The 2018 Winter Olympic Games may have come and gone, but they didn't stop the movie watching. Here's batch 2 for February.

26. (1255.) The Foot Fist Way (2006)
The movie that made Danny McBride a star! Actually, I think that may have been Pineapple Express, but this was earlier. It's exactly the sense of humor you've come to expect from McBride, so if you generally think his movies/TV shows are funny, here's some more. (Personally, I waffle. I think McBride's persona is entertaining in ensemble casts, but I can only take so much of his signature self-absorbed abrasiveness in one sitting.)

27. (1256.) Inside Out (2015)
Mom loved this movie, but I was only lukewarm. Too much touchy-feely for Walter, I suspect. The only time I was really captivated was when we got a look inside other people's heads at their control crews. To clarify: good movie well made, just not to my tastes.

28. (1257.) Congratulations, It's a Boy! (1971)
Bill Bixby plays the antithesis of his usual, responsible adult as a spoiled playboy discovering a grown son he didn't know he had. (Mom named the boy after Bixby's character, but told the son that dad was dead. That's some great parenting.) There is a subplot involving Bixby's overbearing parents' mistakenly thinking that their son and their grandson are in a homosexual relationship, but that's too little too late to save an otherwise dull affair.

29. (1258.) Rapture-Palooza (2013)
I don't usually like end-of-the-world movies, but this slapstick comedy wasn't so bad, perhaps because darling Anna Kendrick was there cushion the blow that everyone's living in Hell on Earth.

30. (1259.) The Ultimate Warrior (1975)
This is not about the WWF superstar wrestler but Yul Brynner's rather boring attempt to save Max von Sydow's post-apocalyptic commune. Yawn. (It could have used some Anna Kendrick.)

31. (1260.) Meet Wally Sparks (1997)
Golly, I remember this movie getting a lot of bad press on initial release. I can understand why, although if you're attending a Rodney Dangerfield comedy, you shouldn't be expecting Citizen Kane. It's not worse than any Chris Farley or Adam Sandler movie of the same era. Plus, in part because the movie spends most of its time lampooning the Southern manners of the citizens of the Great State of Georgia, it's got Coke!

None of these kids is Wally Sparks.

More to come.

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Some of the movies I watch deserve extra attention.

114. (1173.) Aloha (2015)

This is not one of them.

Aloha is the worst kind of films, the kind that is almost great but misses the mark. The cast is particularly stellar — Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray, Jon Krasinski, Danny McBride, Alec Baldwin; a real murders' row. However, the scriptwriter and the director let them down. Unfortunately, they were the same person. Cameron Crowe has made some great films in his day (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Say Anything...). As I said, this is not one of them.

The first act is abysmally bad, underserving all characters and telegraphing the end. It's bad enough that Stone is supposed to be playing a Hawaiian. Worse, romantic leads Stone and Cooper have no real screen chemistry. Cooper gets along much better with McAdams, and this supposed "romantic" comedy suffers for that misplaced relationship.

Those problems are just the tip of this iceberg. Bill Murray's part was written as a Bond villain. Krasinski is playing a walking plot device and isn't even given any lines. The "space" elements are entirely pointless, and when the second act ends, the audience is given no context to understand what they're seeing on screen. Like I said, it's bad.

There are hints here of a better movie peeking out. If the Hawaiian lore had been handled more subtly, if the criticism of the civilian corruption of the military-industrial complex had been given more attention, if the characters were developed more organically . . . . There's a good movie under here somewhere. Too bad no one got to see it.

As I said, this movie doesn't deserve this much attention. If you haven't guessed by now, the real reason for this post is to explain that I'm now missing only 3 movies on my Emma Stone career checklist (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, 2009; Magic in the Moonlight, 2014; and Irrational Man, 2015).

Gotta watch 'em all! Even the bad ones.

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More in the life and times of Mrs. W.C. McBride. Published today in The Newnan Times-Herald:

This item was published in The Herald and Advertiser, predecessor of The Newnan Times-Herald, on Aug. 14, 1914:

"Among the numerous floral offerings displayed at Mrs. Woodrow Wilson's funeral at Rome on Tuesday last, and one of the few carried into the church with the casket, was a beautiful wreath formed of magnolia leaves contributed by Sarah Dickinson Chapter, D.A.R. of this city. The wreath was designed and put together by Mrs. W. C. McBride, who [sic] artistic taste was never more prettily displayed, and we understand it was much admired."

This belated celebration of the centennial of Mrs. Wilson's death didn't come out of the blue. It was published to illustrate Newnan's ties to the former first lady, a Georgia native whose paintings are currently on display in Rome.

The city of Rome must have been very important to Ellen Axson Wilson and her husband, the future 28th President. As the supporting article emphasizes, "They met in Rome, where they met and where she gave birth to two of her daughters." That two of the daughters were born in Rome is mentioned again later in the article. It also goes on to add that she attended Rome Female College, and Mr. Wilson became "immediately attracted" to her after seeing her in church. They sound like a happy couple. I wonder where they met?

(I should also be absolutely clear on this point: Ellen Axson was the first Mrs. Wilson. Ellen was the third first lady to die while her husband was in office, and perhaps not so coincidentally, Woodrow was the third President to be married while in office. The Mrs. Wilson history recognizes as managing the nation's affairs while President Wilson convalesced from a 1919 stroke was his second wife, Edith Bolling, who so far as I know had no ties to Rome. The article gives no mention of the second, probably more famous Mrs. Wilson.)

The first Mrs. Wilson's paintings are now on display at the Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum in Rome, GA. That museum is no relation to the Oak Hill Cemetery where the aforementioned Mrs. McBride rests.

So that's your Jennie Hardaway McBride update for 2014. For a woman who died 90 years ago, she still gets around!

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March movies concluded.

59. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
I generally don't like werewolf films, but since I was planning to watch New Moon, I figured I owed this horror classic the old college try. To my surprise, I hadn't missed anything. To sum up: a boy is bitten by a werewolf but survives, told by his dead friend that he will become a werewolf, turns into a werewolf, and is killed. The SFX are good, but someone really should have tried to squeeze a little plot under all that makeup.

60. The H-Man (1958)
This movie has a significantly better user rating on imdb.com than New Moon, proving the adage that you shouldn't believe everything you read. Even if you hated New Moon, there's nothing here that's remotely better. The special effects of melting people -- every bit as creepy if slightly more mysterious than the melting Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark -- are the highlight of this pedestrian Japanese morality tale of the dangers of the radiation tests. That's two movies in a row where special effects are used to cover weak stories. It's a trend!

63. Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
After H-Man, this horrible movie looks like an award winner. Dialogue is long and pointless, characters are wooden, and sets are cluttered. There is a scene in this film where the protagonists discover a hothouse filled with truly horrific creatures that could be demons or mutants, and they act as though they were seeing something as ordinary as chickens. (The female lead inexplicably saves her screams for far more mundane thunderstorms and locked doors.) At least the film does have a significantly creepy and mysterious atmosphere, which was enough to keep me watching.

64. 30 Minutes or Less (2011)
I am so sick of Jesse Eisenberg and Danny McBride. Fortunately Fred Ward and Aziz Ansari appeared just often enough to keep the timer going on this "comedy."

65. Suddenly (1954)
I told my friend Chris that he was probably the only person I knew who would be even slightly interested in the fact that I had just watched a b-movie in which hired assassin Frank Sinatra kills a television repairman. Without hesitation Chris replied, "hey, I own Suddenly!"

66. Priest (2011)
In a past life, my brother worked in Hollywood where he developed a mancrush on actor Paul Bettany. Since then, Trey insists that I watch all things Bettany does. Trey was quite pissed to learn that I had watched Twilight despite my aversion to vampire-themed fiction and demanded that I finally watch Bettany's vampire-themed Priest. Don't tell Trey, but this movie co-stars Cam Gigandet, the villain from Twilight. (And he's delightful!)

68. Superheroes (2011)
A documentary about the people who dress up like superheroes and fight "crime," by which they typically mean homelessness.

69. Zero Hour! (1957)
I watched this knowing that it is the film that Airplane! is based on. What I did not know was that the two movies share the same script: Zero Hour! is Airplane! without the punchlines. Save yourself the trouble and just watch Airplane!.

70. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
A fantastic movie. Sometimes, casting does make all the difference, but it really helps when they have a great script to work with.

71. The Big Sleep (1946)
This bit of film noir provided several scenes for Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, but fails to be anything more than a vehicle for Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. For die-hard film noir (or Bogart) fans only.

72. Friends with Benefits (2011)
Why try so hard to convince the audience that you aren't just another romantic comedy while being just another romantic comedy? I liked it despite this flaw, mostly because Justin Timberlake is so willing to make a fool of himself for my entertainment.

73. Dirigible (1931)
Frank Capra directed this film, but I watched it because it of its subject matter (the dirigibles, not the cliche polar expedition disaster). I marvel that Ralph Graves had a career as a romantic leading man: his kisses look like assaults. After he "assaulted" Fay Wray early in the movie, I kept cheering for him to die. However, Frank Capra provides the expected saccharin ending, more disappointing than ever when the wrong boy gets the girl in the end.

74. Game Change (2012)
Again, I almost didn't watch this because it was a biopic, but the allure of Woody Harrelson proved too great. Yes, the film is a hit job on Sarah Palin (the woman simply can't be that demented in real life), but it has the side effect of making John McCain look like a modern Teddy Roosevelt. I'm voting for Ed Harris in 2012!

75. The Mechanic (2011)
The sex scenes in this remake seem to define "gratuitous nudity" and left me wondering if the original film showed Charlie Bronson having vigorous sex with topless girls half his age. I guess I need to see the 1972 original and find out.

After watching 75 new-to-me movies by the end of March, I'm already halfway to my goal of 150 on the year. I think I'll take it easy in April. It sure can be hard work trying to watch a movie every day. I'm sacrificing considerable video game time.

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After my curiosity-driven research into the tombstone of Jeannie Hardaway McBride and my follow-up on the destruction of her home, I've had a request for more information about the descendants of Jeannie Hardaway McBride. I should point out that she's my 3rd cousin three-times removed, so I'm no expert. However, I'm glad to share what I know (because I'm a know-it-all busybody).

Research indicates that Jeannie McBride had as many as 8 children ^[1][2][3], six of whom appear to have survived infancy. What little I know about that family is detailed as as follows. Keep in mind that all of the detective work that follows was done at my computer. A little real digging through actual books -- does anyone do that anymore? -- would no doubt clear up any inconsistencies or misinformation.

Robert McBride was born January 16, 1895, and died May 9, 1896. He is buried in Newnan's Oak Hill Cemetery.^[4]

Isora Burch McBride was born December 25, 1896, and died September 6, 1898. Isora was named for her grandmother, and is buried in Newnan's Oak Hill Cemetery.^[5]

William H. McBride was born March 21, 1899. The Social Security Death Index shows two William McBrides born on March 21, 1899; one died in May 1962 in Virginia, the other died in December 1986 in Houston, Texas^[14]. Since there is a William C. McBride, Jr. buried in Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, GA, with a death date of May 23, 1962^[15], I'm guessing it's that one.

George McBride was born June 22, 1901, and died August 27, 1932. He is also buried in Newnan's Oak Hill Cemetery.^[16]

Alice M. McBride born October 22, 1903, and died on November 9, 1977. In between she married James Thompson Goodrum who appears as a 29-year-old male in the 1920 U.S. Census.^[6] The couple had at least 2 children, both boys. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Coweta County as Alice McBride Goodrum.^[7]

Henry Strickland McBride was born January 8, 1906, and died May 6, 1976. Henry married Mary Cowham on March 2, 1941¹³. After years of adventures in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Henry retired to Newnan and is buried in Newnan's Oak Hill Cemetery.^[8]

Virginia McBride, birth date unknown, was in the Shorter College graduating class of 1929.^[9] I have no idea what happened to Virginia after that.

Ruth McBride was born in December 1910. Like her older sister, Ruth attended Shorter College and appears as a Sophomore in the 1928 Argo yearbook^[10] and the 1930 Argo yearbook!^[11] Mysteriously, she does not appear in the 1931 yearbook at all.^[12] While I had initially been led to believe that her name was "Ruth Reid McBride," and that she had been born on December 10^[2], I can find no records for that name. Because Ruth Reid Hardaway was the name of Jeannie's sister, this could have been an honest mistake by an earnest genealogist. A little digging reveals one Ruth Hardaway McBride born on December 7, 1910, married William Haskell DuBose, Jr. on May 4, 1935, and died on September 8, 1999.^[17] Mr. DuBose is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park like Ruth's sister, so it seems likely that his wife is our girl Ruth.

And that's all I know about that.

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At the suggestions of my "friend" James, I ran my last blog post through a series of automatic translators (English > French > Spanish > English) just to see what would happen. This is the result:

Remember when I posted this little piece of history in the life of Mrs. WC McBride returns April 18? Well, it seems that there may be sentenced to home.

The Newnan Times-Herald reported today that the house at 14 Robinson Street was destroyed in a fire at home after a storm on Tuesday night. The house at 14 Robinson was listed as the home address of Ms. McBride on his death certificate, 1924.

These stories have led to the revelation that the majority of grandparents who live close to call McBride House, though the house was built in the late 1840 by John Evans Robinson (hence the name of the street) before moving to Cardwell William McBride. It turns out that my mother called the Hatchett House, as was held by the Hatchett family for most of the last century. Anything that is called, it seems that most of Newnan was aware of the 2-story colonial-style white house.

(To illustrate the kind of town Newnan, Georgia, is John Robinson Cates, son of John Robinson Evans, was the Newnan Rexall Pharmacy pharmacist with the October 7, 1953, issue of It's your life. John Robinson Cates married too. Eva Arnold, the sister of my maternal grandmother Everybody relates to the world. this is like shooting in Newnan)

Is it a coincidence that two weeks after published in Virginia "Jennie" McBride Hardaway, his house burned down? Obviously the answer is no. Take care, readers Wriphe.com: the blog! My blog is so powerful, can not be responsible for causing havoc!

Google Translate. Because if you can't make fun of a house fire, what can you make fun of?

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Remember when I posted that bit of history of the life of Mrs. W.C. McBride back on April 18? Well, it seems that I may have doomed her house.

The Newnan Times-Herald reported today that the home at 14 Robinson Street was destroyed in a house fire following a thunderstorm on Tuesday night. The house at 14 Robinson Street was the house listed as Mrs. McBride's home address on her 1924 death certificate.

This news led to the revelation that many of the old-timers living nearby call it the McBride House, although the house was built in the 1840s by John Evans Robinson (hence the road name) before passing to William Cardwell McBride. It turns out that my mother calls it the Hatchett House, as it has been owned by the Hatchett family for the better part of the last century. Whatever they called it, it seems that most of Newnan was aware of the 2-story, white plantation-style home.

(To illustrate what kind of town Newnan, Georgia, is, John Robinson Cates, son of John Evans Robinson, was the Newnan Rexall Drugstore pharmacist featured on the October 7, 1953, broadcast of This is Your Life. John Robinson Cates was also married to Eva Arnold, the sister of my maternal great-grandmother. Everyone is related to everyone else: that's how we roll in Newnan.)

Could it be a coincidence that two weeks after I posted about Virginia "Jennie" Hardaway McBride, her home is burned to the ground? Clearly the answer is no. Beware, readers of Wriphe.com: The Blog! My blog posts are so powerful, I cannot be responsible for the havoc they wreak!

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Most tombstones show the date of death. Many tombstones record the date of birth. But there aren't too many tombstones showing a third date.

This tombstone for Jennie Hardaway McBride, found in Newnan's historic Oak Hill cemetery, demanded a little research. And not because there are no oaks or hills anywhere in sight.

It turns out that "Jennie" isn't even Mrs. McBride's real name. Before she was Mrs. "Jennie" McBride, wife of Newnan merchant and Scotch-Irish society member William Cardwell McBride, she was Virgina Rebecca Hardaway, daughter of Isora Burch. In 1903, Isora Burch organized the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, named in honor of her great-grandmother, Sarah Dickinson Simms. Jennie would eventually succeed her mother as regent for the DAR Sarah Dickinson chapter. But that doesn't solve the question of why she has three dates on her tombstone.

The death certificate for "Mrs. W. C. McBride" of 14 Robinson Street in Newnan, Ga, lists the cause of death at age 50 as "acute uremia." The internet tells me that uremia is typically caused by kidney failure. In this case it wasn't a surprise to anyone when she died; the certificate notes that she was diagnosed with "uremia" six months before it killed her. However, that still doesn't account for the third date on the tombstone.

The father of Mrs. McBride was Robert Henry Hardaway, descendant of a boy "kidnapped" onto a ship bound for America in 1685. It turns out that daddy also has 3 unusual dates on his grave: "December Twelfth, 1837, - 1869, February 11, 1905." Robert Hardaway was born in 1837 and died in 1905. So what did he do between those two dates? He stayed busy. For one thing, Hardaway was a Confederate States Army soldier in Company B of the 1st Georgia Calvary. For a time afterwards, he was a member of the Georgia State General Assembly. And he was also a partner in the merchant firm Hardaway & Hunter in Newnan where he met Isora Burch and was married on December 12, 1869! Ah, ha!

The historical record states that Jennie R. Hardaway was married on April 18, 1894. Mystery solved. At least two generations of the Hardaway family of Newnan liked to put their wedding dates on their tombstones. Who knows why, exactly, but if I had to guess, I'd suppose they died a little those days. They don't call spouses "balls and chains" for nothing. Marriage: it's a life sentence.

[For the record, Jennie Hardaway McBride shares a common ancestor with my mother. Sarah Dickinson Simms, Mrs. McBride's 2nd great-grandmother, was my mother's 4th great-grandmother, making her my 5th great-grandmother. What can I say? Newnan's kind of a small town.]

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The University of Georgia's football season has been so bad, it killed our mascot: Uga VII died of a heat attack yesterday, November 19, after a mere 23 games as mascot and only 15 months after the death of his predecessor, also from heart failure. Uga VII (born Loran's Best) was only 4 years old at the time of his death and had the shortest reign of all Ugas to date. As a result of his sudden departure, no live mascot will be lounging in his custom-built doghouse for Saturday's prime-time home game against Kentucky.

Though it is too soon to tell, there is an indication that Uga VII may be the last Uga. "There may not be an Uga VIII," said Uga VII's owner, Swann Seiler, in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, What this means is still up for debate, as reporter Alexis Stevens followed typical AJC procedure and did not follow through on this intriguing line of inquiry, but it would not be unprecedented to have a differently named english bulldog mascot in future seasons. Prior to 1956, Georgia had bulldog mascots named Mike, Butch, and Mr. Angel. And lest we not forget more recently the 1986 temporary Uga IV replacement named Otto. Heck, our next mascot need not necessarily be a bulldog at all.

The historical record reports that Georgia's first football mascot was a goat. Columns, the University's internal newsletter, indicates that inaugural football coach Charles Herty nicknamed the team the "Goats" in February 1892. "At that time the goat was a mascot for everyone," UGA Associate Director of Alumni Relations Charles McBride is quoted in the Jan. 20, 1988 edition of the student-run Red and Black newspaper. "They would just decorate an old goat from the University farm and take it to the game." The Athens Banner-Herald newspaper claims the goat was our mascot for some time, at least two years, though the official mascot may have been the goat for as long as 3 or 4 decades. A paucity of recorded information makes ascertaining the time of the shift between official mascots uncertain, much less the name of that original goat.

According to the University's Athletic Department and other sources, the unnamed live goat was replaced by a bull terrier named Trilby in 1894. From Trilby the University would generate the nickname "bulldogs," which took several decades to saturate the popular consciousness as team mascot despite many people claiming credit for the idea. The Feb. 4, 1938, Red and Black contains reminiscences by Herman J. Stegeman and Robert L. McWhorter -- both men who now have buildings on campus named in their honor -- who debate the exact dates but agree that the team was known internally as the Bulldogs prior to 1921. (Historical note: the game that Stegeman recalls against Yale discussed in the linked article above took place in 1923, not 1921.) The Bulldog was not made the official mascot of the University until a ceremony at halftime of the annual game versus Georgia Tech on Nov. 26, 1938.

While I don't expect a return to the Georgia Goat (a nickname possibly already claimed by current quarterback Joe Cox), I wouldn't be surprised to see a lineage change for the bulldogs. Like the University itself, the Ugas have been growing all too fat and indolent in recent years. Whether the Seilers have tired of the spotlight, the weekly journey from Savannah, or the minefield of internal UGA politics, perhaps a return to the likes of Mr. Angel would do us some good.

So long, Uga VII. It was nice knowing you.

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