Ode to Paul Newman … or a coincidence?

Posted in Movies, TV with tags , , on September 30, 2008 by macmystery

Working at night, I rarely become attached to anything on primetime TV because I simply would never see it. We don’t have Tivo and I refuse to tape stuff nonstop and try to squeeze in a time during the day with my little girl to try and watch it.

But since my off days are Sunday-Monday, one of the new shows I started watching last year was “Chuck” (Official site, unofficial site). It’s goofy, but I like it. And it has a ton of really cool, obscure pop culture references that almost no one picks up on.

So anyway, Monday night’s episode was the premiere for this season. It rocked as usual. But at the end, there was a strange coincidence, or at least I think it was.

After the plot resolution, in that brief segment just before the episode ends (I’m sure this has a name … on the Andy Griffith Show, there used to always be some sort of joke told by Andy in this spot), Chuck and his co-worker are discussing a bet that another co-worker couldn’t scarf down 90 twinkies in some brief time period.

In response, Chuck Bartowski responds, “Nobody can eat 90 Twinkies.”

It may not seem like much, but this is an obvious reference to the scene in “Cool Hand Luke” where Luke (Paul Newman) promises to eat 50 hard-boiled eggs in an hour, and George Kennedy’s character reponds, “Nobody can eat 50 eggs.”

I’ve been seeing previews of this episode for months, literally, so they obviously didn’t work this in as a response to Newman’s death on Saturday. But if it wasn’t on purpose, that makes it one hell of a coincidence, doesn’t it?

Leave a comment »

Paul Newman, 1925-2008

Posted in Movies with tags , , , , on September 28, 2008 by macmystery
Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke

If I had to name the person who, to me, most embodied the term “movie star,” I think I would have to say Paul Newman.

He had the good looks, the talent and that intangible something that gets your attention and keeps it.

Newman died Saturday at the age of 83.

He was one of the best. I could watch “Cool Hand Luke” a million times and still not be tired of it.

My other favorites are “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Hustler,” “Hombre,” “From the Terrace,” “The Long Hot Summer,” “The Sting,” “Slap Shot,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Hud.”

And he was a good guy. He has campaigned for civil rights, given close to $175 million he earned from sales of his Newman’s Own salad dressings and spaghetti sauces to charity and has been married to the same woman, actress Joanne Woodward, for 50 years, a feat almost unheard of in Hollywood.

According to Newman’s IMDB.com page, he made 56 movies, not counting TV appearances and voices for animated films. I’m making it my goal, starting now, to watch each and every one in the next year.

2 Comments »

Maybe Shakira would have been a better choice

Posted in Music, Politics with tags , , , , , on September 25, 2008 by macmystery

Take a look at these two pictures. First this one …

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin meets Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday in New York.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin meets Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday in New York.

… and then this one …

Colombian pop singer Shakira meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, right, and El Salvador's President Tony Saca, not pictured, during a conference Wednesday on childhood poverty and development at Columbia University in New York.

I just found this ironic, I guess. This week is the first time Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has met heads of state from other countries. And here’s a pop star doing the same thing … only she’s been doing it for years.

And if you can’t tell, in the picture, she’s answering questions from the media. If Palin had her way, the media wouldn’t have even been around for her meetings. (read)

As a UNICEF ambassador and the founder of the Pies Descalzos Foundation, this is the third year in a row Shakira has been involved in the United Nations’ conference with numerous heads of state.

In 2007, she gave $40 million to the Clinton Global Initiative to care for victims of natural disasters worldwide. She gave an additional $5 million to be split between four Latin American countries for education and heath purposes.

Earlier this year, she spoke before U.S. Congress (something Palin has never done), met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick, all in the name of the Global Campaign for Education.

Palin? Well she can see Russia from her house, or something like that.

Obviously, Shakira could never be vice president … she’s no American citizen. And I’m not saying Palin should have been undertaking the humanitarian efforts Shakira has. She’s the governor of Alaska, not a philanthropist.

But, it says something that Palin has far less experience dealing with world leaders than a singer that many would simply write off as a sex symbol. And I think any one who refuses to admit that Palin’s choice as John McCain’s running mate is suspect is being dishonest.

Leave a comment »

A Georgia legend says goodbye

Posted in Sports with tags , , , on September 24, 2008 by macmystery
The voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, ... Larry Munson.

The voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, ... Larry Munson.

Legendary University of Georgia football play-by-play announcer Larry Munson abruptly retired Monday.

That is if you can do anything abruptly at age 86, after 43 years as the pre-eminent voice of Southern college football.

Obviously, as a Clemson grad, I’m not a Georgia fan, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I pretty much loathe everything about the Bulldogs.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t respect it. And Munson would come at the top of the list. While the slick suits on ESPN are the norm now, Munson is everything college football should be … but will soon be void of. It’s dying off.

Munson was to college football what Vin Scully is to baseball. Radio guy. Emotion. Personality. Character.

Because I wasn’t emotionally tied to Georgia games growing up, it was just as interesting to listen to the games Munson called when the Dawgs lost. Win or lose, he was an original.

As for my favorite memory of Munson … I grew up in Atlanta, so I had my fill of the Georgia Bulldogs. In 1981, the year after the Bulldogs won the national championship, Georgia played Clemson the week after my 10th birthday. The day of the game, my mom HAD to go to the mall. So I HAD to go, too.

So, while my mom shopped at Northlake Mall, I sat in the car behind the entrance to JC Penney’s and listened to Larry Munson call the game on the radio. Nowadays this is called child abuse, but in 1981 you could get away with it.

Anyway, Herschel Walker fumbled a handful of times, Buck Belue threw it to the guys in Orange more than the guys in white and the Tigers shut down the Bulldogs and won their toughest game, 13-3, on the way to their 12-0 season and national championship.

Obviously, that’s not what he’s remembered for … more likely Georgia fans will remember his call of Lindsay Scott’s TD vs. Florida, Walker’s game as a freshman against Tennessee, or the “hobnailed boot” call.

Below it a video someone else put together of some of his best calls. The video’s aren’t always perfectly synched up to the calls, but you’ll get the picture.

Leave a comment »

Happy 59th Bruce

Posted in Music with tags on September 24, 2008 by macmystery
The Boss ... born Sept. 23, 1949.

The Boss ... born Sept. 23, 1949.

Keep on doing what you’re doing.

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »