ANOTHER MONTH

Well, another month shot to hell...they really do go faster the older you get; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. So I find that this blogging thing is fun; if I had more time (or a computer at home) I'd probably write even more. But for now I just enjoy the occasional post - after all, this
is 'world o heathcliff' and I can do whatever I want, eh. So see ya next month (is anybody out there, just nod if you can hear me...)

STORIES OF MY DAD...CONTINUED

Dad used to have a photo album of old pictures from before he was married. During WW2 when
he was in the RCAF, he was stationed in Africa at a radar installation in the jungle. One of the photos in his (now gone) album was a picture of about a dozen guys holding a REALLY REALLY large snake (dead). Wish he still had the picture, but it's gone now, thrown out in a cleaning frenzy. Ah,well...

STORIES OF MY DAD...

My Dad, now 88 years old, has traveled around the world and done many things in his prime. Now he lives in Nanaimo B.C. with my Mom. We heard many stories while growing up, but unfortunately my Dad has Alzheimer's and doesn't really remember them anymore. So I guess I'll try to remember them for him.
When he was young, my Dad had thoughts of becoming an author, and technically he was. He had 1 story published in a Canadian magazine. The story was about a dog named Chum. Chum was a dumb dog, and eventually his name evolved into Chump. But one day he saved someone's life (don't remember the details) and from then on he was called Champ. Dad even had a nom de plume: Eddie Sparks. Unfortunately he threw out his copy of the magazine along with with lots of other one of a kind mementos.

LAST 6 MOVIES ON THE BIG SCREEN

In reverse order:
'Land Of the Dead': George Romero does the killer zombie thing once again; very enjoyable.
'Dark Water': Oddly enough, don't remember much about his, so I guess it wasn't that good.
'Wedding Crashers': Funny in parts, but not as all out hilarious as some people may think.But Rachel McAdams is definitely hot!
'Red Eye': Pretty good thriller, and Rachel McAdams is still hot!
'Brothers Grimm': Funny and great effects-laden look at fairy tales.
'Flightplan' :Excellent thriller with Jodi Foster; just when it seems to dead end, makes a 90-degree turn and becomes something else.

XMAS IN SEPTEMBER

Wow, what a concept!
Apparently it's now ok to start putting out Xmas items (in Walmart,at least) in September. Yup, never to early to start with that. No wonder no one has much(if any) Xmas spirit left by the time the holiday actually gets here. Pretty soon, they'll be putting out the Xmas stuff as soon as they finish the seasonal after Xmas clearance. You know, it would be easier if they just put out all the holiday, for every holiday, stuff at the same time, and left it out all year. At least that way you could do all your holiday shopping in one visit instead of having to keep going back to the store. Man, wouldn't that be convenient!

LAST 6 BOOKS READ...continued

1)One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon: Black rain + murderous citizens. (good)
2)The Last Party by Anthony Haden-Guest: Studio 54 + the rise & fall of "Nightworld". (excell)
3)Cromwell:The Lord Protector by Antonia Fraser: Biography + history. (too long)
4)Universe 1 by Terry Carr: Original SF + (a little) fantasy. (good
5)Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz: Ghosts + serial killers. (excellent!)
6)Shadow Watch (Powerplays) by Tom Clancy: International Space Station + international terrorists. (good)

SHONEN SARUTOBI SASUKE

Otherwise known as 'Magic Boy', a Japanes anime movie from 1959(?). Saw this in the Phillipines when i was there in `59-`60; don't remember much, except parts were quite scary to a six year old boy. From what i recall, it had to do with evil witches who destroy a small village and kill everyone except a small baby who is adopted by a wizard (or something along those lines). He learns magic and gets revenge of the evil witches. Wish i could find it on dvd (or even vhs) to see if it really was as terrifying as i remember. Anybody else seen this movie; what did you think?

HORN & HARDART

Say what?? Actually, I was reading last night and the book mentioned Horn & Hardart cafeterias. They were these neat little cafeteria style eateries that had little doors with food
behind them. You would put money (1 or 2 quarters on up) and open the little door that had whatever you were interested in eating behind it. Sandwich, hot food, dessert,etc. What fun when I was little. My dad used to take me to NYC on my birthday and we would see a movie (after a short visit to his office at Mobil) and go to lunch at the automat, and just generally hang out until we caught the train home to Connecticut. After the movie we used to go to Orange Julius which was just an open counter on the sidewalk at the time; never saw them anywhere else back then. Horn & Hardart...anyone else remember them..been there?...done that?

RENAISSANCE - THE BAND

Now there's a band you never hear much about anymore. They were big in the 70s; and Annie Haslam sure had a great voice. I wonder why you never hear anything from them on the radio at all? "Carpet Of the Sun", "Black Flame", "Mother Russia", "Ocean Gypsy", "The Vultures Fly High"; really great songs. If you ever see a copy of "Tales Of 1001 Nights", by all means buy it.

MOVIES

Well, this is weird. Looking through a desk drawer last night, i found an old list of movies i'd seen at the movie theaters. Here's some from the list you may never have heard of (and some I don't remember!). 'Soldier Blue'(with a young Candace Bergen), 'Lawman', 'White Comanche', 'Percy', (An English penis movie!), 6-1/2hr Russian 'War and Peace', Blood & Black Lace', 'The Revolutionary', 'Z', 'Getting Straight', 'W.U.S.A.', 'The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes', 'Bobbie' (a Patty Duke movie,if i recall), 'All the WAy Up', 'Walk A Crooked Path', 'The Devils', 'The Hellstrom Chronicles'(bugs will rule the earth!), 'Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion', 'The Jokers', 'Now You See Him,Now You Don't', 'The Unholy Rollers'.

Interesting, eh? Leave me a note if you've seen any of these...