wads of orange flavored bazooka bubble gum stuffed in my cheek. I stuck in number twenty and the bad hop caught Kubek. My favorite Pirates won. Still feel really bad for Kubek catching the bad hop in the throat. Never chewed bazooka bubble gum after that.
The Vulcans won.
I can tell there are no nightshifters here (aloud, anyway) ’cause that’s an extra hour of work. In the old days you didn’t get paid for it, either, without some effort, and as Murphy’s Law dictates as to the smaller things in life, you’d often not catch up (or down) with the reciprocal Spring Ahead shift to make up for it.
On spam:
Acquired a hat and shirt for my honey a few years back — it was a special occasion, after all — from what I now know to be one of EnEffEll’s affiliate sites. Took the better part of two years to get off those lists generating daily+ (_daily+_!) mails. It was like an actual accomplishment or something to make them go away. Forgotten. Imagine my chagrin to discover recently that King Roger is back, has been dipping his toes into my inbox with some weekly-ish dangles. A-effing-gain.
I love — yearn for, really — a good snow game. This one Sunday night will be gusty, ~ 35-40 MPH. Not my fav conditions (there’s a difference between fun breaking out, and potential for plain ugly), but the rain will be over.
I dunno about the BillBel verdict, I can see how synergy once lost could be harder, if not impossible, to retool on his end while TB shines. I say this as a fan of The Only NY Team / no love lost there on any number of accounts. Being effortfully fair, it could take a couple few seasons — need more info.
I really enjoyed the WS as distilled on Jim’s twitter. What that says about the state of the game or my experience of it: MLB needs elevation of late by a Peircean thirdness — here, a fellow human’s joy and angst, a derivation that enriches. My favorite game in recent years was when a Phillies outfielder had to pitch (Roman Quinn; because pitcher Vince Velasquez was on base due to prior Bad Decision), and others where constraints were broken by The Great Unexpected.
Scribe I actually came out okay on my schedule, which often happens when the Cards have a bye week. Get Steelers/Ravens, Vikes/Packers and Niners/Squawks. Not awful for once.
Well, that was a nail-biter. About what one expects when the Stillers and Ravens meet.
Second week in a row we came away with a last-second twist giving us the win. Still, counts as a W.
On to the Owboys next week.
And the Ravens, Thanksgiving night.
As an expat Scot I used to complain about Sean Connery being a Hollywood Scottish Nationalist. But then we got Brexit and Boris. Sean will have gone happy in the thought his dream may soon be realised
He may have been a ‘Hollywood Scottish Nationalist’, but he put his money where his heart was. He helped bankroll the start of the Scottish Nationalist party with over a million dollars. At least until they passed a law to stop him. Not exactly small potatoes for a parsimonious Scot.
Dropped off my ballot 2 weeks ago, got the confirmation email this AM.
Re Sean Connery, I once was married to a rather manipulative woman. Her repeated and successful comment to my hard-assed, even anti-social father was, “You remind me of Sean Connery.” It worked for a while.
Go! 5-2 Bears.
(After “Elected”, one might want to listen to the sorta topical, “Billion Dollar Babies”. Personally, I prefer, “Under My Wheels”.)
Hey, I used to play Under My Wheels on guitar. Could still make out most of it I think, but not for public consumption, it would be pretty rough. May have to fire up the Strat and try.
Killer and Billion Dollar Babies are both such incredible albums.
You have excellent taste. I jammed on that a few times, I think we even gigged it once.
Not on *Killer* but on *B$B*, I used to correspond with Dick Wagner pretty regularly on a forum; unsurprisingly, he was asked most about the live Reed album, sometimes Aerosmith.
Alice has had some great guitarists playing some great riffs.
As a young assistant engineer, Bob Ezrin was thrown the Alice Cooper band when Jack Richardson couldn’t get his head around making them sound good.
I’d played on a band demo that had the pleasure of being listened to by Ezrin. He clearly pointed to song structure and encouraging the continued writing by a band with ‘some promise’. At the end of his long, hand written critique he said ‘and tell the drummer to knock off the keith moon shit’. i was hurt, but he was right. nothing against Moon, whom i’d rarely listened to, but the gymnastics this band demanded was not needed.
i was canned, but educated about groove
was quietly listening to The Wall when reading this Trash
have a good week all
I don’t know if you have seen it or not, but there is a documentary from a few years back titled “Super Duper Alice Cooper”. It contains a lot of Ezrin content. I think you would probably like it a lot, my wife and I sure did. The music is great, but the backstory to all those wild earlier years is fascinating, including the Ezrin influence. Looks like is available on Amazon, probably other places as well.
And, back to vvv, Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter were incredible (don’t forget Prakash John!). For Alice for a while for sure, but maybe even better with Reed and Rock and Roll Animal. Just spectacular, as good as it gets. Wagner is still friends with Alice and showed up for one of Alice’s annual Christmas Pudding charity benefit shows here in Phoenix, and played his ass off. That was several years ago, but still fresh in the memory.
*RnR Animal* is a stone classic, definitely a top 10 in my live album pantheon. Reed himself had some great guitarists, between Cale and Morrison, and then Rathke, and for me most especially, Quine.
He himself got pretty OK.
And of course, he recorded *Lulu* with Hetfield and Hammett. (Almost as controversial as *Metal Machine Music*, that.)
Oo, that sounds good, will look it up after that thing this week
It did a tour in art house theaters initially, which is where we saw it. It would be fine on a TV though, especially if it has good sound or is connected to your stereo. Worth it on a regular TV too, though the music is good.
Michigan State in upset victory of Michigan (34-27), causing dogs and cats to live together…mass hysteria.
I don’t follow college FB but when will they fire Jim Harbaugh. I understand they haven’t offered him an extension. He was awful at the 9ers and he even worse at MU.
My favorite currrent Connery lines are these from the Untouchables, when I substitute “Trump” for “Capone”. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t&p=sean+connery+line+from+the+untouchables+what+are+you+going+to+do#id=1&vid=087e764e9711f5fbc8a5a0f581c9c67e&action=click
We’ll be having (safely distanced) dinner at the home of a Scottish friend this evening, I suspect we’ll raise a single malt toast to her countryman.
(although apparently Mr. Connery was OK with slapping women – a stain on his legacy if you ask me).
it depends upon who throws the first punch and how equal they are in strength. Having grown up in the 1950s, it was not unheard of men hitting their wives. It was also not unheard of for wives to hit their husbands. times change, so does behaviour. domestic violence is never a good thing. What we didn’t have back in the mid century was laws against it or police who refused to deal with it.
Our Mom was 5’11”. Any one who had ever thought they could hit her would have been dead. the other parental unit was 6’3″, former boxer in his youth, and would never have considered even slapping her. As a consequence the daughters all had the ability to land a good punch and no spousal unit ever thought of hitting them.
I do recall one occupation which had a higher than average rate of hitting wives, were cops and that was still going on in the 1970s.in Canada.
I have hesitated to participate in this discussion, but now that the issue of Connery’s personal conduct has been raised I feel compelled. It should be possible to celebrate an artist’s work without any compensatory minimizing of their known transgressions. Those who loved Annie Hall might wish Woody Allen had not attacked credible accusers, using his leverage to humiliate and override their voices, but he has. Those who still love Hemingway’s early stories (like me) wish he had not aged into the sum of his hatreds. But he did. Sean Connery hit women. Few victims of intimate violence have the physical strength to win a fight with a knife or a gun, and it doesn’t benefit them to suggest that’s the solution. Nor does it help the abusers, who almost always learned it the intimate way themselves: as witnesses to or victims of violence in the home. Connery was a great actor, but never a great man. Let’s not confuse the two.
Sean Connery was the total package as an actor. Most of that package was OMG that man is good looking. O.K. he could also act. He was my favorite Bond. His role in The Untouchables was amazing. On screen for 20 minutes, and he was the movie. His role in Indiana Jones was fun. The man could have recited the alphabet and I’d watch.
It’s Imola, the track where Ratzenberger and the great Senna died. Never called it by it’s proper name.
Ricciardo put it best so far:
Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth and was still trying to contain his excitement after getting out of the car.
“That was, wow, I’m still smiling,” he said. “That was such a fun lap. I’m very happy with the lap and the result.
“Even that aside, pushing the cars around here, doing those lap times, is fun. It’s a serious circuit, it really is. It’s that combination, it’s narrow, it’s tight, it’s fast. There’s chicanes, but chicanes you can attack the kerbs.
Narrow old tracks are motivating the drivers in this covid year. They also seem to embrace this two day GP format.
I hope they’ll be able to overtake, lap times are awfully close when you get to the fifth car. And, yes, Gasly…
It looks different to me, but still relatively narrow and awfully fast.
I found that they’ve changed most of the camera locations compared to what we were seeing in the mid-nineties. Because of the angles they’re using, you can barely recognize Ratzenberger’s last corner.
As I feared it was a procession race with fewer overtakes than the last weeks. Hamilton was so lucky, pace car paradise. Bottas was dragging Ferrari around…
Hamilton running third was feeling what Bottas and Verstappen are feeling most of the time: ” It’s hard to follow here.”
The narrow tracks are killing F1.
I’m anxious to see the response on this website to the news out of TX that rabidly partisan federal judge Andrew Hanen has accepted a challenge from the GOP to drive-through voting in Harris County, which threatens 126,000 votes. The state SC did not decide the case on its merits last week, ruling instead that it was too close to the election to change the rules. Also, the county clerk had asked for assurance from the state AG that these votes would count and received no response. And now this last-minute challenge when it’s too late to fix. It seems obvious that they intentionally waited until a lot of votes had been cast. The Circuit Court, I read, has six Trump-appointed judges. People are focused on the national election, but it seems to me that there are equally important consequences for the US Senate and especially the TX state government, most especially the chance to fix the gerrymandering.
The court set an emergency hearing for Monday morning without giving Harris County a chance to respond. Given the judge’s prior nutso behavior, it could well be possible that he intends to have these votes tossed out.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/22/drive-thru-voting-texas-harris-county/
https://t.co/VODOZrCoUF?amp=1
It is absolutely outrageous. But Hanen is exactly the kind of partisan hack that might do it. And the 5th Circuit is the worst in the world, they would likely back him up. As would the new Barrett Court.
By the way, for anybody that does not yet grok the level of crazy behind this effort, here is a voicemail from the lead plaintiff to the Texas Governor’s office when he was concerned about citizens protesting police violence and abuse. It is insane. Courtesy of our friend William Ockham.
Thanks. Insane.
I understand the county got permission from the secretary of state to do it that way, had made it publicly known well in advance, and that there had been plenty of time for the GOP to complain before voting started.
So any judge that buys into this, is a partisan hack.
The judge is a known partisan hack and likely a racist. I keep reading that the SoS signed off on it, but the most authoritative voice I have read said instead that the SoS failed to respond to a request from the County Clerk for reassurance from the SoS that the votes would not be thrown out. The Dems have filed an intervention.
https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/2020/10/Harris-Drive-Thru-Intervention-Filed.pdf
there seems to be a lot of judges in the U.S.A. who are partisan hacks. the whole thing about how judges get to be judges is weird. Electing judges is weird. they have to raise money to be elected. they aren’t independent. they rely on those people to keep them in their jobs. not a great way to have judges in a position. nOw it maybe given I live in Canada I don’t get it, but really, its weird. I could understand if there was an independent fund from which each person running was given a specific amount, so they owed no one, but the current system, wierd
When you criticize elected judges (not that I disagree with you – electoral politics encourages political hacks to seek the job), keep in mind the justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court are also elected.
There was that one a couple years ago who went to prison for electoral and campaign shenanigans. Forget her name right now. Actually there have been a couple who flamed out spectacularly, sometimes with a trip to the hoosegow a part of the fireworks display. The one who used to run the courtroom in the basement of The Vet during Iggles games (ran for the S.Ct. on that and won), he got tangled in an email web of porn and racial jokes with other judges and their prosecutor buddies. Had to quit. One of many.
Then there was that judge (elected)(Luzerne County!) several years ago who went to the federal pokey for years because he was partners with a private prison operator and had a habit of sending juveniles to the prison he had a pecuniary interest in.
Elected judges are something states should get rid of, but just haven’t been able to find a way (or, more likely, the will). Jersey did it in their ’47 Constitution but that was a function of having a court system that made Bleak House look modern and efficient. If you want to be a judge in Jersey (state courts) you have to (a) have nothing at all to do with politics and (b) have no outside income. “No” outside income means “no” outside income. And nothing to do with politics means not even going with your pol wife to an inaugural ball.
I’m with you on the problems with elected judges, but the examples you give pale in comparison with Alabama’s Roy Moore, whose wiki entry opens with this singularly understated description of Moore’s career: “Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 27th and 31st chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama and was each time removed from that office by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary for judicial misconduct.”
“Accuracy is always professional.”
The Luzerne County judge with his prison-for-pay partner was in a class by himself. Roy Moore was a piece of work, but not a criminal.
OK, I’ll give you that one.
Although given the stories of Roy Moore’s perving on young girls at the mall, he may simply be a criminal that hasn’t yet been proven so in court.
In Chicago, we had Grey Lord, which included a judge taking mob money to acquit assassins.
I got licensed just after that, but I knew the only judge acquitted (unpleasant fellow, he, who got lucky that an El train was going by as they taped him) and still know a few peripheral figures, most now retired or about to be.
More proof we live in Crazy Times: Indiana University is tied for first place in the Big Ten with Ohio State in college Football!
More proof the media polls should not be trusted: I.U. is ranked in the top 20.
Crazy times? Sounds like the End Times to me.
In 1998, Steve Jobs approached Sean Connery to be in an ad for Apple. Sean was not amused:
Click through for the whole thing. It’s a short, delightful response.
*raising a glass of scotch*
To Sir Sean!
*ding*
ETA: Apparently I didn’t read far enough in the replies to realize this is a fake. Still, it sure sounds like something Connery might have written, and if he ever saw it, it probably gave him a good laugh.
Yes… Sean Connery RIP :(
The only Bond. Bond, …James Bond
He also starred as the ghost of Roald Amundsen in The Red Tent, a little movie I quite liked.
No love for Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig? Goldeneye 64 is quite the bond credentials.
No love. Pierce Brosnan is a preening weeny and Daniel Craig plays it much too humorlessly hard ass. The magic of Sir Sean as Bond was the ability to be devastatingly handsome, lethal, yet done with wit and charm and effortlessness. It was the same ability that Cary Grant had.
Perhaps there was something in the fact that they both rose from impoverished British Empire beginnings and never took themselves too seriously.
And “The Man Who Would Be King” still moves me. Hard to beat Connery and Kipling with a side of Caine.
I actually appreciate Daniel Craig’s “humorless” rendition of Bond. I was very tired of all the arched eyebrow, double entendre filled portrayals. I did love Connery, though – misogyny and all.
Is it possible to be both shaken AND stirred?
have a quake happen while you’re making a cake?
You’ll have to do batter than that
. :-)
The perfect martini both shakes one’s arse and stirs their soul.
I am, however, partial to gin.
The word that best links Sean Connery’s death with this election: Zardoz.
Zardoz indeed, as much for the costars as the script, the delightfully nuanced Sara Kestelman and the exquisitely talented Charlotte Rampling, for whom I have carried a still-enduring lifelong crush.
I again cursed 2020, loudly, when I heard the Connery news. Re-watched “The Wind & the Lion” last night. Probably re-watch an old Bond or two the next few days & as well as “The Man Who Would Be King”
The UK Cats are turning back to the Mild Cat days, at least on offense, losing at home to Georgia 14 – 3 while the Toppers got to be a national TV sacrifice to BYU on ESPN last night.
The race at Imola has concluded. The twin Mercs of Hamilton and Bottas of course were P1 and P2. But Danny Ricciardo and Dan Kvat drove incredibly well to finish P3 and P4 respectively. Like so many tracks these days, Imola is too narrow. But some fine racing behind the front two.
Donald Trump is the has-been singer who thinks that singing duets with the dead will bring him back to the top of the charts. He mistakenly thinks he can also avoid paying royalties for their cooperation, as he does with the music he steals to use on his campaign.
Today, Donald is claiming that Sir Sean Connery helped him swing a golf deal in Scotland. Like the bad mafia don he is, Mr. Trump is happiest when the witness to his boast is no longer around to deny it. Those involved in the real planning permission decision, however, deny the claim. Had he heard Mr. Trump’s boast, Mr. Connery might have responded the way he did when Johnny Stompanato was rude to Lana Turner.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/01/sean-connery-help-donald-trump-scotland-planning-permission
This reminds me of when Trump described Aretha Franklin as a person who “worked for me” after she had passed. See The Atlantic, “Trump Can’t Even Honor Aretha Franklin Properly” on 8/16/18 by Vann R. Newkirk II, (don’t have a clue how to post a link.)
Poor Donald can’t seem to catch a break. His lie that the late Sean Connery helped him win a planning permission fight for one of his Scottish golf courses has fallen apart.
The headline quotes a trademarked Connery line from the bath-and-electric-fan scene in Goldfinger: “Positively shocking: Trump’s boasts of help from Sean Connery fall apart.” That should shortly be true of his entire administration.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/01/sean-connery-help-donald-trump-scotland-planning-permission
Mr. Buggs.
What the fuck!
Bobby Orr endorses Trump!
I am heartbroken.
Fuck him, I suggest we take down his statue in front of the Boston Garden.
As a Blues fan, I have ugly memories of Bobby Orr. This does not help those memories fade.
As Elton would say, that’s why they call them the blues.
One cultural note: The Criterion Channel is now streaming “The President’s Analyst”.
Ma Bell did it.
A couple of decades ago I used the term “TPC” in conversation with the contract guys who maintained the county’s phone service. I got some blank looks. Luckily I had a VHS of movie, which they really appreciated.
It is a simply great flick.
The Phone Company. Great bit at the end with the legion of android phone operators, who all looked like Mr. Smith.
Before the sort of 1983 break-up of its monopoly (a move about as effective as reducing John D. Rockefeller’s dominance of the oil industry by ordering Standard Oil’s dissolution in 1911), one did well not to poke Ma Bell too directly.
I think my introduction to this series of James Coburn films was a drive-in double-bill: Our Man Flint and The President’s Analyst.
I watched it last night…It was therapeutic, enjoyable, and more interesting these years later. For the life of me I can’t imagine the storyboard meetings. A quick Google suggests that there are several back story threads that might be interesting to run down.
“Our Man Flint” and “In Like Flint” can be rented on Prime.
Thanks for reminding me of Coburn’s ‘Flint’ movies. They were terrific. James Coburn played in a remarkably wide range of movies and TV shows, for example “Show Dogs” !!. The Great Escape was another favorite of mine. A talented alumni of Stella Adler.
Don’t forget the Magnificent Seven!
Fastest knife in the West, and not a bad shot.
Chico: Ah, that was the greatest shot I’ve ever seen.
Britt: The worst! I was aiming at the horse.
Wow do a time travel an ask alexa to play The Fifth Dimension. The Stillers won! What’s this most hated shit? We’re America’s team, sorry Dallas.
Thank you Blue Moon, and keep on flowing through Tuesday. The vid is up so wish me well.
Fucking super spreader (puttin says”Further.”)
Its up to us America
We can do
this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgYxv2y02M0
As you wake this morning, the only undefeated team is your Pittsburgh Steelers.
And, yes, Fly, Iggles, Fly!
My Monday morning is superb: I got a five-fer yesterday.
1. Stillers won.
2./3. Who’s Playing Dallas won/ Iggles won (twofer)
4. Who’s Playing JETS (Chefs) won
5. Who’s playing Cheatertown Cheaters (Bills) won.
Hey scribe,
I know were not suppose to get comfy, but damn brother that was a good run 7- 0! Betting wise that is. I used to take care of a high school friend who had ms till he died. He knew every bookie in town and was pretty good at making his bets pay for medical supplies.
I’d say your doing just fine by his terms!
So here’s the Empress:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AlWUbkOkBvg&list=RDAMVMFN4ZIHxypuA
An oh yeah, Connery was the only Bond in my book.
And oh yes let me thank the Black Ladies of South Carolina and Congressman Jim Clyburn for making the correct call.
Back in 85-86, I worked (in construction) with a guy who bet the Bears and rolled over his winnings every week.
And (surprisingly to us civilians) he had no problem with the bookies paying off. I didn’t know until later he was a made guy. Got the knowledge when, the one day, a soldier showed up on our construction site to mediate a dispute between a couple trades. When he saw the guy I was working with he came over, genuflected, kissed his pinky ring and apologized for being there. “I meant no disrespect; I didn’t know you were here. If I had I wouldn’t have come. I’m sorry. [Please don’t have me buried in the concrete you’re having poured.]”
The bookies knew who and what he was. Never a question they’d pay.
Welp, I screwed up the Giants call. They are killing the Bucs.
Hey bmaz, just gotta tell you We Love Alice! The old man and i have been listening since we were kidz. I remember seeing him an my girlfriend got into a hearse down town but found her seat at the show. His shows were always a blast! Yeah baby.
Live shows were pretty much always fantastic. And I too have seen a few of them.
I’ve always admired Alice Cooper but couldn’t see him live. Spouse was out of town for a few days when our daughter was 4. We were left with a Muppets video collection including the show with Alice. When spouse returned on Halloween she was greeted with the little one marching around the house singing “Welcome to my nightmare!”
That is great, and pretty funny. I call that good parenting! But you can still see him live, and is still very much worth doing so if you never have. The show is still extremely good, the band excellent, and I highly recommend it. In fact he was about to go on a mini-tour when the pandemic broke out. He will get back to it when being “cooped up” is no longer required. And Sheryl will probably be glad to get him out of the house by then.