Some Memes You May Enjoy

Many a truth is said in jest.

- It would fool Joe Biden.

- I feel seen

- Analysis true!

- This makes sense

Slap Shot - The Greatest Sports Movie of All-Time

 

Released 46-years ago today.

More Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- US "No Fly List" leaks after being left on unsecure airline server. We're in the very best of hands.

- Exclusive behind the scenes look as Ivan Provorov tells his GM he won't wear the pride jersey. (Don't click the link if you're easily offended)

- National Debt - Your US Government at work

- Tucker Carlson on the Deep State and why Richard Nixon had to go.

Quotes for Today

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus

"The fans are standing up to them! The security guards are standing up to them! The peanut vendors are standing up to them! And by golly, if I could get down there, I'd be standing up to them!" - Hyannisport broadcaster in Slap Shot

"Mental health and health are the same things." - Andrew Yang

"If you were only to read, you might stay and idiot." - Tyler Cowen

45 Years Ago This Month

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus

"The fans are standing up to them! The security guards are standing up to them! The peanut vendors are standing up to them! And by golly, if I could get down there, I'd be standing up to them!" - Hyannisport broadcaster in Slap Shot

"Mental health and health are the same things." - Andrew Yang

"What ever crushes individuality is despotism, no matter what name it is called." - John Stuart Mill 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus

"The more the Internet exposes people to new points of view, the angrier people get that different views exist." - Benedict Evans

"The fans are standing up to them! The security guards are standing up to them! The peanut vendors are standing up to them! And by golly, if I could get down there, I'd be standing up to them!" - Hyannisport broadcaster in Slap Shot

"Mental health and health are the same things." - Andrew Yang

"What ever crushes individuality is despotism, no matter what name it is called." - John Stuart Mill 

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness.You have to catch it yourself." - Benjamin Franklin

"It is capitalism that pulled billions out of poverty. Not vapid virtue signalling." - Nassim Taleb

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Teddy Roosevelt thought Thomas Jefferson was an awful President and especially thought Jefferson deserved no credit for the Louisiana Purchase. Roosevelt argued that US settlers moving into the territory would have forced the matter anyway. It was far cheaper for France to sell us the "rights" to the land than to defend it militarily... This remains perhaps my favorite painting of President Obama... I'm still upset that Andre the Giant wasn't even nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work in The Princess Bride... Who knew? Urban Meyer was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 1982 and spent a couple of years in their minor league system... The Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). They were born of Memory so their arts cause the soul to remember a higher plane of being. The Ancients seem to have had a better grasp of what the arts do then we moderns... Baseball-Reference.com says that one of the nicknames for Lou Gerhig was "biscuit pants." There has to be a pretty good story behind that... One of my dream cars - Reggie Dunlop's GTO from Slap Shot... Quote for the day: George Bernard Shaw when asked to name a deceased man he missed the most said, "The man I miss most is the man I could have been"... 

George Roy Hill

George Roy Hill is remembered most for being one of the great directors of the past 60-years but what sparked interest in me was a little known fact about the man. Hill flew planes for the US Marines in both World War II and in Korea - just like the great Ted Williams.

Unlike Williams who flew fighter planes in both conflicts - Hill first flew transport planes in WWII and then fighters in Korea. Still that's an accomplishment that's worthy of a little bragging. However, self promotion was never something George Roy Hill was interested in which in itself is another reason to admire the man.

And I still say that Slap Shot is the best sports movie ever made. Here's what I consider the Top 5 Movies by George Roy Hill.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting read

- Venezuela being evicted from its consulate in Miami. They haven't paid the rent since August. Venezuela is a failed state.

- 10 principles to live an "antifragile" life

- Wow - would DISH walk away from satellite TV?

- Yeah probably going to hell for laughing at this too.

- READ!

- Slap Shot was released 41-years ago (yesterday)

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Actor Bill Paxton has passed away at age 61... Knowing that Neil Diamond wrote Sweet Caroline about a prepubescent Caroline Kennedy - his song Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon is even more creepy... What were people in the 1970's fucking thinking!... When people think of Bill Paxton's movie roles I think most think of him starring in Twister but I always think of him as Morgan Earp in the movie Tombstone... This remains one of the best "selfies" in history even though George Harrison took it before the word "selfie" even existed... According to Hammurabi's Code the fetus of a "superior" woman was worth 10 shekels of silver... This is the car I'd really like to own... When I hear the name Sean Spice for some reason my brain thinks of Dora the Explorer and Swiper. Spicer stop spicing!... It still blows my mind that the Patriots led the Super Bowl for ZERO minutes and still won...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I don't own a gun (yet) but I just have to say Mike Rowe's post on guns is awesome!

- Now I really want to try this booze

- Making sense of String Theory. The video is from 2005 - I wonder if the theory still holds up? Seems like all the cool kids are speaking about Quantum Physics these days.

- Fantastic true story of an American  fugitive drug smuggler who became an environmental hero in Australia

- 12 fun facts about Slap Shot. Thank God they went with Paul Newman and not Al Pacino.

Alan Sepinwall on Goon

Alan Sepinwall has posted a review of the movie Goon.

I agree with Alan in his assessment of the film. Big fan. If you liked Slap Shot - you'll like Goon.

Five Favorite Films

I saw this and started wondering what my five favorite films are. After some thought here's what I came up with (and note that the order is pretty interchangeable).

1. Casablanca
2. Slap Shot
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
4. LA Confidential
5. The Princess Bride

Not making the list but anytime I have the chance to watch the endings of either Groundhog Day or My Cousin Vinny - I have to stop what I'm doing to watch.

Paul Newman

I've spent a large part of my day reading about Paul Newman - a truly amazing person. It is sad to see the passing of such a legend but it was his time.

Paul once said something like "show me a man with no enemies and I'll show you a man with no character." Maybe Paul Newman was the exception that proves the rule because it seems nobody anywhere has anything bad to say of the man. He was an accomplished actor, a loving husband, a selfless humanitarian and maybe most extraordinary - a regular guy.

People posting meetings with Newman on various threads on the Internets uniformly praise Newman for being such a humble, likable guy in person. He was not just cool incarnate - he was niceness incarnate. It's as if Newman's guiding principle was to live life with a "there but by the grace of God go I" mentality.

Vanity Fair recently had a very good profile of Paul Newman and this was perhaps the anecdote that summed up Paul Newman the man best:

This past year, at one of the usual meetings of parents and children at the original camp, Newman showed up; crowds pressed close. The mother of one little girl spoke to Ray Lamontagne, the head of the camp’s board. Her daughter wanted to tell Paul Newman something, but she couldn’t get over to him because she was in a wheelchair. Lamontagne fought his way through the crowd and brought Newman back to the little girl, and he knelt down by her wheelchair. “For the first time in my life I have a friend,” the little girl told him. “I’ve never had a friend before, because I’ve been in a wheelchair most of my life, so kids avoided me. So thank you, Mr. Newman, for this camp.” Newman had tears in his eyes.

He had already said, “I wanted to acknowledge luck. The beneficence of it in many lives and the brutality of it in the lives of others, especially children, who might not have a lifetime to make up for it.”

Perhaps my favorite Newman role was as Reg Dunlop in Slap Shot (maybe the best sports movie ever made). It is also interesting to play the "what if" game regarding his roles. For instance - Newman supposedly turned down the role of Dirty Harry (a role that Frank Sinatra also supposedly turned down). It has also been written that Newman was offered the role of Quint in Jaws - a role that went to Robert Shaw. And speaking of Shaw - enjoy this bit from another Newman classic - The Sting.