Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Monthly Archives: July 2008
¿Quién es Más Macho?
You decide.
Not that I mind some good ol’ patriotic man-love.
D.
Your late evening camp
Earlier this evening, Karen was watching A Patch of Blue. She explained the plot to Jake, and when she got to the part about the white blind girl befriending the black guy, I said, “Who, back then, could only be Sidney Poitier.”
Then I thought, hold on, there must have been at least a few other strong black leads back then. But the only man I could recall was Woody Strode. (It’s hard for me to think of others. Poitier’s great, but he really did dominate the field.)
Now, you might not have heard of Woody Strode unless you’ve seen Kubrick’s Spartacus or Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West. Strode had small but memorable parts in both movies: in Spartacus, he engages Kirk Douglas in a fight to the death, while in Once Upon A Time In The West, he plays one of three gunmen sent to kill Harmonica (Charles Bronson) in the film’s stunning opening.
According to the Wiki linked above, Strode was a decathlete and football star before becoming an actor. Of his athletic career,
His world class decathlon capabilities were spearheaded by a fifty foot plus shot put (when the world record was fifty seven feet) and a six-four high jump (world record at time was 6-10). Strode posed for a nude portrait, part of Hubert Stowitts’s acclaimed exhibition of athletic portraits shown at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (although the inclusion of black and Jewish athletes caused the Nazis to close the exhibit).
(You can see a few of those nude paintings, including Strode’s, here.) I couldn’t find a good Strode video clip to share with you, but I did find a campy one. See if you can name his white, male co-star.
Okay, I gotta go see what happens to the dog.
D.
OMFG . . . Watchmen.
I’ve been trying to write one of those dcr-style meta-posts where you construct an entire post out of links to your friends’ blogs. In the course of doing so, I found Invisible Lizard’s review of The Dark Knight, wherein he mentions
I came out of the theater feeling exhausted. Sure, it could be the 152 minute running time, the 20 minutes of previews (Watchmen, yeah!) and the 20 minutes of pre-show ads . . .
Watchmen? Watchmen?
(I’ll try to restrain my trepidation that Zack “300” Snyder is directing, and my disgust that Alan Moore is listed as “uncredited.”)
Looks amazing, doesn’t it?
D.
Thinner
I never thought it would be so pleasurable to give stuff away.
It’s not the satisfaction one feels from donating to a favorite charity. It’s the exquisite lightness of not having so much crap. Here’s how my day went:
I woke up a little after 6 and went out to the telephone pole to nail up my “FREE” signs. My last two “FREE” signs disappeared on Monday, thanks no doubt to some neighborhood busybody’s fear that free stuff might attract the wrong element. This time around, I hauled out the ladder and nailed my signs as high as I could. So far, my strategy has worked brilliantly.
A Flickr back for Dean
This one’s for Dean, who really loves his backs. (Not safe for work, most of those.)
From wuya02’s photostream.
D.
LOLFERRETS
No, the idea isn’t original. Check out these guys, for example. Or this post.
Still, no one quite has my sensibilities when it comes to pets . . . or humor. Not that I’m at the top of my form tonight, but what the hell. Here goes.
Tonight’s LOLFERRETS is dedicated to Bueller’s obsession with footwear.
What do they find so fascinating about shoes? Stinkier the better, it seems. Perhaps . . .
Between cases today, I filmed the OR gals who have made my professional life bearable these last ten years. Once I cobble together a video, you (and they) will be the first to know.
It’s gonna be special.
D.
I am such an asshole
I went through the office yesterday snapping photos. My employer in Santa Rosa might want to purchase some of my gear; what he doesn’t want, I’ll sell at an office “yard sale.” Anyway, while snapping photos, I held the camera up over the divider for Catrina’s space and said, “HEY, CATRINA!”
Reading contracts tonight
. . . so, pity us.
Or not. Check out Wikipedia’s big list of unusual articles . . . stuff you really won’t find in a print encyclopedia.
Really.
Taylor Mead’s Ass (1965) is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead, consisting entirely of a shot of Mead’s buttocks, and filmed at The Factory. Warhol came up with the idea for the film after reading a review in The Village Voice which said of his previous film Tarzan and Jane Regained… Sort of, that “… people don’t want to see an hour and a half of Taylor Mead’s ass”.
Of course, you knew I had to google her ass. And, damn it, Taylor Mead’s a guy.
D.
P.S.: and when you’re done with Wikipedia’s list of unusual articles, check out LOLCat Bible Translation Project.
20 An Ceiling Cat sayed, waterz bring me phishes, An burds, so kittehs can eat dem. But Ceiling Cat no eated dem.21 An Ceiling Cat maed big fishies An see monstrs, which wuz like big cows, except they no mood, An other stuffs dat mooves, An Ceiling Cat sawed iz good.22 An Ceiling Cat sed O hai, make bebehs kthx. An dont worry i wont watch u secksy, i not that kynd uf kitteh.23 An so teh…fith day. Ceiling Cat taek a wile 2 cawnt.
