7 posts tagged “jcwbloggers”

Okay, for those who want to confess -- this is as good a place as any. Note to the confessors, if you choose to confess, create a new blog entry and cross-post it to the group. Don't just add your confession in a reply to this one -- your confession is special and should be listed in its' own entry. Also, once the board is up, we can link to it directly. (We can't link to comments directly).

My Confession

On January 1st, 1969 -- the day after my parents had a lot of friends over for a New Year's Eve party -- I woke up and ran into the living room to watch TV. We had just gotten our first color TV for Christmas and the novelty hadn't worn off yet. I was doing what 4 year olds tend to do when their parents were sleeping off a hangover -- I ran around, jumped up and down, and made a lot of noise. I'm sure that noise was banging around my parent's skull -- but that was nothing compared to the noise I made when I jumped off the couch and my little left foot smashed down on a champagne glass that had been forgotten on the floor.

Ouch! The glass broke, and my pinky toe was just about cut off. There ain't much bone in a 4 year old's pinky toe -- and what bone there is slices like butter, apparently. My toe was hanging from a thread. My parents rushed me to the hospital where they said there wasn't much they could do. An old doctor said he'd sew it back on, just so I wouldn't walk uneven the rest of my life, but that it wouldn't be much good to me. Fair enough -- what good is a pinky toe anyway. To this day, I can't move it independently -- and I can't say that I've really missed having that ability. I've never had any feeling in that toe again.

Flash forward a few years -- and, somehow, I discovered that I could stick a needle all the way through the toe {chuckle}

How did I find out? I don't recall. But it seemed pretty cool -- and in my friend's basement, we did a "magic show" where I took a needle and pushed it all the way through the toe while the other kids "ooohed" and "ahhhed." It was actually pretty cool. Anyway, the day after the show, the toe started swelling up and turning a funny color -- and dripping stuff. Pus. That was pretty gross. I didn't say anything to my parents, but in a day or two I started burning up -- I had a fever -- I had an infection. So I got whisked to the doctor and by the time we were going there I was having trouble walking. They took off my socks and my mother almost died when she saw the toe. They asked me what happened to my pinky toe and I gave the classic 7-year old's answer --

"I dunno."

The doctor poured some nasty stuff on my toe -- it friggin' burned. And I was forced to give up my career in magic.

Good Morning -- we're still having technical difficulties on the JCWB -- in the meantime, a few members have taken the plunge and joined up on Vox -- welcome aboard to Greyghost, Kimbuctu, and Yukongirl -- hopefully we'll see more members joining up.  This will give us a little outlet while we're fixing the problems with the board --

Just got an email stating that we're having problems.  Looks like we're down at the moment . . . as soon as we have more information, we'll pass it along.  In the meantime, why don't you take this opportunity (if you haven't already) to join Vox and drop me a line so I can add you to our Group Blog!

Verizon Wireless announced that it has expanded its network in Lewis County, New York with new cell site in Brantingham.

The new site improves coverage and capacity along Route 12 between Lyons Falls and Lowville.

Click Here For Full Story

Due to its relatively easy access to transmission lines, upstate New York may end up with some TWENTY THOUSAND wind towers (e.g. www.windaction.org/documents/3575).

Click Here For A Summary

Although I grew up a big fan of movies, I spent most of my years avoiding old films -- typically, if it was Black and White, I wasn't interested. An ignorant point of view, I know, but one that finally paid off. About two years back, I found myself less and less interested in the fare that Hollywood was producing today -- and started turning to the past for entertainment. And there's a whole wide world of great films out there that I'm enjoying for the first time ever.

TCM ran a film last night that was a real gem -- To Be Or Not To Be (1942) -- starring Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, and a very young Robert Stack.

TBONTB

A comedy set in Warsaw as the Nazis have occupied the city, Benny and Lombard star as a husband and wife team of actors who, along with their fellow actors, need to keep one step ahead of the Nazis to help save the underground resistance movement in Poland. Tricky material for a comedy, especially since it was set as the war was just underway. But there's a lot of laughs to be found here - and the entire cast is terrific.

TBONTB2

Jack Benny is hilarious -- not at all what I expected. My exposure to Jack Benny has been entirely through his old television show. Here, he uses some of the same delivery, and has some of the best lines of the movie. One running gag is that whenever he's on stage, and delivers the line "To Be Or Not to Be," it serves as a signal to the young flyer in love with his wife (Stack) to go backstage to meet her. And, as he delivers the line, he pauses -- offended -- and does a slow burn as the man in the audience walks out. Later, when confronting his wife about them, he asks her -- "How could you? How could you? How could you have him walk out in the middle of my soliloquy?"

Another great running gag -- the Gestapo is trying to recruit his wife to be a spy on the Polish Underground movement, and in a bid to rescue her, he has to impersonate a variety of German officers and spies. They keep bringing up his wife's name -- Maria Tura -- and mention that she's a famous actress. He keeps asking if they'd heard of her husband, the great actor Josef Tura, and looks disappointed each time they say no. Finally, when one German Colonel said that he had actually seen Josef Tura, Benny seems pleased, until the Colonel tells him -- "What that man did to Shakespeare, we are doing to Poland!" This is followed by a great Jack Benny deadpan -- great stuff.

But even though it's a screwball comedy, what the Nazi's have done to Poland is not ignored. The wreckage of Warsaw is clearly shown -- and with references to concentration camps, it's clear they are up against a bad enemy. Carole Lombard is great and, as it turned out, this was her last film. She was killed in a plane crash, along with her mother, weeks before this was released.

Although I was aware of the remake in the 80's (with Mel Brooks) I had no idea how funny this film would be. This is one I'll be looking for in the stores to add to my permanent collection as I suspect it would stand up to repeated viewings.  A clip from the opening scene: 

Final Rating: 4 Stars.

Something new we're trying -- a JCWB Group Blogging experiment.  If you're interested, join up and create a blog -- we'll get you set up as part of the JCWB Group Blog.  More details on this to follow.