Author Archives: mohawkvalleygirl

Wrist to Forehead to Movies

Posted on October 7, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Welcome to Wrist to Forehead Sunday. I’m your host, Mohawk Valley Girl.

I think I ended yesterday’s post with a promise to talk more about the Superhero Sprint. In fact, I started to write that post yesterday. Today I pulled it out and wrote a little more on it. And then… Can’t call it Writer’s Blank, because I could think of a few more things to say. Can’t call it Writer’s Block, because, well, it didn’t feel blocked exactly. It was more along the lines of… Writer’s Petering Out.

Oh, it is SO much easier to write a post about Why I Can’t Write a Post!

I tell myself that I have all day to get the post written and typed in. However, I want to get it out of the way so I can get on to the movie watching portion of my Sunday. Perhaps I could say a few words about Movie Watching in October.

It’s no secret that I love Halloween movies all year long. My blog posts on cheesy horror movies prove that. It works, because, unlike Christmas movies, Halloween movies are not always about the holiday for which they are named (I said “not always.” Anybody taking a deep breath to holler at me about the Halloween series, just don’t bother). However, watching scary movies in the autumn has a particular feeling of being the Right Thing To Do.

I say “autumn” instead of “October,” because Steven and I start Halloween season after Labor Day.

We began our 2013 Halloween Movie Watching a few weeks ago with The Blair Witch Project, preceded by Curse of the Blair Witch. It is a perennial favorite of mine. I especially enjoy the alternate narrative technique. And I think it’s a terrific story about how the filmmakers used the Internet to make people believe, for a short time anyways, that the shit really happened.

Last Sunday we satisfied my yen for a monster movie with Tremors. The original, good movie. I never saw any of the sequels, which I heard were quite pathetic, and I never checked out the TV series either.

I had thought to do a full write up on those movies. For one reason, I think about doing a full write up on just about everything I do and see (hey, come on, give me a break, I like to post every day!). I may yet do it.

However, today is Wrist to Forehead Sunday and my brain is just not where I want it to be. Still, I’m over 400 words. How did that happen?

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I Get Super

Posted on October 5, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday, I dithered between the Sitrin Stars Run/Walk, the Superhero Sprint, or neither one. The Sprint won. Despite the name, it does not qualify for a Running Commentary. However, a few words about my gyrations getting ready may prove amusing, at least to me (in some cases, it is permissible to please yourself, because then you know at least one person will be happy).

The Superhero Sprint, for anyone just tuning in, is an event sponsored by Herkimer Now, a committee whose aim is to revitalize Herkimer, NY, starting with Main Street. The Superhero Sprint is a fun, family friendly event. Tabby and I enjoyed it very much last year. I had hoped to participate this year.

Last year, I was a super villainess, The Evil Woman CinCin. I made my costume: I bought some fabric paints and painted a giant C and the words “Evil Woman CinCin” on a pink t-shirt. Last year’s Sprint was on a sunny day in August. The black capes I have in my Halloween collection (well, doesn’t everybody?) were clearly ineligible for someone with my heat and sun sensitivity, so I pinned to the t-shirt a rectangle of sheer, spangly blue and silver material I bought for another Halloween costume many years ago. A pair of Steven’s shorts completed the outfit.

This year, I realized I had no idea where the t-shirt and cape were. My vacuum cleaner was wearing them, but naturally we have had occasion to vacuum since August (even in a house with mostly hardwood floors). Steven didn’t know where it was either, although naturally I accused him of hiding it (he usually hides my things right where I left them) (sneaky!).

Today is a cloudy, gloomy day. I thought a black cape might be OK, and I further thought I would be able to find a black cape in the attic. If anybody asked, I could always say my real outfit was at the cleaners. Um, I doubted anybody would ask, but one likes to be prepared.

Found the black cape. Also found a small red cape I thought might work for Tabby. Last year I couldn’t find that but put a large, velvet Christmas bow on her. That worked; why shouldn’t a superhero dog wear a velvet bow instead of a cape? This year I couldn’t find the bow (anybody see a pattern here?) (if so, you do not need to point it out to me, thank you).

I still wasn’t sure about this, but I like to support Herkimer Now. Then I thought of one last place to look for the Cincin shirt. Eureka! Success! Now I was in business. Since it is cooler this year, I put on my long johns with pink and blue flowers. A pair of light blue shorts would look nice with them. Then I came across a white handkerchief with pink trim. Since I am as usual a little sniffly, I thought this was a good accessory. My only regret was that I don’t know where my pink Converse high-tops are (what a surprise).

The little red cape didn’t work on Tabby, so I fixed her up with a light blue bandana, unrolled and tied around her neck, it looked like a cape. After stocking my fanny pack with poop bags, I looked up to see Tabby biting and pulling at the bandana, now twisted around in front of her, trying her doggy damnedest to get it off. So much for my future as a doggy costume designer. I tied on a little neckerchief the groomer have her some time ago. She was OK with that.

I was a little regretful about the fanny pack, which the shirt was not designed to accommodate. However, I had poop bags and a little Rubbermade container I thought I could pour water into later, if Tabby was thirsty. I was pretty sure they would have water at the Sprint, and I do not want a dehydrated doggy.

So there we were, Tabby the super if capeless schnoodle (yes, I did see The Incredibles and know the practical objections to capes; that’s a whole other blog post), ready to head out the door to the Superhero Sprint. Tune in tomorrow, when Cindy says, “Come on, Tabby! Don’t you want to run with the other super heroes?”

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I Dither

Posted on October 5, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

As I contemplate the upcoming weekend, I feel fairly certain of making the wrong decision.

Last year I participated in the Superhero Sprint sponsored by Herkimer Now. I was a supervillianess, The Evil Woman CinCin, arch nemesis of The Tabbiest, which is, of course, the super alter ego of my beloved schnoodle, Tabby. This year’s Sprint is this weekend.

Also happening this weekend is the Sitrin Stars and Stripes Run/Walk to raise money for Sitrin’s Military Rehabilitation Program. I had said I would walk with my friend Sherry from Curves. Sherry is a real Curves success story. She has lost a tremendous amount of weight and really turned her health around. Her doctor raves about all the improvements she has made.

One of the goals Sherry set for herself when she started at Curves was to walk a charity walk. One reason she picked this one is to walk for her Uncle Leo, a veteran. She has gotten a whole team together.

I had originally hoped to participate in both events, thinking the Superhero Sprint would be in the afternoon, as it was last year. But no, both events are in the morning.

And so I dither (I know, always go with your strengths). I lean toward the Sitrin Walk, in the first place because I told my friend long ago I would walk a charity walk with her.

Also, how can I put this, it is more the middle-aged lady thing to do. Of course, not everybody on Sherry’s team is a middle-aged lady. However, I believe the average age skews higher than the Superhero Sprint. The Superhero Sprint, to be honest, is really more for little kids and their families. Of course, Tabby substitutes as a kid for me, but you see what I mean.

Also on the negative side for The Sprint is that I have no idea where my Evil Woman CinCin outfit is. It is not something I had other occasions to wear.

On the positive side for The Sprint, it is local. Tabby and I can walk to the starting line. I’m not even sure where SUNYIT is (I think it’s at SUNYIT).

I was lamenting my dilemma at work, but the only advice my co-worker gave me was to do what I wanted to do. That was no help, because at this point, what I really want to do is stay home and work in my yard. And go running. Not to mention at least three rummage sales in the area. Oh dear.

I’m thinking whatever I decide to do, I’ll probably be able to get a blog post out of it.

For more information on the walk, here is Sherry’s website: www.crowdrise.com/sherry-2013sitrinsstarsandstri/fundraiser/sherrythompson. For more information on the Superhero Sprint, you can visit Herkimer Now’s Facebook page.

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Come On, Friday!

Posted on October 4, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

What a terrible blogging day! And not just because of my writing tribulations. Technology has got me down!

I wrote something while at work today (I really feel I must say each time that it was on a break, although I don’t imagine any management types read this blog) (still, you never know) (six degrees of Cindy’s blog?).

Where was I? Ah yes, wrote something at work. It wasn’t very good. Still, it was words. I could have published it. That is, I could have published it if I could have gotten it typed in at my desk top. Unfortunately, my desk top decided to act up.

It has been doing that a lot lately. It gets rrrreeeeaaaallllyyyy ssslllloooooooowwwww. And then it stops. Yeah, kind of like my writing some days.

So I got quite frustrated and stopped trying. I came downstairs and got on our Netbook. That works a lot better. Unfortunately, it is not so good for typing. The keyboard is much smaller than I am used to. You are reading this (oh dear I HOPE somebody is still reading!) and it probably looks pretty OK. That is, if I have caught all the typos I have made with my FAT fingers.

And just now I hit SOMETHING that made this whole thing disappear. I luckily found it under Drafts. WordPress is really a very good site. Hmm, maybe some readers feel it is less than lucky that I found it.

Anyways, will all this trauma, I am not up to perking up the less than stellar stuff I wrote earlier. I can only try to come up with a somewhat catchy title and have another Non-Sequitur Thursday.

Oh well, maybe it’s not catchy. Maybe catching, like a virus. Oh dear.

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No Oomph?

Posted on October 3, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was thinking today that I could very easily end up writing a blog entirely about How I Can’t Write a Blog Post. I would probably want to call it something different from Mohawk Valley Girl, though.

Well, I don’t think anybody could blame me for not having any Mohawk Valley adventures last week; I was sick. So what can I write about this week? If I had more oomph, I would come home from work, have a Mohawk Valley adventure and write about it. And here we come to the ugly truth about me.

As I search for something new to say about not having anything to say, I was surprised just now when my computer seemed to consider “oomph” a word. I thought it was, you know, one of those words people use that isn’t really a word. It means, you know, whatever it seems to mean in the sentence. I thought the word origin was the noise people make when they heft something heavy.

I looked it up in the dictionary after writing the above paragraph (Steven keeps one by the computer) (The American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition, New York, 1992). It says: “n. Slang. 1. Spirited vigor. 2. Sex appeal [Of expressive orig.]”

So it seems I am right about the word origin. I guess I used it to mean spirited vigor. I mean, not to brag, but I have PLENTY of sex appeal. Sex appeal in SPADES! DRIPPING with sex appeal!

Sex appeal, as you may know, is of very little use in the composition of blog posts.

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s Wuss Out Wednesday.

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I Can’t Phantom It

Posted on October 2, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I believe I mentioned watching a cheesy movie last weekend while I was suffering from a sinus problem. I was too fuzzy-headed to pay even my usual desultory attention to it, but I think I can come up with a paragraph or two.

Phantom from 10,000 Fathoms (1956) starts right out by showing you the monster, which looks a little like a low-rent Creature of the Black Lagoon. I don’t particularly mind low rent; it adds to the cheese quotient. Ah, but here’s the point: the title says “phantom” but, to me, that’s a monster. Perhaps the writers considered a phantom a kind of a monster. Or maybe they just like alliteration as much as I do. No matter.

A lone fisherman in a boat apparently does not see the monster, although we can look down into the water and see it perfectly well. I suppose it’s a little petty to carp about a thing like that in a movie like this. After all, we WANT to see the monster, and the writers of the movie wanted the fisherman to NOT see it. Call it dramatic license. After dispatching the poor fisherman, the monster disappears for what seems like a long time (ooh, could that be why they call it a phantom?).

I found the plot a little hard to follow. Nobody is what they seem, except maybe the mad scientist’s beautiful daughter (all your better mad scientists have one). Well, I guess he’s not really a mad scientist. He is an oceanographer. But he is working on something he is being awfully secretive about. His assistant, his secretary and his janitor are all trying to find out what it is.

The assistant is the most sinister of the bunch. He keeps sneaking around carrying a harpoon gun. I wasn’t clear on what exactly he does as an assistant, since it seems he’s not privy to the doctor’s actual work. Then again, I was not clear on a lot during this movie, most notably my sinuses (for once I have an excuse other than my usual “just not paying attention”).

I didn’t mind the assistant being sneaky; at least his motives were made clear later. I’m still puzzling over what the main guy is even doing there. He shows up when this federal (I think) guy is investigating the sailor we saw get whacked in the first scene. He says his name is Ted Baxter (did you all just flash on The Mary Tyler Moore Show? I did). We later find out he’s really Ted Stevens, a prominent oceanographer who wrote a book on which his picture is prominently displayed. Didn’t he think the guy he is going to see — the mad scientist/oceanographer — might possibly have a copy of his book? Perhaps modesty overcame him.

I got a little chuckle thinking that Ted’s fake name sounded more real than his real name. I read somewhere that when people come up with aliases, they often use their own first name for a last name. For example, in Tootsie, Michael Dorsey becomes Dorothy Michaels. It would not have surprised me to find out that Ted Stevens’ real name was Steven Tedford. But I digress.

As I was saying, I never did find out why Ted was masquerading as Ted Knight, but in any case, both Federal Guy and Mad Oceanographer find him out quite soon and with very little difficulty.

Every so often the Phantom Monster shows up again. We find out what Sneaky Assistant is up to, we watch Mad Oceanographer at work, and of course Ted romances Beautiful Daughter. I never really figured out the whole plot (blame my sinus infection), but I think it boiled down to the beware-of-science-there-are-things-we-aren’t-supposed-to-know paranoia that became so popular at the dawn of the atomic age.

I will have to watch this silly movie again when my head is less fuzzy.

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Writing This Time

Posted on October 1, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, I did write something today, but this isn’t it.

I started to write a post on the last cheesy movie I saw. When I was watching it, I had a lot to say, although most of it took the form of, “You’d better not hurt that turtle!” and “Helen! Get out of there!” The post should eventually find its way to this space (doesn’t that sound like it will get there with no help from me?). Today, though, it seemed to be taking off in all directions (how’s that for anthropomorphizing a piece of writing?).

Feeling the need to change gears, I turned a page of my notebook (actually turned back a page, just to give you an idea of how organized my notebook is) and wrote a half page or so on my novel. My novel, in case I haven’t mentioned, is not going very well. Far from going off in all directions, it seems to be sitting dead still. It’s like some misshapen blob; I huff and puff and push it, but it won’t start rolling. Sooner or later I will get it to the edge of a hill (or cliff) and will go head over tail, jouncing wildly. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

Like yesterday, I do not despair. For one thing, my sinus problems (I probably shouldn’t say it out loud or I will jinx myself) seem to be receding. I don’t say my head isn’t fuzzy, because it still is (or was that obvious?), but for the first time in days I can conceive the possibility of perhaps feeling a little bit better someday.

Woohoo!

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I Do Not Despair

Posted on September 30, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

After writing yesterday’s post, I felt indefinably better and thought I would go write something else to see if it made me feel better yet. I thought I could report any results today, on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

Some of you are probably saying, “We know: she didn’t write anything, and now she’s sitting there with her wrist on her forehead, typing with one hand to tell us about it.”

Well, the joke’s on you, because I am typing with two hands. Still, the writing something else did not go as well as hoped. My brain still felt fuzzy. I thought I could watch a cheesy movie and write about it in the TV Journal. This is a technique that has served me well in the past. Yesterday, not so much.

I would start to write stuff, then the damn movie would go into a long sequence with no dialogue. I can’t keep my eyes on the screen and write in a notebook. My handwriting is messy enough when I can look at it! As dialogue returned, I thought of a number of things I could write in the TV Journal, but my fuzzy brain betrayed me. I knitted instead.

Today, I thought instead of Wrist to Forehead Sunday, I would try for a pedestrian post, so went for a walk with Steven and Tabby. This seemed like a fruitful idea: the weather was drop dead gorgeous. There might be fall/Halloween decorations to observe. Other people might be out walking that I could interact with or at least describe.

Um, no. It was a very pleasant walk, but quite uneventful. I know, that doesn’t usually stop me. Come to think of it, it hasn’t stopped me today. Two paragraphs about the walk after four paragraphs about me trying to write. My word count is higher than yesterday! Woohoo!

Regarding future plans, I do not despair of writing a post about the cheesy movie I saw yesterday. And I’m going downstairs right now to watch another monster flick. And, who knows, as the week progresses, perhaps my head with unfuzz, and I will be back to having Mohawk Valley Adventures.

Stay tuned!

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I Whine, Then I Write

Posted on September 29, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

A few days ago, when I was taking kind of a blogger’s sick day, I speculated that had I stayed home and napped, drunk tea and read all day rather than going to work, I would have felt better and been able to write a better post. Today I had the opportunity to test that theory.

If you’re guessing I discovered the answer was not so much, give yourself a pat on the back, if you are able to do so without dislocating your shoulder.

Yes, I am still ill. Tuesday will make a week, but I think I will make bold to call my primary care physician on Monday to book an appointment. In the meantime, I need a blog post for today. Naturally I did not go running. I did not even feel up to a slow, gentle stroll with my schnoodle, Tabby. As I made my way upstairs and waited for the computer to get to the right page, all I could think was, “I can’t write a post! What can I write a post about? All I can say in a post is that I feel sick and I can’t write a post!”

Boohoo for me. Sorry about that.

The fact is, now that I am typing and words are appearing on the screen before me, I feel somewhat better. Still headachey, still light-headed, but insensibly somewhat better. Could it be the magic of writing? Or has the caffeine from the tea I just drank kicked in?

No matter, I am over 200 words. I have long decreed that an acceptable length for a blog post. But this somewhat better feeling is so interesting, I may go downstairs and try to write something else.

I’ll report on it tomorrow, on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

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Mad Monster Karloff

Posted on September 28, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I DVR’d Mad Monster Party? (1967) (yes, the question mark is part of the title) partly out of nostalgia, because I remember seeing parts of it on Saturday afternoon television as a child.

I’ve heard this sort of movie described as stop-motion animation, claymation and puppetoon (not sure of the spelling on the last one). In any case, it is pre-CGI, pre-PIXAR, pre-when-did-cartoons-get-so-cool?

The movie is produced by Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass (one of them is a junior; all I wrote in the TV Journal was “Ooh, Rankin/Bass!”), the folks behind many beloved Christmas specials (most of which I now own on DVD) (I probably did not have to tell you that). The animation looks quaint. That kind of animation always kind of bothered me as a kid, because of the jerky movements. Still, it has its charm.

Now it makes me think of playing with stuffed toys or dolls. You know how when you wanted TB Teddy Bear to walk across the room, you didn’t move his legs in steps, you kind of bounced him in little jumps, sometimes wiggling his body back and forth to indicate speed. And of course he could never really do stuff with his hands; you had to do whatever for him. Oh, don’t sit there pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about!

Even as a kid, I realized that one accepts the limitations of the medium when one is absorbed in the characters and plot. Um, that is not exactly how I put it at the time.

In common with today’s animated features, Monster Party has celebrity voices. The characters are made to look like them too, so that’s kind of cool. I especially liked Phyllis Diller as The Creature’s Mate. I loved her song, “You’re Different,” sung to her monstrous spouse. I do like to see happily married couple.

The main attraction is Boris Karloff as Baron von Frankenstein, head of all the monsters. I will never get over my delight in hearing that mellifluous, soothing voice from an actor best known for “Friends! Good!”

The Baron has invited all the monsters Evil Island for the unveiling of his greatest invention and the naming of his successor. All the monsters, that is, except It, who is apparently too monstrous even for monsters. The only non-monster invited is the Baron’s hapless, human nephew, the son of his favorite sister. The sister was apparently an awesome witch until she fell in love with a human and crossed over.

I think it’s cool when writers come up with new back stories for classic characters. I don’t think Mary Shelley ever talked about Dr. Frankenstein’s family. I must re-read that book sometime (it might be good for a blog post).

I think Mad Monster Party? is a fun movie. It’s good as monster movie nostalgia, ’60s animation nostalgia, and a vehicle for Boris Karloff’s voice. I also liked the sly nod to Billy Wilder, but I won’t say more about that, because I did not include a spoiler alert.

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