The Saturday Movie Group watched this last night.
It is not a good movie.
It is, however, an enjoyably good bad movie.
I think I will put a jump here to avoid any inadvertent spoilers, though frankly this movie arrived already spoiled…
Brief notes on film: “The Concorde… Airport ’79”
July 28th, 2024Well. That’s interesting. At least to me.
July 28th, 2024I have been blogging for 15 years as of today.
Obit watch: July 25, 2024.
July 25th, 2024Gene Peterson, longtime radio announcer for the Houston Rockets.
Houston Rockets Twitter. Apparently I can’t embed tweets any longer, unless maybe I’m logged in to Twitter? (That would be difficult, as I don’t have a Twitter account.)
(Hattip: Lawrence.)
Quick loser update.
July 25th, 2024The White Sox are on a tear.
They’ve lost 10 games in a row, and are at 27-77 right now, for a .260 winning percentage.
If my math holds up and trends continue, it looks like they will lose 120 games this season, which is in the “historical” range.
Things I didn’t know about until today.
July 24th, 2024But which I find interesting:
1. The Romance Writers of America filed for bankruptcy at the end of May.
2. The RWA convention is in Austin this year. Maybe. According to the article, it was supposed to take place at the end of July, but is now scheduled for October. Except, when I went to the registration page, it doesn’t seem to be allowing registrations.
Edited to add 7/26: conference registration is now open. Dates are October 11th – 13th, and the cost is $349 ($399 if you’re not a member of RWA).
How did they manage to go bankrupt? The way you’d expect: they angered a bunch of their members, who are now ex-members.
I kind of want to keep this post short-ish, so I’m not going into details about how RWA made so many people angry: the linked article discusses the Courtney Milan affair (which I remember reading about as it was unfolding: as much as I hate linking to Wikipedia, that entry fills in some missing details) and the 2021 VIVIAN controversy (I know, two Wiki links in a row, but the primary source link is broken and the other links are to sites I don’t link to, or are not good sources). You can click through if you want more details on those issues: I just find the collapse of RWA interesting, and a little sad. I feel like writers need strong organizations to protect them from predatory publishers and publishing practices, so I’ll be unhappy to see RWA go.
And if RWA goes away, that’s going to reduce my chances to network and sell my gunsmith romance series.
(Also, another year, another Hugo controversy. But I already knew about that, and I don’t have any sites I’m willing to link to. Very short version: someone was trying to buy votes, and did it so clumsily a seven-year-old could have figured it out.)
3. On a happier note, at least for me – because I hate the Olympics – the IOC is threatening to revoke Salt Lake City’s hosting status for the Winter 2034 games.
The IOC seems to be upset that…wait for it…the United States government, specifically Congress and the Department of Justice, are looking into how the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) handled the case of the Chinese swimmers.
But many American athletes say they don’t trust WADA’s procedures and want probes to continue.
“What the athletes think, they want transparency,” said Katie Ledecky, the star U.S. swimmer, who spoke at a separate press conference on Wednesday. “They want further answers to the questions that still remain.”
In a statement, Travis Tygart head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) blasted the IOC for linking the China scandal to Salt Lake City’s bid.
“It is shocking to see the IOC itself stooping to threats in an apparent effort to silence those seeking answers,” Tygart said. “It seems more apparent than ever that WADA violated the rules and needs accountability and reform.”
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I’m excited about this. I hope the IOC pulls the Salt Lake City bid, I hope they have to frantically scramble to find a new host city, I hope they completely fail because nobody wants to host the Olympics because they are a giant money pit with no financial returns, and I hope some folks from the IOC and WADA wind up in prison.
Obit watch: July 24, 2024.
July 24th, 2024John Mayall, massively influential British bluesman. NYT (archived).
Though he played piano, organ, guitar and harmonica and sang lead vocals in his own bands with a high, reedy tenor, Mr. Mayall earned his reputation as “the godfather of British blues” not for his own playing or singing but for recruiting and polishing the talents of one gifted young lead guitarist after another.
In his most fertile period, between 1965 and 1969, those budding stars included Eric Clapton, who left to form the band Cream and eventually became a hugely successful solo artist; Peter Green, who left to found Fleetwood Mac; and Mick Taylor, who was snatched from the Mayall band by the Rolling Stones.
A more complete list of the alumni of Mr. Mayall’s band of that era, known as the Bluesbreakers, reads like a Who’s Who of British pop royalty. The drummer Mick Fleetwood and the bassist John McVie were also founding members of Fleetwood Mac. The bassist Jack Bruce joined Mr. Clapton in Cream. The bassist Andy Fraser was an original member of Free. Aynsley Dunbar would go on to play drums for Frank Zappa, Journey and Jefferson Starship.
As you know, Bob, music – especially music of this period – is outside of my area of competence, so I am going to defer to valued commenter pigpen51 for additional comment on Mr. Mayall and his legacy.
Also outside of my area of competence (Hello, pigpen51! Really, I should give you posting privileges here.): Duke Fakir, of the Four Tops.
His family said in a statement that the cause was heart failure.
“Heart failure,” MacAdoo said in an almost sorrowful tone.
“Heart seizure,” Haere said automatically.
“What’s the difference?”
‘Everyone dies of heart failure.”
–Ross Thomas, Missionary Stew
Lewis H. Lapham, of “Harper’s Magazine” and “Lapham’s Quarterly”.
This might just be me, and I may very well be speaking ill of the dead. But when I see someone described as a “scholarly patrician”, I mentally translate that to: someone who thinks they are better and smarter than you are, therefore they know better than you how to run your life, and believe the government should enforce their point of view on you.
Finally, one I’ve been holding for a couple of days and want to get in: Robert L. Allen, “writer, activist and academic”. I knew of Mr. Allen because he wrote the book on “The Port Chicago Mutiny“, which was proceeded by the Port Chicago explosion.
There were a large number of black soldiers stationed at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine, loading and unloading ammunition. Safety procedures may not have been what they should have been. On July 17, 1944, the E.A. Bryan exploded during the loading process. It was a massive explosion which destroyed everything within 1,000 feet, including another ship. 320 people died, many of them black sailors.
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Interestingly, Mr. Allen’s death apparently prompted the Navy to exonerate all the sailors last week.
I haven’t read Mr. Allen’s book, though I kind of want to. I know about the book and the incident from a long piece John Marr wrote in the late and very much missed “Murder Can Be Fun” zine (issue #11).
Brief programming note.
July 22nd, 2024For the benefit of those who might want to watch it, it looks like the Bob Newhart tribute special will be airing at 8 PM Eastern, 7 PM Central, tonight. This is per the online CBS schedule.
Sunday is my gun book day…
July 21st, 2024…and given the breaking news today, I suspect it’s going to be a manic Monday. (Also, I have to go to the eye doctor tomorrow.) So how about a little distraction?
Obit watch: July 21, 2024.
July 21st, 2024Sheila Jackson Lee (D – Houston). Fox 26 Houston. McThag.
Whitney Rydbeck, actor. Other credits include “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island”, “Battle Beyond the Stars”, “Switch”, and one of the spin-offs of a minor SF TV series from the 1960s.
Firings watch.
July 19th, 2024Blake Anderson was fired as football coach of Utah State yesterday.
Their season starts August 31st. Should be interesting to see who they find to coach.
The reason?
There’s a second day story that gives more specifics. Apparently, Coach Anderson decided he was going to play Perry Mason (or was it Paul Drake):
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Coach Anderson, of course, says the university was out to get him, the charges are unfounded, and he did nothing wrong or in violation of policy.
Revisionist history watch.
July 19th, 2024“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” Jill Cook, the director of retail business development at Sanrio, the creators of the iconic cartoon, told Today. “She’s actually a little girl.”
In fact, she’s a tiny girl — who “weighs three apples” and stands five apples tall — raised in the London suburbs with her twin sister Mimmy, their parents and even her own pet cat.
Obit watch: July 19, 2024.
July 19th, 2024Bob Newhart. THR. Tributes. Appreciation. Variety.
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What do you think happens on the other side?
God has an incredible sense of humor, an unimaginable sense of humor. Just look around.
I’ve had this discussion – God is a punster and has a sense of humor – with people at my church, too. I think it it worth noting that he was a faithful Catholic, and was married to the same woman for 60 years. (Ginny Newhart passed away in 2023.)
One of the less-reputable over the air networks used to run “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart” back to back in the afternoons, and I’d have both on while I worked. I think “TBNS” is just about perfect as a show, but, oddly, I didn’t like “Newhart” so much. I do remember watching and enjoying it first run, but not so much as an adult. My dislike for it now is mostly because I felt the show shifted focus away from Dick to Michael and Stephanie, and I really didn’t like those two characters. But when Bob was dominating the screen, it was a pretty good show.
It turns out one of my favorite “Newhart” episodes is available on the ‘Tube (until someone files a copyright strike): “Dick the Kid”, season 5, episode 3.
Dick has a case of writer’s block, so he goes off to work as a cowboy on a ranch. The comic element of this episode isn’t Dick’s ineptitude as a cowboy. Just the opposite: he’s so good at being a cowboy, he wins the respect of everyone. Even the toughest most macho of the cowboys breaks down when Dick goes back to the inn.
The world is a lesser place today.
Edited to add: per THR, CBS will be airing a tribute to Bob Newhart on July 22nd, but I don’t have a specific time yet.
Cheng Pei-pei, Chinese actress. IMDB.
Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnamese Communist leader.