Category: Uncategorized
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OLD NEWS
I just got the paper—came in the mail. It was the Sunday New York Times. My daughter got me a subscription, supposedly changed to digital only, but the printed paper still shows up occasionally. It was March 13 when the Feb. 11 paper arrived all wrapped in plastic, filled with expectations about the Super Bowl…
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REMEMBER YOUR LINES
A memorable phrase, a retort that resonates, a significant statement, or maybe just words that help us remember—these are the lines of our time. Here’s a sampling from radio, TV, movies and advertising—certainly not comprehensive—we haven’t the space or presence of mind for that—but a sampling, nevertheless. You may have tracked some of these from…
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1946
One shouldn’t be surprised. After all the death and carnage of World War II, civilian life was never going to be the same, not after what so many had seen or experienced around the world. The impact—physically, mentally, and financially—can only be imagined now. Once the initial relief had passed and the war was over,…
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HERE COME THE COWBOYS…AGAIN
One of my favorite movies comes to the Peoria Riverfront Museum’s Giant Screen Theater: Fistful of Dollars (1964), the first of the so-called spaghetti westerns, the movie that sent Clint Eastwood into the Hollywood stratosphere, and a film that re-ignited our interest in soundtracks. Fistful (which runs March 1 and 3 at the museum) was…
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SAN FRANCISCO NOIR
When you look at the body of work categorized as film noir, two cities stand out: New York and Los Angeles. No surprise there since New York is, well, New York, a world unto itself, and L.A., the home of Hollywood, is the West’s sprawling answer to the Big Apple. But coming in as location…
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MAPS
I always had two problems with road maps: reading them and folding them. Now there’s a third problem: finding them. They used to be found in the car’s glove compartment. I had maps in there of places I went to once with no plans to return. But the maps would remain. When the glove compartment…
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1967
Okay, it’s the year I graduated from high school and came to the Midwest to attend Bradley and it was the year the Beatles launched Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. But, whatever your perspective, when you look back at what poured out of those JBL speakers in 1967, it may have to go down…
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ROBOTS FROM A-TO-Z
After an interview with Ruth Aylett, co-author of Living with Robots: What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know, robots are on my mind. Aylett’s point is that robots are, first and foremost, machines designed to do specific tasks. One can be entertained by science fiction that depicts a grim future but shouldn’t take it too…
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TITANIC
I saw an online article recently on ‘How the Titanic’s gym forever changed fitness.’ It’s another example of Titanic magic. “As the Titanic creaked and groaned and began its collapse into the sea, hundreds of desperate people swarmed toward the middle of the boat,” wrote Ryan Hockensmith. “The ship’s crew tried to load panicked people…
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BIG BAD BUGS
The Peoria Riverfront Museum just announced a new display of insects. I don’t know if they want to hype that a little bit but may I suggest showing a movie that depicts giant insects on their Giant Screen Theater? In case some ideas are needed, I just happen to have my list of my recently…