ltmurnau: (Default)
ltmurnau ([personal profile] ltmurnau) wrote2004-03-29 09:27 am

Hmmm, fascinating, yass...

A moderately interesting weekend, though not enough sleep.

Friday night Betty and I went to the Village. I found a black jacket and three neat videos:

The Bat with Vincent Price, coolest guy in the world, and Agnes Moorehead
The Fall of the House of Usher, even more Vincent Price (coolest guy in the world) and
The Satanic Rites of Dracula Christopher Lee as the head bloodsucker trying to work out a strain of bubonic plague that will off everyone in 1972 swinging London, Peter Cushing is trying to stop him.

After a slice we went to see The Fog of War, I highly recommend it. Good history. McNamara is allowed to say his piece, and while Errol Morris does his best to counter what he's saying with carefully selected images of horror and suffering and his occasional strident questions, (uttered off-camera in this something-pinched-inside voice that reminded me of an upset Preston Manning) I still came away thinking it was pretty balanced.

Saturday my Mom came over and we went out to get some topsoil and doughnuts. Fixed up the side bed where I've planted the strawberries and the front bed where I planted this year's first batch of poppies. It was a sunny windy day so Aki and I went to the school yard to fly a kite. First time he'd ever flown a kite - I hadn't flown one since I was his age! It was lots of fun and he was delighted with it.

Saturday night was movie night - I got a bunch of videos from Pic-a-Flic and we saw:

Tales of Terror with Vincent Price, (did I mention hw was the coolest guy in the world?). A-and Peter Lorre as a drunk!
The Omega Man with Charlton Heston, it wasn't as good as I remembered it, too early-70s by half. Could have been some great satire there, but no.
Island of Lost Souls Not bad! "Are we not men?"
Suspiria Icky-violent, not nearly as scary as I'd been led to believe. But I was quite tired and kept dozing off. Sent Aki to bed after the first murder.
Lair of the White Worm Ditto for this, found Hugh Grant kind of distracting. But Amanda Donohue was all right, esp. with her hirsute axillae.
A Walk in the Sun Not a bad war film, marred by the infrequent "ballads" wedged into the film by a voiceover baritone, like turds poked into the top of an otherwise agreeable cheesecake.
The Red Badge of Courage with Audie Murphy - a good adaptation of the book; Aki had really enjoyed the book when we read it and liked the film.

Sunday I mowed the lawns and as much of the garden as I could reach. I like mowing the garden, the spinach and garlic that's overwintered makes that corner of the yard smell like an enormous Caesar salad when I cut it. Sunday night we played Vinci, not a bad game that takes a bit of planning and is over before it goes on too long. Also taught Aki to play Attila, haven't quite figured that one out yet.

***


Madrid bombings underline potential threat in Canadian campaign, says former CIA head

Leanne Dohy
CanWest News Service

CALGARY-- The threat of a major terrorist attack on Canadian soil could increase dramatically when Prime Minister Paul Martin calls a federal election, a former CIA director warned Sunday.

James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, said the March 11 Madrid bombings may have sent a message that makes an election campaign a dangerous season.

"The severity of the threat of a major terrorist attack in Canada may depend on how close you are to an election," Woolsey said following the taping of a panel discussion for Global Sunday, a national current affairs program.

A Canadian election call could come as early as next month.

"What al-Qaeda learned from Spain is that an election is a good time to blow people up."

[snippety snip]

***

What a pity this excuse can't be trotted out as one to cancel the American elections "for the duration of the present emergency", thus installing Shrub as Maximum Leader for Life. But I'm sure they've looked into it....

[identity profile] scuttle.livejournal.com 2004-03-29 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
who's the coolest guy in the world?

[identity profile] ltmurnau.livejournal.com 2004-03-29 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Who was the guy in all those shows
Whose roles were all spooky?
V-I-N-CE-N-T P-R-I-C-E

Who might have known where Roger Corman's
Morals were buried?
V-I-N-CE-N-T P-R-I-C-E

Vincent Price, oh Vincent Price
The coolest guy on late-night TeeVee
Vincent Price, oh Vincent Price
We all loved you in Cry of The Banshee-e-e-e
E-E-E

Everybody give three cheers
Except the PMRC
V-I-N-CE-N-T P-R-I-C-E
Yaaaayyyy!

[identity profile] emmabovary.livejournal.com 2004-03-30 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
You are the wierdest man on the internet.

Don't stop.

[identity profile] ltmurnau.livejournal.com 2004-03-30 09:42 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I'm just getting warmed up, Madame...

Dzherzhinski forgetting pessward

(Anonymous) 2004-03-30 02:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Wierd is not the word for our mutual friend. There are many other, much more suitable and less profane adjectives which we can use to the greater glory of Dog. One that comes to mind is "weird". Weird is particularly appropriate inasmuch as it violates one of the fundamental Laws of English spelling ... "I" before "E" except after "C". I before Egotism. Eye before Ear. Aye before Hee. I be for Easter. Run bunny fun bunny runny funny bun.

Re: Dzherzhinski forgetting pessward

[identity profile] ltmurnau.livejournal.com 2004-03-30 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
*sigh*
You see what I have to put up with?

Re: Dzherzhinski forgetting pessward

(Anonymous) 2004-03-31 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
Niekulturnie, ending a sentence, in fact the only sentence, with a preposition. Go ahead, quote Churchill, just like all the other niekulturnie, the devil quoting scripture so to speak.

Re: Dzherzhinski forgetting pessward

[identity profile] ltmurnau.livejournal.com 2004-03-31 10:12 am (UTC)(link)
Грамматическе аппаратчик. Zum Teufel!