Czech expatriate Ivan
Passer (Intimate Lighting)
brings the film noir to the blues skies
of Santa Barbara, touching upon the
disillusionment and paranoia of the
post-Vietnam War era in this cult classic.
John Heard gives a Shakespearean performance
as Alex Cutter, a disgruntled, hard
living Vietnam War veteran, missing
an arm, leg and eye.
The underrated and underused
Lisa Eichhorn plays his long-suffering
alcoholic wife. Jeff Bridges as Richard
Bone, an aging California Golden
Boy, reluctantly helps Cutter
in his Ahab-like obsession to pin a
recent murder on a wealthy Santa Barbara
businessman. Is the murder a cover-up
and part of a conspiracy or just Cutters
fantasy in an attempt to bring direction
to his life
Directed by Ivan Passer.
Written by Jeffrey Alan Fiskin; based
on novel Cutter and Bone
by Newton Thornburg
Cast: Jeff Bridges,
John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn, Ann Dusenberry,
Stephen Elliott, Arthur Rosenberg, Nina
Van Pallandt
109 minutes. Widescreen;
1.85:1
Other features:
Color; interactive menus; scene access;
trailer.
The
History of Auld Lang Syne
In 1788
the Robert Burns sent the poem Auld
Lang Syne to the Scots Musical
Museum, indicating that it was an ancient
song but that hed been the first
to record it on paper.
Photo
courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
The phrase
auld lang syne roughly translates
as for old times sake,
and the song is all about preserving
old friendships and looking back over
the events of the year.
It is sung all over
the world, evoking a sense of belonging
and fellowship, tinged with nostalgia.
It has long been
a much-loved Scottish tradition to sing
the song just before midnight. Everyone
stands in a circle holding hands, then
at the beginning of the final verse
(And theres a hand my trusty
friend ) they cross their
arms across their bodies so that their
left hand is holding the hand of the
person on their right, and their right
hand holds that of the person on their
left. When the song ends, everyone rushes
to the middle, still holding hands,
and probably giggling.
TSA's
Top 10 Most Unusual Finds of 2016
10) Hand Grenade Trailer
Hitch Cover: San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport
(SBP).
9) Hello Kitty Firearm:
Bradley International Airport (BDL).
Photo courtesy
of the Transportation Security Administration's
Instagram account
8) Negans Bat
Lucille: HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International
Airport (ATL)
7) Golden Hand Grenade: Newark Liberty
International Airport (EWR)
Photo courtesy
of the Transportation Security Administration's
Instagram account
6) Replica Suicide Vest: Richmond
International Airport (RIC)
5) Bladed Dragon Claw: Hartsfield
Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
4) Dead Seahorses in Brandy Bottle:
Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)
3) Five-Bladed Flogger: George Bush
Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
2) Post-Apocalyptic Bullet Adorned
Gas Mask: Miami International Airport (MIA)
1) Movie Prop Corpse: HartsfieldJackson
Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Ten
Flight Attendant Secrets I Wish I'd Known Before
My Last Flight
Photo courtesy
of John Clayton
Budget Travel has spoken
to some chatty flight attendants--on condition of
anonymity--to deliver the 411 on how to enjoy the
comfiest, safest, and most delicious flight, not
to mention getting extra help when you really need
it.
Photos courtesy
of Beverly Cohn
Call Buttons: The Most Efficient
Way To Say "Hate Me"
What's your biggest job-related
peeve? The kind of customer or co-worker behavior
that just sends you up the wall no matter how well-meaning?
For flight attendants, it's the "call button."
You should basically never, ever, ever press it.
I mean, like, ever. Some passengers regard the call
button as their ticket to snacks and drinks before
the rest of the cabin--no. Or a quick way to get
rid of their trash while the flight attendants are
still serving other passengers--no. Wondering when
your plane will land? Or when those boxed lunches
will be available for purchase? Your flight attendant
passes by your seat about every 10 or 15 minutes
(except in cases of serious turbulence), and you
can wait your turn like everybody else.
Three Musical Pilgrimages: Mozart, Grieg and Hendrix
Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
could read and compose music, plus play the violin and piano, when he was
five years old. Born into a musical family in Salzburg, Austria (then the
Holy Roman Empire), he had a unique ability for imitating music, which first
became evident when he recited a musical piece by simply observing his father
conducting a lesson to his older sister. This led to a childhood on the
road, where the young prodigy performed before many of the royal courts
of Europe.
Treasures of Ireland: The Irish Goodbye (Dispatch
#20)
The Palladian Traveler brings to a close his 20-part
series on the Emerald Isle from an upscale restaurant in downtown Dublin
where he files his final dispatch and then quietly slips away.
Two "MUST SEE" Truly Spectacular Places
in Europe. Here's Why.
The Han Grotto and Culzean Castle. As the name
of my Traveling Boy feature is "Travel With a Difference," it's
important to me to always bring you offbeat and unusual tourist places around
the world you may not know about. These two fit that category to a T, and
they're absolutely worth a visit. One's in Scotland and one's in Belgium.
Culzean (pronounced CULLANE) Castle is located near Maybole, Carrick, on
the Ayrshire coast of Scotland.
Highway 49 Revisited: Exploring California's
Gold Country
In the 1840s, the population of California was only
14,000, but by 1850 more than 100,000 settlers and adventurers had arrived
from all over the world and they came for one reason: gold. James
Marshall had discovered the first gold nugget at Sutters Mill in El
Dorado County, creating the largest gold rush in history.
Lake Charles Family-Size Low-Key Mardi Gras
The Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras in Lake Charles,
the second largest in Louisiana, does not need parents there to avert their
childrens eyes. This is family entertainment and children are very
much part of it. The main office of the Lake Charles CVB has costumes from
last years Mardi Gras but it also has figures to fascinate little
ones from country boys fishing for their dinner to alligators who have already
fed and are rubbing their stomachs.
Puerto Vallarta: Magic and Mayhem on the Malecon
So I heard that you could spend from dawn to dusk on
the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and never get bored and I thought,
"Okay, I'm up for that challenge." Well, maybe not the dawn part
I'm not a morning person so I had no problem leaving those
early hours to the joggers and those seeking an early start to catch their
red snapper for dinner.
John January and Linda Berry Have Chemistry
Chemistry by its very definition is the spontaneous reaction
of two people to each other, especially that sense of mutual attraction
and understanding. This month John January and Linda Berry release their
new project, Chemistry 101 and together they explore a range and
depth of musical styles on both organic and physical levels. As a joint
labor of love, January says Chemistry 101 is pretty straight-forward.
Relaxing at The Inn at Laguna Beach
There is nothing like sleeping in an ocean-front room
and awakening to the sounds of waves crashing against the sand. It is
one of the finer things in life. And it is exactly what I experienced
recently on a memorable getaway to The Inn at Laguna Beach. The adventure
began when a friend I pulled off the 5 Freeway in Orange County and took
SR 133 south nine miles through winding lush hills and wilderness areas
to the ocean.
Monte Verità: In the Footsteps of Anarchy
Just as I reach the end of a squiggling, multicolored
path, an acorn plummets from an oak tree above me. It lands at my feet,
just as the path culminates at a mandala of Venetian glass, eight feet in
diameter. On the worn-out front lawn of Monte Verità, the Mountain
of Truth, this path, Chiara's Rainbow, evolves through the colors of the
spectrum red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and finally violet
before arriving at the mosaic mandala where psychic energies supposedly
prevail. The falling acorn brings me to the present moment.
Tim Robbins On His Road To Stardom
Award-winning Tim Robbins began his career on episodic
television. Robbins' film work, however, is what catapulted him into becoming
a major movie star including "Bull Durham" and "Mystic
River" for which he won multiple awards. Equally at home behind the
camera, he directed the riveting "Dead Man Walking." He is Founder
and Artistic Director of The Actors' Gang, which he formed thirty-five
years ago and has directed multiple provocative productions.