Saw the doctor this morning for my annual cholesterol check which was fine. It was all right last year (although perhaps on the borderline) but this year it was considerably lower. My doctor was really impressed! I said I had made an effort to eat less fatty food, such as pastries, cheese and butter. But I told him I hadn't cut out egg and bacon for breakfast!
It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.
I had to share this hilarious birthday e-card I received (a bit late, but it's the thought). This is from an old (wwaaaay old, but I digress) friend who had just visited Betsy and me with her husband, down from Seattle, at a little dinner we held in their honor. They had the temerity to actually send a hand-written thank you note later, which I semi-humorously took them to task for, saying the entire edifice of 21st culture was now going to collapse due to their backward step. Here is Pamela's text in her e-card to me:Now I suppose you're going to berate me, AGAIN, for sending you something (sweet, tender and beautiful, by the way). I'll bet you're going to lambaste me for acknowledging you and your special gifts, for wishing you a gloriously brilliant full-spectrum birthday, for taking the time and trouble to spell out my admiration, love and affection for you. I know you're going to bark at me for breaking some sort of current protocol, for not getting with the program and just simply, sound-bitely, ultra-virtually saying "Happy Birthday" like all your other clown friends on Facebook! Go ahead, think less of me, bulldoze over my fragile and brave attempt to sing your praises, to celebrate you and your divine existence and it's rich radiance beaming through our bankrupt civilization!Go ahead--I love you unconditionally!
Signing off - Au Revoir, mes amis!
TOD:I was in Naples, Italy, when "Star Wars" opened (late spring '77). We were all made aware of this phenomenal film that brought back Saturday matinees in a BIG way...and we were all made aware of the John Williams score."Made aware how?" you may be asking. Are you asking? I'm gonna tell you:The Stars and Stripes, the newspaper for Department of Defense personnel overseas did a reprint of The New York Times' rave review as a "double-truck" in one day's paper. For those who don't quite understand that, it's the absolute center of the paper, and the review took up both sides of that one folded sheet of paper, complete with photos from the film.It was quite exciting. Also, Armed Forces Radio (which was all we had in 1977) informed us that the main theme from "Star Wars" had entered the Top 10 on the charts. Armed Forces Radio was no slouch in keeping us abreast of all musical trends, and we were treated to many different playings of said theme throughout a day for many weeks.Needless to say, or perhaps it bears telling, I was excited that I was going to be returning to the U.S. of A. in August 1977 where I would surely get my chance to see the film and own the recording.As it happens, I did see the film in a theater in Greenville SC. I saw it at the Astro II, a bi-plex next door to the Astro Lanes Bowling Center way out on the 291 By-pass.I have to tell you I was not only underwhelmed by this small-ish screen presentation but also by the behind-the-screen sound...ALL the sound came from behind the screen. There wasn't much to whoop or holler or even get excited about and it all seemed a bit inane to me.I did visit my favorite record store (Carole's Record Shop on Wade Hampton Boulevard) and buy the 2-LP soundtrack, and I grew to love it very much in the two weeks I was at home before reporting for duty in Washington DC. It was a far cry from what I heard of the score in the Astro II, however.Once in DC, and after a week or so of settling into the office routine, the guy I was replacing (who was still there pending something or other that was delaying his departure) found out I was a movie and film music lover and demanded to know if I had seen "Star Wars." So I told him about the Astro II experience.He was beside himself. I had to see it at the theater in downtown Washington he demanded. It's 70 millimeter. It's surround sound (or a pre-cursor of same). He wondered if I hadn't been impressed by the special effects despite the Astro II's less-than-stellar presentation. I told him I hadn't been at all and that it bothered me. He wrote out instructions for me to get to that theater using public transit (my car had not arrived from Italy at that time).So...on a Saturday morning, late, I ventured out to find this 70mm theater with superb sound that was going to change my whole love affair with movies.I must say, the interior of that theater was impressive. The curtains covering the screen were massive. Surely, that screen couldn't be as large as those curtains.It could. It was.For the next two hours, I was transported. It was as if I hadn't seen the Astro II presentation. When that first spaceship crossed the screen from the top right toward the bottom left, I stopped breathing for a few seconds. And when that second spaceship -- that monster craft -- appeared to chase down and draw in that first spaceship my heart caught in my throat. THOSE were some amazing special effects.What's more...I could hear John Williams' score. I could hear it loud...and I loved it.I was totally a "fan", but never a "FANatic." I later saw "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Superman" in 70mm in Washington DC theaters and they were experiences of a lifetime. (I also saw "Damnation Alley"....woof!).When "The Empire Strikes Back" was released, I was in Indiana...Fort Benjamin Harrison in the community of Lawrence, just north of Indianapolis. A co-worker and I got the afternoon off of the first day of release and went to the former Cinerama theater off Pendleton Pike. I was over the moon with that film. Loved, loved, loved it. One of Williams' best adventure scores.I was much less pleased with "Return of the Jedi". I saw the prequels on video only. They are handsome and beautifully scored, but they lack "warmth" and some of the heart that resonated in the original film and "Empire Strikes Back"....for me.
Quote from: MBarnum on October 10, 2011, 08:49:51 AMI shall now rummage up some breakfast and then later I will meet BK for lunch.But...but...whatever will you be doing with Kenny?
I shall now rummage up some breakfast and then later I will meet BK for lunch.
I just learned that my former boss died of cancer at 7:15 this morning. He was 2 years younger than I am. I don't know when the funeral will be. It will be 3 1/2 hours from here so I haven't decided if I'm going to go or not. It will depend which day it is and whether I can get away. Even though I didn't like his management style, he was a good man and I always liked him personally. He left a wife and two kids. Very sad
I vote we all chip in and buying Mikey a GPS for Christmas before we lose him forever
DR Cillaliz - I'm sorry to hear about your former boss. Condolences to you, his family, and all who loved him.
