The Johnny Bacardi Show

Good morning to all.

Not a whole lot going on around here, but I do have a few things I want to post before I have to get up from here and interact with the real world...

I have a job interview with R.R. Donnelley & Sons on Monday. This is a little strange for me, since I spent the first 15 years of my working life at RRD. I left in 1994 to take what I thought at the time was a better opportunity for me to move up and be appreciated a bit more, but it didn't work out that way. RRD is establishing a premedia center (they also call it a "digital hub" sometimes) in nearby Glasgow, and when it was announced I was curious but not all that interested since, as we all know, I was employed at Camping World and quite happy to be so. But to quote the tired old John Lennon line, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" and now I'm very much wanting to be a part of old Mother Donnelley again. Will I be able to perform a prodigal son act? Stay tuned...and keep your fingers crossed for me. This is the best opportunity for me right now– it's more of a menial thing, nothing creative, unfortunately, but it's something I know and am comfortable with, and it won't mean moving to God knows where.

My doctor passed away on Sunday. This blew my mind! I had started seeing him last year, for a couple of things, and was quite happy with him. He had also diagnosed my Father-in-law's West Nile virus (one of the only cases in Kentucky! He's a celeb of sorts...), and it was on my in-laws' recommendation that I started going to him. The obit didn't list cause of death, but there was a section that suggested contributions to the American Heart Association in lieu of flowers, so I'm guessing heart problems of some sort. He was only 35. Now I gotta find a new doctor, damn it.

Picked up my comics haul, everything I listed yesterday except for the Comic Book Artist magazine, saving me 6 bucks. The Clock Maker 3 was there, and I picked up the issue of Night Falls on Yancy Street I missed last week as well. Of course you know I will review them soon. You've been warned. Also in the comics realm, I read Steven Grant's newest Master of the Obvious column this morning...he printed suggestions from people who were asked to list three non-Marvel or DC comics you'd recommend to a non-comics reading friend. One of which dropped the "pamphlet" word several times in the course of his piece. Is there a more annoying, condescending, pretentious, wannabe-hip word used to describe a comic book than "pamphlet"? Doesn't it make you wanna bitch-slap whoever uses it? No? Well....OK. Heh. Anyway, he also does a great job of articulating my hatred of the super-hero parody. You should read.

Watched a couple of flicks yesterday and this morning: One More Time, starring Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr. in a lame spy-spoof that was dated by 1971, the year it was released. Sam plays a fellow named Charlie Salt, and Lawford is Christopher Pepper. Get it? They were nightclub owners who keep getting mixed up with criminals. It was a sequel to 1968's only marginally better Salt and Pepper. It's noteworthy as the only film Jerry Lewis directed that he didn't star in. It also has unbilled cameos by Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in a labored scene in which they portay Dracula (of course) and Dr. Frankenstein in a dungeon that only Sammy can see. Sammy gets to do a musical number, and while it was pretty cheesy the song was kinda catchy and Sammy sang the heck out of it. It had a nice electric guitar lick as well. This movie had lots of references to Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, then still somewhat current, with Sammy saying "Here come the judge" a couple of times and an appearance by a big-band type ensemble named "Tom Thumb and the Fickle Fingers". Oh, my sides. You may notice I didn't mention Lawford at all...that's because despite playing two roles he doesn't do much of anything except speak in a mincy British accent and react to Sammy. I guess Pete and Sammy thought they had a franchise on their hands with the Salt and Pepper films...they were wrong. Also, I caught the last hour of War-Gods of the Deep, aka City Under the Sea, starring Vincent Price in one of the last of the AIP Poe (yeah, it was based on a short story by Edgar Allan) films. Roger Corman couldn't be bothered to direct, so they got a pretty good substitute, Jacques Tourneur of Curse of the Demon and Cat People fame, but he was close to the end of his career and didn't add much. It wanted to be epic in scope, but a low budget and a dull script pretty much did it in.

All right, that's it for now. Hopefully more later. Hopefully.