Hasselhoff Wednesday: Don't do it

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

blatherskite \BLATH-er-skahyt\, noun: 

1. a person given to voluble, empty talk.
2. nonsense; blather.

Blatherskite was a popular colloquialism in the U.S. in the early 1800s, thanks in part to a Scottish song called "Maggie Lauder," which featured the word (spelled bletherskate) and was popular among soldiers during the American Revolutionary War.

umbrella hitchhike

• to hitch a walk under a stranger's umbrella when it's raining.

Paul: It was raining so hard I had to umbrella hitchhike a couple blocks on my way here.

James: Dude, that's pretty dangerous, invading a stranger's personal space like that.

 

History

• Regnans in Excelsis: Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I of England in support of the Roman Catholic rebellion; it did not go well (1570)
• Hiram Rhoades Revels: became the first African-American senator, filling the unexpired term of Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis (1870)
• hockey: was first televised; the Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2 at Madison Square Garden (1940)
• Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston: the boxer later known as Muhammad Ali won the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston at age 22; he lost it and rewon it twice more (1964)

Birthdays

• Pierre Auguste Renoir 1841 - Impressionist artist
• Adelle Davis 1904
  

  
• Zeppo Marx 1909 - Comedian (Marx Brothers)
• Millicent Fenwick 1910 - Human rights activists
• Jim Backus 1913 - Actor (voice of Mr. Magoo, "Gilligan's Island", "Rebel Without a Cause")
• Ralph Baldwin 1916 - Horse trainer
• Anthony Burgess 1917 - Author ("A Clockwork Orange")
• Bobby Riggs 1918 - Tennis player
• Monte Irvin 1919 - Baseball player
• 'Texas Rose' Bascom 1922 - Trick roper
• (Elsie) Lisa Kirk 1925 - Singer, actress ("The Producers")
• Bert Remsen 1925 - Actor ("Dick Tracy")
• Ralph Stanley 1927 - Musician (Stanley Brothers)
• René Thomas 1927 - Musician, jazz guitarist
• Ralph Stanley 1927
• Larry Gelbart 1928 - Producer, writer
• Tommy Newsom 1929 - Musician, arranger, composer, back-up conductor (NBC's Tonight Show band)
• John Astin 1930
• Faron Young 1932 - singer, actor, founder of Music City News magazine
• Linda Cristal (Marta Victoria Moya Burges) 1934 - Actress
• Tony Lema 1934 - Golfer
• Sally Jessy Raphael (Sally Lowenthal) 1935 - TV talk show host
• Tom Courtenay 1937 - Actor ("Doctor Zhivago", "The Last Butterfly")
• Bob Schieffer 1937 - Report
• Diane Baker 1938
• Denny Lemaster 1939 - Baseball player
• Ron Santo 1940 - Baseball player
• Carl Eller 1942 - Football player
• Karen Grassle 1944 - Actress ("Little House on the Prairie")
• Matt Guokas 1944 - Basketball player
• Jack Handey 1961 - Author, TV writer ("Saturday Night Live")
• Cesar Cedeno 1951 - Baseball player
• Lee Evans 1947 - Track and field athlete
• Dennis Diken 1957 - Musician (Smithereens)
• Stuart Wood 1957 - Musician (Bay City Rollers)
• Mike Peters 1959 - Musician (Alarm)
  

  
• Veronica Webb 1965 - Actress
• Téa Leoni 1966 - Actress ("Jurassic Park III", "Deep Impact")
• Carrot Top 1967 - Comedian
• Sean Astin 1971 - Actor ("The Goonies", "The War of the Roses", "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring")
• Julio Iglesias Jr. 1973 - Singer
• Chelsea Handler 1975 - hack comedian
• Rashida Jones 1976 - Actress ("The Office", "Parks and Recreation")
  

  Michelle Lewin 1986 - Fitness Model

  Isabelle Fuhrman 1997 - Orphan
   

  

   

   

 

  

24/2 - 2/24/24 - 2026

242

on 24/2

at 2:42

Front 242:

Tragedy >For You<

>For You<

>For You<

>For You<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4oFcaVY8iQ

With that skill that was hers alone

She drove her clutches into me

I was dumbfounded

She was hungry

She required me entirely

All that's left is here to remain
It's a dull and cruel pain

That passes the ages unaltered

Her stamp is in my heart

I still feel disemboweled

I clearly retain

A blank

The void

The sore in my soul

The mark in my heart

Her acid reign

Hot sun, global fun

Needed action, start to run

And that voice that was hers alone

Still resounds in me

She left me dislocated

Disavowed

And twitching

Her rhythm is in my heart

She inspired in me

An acute sense of treachery

Review Tuesday: Wizards (1977)

  

 

WIZARDS

1977

In a post-apocalyptic Earth Two WIZARDS and their armies battle for the future of the planet.

I don't know who, but someone put the idea in my head that I should watch the 1977 animated film WIZARDS.

 

Here's a skinny. The Wizards were born twins, but they are complete opposites, but simply one is good and teh other is evil. The evil one, Blackwolf (he's easy to spot, he has bones for arms and they are upside down, you'll know what I mean when you see it) has finally figured out a plan to conquer the planet. He discovers some WW2 German propaganda films and hardware. Somehow this causes the opposition to crumble. The good one, Avatar turns one of Blackwolf's own assassins against him, and goes on a journey making allies to try to defeat his brother. 

 

Okay, this movie is just weird. It perfectly reflects the anti-war '70s as well the ever-present fear of a Nazi Fourth Reich rising. It also is loaded with the 70s drug haze. I have a feeling you need to be heavy-glazed in order to truly enjoy this movie. It seemed to go on and on at point unnecessarily. It might've been better with some editing, but it's already an hour and twenty minutes, how short could it be trimmed down to? And the animation is all over the place. The cut scenes are made with incredible artwork, but they don't even line up with the artwork in the rest of the cartoon. Avatar looks completely different from one to the next! 

 

Possibly the biggest let down is the ending. The movie came out in 1977, so I don't care. The movie is called WIZARDS. The WIZARDS finally face off and what happens? Avatar pulls out a pistol and shoots her brother twice through the chest. No magic. Nothing mystical. BLAM! BLAM! YOU'RE DEAD! 

 

You can find it to watch for free on the Internet Archive, but I don't really feel it's worth the time or effort to do so.  

 

   

 

 

 

 

Review Tuesday: Imaginary (2024)

  

 

Imaginary

2024 

A child's imaginary friend might be a bigger problem than originally thought.

My BFF doesn't take suggestions very well. If she did, she wouldn't have selected this movie. It may be horror, but it's about a child. I don't like those.

 

Jessica (DeWanda Wise) is moving into her grandmother's home with her step-children. Her husband is going on tour, so it's just the girls at home getting to know each other better. Soon after moving in Alice (Pyper Braun) develops an imaginary friend named Chauncey. That's all fine and dandy until Chauncey starts asking Alice to do more dangerous things. After a therapist stops by, that's when Jessica realizes that there is something much more nefarious going on.   

 

I am pretty sure that this is a movie that Mrs Bax0jayz and I have rejected in the past. Main reason? It's a horror movie around a child. It's well made and all, but I have trouble taking these things seriously as a horror movie when the star is a child. I'd call it okay because it simply didn't seem original at all.     

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

dulcify \DUHL-suh-fahy\, verb:

1. to make more agreeable; mollify; appease.
2. to sweeten.

Dulcify is derived from the Latin word dulcis meaning "sweet." It entered English around 1600. 

off the box

• the state of being removed from a position of prominence/importance due to a foolish mistake. Related to Michael Phelps being dropped by Kellogg after a picture of him with a bong was released.

Dude, after that bonehead move you are so off the box.

History

• Gregorian calendar: solar calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in a papal bull known as Inter gravissimas, to correct the Julian calendar (1582)
• Marbury v. Madison: established judicial review, giving the Supreme Court power to overturn acts of Congress it deems unconstitutional (1803)
• Andrew Johnson: became the first US president to be impeached, for defying the Tenure of Office Act (1868)
• National Public Radio: the home of All Things Considered and Car Talk was created (1970)

Birthdays

• Wilhelm Grimm 1786 - Author with brother Jakob Grimm (Grimm's Fairy Tales: Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, The Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb)
• Winslow Homer 1836 - Artist
• Honus (John Peter) Wagner 1874 - Baseball player, "The Flying Dutchman"
• Chester Nimitz 1885 - U.S. Navy Admiral, WWII Commander in Chief, signed the Japanese surrender papers
• Marjorie Main (Mary Tomlinson) 1890 - Actress ("Ma and Pa Kettle", "The Egg and I")
• Zachary Scott (Zachary Thomson Scott, Jr.) 1914 - Actor ("Flamingo Road", "The Young One")
• Abe Vigoda 1921 - Actor ("Barney Miller", "The Godfather"), zombie
• Steven Hill 1922 - Actor ("Law & Order", "Mission: Impossible", "Leagle Eagles")
• Mark Lane 1927 - Attorney, author ("Rush to Judgment"), conspiracy theorist regarding the JFK assassination
• Bubba (John Melvin) Phillips 1928 - Baseball player
• Richard B. Shull 1929 - Actor ("Splash")
• Barbara Lawrence 1930
• Dominic Chianese 1931 - Actor ("The Sopranos"), singer
• John Vernon 1932 - Actor ("The Outlaw Jose Wales", "Dirty Harry")
• Michel Legrand 1932 - Composer
• Linda Cristal 1936
• Renata Scotto 1936 - Opera singer
• Lance Reventlow 1936 - Auto racer, son of Barbara Hutton
• James Farentino 1938 - Actor ("Dynasty", "The Final Countdown")
• Paul Jones 1942 - Musician (Manfred Mann)
• George Harrison 1943 - Musician (Beatles) - In 1992, Harrison stated, "I only learned recently after all these years that the date and time of my own birth have always been off by one calendar day and about a half hour on the clock." Previously, Harrison thought his birthday was the 25th.
• Sheila Larkin 1944
• Barry Bostwick 1945 - Actor ("Spy Hard", "Spin City" "War & Remembrance")
• Rupert Holmes 1947 - Musician, songwriter
• Edward James Olmos 1947 - Actor ("Blade Runner", "Miami Vice")

  
  
• Lonnie Turner 1947 - Musician (The Steve Miller Band)
• George Thorogood 1950 - Musician
• Helen Shaver 1951 - Actress ("The Craft", "Born to be Wild")
• Debra Jo Rupp 1951 - Actress ("That '70s Show")
• Fred Dean 1952 - Football player
• Tom Burleson 1952 - Basketball player
• Frank (Joseph) Riccelli 1953 - Baseball player
• Greg Wesbrooks 1953 - Football player
• Mike Sember 1953 - Baseball player
• Steven Jobs 1955 - Co-founder of Apple, Inc. - iTunes Music
• Bob Abrams 1955 - Musician (The Buckinghams)
• Paula Zahn 1956 - TV journalist ("CBS This Morning")
• Eddie Murray 1956 - Baseball player
• Sammy Kershaw 1958
• Michelle Shocked 1962 - Singer
• Todd Field 1964 - Director
• Billy Zane 1966 - Actor ("Titanic")
• Jeff Garcia 1970 - Football player
• Mike Lowell 1974 - Baseball player
• Simeon Rice 1974 - Football player
• Bonnie Somerville 1974 - Actress
• Lleyton Hewitt 1981 - Tennis player
• Brandon Brown 1983 - (Mista)