Way too Late at the Movies: Father Goose and Corner Gas: The Movie

From what I've been able to gather, the revulsion you hear from the couple talking over the opening of this trailer pretty much sum up the critical reaction to 1964's "Father Goose," starring Cary Grant. Critics generallly panned the movie and criticized Grant for going against his more suave character, or at most damned the film with faint praise.

I thought it was a lot of fun, one in which Grant got to play with a less-than-wholesome character who at times channeled Mortimer Brewster from "Arsenic and Old Lace."

The plot is pretty good: An American drifter, Grant, is dragooned and marooned by the British navy into staffing a listening post in New Britain, passing along sightings of Japanese ships and planes. To motivate him, they damage his boat, bury his whisky all over the island, and promise to set him free after a set number of "confirmed sightings," a deal which, of course, changes at every step.

While on a dangerous mission to fetch his replacement, he finds instead a French woman in the company of a gaggle of young girls, trying to get out of the war zone themselves. Comical hijinx ensue.

It's a fun Grant vehicle and a film he ought to have been proud of.

On to Corner Gas: The Movie.

In 2014, this was a natural follow-up to the popular Canadian TV series, which I enjoyed quite a bit. They got to play with an extended storyline that culminates with an almost happy union with Wullterton [spit]. Seeing Graham Greene in his cameo was a hoot.

Rocky Mountain Power, You Okay?

[Looks around. The power *is* on. I just cooked a meal. I'm sitting in front of the TV eating. Then remembers: Ah, Rocky Mountain Power.]
 

And the nightmare is over even before it began.

Almost Done, but Nobody Cares

One little strip to do along the side above the right bedroom window. And then I have to clean and re-hang the shutters. Then it's on to the last bit to do: The wall with the chimney.

That's going to be a challenge. I keep thinking it won't be bad, but then I look at the house from the back and that back wall is a lot taller than the front wall.

 

The Siding Project Continues Apace . . .

So after the elbow thing, it got really hot. Like into the 90s hot. Which was fine; that meant I could rest my elbow a bit longer. Tuesday night, however, I decided it was cool enough, and my elbow was healed enough that I could start again on the upper front of the house that Liam and I prepped way back on the Fourth of July.

I didn't get as far as I wanted to tonight as some of my siding slid off the roof into the front yard. I did not fall, but I decided by the time I got down to get more siding that I wasn't going to do any more siding tonight. I think I got the hard part done, getting that first layer on the bottom so I could go up both outer sides of the house. Started filling inbetwen the windows, but then I met the octagon window and the last of my siding fell off the roof, so I was done. I'm thinking eight or nine more pieces on the front and then I'm on to the side of the house, including the chimney.

But my right arm -- not the elbow -- is feeling a little funky, so I think I'm done typing tonight too.

 

Review: Assassination Vacation

Sarah Vowell's fascination with three assassinated presidents -- Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley -- leads to this delightful, thought-provoking book (Assassination Vacation) daring us to compare the crap in our times to the crap that has gone on before. Clearly, no one has learned from history, not even the historians.

This book has long been on my want-to-read list. And, as usual, found it at the local thrift store. I'm terrible for wanting to read books but buying them in ways that don't support the author.

Though at time her snipes at the second Bush administration were distractions, they were for the most part apt and led to some thinking, particularly about leaping into war just, you know, because. Or on false pretenses and such. Vowell has a nose for sniffing out hypocrisy no matter where it lies, and delights in pointing it out. We ought to be willing to read and acknowledge the same, even if we find the hypocrisy within.

Vowell takes us through some tumultuous times, from the assiassination of Lincoln near the end of the Civil War to the assassination of McKinley on the tail-end of the Spanish-American War. Wars that did a lot, but didn't do enough, and led to a lot of people dying and problems that we're still grappling with today as wheels and deals spun behind closed doors, sometimes as the presidents lay bleeding.

It also reminded me of this (Lincoln excluded):

For the interested, Ranker offers this primer.

An Invisible Superhero

So, hear me out.

Sure, clothes make the man. For superheroes, even moreso. But evil-doers, seeing someone like this strolling into their various dens of iniquity, will automatically be on the alert and likely fishing out any knives, guns, shivs, etc., they possess to put the would-be do-gooder to the grave.

Picture, instead, a superhero who chooses a ratty t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants, baggy and flannel by preference, as his garb. He could wander anywhere unmolested, particularly if he were to add wild hair and muttering to his ensemble.

Thus is born The Madman, left to wander, unmolested and invisible wherever he goes, stumbling and muttering and maybe smelling like cheap wine and pee, plying his do-gooding trade unknown to all.

Danger, Will YouTuber! Danger!

I've fallen into an odd YouTube rabbit hole lately, listening to videos of random YouTubers "reporting" on the sins of other random YouTubers, with sins ranging from maybe or maybe not publishing autopsy photos without family permission on true crime stations, to ill-treatment and gaslighting of fellow YouTubers and associated staff.

Part of me appreciates the "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who watches the watchers?) vibe of the whole thing, as I believe any media outlet, or anyone acting as a media outlet, ought to be called on the carpet when they've legitimately screwed up.

But there's a darker undertone here, expressed widely in the comments, that many watching and listening don't really care if the alleged sins were committed or not, but they're there for the drama and to watch the "mighty" fall and flail and flounder. They actively hope they fail and that their kids fail and that they lose everything they cherish in a barn fire, and hope someone records the barn fire and posts it online for them to see.

While there are many who are caught who continue to lie or gaslight or whatever, there are those who appear, at least in my eyes, to offer sincere apologies and work to fix what they're done wrong. That doesn't seem to matter to the sharks swirling in the comments, who seem to consider that once a person has sinned, there's no amount of apology or explanation of whatever from the sinner than can atone for the crime -- and it certainly doesn't seem to matter if the crime was committed or not.

It's just a really weird vibe, is all I'm sayin'.

I guess if you're a creator putting stuff out there, maybe take a journalism class or two (not that the same thing doesn't go on in the journalism world) or have people to advise you on whether you're about to screw up or not.

Yeah, that costs money. But maybe money is less precious than reputation.

And to the sharks: lighten up, man.

Don't Make A Typo When Both of your Parents Are English Majors

 

Siding Continues, and the Elbow's Feeling Much Better, TYVM.

Finally got that angle above the garage finished, meaning everything I could start from the ground is finished. That's a good thing.

Also good is that the front upper portion of the house is prepped to receive, including getting all the trim around the windows done. One challenge I'm facing is that I'm out of the blue J-channel, so I have to decide if I want to try to scrounge some up, or just use the white J-channel I can find at Home Cheapo. I know of one local distributor, so maybe I'll try them out. I'll have to see if they'll sell it to me by the stick, rather than by the case, because I'd rather not have to buy a full case of it. But that might have to be the way to go.

This effort, of course, is coinciding with the hottest weather we've had all summer. I either have to go out really early in the morning (which is fine, as I'm the only one home right now since the rest of them are at scout camp, but I like a lie-in) or I have to go out later in the day when the house is casting a shadow over itself and I'm not baking my brains out in the heat. Either way, it's not pleasant. The only reason I got the front stripped was that they all were here on the Fourth of July so I had a little help getting it all taken down.

What's also a bit of good news is that my right elbow, which started to act up a few weeks ago and was making cutting siding painful or almost impossible, is finally on the mend. I'm not sure what I did to hurt it, but I think it's some kind of carpal tunnel thing, as I've been doing a lot of awkward cutting and a lot of typing for my day job. I'm glad it's feeling better, as having it hurt really put the spoiler on doing anything with it. There was even a week or two I could hardly carry any weight on that arm at all, it was so sensitive.

Imagine . . .

Today I learned Steely Dan wrote this song as an anithesis to John Lennon's Imagine, which really ranks as one of the smuggest, most out-of-touch songs ever written.

Makes me like Steely Dan all the more.

Way too Late at the Movies, Again: The Big Short, A Night to Remember, and Nothing But Trouble

Yes, I'm taking advantage that I'm the only one home to watch a batch of YouTube movies.

Again, these are of varying quality, but two -- A Night to Remember and Nothing But Trouble" were completely new to me.

The Big Short. Again, one I've seen quite a few clips of thanks to randos on YouTube. This one feels like I got a well-rounded clipshow beforehand. I love Steve Carell's perpetually cranky character, who admits to being happy when he's not feeling happy at all.

This film, like Margin Call, focuses on the 2008 financial crisis, but feels a lot less preachy. It's smarmy at all the right times and has more of a Joe Sixpack feel to it than the other. It still delivers a "message" at the end, reminding us that while we the taxpayer paid for everything, only one banker -- a Swiss one, at that -- went to jail over the whole crisis, and the banks continued to use their (taxpayer) money to lobby for no significant changes whatsoever.

But it does make me question whether the stories I'm seeing about Dr. Michael Burry seeing similar things in today's housing market that he saw back then hold water, as he did indeed bail out of investing in anything but water. But I'm sure things changed since then.

A Night to Remember. A British telling of the Titanic disaster. Much like the more ballyhooed modern version, the ship spends a lot of time sinking and I spent a lot of time watching people panic and do brave things and horrid things and whatnot, so I'm not going to say I was keen on the film. At least there were no made-up villains this time.

Nothing But Trouble. I remember seeing ads for this when I was but a lad, and thinking "Okay, this is Dan Aykroyd, whom I really liked in Ghostbusters, but this is, um, weird." And yeah, go with that feeling. Definitely feels like a dream you have when you're sick and fevered and not really sure who you should be rooting for.

I felt bad watching John Candy in this. I can't say it looked like he was having any fun with either of the roles he had. Dan Aykroyd seemed to enjoy himself, but he might be the only one who did in this film.

I'm not sure who the audience was, or what the message was supposed to be. Part of it really felt like they were making fun of, you know, anyone who didn't live in New York City. But I don't know. It was just awful.

 

Way Too Late at the Movies: Margin Call, The Phantom Tollbooth, and The King's Speech

I love that YouTube's rotation of free movies introduces things to me that I'm familiar with, but have never seen in full. YouTube presents many clips, of course, and I've watched them time again again, particularly of these three movies.

Watching them in full, however, is a different experience.

Margin Call. I had no idea Demi Moore was in this, as the clips I've seen of the show don't focus on her. And there are some sanctimonious speeches in the film that the writers think hit right, but kind of fell flat for me. And that little idiot who all he did was fuss about his own job, he bugged me.

There's a speech about the "common man" and how they had no idea what was going to happen as the 2008 financial crisis unfolded. That really bugged me. Because at the time, we weren't one of the slobbering minions trying to grab the brass ring with extravagant living space or shaky, shady mortgage deals. So we had no idea what was going to happen, nor how it might impact us.

They might be chagrined to know it worked out well for us. We sold our house at the asking price, and bought another at a bargain price at the absolute low of the crisis. And we did it conventionally. No oddball mortgages necessary.

I enjoyed the full film.

The Phantom Tollbooth. I know the book its based on is pedantic, but the film really felt overhanded. Not quite Page Master level of "gotta preach to the plebs about getting a well-rounded education," but pretty close.

I love the book. The film, however, is probably best left to the highlight reel.

The King's Speech. I've seen only the speech-therapy-related clips, and I loved them. The film is even better. I expected nothing less, of course, as I know the film is highly regarded. There's not a stinker in any of the roles, and the story moves along briskly. And I did not expect to see Derek Jacobi there.

One thing I might be disappointed with: The music. It all seems really blah to me, except at the scene where Logue and the king have reconciled and they are practicing in Westminster Abbey. There, the music is perfect. I have always loved history, and weaving this personal and true story in with that history is magnificently done in this film.

And while I've dissed the music, this scene is perfect with its blend of music and drama.

When Lightning Meets a Tree, Coming Through the Rye

On Jly 3, lightning struck a lodgepole pine near the lodge at Island Park Scout Camp. There were scouts and leaders in camp, preparing for staff week, but all had sought appropriate shelter and nobody was hurt, though the blow from this bolt, which struck near the lodge, freaked a lot of people out. Lightning also hit the lake, adding reason to why swimming is discouraged at camp within 30 minutes of the sound of thunder.

First photo shows the "back" of the tree, where the lighting dug a trench, likely following a root, in the ground. A nearby buried water pipe has developed a leak, likely associated with the strike.

The second photo shows tree damage as the bolt searched for ground.