tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post2327907147748801794..comments2024-03-28T14:07:21.692-07:00Comments on Diary of a Fat Slob: What's Up, Doc? and six more moviesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-32835965194015273742023-02-09T05:12:18.634-08:002023-02-09T05:12:18.634-08:00Someone once told me joining Toastmasters would he...Someone once told me joining Toastmasters would help me overcome my introversion, and I considered it. That must've been in my 40s, and I figured by then it was too late for overcoming, and an introvert was who I was, and I didn't want to overcome who I was.<br /><br />My skin's comfy.<br /><br />But that's just me, of course. You joined as a self-improvement strategy, and it Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-61090045894674000802023-02-09T00:39:16.681-08:002023-02-09T00:39:16.681-08:00I belonged to a Toastmasters club in my 20s, then ...I belonged to a Toastmasters club in my 20s, then again in my 30s. I participated in a Toastmasters speech contest in Reno in front of an audience of about 400. There were eight or nine speakers and we were all backstage in a green room with a full bathroom at our disposal. I went in to piss for the third or fourth time and two of the contestants were in stalls vomiting and a third was recoveringjohnthebasketnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-143814531561284572023-02-08T16:05:55.671-08:002023-02-08T16:05:55.671-08:00I remember the day LBJ announced he wasn't a c...I remember the day LBJ announced he wasn't a candidate. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published an "Extra" edition headlined LBJ WON'T RUN. <br /><br />"Exry extry, read all about it!"<br /><br />That's the first and only "extra" edition of a newspaper I've ever seen, outside of the movies.<br /><br />As always, you are a fountainhead of good info. <Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-29858051766990790902023-02-08T11:33:54.811-08:002023-02-08T11:33:54.811-08:00Just a note on the 60s. Kennedy grew into the job,...Just a note on the 60s. Kennedy grew into the job, which surprised just about everyone who knew him. Nixon grew out of the job, which surprised almost no one. Johnson occupied the job like an army that won't leave. In the end, like Nixon, Johnson was fired.<br /><br />Johnjohnthebasketnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-7848557566725433932023-02-08T11:26:43.220-08:002023-02-08T11:26:43.220-08:00Nixon had a half dozen speechwriters on staff at a...Nixon had a half dozen speechwriters on staff at any time, most notably Ray Price and Ben Stein with help from Pat Buchanon. Nixon's addresses to the nation were written iteratively by this team with notes from Nixon. The speeches, to my knowledge, were not tested as speeches sometimes are today. <br /><br />Surprisingly, Nixon preferred to speak from notes rather than from text, and in his johnthebasketnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-1210023141754860632023-02-08T06:50:28.485-08:002023-02-08T06:50:28.485-08:00This movie exists! Wow. I'm pretty sure it was...This movie exists! Wow. I'm pretty sure it was a gag in Schwarzenegger's LAST ACTION HERO, but either I wasn't aware of a real HAMLET 2 or I've blocked its existence from my consciousness.<br /><br />Goes on the list, mos def, thanks.Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-13502039295922109602023-02-08T06:44:33.244-08:002023-02-08T06:44:33.244-08:00For a bit, the "coming in April" had me ...For a bit, the "coming in April" had me thinking I'd have to be patient, but this movie opened *last* April. I am so disconnected from present day pop culture.<br /><br />APOLLO 10½ is now near the top of my list. Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-79570130942760167832023-02-08T06:42:04.151-08:002023-02-08T06:42:04.151-08:00What a wonderfully simpler and more honest time. N...What a wonderfully simpler and more honest time. Never have I ever heard of such a thing. Was that level of (something akin to) honesty a Kennedy thing, or an artifact of the time?<br /><br />I cannot imagine Nixon's speechwriting process was in any way similar, but perhaps Humphrey's or McGovern's, or another Democrat of some integrity...Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-48887826906284594052023-02-07T19:51:01.822-08:002023-02-07T19:51:01.822-08:00May I suggest Hamlet 2 starring Steve Coogan? I wi...May I suggest Hamlet 2 starring Steve Coogan? I wish the featurette on the making of the film was available with the movie, since it's hilarious to hear the writers discuss how they were trying to imagine what would be the worst idea for a play and then a school play and they decided on the follow-up to Hamlet, since everyone in Hamlet -- spoiler alert -- dies. I still chuckle at the crap Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-25521365311552808382023-02-07T18:44:59.449-08:002023-02-07T18:44:59.449-08:00APOLLO 10½ is the best thing Linklater's made ...APOLLO 10½ is the best thing Linklater's made since Scanner Darkly. I know you hated Everybody Wants Some, but APOLLO 10½ is so great, highest recommendation. As usual, the trailer sells it short. It *is* utterly charming, but man, it is so much more too. Laugh out loud funny, some of the deepest nostalgia I've seen conveyed in film, and a profoundly melancholy sense of loss. It's Claude Reignsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-32290708277936235482023-02-07T18:37:05.060-08:002023-02-07T18:37:05.060-08:00The Berlin speech was first drafted by Ted Sorense...The Berlin speech was first drafted by Ted Sorensen, who drafted all of Kennedy's speeches from notes made by Kennedy himself. It was rewritten by Sorensen from notes from Kennedy and Sorensen's own ideas. It was polished by Sorensen with final edit from Kennedy.<br /><br />All of Kennedy's major speeches were created this way, including his memorable Civil Rights speech, a speech Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-50995251147254968782023-02-07T17:23:19.624-08:002023-02-07T17:23:19.624-08:00APOLLO 10½ looks delightful.APOLLO 10½ looks delightful.Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-74783250097535217402023-02-07T17:22:34.098-08:002023-02-07T17:22:34.098-08:00Less Pessimistically, FOR ALL MANKIND 1989 was the...Less Pessimistically, FOR ALL MANKIND 1989 was the first last and only movie I took my pop to see, and yeah, I loved it too. He was way into aerospace, worked on the Saturn 5 project, and I thought he'd dig the movie. Saw it at the Neptune. He liked it, I loved it.Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-79107241643023569632023-02-07T17:15:50.908-08:002023-02-07T17:15:50.908-08:00The moonshot speech I've heard more than the B...The moonshot speech I've heard more than the Berlin speech. It is rousing, and I don't want to be Mr Cynical today, but I don't think it was about science and "Because it's there" so much as it was about kicking the Ruskies' ass. <br /><br />Man, I used to dream about space exploration, not even doing it myself but just reading about it. Now I wonder if it's evenDoug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-82072863045850109592023-02-07T17:10:46.949-08:002023-02-07T17:10:46.949-08:00Maybe it's because of my youth and lack of exp...Maybe it's because of my youth and lack of exposure to the living Kennedy, but I hear almost any political speech, including Kennedy in Berlin, and assume it was written and tweaked by cynical bastards who might or might not care about what the words mean, but definitely care about how the words play.<br /><br />That said, as a political speech it's quite good.Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-33665846129345522482023-02-07T17:03:37.734-08:002023-02-07T17:03:37.734-08:00Good double feature with this:
https://youtu.be/D...Good double feature with this:<br /><br />https://youtu.be/Dzuz5s_Qk-AClaude Reignsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-69790995763396640872023-02-07T16:45:33.625-08:002023-02-07T16:45:33.625-08:00Kennedy's "We choose to go to the moon&qu...Kennedy's "We choose to go to the moon" speech always moves me as well, especially its placement at the beginning of my all time favorite documentary, For All Mankind.<br /><br />https://youtu.be/JD2W4CZbH9UConspiracy Reignsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-73027343913361010442023-02-07T16:33:10.799-08:002023-02-07T16:33:10.799-08:00Yeah, ten years between us, and a pretty big ten. ...Yeah, ten years between us, and a pretty big ten. I was in 8th grade science class, taught by Miss Clark. She told us the President had been shot and that he wasn't likely to survive. School let out at noon that day, and I went home and turned on the TV. Walter Cronkite told me everything I needed to know. We had rules about how much the TV was on, but my mom came in the living room and said,johnthebasketnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-72723219145516193542023-02-07T16:21:11.514-08:002023-02-07T16:21:11.514-08:00Burt Lancaster played Curtis LeMay, I assumed. Hav...Burt Lancaster played Curtis LeMay, I assumed. Having never read the book, Ms Gardner seemed the weak link in the movie.<br /><br />That Kennedy infonugget is a head spinner, wow.<br /><br />Kennedy was enough before my time that I don't remember him, not even the assassination. Still found him intriguing for many years, and paid some attention to all the winds of conspiracy around his Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-19944055933516593962023-02-07T16:15:49.244-08:002023-02-07T16:15:49.244-08:00I wrote it from memory, but then looked it up. I w...I wrote it from memory, but then looked it up. I was pretty close (Groucho has a rhythm -- it's almost like remembering a poem) but I made half a dozen corrections. With Groucho, every word and syllable counts, and getting it right is like a Christian quoting from a gospel. Hearing Groucho is like going to church.<br /><br />Johnjohnthebasketnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-56755840054548245142023-02-07T16:14:52.052-08:002023-02-07T16:14:52.052-08:00I was crazy for BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, less so for ...I was crazy for BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, less so for ADAPTATION, and HER and WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE are on my list but I haven't seen either yet. <br /><br />Dude has some talent.<br /><br />The other guy, Jones, had some talent too, and that video is funny. <br /><br />My Grandma Holland had a lot of 78s, and I played every single one of them I think. Definitely some Jones in there. Der Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-88693476035509522932023-02-07T15:59:02.624-08:002023-02-07T15:59:02.624-08:00I watched it about a week ago, it's hilarious ...I watched it about a week ago, it's hilarious of course, and I remember about half those lines. Did you pull that whole collection out of memory? Pretty good memory, if so.<br /><br />Mostly I remember the song. So sweet.Doug Hollandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-50658215352934739922023-02-07T14:36:14.351-08:002023-02-07T14:36:14.351-08:00Dad's brother owned an early TV store and repa...Dad's brother owned an early TV store and repair shop. He also sold some early sound equipment. So Dad got significant discounts on that stuff. We had an early b/w t/v and an early stereo console/radio. Dad always played his old 78s on the turntable. I learned something about the music of the 30s and 40s, and even the 50s. Spike Jones and His City Slickers was a regular on the turntable. &johnthebasketnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-5662234759144252572023-02-07T13:38:20.843-08:002023-02-07T13:38:20.843-08:00When I was about 20, so 1993-ish, I asked for, and...When I was about 20, so 1993-ish, I asked for, and got, from my parents for Christmas, a Spike Jones anthologu CD. It was good. Captain Hampocketshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11849547698251622931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811987615829975890.post-42888755841901491042023-02-07T13:34:21.469-08:002023-02-07T13:34:21.469-08:00I concurI concurBeing Claude Reignsnoreply@blogger.com