That is one worried little face, Peg!

Congratulations on your new arrival Grandpa. i'm thrilled for you.
The Snuff

READ THIS LET IT REALLY SINK IN - THEN CHOOSE .

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was havi ng a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!"

"You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or...you can choose to be in a bad mood

I choose to be in a good mood."
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, eve ry situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.


After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.


When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"


I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."


"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.


He continued, "...the paramedics were great.


They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."


"What did you do?" I asked.


"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'"


Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."


He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude...I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.


Attitude, after all, is everything.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.


You have two choices now:

01. Delete this

02. Forward it to the people you care about.

Grand baby arrived this morning by C Section. Katie could only dilate to 4 and her pulse rate was going off the charts, and the baby's heart rate was dropping, so they went ahead and delivered him.
He's about 3 weeks early but he's 7 pounds and 9 ounces and 19 inches (bIG fella). He has my wife's (and son's) super long eyelashes and long dark curly hair. He also has the Harvey trademark...A red birthmark at the base of the skull. No Harvey has every been born without it.
All involved are doing fine, and mother and baby will be coming home on Monday.
Pictures will be on the way, as I threatened both of my kids with physical damage if they didn't.

Hey Gramps, congratulations! Picked out an appropriate first weapon for him yet? Methinks gettin' 'em trained early in gun safety might be gettin' even more important these days. Besides, if you wait too long 'tis likely someone'll soon be tryin' to trample his 2nd Amendment rights, eh?

Did I just miss it, or was there not even a mention of the very recent 25th anniversary of the 1983 bombin's in Beirut? They only resulted in the deaths of 241 American military service members (includin' 220 Marines) and in the subsequent event that day 58 French military folks, eh? CGCS bein' what it's become 'twouldn't surprise me none if no mention was made. Betcha few here besides the Master Guns and I even gave it a thought.

He's getting my Remington 514 single-shot .22 that I received from my father as a Christmas present in 1955. I can't think of anything more appropriate.

WOOHOO, fantastic news Gramps! So what name does the Frenchy family use for Grandfather.. Grandpa, Papa, Gramps? You have to get those important names picked out ahead.

I'm so glad to hear that everything turned out fantastic! He is a big boy for coming early You all are going to have your hands full before you know it!

He's big for three weeks early. Must take after his Grandpa. Your daughter had a tough delivery, but am glad she is doing find. Grandson probably slept through the whole thing. Again, congratulations. And a wonderful family heirloom to welcome him into the world. Best Wishes to all.
The Snuff

Super congrats, Steve. What wonderful news.

My son refered to me as "Gramps" so who knows. We all called my grandfather "Pop".

I wonder how names like that come around... I called my grandma Bamboo until I hit about 10, and then it shortened to Bam. My son called my mom, Memaw forever - now it's just Meem. None of us can remember how they got started, well I certainly can't - but they can't either!

Anyway, keep us in the loop there Gramps

I forgot Beirut! bad heart!

But, you know what, Frenchy's got a grandbaby boy! My mAmA's birthday, my Auntie's birthday and my son's birthday are all in the past three days. Good days to be born! My mAmA and my auntie were born six years apart on the same day. And, the nurse at the hospital bid my grandmother adieu after mAmA with these words "I'll see you back here in six years". Something funny about the things that happen in this world. (hmmm).

Beirut:

A Poem to Remember Beirut

As I knelt to pray,
Next to the rubble
and the wounded and dead flew away.

It comes to mind,
Images of their bodies,
Haunting till the end of time.

Such a large building and so many men,
Many who will never be seen again.

They were ripped, torn and maimed,
Marines we dug for until all that remained,
Were the rescuers, blood, sweat and pain.

I was one,
Of America's best.

Sent to help the others,
Put the countries at rest.

Over 200 died that day,
All were my brothers,
And now,
They've gone away.

-James Michael Frasier

Oh, congratulations, Steve! I am very happy for you.

Must admit, I didn't remember. Shame on me. However, I thought the following article written to commemorate it also serves to point out how some things never change which is a sad commentary on the scheme of things:


Beirut Bombings: Intelligence Warning Sat in Pipeline
By Jeff Stein | October 21, 2008 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Marines stationed at Beirut airport in 1983 could have had plenty of time to prepare for the suicide bomber that struck with devastating consequences 25 years ago this week, their commander says.

But the eavesdropping National Security Agency's intercept of an Iranian telephone call that gave the order got stuck "in the intelligence pipeline."

In all, 241 Marines, soldiers and sailors died in the Oct. 23, 1983 attack.

"Unknown to us at the time, the National Security Agency had made a diplomatic communications intercept on 26 September ... in which the Iranian Intelligence Service provided explicit instructions to the Iranian ambassador in Damascus (a known terrorist) to attack the Marines at Beirut International Airport," says Marine Col. Colonel Timothy J. Geraghty, writing in the latest issue of Proceedings, a publication of the U.S. Naval Institute.

"The suicide attackers struck us 28 days later, with word of the intercept stuck in the intelligence pipeline until days after the attack."

The two bombings - French paratroopers would be struck two minutes later, with the loss of 58 lives - will be marked with a candlelight vigil at dawn Thursday in North Carolina, where a Beirut memorial is etched with the names of the fallen.

A different kind of ceremony will mark the bombings in Tehran, writes Geraghty, who also spent seven years in the CIA's Special Operations Group.

"In the Iranian Behesht-E-Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran, there will also be a ceremony at a monument erected in 2004 to commemorate the Beirut suicide bombers. In attendance will likely be some dressed as suicide bombers, chanting the standard 'death to America' and 'death to Israel.'"

In paying solemn tribute to the fallen men of his 24th Marine Amphibious Group, Geraghty also rues that President Ronald Reagan had abandoned America's military neutrality in the raging Lebanese civil war.

"It is noteworthy that the United States provided direct naval gunfire support -- which I strongly opposed for a week -- to the Lebanese Army at a mountain village called Suq-al-Garb on 19 September and that the French conducted an air strike on 23 September in the Bekaa Valley," he writes.

"American support removed any lingering doubts of our neutrality, and I stated to my staff at the time that we were going to pay in blood for this decision."

The attacks, which went unanswered by U.S. military action, "became a turning point in the unbounded use of terrorism by radical Islamic fanatics worldwide," Geraghty writes.

Someone told me that they went to Beirut years after, to do a documentary. He was not well received. Some Lebanese kept screaming at him "New Jersey!". He didn't understand. Apparently, that was the name of a US ship that just kept shelling this one town that had nothing to do with the whole thing. Does anyone know anything about this?

Hello RA Denizens,

I'm almost campaigned out! I can't wait for this to be over, but something tells me that's just the beginning.

They are having a nice concert on CNN for Vet's! I think I'll watch.

Saving up some change for Halloween!

I love Halloween.

luv,
heart

Hey Heart -

Any suggestions for a scary movie to watch next Friday?

Ummm.... Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary Absolutely beautiful horror.



I don't know Peg, what kind of horror do you like?

Black and White or Color?

Modern or Classic? New or older?

Suspenseful? Kinda like Leviathan

Tasteless? Slasher film?

Like Bride of Chucky

Just plain fun like Elvira

Nostalgic and fun like a Vampira, Maila Nurmi Movie (Because she died on my birthday this year (sad). Or, maybe an Ed Wood Movie Or a A Hammer Production

Good Cinematography like a Tim Burton selection

Gothic like in Ken Russell movies

Insane productions like one of my favorites: American Strays

Mind warped like Dark City

Or the one that scared me so much I turned it off... 13 Ghosts

Or something more modern?

Of course, you could just hang out in my neighborhood....That would scare anyone.

Let me know?

Wow, thanks, Heart! What a wealth of information. Have to share this comment, which I found in the forum section under the IMDB page on Ken Russell's, Gothic:


This film smells of bum cheese!

I am going the shop to buy it tomorrow!


*highly recommended*


by a fart


P.S. Johnny Depp does not appear in this film

And neither does Augustus Gloop


HAM SANDWICHES................ITS MY LIFE



DR. ALBAN!


EGGS

OOPS UPSIDE UR HEAD

TURTLE NECKS ARE BUM FLUFF



EAR LOBES


JAM TOILET.


TREVOR MCDOUGAL'S BALLS HAVE HAIRY CHINS


TIM



BINGO BANGO BONGO.

KNEE CAPS

GYM SHORTS RULE


O'MAHONEY - o'hARA


SKELETOR HAS KNEES

BURGERS

TONY DALEY


STE HULMES
pAULINES BUTTOCKS

JIBLETS


CAPTAIN JOE

SPLAT

QUINT IS A SHARK HUNTER UNDIES


PEAS ARE A FEET.

SO
KABOOOOM...,.





GREAT WHITE ORANGE FLAVOURED FLEA ANKLES HEAD. SPEAK TO DUTCH. BOING BOING SPLOING GROING GOES BEEEP THE DOORMAN ALARM AND ONIONS WHO DRINK LIMEADE LOLLIES ALSO THEY EAT CREW BECAUSE KIM IS FUDGE. BLURT STAINS LIKE WALLS MATE. BANANA STE HAS LOST HIS PUBES. FE WENT HOME. PYE RULES. SO. TWODDLE. BETH MCBAIN KNOWS BOBBY DEniro AND TONY ADAMS WHO ONCE SWAM ACROSS TO TOAD HALL.


I got some, but not all of the references. Got "Augustus Gloop," for example.

Like Hammer films, so these are always possibilities, as is Gary Oldham's Dracula. BTW, Mr. Peg has the pinball machine based on this flick on his wish list. Unfortunately, we don't have anywhere to put it.

I feel as though I got a window into your soul!

Conratulations Steve and family. So what is the wonderful new baby boy's name?

Thank you, Marie. His name is Charles William Harvey!

Whoa, wow, strange comments aren't they.

I so like the references from "The Last Unicorn"

I was simply trying to find things you might not have seen before. Bram Stoker's Dracula is very good, but I thought you had probably seen it.



OH "THE HORROR, THE HORROR" It's a pretty little horror film in there and it's all good.

I guess you can see I like to pretty up my beasties? Oh yes, I do.

STEVE: Nice name for your grandson!

luv,
heart

Charles William "C Dub" Harvey...

Pics...
CW

Two Radical Arab Terrorists boarded a flight out of London. One took a window seat and the other sat next to him in the middle seat.
Just before takeoff, a U.S. Marine sat down in the aisle seat.
After takeoff, the Marine kicked his shoes off, wiggled his toes and was settling in when the Arab in the window seat said, 'I need to get up and get a coke.'
'Don't get up,' said the Marine, 'I'm in the aisle seat, 'I'll get it for you.' As soon as he left, one of the Arabs picked up the Marines shoe and spat in it.
When the Marine returned with the coke, the other Arab said, 'That looks good, I'd really like one, too.' Again, the Marine obligingly went to fetch it.
While he was gone the other Arab picked up the Marines other shoe and spat in it.. When the Marine returned, they all sat back and enjoyed the flight. As the plane was landing, the Marine slipped his feet into his shoes and knew immediately what had happened. He leaned over and asked his Arab neighbors, 'Why does it have to be this way?'
'How long must this go on? This fighting between our nations? This hatred? This animosity? This spitting in shoes and pissing in cokes?' THE FEW. THE PROUD. THE MARINES. THE BEST.

Snuff, that's funny in a sick sorta way.

Hey Peg,

I found this article on horror films. Maybe there are some here you haven't seen. I think there are a couple I haven't seen either.

I should be getting "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary" in the mail tomorrow. I haven't seen it at home yet, I saw it at a friends house, so it will be nice to see it here.

Hope everyone is doing okay.

luv,
heart

Alternative Horror Movies Consumer Guide
Tired of the same old horror recommendations? Here is our idiosyncratic guide to some lesser-known Halloween shiver-flicks ...

By Kathleen Murphy

PSYCHOS AND SLASHERS

"Raw Meat" / "Death Line" (Gary Sherman, 1972)

I first saw this supercreepy British flick at a drive-in, in a car full of weed-smokin' folk looking to get off on another silly monster mash. By the time the camera snaked its way deep into the bowels of the London subway system to slither through a stomach-turning abattoir where some thing encouraged its pregnant mate to drink from a corpse, we'd fallen dead silent. Seems that, back in 1892, an unfinished tunnel collapsed, cutting off a clutch of men and women laborers. Too expensive to dig them out, so the survivors were left to die -- but somehow they didn't. And now one of the last descendants of the tribe has come up for food. Trust me, you will never be able to scrape his mush-mouthed moan, "Mind the doors," out of your nightmares.

"Black Christmas" (Bob Clark, 1974)

The Canadian blandness of the characters and location in "Christmas" -- sorority girls (young Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin among them) bouncing around a fusty old mansion -- ups the horror generated by this little classic. Sure, the sisters may have some problems (unwanted pregnancy, possessive boyfriend, unloving parents), but these are human-sized in light of persistent phone calls from someone (or something) emitting bestial grunts, howls and slobbers. At the beginning, the camera sneaks into the sorority house like an unclean stalker or voyeur. By the shocker ending, as the film withdraws from what's become a slaughterhouse, the POV has devolved into something dead-eyed, inhuman -- making your flesh crawl even as you exit this very bad place.


"Reeker" (Dave Payne, 2005)

A terrifically smart, self-reflexive addition to its genre: A group of stereotypical twentysomethings (spunky heroine, dim sexpot, amoral cut-up, good guy, et al.) gets marooned at an abandoned motel in the middle of a desert and picked off (and apart, in variously inventive ways) one by one, each atrocity heralded by a god-awful stink. The creepiest bloodbath, set in a dilapidated outhouse, taps into our primal fear of what might be down there in that dark hole over which we trustingly place our most vulnerable parts. A black-caped figure wielding a huge scythe, the reeking horror jump-cuts across the screen like a bat out of hell. But "Reeker" kicks things up a notch, literally forcing us to see how getting the bejesus scared out of us is one way of laughing off death. Trouble is, the Grim Reaper himself is the star of this nasty little horror show.

Other recommendations:

- "Frailty" (Bill Paxton, 2001)

- "May" (Lucky McKee, 2002)

- "Hatchet" (Adam Green, 2006)

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE DARK

"The Descent" (Neil Marshall, 2005)

This one is proof positive that the best scarefests, the ones that sink their teeth deep into your soul, conjure monsters out of our very own lives and psyches, David Cronenberg-style. A tribe of women spelunkers, one of whom is half in the grave with her recently dead husband and child, gets trapped deep in a cave after a rockfall. As these Amazons crawl into ever more claustrophobic wormholes, their psychological fault lines begin to fracture. And then there begin to be glimpses of ... what? Maggots? Mutants? Whatever the horror is, it's utterly alien, the color of corpses, as ravenous as death itself. "The Descent" is like being nailed up alive in a coffin with your worst nightmare.

"Wendigo" (Larry Fessenden, 2001)

From a child's point of view, the complexity of parental conflict, the awful mystery of death, everything that unsettles his world can look and feel like a horror movie. For Miles, sitting in the back seat of a Volvo, listening to his quarreling dad and mom lacerate each other, the sudden shock of a deer hitting the windshield seems like a natural externalization of the emotional violence assaulting him. It's not long before this shell-shocked little boy dreams up an antlered demon -- the Native American Wendigo -- that embodies everything that threatens him. This low-budget gem gets way under your skin, imbuing ordinary rural landscapes and behavior with a heightened quality of hellish hallucination. Father and son joyously sledding down a hill, a pair of boots sitting in an empty hospital hallway -- images that signal that your world can end anywhere, anytime.

"Pulse" (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001)

Watching this atmospheric horror movie is like sinking into dark, warm waters in which amorphous black forms embrace you while you drown. The plot's relevant only insofar as it references a contemporary, particularly Asian, distrust of technology: Something feeding on our Internet "circuits" inspires those who hope for connection to commit suicide. What little impact these isolated souls had on others is reflected in the chilling "footprint" of their passing: a human-sized smear on the wall, a Hiroshima shadow. This is a movie that can mine extreme terror out of the slight movement of a see-through plastic curtain. And the shot of a dark boneless "thing" undulating across the floor toward us arouses pure, unadulterated revulsion.

Other recommendations:

- "They Came From Within" (David Cronenberg, 1975)

- "The Brood" (David Cronenberg, 1979)

- "The Keep" (Michael Mann, 1983)

VAMPIRES

"Habit" (Larry Fessenden, 1997)

Like David Cronenberg, writer-director-editor-actor Larry Fessenden often works the horror genre to expose our need (and incapacity) for love. Sam's an alcoholic bohemian, adrift in the mostly impersonal environs of New York. His emotional fecklessness has just driven his live-in girlfriend away, so he's eager to hook up with an androgynous, oddly exotic brunette he meets at a party. Their lovemaking is ultra-passionate and frequent, and Sam begins to notice what he thinks are bite marks on his body, along with feeling generally drained of energy. Yes, all the signs of vampire love -- but is it? Could Sam have AIDS? Delirium tremens? Could our sexual vagrant be overreacting to his fear of something more than skin-deep connection? "Habit" is deliciously scary, rife with spooky detail, and the line between vampirism and problematic human love remains tantalizingly blurred.

"The Wisdom of Crocodiles" (Po-Chih Leong, 1998)

Another tale of terror -- upscale arty in contrast to the slacker realism of "Habit" -- that tickles our nerve endings with the notion of love and lust as forms of vampirism. A handsome young fellow (Jude Law) almost absentmindedly pulls a suicidal woman back from plunging onto the subway tracks. They become lovers, she begins to bloom with happiness and then, in the midst of passionate embrace, her savior bites out her throat. In a journal in which he comments on his meals, he labels this one "disappointing." A gourmand, our vampire is dying for more refined, complex emotional flavors. An affair with a smart, sensual woman (Elina Lowensohn, exquisite as a New York vampire in 1995's "Nadja") only seems to derange the wisdom of this crocodile. Languid and introspective, "Crocodile" is a perfect showcase for Jude Law, an actor who always projects impenetrable narcissism.

"Let the Right One In" (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)

A sweet, dangerous love story between a teenage drinker of blood and a prepubescent boy, lonely, much-bullied and full of fury. Feral and amoral, the girl-vampire is touched by human loneliness that mirrors her own. Playing out in wintry Stockholm streets dark with what seems permanent night, this movie takes its bloody time, constantly surprising us with imaginative images of horror, like carmine splashes on snow or a roomful of maddened cats, turned savage by the scent of a tainted human. There's gore and terror galore in this Grimm fairy tale, but the terrible tenderness that binds an outcast Hansel and Gretel can't help but bewitch you.

Other recommendations:

- "Lifeforce" (Tobe Hooper, 1985)

- "Dance of the Damned" (Katt Shea, 1988) (I really liked this one, there are many variations.)

- "Nadja" (Michael Almereyda, 1995) (Very good too).

GHOSTS

"Carnival of Souls" (Herk Harvey, 1962)

This no-budget ghost story out of Kansas is a classic, never failing to raise the short hairs. From the moment the film's bland, blond protagonist lurches out of a river covered in mud, reality begins to decay. Like "Night of the Living Dead," "Carnival" mines terror out of the mundane, so that its every black-and-white image glows with a kind of eerie, toxic phosphorescence. Even the retro quality of early-'60s period behavior and locations (drag racing on back roads, everyday life in a Heartland town, the abandoned carnival pavilion out on the salt flats) contributes to the dreamlike, dissociated state into which the film's lost soul (and we) slowly and inexorably sink.

"Beloved" (Jonathan Demme, 1998)

The specter that haunts this adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel is the long, dark shadow of slavery's history in America. But it takes flesh-and-flood form when an infantile, almost bestial, creature crawls out of swamp muck, covered with buzzing flies. This broken thing, stuttering, grunting, slobbering, insinuates itself into a post-Civil War black family and begins to suck the life out of them. Thandie Newton deserved an Oscar for her superb performance as Beloved, the sexually omnivorous "vampire" whose delicate beauty masks grossest appetite.

"The Orphanage" (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2007)

From the moment a wife and mother returns to the creepy orphanage where she grew up, she's haunted by memories from the past, as well as present weirdness. Out in the dark, a swing creaks as though a child has just jumped off; her own son, in fragile health, has made friends with a boy who shouldn't exist; and then there are those worrisome bones out in the lime kiln. For a while "The Orphanage" plays like a superior haunted-house flick, but it soon ratchets up its emotional charge, becoming a celebration of maternal love so powerful it gifts a woman with the courage and will to breach the gates of death. Think of a grown-up, much darker take on Wendy, Peter Pan and the lost boys.

Other recommendations:

- "The Frighteners" (Peter Jackson, 1996)

- "Soft for Digging" (J.T. Petty, 2001)

- "The Dark" (John Fawcett, 2005)

ZOMBIES

"Dead Alive" / "Braindead" (Peter Jackson, 1992)

Jackson often lards his horror with gross-out comedy, but still delivers the goods when it comes to images of archetypal dread. A momma's boy beaten down and figuratively castrated by his horrific dam is forced into manhood when practically everyone in his hometown turns zombie after being bitten by a savage Sumatran rat-monkey. Savor taboo-flaunting scenes like Lionel in the park, battering an undead infant into submission as horrified dowagers look on. Lick your chops during the orgy of communal feasting -- a gorefest that beggars belief -- while our hero takes on a primally terrifying monster of motherhood.

"I, Zombie: The Chronicles of Pain" (Andrew Parkinson, 1998)

A low-budget zombie flick of shocking originality, this one's a companion piece to David Cronenberg's brilliant remake of "The Fly," another exploration of the tragedy of incurable, flesh-disfiguring disease through horror-movie metaphor. An ultra-ordinary fellow bitten by an injured woman he tries to aid is soon driven to consume human flesh. The day-by-day chronicle of his truly awful descent into physical decay and dissolution is punctuated by interviews with folks who knew him, even loved him, before he fell "sick." Horrified, nauseated, we watch as he kneels over a corpse, eating bits of flesh from its face; masturbates while holding a snapshot of the woman he loved, until that part of him is gone as well; tries to nail the putrefying parts of his body back together. Not for the squeamish.

"Land of the Dead" (George Romero, 2005)

Romero's at the top of his game in "Land," typically lacing a wicked-scary zombiefest with acid commentary on contemporary life in these United States. What's left of humanity has holed up in a consumer's paradise, an island-fortress under permanent siege by the "stenches." The movie looks more and more prescient in its portrayal of an America populated by folks bent on amusing themselves to death as though good times would never end -- and we all know where that fiscal philosophy has landed us! Romero even takes apart the kind of mindless patriotism that casts other nations as bit players in our drama of manifest destiny: In "Land," the Fourth of July becomes a bloody Independence Day, as the disenfranchised, hungry dead overrun the citadel of high-living consumers. How's that for a metaphor with teeth?

Other recommendations:

- "White Zombie" (Victor Halperin, 1932)

- "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" (Bob Clark, 1972)

- "REC" (Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza, 2007)

Thanks, Heart! You have fulfilled your assignment well, as always. Good ideas, there.

The one that Mr. Peg has settled on is Invasion of the Body Snatchers, not the '50's one, but the re-make (which also has a cameo by Kevin McCarthy). One of Leonard Nimoy's best post-Spock roles!


Memo to Steve -

Here's hoping that the funny wrinkles get ironed out in young Master Harvey's face!

(he is adorable)

Two Iraqi spies met in a busy restaurant

Hello RA Denizens,

This place is sure quiet these days.

I think maybe in a few days, we can finally all relax again.

Until then, I'm listening to music....A lot of music. It's soothing.

So, here is what happened this day in history.....In music.

1957 - Sun Records released "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis.

1957 - "At the Hop" was released by Danny & the Juniors.

1972 - James Taylor and Carly Simon were married. They separated in 1982 and were divorced later.

1977 - During a concert in London, Elton John announced that he was retiring from live performances. He resumed touring on February 3, 1979 in Sweden.

1988 - The U2 concert movie "Rattle And Hum" opened.

1992 - "Keep The Faith" by Bon Jovi was released. It was their first album in 5 years.

1995 - An out of court settlement was reached by Hootie and the Blowfish and Bob Dylan concerning the group's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in their song "Only Want To Be With You."

1997 - John Denver's last recording, "The Unplugged Collection," was released in the UK.

1998 - In the U.S., Alanis Morissette's "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie," Beck's "Mutations," Celine Dion's "These Are Special Times," U2's "The Best of 1980-1990," and the John Lennon boxed set "Anthology" were released.

1998 - The live Bee Gees album "One Night Only" was released.


For those who can attend, in Washington D.C.

I would love to go see this film:

Silver Spring, MD | October 17 to November 5, 2008
Noir City DC

The “czar of noir” Eddie Muller, the man who has tirelessly and passionately championed noir movies by writing books about them and programming seasons across the country – as well as writing noir fiction and, last year, directing his first movie – has finally made it to the capital. And it’s not to “clean up the mess in Washington” (leave that to Barack Obama and John McCain to fight over that job), but to bring his love of hardboiled cinema to AFI’s Silver Theatre. Noir City DC, a season presented by Muller’s Film Noir Foundation, opens up with screenings of Billy Wilder’s landmark adaptation of James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity which Wilder co-wrote with the king of the pulp detective novel Raymond Chandler. (Chandler, ironically, had previously said of Cain that “He is every kind of writer I detest, a faux naif, a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and a board fence and nobody looking.”) Muller’s series boasts a well-balanced mix of stone cold classics (another Wilder movie,Sunset Boulevard, the late Jules Dassin’s Night and the City) and lesser known hard-as-nails B-movies like Edgar G. Ulmer’s 1945 Detour and Felix Feist’s vehicle for noir’s forgotten man Steve Cochran, Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951). The centerpiece of the season is a special screening of another great movie from 1951, Alfred Hitchcock’s take on Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train – again with a script co-written by Chandler – which will be attended by one of the film’s lead actors, Farley Granger, whose memoir Include Me Out: My Life From Goldwyn To Broadway was recently published.

Hello RA denizens,

A new day has dawned....Well, actually, Doc will witness that, I will probably be asleep by then.

I await your return!

You're all terrific!

You're like the Lake Wobegone: Where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average"!

luv,
heart

Fot those of us who might feel a bit tense...

A couple of videos excerpted from my latest project!





Chief and Top check in!...
You are needed more than ever.

A big hello to Heart and C.O.!!
and Snuff and Mountanmagic

and anyone whos name slips me

I AM getting close to 50....

I just thought you deserved a thank you Heart. Keeping the lights burning means so much. AS long as RA is here, there's a niche full of memories which makes everything seem possible.

Now if Fly would only come home ...

Tom , you are a gem. I love you.

Hi Bigtom - Really enjoyed the videos.

Well time to dust myself off, climb out of hiding and resume life with hope for our country
evolving into something, anything better then the last 8 years. Ok that's as political
as I will get here.

Come out, come out, where ever you are, my RA friends. I think we need each other
more then ever right now. Well at least I know how much I need you all.

Here is a neat story. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3IycwU-oXnQ/SOrH...etafile%291.jpg
Oct 05, 2008

The Norwegian newspaper VG has reported a truly amazing story about a newly-wed trying to get to Norway to be with her husband, and the stranger who helped pay an unexpected luggage surcharge. The blog 'Leisha's Random Thoughts' has translated the story.

It was 1988, and Mary Andersen was at the Miami airport checking in for a long flight to Norway to be with her husband when the airline representative informed her that she wouldn't be able to check her luggage without paying a 100 surcharge:

When it was finally Mary's turn, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.

-You'll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway , the man behind the counter said.

Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway , and she had no one else to call.

-I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions, says Mary.

As tears streamed down her face, she heard a 'gentle and friendly voice' behind her saying, 'That's okay, I'll pay for her.'
Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.

-He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.

-He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

Who was the man?

Barack Obama.

Twenty years later, she is thrilled that the friendly stranger at the airport may be the next President and has voted for him already and donated 100 dollars to his campaign:

-He was my knight in shining armor, says Mary, smiling.

She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway . At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker* in Chicago , and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.

Mary even convinced her parents to vote for him:

In the spring of 2006 Mary's parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

And Obama replied:

In a letter to Mary's parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped 'United States Senate, Washington DC ', Barack Obama writes:

'I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I'm happy I could help back then, and I'm delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway . Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama , United States Senator'.

The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

Mary says that when her friends and associates talk about the election, especially when race relations is the heated subject, she relates the story of the k ind man who helped out a stranger-in-need over twenty years ago, years before he had even thought about running for high office.

Truly a wonderful story, and something that needs to be passed along in the maelstorm of fear-and-smear politics we are being subjected to right now.

UPDATE: Thanks for the recommends, folks! Also, remember this was 1988, when 100 dollars was quite a bit of money, compared to today's value.

Snuff-

I don' get it!


that's OK. Liv didnt get it either. She worked pretty hard on the campaigns and is now leaving to go work for Cuomo. I posted it here wondering if anyone beside myself was thinking about what's up her sleeve for 2012.

There's still a pulse, Snuff!

Doubtful that's gonna be the case, eh? Methinks lately there's a concerted effort by many CGCSers to make them not subscribin' to the group think feel unwelcome.

From what I've seen the lack of civility and ugliness has often crossed the line drawn by the rules, enabled by a mod who chooses not only to not enforce them, but sometimes actively participates in the attacks. That ain't the CGCS I chose to participate in years ago.

After the ugliness in SoCal many years ago Rodney King asked "Can't we all just get along?", but IMHO on CGCS some're sayin' NO in a big way. If moderates and centrists are made to feel unwelcome they're gonna leave, as methinks we've already seen.





Some, though not much, of this attitude has even snuck into RA. Since I ain't ready to become part of the like minded brigade on CGCS 'tis doubtful I could ever feel comfortable here again.

In this just completed election cycle I couldn't bring myself to support either major party candidate, eh? Consequently voted for the other black Presidential candidate, not because I liked her, but rather because I hoped a truly progressive party might possibly gather enough votes to become a recognized part of mainstream American politics. I'm afraid that'd be considered in the same light my 2000 vote for Nader was greeted with here, when my reasonin' was met with pronouncements that I was a traitor. Sorry for mentionin' politics here, but methinks 'twas necessary in tryin' to get across how I feel.

As I just addressed in a note elsewhere, methinks reactions on CGCS to my way of thinkin' don't make me feel welcome, or even tolerated. Especially troublin's the way Memorial Day's been met here, and the very strong anti-military feelin' (especially dismissive of any thought folks servin' in the armed forces deserve the same considerations American civilians do) that pervades this place. Bein' retired military that cuts deep with me.

I've also noticed that many former denizens, especially a couple active yon, have deserted RA even though they still post hither on CGCS. Methinks maybe it's a reaction to me?

I'll just keep sporadically checkin' and occasionally postin' 'til I see whether or not CGCS continues its evolution towards bein' DW lite, eh? If RA's gonna stay alive others'll have to be the ones to make that happen. I give up!

Wow...somebody actually voted for Cynthia McKinney. The Greens weren't even on the Missouri ballot.
Welcome back, Fly...Even if it's just for awhile.

OOOOHHHHH Betty! Thank You.

I'm just doing my job...Kinda like a Marine. Hard headed but soft hearted for those people and things I care about.

Doc is home too!??? Can you tell us a tator tot story? How is everyone doing up there?

You voted for Lil Ms McKinney huh? ICCKKYYY! Oh well, good for you! I think?

Well, Doc....there were plenty of times that I sure wasn't welcome by others at CGCS. I'm just too stubborn to let that keep me away.

I can take joy in the happiness of others without having to be joyful about the thing that made them feel joy.

Politics has been only a peripheral subject here in RA. It's always been more about our ability to transcend our divisions, laugh at ourselves and laugh or cry with each other through their life's high points and low points.

I'll keep the hearth fires burning.

Shout out to BigTom! Great Stuff there! I like it.

You know, I still don't get the Snuff and Peg exchange about Cuomo? Anyone have an explanation?



Oh Magic Skillet, you know we all have those hopes, dreams, failings, needs, and humor to share with one another. We are all healers in our own ways. We are all mortals with our share of life's cuts and bruises. We really CAN be here for one another.

I am humbled and honored to be here still....Waiting for my fellow travelers to find their way back here, to a welcoming little coffee shop in cyberspace.

luv to all

I didn't understand it either! The last part of my post was actually written by Snuff. All I said was, "I don' get it." I never heard of that lady.

Fly, I can only speak as one who cherishes what you accomplished with RA. You are it's soul, without you, despite Heart's valiant efforts it simply won't be the same. You have the ability to keep it on track .

Even more now than before, its needed. And so are you.

This past election cycle has been ruinous in many ways but the basic decency and kindness of the RA folks is still there. Granted there have been some rifts which may be permanent but they are few and will be of short duration as more come to realize the bonds they formed here are stronger than the disagreements ever were.

I know I alienated a lot I cared for deeply although that was never my intent , and I will always love all of them and never forget the many kindnesses shown to me at this very difficult time in my life but I know my presence may be one reason for the lack of participation and that is the reason I have not been as visible here as in the past. I think its time I disappeared. RA matters too much for me and my habit of letting my opinions be known to cause even one of the wonderful people here to not want to participate.

I don't promise not to read as that I will always do , it is a comfort on even the worst days just reading RA but this will be my last post here.

Please, come home everyone. You all need one another.

Thank you all for the warmth and welcome to this old dame. I'll love you all always.

Betty

Oh Brother! Oh Sister! We can't have a nice cyber chat if it's just an echo chamber. Come on Back here Betty!

Sorry guys - I posted in haste - anyway - she's going to work for Cuomo (who she is isn't terribly important as to why I posted it, rather - I was just wondering whether Cuomo is getting geared up for 2012 - that was my main reason for posting it, eg. it looks like he is putting together a finance team if he's drawing from the Democratic Senatorial Fundraising campaign.

luv,
heart

That poem is beautiful heart. Thanks for posting. To all the veterans on RA that I have had the priviledge to know
these last years, a Thank You from me to all of you and your loved ones for the sacrifices you all have made for all of
us.

I'd said I'd stop by and say hello the next time I was in the area. <<<<<<<<HELLO >>>>>>

So, yes it's not true that I was abducted by aliens nor have I just returned from a fantastic journey. Nothing could be further from the truth. I've just been busy.