Brad Corbett. (NYT. Fort Worth Startlegram.)
Mr. Corbett founded, and made his money with, a plastic pipe manufacturing company. But he’s noteworthy here because he owned the Texas Rangers from 1974 to 1980, part of the Seasons in Hell
Also:
One story about Corbett, recounted in the obit, involves him making a trade with another owner while they were both standing at the urinal in a Fort Worth restaurant. Corbett is also one of the men who fired Billy Martin.
The NYT was running a little behind yesterday, and didn’t post their Charles Durning obit until later in the day. (Also, thanks to Lawrence and Guffaw for their comments yesterday.)
Likewise, the A/V Club is operating on holiday time: they did publish a nice obit for Jack Klugman, but have not gotten around to Charles Durning yet. (Edited to add: the A/V Club’s obit for Durning is up now.)
19 people were killed when one of the buses crashed. 16 of them were teenagers. This is one of those bits of Austin history that I was previously unaware of; I commend the Statesman story (and the sidebar about how horrible the highway bridge was) to your attention.
Having engaged in the annual Christmas “bringing everybody down” with dead people and concussions, I figure folks could use a chuckle:
The true meaning of Christmas is STOP CHASING THE DOG WITH YOUR HELICOPTER
— Popehat (@Popehat) December 25, 2012
(I can honestly say that those words were never said in my house on Christmas. Of course, that’s because my childhood predates cheap R/C helicopters.)
Today’s NYT has a nice retrospective article tied to the playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs 41 years ago today.
The Dolphins won, 27-24. In double overtime. To this day, that game remains the longest game in NFL history.
Continuing with the “Merry freakin’ Christmas” theme, Ryan Freel has passed away.
Freel was apparently a “b—s to the wall” player:
And over the course of his career, he suffered an estimated 10 concussions. He missed 30 games in 2007 because of a concussion after he collided with a teammate.
Freel was 36. According to the NYT obit, law enforcement believes he killed himself. I wanted to mention this as a reminder: people have talked a lot about concussions in football, and to a lesser extent in hockey (they’d probably be talking more about hockey if we actually had a hockey season). I think it is worth keeping in mind that those aren’t the only sports worth worrying about.
Charles Durning, war hero and noted character actor.
They don’t make them like that anymore.
I’m just a little too young to remember “The Odd Couple” well (except for the theme), but “Quincy, M.E.” was right in my wheelhouse for the first several seasons. At some point, I’d like to do a longer post about the “NBC Sunday Mystery Movie” and all the great stuff that came out of it, but for now, let me say that I was an avid Quincy fan when I was a kid; at least, until the series turned into Jack Klugman’s cause of the week.
I did sort of keep up with Klugman after the series went off the air, and was sad when he came down with throat cancer. That’s the sort of thing I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and I can’t imagine what it was like for an actor. Happily, he was able to do some acting after that. (It brings a smile to my face to see that he did a guest stint on “Crossing Jordan”, the “Quincy” of the 2000 era except that it sucked.)
(And I have, but have not watched, the Criterion “12 Angry Men
I previously noted the strange case of Carolyn Barnes, the local lawyer who was accused of shooting at a census worker, found incompetent to stand trial, sent to the state hospital in Kerrville, and yet retains her license to practice law and is representing at least one client.
Yes. Well. There’s an update to the story:
The judge’s position actually kind of makes sense to me:
Meanwhile, the whole issue may become moot, as the Statesman also reports Ms. Barnes is moving closer to being declared competent to stand trial.
Larry L. King, author of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, has passed away at 83.
I was not aware of this, but King is also alleged to have coined the saying, “The only way you can lose this election, Joe, is to get caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman.”
And:
I have been critical of the HouChron in the past, but I have to give them credit for this headline:
(Click to embiggen.)
If only they’d added “Women, minorities hardest hit” as a subhed, it would have been a classic.
Heh. “a beer in a paper bag”. Bunny Colvin, call your office, please.
Black truffles are selling in Paris for around $1,200 a pound.
Some people are obsessive.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single subject.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single movie.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single movie that isn’t f—ing “Star Wars”.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single movie that is currently in legal limbo.
Okay. You’re tired of the joke by now, so let me introduce Sorcerer1977, a blog devoted entirely to the 1977 William Friedkin movie “Sorcerer”.
Friedkin did this right after “The Exorcist”; it wasn’t well received at the time, but it seems that over the years, something of a cult has grown around it. Lawrence and I watched it quite a while back (I think it was so long ago we watched it on VHS). I’m a fan of “The Wages of Fear“, which “Sorcerer” is something of a homage to, and I actually think I prefer Friedkin’s version to Clouzot’s.
I’d love to see it again, but the movie is currently tied up in legal limbo which prevents a proper re-release. Both Paramount and Universal say they don’t own the rights to the movie, and have no idea who does, so Friedkin is suing both studios trying to get the ownership issue cleared up.
Anyway, the guy behind this is seriously obsessive and seems to be trying to cover every aspect of the movie – digging out old interviews with Friedkin and other people involved in the production, discussing the Tangerine Dream soundtrack, etc. etc. etc.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s an awesome goal.
(Hattip: directly, Coudal Partners. Indirectly, Gruber.)
More evidence that the end of the world is coming: Lawrence and I actually disagree on something.
Specifically, what we disagree on is that I don’t think Thai Noodle House is the worst Thai restaurant in Austin. It has been a while since I’ve eaten at Thai Noodle House, but I don’t remember it being as bad as Chang Thai.
…I’ve been a little distracted, but I’m thinking the time has come to pull my favorite Christmas story