As a substitute teacher I’m frequently told by my students that I look like some personality. Used to get Tom Hanks (no, surprisingly, not Cruise) a lot but that’s dropped off. Will Ferrell pops up a lot. Tim Robbins. Every now and again Kevin Kline. Got “Walt Disney” once. They meant Hanks in the Poppins movie. But now it changes. I’m growing my Saints playoff beard and it comes in white. So I get Tim Allen. I look NOTHING like Tim Allen. But the short white beard give me a “The Santa Clause” look, so I endure.
Football 12/12
Ironton went on to lose to the defending (now two-time) state champions Kirtland.
Buckeye’s slept through the first half before waking up to shrug off a pesky Wisconsin team. “The Committee” continues to fellate the SEC and pushed LSU past OSU in the seeding, so the Buck’s get a rematch (from 2016) with Clemson whose big win was over unranked Virginia. IMHO the Buckeyes are 5 ½ points better. 24-18 or so. LSU v Oklahoma? High scoring. 41-31. Buckeye’s by more than a FG, less than 7 over LSU.
The Saints found yet ANOTHER way to losee, in the best game of the year. Hopefully they’ll get another shot at the Niners in the post season, although the Rams are looking good again as well. Nt to be left out of the sbad officiating derby is the NE Patriots. Ravens and Chiefs are now the class of the AFC but something tells me Brady isn’t done. Saints get the Colts this week in a rematc of their ONLY SB. Saints 28, Colts 20.
Holiday Movies first five
For those of you new: I use Flickchart.com, take MY top movies, users top movies, and movies I haven’t seen. Put together a list of 25 to watch over the course of the month, bottom to top.
As a result I usually start with unseen movies and they aren’t rated very high. So here’s the 2019 edition. It starts out with a stinker and four shorts.
- Ernest Saves Christmas. Pretty much what you’d expect. Jim Varney and his usual supporting cast (including Gaylord Sartain). 0
- Mickey’s Good Deed. 1932. Eight minutes of typical early Disney stuff. 2.6/10
- The Night Before Christmas. There are NINE of these. 1941. This one features Tom n Jerry. Without the maid, in case you’re worried. 7.5/10
- 1933 version. Dennis Day and Walt Disney. 5.2
- Old Scrooge. 1913. Silent. 40 minutes. An interesting artifact. .5/10
A few oldies yet to go and some surprises. Stay tuned.
Football 12/4
I was FINALLY right about a WJ game. They got thumped by a vetry good, very physical Ironton team. GREAT season fellas. We’ll get ’em NEXT year.
The Buckeyes dismantled TSUN AGAIN! And get a rematch with Bucky. Title game rematches have resulted in sweeps 26 times out of the 40 they’ve happened. This will make #27. Buckeyes by 13. After an interesting Thanksgiving weekend slate of games my final four is OSU, Clemson, LSU … Oklahoma. Bama has two loses. Georgia will have after this weekend. Utah? Only two games against top 25 competition and they split. MAYBE if they can DEMOLISH Oregon? And if Baylor beats Oklahoma?
Saints clinched a playoff spot on Thanksgivingnight and since the Bills beat the Cowgirls earlier in the day it was the #3 spot. Can’t move up to #2 until NEXT week although a win over the 49ers would go a LONG way! Preview of the NFC title game? If not then maybe last week’s Seahawks/Niners game was. Ravens STILL look awesome and the Patriots are slipping. Chiefs keep hoping for a break. Bears v Cowboys should be the best game of the week. Packers v Skins should be a blowout. Niners over the Saints 24-21.
Time Marches On … dammit!
Our family holidays are on the brink of collapse. The Big two (Christmas and Thanksgiving) and the “other” two (Easter and Labor Day.)
For reference the Big Two have flowed as follows: in the 50’s these were four generation affair involving great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on my moters side, at the old farmhouse. In the 70’s the location changed (to my parents house) and the great’s passed. By the 90’s the grandparents had also passed but my generation was procucing children as well so we still had three generations. The “other two” were always at my parents house but otherwise fit the same mold.
But in the ’10’s the aunts and uncles are all gone. So is dad. Mom is 85. The cousins have scattered a bit but still make it back for Labor Day. So now it’s mom, sister, myself, as many of mom’s grandkids as are in the state (up to six), along with spouses and occasionally significant others. Mom still does most of the prep. But those days are numbered and we’re cherishing every one of them. When mom can no longer host, what will happen?
I’m not gonna pick it up. Don’t have the space, drive, culinary skills or desire to do so. Sister probably will but it will be quite different somehow, even if she moves into moms house. It will be HER family, with my family (such as it is) invited. Different. And that’s just the Big Two. The others? Easter was usually my birthday. When we were younger I shared it with a cousin. After marriage I shared it with my wife and step-son. Lauren is “gone.” Wife is now ex-wife. And step-son and I can celebrate on our own. Labor Day? Might stick around another few years but not without some serious restructuring.
Time, as they say, will tell.
What I’m thankful for
<insert generic list cut and pasted from some banal website here>
1959
my list:
147 Rio Bravo1959Howard Hawks NR 84
793 Ben-Hur1959William Wyler NR 92
150 Anatomy of a Murder1959Otto Preminger NR 136 211 Some Like It Hot1959Billy Wilder PG13 241 My ex-wife’s favorite comedy.
32 North by Northwest1959Alfred Hitchcock NR 284 8846 Never So Few1959John Sturges NR 386 This one makes it based on the cast.
13430 Solomon and Sheba1959King Vidor NR 549 How the hell did THIS get so high? Victor Mature’s cleavage?
19225 The Big Circus1959Joseph M. Newman NR 610 and this one? I must have an unrecognized thing for Victor Mature! Great cast here, and I enjoy circus movies, so there ya go. 754 Pickpocket1959Robert Bresson NR 695
1246 House on Haunted Hill1959William Castle NR 717
Read more at http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?year=1959&user=Hedgehog#87yyF9g2ObD69wZk.99
Most of the rest of the list conforms although differs as to place. In other news I watched my 8,200th “movie” this week.
Football 11/26
Wrong again and quite happy about it. WJ recovered their onside kick to open the game, drove the field and scored first. And second, third and fourth. Their average TD was over 40 yards. Running clock. 34-0. Sweet revenge. Next up: Ironton. We’ve played every other school in that area over the last 50 years and they ALL hit hard. Looking at schedules we’re about the same. Should be a game, in Chillicothe. The other game pits two undefeated teams, including defending champion Kirtland. NOW is the time.
Buckeye’s had more trouble with PSUNL than they SHOULD have. Turnover issues. Hopefully the lesson has been learned. TSUN gets thumped AGAIN …. 27-14. Oregon lost so they’re out. Utah doesn’t have the cachet they need to make the final four with a loss. OSU, Clemason, LSU and …. Alabama. Everybody else has two losses except Georgia who WILL have and Oklahoma, who has had too many narrow escapes but DEFINATELY has an argument.
Saints escaped a loss to the Panthers thanks to missed kicks. This game is exhibit number X when someone chides my FFL for overvaluing kickers. They can clinch the division with a revenge win next week over the Falcons and if the Bills beat the Cowgirls they’ll clinch the #3 seed. Saints 28-24Top four: Ravens (after Monday night? Are you KIDDING?!) and Patriots in the AFC. 49Ers (after Sunday night? Are you KIDDING?!) and Vikings. Chiefs and Saints both still hopeful.
This ol’ house
You look out the window and see how nice your neighborhood appears. Well-kept lawns. Level sidewalks. Nicely painted houses. Idyllic little neighborhood. Not a bad view in any direction. Then you go outside and it hits you – YOU’RE “that house.” It’s not BAD. Or UGLY. It’s just … aging. Flower bed needs weeding. Driveway cracked. Some paint peeling and chipping. That’s how I’m feeling at 61. Yes I’ve had some medical issues but I’m not talking about that. It’s more how we see ourselves versus how others see us. I used to hang out at a singles bar north of C-bus. Quite an age-range. You had the mid-20-somethings who realized they could no longer hang on campus. 30-somethings who got married too young and were starting over. 40-somethings of either gender exploring mid-life crises. Not many 50-somethings. A few. Friends of the youngers or long time regulars. 60’s? I don’t think so. But there was this one gentleman who I’d guess (through beer goggles and ageism) to be in his 70’s. He looked like my grandfather did before he died. A nice suit. Always polite. But always alone with these empty, baleful, hopeful, searching eyes. I do NOT wanna be that guy. Nor do I wanna look like the 50-something dressed in fashions popular when they were 25. Nor the 30-somethings dressing like high schoolers. I wanna look like a 60-something who’s in shape, intelligent and still has something vital to offer, conversationally and socially. So I might be the OLDEST house in the neighborhood but that just means I’ve been lived in and seen more.
1979
MY list:
2746 Meatballs1979Ivan Reitman PG 15 Yes I have un unshared adoration of this movie.
198 Life of Brian1979Terry Jones R 155
16 Alien1979Ridley Scott R 249
503 The Jerk1979Carl Reiner R 576
526 All That Jazz1979Bob Fosse R 600
1921 The Tin Drum1979Volker Schlöndorff R 758 Powerful. And not THAT far behind.
54 Apocalypse Now1979Francis Ford Coppola R 803 What?! The horror. The horror.
3458 Vengeance is Mine1979Shôhei Imamura NR 1049 Not sure HOW this snuck in. Needs to be lowered to put Escape from Alcatraz on the list. 811 Mad Max1979George Miller (II) R 1127 How did this NOT make the main list?!
810 Nosferatu the Vampyre1979Werner Herzog PG 1366 Another one close but no cigar.
And the best movie of 1979 I’ve never seen? Rock n Roll High School
Read more at http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?year=1979&user=Hedgehog#fCvuyDoXrWKsdLGU.99
Checking the Fridge for Leftovers 