While we golfed, my tuff fiancee put the top down on the SSR and went exploring the Endless Yard Sale along rte. 127. Not sure if any of you are familiar with this madness, but the Endless Yard Sale is an annual event wherein thousands of people set up shop along rte. 127, from northern Kentucky all the way down to southern Alabama, selling anything they could dig out of their shed, junk drawers, garages, basements, barns etc. It is a hundred mile long cornucopia of crap. Gordyville on a grand scale. In addition to all the junk, Laurie reported there was a disturbing amount of sweaty male shirtlessness accompanied by sweaty fat ladies in tank tops about 2 sizes too small for their rubenesque frames. I caught a glimpse of some of the clientele in a pickup sporting a bumper sticker with the confederate flag on it accompanied by the following: "Fighting terrorism since 1861." I'm betting they were shirtless too.
The golf game was actually OK, despite the fact I didn't golf all that well. I went back to using the original set of irons I purchased several years ago that have larger club faces. It helped alot. Most of my iron shots were pretty good. Unfortunately I'm still using the same driver. On the tee box is where the vast majority of profanity was uttered. Remember the Quiddich(sp?) match in that one Harry Potter movie? That's what my ball looked like coming off the tee most of the time. Still, I only lost one which is saying something on that course. Lilly Creek, despite its seemingly benign name, is anything but a walk in a park. It's hilly and the rough consists of packed red earth with sprigs of grass and rocks. And that's if you're lucky. Usually the rough is a forest or tall grass right on the edge of the fairway. The fact I finished nine holes using only two balls is a triumph in itself.
Sunday, on the way back up north, the Big Guy drove allowing me the opportunity to finally watch Island in the Sky on the DVD player in the back. What a great movie. One of the Duke's finest. Naturally it probably appeals to me more than others because of the subject matter--John Wayne plays a pilot in the Air Transport Command during WWII who's forced down in bad weather over the Northwest Territories and he and his crew must survive the 40 below conditions until his buddies can find them. Anybody who says Wayne couldn't act (I'll fight all of you!) needs to see this film. He does a fantastic job of playing a leader who's trying to keep his head so those depending on him don't lose their's.
Like Leonard Maltin's brief introduction indicates, the movie is devoid of any cynicism. There's no angst, no hidden agendas, no politics or tortured pasts. Just ordinary men with a lot of guts pitting themselves and their airplanes against the impersonal enemy of weather. I was amazed at how beautiful the cinematography was for a black and white film. You really got a sense of how vast the wilderness was and how small the protagonists were in comparison. The film also features some great performances by many old western actors, including a very young, pre-Matt Dillon James Arness. Even the guy who played Alfalfa from the Little Rascals is in it playing a young pilot who acts alot like Alfalfa. By all means check it out.
I leave you with a pic of Levi . . . finally.
5 comments:
One reason I like so many older thrillers, crime movies and adventures is that they are usually much tauter and tougher than today's films. Instead of a half-hour or 45 minutes of "setting up the plot", these older pictures often get you right into the story within ten minutes or so...and still manage to provide the requisite amount (and no more than is needed) of character development. You'd also be hard-pressed to assemble a lean, sweaty cast the caliber of Wayne, Lloyd Nolan, Andy Devine, Arness, Sean McClory, Fess Parker...plus a young Mike "Mannix" Connors...from today's stable of dull pretty-boy Ryan Reynolds impersonators.
I need to borrow that disc.
Marty, was that a stab at Ryan Reynolds? If so, I'll kill you, if you are saying that everyone wants to be him, then I love you again.
LD, I bet Laurie driving a bright yellow hot rod pickup truck was headline worthy in some of those bumpkin towns. "DANG Shoooot! lookee ther' I think it's a mooovie star!"
No, I'm saying that Ryan Reynolds is easily the equal of John Wayne and Lloyd Nolan in terms of manliness and star charisma. What do you think?
Refresh my memory, who is Ryan Reynolds. I'm too lazy to check IMDB.
Incidentally Laurie did say that some guy said, "I think she just drove that thing in hear to to torture us."
I was going to say she went "topless" in my original draft of the blog, but she kicks . . . really hard too.
"I think she just drove that thing in HERE to torture us."
I'm a retard.
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