Life of Brian

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A Blog Almost One Tenth As Old As America

Can I Have “70s Movies” For 1,000 Alex?

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

On today’s bill here at the Bogardi Movie Palace is “The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.” This movie was released in early 1975 so I’m not sure where I saw it first. There are a few possibilities, first it could have been in the on-base movie theater in Patuxent River Naval Air Station, either with or without Donna. Or maybe I saw it along with a handful of fellow sailors on the hanger deck on the U.S. Midway. Another possibility is that Donna and I saw it on VHS sitting on our own couch in Millington, TN or Meridian, MS.

Where ever it was, it creeped me the f*ck out. The premise of the movie is, well, in the title. This guy is having very vivid and intense dreams, it feels like he is actually there and in them, but the guy doesn’t look anything like him. In these dreams there are these brief flashes of places, there is a very distinct bridge, a large church and a statue.

Bridge
Church
Statue

The thing is, I actually knew these places. I could picture them in my head, but for the life of me I couldn’t place them in the real world. Was I reincarnated too? I can’t remember exactly when I found out those images were tied to my childhood memories, could be anywhere from the 1980’s to the 2010’s. I also can’t remember how it came up in topic on the Santa Fe to Hammond to Santa Fe road trip with Sally, but I regaled her with my first being creeped out by the movie to my solving the riddle of those images.

In several summers growing up, we kids (Me, sister Diane and brother Paul) would go and stay with our grandmother in Springfield, MA for a week. Every time we went there it was pretty much the same routine. There was one thing planned for each day and after that we to be quiet and play in our bedroom. Three of the day’s events meant we would walk down a couple blocks to downtown, the first day was always to the toy store so we’d have something to play with. One was to the Natural History Museum and then the other, a favorite restaurant, The Waterfall, where we got to have a milkshake.

We drove across that bridge to get to Springfield, that church was right down the street from her apartment and the statue (The Puritan) was at the museum.

Tagged: Movies

Can I Have “70s Movies” For 250 Alex?

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

When I went to catch up on last week’s late-night talk shows I was pleased to see that Friday’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was just a 4-Part interview with Gary Oldman. Stephan traveled to London, Gary’s hometown, to do the interview. I did not realize that Oldman was British, I thought he was just putting it on when doing Slow Horses. On that note, Oldman mentions that he had played so many Americans in movies that he lost his natural English accent and had to resurrect for it for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

I watched the interview a segment at a time on YouTube and it wasn’t until afterward I remembered that if you go to CBS.com you can watch the whole show in one long episode with limited commercials. At one point in the interview Stephan asks Gary what his favorite movie is and his reply was, Francis Ford Coppola’s, The Conversation with Gene Hackman. I thought, wow, I love that movie too. I’ve watched it at least 3 times, but I haven’t seen it in about 25 years. I wondered if it was streaming somewhere.

One of the good things about looking up a movie on IMDB is that they serve up ways to watch what you are looking up. Sure enough, it was available on Prime Video, not for free, even for Prime Members, but you could rent it for $4. Today, I watched this movie from the 70s and all it cost was 250 cents because I had a buck and a half of promotional credit in my account.

Tagged: Movies

Wetlands, Not Wet Man

Monday, March 17, 2025

Bonus Monday Post
I had already done the indoor cycling this morning, so I figured I’d just rest on those laurels, until I noticed a sunny day outside while making my lunch. After eating, I checked what the weather called for and if AccuWeather was correct in their local forecast, the rain in the area wouldn’t materialize until around 3PM.

So around 1:30pm I changed the sweatpants for some grownup adult pants and drove over to City Hall because there is a small park there where I could get onto the trail over to the Salish Ponds. I wanted to start here because the last time I had done this trail walk I stared on the other end. And you know my guiding rule of life, always mix up your route, when possible, it makes it harder for any hitman your enemies may have hired to find you.

The sky was dappled with both blue sky and gray clouds when I set off, but as I walked the blue became harder to find. About a half mile in the sky was all gray and getting a little darker. I continued along. Until the breeze turned from cool to cold, when I remembered that discretion is the better part of valor. I turned around and headed back. Almost back and it started to sprinkle. I was maybe 20 yards away, I could see the car…right about here I could create big drama by telling you that the heavens opened up and I got soaked through in sight of my destination, but the rain held off until I was inside the Miata.

It rained all the way home. After changing back into those sweatpants, I went into the kitchen to make a warm beverage, I looked out the window and the sun was shining brightly.

Tagged: Walking

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Monday, March 17, 2025

Green Go Braugh Edition of SORT
As of Monday, March 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1966 Porsche 356 Replica 1987 Mercedes 240GD 1952 Mercedes 300 D
I did a similar thing last year on Monday the 18th and called it the Erin Go Green Edition. I think I can get a pass on the date, but the phrase “Erin go bragh” roughly translates as “Ireland till doomsday”, so Erin Go Green sort of means Ireland till Green, and if there is any place that doesn’t need to go green is Ireland, it has always been green. I’m hoping that this year’s title of Green Go Braugh can be translated into Green til Doomsday or “Green Forever.”

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sport: 2005 Honda S2000 Sold for USD $36,250 on 3/12/25
Off-Road: 2023 Jeep Wrangler Bid to USD $70,500 on 3/13/25
Touring: 2018 Jaguar XJ Bid to USD $18,500 on 3/12/25

Tagged: Cars, Sport-Off Road-Touring

Quiet Sunday

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Watched a couple of car videos on YouTube, watched an episode of The West Wing and then listened to corresponding podcast episode of The West Wing Weekly and then watched a Red Sox spring training game on MLBTV.

After lunch I headed over near the Troutdale Airport where there are some paved and unpaved trails and took a 3 mile saunter. Now, ripping a bunch of Noir Jazz off of YouTube for listening to in the car when I have to drive somewhere and it’s raining.

After dinner I’ll probably watch an episode or two of something called The Story of Film: An Odyssey. It is fifteen roughly one hour long episodes covering film from all over the world. The first couple on the origins of motion pictures was real interesting, but now it is starting to fracture and my interest is wanning, but it kills some time and it is still interesting in spots.

Tagged: Red Sox Nation, The West Wing, Walking, YouTube

Three To Two

Saturday, March 15, 2025

This morning I owned 3 cars and now it is down to 2. Which in reality makes me a one car family temporarily because their are no seatbelts in Bucky, they are In Transit to Next Facility according to USPS. I can drive it without the radio, but I think I’ll wait for the belts.

Brother-In-Law Scott came down from Everett on the train and I picked him up in Vancouver, Washington. He asked if I preferred Vancouver or Portland to pick him up at, I didn’t have a preference, but I picked Vancouver. Basically because it is not much further than the Portland train station and Vancouver is a lot smaller of a town.

We had a late breakfast or early lunch in Vancouver at the only restaurant I knew in town, Victoria’s Cafe. The only reason I know of it is because I met up with Sally’s daughter Claire and her new beau and his kids about a month ago.

We drove back here, loaded the snow tires in the back of Mini Two, and off it went on its way to its new home in Granite Falls.

Tagged: Mini, Mini Life

Souvenirs

Friday, March 14, 2025

We’re a big fan of postcards around here. I like to send them to people, sometimes unexpectedly, like when I used them to say Thank You for the Christmas cards I received last year. Unfortunately, the mailing of postcards has fallen by the wayside with the advent of cell phones and its companion “social media.”

Santa Fe Sally has been sending some to the last embassy she worked in Bern because they have a wall that is filled with postcards and she likes to add some to that. When she sends them it is not the old-fashioned way, put she puts a bunch in an envelope and mails that. We looked for some along the route of our last road trip. We looked in the places when we had a gas stops but never found any. Nothing in Paris, TX and you’d think we could have found one, what with the Eiffel Tower wearing a Cowboy Hat.

When I went grocery shopping this morning and I had to wander pretty much the whole store because they are remodeling and the aisles are half full and sometimes on different ends of the joint. Dang, I’d never noticed before that Fred Meyer carried souvenirs. Maybe because I never went down where they were. Or perhaps they didn’t before, but with the remodel they’ve added that stuff. Either way, forget gas stops for postcards, grocery stores seem the way to go.

Take a listen of my favorite song about souvenirs, Souvenirs, as sung by Suzy Boggus.

Tagged: Postcards, Whatever
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sturgeon’s law

"Ninety Percent Of Everything Is Crap"
Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, "Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud." Oddly, when Sturgeon's Law is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to 'crap'.

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1) I like these puzzles by Charles Wysocki, 19th c 1) I like these puzzles by Charles Wysocki, 19th century New England, horse drawn carriages, boats, picket fences and American flags. They are fairly easy one day puzzles. That's why I have 10 of them. 2) He must have visited Santa Fe once though...

#jigsaw #jigsawpuzzle #jigsawpuzzlesofinstagram #jigsawpuzzleanonymous #charleswysocki

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