samhexum

The movie “Mass” starts and ends with the Christian hymn “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds.” It’s a slow, reassuring tune famous for its use in all three acts of “Our Town,” the classic American play about parents and children, why we go on living and what we leave behind when we die. “Mass,” which premiered Saturday in the Sundance Film Festival, tackles all of those timeless topics, too, and I’d reckon the “Our Town” shoutout is purposeful from writer-director Fran Kranz. But his drama is also haunted by a modern plague the people of Grover’s Corners could scarcely imagine: school shootings. Kranz’s poignant debut feature, which mostly takes place in one tense room around a folding table, knocks the wind right out of you and then lingers in your mind for hours, if not days. Several years after 10 local high school students were murdered in a massacre, the mother and father of one victim and the parents of the gunman, who killed himself, meet face-to-face for the first time in a church basement, seeking some kind of closure. It’s a brave premise, handled sympathetically by Kranz, that allows for a quartet of visceral performances that doesn’t come along every year. Heck, every five years. The parents of Evan, the victim, are Gail (Martha Plimpton) and Jay (Jason Isaacs). Gail can barely will herself to walk into the building at first, and she is determined to find out how the monster who killed her son was created. Were there early warning signs? Could it have been stopped? Hayden’s mom Linda (Ann Dowd) and dad Richard (Reed Birney) not only lost their child on that awful day, but have been blamed over the years by many of the families of the students he killed. A lawsuit was filed against them. Could they have done more? Were they good parents? And the most heart-wrenching: Are they allowed to fondly remember their boy? You see, Kranz has not attempted to coldly psychoanalyze a killer — Hollywood’s favorite thing to do — but instead suggests what the healing process might look like after living through a nightmare. The first remark to really shake us up comes as the couples are sharing old photos, which their therapists have suggested. Gail hands one to Linda and says, “That’s the last Christmas.” Silence. Later on, while talking about the unfathomable challenge of being the parents of a loathed murderer, Linda painfully confides, “The world mourned 10. We mourned 11.” There are many such striking moments. Plimpton and Dowd’s relationship unpredictably switches over and over again, from professional to combative to conciliatory and back. Dowd, with a monk-like calmness suggesting years of self-reflection, is the adult in the room — until an unforgettable moment late in the film when everything changes. Plimpton begins as a fortress who’s unwilling to hear anything she doesn’t like, and gradually comes to realize she’s sitting across from two other humans who also lost a kid. Neither actress is playing a British queen, or is smothered by prosthetics in a weighty epic — and I know it’s only January — but these women have given two of the best performances you’ll see all year. Isaacs and Birney (who film audiences won’t recognize, but is a brilliant stage actor who wowed Broadway with “The Humans”) have more restrained roles. Their characters clearly feel they need to stay strong for their wives, not to mention their own masculine pride, so their occasional cracks are affecting. Viewers, I’m sure, will be hesitant to watch “Mass” when it’s widely released. It confronts one of the ugliest stains on American life that frightens us on the news all too regularly and that we pray never happens again. But, more importantly, the film beautifully expresses humanity’s best aspects — our capacity to forgive and connect with the most unlikely of people. As Emily says in “Our Town,” “Let’s look at one another.”

Peruvian lawyer caught having sex during virtual court hearing A lawyer has gone viral in Peru after he stripped off and had sex while still on-camera during a live-streamed court case, according to reports. Héctor Cipriano Paredes Robles had been taking part in a virtual hearing involving a feared local gang, Los Z de Chanchamayo, when he shocked the judge and other viewers Thursday with his X-rated display, according to Todo Noticias. Robles completely stripped off, then started kissing an equally naked woman who soon straddled him, according to video that went viral on Twitter. The outraged judge, John Chachua Torres, immediately called a halt to proceedings — ripping Robles for having “disrespected the dignity” of the court, Todo Noticias said. “This lawyer has lacked the honor and dignity of the profession,” the judge said. The Junín Bar Association later also stressed that it “strongly rejects” the “obscene acts” as it called for a swift investigation into his future in law. Robles — who has yet to publicly address the sex scandal — was replaced in the case, and faces a probe by Peru’s Public Ministry as well as the bar association, according to The Sun. His case is just the latest scandal over officials being either underdressed or getting carried away as live stream cameras record their shame. In September, married Argentinian MP Juan Emilio Ameri resigned after cavorting with his girlfriend during a virtual session of congress — pulling down her top to kiss her newly enhanced breasts.

The B-team: Rob Cryston, Lee Ryder, Nick Rodgers, Ken Ryker (for looks only, not performance) The C-team: Jack Simmons, Cutler X, John Davenport, Chad Johnson (for body/cock only, not performance or face) It feels wrong to leave out my long-lost twin, Jeff Stryker (we were born on the same day), but his performances were boring to me, and his on-screen persona grew tiresome eventually.

Marilu Henner liked this feature on Tony Danza.

Several people have made videos out of Rascal Flats' What Hurts The Most & Brokeback scenes. The song feels like it was written specifically for the movie.

I don't find him all that attractive, at least not in that pic. And when I saw the headline of the thread I thought "I've never met @TruthBTold -- what the hell does he know about my childhood?" ? ? ?

Easton's first two singles, "Modern Girl" and "9 to 5", both entered the UK Top Ten, and she was the first UK female artist to appear twice in the same Top Ten since Ruby Murray. In 1981, "9 to 5" (retitled "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" for the US market) topped the US Hot 100, making her the third UK female solo artist to achieve this, following Petula Clark and Lulu, and she became one of the most successful British female performers of the 1980s. A six-time Grammy nominee in the US, Easton is a two-time Grammy Award winner, winning Best New Artist in 1982 and Best Mexican-American Performance in 1985, for her duet with Luis Miguel on the song "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres". She has received five US Gold albums and one US Platinum album. She has recorded 16 studio albums, released 45 singles total worldwide, and had 20 consecutive US singles, including 15 US Top 40 singles, seven US top tens and one US No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1981 and 1991. She also had 25 top 40 hits in international territories around the world. In Canada, Easton scored three gold and two platinum albums. She has sold over 20 million records and albums worldwide. Easton became the first and only recording artist in history to have a top 5 hit on each of Billboard's primary singles charts, with "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" (both pop and adult contemporary), "We've Got Tonight" with Kenny Rogers (country) and "Sugar Walls" (both R&B and dance). Easton's other hits include the James Bond theme "For Your Eyes Only", "Strut", "U Got the Look" and "The Arms of Orion" with Prince, "The Lover in Me" and "What Comes Naturally". She has worked with prominent vocalists and producers, such as Prince, Christopher Neil, Kenny Rogers, David Foster, Luis Miguel, L.A. Reid & Babyface, Patrice Rushen and Nile Rodgers.

Chad Douglas, Jon King, Rick Donovan, Tom Chase

I don't even have to ask if you're familiar with Grover Cleveland Alexander's heroics in the 1926 World Series versus the Yankees. How long have you had the mindset that the world didn't exist until you were born? ?????

And yet, he's still less famous than his brothers Ernest and Julio.

I'm so sorry you saw the inferior production. ???

I know this thread is about the worst musicals ever seen, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask if anyone else saw my sister in Camp Colang's legendary production of Damn Yankees in 1974? They still talk about it in reverent tones throughout the state of Pennsylvania. I'm guessing @WilliamM either saw it or is still kicking himself for missing it.

Did anyone else here realize that @sniper is a werewolf? ?

@Merboy sure isn't... he didn't even know who Sheena Easton is!

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. It’s all that pot smoking they do A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. So can we launch a class-action lawsuit against Jiffy Lube for deceptive advertising? A snail can sleep for three years. If it repeatedly binge-watches CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORST KIND Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age. So how do mob enforcers incentivize them to pay their gambling debts? February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon. A dark time for werewolves If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction. If they’re walking in single file, how are they reproducing? If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights. More if you visit a certain district in Amsterdam Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. And his lesbian sister invented scissoring The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns. Big deal… I move only six inches for every gallon of Coke Zero I consume. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. Is that a melted chocolate bar in your pocket, or were you just happy to see me? The sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter of the alphabet. Typing teachers the world over are nodding right now The words ‘racecar,’ ‘kayak’ and ‘level’ are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes). Madam in Eden, I’m Adam. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. But only 50 ways to leave your lover?!?!? There’s no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins. I’m going to write my Congressperson (AOC!) and demand a congressional committee be formed to investigate this miscarriage of justice. They can then pass the BEA BENADERET BILL to fix this outrageous oversight.

Who's Petula Clark? ??? Just kidding, of course. I have one of her biggest hits on my computer, and listen to it occasionally:

AIDS likely made the leap from chimpanzees to humans because of a starving World War I soldier who was forced to hunt the animals for food, according to a new book. The unknown “Patient Zero” was part of an invasion force of 1,600 Belgian and French troops who, along with 4,000 African aides, had traveled from Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo to a remote outpost in Cameroon, says Canadian microbiologist Jacques Pepin, who once worked as a bush doctor in central Africa in the 1980s. Pepin, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec (and also a French-born American chef, author, culinary educator, television personality, and artist?), makes the intriguing hypothesis the focus of a new edition of his famed book, “Origins of AIDS.” “Patient Zero” was likely injured after killing a subspecies of chimp — Pan troglodytes troglodytes — infected with a simian virus that was a precursor to HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the virus which causes AIDS, Pepin writes in the tome recently published by Cambridge University Press. AIDS likely made the leap from chimpanzees to humans because of a starving World War I soldier who was forced to hunt the animals for food, according to a new book. The unknown “Patient Zero” was part of an invasion force of 1,600 Belgian and French troops who, along with 4,000 African aides, had traveled from Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo to a remote outpost in Cameroon, says Canadian microbiologist Jacques Pepin, who once worked as a bush doctor in central Africa in the 1980s. Pepin, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec, makes the intriguing hypothesis the focus of a new edition of his famed book, “Origins of AIDS.” “Patient Zero” was likely injured after killing a subspecies of chimp — Pan troglodytes troglodytes — infected with a simian virus that was a precursor to HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the virus which causes AIDS, Pepin writes in the tome recently published by Cambridge University Press. In a 2011 edition of the seminal book, Pepin originally posited HIV leapt from chimps to humans after an injured African hunter killed one of the beasts in 1921, becoming infected in the process. Pepin then chronicles how the virus’ spread was fueled throughout the world by colonization, prostitution, and “well-meaning” public health campaigns which lacked what are now common safety protocols, such as barring the sharing of needles. In the second edition, released this month, Pepin draws on research in medical archives in Africa and Europe suggesting ‘Patient Zero’ was not a native hunter, but instead a starving World War One soldier forced to hunt chimps for food when his regiment got stuck in the remote forest around Moloundou, Cameroon and ran out of food supplies. Most books about AIDS begin in 1981, when a group of gay men in the US began to die after contracting a virulent pneumonia. Since then, HIV has gone on to kill 33 million and infect nearly 76 million people around the world. “Some may say that understanding the past is irrelevant,” writes Pepin in the introduction to the new edition of his book. “We have a moral obligation to the millions of human beings who have died, or will die, from this infection. Second, this tragedy was facilitated (or even caused) by human interventions: colonization, urbanizations and probably well-intentioned public health campaigns.”

Massachusetts congressman has COVID after getting 2 vaccine doses U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, after receiving both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Democrat, who attended President Biden’s inauguration last week, confirmed his diagnosis in a statement, CNN reports. “This afternoon U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch received a positive test result for COVID-19 after a staff member in the Congressman’s Boston office had tested positive earlier in the week,” said Molly Rose Tarpey. Lynch, who intends to isolate and vote by proxy in Congress next week, received his second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot and tested negative for the disease before Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, according to Tarpey. She did not detail when the congressman received each of his vaccine doses. The shot is meant to guard against illness resulting from the virus, but not necessarily the virus itself. The vaccine is considered effective if a fully vaccinated individual contracts COVID-19 and doesn’t experience illness brought on by the disease. That said, immunity “typically takes a few weeks” to build post-inoculation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A trio of Democrats — Rep. Bonne Watson Coleman of New Jersey, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois — tested positive for the virus earlier this month after sheltering in place during the Jan. 6 insurrection with members of Congress who refused to mask up, despite the raging pandemic.

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The only Elvis 45 I ever bought was Suspicious Minds, though years later a friend gave me her copy of Burning Love.

It's only $16/yr or (I think) $12/yr if you sign up for auto-renew. If you actually remember to check if there's an AARP discount everywhere you eat and shop, it can pay for itself. If not, then just bite the bullet and splurge. You're worth $16/yr. ?