Some Thoughts on Going to the Dentist and Talking Like Stephen McHattie

Today I had a dental appointment which I couldn't avoid because I had broken a tooth. I was there from 10:00 in the morning till 1:30 in the afternoon, and left feeling like a cement mixer and a weed eater had been in my mouth, which was just about the case. My dentist and all his helpers are the sweetest people you could ask for, but that doesn't help at all when I have a cement mixer and a weed eater in my mouth for three and a half hours.



So when they turned me loose, I left the dental office feeling worn out, hungry, and largely numb in the face, and headed home for some tasty Brown Cow coffee yogurt before heading to work at the Leeds Library. When I arrived home and had the occasion to speak to my daughter, I discovered that when I spoke, my upper lip was doing a superb imitation of one of my favorite actors, Stephen McHattie!



I LOVE Stephen McHattie! Doesn't everyone love Stephen McHattie? I even like the funny way he talks.

 

Here he is, being James Dean.

Stephen McHattie was born on Feb. 3, 1947 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The first time I saw him, he was portraying Jacques Pasquinel in the James A. Michener production of Centennial, a TV mini-series in 1978. It was pretty much love at first sight.

Jacques Pasquinel

 

I think we need to declare a Stephen McHattie Day! February 3rd is the day I designate to be National Stephen McHattie Day!

 

  

Wonder why he has that funny lip thing?

 

Meanwhile, all the feeling has come back into my mouth and face, and I'm no longer having the funny McHattie lip thing. So, I'm going in search of some good McHattie movies to watch tonight.

 

Steve McQueen

By the '70s, he was the highest paid actor in the world.

Here, he was just somebody's best friend.

How to Catch a Possum on Movie Day!

It's movie day here at The Painted Possum! It's been a long time since the last movie day; as a matter of fact, it's been a while since my last blog post here. But, chalk it up to The Winter Doldrums. Also, life in general is like sliding down a very fast sliding board.

Hoping to find an illustration for you, I Googled "Possum on a sliding board." Oddly enough, I didn't find a possum on a sliding board.

However, here's something interesting I did find, at Handy Tricks From Quatemala, by Tim Anderson:

How to Catch a Possum

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Don Filberto explains how his father used to catch small animals. He'd prop a box or basin up on an avacado pit or another smal round object. He'd put a weight, such a a board (or in this case, a machete) on top of the box. The animal would go inside to get some bait, the box would fall down, and 'voila', you got yourself a captive possum. I don't know what 'voila' is in Spanish. But Don Filberto added that his father would move the pan or box around until the animal's tail was poking out, then grab it by the tail.

So, I can identfy with this. While life is INDEED like sliding down a very fast sliding board, there are interludes when life is more like being a possum trapped under a pan with an avacado seed ...
Back to Movie Day!
Today's movie is The Road to El Dorado, one of my favorite movies, an animated comedy film by DreamWorks Pictures. The two main characters, Miguel and Tulio, are voiced by Kenneth Branaugh and Kevin Kline, and the soundtrack features music by Elton John and Tim Rice.
The movie begins in 16th century Spain where two con-artists, Miguel and Tulio, using loaded dice, win a map that shows the location of El Dorado, the city of gold in the New World. They stow away on one of Hernan Cortes' ships, escape with Cortes' war horse, and end up in El Dorado, where they are mistaken for gods. And why not?
According to Wikipedia, the story is inspired by Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would be King and Voltaire's Candide.

Also, there is a cute little animal that I like to think of as a possum, although it may be an armadillo.

Great Actor - Great Guy - Big Lebowski

I've been away from the Land of the Painted Possum for a while, due to LIFE. But it's time to talk about one of my favorite guys.

Most of you have probably heard about Jeff Bridges' loving and gracious tribute to his wife, Sue, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. When he was asked about his family life, he asked his wife to come to the podium with him to answer the question.

I've been a Jeff Bridges fan since I saw him in Rancho Deluxe in 1975. Have you ever loved a movie just because of one single line of funny dialogue?

And of course everybody remembers The Last Picture Show. That was before Rancho Deluxe. Then there was Starman in 1984, a Sci-Fi love story and truly one of the best movies ever filmed. Tucker, the Man and His Dream in 1988 was fabulous; The Fabulous Baker Boys was fabulous; See You in the Morning was sweet, Texasville, 1990, wonderful. The list is too long to include every stellar Jeff Bridges movie.


But, what about The Big Lebowski, 1998! This is the funniest movie in the world! Am I exagerating? Everybody who has ever seen The Big Lebowski says the same thing!


So now we have Crazy Heart, 2009, winning awards already, with Bridges playing an alcoholic former country-western star, Bad Blake, who's reduced to playing bowling alleys. I've heard that this one is definitely Academy Award material.


I haven't seen it yet, but I have no doubt that this will be a good one!

Who Knows Why I Read This?

I just finished reading The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw, originally published in 1948. The insightful book, written from the viewpoint of three soldiers: Christian Diestl, a German soldier, Noah Ackerman, an American soldier who is a Jew, and Michael Whiteacre, American actor turned soldier, brings to life the harsh reality of war.





I had seen the movie about a hundred years ago, but remembered very little about it. I remembered Marlon Brando as the character Christian Diestl, a German soldier who, in the novel, starts out as a pretty unextraordinary guy and ends up a dreadful and heartless product of the Nazi regime.


While reading the book, I suddenly remembered Montgomery Clift as Noah Ackerman, a shy and gentle American Jewish boy from California who joins the army, leaving his just-married wife whom he cherishes. Having Montgomery Clift mooning around as the fine and sensitive discriminated-against Jewish guy, who just wants to do the right thing then get back to his family, is all you need for a truly heart-breaking movie.

The film also stars Dean Martin as the play-boy actor, Michael Whiteacre, who describes himself as "a likable coward," and befriends the intriguing Noah Ackerman.


Now that I've read the book, I think I'd like to see the movie again, since it has been many years and many lifetimes since I first saw it.

This is a very good book, and very long, and very bloody, being about World War II, with shocking details of war, slaughter, and concentration camps. As with many books that I read nowadays, I decided to read it when I happened across it on the library bookshelf. As with most realistic accounts of war, it's very eye-opening, leaving the reader to wonder how anyone survived the battle field.

Almost forgot to add, one of my favorite things about the book is a song that pops up from time to time, sometimes in a happy way and sometimes very poignant. The song is Are You Making Any Money? written by Herman Hupfield.

You make time, and you make love dandy

You make swell molasses candy

But, honey, are you making any money?

That's all I want to know.

Looking for a Few Good Movies ...

Here at The Painted Possum, from time to time I'll talk about some REALLY GOOD MOVIES. If anyone out there wants to make suggestions for future posts, or has comments about my selections, let me know.

Places in the Heart (1984)

Truly one of the best movies ever, a flawless classic. Set in 1935, Waxahachie, TX, Edna Spalding is alone and financially destitute, after the accidental shooting of her Sheriff husband. Living on a small farm in the middle of America's Great Depression, she is helped by a wandering cotton farmer, Moses, and a blind border, Mr. Will, who teach her how to appreciate life, despite tragedy and hardships.

Reasons why I love this movie?

Places in the Heart came out in 1984, and at that time my daughter, whose nickname had been Possum since her birth in 1979, was five years old, about the same age as the "Possum" in this movie.


Danny Glover ... need I say more? He always brings a touch of magic to any film he's in. He's one of the best.


Sally Field, of course, is always funny and believable. She makes the characters she plays seem real.


And John Malkovich ! This was the first time I had seen John Malkovich. His acting was so superb, I was stunned. And I thought, "How wonderful that a blind person can become a great actor!" That's how convincing he is in this role.

(Many scenes are too violent for children)

Crimes of the Heart (1986)

Crimes of the Heart is the story of three eccentric southern sisters, who have all reunited one hot summer at their family home after the youngest, Babe, has shot her husband, and the grandfather (Old Paw) of the three woman is succumbing to old age.

Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, Diane Keaton, and Sam Shepard unite to make this movie hilariously funny, touching, and most memorable. I love the humor. One unforgettable line is Jessica Lange complaining about Sam Shepard's "Yankee wife and his little half-Yankee children."
(Southern gothic drama)

A Family Thing (1996)

Starring Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones, this is one of my favorites. Two middle-aged men, one white, one black, suddenly discover that they are literally brothers.

Any other writers handed this premise would probably play it for cheap laughs, but Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson made an earnest drama out of it, one lightened by a few affectionate laughs and much heartfelt sentimentality.

The movie is about the ways Earl Pilcher (Robert Duvall) and Ray Murdock (James Earl Jones) slowly, grudgingly, come to terms with this news and open themselves up to each other.

Funny and sincere.

Why Did the Camel Cross the Desert?

This is it! The last day of April. And do we think that all foolishness shall cease, now that April is passed? Naaa, probably not.

My daughter sent me one of the most informative, and conceivably helpful, articles ... you know those things people are always forwarding to you and 7000 others. Well, this one was received with great joy, and I might add, gratitude. It's How to Regain Control of a Spooked Camel. Of course, that's something I wanted to know.

Some of the most important points were (1) Stay calm, (2) Hang on, and (3) Consider a quick dismount. (4) Get off the camel once you have it under control sounded pretty good to me too.

So, all this camel business brought to mind, of course, Peter O'Toole, one of my favorite fellows in all the world, and the persona of Lawrence of Arabia.

Here's the man himself, I guess he's looking for his camel.

Many years ago, I saw Mr. O'Toole on The Tonight Show, giving the most hilarious account of his camel-riding experiences while filming the movie Lawrence of Arabia. After discussing the options, which were few, he and Omar Sharif decided to tie themselves to the camels. But Peter O'Toole said, "I really didn't feel enthusiastic about having myself adhered to a stampeding camel!" So he told Omar, "I think I'll just get really drunk." And Omar Sharif said, "Oh, I'm gonna do that too!"

So, the two of them got drunk and then had themselves adhered to the camels, then filmed the camels charging into battle. O'Toole admitted that he was so drunk he had no idea where he was or what he was doing for the entire scene

Here's Peter again, with a decidedly amusing expression on his face while poking his camel with a camel-poking stick.

In June 2008, Lawrence of Arabia was ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the ten greatest films in the "epic" genre, and Peter O'Toole's performance as T.E. Lawrence is the #1 ranked performance of all time in Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

Want to know more about How to Regain Control of a Spooked Camel? Here's the web address.

http://www.wikihow.com/Regain-Control-of-a-Spooked-Camel