After Six Decades, It’s Finally Time for Us to Call Mr. Clean Daddy
No other figure can speak to a 2020 in quarantine quite like the buff, well-groomed, sexually ambiguous cleaning mascot
Mr. Clean, your time has come.
This is going to be a long haul, isn’t it? We do have sports as a diversion, though:
So tense.
Baud
Without Mr. Clean, we wouldn’t have Patrick Stewart. Discuss.
MobiusKlein
@Baud: Without Yul Brenner, we would not have Mr Clean. OR Sir Patrick Stewart.
Baud
@MobiusKlein:
Yul was awesome
trollhattan
@Baud:
Never more than in his antismoking ads while dying from lung cancer. Yul was one of a kind.
Immanentize
@MobiusKlein: Without Mr. Clean, the King would have no I.
PS, In Europe, Mr. Clean was called “Mr. Proper.” I like that!
oldster
The other day one of you (Anne?) posted a link to an Italian cat named Gigi who is an incredible soccer goalie. I have been sending that around to much applause.
Thanks for the light-hearted content! Keeps us all sane (where sane includes, not leching after fictional cartoon characters from product ads).
WereBear
I don’t have all that much free time. Moving second cat book from draft to structure stage. Keeping up with posts to help people suddenly living with their cats 24/7. Getting the recording setup for a Youtube channel about cats.
Running all the errands since both of us are vulnerable for various reasons, but he is more so.
However, one crisis has resolved: the long-delayed Cat Treats shipment arrived yesterday afternoon! There was great rejoicing.
Yes, of course we tried new and different treats. How do you think that went over?
JMG
My golf whiffle balls arrived today, plus four bottles of hand sanitizer. When the ground drys out in a week or two, I can at least hit balls towards the screen porch that will serve as an impromptu net.
joel hanes
@WereBear:
How do you think that went over?
Some kinds were preferred, some kinds less favored.
Perhaps some kinds were spurned.
Sab
I am an introvert. I LOVE social isolation.
Can somone connected to the Biden campaign tell them that campaign literature needs to be sculpted so it can hang on doorknobs.
Liz Warren went halfway there with postits, but they weren’t sticky enough for midwestern winds.
I absolutely hate seeing campaign literature I sloggingly delivered blow down the street as trash.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m working on publicity docs for THE WYSMAN. I think it’s worth mentioning that the MC has a crooked foot and uses a crutch because there aren’t enough books about disabled characters. But man, it’s hard to do it in a way that doesn’t sound crass.
Brachiator
@MobiusKlein:
Or Kojak.
Who loves ya, baby…
mrmoshpotato
@JMG: Neighbors: JMG’s losing it. He turned his porch into a driving range.
WereBear
@joel hanes: Good try, but NONE were preferred, NONE were an upgrade, one got a kind of grudging acceptance from two of the cats, and one kind was turned into pucks for cat hockey.
Sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You will figure it out.
I have been rereading Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dutton. I love when Lymond meets Christian Stewart and discusses her blindness.
khead
@MobiusKlein:
Take the rest of the day off to collect your internets.
pat
Finally getting my rear in gear for vacuuming and damp mopping.
Next, deal with the mountain of junk mail on my table. Most goes directly into the recycling.
Then, when it finally warms up again, pick up sticks in the lawn.
Quick trip to the grocery store tomorrow, early when it opens after a night of cleaning and disinfecting. I wonder how much longer this can go on. Our city and county have very few cases, thank goodness.
Back to the vacuum cleaner. The cat is anxiously listening and wondering when it will come after him…
Josie
@MobiusKlein:
I had a tremendous crush on Yul Brenner in my younger years.
Baud
@pat:
Juicerfied.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Sab:
I have to get around to reading the Lymond books. There’s so much love for them here.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@pat:
We cleaned today too. The most exciting activity of the week so far.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: The best part of 10 commandments. He was hawt.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Agreed. I was rooting for him to win.
Elizabelle
Speaking of crushes on the virile bald: I have a major one on Lance Reddick. Plays Chief Irving in the Bosch Amazon series. Was a medical examiner in early Law & Order SVU episodes.
Plays piano splendidly; unusual enunciation. The Irving character was often a total dick in the Michael Connelly novels, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him refashioned into a heroic and powerful and even more complicated role in the series. Plus: now an African American. Great casting.
Amazon’s Bosch, Season Six, starts up this week. I think the 17th??
Elizabelle
It’s Cuomo O’Clock. Just started.
catclub
@Brachiator: Also the kola nut and Unkola nut guy. I think he and Mr Clean both had earrings
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@WereBear: Umm, guessing they played soccer with the replacement treats then made their displeasure LOUDly known. Ask me how I know…
Elizabelle
@catclub: And his voice! Used to know his name …
Booger
@Elizabelle: Also in The Wire as Cedric Daniels.
Sure Lurkalot
Grocery trip this morning…decent stock except for paper and disinfecting products. Funny, no TP but lots of toilet bowl cleaner. One would think the more you need one, the more the other.
While I’m glad that’s done for 10 days or so, who knows what can happen whenever you venture out. I used to love grocery shops and specialty food stores…now I go to one as quickly as possible and freak out about every damn package.
Dahlia
We need more Olive and Mabel clips. Please see to it, Mr. Cotter.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Elizabelle: Never started Bosch but am looking for a new police procedural or period drama to stream, is it worth it? Need something to get my mind off work and the world. Thank you!
Josie
@Elizabelle:
Yes. Wasn’t he in The Wire?
ETA: I see Booger already answered my question.
joel hanes
@WereBear:
Like some people, cats tend to prefer the familiar, and love routine.
Elizabelle
@Josie: I hear he was. Have never seen that show — it goes on the watchlist. Think it’s on Amazon Prime … Thanks for the reminder.
WereBear
@Booger: I fondly remember the scene where he answered the phone in his boxers. Fan service!
Sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You have to read them twice.
First time through you have no idea who anyone is. Scottish aristocrats have three names- given name, place name, title. Writer was a Scot so she apparently didn’t realize how hard this was for the rest of us.
Also, she never wrote anything from the main guy’s point of view, so nobody, including the author, has any idea what his motivation is until about book five. It is really interesting because he is so interesting. We don’t even know how old he is.
WereBear
@joel hanes: Oh, yes. But we all must make adjustments, I tell them.
In the meantime, Sir Tristan gets a bit more of my deli, like sharp cheddar and roast beef. :)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
One thing that always bugged me about about Stewart’s Picard character was his British accent when he was supposed to be French. Why didn’t they just change the character’s background?
It’s a minor nitpick, and honestly TNG was good enough as well as Stewart’s acting that I was willing to overlook it, but it still bugged me a bit
Josie
@Elizabelle:
It’s a bit rough for some people, but it is one of my all time favorites.
Jersey Tomato
@Elizabelle: You’re probably thinking of Geoffrey Holder.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I assumed England conquered France in the Star Trek universe.
Elizabelle
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: I love it. And I have enjoyed every one of Michael Connelly’s detective novels, even the non-Bosch ones.
Connelly ages his detective in real time, and each book has a social/policing issue at center. Connelly was formerly a reporter with the LA Times.
The series uses maybe two novels as the basis for each season, and mixes them up. They use the characters and plots differently; introduce new ones as well. So it’s suspenseful (and updated) even for Connelly’s readers.
Los Angeles itself is a major character; series is filmed there. Some of the cinematography is spectacular. There is such beauty in with the grit.
I liked it a lot. Let me know what you think.
Elizabelle
@Jersey Tomato: Yes. He even had a beautiful name. RIP.
schrodingers_cat
I am on a cooking spree. Brisket is in the slow cooker. And two sheet pans of sausage, apple bake with veggies. Yesterday I made chili oil, chole, red cabbage. I also roasted eggplants and plantains.
Made yogurt smoothie with strawberries, lassi with mint and ginger, roasted tomato, jalapeno salsa, tamarind chutney, mint chutney, cilantro-chili-ginger-coconut chutney (this has texture like a pesto). Also pickled cranberries that were in the crisper, Indian style, i.e. in oil and spices.
Tonight black chana (tiny chickpeas), sprouted mung and potato filling for samosas. Tomorrow I will make karanjis and samosas.
Keith P
@Baud: Or every balding male in 2020, particularly those who like watching MMA.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Me too. Moses was such a pill.
* In the movie, not trying to hurt religious sentiments here.
leeleeFL
@Josie: Oh, moi aussi! Saw him in a film about the Hungarian Revolution and just melted all over. And Taras Bulba! I hardly realized Tony Curtis was in it!
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Elizabelle: Thanks! sounds like something I will enjoy, though I will save the books for after I watch. Both because that always seems to work better for me and because reading seems to take too much concentration these days. Probably I need to get new glasses, again.
Sab
@WereBear: Badly? Trust betrayed?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Heh in many Hollywood movies especially the older ones, Nazis too have British accents.
schrodingers_cat
@WereBear: Can you share the how-to for the recording set up? Thanks. Also the software you are planning to use.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@schrodingers_cat: Oh my , it all sounds so delicious that I am hungry again. And I just had lunch.
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I blame it on a faulty Universal Translator. ;)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
That’s a decent head-canon. I know there was some EU analogue in ST’s 21st and 22nd centuries. Plus, ST’s Earth seems to be very culturally homogeneous
Cheryl from Maryland
@catclub: That would be the late, great Geoffrey Holder.
Roger Moore
@pat:
Please remain fully clothed for the mopping.
WereBear
@Sab:
Exactly. It must be because we don’t love them any more.
JCJ
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Many years ago I spent a week in a Karen village in Thailand on the border with Myanmar. They took me to a bigger village where they had a school. The woman in charge was originally from Yangon (Rangoon). She spoke English with a British accent. I always figured Jean-Luc had learned English at a young age from a Brit. When I used to speak German regularly my accent was identifiable as northern German (Hamburg – where I spent a year of college) other than a few words I would stumble over which betrayed my American roots.
Elizabelle
Cuomo repeating over and over “there’s no one to blame” WRT lack of testing and ventilators.
Yes there is. But Cuomo’s not out to tick off the ridiculous Trump on this point, today.
Maybe he figures Nancy Pelosi’s letter was enough “incoming” for one day.
delk
Anybody else need a haircut?
frosty
We’re still on my post-retirement road trip. Our travel plans blew up at the beginning of April when all the National Parks we were planning to visit closed down. We talked about what to do and decided we weren’t ready to turn around yet, and that we could keep ourselves safe, so we’re still on the road.
Arizona is the only southwestern state that didn’t close the state parks (about as progressive as Mississippi) so we’ve been to 4 of them and we have reservations at 3 more until May 2. Then we’ll see what Calif and Utah are doing and re-evaluate.
We’re not having a problem with physical isolation – in fact it’s probably better for us since we can hitch up and change the scenery every week or so.
B-J is a lifeline for reducing the social isolation. Thanks everyone!
WereBear
@schrodingers_cat: I will assemble it from Mr WereBear, our recording engineer, and share with you then. I’m still learning the tech from him.
Sab
@Sure Lurkalot: I love the two week watch after every grocery trip.
My spouse’s hygiene ideas are idiotic. Dump it on the unwashed floor, spray it with peroxcide then put it in the freezer.
Clue to guy: Freezer preserves germs instead of killing them. Kitchen floor is dirty. Corona virus isn’t the only germ out there.
Elizabelle
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: That would totally work. You could compare the books against the series.
And: they’re audiobooks now. Some read by the lead actor, and with tie-ins and features. Easily available in libraries. I hope you like them!
scav
@Baud: Or he just grew up learning British English. As my consumption of BBC (radio & well, basically Dr Who) accelerated, I noticed my word choice changing — although as I’m an old dog, the vowels firmly stayed put, alas. (or not as they’d likely have been an incoherent mishmash of geographies.)
karen marie
@Elizabelle: I am so dim — hahaha — I never connected the name of the TV show with Connelly’s novels. Yeah, well, I’m slow on the uptake. But I also have developed something of a revulsion for “cop shows,” because I think their proliferation has contributed to altogether too much “tough guy” acting out by the general public either in terms of their own behavior or their expectations of what the world is really like. I did enjoy the several Bosch novels I’ve read so I may well begin watching the series, if I keep Netflix long enough.
Sab
@delk: LOL!!
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
Honestly, Moses in the Bible was a whiny git. The only person who whined more than he did was God.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
As do Romans in many Hollywood films.
prostratedragon
@Elizabelle: [Whoops, already done I see.] Also Cedric Daniels in The Wire. Hearing a lot about Bosch in various places, will check it out soon.
The uncola man was Geoffrey Holder, also a dancer.
Uncle Cosmo
Bozhemoi! Obviously you haven’t served your apprenticeship in reading Russian novels. Given name, patronymic, given name plus patronymic, last name, handful of nicknames based on given name. (Pavel; Pavlovich; Pavel Pavlovich; Antipov; Pasha etc.) And then the aliases – as the armored train roars by, the Red Guards raise fists to the sky: “STRELNIKOV!”
Amir Khalid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
There’s an episode where Picard visits the family vineyard in France. His brother, sister-in-law, and nephew all had English accents (and were played by English actors) so at least Star Trek:TNG was consistent with that weirdness.
Sab
@WereBear: I have been spending whole days in bed with my favorite. He’s happy. The other four guys are on their own.
L85NJGT
Elizabelle
I love how Andrew Cuomo spells out the behavior he expects.
Speaking on the wearing of masks now. If you’re in a park long ways off, don’t need to have the mask on, but have it with you. If you come to an intersection or other people: the mask goes on.
“You do not have the right to infect me.”
He does have to spell that out. As we know, from our interactions with friends’ wingnut friends on Facebook. Cannot assume anyone “gets it.” Spell it out.
Sab
@Uncle Cosmo: I love Tolstoy. Been there, done that. Something about the latitude? Then why are Canadian novels not so opaque?
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: We had these wonderful young teen neighbors, American born and raised in Germany. Dad from Texas.
They spoke with English accents for their first months back in Virginia. Because it’s how their teachers spoke. And they were both about 18 months ahead of their age/grade cohort WRT educational achievement. In Fairfax County, one of the wealthiest and best achieving counties in the US.
catpal
For both helping USPS and Pet Rescue groups – one of my local Cat Rescue groups has a need for Postage Stamps on its Urgent Needs Donate list. So I will purchase some stamps and send them with a donation.
I saw article in the Guardian about NYC Cat Rescue Flatbush Cats
and Little Wanderers Little Wanderers
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: One of our life highlights was seeing him on Broadway in the final run of The King and I.
Elizabelle
WRT Cuomo’s mask order: Trump will be an example of what not to do. No social distancing among the government officials at his shitshow press conferences.
The press takes it way more seriously. One of the young males in the back row spoke through his mask on Monday (at the cray cray presser, wherein Trump declared his authoritah over all).
mrmoshpotato
@schrodingers_cat:
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: I saw Mr. Brynner when the show travelled to DC. The Warner Theater.
He was marvelous.
pat
@Roger Moore:
Do not worry.
Elizabelle
Cuomo discussing how state law supersedes local. WRT masks. He’s good as long as the local laws don’t conflict. If a conflict, the state law governs.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Brachiator:
Hah! For all it’s faults the first and second seasons could be very funny. I remember Picard being really pissy at Data for saying French was a dead language. To me, that could suggest that English has become the Global Standard. Then again, I doubt all of the other races in the Federation are always speaking English. Kinda wish 90s Trek would’ve delved into that just a little bit
pat
@delk:
I’ve been thinking of hubby’s beard trimmer….. Would just run it over my head. It will all grow back…
Betty Cracker
@WereBear:
Seriously, people have a problem with that? I could see the cats silently objecting…
Sab
@delk: We are supposed to use scrunchies for our masks. soon we will be desparate for our hair.
Fortunately I decided to grow my bangs out this year. My efforts at trimming them were always sad.
My spouse respects my domestic skills. I can cook. I can clean. I can sew.
Listening to him discussing my potential haircutting with his brother was humbling. ” Yeah she’s a great cook. But have you ever seen her bangs?” I saw a clip on you tube that I could follow, but I get no respect.
Amir Khalid
Fun fact: Yul Brynner’s wife was Malaysian.
Gin & Tonic
@pat: I’ve been thinking about how to handle the hair situation, as I have a lot. Got it cut shortly before the shit hit the fan, but by the time I can see someone to cut it again, they will need industrial landscaping tools to get through it.
mrmoshpotato
@Sab: Rodney? Is that your ghost?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I remember Yul Brynner’s anti-smoking ads, aired just before or right after he died of lung cancer. Didn’t take on my dumb teenage ass, but I quit ten years later.
Sab
Wasn’t Yul Bryner Siberian before he was American?
Betty Cracker
@delk: Worse than that — I need a new prescription for my glasses. I had already put it off for months in the Before Time and am now squinting and cursing at fine print.
Elizabelle
Now Cuomo is getting asked about “mask shaming.” For those who forget theirs
Obvious answer is, carry it with you. He is very patient.
pat
@Gin & Tonic:
I get mine cut short every 4-5 weeks. When it grows out it is awful.
I first had my hair cut short in Rome in 1973. Wonderful!
Had gone through the pink curlers etc in high school. Never looked back.
Back to the vacuuming… Coming for the cat now.
Sab
@Amir Khalid: Not for long, but she was beautiful.
mrmoshpotato
@pat: MO-HAWK! MO-HAWK! :)
Sab
@Elizabelle: Last week we were getting mask shamed for wearing them. Like we had cooties. People are weird. Dogs had no problem. They just don’t like sunglasses.
Immanentize
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): @JCJ:
I think I just heard Stewart talk bout the French accent thing. I guess when he screen tested, he first tried it with his French accent, then as an American then a British accent (which is also not entirely his native accent). And they thought the Brit one worked best for the character and his command style.
Also, he does not drink “Earl grey, black” in real life. He drinks Yorkshire Gold.
Sab
@pat: “Vaccuuming. Coming for the cat now” LOL!
Don’t let Wearbear hear.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
MO-HAWK. For when just HAWK won’t do.
Immanentize
@schrodingers_cat: @mrmoshpotato:
Damn, the last time we started taking brisket, I had to make a corned beef. I still have half a point in the freezer…. This time, it’s gonna be slow cooked shredded taco meat with poblanos o have frozen from last summer. Mmmmmm.
Roger Moore
@Immanentize:
That’s “Tea, Earl Grey, hot”.
Uncle Cosmo
Somthing about the friggin’ language. Who the fuck else in the risible universe gets stuck with Dad’s given name for a middle name?
SiubhanDuinne
@Josie: Oh,
Moses, Moses,Pharaoh, Pharaoh, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!satby
@Elizabelle: ROTFLMAO
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize: The horror! :)
Immanentize
@Roger Moore: Yes it is! I can’t believe I miffed that one
Fun fact, back in the 80s when I lived in Miami, I bought some cool Bodum glasses that matched my modern Bodum French press. I say “modern” because instead of the cool chrome of the original presses, this one has a black plastic base, handle and too. Anyhoo, the cups ended up being the ones they used in STNG for that very cup of tea. My wife always requested I use them when she wanted “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot”
bemused
I’m kind of a hermit so I haven’t lost my shit in social isolation. It’s a lot less stressful than having to go out for supplies watching out for people who don’t know how to measure at least 6 ft social distance or just don’t give a damn.
mrmoshpotato
Stay home. Save lives. It’s fucking cold as hell outside.
MattF
Via JC. Stacy Abrams isn’t being coy about the VP nomination. I’m a little surprised, but pleased to see it.
mrmoshpotato
Taneytown Police remind residents to wear pants while checking mailbox
Baaaaaauuuuuuud!
Haroldo
And don’t forget Hawk (Avery Brooks) in Spenser for Hire.
And The Duke (Issac Hayes) in Escape from New York.
yellowdog
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: You haven’t lived until you’ve seenhim dance a bare-chested polka to ‘Shall we Dance’ with Deborah Kerr in The King and I.
Sab
I have a Wild Republic mountain goat standing on my mountain of laundry. My granddaughter confiscated my Wild Republic Costa Rican tree frog. Yet they have not produced a single jackal. What is wrong with them?
mrmoshpotato
@yellowdog: LOL
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
We don’t spend that much time on Earth or even outside the Federation headquarters. DS9 spends time at Sisko’s father’s restaurant.
Anyway, English could be Star Fleet standard. This doesn’t say what might be happening for the civilian population.
Of course, now that we see what is happening with Google translate, I would expect some super snazzy version to be available to everyone in the future.
What was happening on future Earth was more referred to than explored.
I’ve pretty much enjoyed “Star Trek: Picard,” but I get the impression that the writers don’t much care for SF or know how to write it well. A small thing for me. One of the characters makes a big deal about how foreign space is, and apparently has never been off planet. I find this somewhat implausible, especially for someone who is a scientist. Surely, there must have been conferences on other planets.
But I could also see that there might be some people who were stubbornly Earthbound. But they might be exceptions, and perceived to be somewhat strange and backwards. Like the Amish.
So, for me the writers sometimes slipped and showed that they were thinking like contemporary people for whom space and the future is exotic.
prostratedragon
@mrmoshpotato:
At least it’s warm enough to have melted the snow, finally. This week is the wedding anniversary of a cousin of mine, who was married on an Easter Sunday years ago with about 8 inches of fresh, slushy snow on the ground.
A ballet coreographed and costumed by Geoffrey Holder:
The original version was with Dance Theater of Harlem and did show on US tv, but videos, dvds, or something do not seem to exist yet.
Tdjr
@Elizabelle: They did an extended tour in Pittsburgh when I was in college. The theatre was the beautiful Syria Mosque right on the campus. My roommate arranged for us to be ushers, for which we got like $6 cash. Plus we could watch the show as many times as we wanted. I watched it a lot! Great memories.
Sab
@Uncle Cosmo: Me? Canadian ancestors are still haunting my family.
CaseyL
@Elizabelle: Reddick was also Phillip Broyles and Alt-Phillip Broyles in Fringe. That might not be where I first saw him – he looked familiar even then – but it’s certainly where I most appreciated him!
@Haroldo: Spenser for Hire as Hawk! That was it, that’s where I first saw him! But I didn’t stick with the show.
JPL
@MattF: She’s always been a team player and worked with the republicans while minority leader of the state house. Personally I’d rather see someone who promises to kick the other party in the …………………….
Brachiator
@Sab:
I don’t know. He never looked that husky to me.
Interesting. Born in Vladivostok.
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon: Was there much snow? I didn’t look outside.
Nora Lenderbee
I want to jump in the car and just drive, somewhere I’ve never been before. Get out and get away.
pat
Done with vacuuming, cat has forgiven me, had his Party Mix.
Now to the mopping, fully clothed, sorry!
CaseyL
@Nora Lenderbee: I’m not quite there, but FSM willing, I am going to take a nice little road trip when the lockdown is lifted!
I’m also thinking how strange it’ll be to go into the office again. No more sleeping in and wearing PJs all day : (
Mike in NC
Went to Costco for the first time in at least a month. They had everything but toilet paper, but plenty of boxes of Kleenex as a substitute. Got wine by the caseload for some older neighbors with health issues that have left them housebound. About 80% of the shoppers were wearing masks and gloves and there was a distinct dystopian feel to the whole trip. The weather had dropped from about 80 degrees on Tuesday to 50, with wintry wind and rain, which only added to the discomfort. We’ll gladly put up with this stuff until Fat Bastard departs the scene in November.
Josie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yeah. I never understood the woman’s preference for Moses over Pharaoh. Heston just never did it for me, even before I was aware of his politics.
ETA: And since I am a sucker for Westerns, I never got tired of watching Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson in The Magnificent Seven.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
He’s a great singer of Roma music. A Russian friend gave me a 2-CD set which I stupidly lent to a student who then destroyed it when his roommate spilled beer on it. It’s not obtainable anywhere as far as I have been able to determine.
Elizabelle
@Tdjr: “Shall we dance? … bum bum bum ..
Lucky you as an usher.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Sab:
I’d bet that was auto(in)correct. And I am contemplating re-reading Game of Kings for at least the 5th time. No matter how dangerous, dirty, dastardly, and deadly the 16th century was, it seems like an awesome place to which to escape right now.
Christian Stewart! ❤️
Elizabelle
@satby: Yes. You know of whom I speak. My sympathies.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
In looking over his Wiki biography, I noted this little tidbit:
@Josie:
One of my favorite films. Co-star Steve McQueen would do little bits of business to draw more camera attention to himself. And Brynner was a small man. In some scenes he would stand on a pile of dirt to look taller, and McQueen would kick some of the dirt away in between takes.
Calouste
@Sab:
In War and Peace characters can be referred to in at least 6 different ways: their first name, nickname, patronymic, last name, aristocratic title, and military title. And there are a lot of characters.
Bostondreams
@Elizabelle:
Lance Reddick is also simply fantastic as a voice actor in one of the best games of the last few years, Horizon Zero Dawn, portraying the morally ambiguous Sylens.
mrmoshpotato
Calouste
@Sab:
Toronto is 43 degrees North, roughly the same latitude as Marseilles. Edinburgh is 56 degrees North, which is 3 degrees further north than Edmonton. Where most Canadians live is the latitude of France.
Sab
@Calouste: It just seems more north in North America.
I take your point. Just wrongly following Robertson Davies.
The Lodger
@Uncle Cosmo: That’s for sure. When I started reading The Brothers Karamazov, I thought there were about 20 of them.
Ken B
@Brachiator: There’s an episode in Deep Space Nine where Quark, Rom, and Nog (the station’s Ferringes) get thrown into the past on Earth as a result of Quark trying to make a fast (and illegal) credit. Way back, as in Roswell.
Their universal translators shut down for a while as a result of the accident, so for a time they can’t talk to the humans, and can’t understand them, either.
Naturally, Rom is worried about the bar while Quark is plotting Great Things.
It’s a fun episode.
Sab
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: Yes. Thanks. I got her name seriously wrong so no one could buy her books.
Your autocorrect is better than mine. And mine was disabled by Steeplechase. I am an acknowledged idiot. Can do it myself. Don’t need autocorrect. Although when I used autocorrect my errors were so epic that I couldn’t even guess where I had started. Nowadays it’s just typos and wrong input.
John Revolta
@Brachiator:
Steve McQueen would do little bits of business to draw more camera attention to himself
Actors refer to this as “catching flies”. It drives stage actors crazy and is frowned upon. I’m surprised the director let him get away with it……… but, well, Steve McQueen. :^)
Tdjr
@Josie: Steve McQueen❤?
John Revolta
@zhena gogolia: I found a few copies on vinyl on ebay but no CDs.
Couldn’t you just clean the CD off and still play it?
Uncle Cosmo
@Sab: Were you raised by Doukhobors or something??? 8^O
Betty
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The French students I met when studying in France spoke English with a British accent because they could go to England to study. Maybe that thought would help?
Brachiator
@John Revolta:
RE: Steve McQueen would do little bits of business to draw more camera attention to himself
“Catching flies.” Never knew that. Cool. Some stories claim that director John Sturges promised McQueen that he would “give him the camera” because the actor only had a few lines in the original shooting script. The two men had worked before and Sturges really wanted McQueen for the film.
Brynner was already a star, but it is interesting to see how many of the Seven went on to notable film and television careers.
ETA: I used to be able to easily rattle off the names of the stars who played the Seven. Most people would stumble after 4 or 5. And almost everyone forgot poor Brad Dexter.
gwangung
Writers include Michael Chabon and Kristin Breyer, both established SF writers, and one’s a pretty good award winning writer.
Geminid
@Brachiator: besides Brynner, McQueen, and Bronson, Robert Vaughn was the scared dandy, Rutger Bauer had the Toshiro Mifune part, and James Coburn was the knife guy. I can’t think of the seventh man. Back then Coburn looked very much like Beto O’Rourke. That movie helped make Steve McQueen a star. He started the decade on TV as the Bounty Hunter. By 1969 he was Bullitt.
karen marie
@Sab: How has Robertson Davies slipped down my memory hole? I adored all his books. I’m going to have a look at re-listening to one or several on Audible.
satby
@zhena gogolia: you can maybe find a copy here: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?artist_id=2245639&ev=ab
Brachiator
@gwangung:
RE: I’ve pretty much enjoyed “Star Trek: Picard,” but I get the impression that the writers don’t much care for SF or know how to write it well.
I don’t know any of their other work, but the writing for Picard was very uneven. I would say that one of them or their staff has a big fondness for original Trek, but even though I enjoyed the show overall, I had a few problems with it. I think it started well and there was one episode that I thought was excellent. Others, kinda uneven. But I look forward to the next season.
@Geminid:
Horst Buchholz played the Mifune role. Did a pretty good job. They also gave him elements of another character in the Japanese film.
Geminid
@Geminid: Sorry, not Rutger Hauer. A handsome German actor. Losing my shit in social isolation.
Elizabelle
@karen marie: I got to meet him! At a booksigning.
Robertson Davies was so cool. And crafted some wonderful novels and memorable sentences. Dry sense of wit, and appreciation for the absurd.
zhena gogolia
@John Revolta:
I don’t remember exactly what happened to it but it was unsalvageable.
zhena gogolia
@satby:
Alas, I believe those are LPs.
laura
@mrmoshpotato: I’m planning to retire this year and have my last cut-n-color appointment already scheduled. Yep, I’m getting the mohawk I couldn’t back in 1979. It’s going to be as big and bad ass as a mohawk can get. Thinking mermaid purpleblue. Then I’m letting my hair grow back whatever color it actually is. No slow blending, no pretending to go grey. I’m going gray starting with my big mohawk. Yes there will be products and yes it will make me finally 6 feet tall including hair.
mrmoshpotato
@laura: Yes! I fully support this!
J R in WV
@WereBear:
One of our cats, the fat one, really loves it when I drop a coffee bean on the kitchen floor! They bounce so well, and skid and hop when they hit a seam in the tile floor, so she can chase them for quite a while.
And, of course, when I drop A coffee bean, I usually drop at least 3 or 4, so sometimes she has a hard time picking one to play bean hockey with.
zhena gogolia
@satby:
Steeplejack has pointed out that one half of the set is on YouTube. I’m listening to it right now. It’s fab.