Category Archives: Non Sequitur Thursday

Is a Throwback a Non-Sequitur?

Posted on October 27, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Good evening and welcome to Non-Sequitur Thursday.  I am tired as I can be… OK, that is an exaggeration.  I bet I could be a lot more tired, for example, if I had gone running again today or cleaned my house or worked overtime or… see? I’m making myself more tired just by thinking about it.  Actually, now that I think about all the things I have not done today, I feel a little bit ill-used for being so tired.  What the hell, me?

Never mind all that.  I have a blog post to make.  Just now as I was casting about in my rather mushy brain for an idea, I remembered, Throwback Thursday.  People on Facebook post pictures from the past. Maybe I could do that!  I could even be non-sequiturish about it.  I bet I have some good stuff in my Media Library.  Let’s look…

I am not sure what he is looking at.

This is our late, much missed poocher, Spunky.  I guess sometimes Throwback Thursday can sometimes make you melancholy.

I can’t even believe what he is telling me to say.

Here is something more cheerful.  This is my husband, Steven, and I  as Dr. Chumley and Veda in the Ilion Little Theatre production of Harvey in the spring on 2012.  I believe I wrote a few blog posts about it at the time.

These days we use champagne flutes.

Now here is a REAL Throwback Thursday shot!  This is our wedding in October of 1990.  Look how young and cute we were!  I suppose we’re still kind of cute, for a couple of old folks (some people call us old something else that begins with an f, but I do not care to be vulgar).

I think three pictures is good for a foolish post when I’m tired.  Now all I have to do is slap on a snappy headline and I’m done.  I hope people will tune in again tomorrow on Lame Post Friday.  I will probably be quite flustered, because I will be about to leave for the performance of Strike Story  with LiFt Theatre Company in Little Falls.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned it.  I bet I even included a link to the Facebook event.  I just did again.  So this is not a completely useless post.  Happy Thursday, everyone.

 

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More Monsters on Non-Sequitur Thursday

Posted on October 13, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sometimes when I have no ideas for a blog post nor brain to come up with any, I get on Facebook and find a cool picture, usually of a monster.  Sometimes not so much.  That is what you might call a heck of a note, especially during the month of October.  I wonder if my dear husband Steven downloaded anything good recently…

Was Elvis crossing over to the Dark Side or was Darth hoping for a gig as a back-up singer?

I’m going to count Darth Vader as a monster, although I suppose he is more properly considered a villain.  This being Non-Sequitur Thursday, I picked a few non-sequitur-looking pictures.  Darth Vader and Elvis Presley, there’s a buddy picture nobody ever made.  I suppose I could write a screenplay (if I knew how to write a screenplay), but who could we get to play Elvis?  Anyways, I would probably be lousy at pitching it to the studios.  That’s what you do with a screenplay, isn’t it?

It’s actually pretty good read.

Vampires are definitely monsters.  This is a book which occupies a proud place in our Halloween decorations.  Steven sought it out when he first heard of its existence.  I think a friend saw it in a bookstore window and posted a picture on Facebook.  Let’s hear it for posting pictures on Facebook!

Some humans are undoubtedly scarier than ghosts.

There’s a new ambition for me:  to find a ghost or other monster whose bed or closet I can hide under or in.

As you may have noticed, my writing tribulations continue.  I open the notebook and put pen to paper and nothing happens.  Oh, sometimes I write words then cross them out.  Then I write other words, some of which I let remain uncrossed.  They look up at me mockingly, flaunting their own ineptitude (how’s that for an awkward bit of anthropomorphism?).  And I make silly blog posts with pictures of monsters.  I like monsters.

 

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Just Another Bog Post

Posted on October 6, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I did some writing at work today (YES, boss, on a BREAK!)  (oh, yeah, like my boss reads my blog, dream on, Cindy!), but the thing I finished wasn’t good for the blog and the thing that was good for the blog isn’t finished (ooh, here’s a Freudian typo: I put “bog” instead of “blog”).  Actually, the thing I finished could use some revision and addendums, but let’s not worry about that now.  I have a blog post to make.

Lately I have been having the problem of feeling unable to write.  I am obsessed with puzzles: anacrostics, crosswords, cryptograms, anything with a pencil and clue (cue jokes about how I may have a pencil, but I certainly do not have a clue).  I cut cryptograms and crosswords out of the daily paper, and I have puzzle books as well.  Some days I purposely leave all puzzles at home, so I will have to write.  Sometimes that does not work very well.  I sit there looking at the blank page and feel actual physical discomfort from not having a puzzle to work on, or I write something so bad, stupid or ridiculous that I still feel physical discomfort.

Once in a while, however, I surprise myself.  I try to write one sentence and suddenly find myself scribbling paragraph after paragraph.  It’s great!  How do I make that happen all the time?  As I sit here, I realize I can offer myself a number of suggestions.   I’ll mention a few of them and you can tell me if they sound good or if I’m full of beans (always a possibility).

  1.  Have a project going.  Today I met with success because the two things I worked on were things I had started previously.  That is, I wasn’t starting from a dead stop.  However, this does not always work.  Sometimes the project I was working on is bogging down for one reason or another.  This leads me to my second suggestion.
  2.  Start a new project.  It is really easy for me to start making notes on  new novel or murder mystery. Actually, given my track record of unfinished projects, this may not be the best advice for me to follow, although in a pinch, it may get the pencil moving.
  3.  Here is my real takeaway from today’s little bit of success:  KEEP TRYING!  I never know when I am going to be stuck with the blank page and pen that doesn’t move or when I’m going to write and keep going.  But if I right away get buried in an anacrostic, I for sure won’t get anything written.

Hmm… I thought I was going to have more suggestions.  Still, I said “a number” and 3 is a number.  I’m going to call that OK for Non-Sequitur Thursday.  I think I’ll go stare at a blank page for a while and see if anything happens.

 

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Now I Would Like a Drink

Posted on September 22, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sorry, folks, my malaise continues and I can’t manage any other kind of post than one with monster pictures.  I really like monster pictures.

Now there’s a man, someone who will carry you to the bar!

I stole this gem from Monster Movies and Creature Features, a Facebook group I enjoy quite a bit.  As I searched for others, I saw on one of the groups or pages I followed (can’t remember which one), somebody had posted about 50 times that it was Stephen King’s birthday.  He’s 70.  I don’t know if the person who posted it hit the wrong button or was just really, really excited about Stephen King’s birthday, but it was on there more times than I cared to scroll through.  I went on to a different monster page/group, but I thought, ooh, there’s a perfect excuse to post monsters: Stephen King’s birthday!

Only, I’m not a big fan of Stephen King.  Oh, he is an excellent writer, very skilled, very talented.  I have enjoyed several books and stories of his (I prefer novels to short stories, but I also like the novelettes).  I gotta say, the movies, not so much.  His movies were made in the bloody ’70’s and beyond.  I like the older, more circumspect flicks.  There are exceptions, of course.  As I trolled around looking for other pictures, I remembered I shared one recently from a movie based on a Stephen King novel.  Steven my husband (note the different spelling) and I pop in Carrie periodically.  It is a time-honored favorite.

My prom was so boring!

A movie based on a Stephen King novel which I did not enjoy was The Shining.  Yes, yes, I know many people love it.  One part I liked which was not in the book was “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy,” typed over and over, when Pathetic Wife thought he was working on his novel.  The other part I kind of liked, also not in the book, was the very end, with the haunting shot of Jack Nicholson in the ballroom

Ooh, it was in 1921. I love the ’20’s.

This is the cover photo from the group Haunted Ballroom.  Very appropriate, no?

As I was downloading that photo, I remembered there is another movie based on a Stephen King novel I don’t mind: Shawshank Redemption.  I reference that movie all the time.  As a result of spending too much time (for me) in dry, dry Arizona, I enjoy rain so much that sometimes I do Shawshank Redemption:

I usually have my shirt on when I do this, for which I am sure bystanders are grateful.

Full disclosure: after the flood of 2013, I did not do that gesture for a while.  I don’t do it every time it rains anyways, only sometimes for effect, for example, when we had rather a deluge after a Shakespeare performance in Little Falls last summer (perhaps you read my blog post about it).

Be all that as it may, this has been my Thursday Non-Sequitur post for the week.  I hope to see you all again on Lame Post Friday.

 

 

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Horror to Hummus

Posted on September 1, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I pause in the midst of my Non-Sequitur Thursday gyrations to make a blog post. I don’t have all my stuff done.  I am not going to get all my stuff done tonight.  It is unknown how much stuff I will get done tomorrow.  No matter.  My blog post will get done.

I did not end my prom night, or indeed any night so far, looking like this.

I paused in my posting to peek at Facebook and saw this picture. It is, of course, Sissy Spacek in the title role of Carrie.  I identified with Carrie’s stunned, overwhelmed, almost zombie-ish look.  I went to the Facebook page it came from, Classic Horror Movies, where I saw this gem:

He does not look particularly happy either.

This is Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula.  I identified with his look, too, and not just the surprise and horror.  Look how bloodshot his eyes are.  I get that problem during allergy season too.  Who knew Dracula suffered from rhinitis?

I had been going to tell the tale of all the running around and stuff I have been doing.  Now I feel more into sharing pictures of horror movies.  But I don’t really have time to (a) compose a decent blog post or (b) look for more cool pictures.  I have to get back into the kitchen and do the dishes.  I’ve been mixing and making refreshments for a cast party tomorrow.  Just to throw in another mention of The Tempest.  You know, that play I’m in?

That reminds me: I also have to look over my lines again.  Happy Thursday, everyone.

 

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Next Up: Portrait of Dorian Gray

Posted on August 25, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

He was really a beautiful man, in addition to be a marvelous actor.

I had thought I might do a Running Commentary post.  I ran in place on the mini-tramp while watching the silent Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with the inimitable John Barrymore (I adore the Barrymores).  Then I was on Facebook and came across a movie poster I just had to download.  Well, I can’t just download it, can I?  I have to use it.  So this is Non-Sequitur Thursday after all (I thought after yesterday’s schizophrenic post, such a thing would be inappropriate, but I am ever one to go with the flow).  There is a bit of a theme, at least, because I am sharing all old movie posters stolen from Facebook.

What’s a guy like Joseph Cotten doing in a movie like this?

I have never heard of this movie, but what a title!  What a poster!  I should probably get on one of those streaming services (or whatever they are; you know technologically ignorant I am) where I can find all these obscure, old titles.  Oh, the blog posts I could write!

Ooh, a double feature!

I may have seen The Incredible Petrified World.  The title seems familiar, and I’m sure I have seen any number of cheesy movies involving women trapped in underground caverns or some such (you know how little attention I actually pay).  When I get a chance, I’ll look through my DVD collection and see if it’s there.  If so, I’ll have to watch it again and see what I remember.  I’ll let you know.

Oh Bela, how I love you!

I have definitely heard of this one but never seen it.  However, the person that shared it (on one the monster movie pages I follow), said there was a freaky, ambiguous ending.  I must add this of my list of movies to check out.

What I’m wondering now is, do you suppose there are readers who wish I had never learned how to download and share pictures?  A point to ponder on Lame Post Friday.  I hope everybody will continue to tune in.

 

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To Blog or Not to Blog

Posted on August 4, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Today’s mantra is, “Less stress.”  I have very little reason for stress.  OK, that’s a polite fiction I am telling myself.  The fact is, we all have reasons for stress, and stress is not always a bad thing.  However, since this is not Lame Post Friday, I will not philosophize (half-bakedly or otherwise) on stress.  Instead I will attempt a moderately amusing Non-Sequitur Thursday post.  I think I’ll use pictures.  I think Steven may have downloaded a couple of new ones…

I am NOT saying, “To be or not to be.”

This is LiFT rehearsing The Tempest at 120 London Bridge,  Caroga Lake, where we will perform on Saturday at 6 p.m.  It is a donation-based performance. I’m not sure what the suggested (or requested) donation is.  It is a lovely space to perform in.  Incidentally, I am the one in yellow tights, Acting (yes, it needs a capital A).  The photo was taken by Matt Powers, our director.

I missed him on TV!

Recently, Matt went on NewsTalk on WKTV to talk about LiFt and Shakespeare.  This is not what he will actually wear in The Tempest (he has two roles), but I think it was quite a theatrical choice for publicity purposes.

I’m not sure who took this photo; it was on LiFTs Facebook page.

To include three photos, as I like to do, here is one from early days of rehearsal, at Sterzinar Park, Canal Place, where next weekend’s performances take place.  I’m the one center stage, looking fairly ridiculous in the big old hat with a sweatshirt tied around my waist.  I tied on the sweatshirt not because I had tied one on (sorry; just had to make the play on words), but because I wanted something to put my sword through.  We had just started working on them.  I have a better looking sword holder now.

Performances of The Tempest in Little Falls  include Aug. 10, 6 p.m., Benton’s Landing; Aug. 12, 4 p.m., Sterzinar Park; and Aug. 13, 3 p.m., Sterzinar Park.  For more information, check out LiFT’s Facebook page.

 

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What’s Wrong with Monsters, Anyways?

Posted on July 28, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

He’s an ex-marine.

When in doubt, lead with the picture of the half-clothed muscular guy.  Oh dear, was that sexist and exploitative?  I was just trying to get your attention.  These are more pictures from LiFT Theatre Company’s preview performance of The Tempest last Thursday at Benton’s Landing in Little Falls (see yesterday’s post, if you haven’t already).  The chest-baring dude is our Caliban, a son of a witch (no, really, his mother was a witch; she’s not actually in the play, but they mention her) and kind of a monster (although the guys that call him “Monster” are drunk).

It’s too bad her face is in shadow; I’ll try to get better shot for a future post.

And here is our Ariel, a tricksy spirit who is servant to Prospera, the deposed Duchess of Milan.  I don’t have a great picture of Prospera, but here is a not too awful one of her and her daughter, Miranda.

Don’t worry; she’s nicer to Miranda in other scenes.

 

Antonia is in the foreground; Trinculo is on book.

Trinculo is one of the fellows who calls Caliban “Monster.”  Caliban is apparently not offended by this form of address.  Right now Trinculo is “on book.”  For the uninitiated, that means he is standing by in case an actor forgets a line.  The actor has only to yell, “Line!” and the prompter supplies it.  In the movies, I’ve seen prompters backstage during performances, loudly whispering forgotten lines to hapless actors on stage.  I personally have never been in a play where this was the case.  However, we presented the Preview Performance as a Work on Progress.  Hence, the prompter.

Astute readers may have noticed that I have referred to people by their character names only.  Well, you see, I did not want to take a chance on misspelling anybody’s name, and I do not have ready access to this information.  I know, real bloggers research this sort of thing in advance.  And here we come to the ugly truth about me.  I can’t worry about that now.  I have rehearsal in less than two hours and I haven’t even showered yet.    Additionally, today is Non-Sequitur Thursday.  I’ll just slap a catchy headline on and hope for the best.

Oh crap, now I have to think of a catchy headline.

 

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Psycho Strangers on a Blog Post

Posted on July 7, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

So it’s not going to be All Boilermaker All The Time after all.  I am indulging in Non-Sequitur Thursday complete with pictures.  First a little cheesecake for the discerning viewer (you know who you are):

So how come John Gavin is so small?

We decided to watch Psycho, which we have on DVD.  I think it starts a little slowly, but Janet Leigh does spend the first scene in a bra and half-slip.  Some folks enjoy that sort of thing.  Here is a more atmospheric shot for a little less prurient interest:

I love the sky.

After Psycho, I suggested we continue the Alfred Hitchcock theme with Stranger on a Train.  I recently acquired that DVD at a yard sale. Score!  I would like to see again the remake, Throw Mama From the Train.  I love that Danny DeVito.

Ah, the fateful cigarette lighter. There was a lot more smoking in the movies in those days.

I would have liked to get a picture of the carousel, a more dramatic setting than the titular train, but I could not find one.  Full disclosure:  I didn’t look very hard.  Regular readers may notice that I am downloading pictures again.   I still cannot download them on my own Facebook page.  However I can download them from my husband Steven’s page.  So I am sneakily logged onto his site.  Don’t worry, I won’t cause any more mischief while I’m there.

“Good Evening.”

I close with a picture of the master himself, Alfred Hitchcock.  We could have continued our movie viewing with Rear Window, The Birds, Rope, North by Northwest, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, or To Catch a Thief.  I guess we have quite a Hitchcock collection (no, no Vertigo!  I may lose all cinemaphile cred by saying this, but that movie has always left me cold).  And I thought of a good title while I was typing this.  Happy Thursday, everyone.

 

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Where’s Gene Wilder When You Need Him?

Posted on June 30, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

When in doubt, go for monsters, that’s my motto.  I was so determined to write a real post while on breaks at work today, but once again, it just did not work out.   Being in rather a sad way brain- and spirit-wise (and also pressed for time), I look for pictures.  Having no luck on Facebook, even on my go-to pages, I looked at what we have downloaded on our laptop, hoping my dear husband, Steven, had downloaded something new.  I think this one must have been there a while since it is from one of our favorite movies.

“This is a good boy!”

I feel a little bit like Peter Boyle in this shot:  in need of some TLC.  For the uninitiated (and I feel sorry for any who are), this is Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, starring the wonderful Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle (plus a number of other wonderful actors).  Dr. Frankenstein is attempting to tame the monster with love.  Does he meet with success?  Ah, that would be telling, and I did not include a spoiler alert.  If you haven’t watched the movie, I advise you to watch it.  If you have watched the movie, watch it again!  It’s fun!

I don’t know, I kind of liked the title Grave Robbers from Outer Space.

This is the other download that caught my eye.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is NOT the worse movie ever made!  It holds my interest and entertains.

Well, this is frustrating.  I was looking for a picture of Ed Wood, or of Johnny Depp playing Ed Wood in the movie of that title, to round out my post.  However, my laptop is refusing to download anything.  What the hell, computer? Oh, I suppose it is operator error as usual.  That is the story of my life, Operator Error!  I even made a typo on “Error” just now but corrected it (I hope). We’ll call this a Non-Sequitur Thursday and drive on.

I have to get to rehearsal for The Tempest, you know, that play I’m in with LiFT Theatre Company in Little Falls. Maybe I can write about that tomorrow.

 

 

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