Haines His Way

Does Australia HAVE figure skaters?  

I don't know about Ozian figure skaters... but they DO have an Olympic gold medal winning short track speed skater.

I will never forget the hilarity of watching that live with my family and saying, as the leading four skaters came around the final bend, "how sorry do you feel for the australian guy who is so far behind?"

Then someone tripped and brought down everyone else with them. Everyone except for Mr. Australia who was so far back he was able to adjust and skated AROUND the fallen competitors for gold!  

Memories of "Cool Running".

I suspect there would be less than 10 ice skating rinks in OZ Ron. Not exactly an environment to promote a sport. I think the skaters have to provide their own ice. You did realise (realize) that that was not frozen water in Perth.

JMK, Yes, twas I quoted in Variety a few days ago.  I wanted to get a strong statement out there to shut up all the whingers who are going to be saying what an embarrassment this is for the guild and how it weakens it.  Personally, it's only an embarrassment for Ms. Riskin who shouldn't have tried to dodge around the eligibility question.  The Guild has proven its strength once again, by listening to a member, investigating what it needed to investigate, resolving the problem properly, serving its by-laws and constitution, serving its membership. It's shown that the guild is its membership and that no one person is more important than the whole and that the rules apply to everybody.  And, frankly, Charles Holland is the best possible president we could have at this time.

BK, even though the image may not be the best, the art is my favourite so far,  I particularly like the stormy sky...symbolic of book's darker, melancholic aspects, perhaps.

I know that was real ice, 'cause it melted in my glass!

Are you sure it melted, and didn't disolve?  The two things look a lot alike sometimes.

Here's a major difference betwixt the stars of yesterday and today...well, at least the male stars.  Are there any leading men in Hollywood these days who is actually just butt-ugly?  Bogart was butt-ugly.  And not only was he a star, he was a sex symbol, fer cryin' out loud.  

I have to disagree with you.  While I never thought of him as handsome, I don’t think of him as ugly.  Surprisingly, if you look at pictures from his early stage work he was rather nice looking.  Now Edward G was ugly.

DR TomovOz, you are pulling my leg.

Stop that.  I'm ticklish!

I know that was real ice, 'cause it melted in my glass!

Ticklish?  Are you sure he's pulling your leg?

And when I was in Australia last summer/their winter, I was told to stay away from anything called "ice".  Bad.  Very, very bad.  

Indeed, the more I think about it, the more Norbert's voice is beginning to sound like my therapist.

Re:  Wicked and Norbert.  Another synchronicity (doesn't that mean I'm on the right track--ooh, a double Schwartz reference)--we JUST finished listening to it a few minutes ago.  My wife saw it the first week it was open on Broadway and loved it.  I am really, really ambivalent on the score as recorded, which surprises me.  However, my comment after listening to Norbert on "Dancing through Life" is that my friend Brooks Ashmanskas should sue him for vocal style infringement.  I mean, it was one thing in Last 5 Years, as JRB apparently had Brooks' voice in mind when writing that score, but this is ridiculous.

Maybe Norbert should do a triple Butz.  No groaning allowed.

I was trying to modify/correct this earlier, but my connection went all kerfloohey, so... if anyone is reading back, it is different ;-)

Oh, I meant to mention this last night...

Sometimes the local Richmond news cast is a little too local.  They were broadcasting some pre-recorded public service announcements during the news yesterday.  Well, there was an announcement for the first meeting of the year for Overeater's Anonymous, their "New Year's Resolution" meeting.  Well, when it came time to announce the name of the organization, the name came out:

"Overeater's AMoMynous"... TWICE!!

AND it was pre-recorded, and played about twice - that's how I made sure it was "amomynous".    Now, come on!  Surely, someone could have caught that during the editing?  Or maybe they were running out of time and just left it that way.

Of course, that still does not compare to one remark the film reviewer made about watching Dances With Wolves.
Female Broadcaster: "So, what did you think about Dances With Wolves?"
Male Broadcaster/Film Reviewer: "Well, after watching Kevin Costner's new movie, I was walking funny the next morning!"

<moment of stunned silence from the studio>

-Of course, I think he was referring to all the horse-riding going on in the movie, but the moment of silence kind of inferred otherwise.

Hooray for Hollywood
That screwy, ballyhooey Hollywood
Where any office boy or young mechanic
Can be a panic, with just a goodlooking pan
Where any barmaid can be a star maid
If she dances with or without a fan

Hooray for Hollywood
Where you're terrific, if you're even good
Where anyone at all from TV's Lassie
To Monroe's chassis is equally understood
Go out and try your luck, you might be Donald Duck
Hooray for Hollywood

Hooray for Hollywood
That phoney, super coney Hollywood
They come from Chillicothes and Padukahs
With their bazookas to get their names up in lights
All armed with photos from local rotos
With their hair in ribbons and legs in tights

Hooray for Hollywood
You may be homely in your neighborhood
But if you think that you can an actor
See Mr. Factor, he'd make a monkey look good
With a half an hour, you'll look like Tyrone Power
Hooray for Hollywood

Robin & Jane, here's another thing I've noticed about male stars of yesterday...and for that matter, the female stars.  They were adults!  The men were men, not little boys, the women had class and grace; they all had a certain maturity that so many of today's stars seem to eschew.  I mean when Cary Grant or Gary Cooper were in their twenties and early thirties...it didn't seem like you were waiting for the them to grow up.   They had savoire faire, knew how to carry themselves, conduct themselves; they had a sense of personal dignity and responsibility and composure that radiated from them.  They seemed like fully developed, mature, grown-up people.  It may be why so many of them could remain major stars for 25-30 years.  They didn't act like adolescents like so many of the stars in their twenties and thirties  (and sadly, even in their forties) do today...

BK, I also like the effect of the neon reflected in what I guess is a rain-slicked dark street.  Gee, just imagine what sort of cover he might give you, if you ever write a noir mystery.

Are you sure it melted, and didn't disolve?  The two things look a lot alike sometimes.

I've always selected the term under the concept that if the ice disappears while there is liquid in a glass, it dissolves, and when the liquid is gone and only ice remains, at first, then it melts as it returns to liquid form.

Am I the only one who cares the NEW option keeps disappearing?  

I would certainly care, but, fortunately, it's not disapperaing for me!

BK - Chocolate covered red licorice???  Sounds rather icky to me.

Loving the cover art.  Schmidt does it again!