So, the other day I posted about my fourth cousin getting in touch with us and finding out more about my family tree. Well, she emailed us a picture of my great great uncle Thomas Loy from sometime in the late 1800's. Check it out ....
(clickr for biggr in Flickr)
The people she got the pic from said that they believed he is wearing his Irish Guards uniform in this pic. But, some think it might be a Scottish Regimental uniform too. I have no idea. Do you?
Anyway, it's a cool pic.
Also, she sent us a couple of stuff from when my great great grandfather and great great uncle made the local paper The Northern Echo (which is still in bidness today) ...
"1895 Thomas Loy, army reserve man fined 15 sh or 10 days jail for being drunk & riotous in Stockton st mbro."
"1876 oct 31 Disgraceful kicking case in Mbro. George Loy given 1 months hard labour for bodily harm, repeatedly kicking another man in Newport rd Mbro"
How freaking cool is that? They were a rambunctious bunch, weren't they? “Mbro” is Middlesbrough, England.
Also, you might notice that this is George’s brother Thomas, no his father Thomas. One of the problems we’ve been running into is that they weren’t all that creative when it came to naming kids back in the day. They basically all used the same names. People tended to name the first daughter the same name as the mother. Then the rest would be the father’s or mother’s sisters. The son’s would get the father or mother’s brothers names. So there are bunches of Peter’s, Thomas’s, Patrick’s, George’s etc etc.
I swear, I would have killed for a Shiloh Moon-Unit Apple Dweezle Loy, just so there would be ONE that I could keep track of easier.
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Jay Leno has finished his tenure as host of the tonight show. I like Leno alright, but have always been more of a David Letterman fan. When I was growing up my mother would let me stay up long enough to see Johnny Carson's monologue because I was a HUGE fan of his. But, when Leno took over I didn't like some of the changes he made and, well, he just wasn't Johnny.
But, he totally redeemed himself for anything he did wrong over the years right here at the end by having Jennifer Love Hewitt on and reminding her of her promise to show him how good she was at doing push-ups.
Well, played Jay. Well played.
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Okay, so I thought I would bring this up cause I thought it was a little weird.
Yesterday, when I was, uh .. sitting on my throne doing my morning business, I began to itch, you know, down there. Now, don't try to claim that you have never had bung hole itch before, so stop with the "ewwwwwwwwwww" looks. Anyway, we all know that when that happens, you have to deal with it.
But, here's the weird part. My belly button also started itching at the same time.
Do you think there's a connection between the two itches? It seems a bit odd, but it could be possible.
Has this ever happened to you?
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Now, I know that last segment made some of you uncomfortable. But, as I have often said, great artists make their audiences uncomfortable sometimes.
Besides, even blogger says I'm funny. This was my word verification when I commented on Tink's blog yesterday ...
To commemorate this day I will be getting totally fucked up on a crazy-ass cocktail of drugs and attempting write my next blog postTweeting HST quotes throughout the day tomorrow. I can tell how excited you are about that.
Well since Friday is Independence Day here in America, I don’t know how much action there will be here in the neighborhood. So, I thought I’d do a couple of meme.
The first person I saw do this one was Avitable. I don’t think he really intended for it to end up being a meme, but I’ve seen it on many, many blogs the last couple of weeks. Most recently by Malcolm. I had been intending to do it before now, but had other things to do.
Anyway, Entertainment Weekly has come out with a list of the “New Classics.” It’s the 100 best films of the last 25 years. So, we’re talking since 1983 here.
I’ve bolded the movies I’ve seen and put one star next the one’s I liked and two next to the one’s I REALLY liked. I also added a bit of commentary to some of them, including the movies I didn’t like.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994) ** (It really bugs me that Vincent Vega was such a fucking amateur that he would leave his MP5 on the counter when he went to take a dump. If I were a trained assassin I would always take my weapon with me to the shitter.)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03) 3. Titanic (1997) (I’ve actually not seen all of this movie. I just couldn’t make it all the way through.)
4. Blue Velvet (1986) 5. Toy Story (1995)** 6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)** 7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) 8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)** 9. Die Hard (1988)** 10. Moulin Rouge (2001) 11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)* 12. The Matrix (1999) 13. GoodFellas (1990)** 14. Crumb (1995) 15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)** 16. Boogie Nights (1997)* (Heather Grahm will forever be the naked chick on roller skates to me.)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996) 18. Do the Right Thing (1989)* 19. Casino Royale (2006)** (Daniel Craig was a wayyyyy better 007 than I thought he’d be.)
20. The Lion King (1994) 21. Schindler's List (1993) 22. Rushmore (1998) 23. Memento (2001) 24. A Room With a View (1986) 25. Shrek (2001)** 26. Hoop Dreams (1994)** 27. Aliens (1986) 28. Wings of Desire (1988) 29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)** 30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)** 31. Brokeback Mountain (2005) (Ha! I’ve never met a straight guy who would ever admit to watching this movie. Well, actually I just watched (most of) it on Bravo. It didn’t suck (hehe .. get it? “Suck?” They were gay? Ehem ... anyway) but it wasn’t that great either. Heath Ledger was really good in it though.
32. Fight Club (1999)** 33. The Breakfast Club (1985)** 34. Fargo (1996)** (The Coen Brothers rock.)
35. The Incredibles (2004)* 36. Spider-Man 2 (2004) 37. Pretty Woman (1990) (I hated this movie more than I can even explain.)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Meh 39. The Sixth Sense (1999)** 40. Speed (1994)* 41. Dazed and Confused (1993) 42. Clueless (1995) (I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’ve actually seen this movie a few times.)
43. Gladiator (2000)** (A Spanish Gladiator who speaks with an Australian accent? Okay.)
44. The Player (1992) 45. Rain Man (1988)* 46. Children of Men (2006) 47. Men in Black (1997)** 48. Scarface (1983)** 49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) 50. The Piano (1993) 51. There Will Be Blood (2007)* 52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)* 53. The Truman Show (1998)* 54. Fatal Attraction (1987) 55. Risky Business (1983) (Rebecca de Mornay was quite a wonderful sight for a 15 year-old young man!)
56. The Lives of Others (2006) 57. There’s Something About Mary (1998) (The only reason I watched this movie was for Cameron Diaz.)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)** 59. L.A. Confidential (1997)** 60. Scream (1996) (I prefer I Know What You Did Last Summer. I think that’s because of the presence of Jennifer Love Hewitt in IKWYDLS.
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)** 62. sex, lies and videotape (1989) (Ho-Hum) 63. Big (1988)* 64. No Country For Old Men (2007)** 65. Dirty Dancing (1987) (Baby needs to go get in the corner and freaking stay there.)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)** 67. Donnie Brasco (1997)* 68. Witness (1985) 69. All About My Mother (1999) 70. Broadcast News (1987)** 71. Unforgiven (1992)** 72. Thelma & Louise (1991) 73. Office Space (1999)** 74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989) 75. Out of Africa (1985) 76. The Departed (2006)** 77. Sid and Nancy (1986) 78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)** 79. Waiting for Guffman (1996) 80. Michael Clayton (2007) (meh) 81. Moonstruck (1987)** 82. Lost in Translation (2003) (I thought this movie was incredibly boring. And, by the end of it I was sick and tired of Scarlett Johansson. OMG did I really just type that last line?)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) 84. Sideways (2004) (I haven’t seen the whole movie. I didn’t find it as clever as so many people said it was. Maybe it’s just me though.)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005) 86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002) 87. Swingers (1996) 88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)** 89. Breaking the Waves (1996) 90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) 91. Back to the Future (1985)** 92. Menace II Society (1993) 93. Ed Wood (1994) 94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)** (WHAT IS YOU MAJOR MALFUNCTION NUMBNUTS?)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001) 96. Far From Heaven (2002) 97. Glory (1989) 98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) 99. The Blair Witch Project (1999) 100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
I would say that Casino, The Gangs of New York, The Untouchables and Jurassic Park should have been on that list too. And maybe Clerks.
The rules are: Grab the book nearest to you and open to page 123. Find the fifth sentence and write down the next three sentences and then tag 5 other people.
“When the strips are pleasantly golden brown and the bubbles start to slow noticeably, spread the strips on a draining rack and immediately season with salt and pepper.
Start peeling the next batch into the water, and repeat. The oil will be back up to temperature and ready to by the time you are.”
That was from “I’m Just Here For the Food” by Alton Brown.
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And since Friday is Independence Day here in America, I thought I’d leave you with a couple of videos. The first is the trailer to “Gonzo.” This is the documentary about Hunter S. Tompson, a Great American, that is being released on July 4.
The second video is my favorite patriotic song. “America the Beautiful” performed by the late, great Ray Charles....
