Messages

1

Off-Topic Discussion / Re: Happy Birthday Doug!

« on: Today at 09:31:25 AM »

Happy Birthday, Doug!



In celebration, he is giving US a present. He is an author and he is offering us his books, today only, for free:

Thank you, but let's be super, super clear, I've self-published these books. I had given up on writing novels and then I was part-time back in 2015 for 3 years, and I ran across Createspace with Amazon and I thought I'd put poetry up. Then I thought I had a novella that was maybe 85% there and I rewrote it and I feel like I finally found my voice and was by and large happy with a long work of mine for the first time ever. So I moved on to another old novel and rewrote that, cutting out 15,000 words, and was happy with it. So I never really put the effort there to send these to publishers. Unfortunately I'm really terrible at self-promotion and maybe I'm fearful of rejection. I think my stuff is up to a professional level, without the support a professional writer would have, but I unfortunately don't work in a genre that is easily marketed.

Anyhow I have four novels. Caput Mortem was the novella I mentioned. It's a comedy about a couple brothers who run a shop that has a ghost in it. CrossWinds is a coming-of-age romance fantasy. Blast of Fire (the title taken from the movie Blast of Silence) is a "fantasy noir" set in Vegas. It's not one of those silly fantasies where characters in the modern age are speaking like hard-boiled characters. And finally The Followee. Plus two short books of poetry and shorts, and a few short stories.

If anyone is interested I can set the kindle price to free for limited periods, if anyone wants to check them out. How about I make everything free this coming Saturday April 4. You don't need a kindle device to read them, you can use your computer and the right program. If you miss that day and would like to look at these, let me know. I won't ask you to give me feedback or anything. That would be up to you, if you wanted.

Here is the link:
https://www.amazon.com/Doug-Hatley/e/B085KYQYTX?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000

Enjoy! 

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: How's everyone holding up?

« on: Today at 09:06:33 AM »

Yes, I've been occasionally listening to Chris Cuomo's reporting on his own illness. It's brutal and chilling. His brother's daily briefings have become appointment television for me.

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: Netflix users ???

« on: April 02, 2020, 10:58:50 PM »

Some things I see, I wish there were a way to un-see. 

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: How's everyone holding up?

« on: April 01, 2020, 09:06:11 PM »

There are four obituaries in today's New York Times. They take up all the editorial space on pages 26-27 of the print edition.

    Joe Diffie, Grammy-Winning Country Music Star, Dies at 61

    Mike Longo, Jazz Pianist, Composer and Educator, Dies at 83

    Alan Merrill, a Songwriter of ‘I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,’ Dies

    William Helmreich, Sociologist and a Walker in the City, Dies at 74

All died of the coronavirus.

The online Times says they are a part of a series about coronavirus victims, "Those we've lost." However, the print edition says nothing about that, and each person was prominent enough to rate a Times obit no matter how they died. They are the only four obits that ran today, so I thought that was a grim milestone of sorts.

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Trivia Games / Re: Clint Eastwood quotes for "the situation"

« on: March 28, 2020, 07:48:35 PM »

Another "social distancing" one: "A couple of steps back ..."

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/Qd9p6zTb2k0" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/Qd9p6zTb2k0</a>

When the Man with No Name is around, social distancing is easy to enforce! 

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Trivia Games / Re: Clint Eastwood quotes for "the situation"

« on: March 28, 2020, 07:32:21 PM »

Good one, SK! More so in some countries than in others.

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Trivia Games / Re: Clint Eastwood quotes for "the situation"

« on: March 27, 2020, 10:26:49 AM »

Yes, that's the kind of thing I'm thinking of. No need to venture into A Fistful of Dollars territory.

How about:

To kids out partying on the beaches: "You've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky?"

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: The Celebrity Obituary Thread

« on: March 26, 2020, 09:05:59 PM »

Another Coronavirus victim: Playwright Terrence McNally, four-time Tony winner.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/theater/terrence-mcnally-dead-coronavirus.html

Mr. McNally’s Tony Awards attest to his versatility. Two were for books for musicals, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993) and “Ragtime” (1998), and two were for plays, and vastly different ones: “Love! Valour! Compassion!” (1995), about gay men who share a vacation house, and “Master Class” (1996), in which the opera diva Maria Callas reflects on her career.

And those prize winners were only a small part of his oeuvre. With some three dozen plays to his credit, as well as the books for 10 musicals, the librettos for four operas and a handful of screenplays for film and television, Mr. McNally was a remarkably prolific and consistent dramatist.

He was also a frequent panelist on the "Texaco Opera Quiz," which is a long-running feature in the Metropolitan Opera's Saturday broadcasts. Always one of the best-informed, and wittiest.

R.I.P.

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Trivia Games / Clint Eastwood quotes for "the situation"

« on: March 25, 2020, 09:37:48 PM »

This isn't really a trivia game, but I thought maybe to pass the time we could try to think of some appropriate quotes from Clint's movies for the situation we find ourselves in.

Just think of a topic and a quote. I'll start:

Social distancing: "Get off my lawn!"—Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino

Anyone else have one?

10

Eastwood News / Re: Re: Eastwood in the press (minor mentions)

« on: March 22, 2020, 09:58:50 PM »

I wanted to post a link to a neat little story in the sports section of the Times today with a selection of unusual sports movies to watch during the international sports hiatus owing to the pandemic ... beginning with Invictus.

But I simply could not find it on the Times website. I finally came to the conclusion that it had been pulled, for reasons unknown (not all the films are currently available streaming? Who knows?)

Anyway, I still have the "paper" paper, so here it is:


The pertinent detail:

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: The Celebrity Obituary Thread

« on: March 22, 2020, 09:00:28 PM »

I haven’t read his death was the result of covid 19 in ANY articles and tributes!!!!! 

Indeed, the Times obit linked to above says:

Mr. Hagan did not specify the cause but said Mr. Rogers had been in hospice care. Mr. Rogers retired from performing for health reasons in 2018.

CNN does say:

Although Rogers certainly deserves a prominent memorial to pay homage to his decades-long career, he won’t be getting one. His family released a statement explaining they will be holding a private ceremony because of the national emergency. A public memorial may follow at a later date.

Perhaps that is the source of the confusion.

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: How's everyone holding up?

« on: March 19, 2020, 12:20:30 AM »

Thanks for starting this thread, Matt. I've been meaning to start one like it.

Hard to believe, but just a week ago, everything was still near normal in the New York area. I was going to my job at the New York Public Library every day, planning to take in a public reading there in a few days, stopping at a nearby gym a couple of times a week, enjoying the televised Spring Training games and looking forward to going to Opening Day of the baseball season in a couple of weeks, thinking of picking up a ticket to The Flying Dutchman at the Met, anticipating Act Three of Tristan und Isolde at Carnegie Hall next month, making plans to get together with friends for dinner at a Greek restaurant near me, wondering when I could get over to the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Met Breuer, and when I would find time to catch three or four movies that had recently opened.

In the blink of an eye, all that was gone.

Now I'm home from work (trying to work from home, but there are limits on what I can do), with no baseball, no opera, no concerts, no museums, no movies, no gyms, no restaurants ... no nothin'. The City That Never Sleeps has slipped into a coma.

I'm still going out running in Central Park every day. At least they haven't shut that down. Yet.

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Web Site Announcements / Re: The Stats Thread

« on: March 15, 2020, 09:54:31 AM »

Congratulations, Perry! 1,000 posts!



(And he's still a llama after all these years. )

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Eastwood News / Re: Clint Eastwood’s next project

« on: March 14, 2020, 08:21:41 PM »

Actually, we hope he DOES have a few more years, or more if he wants, but we also hope he won't wait that long. Just in case.

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: THE ENDLESS, POINTLESS thread

« on: March 14, 2020, 08:16:32 PM »

I think Sister Cookie's video (with Gant on drums) is worthy of embedding here:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/wIQQ30lbbgo" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/wIQQ30lbbgo</a>

 

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: THE ENDLESS, POINTLESS thread

« on: March 14, 2020, 07:51:15 AM »

^ Nice! The drums sound great.

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Eastwood News / Re: Clint Eastwood’s next project

« on: March 13, 2020, 08:21:57 PM »

"Hawaii Nine-O"?

(I wrote that in jest, alluding to his age, but it turns out that title was really used ... for a series of surfing videos from the '90s! )

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Eastwood News / Re: Who saw RICHARD JEWELL? Members' Comments (WARNING: SPOILERS ALLOWED!)

« on: March 05, 2020, 08:37:54 AM »

Very nice review, batfunk2! Thank you!

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Eastwood News / Re: Eastwood on the Southbank

« on: March 03, 2020, 10:31:56 PM »

Here is the link to the BFI site with the schedule:

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=clinteastwood&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=

Clint Eastwood
April 2020

A season of the actor-director’s finest films and most iconic performances.

Introduction by season programmer Justin Johnson

Introduction

"A lifetime in movies is the same as a lifetime in any profession: you are constantly a student"
Clint Eastwood

With a huge body of work as an actor and director, Clint Eastwood turns 90 in May and we mark the occasion with this bijou season featuring some iconic yet sometimes morally ambiguous roles. Whether it be a ‘dirty’ cop who challenges how far a democratic society should go to protect itself, a bounty hunter who uses the ruthless methods of the criminals he hunts against them, or a war veteran who finds himself either caught up in a gang war or working for a drugs cartel, Eastwood is able to hold his own as an anti-hero. Having learned his directing craft from being on set with some of the very best, Eastwood creates films that are always challenging, powerful and traditionally accomplished pictures.

Justin Johnson

What a program! Er, programme! (Sorry, Gant!)

Wish I could travel over there for the whole thing!

Thanks for the tip-off, Gant!

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Off-Topic Discussion / Re: Happy belated birthday, Palooka!

« on: March 01, 2020, 10:16:33 PM »

I had forgotten Palooka was a Leap Day birthday boy!

Happy Belated Birthday!

Hope it was wonderful.