Monday, August 23, 2010

August Happiness Challenge 2010 -- Day 23


My virtue. I not only worked out at lunchtime, I brought my lunch. AND I resisted the seductive scent of barbecue and made my own dinner at home. Brings me just that much closer to my dual goals of no longer being fat and poor.

Introducing Urban Shocker


Is this not one of the greatest baseball names ever?

Born in 1890, Urban played for the Yankees and the St. Louis Browns from 1916 to 1928. According to my baseball page-a-day calendar, yesterday would have been his 120th birthday. I wish I'd known so I could celebrate accordingly.

"Oh, Gal, this is AWFUL!"

That's how my 10-year-old nephew responded last night when I said, "Hello." The family has been away all week, up in Wisconsin in a cabin without a TV, and he didn't find out until Sunday morning (from friends at a birthday party) that the Cubs had traded D Lee and Lou had suddenly retired.

We agreed we would rather keep losing with a team we like than say goodbye.

He's a Cub fan.

Movie Monday -- Prison Movies

Share movies you've enjoyed featuring jail time or the escape from them, linking back here at The Bumbles. However - NO SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION ALLOWED - that is a slam-dunk automatic. And don't forget to visit your fellow participants!

Cool Hand Luke was just on over the weekend so it's very top of mind. So many favorite scenes! The 50 eggs, "Plastic Jesus," and the montage at the end, when the guys are recalling "that Luke
smile." I may be alone among women on the planet, but I never found Paul Newman sexy. However, when you see "that Luke smile," you can't help but smile back. He was, without a doubt, the coolest man ever.

Brubaker. How can I think of Newman without Redford? I believe this is the only movie where Redford played a character on the right side of the law. He plays a high-minded pris
on reformer, sometimes so stubbornly high-minded he gets in his own way. It's almost as though he's playing the Streisand/Way We Were part this time, with Jane Alexander as the one who is willing to work within the system and compromise. While non-sexual, the conflict and respect between these two characters is unusual and interesting to watch. He's so sure he's right, so convinced that he can help these men (whom he admits are probably very bad men) that he gets himself fired. Could he have done more good if he hadn't been so hellbent on being right? I like movies that are about something, and this one delivers.