Angry Reviews from Prudish Old British People

"Both my wife and I are quite convinced this was one of the poorest choices of dvd videos to watch that we had made. Although we had never watched the series on television we thought we would take the opportunity to find out why it had seemed to have been popular. We were very disappointed. It seemed to be glorifying bad language, sexual immorality, and a 'money can get you anything' attitude. When the story appeared to be building some moral fibre and backbone to its plot, it quickly discarded it at the first opportunity. Although there was a promising sense of purpose at the beginning, it didn't take many episodes to totally lose it leaving the viewer wondering if it was worth watching any more. Sadly, we cannot recommend this series to anyone."

What's got him so upset? This:A British series from the 1970s that was shown on Masterpiece Theatre--the kind of thing your high school English teacher who subscribed to the New Yorker would love.

Finally! The Catholic Church gets something right

"I see the light!"

Vatican endorses "The Blues Brothers"

By Eric J. Lyman Eric J. Lyman Thu Jun 17, 2:57 am ET

TAORMINA, Sicily (Hollywood Reporter) – When Jake and Elwood Blues, the protagonists in John Landis' cult classic "The Blues Brothers," claimed they were on a mission from God, the Catholic Church apparently took them at their word.

On the 30th anniversary of the film's release, "L'Osservatore Romano," the Vatican's official newspaper, called the film a "Catholic classic" and said it should be recommended viewing for Catholics everywhere.

The film is based on a skit from "Saturday Night Live." In the story, Jake and Elwood -- played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, respectively -- embark on an unlikely road trip featuring concerts, car chases, clashes with the police and neo-Nazi groups, and attempts at revenge from a spurned lover, all, ostensibly, to raise money for the church-run orphanage where they grew up.

But aside from a brief appearance from Kathleen Freeman as a wrist-slapping nun referred to as "The Penguin" and the brothers' periodic claim that they were on a mission from God, spirituality does not play a significant role in the film. [I beg to differ! See the still at the top of the post]

In addition to Belushi and Aykroyd, the film featured an all-star cast including musicians James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, and Chaka Khan, in addition to noted actors John Candy, Carrie Fisher, Charles Napier, and Henry Gibson, and cameo roles for Frank Oz, Steven Spielberg, Landis, Mr. T, and Paul Reubens.

With the recommendation, "The Blues Brothers" joins the list of dozens of films recommended by Catholic authorities that includes Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments," "Jesus of Nazareth" from Franco Zeffirelli," Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ," Victor Fleming's "Joan of Arc," and "It's a Wonderful Life" from Frank Capra.

Moving

Foulard is really looking forward to being done moving. Right now he feels like the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath. And that is a completely reasonable comparison, maybe.

A Snack or a Meal

I found this photo online while looking for pics for a prospective blog post on my favorite (defunct) vintage clothes stores. This, however, is a tiny old-school diner that was down Beacon Street from where I used to live (and work) in Brookline, Mass. It exemplifies the sleepy, boring quality of that neighborhood, where I lived in my early 20s. It was funny living there, since I (and my friends) wanted to go out and do fun things all the time, but were surrounded by the most middle-aged, bourgeois surroundings possible. Heh heh! Now that I'm middle-aged and bourgeois, I live in a much more lively and happening neighborhood. What up with that?

The Diana Dors Code

An interesting mystery about this blog's current cover girl, British bombshell Diana Dors.

Illustration by G. Foulard

From Wikipedia:

Before she died [in 1984], Dors apparently hid away what she claimed to be over £2million in banks across Europe. Eighteen months before her death, she gave her son Mark Dawson a sheet of paper, which she told him was a code that would reveal the whereabouts of the money.

Her widower, Alan Lake, supposedly had the key that would crack the code. But Lake committed suicide only five months after Dors died, leaving Dawson an apparently unsolvable code. Dawson, however, was determined to discover his late mother's fortune. He sought out computer forensic specialists Inforenz, who recognised the encryption as the Vigenère cipher. Inforenz then used their own cryptography software to suggest a ten-letter decryption key, DMARYFLUCK (short for Diana Mary Fluck, Dors's real name).

Although the company was then able to decode the entire message and link it to a bank statement found in some of Lake's papers, the location of the money is still unknown. Some speculate whether there may have been a second sheet, whose information might have led to the discovery of the money. Channel 4 made a television programme about the mystery and created a website (now removed) where users can read more and help solve the mystery.

Stingray theme

This is the theme to my favorite Supermarionation show, with added lyrics. Beebo has often been subjected treated to seeing me do a dynamic lipsync performance of the middle part.

Doodles Weaver

Here's a phone doodle I did while talking to Beebo just now.