This kind of random, but here’s a meme I ran across somewhere in my blog-wanderings today that looked kind of fun. First up, the obligatory description of The Rules:
Let’s proceed, shall we?
John Kenneth Muir and The Bad Astronomer are both noting that the actor Barry Morse has died at the age of 89.
Morse was not one of those actors most people are going to know by name, but at least one of his roles — Lt. Philip Gerard, the dogged pursuer of Dr. Richard Kimble on the original TV version of The Fugitive (the character played by Tommy Lee Jones in the 1993 feature film) — is iconic.
Sci-fi fans are more likely to recognize him from the series Space: 1999, in which he played the fatherly Professor Victor Bergman for one season before being unceremoniously dumped in the show’s second-season retool. (The character never even got an on-screen explanation for what happened to him; he simply wasn’t on the show any more when year two began.)
And in other news, the death last month of actor Heath Ledger has been ruled an accidental overdose of several prescription medications. A statement from his family indicates that none of the drugs were taken in excess; rather, it was a fatal combination of ordinary meds taken at ordinary dosages. While I’m happy that this talented young man didn’t commit the ultimate stupidity — suicide and/or death by street drugs — there is nevertheless something small and ignominious about this kind of thing.
As I’ve said before, what a damn shame.
Well, here it is, the morning after, and we still can’t predict with any certainty who the Democratic nominee for president is going to be, but it’s looking pretty likely the Republican nom will go to McCain. My own prediction — and this isn’t my own preference, mind you, it’s just what my Magic 8-Ball is telling me — is that we’re going to end up choosing between Clinton and McCain come November. But who really knows? There’s still a lot of time to go…
I find it interesting that Huckabee made such a strong showing; obviously, his surge was fueled by Christian evangelicals in southern states where they are in the majority. I wonder if they honestly believe their guy has a chance in the general election, if they were just voting their principles, or if voting for Huckabee was really a strategy to block Mitt Romney, because evangelicals have such a problem with Mitt being Mormon?
Here in Utah, the voting went pretty much as I expected. Romney won the local Republican primary by a ridiculous margin (90 percent, I believe), owing, I’m sure, to his religion and his reputation as the man who saved Utah’s bacon during the 2002 Winter Olympics. (Long story, but just in case you don’t know it, the Cliff’s Note version is that preparations for SLC’s Games were not going well, there were scandals, and the whole thing looked like it was going to be a embarrassing disaster. Mitt took over the Organizing Committee at the last minute and the Games turned out to be a resounding success.) On the Democratic side, Obama took a wide lead over Clinton. Many people I’ve talked with this morning seem surprised by this; I’m not. Even among Democrats, Hillary is not well-liked in these parts. My theory is that even many so-called liberal Utahns — who, let’s be honest, would be considered fairly conservative in other parts of the country — tend to subscribe to more, ahem, traditional views of gender roles, and Hillary alienated, offended, or threatened them during the Wild Bill Years with her strong will and apparent acceptance of her husband’s philandering. But that’s just me talking out of my hat; it could also be something as simple as Obama visiting the state in person while Hillary just sent Bill and Chelsea in her place.
Either way, it was an interesting experience to be part of the Big Time for a change. Only eight months to go…
I’m pretty unrelenting in my affection and respect for pop-cultural relics that the rest of society long ago dismissed as hopelessly cheez-ball (e.g., the 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica, pretty much the entire career of William Shatner), but even I would be daunted by the current blog-project of a guy named Larry Aydlette. In honor of the impending 72nd birthday of Burt Reynolds, the man whose mustache epitomized the late 1970s, Larry has decided to “honor [Burt’s] work ethic and use his birth month for 29 straight days of Burt Reynolds coverage.” Or, as his blog’s tagline puts it, he’s going “All Burt. All month.”
Larry continues:
This isn’t a love-a-thon. In rewatching a lot of his movies, I’ve come to the conclusion that he didn’t necessarily deserve to win the Oscar for the films that he and many critics thought he should have won them for. And he was never nominated for what seems to me to be his one indisputable masterpiece (although I doubt many critics will agree with me). But there are quite a few of his films that are very, very good, and deserve reconsideration.
I do think the breadth of his career is certainly worthy of an honorary Oscar. Let’s not forget that he ruled America’s box office from the late ’70s to the early ’80s. He is the self-proclaimed “Picasso of car pictures.” He was a big, big star.
No argument from me on any of that. At one time, I probably would’ve classed Burt among my heroes. Hell, he was The Bandit, man. I still envy that character’s way with the ladies, and of course that kick-ass black Trans Am.
Anyway, Larry is doing some genuinely interesting film criticism and cultural history over there. I found his re-appraisal of Semi-Tough and Boogie Nights especially interesting. Go have a look…
Well, enough of that nasty politics stuff. Let’s get back to some hardcore geeking, shall we?
Courtesy of Michael May comes this interesting video clip, a mash-up of all the title sequences for the TV series Doctor Who. It’s fairly long, and probably only of interest to fans, but I find it pretty fascinating to see how the music and title effects have evolved over 45 years while still remaining instantly recognizable. The biggest difference, really, is one of pacing; the newer sequences are visually and aurally much, much faster. And that is probably a fine commentary on our times, when you think about it…
This is a historic day for the citizens of Utah, the first time we’ve ever participated in the Super Tuesday process, following unprecedented visits by nearly every major presidential candidate from both parties. (Little old Utah normally doesn’t get this much attention from the candidates, partly — I would imagine — because the state’s population is so small, and probably also because it’s a given that, come November, our electoral votes will go to whoever the GOP nominates.)
I myself voted in the Democratic primary this morning. (I couldn’t have voted on the Republican side even if I’d been so inclined — which I’m not — because they have a closed primary, loyal members of the club only, please.) For the record (and at risk of kicking off an argument here on my humble little corner of the Internet), I voted for Barack Obama.
The Netflix queue I share with The Girlfriend (but which, I must be honest, consists mostly of stuff I’m interested in) just broke 400 titles. Four hundred. Specifically, I now have 404 movies and/or TV-on-DVD discs waiting for my attentions. How many hours of my life do you suppose that number represents?
If you care — or even if you don’t — here is the batch of titles I just entered, the ones that pushed me over the top of normality into the realm of the obsessively nutty:
At my current rate of viewing, I’d guess I’ll probably be getting to these around 2015 or so…
Something to look forward to, I suppose.
Hey, folks, just a little housekeeping note here: I’ve noticed that lately the bloody spambots seem to be drawn to several specific older entries, so I’ve decided to close comments on these garbage-magnets in the hopes of saving myself a little aggravation. Fortunately, they’re all older entries that I doubt anyone is going to want to comment on at this point, but I thought I’d put up an official warning anyhow, because you never can tell what people are going to run across in their surfing. If for some reason you do want to remark on one of the closed entries, just send me an email and we’ll work something out…
A gigantic new compendium of weird random stuff about me, courtesy of Puffbird:
