Happy Birthday To My Brother

Steanso rehearses for his next gig

Happy birthday to my brother, who is marginally older than me, and nowhere near as handsome (or smart, but let's not rub it in).

These days, I mostly just like his kids and wife, but he's okay, too, I guess.

It's a real kick in the crotch that we can't go out and celebrate his birthday, but that's what next year is for.  I got him a present, and when we're de-quarantined, I'm sure this cake I made will still be fine.  I'll keep it in the garage til whenever we see each other again.

Anyhoo... Happy birthday, dummy.  I hope you enjoy whatever it is you're up to for the day.



PS:  Mom likes me best.

Lockdown Watch: Frozen 2 (2019)

Watched:  03/16/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  third
Decade:  2010's

One of my favorites from last year, I went ahead and picked this up on BluRay.

And, you know what, I think I continue to like this movie more every time I watch it.

Frozen 2 is a funny thing to like as a near 45 year old dude.  I'm used to picking up an action figure or whatnot when I like an Avengers movie.  Heck, I have an Ant-Man and The Wasp t-shirt.  But, you know, as much as I don't care what cashiers think when I'm buying my usual dumb stuff, there's not much Frozen 2 stuff I thought would make sense for *me*.  So, I bought the BluRay.  And the extras are really excellent.  So, heads-up if you have a chance to watch them.  It's fascinating to see how story is developed at Disney these days.

But do feel free to point me at Frozen II plastic stuff I can own that is not, like, an Elsa wig or 12" doll.

Anyway, refer to my last write-up on this.

And, frankly, I find this scene amazing.

PODCAST: "Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2014) w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Watched:  02/08/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

We take a break from Bond to look at a sort of surreal spy adventure, also from Jolly Olde England! It's "Kingsman", the 2014 action adventure with some exciting stuff, a decidedly hard-R rating, a dash of "Moonraker" and how to climb the social ladder in London through grit, street smarts, parkour, and a penchant for looking good in a suit! Plus, Samuel L. Jackson chewing the scenery in a role he's about 35 years too old to play.



Music:
Manners Maketh the Man - Henry Jackman & Matthew Margeson,  Kingsman: The Secret Service OST


SimonUK Playlist

In a Time of Virus: People are Terrible in a Crisis

I'm not going to lecture you on COVID-19/ the coronavirus.  You know what it is. 

The plan was not to return to work on Monday (it's Friday, for posterity's sake).  I'd received approval from higher-ups to show some caution and work from home until we had the all-clear.  In the morning as I readied for work, I was checking a news story about our local K-12 school district closing and telling people to deal with their situation, and half-way down the page it mentioned my employer, the University of Texas at Austin, was also closed. 

I checked the emergency page, and it said "all clear", but literally at the same time, my Slack channel for work started popping and I saw that, no, we were closed.  An email had come through and we weren't to come to campus today. 

Max Von Sydow Merges With The Infinite

Max Von Sydow has passed at the age of 90. 

How do you talk about someone like Von Sydow?  Who worked with Bergman, starred as Ming the Merciless and was in hundreds of roles of all shapes and sizes?  I'm not going to.  He was Von Sydow, and he's going to be one of those guys we understand on one level now, and in time will stand back in awe at the breadth and depth of what he did. 

PODCAST: "Xanadu" (1980) - Jamie's Cinema Classics Selection #1 (w/ Ryan)

Watched:  03/07/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1980's

It's the inaugural episode of Jamie's Cinema Classic Selections! If you liked Cats, we've got us some more movies to discuss.

For no reason in particular we decided to watch "Xanadu" (1980) and talk about it. It seems neither of us had ever seen it, and, honestly, we now have more questions than answers. Not a musical, not-not a musical, starring a legend of the silver screen in his swan song and an up-and-coming film siren in the movie that kept her off the big screen for decades - it's roller skating, disco, rock, big band, 40's and 80's, and more rollerskating! XANADU!



Music:
Magic - Olivia Newton John, Xanadu OST
Xanadu - Olivia Newton John, Xanadu OST


and just in case you missed it:

Trek Watch: "Picard" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation"

I am not a "Trekker" like I'd consider some of my friends.  I do not have a tattoo of the Enterprise on my forearm (hi, Stuart).  I do not know the names of episodes as chapter and verse.  I mostly only watched Star Trek (the Original Series) and Star Trek: The Next Generation.  And I quite liked both.

Y'all can go to bat for DS9, Voyager and Enterprise.  I'm aware they all have their plusses, but I didn't really watch them.  And I honestly mostly watched ST:TNG out of order in syndication after season 4 wrapped up (why our local channel showed them out of order when I was in college, I will never know, but I generally knew what season it was by which uniform they were wearing).

When Picard was coming on, I realized it'd been a while since I spent much time with ST:TNG.  In theory, I liked the show, and I'd watched bits here and there on BBC America during lunchbreaks when I worked from home, but I was genuinely not sure the show held up.  Further, I wasn't ready to wade through 22+ episodes per season of 7 seasons of TV (plus a few movies) to catch up and be ready for Picard.

Thus, I turned to Stuart, who gave me the following watch list:

James Lipton Merges with The Infinite

In the 1990's, James Lipton burst onto the basic cable scene with Inside the Actor's Studio, a TV interview show where Lipton interviewed name-actors.  It was a fun program, not devoid of talk-show cheesiness, but also occasionally insightful and felt like actors sort of let their guard down, but also basked in the attention of starry-eyed young actors.

Lipton became a household celebrity himself, his mannered approach and just off-center style entertaining on its own.

James Lipton has passed at the age of 93.


I was never an aspiring actor, but I was always fascinated by the 10 final questions Lipton would ask as he closed down an episode.  So, here are my answers:

• What is your favorite word? -  howdy
• What is your least favorite word? - abbatoir
• What turns you on? - intelligent curiosity
• What turns you off? - lack of empathy
• What sound or noise do you love? - dog feet on the stairs or the crack of a bat on ball hitting a homerun
• What sound or noise do you hate? - beep of medical monitors
• What is your favorite curse word? -  Fuck (it's so flexible!), but especially in the context of JFC
• What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? - K9 officer
• What profession would you not like to do? - flight attendant
• If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? - "all the dogs you ever had are over there with those books you never got around to reading"

Feel free to drop your own in the comments!  Do it for Lipton!

Western Watch: Shane (1953)

Watched:  03/02/2020
Format:  Alamo Mueller
Viewing:  Unknown - more than 5
Decade:  1950's

It was a delight to see Shane (1953) on the big screen at Alamo Mueller this evening with SimonUK.  Si had never seen it, so that was kind of cool. 

Back in 7th grade my Reading teacher, Ms. McDowell, had us read the original novel, and then we watched the movie.  I've been a fan ever since and am not objective in any way about Shane.  I will say, seeing it on the big screen was stunning - the Grand Tetons loom large in the background and Wyoming's magnificent landscapes provide epic sweep to the story. 

And while it's no mystery that Shane is largely about violence, the impact of the sound in the theater versus confined to my TV speakers provided an intensity to the film I wasn't expecting. 

If it's been a while or you've never seen it, give Shane a shot.  It's been endlessly ripped off and borrowed from, but the original holds up amazingly well.

Catch-Up Watch: Ford v Ferrari

Watched:  03/01/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

My biggest surprise was that Ford and Ferrari both had a mom named "Martha".