The week began with a reminder that 2016 was not some bad dream that we had all awakened from on January 1st.
Another great talent was taken away from us way too soon when actor Bill Paxton died at the age of 61 last Sunday, after suffering a stroke while undergoing heart surgery in L.A.
He appeared in a string of films throughout the '80s and '90s and had achieved a much-loved position in Pop Culture. This is perhaps mainly due to his memorable role as the supremely-cocky-then-rapidly-pessimistic Private Hudson in Aliens (Dir: James Cameron, 1986). As his Marine unit, sent to a remote mining outpost on some distant planet, begins to engage with the hostile alien hordes, we see Hudson begin to lose it as he realises how outnumbered his platoon is.
Paxton's withering delivery of the lines "No way, man" or "Game over, man!" have become modern catchphrases. He had a small role in an early scene in The Terminator (Dir: James Cameron, 1984), but I first recall seeing him give a very funny performance in Weird Science (Dir: John Hughes, 1985) as a sleazy jock with no redeeming features whatsoever.
Paxton showed some credible dramatic acting chops in the TV series Big Love (2006-2011) and we had already seem him play it straight in such diverse films as Apollo 13, Haywire and Million Dollar Arm. He had well and truly established himself as a solid character actor.
Any way you cut it, it's a sad loss.
Sunday, I had the Oris Diver Sixty-Five on my wrist;
But I soon began to get the itch for a watch I hadn't worn for some time.
I hadn't worn the Omega Railmaster for quite some time. Being a warm day, it did feel a tad snug on my wrist. Maybe that's why I hadn't worn it in so long?
Anyway, it was an easy fix for me to sit down and add another link to the bracelet. Yep, that was better.
Monday. It was Oscar night. We all sat down to watch the telecast. I have to say I thought Jimmy Kimmel did a great job of hosting the show. I hope he's back next year.
It was tough to nominate the awards this year. I did pick Miss Emma Stone for Best Actress, and I had high hopes for La La Land scoring the Best Picture Oscar.
Ahh, yes, the Best Picture Oscar, or 'Envelopegate', as it's been known as this past week.
If you didn't watch it, this is sorta what happened;
- Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway came onstage to present the final award for the night for Best Picture.
- Beatty announced; "And the Oscar goes to..."
- Beatty opens the envelope, pulls out the card and then spends a few seconds looking it it with a quizzical expression on his face.
- A few more moments pass before he shows the card to Miss Dunaway. She look at it for a millisecond and then announces; "La La Land."
- The audience cheers as the film's producers make their way to the stage. Producer Jordan Horowitz begins his acceptance speech.
- About 30 seconds later, some guy in a tux, with an ear-piece jammed in his ear, enters from stage left (or was it right?) and begins consulting with some of the production team. While Horowitz continues his speech, we can see a flurry of faces looking down at various envelopes.
- Soon, Horowitz is told of the error. He then turns to the camera and announces that a mistake has been made and the Best Picture winner is in fact Moonlight. Horowitz explains that he's not joking, Moonlight has won the Oscar. He takes (snatches, but in the heat of this moment, somebody has to take charge) the card out of Beatty's hand and holds it up. The screen switches to camera 2 (or whatever) and we see a close-up of the card, which now reads Moonlight. Someone finally gave Beatty the correct envelope.
Despite the title of this week's post, I can't totally blame Warren Beatty.
Yes, he should have called somebody to step out from behind the wings and check the card he was holding.
No, he shouldn't have just held it up in front of Dunaway because she just saw the title "La La Land" in large letters on the middle of the card, but didn't read the finer print which read "Best Actress In A Leading Role - Emma Stone", but if there's anybody to blame, it's the star-struck idiot from the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers who first handed the incorrect envelope to Beatty to begin with.
The stupid effing dummy. Accountants. F*ck!
My daughter turned to me; "Has this ever happened before?"
"Nope. Never", I replied.
I was still wearing the Omega Railmaster;
Wednesday, this arrived from eBay. It's a 1950s (I think) Enicar Ultrasonic hand-wound. I bought it with the intention of attempting a dial clean-up using a mixture of lemon juice and distilled water. As you can see, there's a slight darkening on the dial between each of
the hour markers. Something tells me this cleaning method would work
quite well, but I'm not sure now if I want to attempt it.
There's always the risk that the hands may distort while being removed or that they may snap when being refitted. Yes, I could take it to a watchmaker for this step of the process, but I'm trying to do this on the cheap.
I may take it over to my buddy Mike for
the crown and hands removal. We could then try the dial clean and see
how well, or not, it works.
Worth a shot. One day. For now, I'll just enjoy wearing it as is.
Thursday
Happy Birthday, Mr Craig! I think he's been a great Bond. But regular readers would know that.
I had an eleven forty-five appointment at the dentist's. I bit down on some lettuce last weekend and there was a stone in it. That smarted!
He drilled out an old filling and then put a temporary crown on it. We'll know in a few weeks if I'll just need a crown or a root canal AND a crown. 'Cos, you know, I'm made of money.
I'm friggin' never gonna get this Rolex Submariner of mine serviced. The wristwatch gods are against me.
I was still wearing the Railmaster, but somebody couldn't care less;
A few nights ago, she was in some mad state and urgently wanted to get into my daughter's room...at four am. My daughter heard some scratching at her door in the wee small hours.
The next morning, we saw that a section of carpet had been shredded at the foot of the door. The new carpet (like the one she's lying on in the photo) that had been laid about 18 months ago.
One of these days, Alice...
Today
Still had the Railmaster on my wrist, but switched back to the newly-landed Enicar when I got home, before mixing up a pre-dinner Gin & Tonic.
It was a busy day at work as I plowed through fifteen completed repairs. Twelve more to get through on Monday, before I write up eight or ten quotes and then book in ten new repairs.
The fun never ends.
And that's this week sorted.
I hope you all have yourselves a pleasant weekend and thanks for reading!
Nice screensaver!
ReplyDeleteBill Paxton was one of my favorite actors. He always seemed like the real deal; never seemed to be faking it or phoning it in. He was also a very good director, and his movie "Frailty" is one of the highlights of both his career and Matthew McConaughey's.
My cats have pretty much destroyed my carpet over the years. I don't know what their problem with it is. It's like they look at it and say, "Hey, what jackass put this all the way in the corner?!?" and then fix it for me. Thanks...
I sure like that Railmaster.
ReplyDeleteWe have a cat whose cuteness has saved her life after the way she's destroyed the furniture. It's part of the deal.
@ Bryant Burnette, Paxton was a welcome presence on-screen. He made every film better just by being in it.
ReplyDeleteCats. If they weren't so cute, they'd be extinct.
@ NA, I hear ya, sir. It's part of the deal.
Ohhh Delicate work on those watchings. Too delicate for my clumsy hands! I agree with your sentiment about Bill Paxton. I've always enjoyed seeing him in whatever role he tool. He had a unique charm and charisma.
ReplyDeleteHad to laugh at this. I too am saving to get my Submariner serviced and have had to spend it on a carpet. In my case caused by the dog eating my son's pen. Anyway I hope you keep the blog going as we have many interests in common. Luckily I'm immune to the attraction of typewriters! For the moment.
ReplyDeleteYes, the typewriters can get out of hand, but I've now reached a point where I'm happy with the ones that I have.
DeleteAs for Rolex servicing, I should be ready to have it done in a month or two. Barring any sudden, urgent expenses.
Fingers crossed. And thanks for the kind comments.