dual personalities

Tag: movies

January 18, 2021

“Tune my heart to sing thy grace”*

by chuckofish

We did not do anything very exciting this weekend–at least not as exciting as going to a Zoom wedding like daughter #2 and Baby Katie, who attended her BFF Edwina’s nuptials on Saturday. They got dressed up and DN popped the Prosecco and it was a whole thing. I salute Edwina and Kevin for not putting it off because of the crazy time we live in. Because as Harry said to Sally, ““When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with a person, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

Speaking of movies, the other night we watched Action in the North Atlantic (1943) a typical Warner Brothers patriotic war film of that era starring Humphrey Bogart as the 1st Officer on a Liberty Ship in a convoy bound from Halifax to Murmansk. After German subs crush the convoy, his ship loses the convoy and heads alone to Murmansk.

In spite of attacks by German planes and a sneaky Nazi sub and the captain being wounded, the gallant crew manages to get the cargo through. I was quite impressed by the special effects wizardry–the whole thing was filmed in a tank on the back lot! Anyway, the movie works as an effective propaganda tool for recruiting for the wartime Merchant Marines. There is even a moving burial at sea scene where Bogart reads a good portion of the naval service for eight seamen who have died to which he adds:

Now, that’s the word of God. And it’s good. But I don’t think He’d mind if I put my oar in. These are eight men we knew and liked, guys like us. Guys we ate with and slept with and fought with. Well, we were just a little luckier than they were. We’ll miss them. All of them.

This all reminded me of one pf those “luckier guys” I was reading about in the Jewish Light obits recently, who died in his nineties. He had joined the Army Air Corps during WWII at 19. As a ball turret gunner in B17 bombers, he flew 33 missions over Germany. Back in St. Louis after the war, Lou worked in advertising for over 44 years. He had big accounts–“Everything from Scoop to Nuts”–and a good long life. But he was a ball turret gunner at 19! That’s the guy who hangs from the belly of the plane armed with two machine guns. Let’s just take a moment.

Lest we forget. Regular guys do amazing things and they do it 33 times.

Forgive me if I got a little off track there, but that’s how my mind works. The wee babes came over Sunday with their parents for taco night. We caught up on the weeks activities and gazed at the fire.

I just love the fire.

I hope you enjoy your day off (if you have one).

Jesus said, “I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:27–36 (The lesson appointed for use on the feast of Martin Luther King, Jr.)

*Robert Robinson, 1758, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I am glad to know that this old English hymn is still sung, including many times by the David Crowder Band. Who doesn’t love Crowder?

6 Comments
January 12, 2021

“That’ll be the day.”

by chuckofish

My mood lately.

Today I thought we’d have a little pop quiz. Here are quotes from a dozen or so of my favorite movies. Can you guess them? If you can, good for you! Watch the movies–there’re all great ones.

Waiter, will you serve the nuts? I mean, will you serve the guests the nuts?

I don’t think I’ve ever drunk champagne before breakfast before. With breakfast on several occasions, but never before.

Well, there are some things a man just can’t run away from.

– I’ve heard about you.

-What have you heard?

-I’ve heard that you’re a low-down Yankee liar.

– Prove it.

Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the “ape” in apricot? What have they got that I ain’t got?

I’ll organize revolt, exact a death for a death, and I’ll never rest until every Saxon in this shire can stand up free men and strike a blow for Richard and England.

Face it, girls, I’m older and I have more insurance.

Read the newspaper. What does it say? All bad. It’s all bad. People have forgotten what life is all about. They’ve forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!

So what else is on your mind besides hundred-proof women, ninety-proof whiskey, ‘n’ fourteen-carat gold?

You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I’m an easy target. Yeah, you’re right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you… but I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I’m not changing. I like… I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. ‘Cause I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.

Impetuous! Homeric!

It’s money and adventure and fame. It’s the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage that starts at six o’clock tomorrow morning.

I don’t like disturbances in my place. Either lay off politics or get out!

It took me a long, long time to learn my elbow from a hot rock.

You believe what you want. You work your side of the street, and I’ll work mine.

And here’s one more question: Do you think I relate to Doris Day, Thelma Ritter or Rock Hudson in the following scene:

I’ll post the answers in the Comments section later today. Until then, I’ll see you at the movies…

9 Comments
January 1, 2021

We twa hae run about the braes*

by chuckofish

Well, happy new year! Much has been said about the terrible year 2020, but I am content to have lived through it. So onward and upward say I. Tally ho.

Here is the TCM Remembers video for 2020, noting the movie stars and directors who didn’t survive the year. There are a few surprises.

For instance, I did not know Stuart Whitman had died. It may be time to view The Comancheros (1961) again.

“Mon-sewer, words are what men live by… words they say and mean.”

Also, Harriet Frank Jr. died. She co-wrote a lot of good screenplays along with her husband Irving Ravetch, notably Hud (1963), Hombre (1967) and The Cowboys (1972). Check out the list to find some good movies to watch.

January may be the month to do a thorough investigation/viewing of the late Sean Connery’s oeuvre. I mean, who doesn’t love everyone’s favorite Scotsman who died this year at age 90? Granted, his type of sublime white masculinity is viewed by many as toxic these days, but whatever. Bah humbug. Come the apocalypse, I want to be on team Sean Connery.

(Not team Keanu Reeves/Stephan Colbert.)

Daughter #1 and I walked around Laumeier Sculpture Park yesterday morning. It was very cold.

Later the boy and his wee family came over for some New Year’s Eve fun. We ate a lot of chips ‘n dips and had a dance party and set off some fire crackers.

We watched Last Holiday (2006) starring our favorite, Queen Latifah, not to mention LL Cool J and Gerard Depardieu.

The OM, daughter #1 and I actually stayed up til midnight and then went outside (it was sleeting) and blew our party horns with the other rowdy neighbors. And today we start the new year–let’s count our blessings and make it a good one!

*Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns

We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin’ auld lang syne.

4 Comments
December 22, 2020

When you see a guy with a stick in his eye

by chuckofish

Daughter # 1 and I were singing to wee Katie and were not able to remember the “real” lyrics to Guys and Dolls (see above) so we looked them up.

We had fun, but she was not impressed:

We also found the Fireside Book of American Folk Songs–a classic published in 1957–

and we sang all our faves, but again:

“Who are they, Mommy?”

I guess our singing stinks, but we had fun anyway. Katie forgave us. Singing is not something I have done much of lately (no church) so I am out of practice, but it is fun and I recommend it. It lightens the spirits.

I will also note that last night we watched the 1951 Alastair Sim version of Scrooge. It was great. The Barbara Allen scene always makes me cry.

…as does the whole second half of the movie. (“Barbara Allen” is in the Fireside book, by the way, and we sang it in the afternoon.) Watch it or, better yet, read the Dickens book which the movie faithfully follows:

“I don’t know what to do!” cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!”

–Charles Dickens

At the very least, send a check to the Salvation Army.

6 Comments
December 15, 2020

A touch of myrrh

by chuckofish

Cards in each mailbox,
angel, manger, star and lamb,
as the rural carrier,
driving the snowy roads,
hears from her bundles
the plaintive bleating of sheep,
the shuffle of sandals,
the clopping of camels.
At stop after stop,
she opens the little tin door
and places deep in the shadows
the shepherds and wise men,
the donkeys lank and weary,
the cow who chews and muses.
And from her Styrofoam cup,
white as a star and perched
on the dashboard, leading her
ever into the distance,
there is a hint of hazelnut,
and then a touch of myrrh.

“Christmas Mail” by Ted Kooser

Read through this article about the line-up of December Christmas movies (and others) on TCM to find out why Paul Zahl and I should truly be best friends. I mean really. I don’t agree with his take on all the movies, but The World of Henry Orient and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon are spot on.

This is an interesting tidbit about Episcopal minister Endicott Peabody in the Old West. He built St. Paul’s Episcopal in Tombstone that stands today as the oldest Protestant church in Arizona.

On December 21 Saturn and Jupiter will align into a beautiful bright star. This will be the first time they align like this since the Middle Ages. According to Forbes, the two planets will look like a “double planet” and provide an extraordinary amount of light. The last time these two planets aligned like this was on March 4, 1226, according to astronomer Patrick Hartigan at Rice University. Pretty cool. I hope I remember to look.

We were sad to learn that Charlie Pride, country singing superstar and the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, had died at age 86.

Here’s Mr. Pride bringing some Christmas cheer your way 50 years ago:

Enjoy your Tuesday. Only three more days ’til Christmas vacay starts pour moi.

6 Comments
December 8, 2020

“You sell whatever you want, but don’t sell it here tonight.”

by chuckofish

Sometimes when you’ve had a day full of Zoom meetings and newsletters revisions and two hours on the phone with the university IT help desk, there is nothing to do but watch Youtube videos of Steve McQ.

Tonight, if I’m still feeling really confused, I may have to indulge in a little Channing Tatum…

‘Cause a woman ought to do what she thinks is best.

That’s all I’ve got today. Oh, and this from Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

What if you slept

And what if

In your sleep

You dreamed

And what if

In your dream

You went to heaven

And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower

And what if

When you awoke

You had that flower in your hand

Ah, what then?

Enjoy your Tuesday!

4 Comments
November 3, 2020

“What is life but a series of inspired follies?”*

by chuckofish

Recently I watched the movie My Foolish Heart (1949) which, as you know, is the only film adaptation of a fictional work written by J.D. Salinger. It was loosely adapted from his short story, “Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut,” and Salinger was so disappointed with the changes made to his original story, that he never again allowed any of his work to be adapted for film.

Dana Andrews and Susan Hayward–all wrong

It isn’t a terrible movie (especially if you don’t know the Salinger connection.) The screenplay is, after all, by Julius and Philip Epstein, who wrote Casablanca (1942). But they took Salinger’s poignant little story and turned it into a four-star tearjerker, giving it the full-blown Hollywood treatment. He must have been really embarrassed, I mean really embarrassed. I re-read the story and I suggest you do the same.

This is an interesting article about a dead Presbyterian who still has a lot to say to us.

And this article by an Episcopalian makes some good points.

And I like this poem by Richard Wilbur:

A Barred Owl

The warping night air having brought the boom
Of an owl’s voice into her darkened room,
We tell the wakened child that all she heard
Was an odd question from a forest bird,
Asking of us, if rightly listened to,
“Who cooks for you?” and then “Who cooks for you?”

Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.

Who cooks for you?

*George Bernard Shaw (He continued, “The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn’t come every day.””)

6 Comments
October 27, 2020

Tuesday mish mosh

by chuckofish

Today we toast Theodore Roosevelt on his birthday.

Roosevelt in 1885, the year he moved to his ranch in the Dakotah Territory.

I think I will watch The Wind and the Lion (1975) in honor of our 26th president. This film, you will recall, is about an international incident being (almost) triggered when an Arab chieftain (Sean Connery) kidnaps an American widow and her children. President Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Keith) deals with it American style–He sends in the Marines.

It is also the anniversary of the day Rebel Without a Cause debuted in 1955, 65 years ago! James Dean had just died less than a month before in a car wreck at the age of 24. It is hard to imagine that this story of teenage angst and rebellion was viewed as being quite shocking back in the day, but it was. It seems quite innocent, even sweet, to our jaded eyes.

And, hello, how did I miss the fact that American golf legend Tiger Woods attended the grand opening of Payne’s Valley Golf Course at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri (near Branson) on Tuesday, September 22. Named after Ozarks native and fellow golf legend Payne Stewart, it is the first public-access golf course designed by Woods. The 19th hole at Payne’s Valley, we are told, is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about golf holes in the world (see below). “Nature golf” looks kind of like miniature golf for grown ups, but who am I to say.

Mid-MO makes the the Big Time.

Finally, here is a great version of the classic Townes Van Sant song “Pancho and Lefty” performed by Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. (Also, I spy with my little eye a young Marty Stuart on mandolin.) Check it out.

Enjoy your Tuesday. Keep going.

8 Comments
October 21, 2020

“And all the monkeys aren’t in the zoo/ Every day you meet quite a few”*

by chuckofish

Daughter #1 has been crisscrossing the state this week doing exciting things in great weather…

…so I am standing in for her on the blog today!

But as you might have guessed from yesterday’s post, it’s been a busy week for me as well with my usual load of Zoom classes and a virtual national conference added in! Zut alors, it is hard to focus on anything! Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

Well, here’s a good list of movies to watch in November from one of my favorite retired priests, Paul Zahl. If he says, “No better movie has ever been made about the real life of a local parish minister,” you better believe it. (He’s talking about Stars in My Crown (1950)

I just re-watched Randall Miller’s Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005) and I highly recommend it.

So think positive, test negative and love one another!

*Johnny Burke / Jimmy van Heusen

4 Comments
October 19, 2020

“The created World is but a small Parenthesis in Eternity”*

by chuckofish

Today is the feast day of Frithuswith, the patron saint of Oxford and of Oxford University. She is credited with establishing a religious site later incorporated into Christ Church in Oxford. Frithuswith (650-727) was the first abbess of this Oxford double monastery. I had never heard of her either. You can read more about her here. Great name, though, right?

It is also the birthday of Sir Thomas Browne (1605 – 1682) about whom I know next to nothing.

I really like this statue of Sir Thomas Browne in Norwich.

However, Herman Melville was a great fan and called him a “crack’d Archangel.” Virginia Woolf said, “Few people love the writings of Sir Thomas Browne, but those that do are the salt of the earth.” And Jorge Luis Borges said, “Sir Thomas Browne — I love him. I translated him into 17th century Spanish and it worked very well.” So I guess I better start reading some Thomas Browne.

I didn’t do much this weekend. I continued to read Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James, which I tried to read years ago. I am enjoying it this time around. I finally gave up on Jack by Marilynne Robinson. Apropos of that disappointment, I had an email exchange with one of my institute’s facilitators, a retired professor, who is also a big Robinson fan and has taught her other books. It went like this:

ME: Are you reading Jack by M. Robinson? I have to say I am disappointed. I guess my expectations were too high.

Prof: I am VERY disappointed with “Jack”. I’m not sure I can bring myself to teach it. I’m considering alternatives. 

ME: I’m not sure I can bring myself to FINISH it!

Prof: AGREED! ALAS!

Academic ALL CAPS!

The OM and I celebrated our aforementioned anniversary with a drive to Defiance, MO and a visit to the Sugar Creek Winery. It was very pleasant and the wine wasn’t bad.

Unfortunately, it was rather nippy temperature-wise and I had not worn appropriate gear, so we didn’t spend a leisurely afternoon like last Sunday. We are still learning the ropes of how these winery visits work.

You will recall that Defiance is where frontiersman Daniel Boone ended his long career, arriving around 1800 at the age of 65 with his wife and several of his children. Nathan Boone, his youngest son, built the home which one can visit today. Daniel Boone passed away in this home on Sept. 26, 1820 (200 years ago!) For Missouri, that is a very old house.

I have visited the home, once as a child and once with my own children, but not in at least 25 years and certainly not since 2016, when the Historic Daniel Boone Home and surrounding property in Defiance was given to the people of St. Charles County by Lindenwood University. The nearly 300 acre site includes The Historic Daniel Boone Home, adjoining Village historic site, and surrounding property. We will have to check it out soon.

I also watched Signs (2002)–a favorite of mine. It is a good movie to watch in the Halloween season because it is scary, but it is also a great movie about lost faith and miracles. Swing away, Merrill.

*Sir Thomas Browne

4 Comments