Bama Llama

To paraphrase 1970 Dick Cavett, replying to Lester Maddox demanding an apology for Cavett implying that Lester's supporters were bigots: I apologize to all Trumplicans who aren't bigoted triumphalistic frontrunning ignorant RACIST assclowns. Vote, my brothers and sisters. Vote - it's all we need to do. The rest is just noise.

1. Dubbed fanfares. Four scrawny extras raise long horns and pretend to blow. Out comes a loud, majestic sound like the entire brass section of the London Symphony. What bullshit. 2. A metallic "shing!" sound when a sword whips through thin air. Air! 3. Metallic "shing!" sound when a sword is inserted into a leather scabbard. Leather! 4. Ricochet gunshots have had the same sound for sixty years. 5. One nervous horse nickering at night - always the same sound. You know the one I'm talking about. A production company spends millions to make a film and won't pay a few bucks to record an original sound or two. It is an insult to the ears.

1. Mowing is a rite of passage and a zen art. Made my bones pushing a reel mower with my seven-year old chest because my arms weren't string enough and grass to thick. 2. Don't ever ever ever EVER use a riding mower with a little kid in your lap. You know why. Little Johnny delights in riding in Gramps' lap on the mower. Gramps even lets him "drive" from time to time. One Saturday morning Gramps is mowing the back yard, heading away from the house. Little Johnny sees Gramps, comes down the back steps, runs after Gramps, calling for him to stop so Johhny can ride. Gramps can't hear over the engine noise. The new mown grass is slippery with dew, the big yard slopes away from the back porch. Johnny is running too fast. He is only five years old and doesn't know Gramps can't hear him and won't stop. When Johnny reaches the mower and tries to stop running, he slips down and slides under the mower. The side guard on the mower is not low enough to prevent what happens next, serious but not fatal physical mutilation. True stuff and tragic. He survived, but many surgeries lay ahead, a guardianship/conservatorship controversy, a protected person trial at 19, a few happy months now and then, and death at 27 from a drug overdose.

Yes! I'll watch Kingdom of Heaven anytime the opportunity comes. The tragic, leprous, noble king with the silver mask, Eva Green's eyes, zoomed in images of a zillion warriors, villains of all stripes getting comeuppance, all with Ridley Scott at the helm methodically peeling the onion without rushing the pace. Gotta love it.

What matters now is which teams are improving and which are not? Nothing stays the same. However good, great, overrated or lucky the program as a whole has been since Nick Saban arrived in 2007 and thank you Jesus decided to stay, it's obvious Bama has fallen off on defense, particularly in the pass rush and quality of LB play, for each of the last couple of years. We got wayy too pass happy in 2018 and 2019 and couldn't make a yard when it was important. There are reasons enough to fill a stadium but the facts stand as they stand. We had no answer for LSU's offense last year. This COVID-fucked season, which even now may or may not happen, will always have a big asterisk by it. Hell, I'm still pissed off about ND playing for a tie vs Sparty in 1966 and taking a title away from a damn good Bama team. And for the record, I do not claim Bama won any of those questioned titles. I don''t even claim the one the AP awarded in 1964 before the bowls. We lost the Orange Bowl to Texas no matter what Joe Namath said, and that championship has a big "awarded before Orange Bowl loss" asterisk. Drink Scotch whiskey all night long . . . and die behind the wheel.

Is that you, govnuh? "You can take all the Democratic candidates for President and all the Republican candidates for President. Put them in a sack and shake them up. Take the first one that falls out, grab him by the nape of the neck, and put him right back in the sack. Because there is not a dime's worth of difference in any of them." GEORGE WALLACE, CAMPAIGN SPEECH 1968

Surprise. This is the year we are forced to find something different to do on Saturdays. Not unlike the 60s, when there was one, ONE game on TV and your favorite team's game on radio, if you lived near enough to a network station. I can live without football for one year. Kind of like lent and football is the food you give up for a few weeks. I've always wanted to learn Portuguese. Filho da puta filho da puta.

This old fart chokes up every time this scene unfolds: Rick and Victor Laszlo are talking in Rick's office. Laszlo, hearing Nazi officers singing, interrupts his coversation with Rick, rushes down to the house band and demands, "Play 'La Mareillaise' . . . PLAY IT!" The band leader looks up to Rick. Rick gives him "the nod." What follows is my all-time favorite scene. If your throat doesn't seize up as the music approaches "Aux arms, citoyens!" there's something seriously wrong with you. Fantastic combination of acting, editing and soundtrack. Remember, this was 1942. This war was far from over.

Don "She looked 18!" Henley calling, line one.x

Boiled peanuts . . . Nossir, I don't like 'em. Can't imagine why anyone would. Guess that's why they make Bruton and Garrett. Sounds I least want to hear, in order: 1. "War Eagle" in any context; 2. A human consuming boiled crawfish; and 3. A human consuming boiled peanuts.

The immediate relief of partially or totally immersing yourself in just-right cool water on a very hot day. Ahhhhhhhh.

Hands down one of the most alluring ladies in film. Yes, I meant SPR - no idea what PLR was - Posting Loony References?

Studio Fat Cats: Okay, Coppola, we're looking for a debonair, dynamic, charismatic-yet-vulnerable British actor with a great accent to portray a young Victorian lawyer who travels to Transylvania and encounters the fearsome Count Dracula. Coppola: How about Keanu Reeves? Fat Cats (smack own foreheads, pop Xanax): Are you high!? What the fuck? We want oscars! Coppola: I quit if Reeves is not in the picture. Fat Cats (horrified, exchanging glances): Wait, wait, wait. Okay, okay. Result: Keanu sodomizes the King's English for two hiurs but Bram Stoker's Dracula wins three oscars anyway. Go figure. I kept waiting for him to say "Wheaaaauuuu!" and "Aaaaawwwww-summmm!" Oldman, Hopkins, rich costumes, skilled makeup artists and sexy succubi saved it. The opening carriage ride from the village tavern to the castle always gives me the willies in every Dracula film, as does this line: (Wolves howling) The Count: "Lessten to the cheeldren of the night - wott byewteeful mewsic thay myeek." Cue gooseflesh

Saw PLR in a packed theater the first weekend after release. When the end credits started to roll, no one spoke or even moved or made a sound for a good two minutes. Then slowly, gradually, people began filing out without speaking. Sherman was right. War is all hell. There's nothing glorious about it. This one broke the mold. Casting choices didn't strike me as being a stretch but then again I was reeling after the opening scene and didn't get my wits back for a while. I was wondering if I had made a mistake bringing my 15-year old daughter, but she handled it well.

FIFY Spring football is abby normal.

Saw The Hot Rock yesterday - nice way to spend a couple of hours laying low on a Saturday. 1972 "heist a big African diamond from a museum" film, Redford-Segal-Mostel and fine supporting cast, well-paced. Manhattan is a major costar, including a fly-by of the Twin Towers, one of which was still under construction. Long- legged. long-haired, tight ribbed sweater wearing, nicely nubile young hippie dish Topo Swope played Segal's wife. (Can't make url get real - here 'tis - worth looking) https://www.imdb.com/media/rm999280128/nm0842883

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected. Robert Frost

When she was a little kid, my grandmother saw Czar Nicholas, Alexandra, and all the Romanov children in the flesh from ten feet away. They (the Romanovs) were riding in an open car in Baden-Baden, Germany, with fierce-looking mounted guards. This "past" we are discussing wasn't that long ago.

Take nothing for granted. "August 25, 2016 - Clinton Tops 50 Percent, Leads Trump By 10 Points, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds"

When you're right, you're right. Reflecting on your comment and some others above, I am inclined to agree. Trump may be a narcissistic, psychopathic assclown, but this was at least an unhypocritical decision. I need to stop posting before finishing the morning coffee.

But it is relevant. How can anyone justify voting for this asshole when he won't even pay respect to John Lewis? On a related issue, has anyone ever changed their presidential vote because of something they read on the internet? Jay-sus, Mary and Joseph.

With only a couple of exceptions, WilCo deputy sheriffs were easily the most aggressive and assholish law enforcement officers featured on Live PD. No surprise that a WilCo over the top arrest brought down the most interesting nonfiction program on cable. The show was a primer on "how not to get your ass whupped by the po-lice" (it was a Chappelle or Chris Rock quote, so don't lynch me for staying it). A human life was lost because law enforcement officers were poorly trained, poorly supervised and terribly unenlightened. I would love to hear Tom Morris, Jr.'s take on the whole fiasco.

DVR'd American Hustle recently just for the hell of it and it was pretty damn good once you get past Christian Bale's insistence on reproducing his character's ridiculous comb over hair, with which he was always messing. It had a nice Goodfellas vibe without so much blood and brains being splattered everywhere. Great soundtrack, from Duke Ellington to Steely Dan. Amy Adams was very good but looked wan and strung out while Jennifer Lawrence was just entering her prime and nailed the ditzy blonde bimbo wife role. Louis C.K. was beautiful as a put upon mid level FBI agent. Cons conning the FBI and each other about pumping $$ into Atlantic City and the FBI in the age of cocaine. It's worth watching to see Robert De Niro, who absolutely kills his cameo role - fuhgeddaboutit!

This was one fine series. You felt as if you were back living in the 80's start to finish. At first, John Boy seemed miscast as the FBI boss but I got used to him. That bird like secretary who was seduced by the American male half gave me the creeps she was so needy and easily turned. I wonder how many 2020 "Americans" are preparing to hack, sabotage, and otherwise fuck with the U.S. elections on November 3rd. BTW, 23-year old Paige actress looks just fine and dandy to me. Nubile and agile.

Ralph Nader and this kind of shit philosophy yielded eight years of W/Cheney and more perpetual war. Godammit. In my dumbass state, if only ten percent more minority registered Dems had voted (presumably for Al), what a different world it would be. Gore would have carried AL, our paltry electoral votes would have put him over 270 and the hanging chads wouldn't have mattered. Assuming the results will be counted correctly, there's still time.