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RTDNTOTO šŸ» Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 21 (2026)

Bullitt had definitively cooler cars in its chase scene but I always preferred the chase of the crappy LeMans v the elevated train in The French Connection. That scene always seemed extra dramatic and heart pounding to me.



Fun fact: Steven McQueen and Gene Hackman were both Marines serving roughly around the same period (1946 to 1951 for Hackman and 1947 to 1950 for McQueen).
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Bullitt had definitively cooler cars in its chase scene but I always preferred the chase of the crappy LeMans v the elevated train in The French Connection. That scene always seemed extra dramatic and heart pounding to me.



Fun fact: Steven McQueen and Gene Hackman were both Marines serving roughly around the same period (1946 to 1951 for Hackman and 1947 to 1950 for McQueen).
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You're all almost completely wrong.

If the car chase is not through a south suburban Chicago mall or down Lake St in downtown Chicago, I'm not interested.

Blues Brothers Gme GIF by Hot Head Candles

:p :cool:
 
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jumbach said:
I remember making the Sugar Cube mission in fourth grade. I forget which mission I had. Nowadays, every Michael's in California sells the mission kits.

Every fourth grader in the Sacramento area trudges through Sutter's Fort and the Indian Museum at some point. I haven't been to either since then.
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I went back to both when my kids were younger. They seemed to enjoy it. I now just make a yearly pilgrimages to my "hometown" for a yearly reunion with friends and make fun of them for their lousy "smarch" weather.
 
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arcplans said:
I went back to both when my kids were younger. They seemed to enjoy it. I now just make a yearly pilgrimages to my "hometown" for a yearly reunion with friends and make fun of them for their lousy "smarch" weather.
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I only get to Sacramento a few times a year now, even though I'm just two hours away on the other side of the mountains. Shame on me.

Wifey is there right now. (Well, technically, she's in Arden-Arcade right now.)
 
JNA said:
AIB the above postings on Missions -
Once while visiting California family we visited Mission San Juan Bautista
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mission+San+Juan+Bautista/@36.8453188,-121.5350822,615m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x8091fed54416e96f:0xd5591d7f4aab2e52!8m2!3d36.8459168!4d-121.5357205!16zL20vMGdid2I?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDMxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D (Google Maps)

Could you say efinitely not on a major tourist route
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Near Hollister, earthquake capital of California! SJB is the one mission I remember actually going to. There is still an active Catholic church right next door.
 
MD Planner said:
Not a great pic but this little guy (or gal) has been hanging around for the last few weeks.

View attachment 66627
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We have a few that move between downtown and some of the parks and residential areas. We figured out they use the storm sewer to get around without getting hit. They also make one of the worst sounds I've ever heard in the middle of the night.

Yours looks much more photogenic than the ones around here.
 
I have a problem with Walton Goggins... not sure what that problem is, but sometimes you just know with a person. I havent seen any of his work or really know much about him... but I have problems.
 
I swear I need a bumper sticker that says "Planners are not surveyors!"

At least once a week, at every jurisdiction I've worked, people call the planning department wanting their property marked.
 
jumbach said:
I swear I need a bumper sticker that says "Planners are not surveyors!"

At least once a week, at every jurisdiction I've worked, people call the planning department wanting their property marked.
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Iā€™ve worked for 7 different citiesā€¦ and only one had a group of city surveyors who would do just that. Everyone else, pay for a licensed survey, Chummmmmmp!
 
zman said:
I have a problem with Walton Goggins... not sure what that problem is, but sometimes you just know with a person. I havent seen any of his work or really know much about him... but I have problems.
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I recently rewatched Lincoln. Didn't know who Goggins was at the time when I first watched it, but lo and behold there he was. (Also was surprised to see how star-studded the whole thing is).

I have been working through Fallout as my "on the stationary bike TV show" this winter and that's been my first longer exposure to him. I like him a lot in it.
 
Speaking of the Blues Brothers, I just learned recently that the guy (Charles Napier) who played the Good Ole Boys band leader was the very same guy that played the hippy 'guitarist' on that infamous episode of the original Star Trek series.
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zman said:
I have a problem with Walton Goggins... not sure what that problem is, but sometimes you just know with a person. I havent seen any of his work or really know much about him... but I have problems.
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I get exactly what you're saying and I'll add Giancarlo Esposito to that list. Something about Goggins and Esposito rub me the wrong way. I think they're both fantastic actors but I also think there's something slightly off-putting or unsettling about both of them.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I get exactly what you're saying and I'll add Giancarlo Esposito to that list. Something about Goggins and Esposito rub me the wrong way. I think they're both fantastic actors but I also think there's something slightly off-putting or unsettling about both of them.
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I feel that way about Giovanni Ribisi:
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Just creeps me out. But Goggins, especially in the "flashback" scenes of fallout, brings a lot of humanity to the role.
 
Both my kids love corned beef and cabbage and usually we'd have it for dinner tonight but our youngest has a Girl Scout event and then we're headed to the high school for a band concert for our oldest so there's no time to sit down for an actual meal together.

On the bright side, we haven't actually bought a corned beef so I'm going to stop by the store tomorrow morning when they're all marked down and buy one then. We'll have corned beef and cabbage later in the week and for half the price!
 
We're having corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and red skin potatoes for dinner. I also bought six packs of Guiness and Harp for black & tans to wash it down.
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On St Patrick's Day - my paternal grandfather was born in County Mayo, Ireland.
 
Here's something to consider - I don't know who or heard of this Jello Biafra you speak of.
 
Faust_Motel said:
I feel that way about Giovanni Ribisi:
View attachment 66637

Just creeps me out. But Goggins, especially in the "flashback" scenes of fallout, brings a lot of humanity to the role.
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When people can play "bad" or soulless people so well, you have to wonder how they pull it off. Goggins in Justified and Righteous Gemstones plays two types of despicable characters and makes them somewhat believable even though they are over the top.
 
zman said:
I have a problem with Walton Goggins... not sure what that problem is, but sometimes you just know with a person. I havent seen any of his work or really know much about him... but I have problems.
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Faust_Motel said:
I recently rewatched Lincoln. Didn't know who Goggins was at the time when I first watched it, but lo and behold there he was. (Also was surprised to see how star-studded the whole thing is).

I have been working through Fallout as my "on the stationary bike TV show" this winter and that's been my first longer exposure to him. I like him a lot in it.
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Walton Goggins is great in Fallout, Justified, the little bit of Vice Principals I've watched, and his one episode guest spot in Community.
WSU MUP Student said:
I get exactly what you're saying and I'll add Giancarlo Esposito to that list. Something about Goggins and Esposito rub me the wrong way. I think they're both fantastic actors but I also think there's something slightly off-putting or unsettling about both of them.
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Again...awesome in Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian, Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X., etc, etc, oh and Community.

Both these actors are go to character actors for pretty much anything you need.

Now Ribisi..meh. :smirk:
 
JNA said:
Here's something to consider - I don't know who or heard of this Jello Biafra you speak of.
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I am shocked. SHOCKED to learn that you're unfamiliar with the front man for the seminal punk band, the Dead Kennedys. I figured you to be a Let's Lynch the Landlord kinda guy.

And if you didn't know him from his music, you may know him from his political campaign for Mayor of San Francisco in 1979 or his Presidential run in 2000 (Green party candidate)
 
A story about the limitations of AI....
This past weekend Mrs. Maister and I were reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (it came on Sunday nights right before Disney back in the 70's). I asked Google Assistant to play the theme song for that show because I couldn't remember it. It played the theme and suddenly I realized as an adult - THAT'S THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC THEME. Almost note for note. How was there NOT a lawsuit for copyright infringement over that theme song? I asked Google about that and the AI spits out "yes, while many have noted some similarities, they are not the same song. People likely get confused because both songs have soaring adventurous themes that were popular on television during that era."
Soaring adventurous themes MY ASS. That's the same freaking melody. Not similar. The same. They totally ripped off Elmer Bernstein. Don't believe it, judge for yourself:
Wild Kingdom theme:
Go to 10 seconds to hear the main melody

Now the famous National Geographic theme

Sure, there are differences after the main theme, but the melody itself is identical. And not just a few notes. What do you think?
 
Maister said:
A story about the limitations of AI....
This past weekend Mrs. Maister and I were reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (it came on Sunday nights right before Disney back in the 70's). I asked Google Assistant to play the theme song for that show because I couldn't remember it. It played the theme and suddenly I realized as an adult - THAT'S THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC THEME. Almost note for note. How was there NOT a lawsuit for copyright infringement over that theme song? I asked Google about that and the AI spits out "yes, while many have noted some similarities, they are not the same song. People likely get confused because both songs have soaring adventurous themes that were popular on television during that era."
Soaring adventurous themes MY ASS. That's the same freaking melody. Not similar. The same. They totally ripped off Elmer Bernstein. Don't believe it, judge for yourself:
National Geographic theme.
Go to 10 seconds to hear the main melody

Now the famous National Geographic theme

Sure, there are differences after the main theme, but the melody itself is identical. And not just a few notes. What do you think?
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Setting aside that if AI can't hear that, I'm less afraid of it than I was before......

I heard those notes and immediately was 7 years old in my grandparents TV room on Layton Ave. There are time-life books about "the North Woods" and "The Seas of the World" on the shelf along with two books I assumed were pornography: "The Naked Capitalist" and "The Naked Communist". In contrast, there is also one of those machines with a big strap on it that was somehow supposed to wiggle your fat away?

The 70s were awesome. Confusing - but awesome. :)
 
Maister said:
Is it just me, or did the Super Friends visit Cincinnati at some point?
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The USA's comic book tradition has deep roots in Ohio, from when Siegel and Shuster created Superman while living in Cleveland, to Harvey Pekar who created American Splendor while working at the VA Hospital, it would make sense that the creators of DC's Super Friends might have paid homage to one of the state's most distinct buildings. (Observation: Is that a Star of David in the fountain in front of the train station... I mean Hall of Justice? Both Siegel and Shuster were Jewish.)
 
ursus said:
If you don't think I would 100% watch a cross-over WKRP and Challenge of the Super Friends episode you would be wrong. I'm pretty sure Johnny Fever would put up with NO SHIT from space monkey.
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WKRP in Cincinnati went off the air a few months before I turned 4 and we never had cable when I was growing up so it's not like I would have seen it in syndication somewhere, yet it's somehow one of those shows I can still sing the theme song to without missing a single beat.
 
I'd like to call out my 80-year-old mother and my wife's 85-year-old aunt who, within a day of each other, both commented on the "sudden" amount of grey in my hair. :angry:
 
WSU MUP Student said:
WKRP in Cincinnati went off the air a few months before I turned 4 and we never had cable when I was growing up so it's not like I would have seen it in syndication somewhere, yet it's somehow one of those shows I can still sing the theme song to without missing a single beat.
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Yes, but try the closing credits . . . :)
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I'd like to call out my 80-year-old mother and my wife's 85-year-old aunt who, within a day of each other, both commented on the "sudden" amount of grey in my hair. :angry:
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I noticed my hair is now coming in grey, and all I can do is laugh. Since I shave it off anyway, I don't care what color it comes in.
 
She said, "Take your time, what's the rush?"
I said, "Baby, I'm a dog, I'm a mutt"
 
Fun fact: In high school, some long-past administration didnā€™t like the song ā€œTequilaā€ due to its alcohol reference, so it was always sung at games and rallies as ā€œTacoma!,ā€ commemorating a city in Washington State, hundreds of miles from our school. The administration was fine with that, and it stayed that way for decades. It may still be like that. Not sure why they didn't go with "Takwila," another city in Washington that sounds even closer to the banned lyric.
 
Maister said:
A story about the limitations of AI....
This past weekend Mrs. Maister and I were reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (it came on Sunday nights right before Disney back in the 70's).
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Cue Twilight Zone music. Hubby and I were reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom this past weekend as well. šŸ‘€
 
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