2020
POTD: Old Dodge
I believe this is a 1966 Dodge D100. ~Vic
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Snapshots Sunday: Animal Friends 6.0
Shots of the locals. ~Vic
05-12-2018
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06-23-2019
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09-04-2019
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09-23-2019
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10-15-2019
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04-04-2020
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POTD: Whale Cloud
Can you see it? Companion piece to my 2019 post. ~Vic
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Sir Thomas Sean Connery
Bond. James Bond.
Photo Credit: Far Out Magazine UK
I just found out about the passing of actor Sean Connery. There are certain actors I have a thing for and he is one of them. Our birthdays are five days apart and we both have Scottish (and Irish) ancestry. He enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of 16, was assigned to the HMS Formidable as an Able Seaman and was medically discharged at 19 for ulcers.
Image Credit: Time
One of his early endeavors was as an artist’s model. He was into bodybuilding and was in a Mr. Universe contest, though the actual year is disputed. He was a footballer, playing for Bonnyrigg Rose and was once offered a contract to play professionally:
“[I] realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30 and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves.”
He was a member of the Scottish National Party and campaigned for Scottish Independence, financially supporting the party until the UK passed legislation to prohibit overseas funding. One of his two tattoos was “Scotland Forever.”
He managed to make it all the way to 90 but, according to his son Jason, he had been unwell for some time. He passed peacefully in his sleep at his home in the Bahamas. I think it altogether fitting and proper that Sir Sean left on Halloween during a full Blue Moon. Godspeed. ~Vic
Image Credit: Reddit
Career Highlights:
His acting debut (uncredited) was in the UK film Lilacs in the Spring (titled Let’s Make Up in the US) in 1954, a British musical starring Errol Flynn. On UK TV, he played MacBeth, Alexander the Great and Count Vronsky. His first appearance on US TV was on The Jack Benny Program in 1957. His first credited film roll in the US was a UK/US collaboration in the movie Action of the Tiger, also in 1957. He was the first James Bond (and some say the only one), he played a savage in the distant future, became Robin Hood, was a Marshal in outer space, was King Agamemnon, was a sword-wielding immortal, did a turn as a Franciscan friar, was an Untouchable, a Provost Marshall in San Francisco, was the father of Indiana Jones, a Russian submarine Captain, appeared as King Richard, became a doctor, was a detective, a professor, played King Arthur, played an ex-con & an art thief, was a reclusive author and, was the voice of The Last Dragon. He was only in one Western in 1968. His last time on the big screen was in 2003 playing Allan Quatermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and his last time on TV was playing character John Muir in an episode of the documentary Freedom: A History of US, also in 2003. He did voice work up to 2012.
Awards:
♥ 1987 Academy Award (Best Supporting Actor/The Untouchables)
♥ 1987 BAFTA (Best Actor/The Name of the Rose)
♥ 1998 BAFTA Fellowship
♥ 1972 Golden Globe (Henrietta Award/World Film Favorite-Male)
♥ 1987 Golden Globe (Best Supporting Actor/The Untouchables)
♥ 1995 Golden Globe (Cecil B. DeMille Award)
Photo Credit: Pinterest
Nominations:
♦ 1987 BAFTA (Best Supporting Actor/The Untouchables)
♦ 1989 BAFTA (Best Supporting Actor/Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)
♦ 1990 BAFTA (Best Actor/The Hunt for Red October)
♦ 1965 Golden Globe (Henrietta Award/World Film Favorite-Male)
♦ 1968 Golden Globe (Henrietta Award/World Film Favorite-Male)
♦ 1989 Golden Globe (Best Supporting Actor/Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)
www.seanconnery.com (Web Archive)
Additional Reading & Sources:
BBC News
Belly Buzz (Web Archive of Connery’s Military Service)
List of Work (IMDb)
List of Work (Wikipedia)
Muscle Memory (As Tom Connery)
Scottish Junior Football Association (Web Archive)
Scottish Roots
Talk-Talk UK (Archive Today Copy of Connery’s Biography)
Hunter’s Blue Moon Halloween 2020
I did a complete write-up in 2018 on the Hunter’s Moon so, I won’t repeat it, here. That being said, this is a Blue Moon as October’s first full moon fell on…well…the first.
10-30-2020
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From Moon Giant:
Humans through the ages have always found autumn’s full moons to be creepy and not without good reason. [T]his year, the moon will be extra exciting. The month starts with the Harvest Moon on October 1st and a second Blue Moon on Halloween, October 31st. The Harvest Moon is the Full Moon that falls closest to the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd. In most years, the September Full Moon lands closest but, this is one of the rare years that the October Full Moon falls very early in the month and closest to the Equinox. This makes the first Full Moon the Harvest Moon and, the second, the Full Hunter’s Moon.
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More from Moon Giant:
The modern day definition of a Blue Moon is when there are 2 Full Moons in one month. A Full Moon occurs roughly every 29.5 days and, on the rare occasion when the Full Moon falls at the very beginning of a month, there is a good chance a Blue Moon will occur at the end of the month. Depending on the exact time of the Blue Moon it is possible that some places in the world don’t technically have a Blue Moon. The modern definition […] was derived from an earlier idea of what a Blue Moon was. This earlier definition says a Blue Moon is when there are [four] Full Moons in a season rather than the usual [three]. The Blue moon is the 3rd Full Moon out of the 4. This definition gets a bit complicated and its origins are murky. One school of thought has to do with the naming of the Full Moons. Many cultures named the Full Moons each month to reflect the times for planting, harvesting or seasonal conditions. When an extra Full Moon was thrown in it was referred to as a Blue Moon to keep the Full Moon names constant throughout the year. The idea of a Blue Moon being the extra full Moon in a season (or when there were 13 in a year) was widely used in 19th, and early 20th [century], Farmers Almanacs and the more modern version seems to have come from an article written in the 1930s that misinterpreted the Farmers Almanac definition. The article was titled “Once in a Blue Moon” and from that point on, the term became part of the popular culture.
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From Time and Date:
Why is it called a Blue Moon? The historical origins of the term and its two definitions are shrouded in a bit of mystery and, by many accounts, an interpretation error. Some believe that the term “blue moon”, meaning something rare, may have originated from when smoke and ashes after a volcanic eruption turned the Moon blue. Others trace the term’s origin to over 400 years ago. [F]olklorist Philip Hiscock has suggested that invoking the Blue Moon once meant that something was absurd and would never happen. This Halloween Blue Moon […] is also a Micro Full Moon.
10-31-2020
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100% illumination occurred at 10:49am EDT. ~Vic
POTD: Metal Butterfly
More lovely metal work in a pollinator garden in the little kids’ Turnip Patch Park. ~Vic
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POTD: Tree Art
This is a companion piece to my Virus Humor post back in April. It takes talent and patience to do this. And, a sharp knife. ~Vic
04-15-2020
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Shutterbug Saturday: Halloween Local 4.0
The mood of our country isn’t really conducive to decorating or celebrating. There are a few highlights, here but, our town isn’t showing a lot of Halloween spirit. It’s a complete shame but, I managed to get a few shots. ~Vic
Halloween Local 3.0
09-26-2020
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10-14-2020
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09-26-2020
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This was on a box, on the ground, at our local market.
10-07-2020
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10-01-2020
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10-07-2020
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10-07-2020
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I love the starfish pumpkin.
10-01-2020
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10-01-2020
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10-01-2020
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10-10-2020
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10-08-2020
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The pumpkin will be carved for Halloween.
10-20-2020
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POTD: Hiatus
I’m taking a break from blogging for a while. I’m kinda burned out. In fact, I’m burned out on a lot of things. I’m not sure when I will return. ~Vic
02-25-2020
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POTD: The Robot
I can’t tell if it is facing me or facing the house. It looks like his feet are facing the house and it appears he has a ray gun facing the house but, he has eyes looking at me. Maybe it is a confused robot but, the metal work is cute. ~Vic
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Story Sunday: Ig Nobel Prize Goes For Alligator On Helium
YouTube
MSN & CNN
“Alligator sucking on helium wins parody Ig Nobel Prize”
Scientists are answering a question no one is asking. What would it sound like if an alligator sucked up helium? When a team of international researchers wanted to find out whether a gator’s vocalizations relate to its body size, they devised an experiment that would earn them the 2020 Ig Nobel (a wordplay on “Nobel” and “ignoble”) Prize for acoustics. Researchers captured footage of the snorting alligator in a helium-filled tank. In perhaps one of the biggest letdowns in the history of scientific study, it sounded nothing like a cartoon chipmunk. Now in its 30th year, the annual Ig Nobel Prize awards ceremony, usually presented at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, was conducted remotely due to pandemic restrictions.
Among this year’s other elite competitors, a study which demonstrated that meticulously groomed eyebrows are a reliable indicator of grandiose narcissism took home the prize in psychology. The prize in economics went to an international team of creeps (presumably) who wanted to know whether the rate of French kissing correlated with national income inequality. Based on data from 13 countries across six continents, they found that where kissing was more frequent, income inequality was also more likely to occur. Go figure. American Richard Vetter took home the prize in entomology for his brave study on spiders (which aren’t technically insects) that revealed most of his peers are, allegedly, arachnophobic. And, the award for materials science went deservedly (because it’s gross) to a collaboration between the US and the UK to study whether frozen human feces could be made into usable knives. Spoiler alert: It certainly cannot.
But, who could forget the most Ig Nobel moment in recent history? The medical education prize went to a roundup of sometimes ill-advised world leaders for showing that “politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors can” during the global coronavirus pandemic.
Hannah Sparks
New York Post
September 18, 2020
Word Wednesday: Quondam
This is, clearly, an obscure word. It sounds like a portmanteau of quantum and condom. Hmmm…Quantum Condoms, for an “out of this world” experience! Whadda ya’ think? Can you make a sentence with this word? ~Vic
POTD: Shadow Man
I saw this on an afternoon walk. “Only the Shadow knows…” ~Vic
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Song Saturday: Jamie’s Cryin’
**Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020)**
“She saw the look in his eyes, and she knew better…”
This Saturday’s playlist submission is Jamie’s Cryin’ by American rock band Van Halen, formed in 1972 in Pasadena, California. The sixth track from their debut album Van Halen, it was released as a single on May 16, 1978 but, it never charted. Credit for songwriting is the whole band and the album peaked at #19 on the Billboard 200 on May 20, 1978 after its February 10 release. It was certified RIAA Diamond (10x Platinum) in sales on August 7, 1996.
After their 2015 North American Tour, they appear to be on indefinite hiatus. Eddie Van Halen has had some serious health problems.
American rapper Tone Lōc used the opening tom-tom and bass riff from this song on his 1989 hit Wild Thing and wound up settling out of court with Van Halen. He and Eddie Van Halen crossed paths some time afterwards and it wasn’t friendly.
I was in sixth grade when this song came out and I had no clue. I was all into disco back then. I didn’t know who they were until Dance the Night Away came out the following year. I didn’t buy an album of theirs until Diver Down. I have never been to a concert. ~Vic
Tone Lōc Talks About Debut Album & Eddie Van Halen (Billboard January 25, 2019)
America’s Songs III: Rock! Rock! (Google Books)
Van-Halen (Official Site)
Van Halen News Desk (Unofficial Site)
Gene Simmons Talks Lost Seventies Van Halen Demos (Rolling Stone March 22, 2016)
Eddie Van Halen’s Wife’s Positivity (Survivor Net September 8, 2020)
