Cataloging movies watched in October:

171. (708.) To Be or Not to Be (1983)
Mel Brooks take on the earlier Jack Benny movie. (Granted Brooks did not direct this, but his fingerprints are all over it.) This movie, by being sillier and more slapstick, manages to make the abuses of the Nazi's seem much darker by contrast. I love Jack Benny, but I found this to be the better movie.

172. (709.) Robin and Marian (1976)
Golly-gosh-darn, does this film have some great acting. Which is good, because it's plot is disappointingly thin. And the ending? WTF?!) It's still better than both Costner's and Crow's deviations on the same theme.

173. (710.) The Unknown Man (1951)
It's a bad sign when I can't remember a movie a month after I watched it. IMDB reminds me that this is a noir crime drama where a lawyer does something really stupid because he's overly idealistic. I'll forget it again in an hour.

174. (711.) The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945)
Jack Benny again, this time as an inept angel trying to destroy the world. That Benny, he's a funny guy. By the way, was there some mid-century historical precedent for coffee companies denying that there product keeps you awake? It's played for laughs here (Paradise Coffee) and is a centerpiece in Preston Sturges' 1940 Christmas in July (Maxford House Coffee). Art imitating life, or just parody?

175. (712.) The Formula (1980)
The next time that someone tells me that Marlon Brando is the greatest actor of his or any generation, I'm going to make them watch this movie. Ye, gods! If this is Method acting, I'll have no more of it, thank you.

More to come.

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Fifty years ago, Florida was ranked #9 headed into the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. UGA would go on to win 14-7, and more importantly, Steve Spurrier was publicly embarrassed.

The above picture ran in the November 10, 1964, issue of UGA's Red and Black newspaper. Reading the old newspapers, you get the impression that the students of UGA were more concerned about football players cutting in line at the cafeteria, drunks at Sanford Stadium, and supporting Barry Goldwater than they were interested in new coach Vince Dooley leading the Bulldogs to their first winning season in four years. It seems that there's more to life on campus than just football. Who knew?

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This is how July asks for her evening treat.

It's impossible to say no.

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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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Put here for future reference:

Yes, I've watched the whole thing and tried to follow along on my slide rule at home — Picture Pages style! — but I keep checking my answers with a calculator. It's right more often than I am.

(I should also admit that watching this made me very, very depressed when my thoughts briefly strayed into consideration of returning to a world without computers. I really shouldn't think about such things.)

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From the Life Is Cheap Department:

Hit Comics #5, November 1940

If you pull a gun in Superior City, you'd better be prepared to be stung! Take note, Chicago: Michael the trained bee is all the gun control that any city needs.

(And lest you think it's odd that Red Bee should be "relieved" to see a gun pointed at the district attorney, know that his day job is assistant district attorney. Who wouldn't be glad to see their boss gunned down by brightly-colored extortionists?)

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Where was I? "162"?

162. (699.) Double Wedding (1937)
More William Powell and Myrna Loy romantic comedy. A good one, too. (As if there are any that aren't.) I will see them all, oh yes, I will.

163. (700.) Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
More William Powell as Florenz Ziefeld. Ok, so he only played the role twice, but now I've seen both. Frankly, the standout scene in this vaudeville-style movie isn't the dance with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, although that is pretty good, but a comedy routine by Red Skelton, which is just amazing. (Keenan Wynn and Fanny Brice have comedy skits in the movie as well, but they both fall far short of the bar that Skelton sets.)

164. (701.) The Lego Movie (2014)
Maybe I expected too much, but this movie bored me. I never forgot that I was watching a 2-hour toy commercial. (And I'm hardly one to criticize someone else for being misogynistic, but ouch. Cringe-worthy. I hadn't realized Legos were only for boys.)

166. (703.) Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Now this was the movie I was hoping Lego was. I kicked myself for not figuring the Big Bad earlier than the reveal, but I didn't mind a bit. Lots of fun visual and vocal gags in this great animated Disney movie. (How could Disney go from this to Frozen a year-and-a-half later? Blech!)

167. (704.) Detective Story (1951)
Maybe I watch too much noir, but this story was on rails. Too obvious at every turn, the only thing that made this worth watching was Kirk Douglas' powerful on-screen charisma.

168. (705.) Dinner at Eight (1933)
I watched this entire comedy of manners feeling that everything was exposition for the titular dinner. "When will the dinner start?" I kept wondering. The dinner starts just before the closing credits roll! If there was a settlement to any of the story's many, many conflicts, I missed them. (As everyone goes to dinner, there is a sensation of detente, but not resolution.)

169. (706.) Battleship (2012)
Oh, this is a Big, Stupid Action Movie. But it knows its place. It never strives to be anything other than a Big, Stupid Action Movie. The writers and director competently put all the pieces and place and hit all the necessary character notes to achieve the desired outcome. (Yeah! Take that, aliens!) I was very surprisingly entertained throughout. You should take notes, Micheal Bay. (I think this has all the makings of a cult classic.)

170. (707.) Love in the Afternoon (1957)
The rising action was a little slow for my tastes, and the age difference between the male lead, Gary Cooper (playing a 60-year-old man), and the female lead, Audrey Hepburn (playing a college student), was too disparate for me to tolerate. I guess it's a rule that if you want to make a movie focusing on inappropriate March-December sexual relationships, you have to cast Chevalier? (Fun fact: GiGi turns my stomach!)

And that's all my movies watched in September.

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Well, that didn't last long.

It seems likely that the Knowshon Moreno era with has come to an end in Miami. Moreno has been put on Injured Reserve after tearing his ACL in last week's loss to the Packers. He's done for the season, and it seems unlikely the Dolphins will invite the suddenly injury-prone Moreno (shoulder, elbow, and now ACL) back next year.

In March, I wrote, "If Knowshon does no better than [wide receiver Mike]Wallace's 2013 production, this will be a successful signing." Wallace has played in all 6 games, banking 313 yards and 4 touchdowns. Moreno has played in just 3 of 5 games so far this season (and 2 of 4 in the preseason), finishing only the season opener. In that one game, he rushed for 134 yards (the most for a Dolphins running back in a game since Reggie Bush left the team in 2012) and one TD. So by my own criteria, Moreno's time in Miami is a bust.

It's been a terrible week for UGA running backs in general. As everyone in America knows, Heisman-hopeful Todd Gurley was suspended by the team in advance of an NCAA investigation into illegal benefits (specifically accepting compensation for autographs). It's still up in the air whether Gurley will ever return to play for the Bulldogs, but I suspect that the Dolphins will be looking for a new running back in 2015.

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