Some Memes You May Enjoy

Many a truth is said in jest.

- If you have a dog you know this is true.

- Parenthood

- A rose by any other name

- Heh Heh

Some Memes You May Enjoy

Many a truth is said in jest,

- I want this mug

- Sad but this seems true.

- An oldie but a goodie.

- Cool.

I Want This License PLate

I Want This Mug

Speaking of the Princess Bride

William Goldman

American master William Goldman has passed away at age 87. There was simply none better. His writing touched so many in so many ways.

I have no idea how many times I've personally seen The Princess Bride. It's simply beyond count. To let you know how much my family loved that movie and how much Goldman's writing permeated our lives, whenever I dropped my kids off at school I would say goodbye by saying, "Have fun storming the castle."

Every time.

In his tributes the movies All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid usually get the spotlight.  Mostly because journalists are writing these tributes and obviously All the President's Men is their industry holy grail. And Goldman won an Oscar for Butch Cassidy (as he also did for All the President's Men).

For me, the movie other than Princess Bride from Goldman that has been part of the fabric of my life is Marathon Man. Interestingly enough Goldman wrote both the books and screenplays for those two movies.

In Marathon Man it takes a master to turn an innocent question of "Is it safe?' into an object of terror. Perhaps Dustin Hoffman's best work with an unforgettable performance by Sir Laurence Olivier as the Nazi Christian Szell. Let's not forget excellent supporting performances by Roy Scheider and William Devane.

Pain is one of the main plot devices in both The Princess Bride (the pain machine and the awesome "to the pain" speech) and also obviously in Marathon Man's  "Is it safe?" scene.  Goldman is also well known for the quote, "Life is pain, anyone who says differently is selling something." I like to think this understanding of true pain came from Goldman being a "long-suffering" New York Knicks fan. I think that James Dolan could believably be listed as Goldman's cause of death by an honest coroner.

One last thing - Goldman did not write Lord of the Flies. That was William Golding. Common mistake.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

At this point you have to wonder if fake or make your own magazine covers make up the majority of Time Magazine's revenue... Heh heh... Now would be a good time for President Trump to announce he's moving the Department of Agriculture to Kansas and the Department of Energy to Texas... This thread is worth a read for some historical perspective... If the moon is pulling away from the Earth at the rate of a few centimeters per year - wouldn't it make sense to start the process of colonizing the moon now instead of trying to do the same on Mars? This way when the moon finally breaks free of the Earth's orbit we'll have a fully colonized "planet"... Is it any surprise that Tom Brady was once again named the top player in the NFL 100 as voted by the players? No - no surprise whatsoever... I'm ashamed that I'm just learning about American hero Garlin Murl Conner now. He will be receiving the Medal of Honor on Thursday (it will be presented to his widow). Where do we find such men? Hollywood should make a movie about his heroics...

I'm Sorry

When I saw this picture of Hillary Clinton:

All I could think of was this.

Andre the Giant

Watched the HBO documentary Andre the Giant and I give it two big thumbs up! If you were a WWF fan in the 1980's you knew Andre was the man. If you are a fan of the movie The Princess Bride you got a glimpse of the gentle spirit behind the "brute squad".

If you don't want to take my word for it - the documentary also has a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Andre the Giant

Today would have been Andre the Giant's 70th birthday. He was an incredible human. Here are just a few items to remember Andre by:

- Sports Illustrated has six anecdotes

- Modern Drunkard on the incredible drinking exploits of Andre

- Andre on Hulk Hogan

- Muhammad Ali and Andre compare hand sizes

- Andre the Giant at age 19

- Andre, Wilt Chamberlain and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the set of Conan

- One final reminder of just how huge Andre was

I'm still upset that Andre wasn't even nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Princess Bride.

Donald Trump is the Albino from The Princess Bride

Holy crap! Have you seen this Boing Boing photoshop of what Donald Trump would look like without his "weird orange tan"?

Tell me that doesn't look like the Albino from The Princess Bride but with hair dye and a spray tan!

(The part where the Albino complains when someone mentions his stubby fingers must have been cut from the film.)

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

People keep wondering if Donald Trump would run as a Third-Party candidate but the real question people should be asking is if Bernie Sanders would run as a Third-Party candidate... Why there should be no deal with Iran... Praise the Lord! I've now been stigmata free for over 40-years!... When asked to name their favorite movies people rarely list The Princess Bride but when reminded almost all add the classic to their list...  Interesting look at Notre Dame football... As a reminder of how important air pressure is to the "integrity" of  NFL games - the NFL has yet to issue teams their new pressure gauges... 15 facts about daddy longlegs. Missing is the fact that if you kill one you will cause it to rain... If the ads for Hai Karate cologne were true then I when was young I would have spent all my energy beating off the advances of swarms of women - instead I just beat off. There's no truth in advertising...

ESPN NFL Kickoff Goes All Princess Bride

This is just fantastic! I'm guessing that Willaim Goldman - the writer of The Princess Bride probably got a kick out of it since he's a big sports fan.

EDIT: Trey Wingo and Mark Schlereth give the backstory to how this all came together

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just saying but on day when Tom O'Brien leads NC State to a huge upset over Florida State - Boston College loses to Army. BC should have paid the man when they had the chance... The Princess Bride cast reunites for 25th year anniversary of movie's release...  I know Notre Dame won big against Miami but I still hope they drop in the polls just as retribution for those awful helmets they wore last night...  I love Terry Francona and him taking Indians job shows he'd rather be Teddy Roosevelt's "man in the arena" than a critic on the sidelines at ESPN. Good for him!... It will be very interesting to follow this story. Phil Ivey wins 7.3 million British pounds over 2-nights but casino is refusing to pay... Pop-tarts are a gateway food to diabetes... History nuggets: When Admiral Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manilla in 1898 - he only lost 1 US sailor. To heat-stroke... Apple was just 90-days away from bankruptcy when Steve Jobs returned to company he helped found. When you think of it that way - the story of what Jobs did with Apple is even more incredible...  Terry Francona returns to Fenway Park as the manager of the Indians on May 23rd... Remember Halloween shoppers - Elmo died for your sins... People claim that Barack Obama is not bipartisan but I think him creating jobs only in states with Republican governors disproves that... Always wondered if Pink Floyd song One of These Days was influenced by the theme to Dr. Who or vice versa... I wonder if Curt Schilling is going to try to replace Mark Grace as TV analyst on Diamondbacks games. I'm guessing Schilling could use the money and he was a World Series hero for Arizona... Seriously - do Democrats think David Axelrod is helpful? I can't see him convincing undecided voters of anything except possibly the fact that Axelrod looks like an unsuccessful child molester...

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.