the quatermass xperiment (cinema history class)

I am not generally familiar with a lot of 1950s science fiction movies. For reasons that I can't fully identify I associate the genre with cheesy drive-in fare such as I Married a Monster From Outer Space or The Space Children*. Of course, I know that this mental image isn't correct, or at least isn't entirely correctl counterexamples include The Incredible Shrinking Man and The Day The Earth Stood Still. But this perception persists.

So, going to Keith's class, I wasn't expecting a particularly intelligent mo. Not that that's a bad thing -- stupid films can be fun. And this was a Hammer film. Showing a month of Hammer films was Ethan's idea, since Hammer is his favorite production company.

At any rate, The Quatermass Experiment far exceeded my expectations. A story of space flight gone wrong, it actually was a reasonably intelligent film, and it told its story very well. There was a bit of techy mumbo-jumbo mixed with unreasonable conclusion-jumping, but that was necessary in service of a compelling tale. In many ways, this was sort of a Lost in Space plot with the cerebral quality of Twilight Zone. Though, lest anyone think I'm saying this is a ripoff of those films, I acknowledge that it predated those films.

Of course, I have to note that, despite the intelligence of this film, I am thinking that it had enough M&A (that's Monster and Action) that I am betting it satisfied the drive-in crowd. In fact (as you may have noticed if you watched the trailer above), it was released in the US under an alternate title: The Creeping Unknown. I'm not crazy about the original title; The Quatermass Xperiment is a little too enigmatic. But it's better than the American title, which (if anything) reinforces the image I described above.

All in all, a really good choice to open Hammer month.

*Confession: I haven't seen either of these movies. I chose them as examples because of their blaring titles. Hell, for all I know they're actually intelligent films.

some thoughts from a non-fan on superbowl li

I wasn't planning on blogging about Super Bowl LI (every time I see that, I think it's short for Long Island) since I'm not particularly knowledgeable about football and I'm not a big fan. But it was exciting, so WTH.

I went into this rooting for New England, for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of. The fact is, as a Giants and Jets fan (to the extent that I'm any kind of football fan), I should be anti-Patriots. But I also think that the NFL treated Tom Brady unfairly during that whole deflate-gate scandal, and I like the idea of this being a little "fuck you" to the league, Also, and maybe this is awful, but the Falcons just don't seem like a team that should be in the Super Bowl. I don't mean the specific players on the Falcons, or the combination of them. I have no idea about any of them. I'm talking about the franchise. I mean, Atlanta Falcons and Superbowl? They don't exactly go together like franks and beans. In the end, I would tell people -- half-jokingly -- that the more success Brady has in the Super Bowl, the more it will annoy him that he couldn't beat Eli Manning (and he had two tries).

I was pretty bored during the first half -- even fell asleep a time or two, and like everyone else, I was giving up on the Patriots. During the third quarter, Blair was reading me the snarky tweets about how Lady Gaga got more yardage in the air than the Patriots, or "Hey, Belichick, time to make your move." My favorite, was about how the Falcons turned in Atlanta's best first half performance since the Civil War. At the time I noted that that wouldn't be appropriate unless New England comes back for the win. And she laughed. If only I'd known.

From my layman's perspective, it appeared to me that Brady simply underwent a transformation in the fourth quarter. For most of the game he just kept missing on his passes. He would overthrow or underthrow, or throw behind the receiver. But in the fourth quarter there were stretches when he was brilliant. Like he couldn't miss. And he came through when he needed to. But it will still stick in his craw that he couldn;t beat Manning in the big game.

I was streaming the game on Fox Sports, which generally worked well, although there was a stretch near the end that I lost the stream, and had a hard time getting it back. That was during the fourth quarter -- just after the field goal that brought the score to 28-12. I was tempted to say to hell with it, since the game was a blowout. It kept trying to reload, and kept cursing impotently as it failed. But I kept going, thinking about how I'd feel if somehow the Pats came back and I missed it. I missed one touchdown (and two-point conversion), but got it back soon after that.

Blair tells me that she's been reading about some big names like Mark Wahlberg who left early because it was a blowout. All I can say to them is that you never leave a sporting event early. Well, that and:

I noticed that they started the balloting for Super Bowl MVP while the Falcons were still up by a buttload. I think they should come up with some other way of doing things. THe decision should be made after the game is over, or you run the risk of having a completely inappropriate winner.

Other than the exciting comeback? BORING. Lady GaGa is obviously talented, and her show was elaborately choreographed. But I'm just not into her stuff. I do have three questions, though:

1. Who the hell crouches on a piano bench?
2. Why were there dancers with Klingon Bat'leths?
3. Is it my imagination or did she initially look like Miley Cyrus?

The ads weren't particularly entertaining either, though the usually-annoying George Takei was actually pretty good in the Domino's spot. I do have to say I'm surprised to see working for Domino's given that it's Tom Monahan's chain?

One last thought. Who designed that awful logo? The one with the Roman numeral LI with the trophy? The placement made it look like it was an LII logo, which would be 52.

constitutional questment i: wherefore section 2?

I've been reading over the Constitution, and have come across some points that I have questions and comments (i.e., "questments") about. Rather than try to post a list of them, I'll do them one at a time. That way if I tyhink of more, I can post them too, without it looking like an addendum. So here goes with "Constitutional Questments."

The fifteenth amendment establishes that voting rights will not be denied on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude. That's in Section 1. Section 2 reads "The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

What's the purpose of the second clause? The only explanation I can think of is a concern that a state could limit voting rights, and then argue that the Federal government can't come in and enforce the rule stated in Section 1. In that event the amendment would be toothless.

Is that it? Is there another reason?

is the chicago sunroof for real?

I've been rewatching the first season of Better Call Saul, and it leaves me with a question.

The show introduces a term which I had never heard before. "Chicago Sunroof." It's a noun. As in, "I was so pissed off at that guy for blocking my driveway that I climbed on top of his car and gave him a Chicago sunroof." As is explained, it consists of defecating through the open sunroof of a car.

Now, I heard this, and thought...who the hell would think to do such a thing? And who the hell would actually give it a name? Jeez! Out of curiosity -- to see if it was really a thing -- I tried looking it up on the intertubes. I found lots of references on Google. More than half a million. But they all seem to refer back to Better Call Saul. Well, not all. There's also a beer -- Chicago Sunroof IPA. But that seems to have been invented after the BCS episode in question had aired. So I can't rule out the possibility that the term was invented for the show.

Can anyone help me out here? Oh, and while we're at it, how about "squat cobbler"?

some reminiscing about pastramiterias

The Carnegie Deli is known for overstuffed sandwiches

I guess I'm a little late to the party. One month late, that is. The Carnegie Deli, one of New York's premiere pastrameterias, closed up for good at the end of December. The Carnegie was known for its overstuffed sandwiches; it set the standard, and few other delis come close.

But my feelings are mixed at worst. I rarely actually went to the Carnegie, so it's not really that big a deal to me. The last time was, I think, 2015 when my cousin was in town with his wife and kids. So this doesn't really affect me directly. On the other hand, I suppose I took comfort in the knowledge that it was always there and I always could go if I wanted. An overstuffed pastrami on rye with a Cel-Ray, and maybe a knish. The big question was whether to have mustard or Russian dressing on the sandwich.

The Carnegie was one of two truly iconic Jewish delis in New York. Oh, there are other Jewish delis, though not as many as there used to be (more on that later), but as I see it, only two ad truly mythic status. The other one, is Katz's. Katz's has been around since the 19th century -- 1888 I think, but I'm too lazy to check. And some people swear by it. It also gained some extra pop culture cred as the site of Meg Ryan's fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally. But I have never found the meat to be that good. To me it's just overrated and overpriced. As they say, "על טעם וריח אין להתווכח." Loosely translated, "you can't argue taste."

My go-to pastramiteria

There are still a few worthwhile delis in New York. Notably, Ben's Best in Rego Park, Liebman's in Riverdale and Sarge's in Midtown East. There are, of course, others whose names escape me. But it does sadden me that there are so few, since there used to be so many.

There are so many delis I remember from my youth that are simply gone. In this neighborhood (I live in the same neighborhood where I grew up) there was Charney's and the Surrey Deli. The former closed when I was a kid. The latter limped along into the 1990s, but as a shell of its former self. When I went to high school there was the Zion Deli around the corner. And there was a place in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center, near where Ben's is now. For the record, I have a hard time referring to Ben's (of the chain) as a deli. It's more of a deli-themed diner. But, I do have to admit they have decent pastrami and corned beef. And superior cole slaw. So maybe I shouldn't be so snarky about them.

But the demographics have changed, and red meat and salt have fallen out of favor due to perceived health effects. So there are just fewer of the places than there used to be. And I miss them...