nice bit of news

I heard today that my big brother Ed has been inducted into his old high school's Football Hall Of Fame this year. Didn't know high school's had their own hall of fame. I have no idea what his record was, but I did go to a couple of games when I was a kid. My memories are of just sitting on a bleacher freezing my butt off, maybe asking my parents for some money to get hot chocolate.
Well congrats to #61. I think getting into any kind of Hall of Fame is pretty cool.
Beat that Van Halen!

Monsterpiece Theatre

The PBS show is having an anniversary special, focusing on fan favorites. I won't be surprised if I Claudius takes the # 1 spot. This is my first post about Claudius, but whenever I found an opportunity to bring it up over the years , I didn't hesitate to talk about it, & I bored my friends to tears. But it's my blog dammit, I'm gonna go geek apesh*t and fling the nerd poo.

I do remember seeing the first broadcast back in the '70's. I was very young and there was no parental supervision apparently. PBS & sports were a regular tv diet of my parents. So I think they must have left it on in a room somewhere. This scene in particular traumatized me:



John Hurt is Emperor Caligula. Pervert,murderer--starting at a young age in this series--and at this stage of his life :completely demented. He thinks he's a god and his sister/lover has just been killed in a very sick and twisted way.

When I was in highschool, they re-ran the series again during pledge drive week, and I watched it and became a Claudius geek. I own the dvd now & I still bring it out every once and awhile to admire the writing and acting. For me, it was my first introduction to grown up stories on tv that were intense, funny, and intelligent. No over the top,very special "Hallmark" fluff brought to you by Parkay butter.


Derek Jacobi rules, John Hurt steals scenes, Patrick Stewart is in a curly wig as the rotten Sejanus, and Brian Blessed will always be Augustus to me and not the Hawkman dude from Flash Gordon [ Flash!Aahh-ah!]
and Sian Phillips, Peter O'Toole's ex-wife, wins the award for best villian on tv as Augustus's wife Livia

from imdb memorable quotes, my favorite scenes:
Antonia: [to Claudius] You blockhead.
Herod: No. He's not a blockhead. It's WE who are the blockheads. If Sejanus had come to us with a proposal like that we would have given him his marching orders. But Claudius knows better. Claudius sways and bends with each little wind that blows.
Agrippina: By which you mean he's weak and cowardly.
Herod: Perhaps. But at least he's still here.

[to Claudius]
Caligula: Go in peace. I was thinking about killing you, but I've changed my mind.

Nomination for remake

Anyone remember this? I really enjoyed it. Just a fun popcorn movie. A sci-fi thriller, but mostly thriller. It helps that the two lead actors are very talented. There's too many films that are slated for remakes that shouldn't be touched. But if Hollywood must remake movies, then I can see this getting another update. H.G. Wells chasing after Jack the Ripper in the age of ipods, cell phones, text messaging etc.

Of course it wouldn't be good as the original.

on my reading list

I just started this and I highly recommend it. I'm listening to the audio book. If you are not familiar with the author Vowell, she did the voice of Violet from the Incredibles. Her book is a funny and informative tourist guide to historical landmarks, sites, & museums of Presidential assassinations. You'll pick up little historical tidbits of the macabre kind along the way. Poor Robert Todd Lincoln. The man was "a death magnet", according to Vowell, since he was present or near the vicinity of three Pres. assassinations. His father's, McKinley, and Garfield. Geez that's bad.