Tuesday, March 31, 2026

triumvirate \ trahy-UHM-ver-it, -vuh-reyt \ , noun;

1. any group or set of three.
2. Roman History. the office or magistracy of a triumvir.
3. a government of three officers or magistrates functioning jointly.
4. a coalition of three magistrates or rulers for joint administration.
5. any association of three in office or authority.

Origin: Triumvirate comes from the Latin triumvirātus and has been in English since the 1500s.

and then I found five dollars

• a phrase used at the end of a story that had really no point to be told to someone. used at the end of boring stories to make them seem more interesting and worthwhile.

"yesterday i went to the fridge and took out a yogurt but put it back and got an apple instead.
...and then i found 5 dollars."

 

History

• Alhambra Decree: was signed, giving Spain's Jews four months to convert or face expulsion (1492)
• Eiffel Tower: was dedicated in Paris; designed by bridge engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the open-lattice wrought iron masterpiece was the tallest structure in the world at the time (1889)
• Daylight Savings Time: was instituted in the US for the first time (1918)
• Dalai Lama: Tibetan spiritual and political leader went into exile and was granted asylum in India (1959)

Birthdays 

• Rene Descartes 1596 - Philosopher, "I think, therefore I am"
• Andrew Marvell 1621 - Poet
• John Harrison 1693
• Nikolai Gogol 1809 - Playwright, novelist
• Edward Fitzgerald 1809 - Author
• Robert Wilhelm Bunsen 1811
• Mary Chestnut 1823 - Author
• Sir Dugald Clerk 1854
• Jack Johnson 1878 - Boxer, author
• Henry Morgan 1915 - Comedian
• Tommy Bolt 1918 - Golfer
• Richard Kiley 1922 - Actor ("The Thorn Birds")
• Leo Buscaglia 1925
• Cesar Chavez 1927 - Labor leader, founder of National Farm Workers Association
• William Daniels 1927 - Actor ("St. Elsewhere", voice of KITT on "Knight Rider")
• Gordie (Gordon) Howe 1928 - Hockey player (Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers)
• Lefty (William Orville) Frizzell 1928 - Country musician
• Liz Claiborne 1929 - Fashion designer
• Miller Barber 1931 - Golfer
• John Jakes 1932 - Author ("California", "In the Big Country")
• John D. Loudermilk 1934 - Country singer and songwriter
• Shirley Jones 1934 - Singer, Actress ("The Partridge Family")
• Richard Chamberlain 1934 - Actor ("The Bourne Identity")
• Billy Hicke 1938 - Hockey player (Montreal Canadiens, NY Rangers, Minnesota Rangers, Baltimore Clippers, Oakland Seals, California Golden Seals, Pittsburgh Penguins)
• Herb Alpert 1935 - Musician
• Christopher Walken 1943 - Actor ("The Deerhunter", "Pulp Fiction")
• Rod Allen 1944 - Musician (The Fortunes)
• Gabe Kaplan 1945 - Actor ("Welcome Back Kotter"), comedian
• Al Nichol 1946 - Musician (The Turtles)
• Al Gore 1948 - lying shill
• Rhea Perlman 1948 - Actress ("Cheers"), comedian
• Mick Ralphs 1948 - Musician (Bad Company, Mott the Hoople)
• Ed Marinaro 1950 - Football player (Minnesota Vikings), Actor ("Hill Street Blues")
• Sean Hopper 1953 - Musician (Huey Lewis and The News)
• Marc McClure 1957 - Actor ("Freak Friday")
• Angus Young 1959 - Guitar player (AC/DC)
• William McNamara 1965 - Actor
• Pavel Bure 1971 - Hockey player
• Ewen McGregor 1971 - Actor ("Star Wars", "Moulin Rouge")

  

 

  

Review Tuesday: Heretic (2024)

 

 

HERETIC

(2024)

Two young missionaries knock on the wrong door. 

This was another tax-seaosn selection by my BFF. What's funny about that was only days earlier my wife and I were trying to decide on a movie to watch and almost selected this one, but decided against it. 

 

The movie opens with two young missionaries from LDS crossing town to get to an appointment. It seems perfectly pleasant. They arrive at the home of Mr. Reed who is expertly played as super-creepy by Hugh Grant. 

 

While this movie is QUITE GOOD, it reminds me of all those people I know who are fundamentalist atheists who want to impress upon the world how much more clever they are for NOT believing in religion. I would recommend this movie if you really like suspenseful horror. IN an aside, one of the stars of this movie is Sophie Thatcher as Sister Barnes who was the star of last week's movie reviewed COMPANION. She does an excellent job in this, along with Chloe East as Sister Paxton. 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28015403/ 

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

incondite \in-KON-dit\, adjective:

1. Ill-constructed; unpolished: incondite prose.
2. Crude; rough; unmannerly.

Incondite stems from the Latin root condere meaning "to put in, restore." The prefix in- also corresponds to the prefix un-, as in the word indefensible.

coffeedence 

• The sudden burst of confidence, focus, or creativity one experiences during or immediately following the consumption of coffee/caffeine.

"Holy shit, I've never seen Bob give such a good presentation. He on drugs or something?"
"No, but he had a double shot of espresso this morning -- must be coffeedence."

History

• Purple Heart: the military decoration was instituted by George Washington (1782)
• Ulysses: a US appeals court ruled that the James Joyce novel was not obscene and therefore should not be banned (1934)
• Kon-Tiki: the balsa wood raft made it across the Pacific, crashing at the end on a reef in the Tuomotu Islands; this demonstrated that pre-Columbian South Americans could have reached and settled Polynesia (1947)
• Gulf of Tonkin resolution: US Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to use military force in Vietnam (1964)
• Lynne Cox: swims the frigid Bering Strait, becoming the first person to swim from the US to the to the Soviet Union (1987)
• Twin Towers: Philippe Petit walked a tightrope between the towers of New York's World Trade Center (1974)
• US embassy bombings: simultaneous al-Qaeda attacks in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed over 200 people and wounded thousands (1998)

Birthdays

• Nathaniel Greene 1742
• Mata Hari 1876
• Billie Burke 1884
• Rudolf Bunche 1904
• Warren Covington 1921
• Felice Bryant 1925
• Stan Freberg 1926
• "The Amazing" James Randi 1928
• Magic Slim 1937
• Ron Holden 1939
• Verna Bloom 1939
• B.J. Thomas 1942
• Garrison Keillor 1942
• Lana Cantrell 1943
• John Glover 1944
• David Rasche 1944
• Rodney Crowell 1950
• Andy Fraser (Free) 1952
• Caroline Aaron 1952
• Wayne Knight 1955
• Alberto Salazar 1958
• Bruce Dickinson 1958 (Iron Maiden)
• David Duchovny 1960 (X-Files)
• DeLane Matthews 1961
• Marcus Roberts 1963
• Harold Perrineau 1963 - Actor ("Lost") 
• Raul Malo (The Mavericks) 1965
• Charlotte Lewis 1967
• Sydney Penny 1971
• Charlize Theron 1975 (Aeon Flux)
• Sydney Crosby 1987

 

 

 

 

 

Review Tuesday: All Hallows' Eve 2 (2015)

 

 

All Hallows' Eve 2

(2015)

A woman finds a VHS tape of horror shorts on her doorstep. 

I saw this almost a year ago when I did the review for the review for ALL HALLOWS' EVE (HERE) but I had so much content at the time that I decided to save it for THIS spooky season. This is pretty much the same idea all over again, just more refined.

 

A woman found a video tape (who uses video tapes anymore? who has a VHS player???) on the doorstep of her apartment, and creepiness ensues. This time around the horror shorts are really polished and seem to be way too well-made to have the freaky impact that the original movie did. The original was like watching a series of snuff films and was uncomfortable to watch. This was like watching a collection of good quality short horror films. If this was released as a collection of fun Halloween shorts, it would've been fine, but trying to go down the same road as the first just didn't work. Plus the pumpkin-headed Trickster just wasn't very creepy at all. 

 

What else can I say? The films within were pretty good, but the glue holding this thing together like the first was pretty shaky. Still very watchable.  

 

AMAZON

Thursday, May 25, 2023

sojourn \SOH-juhrn; so-JURN\, intransitive verb:

1. To stay as a temporary resident; to dwell for a time.

noun:

• 1. A temporary stay.

Sojourn comes from Old French sojorner, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin subdiurnare, from Latin sub-, "under, a little over" + Late Latin diurnus, "lasting for a day," from Latin dies, "day."

 

Thought wad

• a sudden burst and outpouring of ideas, thoughts, creativeness, or conversation topics, often followed by a severe lack thereof.

"Why'd you dump him?"

"He was boring. He blew his whole thought wad on our first date, then had nothing."

"Lame."

Holiday

• Towel Day: (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) 
•  

History

• Constitutional Convention: convened in Philadelphia; George Washington presided (1787)
• Monkey Trial: John T. Scopes was indicted in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution (1925)
• Babe Ruth: hit his 714th home run, setting a record that held until 1974, when Hank Aaron broke it (1935)
• track and field: at the Big Ten Track and Field Championships, Jesse Owens tied one world record and broke three others, all within 45 minutes (1935)
• OAU: was founded at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the goals of encouraging African unity, promoting development and fighting neocolonialism (1963)
  STAR WARS first opened on 32 screens across the USA. (1977)

   

  

  
  
• ALIEN, In Space No One can Hear You Scream, was released in 1979.

  

  
  Hands Across America: more than five million people joined hands in a line that stretched for 4,000 mi/6,400 km from New York City to Long Beach, CA; participants raised money for the fight against hunger and homelessness (1986)
• Erik Weihenmayer: became the first blind man to climb Mt. Everest (2001)

Birthdays

• Ralph W. Emerson 1803 - Essayist, philosopher, poet
• Luther 'Bill' Robinson (Bill "Bojangles" Robinson) 1878 - Tap dancer, actor
• Philip Murray 1886 - Steelworker, labor leader
• Igor Sikorsky (Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky) 1889 - Pioneer in aviation with helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft
• Ginny Simms 1916 - Singer
• Claude Akins 1926 - Actor
• Lindsey Nelson 1919 - Sportscaster
• Hal David 1921 - Lyricist
• John Weitz 1923 - Fashion and industrial designer
• Jeanne Crain 1925 - Actress
• Miles Davis 1926 - Trumpeter, bandleader, composer
• Kitty Kallen 1926 - Singer

  
• Norman Petty 1927 - Musician, songwriter, record producer
• Robert Ludlum 1927 - Author (The Jason Bourne series of books)
• Beverly Sills 1929 - Opera singer
• K.C. Jones 1932 - Basketball player
• Ron Nessen 1934 - White House Press Secretary for President Gerald Ford
• Tom T. Hall 1936 - Country singer, songwriter
• Donnie Elbert 1936 - Singer
• Raymond Carver 1938 - Short story writer, poet
• Dixie Carter 1939 - Actress ("Designing Women," "Desperate Housewives")
• Ian McKellen 1939 - Actor
• Jessi Colter 1943 - Country musician
• Leslie Uggams 1943 - Actress, singer
• John "Poli" Palmer 1943 - Musician (Family)
• Frank Oz 1944 - Actor, puppeteer (many Muppets characters, Yoda's voice)
• Karen Valentine 1947 - Actress ("Room 222")
• Mitch Margo 1947 - Musician (Cross Country)
• Clarence Burke Jr. 1949 - Musician (Five Stairsteps)
• Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn 1951 - Actress, model
• Connie Sellecca 1955 - Actress, model
• John Grimaldi 1955 - Musician (Argent)
• Sugar Minott 1956 - Reggae singer
• Klaus Meine 1958 - Musician (Scorpions)
• Paul Weller 1958 - Musician (The Jam, Style Council)
• Mike Myers 1963 - Actor, comedian, screenwriter, cast member on "Saturday Night Live," ("Austin Powers" movies)
• Anne Heche 1969 - Actress ("Volcano")
• Jamie Kennedy 1970 - Actor, comedian, rapper
• Justin Henry 1971 - Actor ("Kramer vs. Kramer" [1979])
• Molly Sims 1973 - Actress
• Miguel Tejada 1974 - Baseball player
• Lauryn Hill 1975 - Musician (The Fugees)
• Cillian Murphy 1976 - Actor
• Brian Urlacher 1978 - Football player
• Shawne Merriman 1984 - Football player
  Zazie Beetz 1991 - actress
  

  

     

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, December 9, 2021

ratiocination \rash-ee-ah-suh-NAY-shun; rash-ee-oh-\, noun:

• The process of logical reasoning.

Origin: Ratiocination is from Latin rationcinatio, from ratiocinari, "to compute, to calculate, to reason," from ratio, "reckoning, calculation, reason," from reri, "to reckon, to think."

And then I fucked her up the ass

• What you say when you're in the middle of a story and realize no one's listening.

I'm sitting at the dinner table, telling my girlfriends family about how we met. As I'm getting to the funny part, I realize no one's listening, so i abruptly finish with "and then I fucked her up the ass!"

 

History

• American Minerva: New York's first daily newspaper began publication, edited by Noah Webster (1793)
• "Charge of the Light Brigade": Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem was published (1854)
• John Birch Society: was founded under the banner "Less Government, More Responsibility, and With God's Help, A Better World" (1958)
• Coronation Street: longest-running British soap opera first aired (1960)
• A Charlie Brown Christmas: the iconic Peanuts holiday special premiered (1965)

Birthdays

• John Milton 1608
• Clarence Birdseye 1886
• Emmett Kelly 1898
• Margaret Hamilton 1902
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. 1909
• Kirk Douglas 1916 - Actor
• Redd Foxx 1922
• Dina Merrill 1925
• Dick Van Patten 1928 - Actor ("Eight is Enough")
• Buck Henry 1930 - Actor, writer
• Morton Downey Jr. 1933
• Judi Dench 1934 - Actress
• Junior Wells 1934
• Deacon Jones 1938 - Football player
• Dan Hicks 1941
• Beau Bridges 1941 - Actor
• Dick Butkus (NFL) 1942 - Football player
• Rick Danko (The Band) 1943
• George Baker 1944
• Michael Nouri 1945 - Actor
• Tom Kite 1949 - Golfer
• Joan Armatrading 1950 - Singer
• Michael Dorn 1952 - Actor
• John Malkovich 1953 - Actor
  
• Sylvia 1956 - Singer
• Donny Osmond 1957 - Singer
• Nick Seymour (Crowded House) 1958 - Musician
• Mario Cantone 1949 - Comedian
• Joe Lando 1961 - Actor
• Felicity Huffman 1962 - Actress ("Desperate Housewives")
• Kat Bjelland (Babes In Toyland) 1963
• Jerry Hughes (Yankee Grey) 1965 - Musician
• Thomas Flowers (Oleander) 1967 - Musician
• Brian Bell (Weezer) 1968 - Musician
• Jakob Dylan (Wallflowers) 1969 - Musician
• Brian Hayes 1969 - Musican
• Allison Smith 1969 - Actress
• David Kersh 1970 - Singer

• Kara DioGuardi 1970 - TV personality ("American Idol")
• Tre Cool (Green Day) 1972 - Musician
• Canibus 1974 - Rapper
• Eric Zamora (Save Ferris) 1976 - Musician (saxophonist)
• Imogen Heap 1977 - Singer
• Jesse Metcalfe 1978 - Actress
• Simon Helberg 1980 - Actor ("The Big Bang Theory")