foxbat

Terry Jones, one of the initial Pythons, passed away a couple of days ago. I often thought of Jones as the "glue" of Monty Python ... not necessarily first and foremost, but held everything together and enmeshed throughout. Most folks, especially Americans, could name the likes of Idle, Cleese, Chapman, and Palin when naming the members of the troupe, but somehow Jones, and perhaps animator and mainly behind-the-scene guy, Gilliam, were the ones named last or perhaps forgotten all-together. All the same, his influence on Python, from a writing and directing perspective, was monumental ... especially for Python's stroll in the cinematic realm where he co-directed Holy Grail and directed Life of Brian and Meaning of Life. Palin, in recently speaking of Jones, referred to him as "the spirit of Monty Python." As a junior high kid, discovering Python late-night Saturdays after the latest episode of SNL had finished, I admit that I was drawn to the "flashier" and quirkier Idle, Chapman, Cleese, and Palin, but in my high school and college years, I developed a deep appreciation and understanding of the writing side of comedy and found an appreciation and admiration for Jones's work. I've provided a few articles that detail a bit more about him behind the scenes as well as a couple of classics from him and Palin's tribute to his friend. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/monty-python-star-terry-jones-death-comedic-legacy-timeless-troupe-ncna1121436 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/arts/television/terry-jones-dead.html https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/01/terry-jones-brought-many-gifts-including-spam-to-the-monty-python-lunacy-machine.html

You do realize that @BARRYOSAMA's number is in millions of pounds while yours is in millions of metric tons? One million metric tons = 2,204,620,000 pounds .11 million metric tons = 242,508,200 pounds

Can you see @Coach Nowlin being escorted out of the gym at a girls' basketball game? "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?" 😃

Ares on Netflix ... Not for the faint of heart. Eight episodes of roughly 30 minutes each ... will take about four hours to binge the first season.

And some from West Lafayette get tossed in with them ... see "The Sectional of Death," Sectional 28.

I heard from friends that he puts on a great show. Never saw him or Zeppelin live, but had friends in another band that used to play a lot of Plant and Zeppelin in their sets back in college. I liked his later stuff from Now and Zen and Manic Nirvana, but there's something about Pictures at Eleven that's unrefined and gritty, in a good way, that always intrigued me.

Fun read on Led Zeppelin's origins ... https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-led-zeppelin-came-to-be?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Not on the same level as Notre Dame this season in win-loss, but Texas A&M played five of the Top 15 this season. Also, at the time that they played, three of these were ranked #1 ... Alabama, Clemson, and LSU ... and Georgia was ranked #4 with Auburn at #8 at the time. Lost by 14 to Clemson, 8 to Auburn, and 6 to Georgia.

He's mellowed out in his old age ...

Passing of a phenomenal drummer, a genius lyricist, and all-around thinker ... Rush's Neil Peart passed on earlier in the week after fighting brain cancer. As a young kid growing up in the 70s, I fell in love with his philosophical lyrics that proved that music could be both for the mind and the heart and the story-telling that became Rush's moniker. He was a technician and a magician ... a thinker and a creator ... a "philosopher and a plowman" ... "a blacksmith and an artist." It was only fitting that the very first song that I learned to play on the bass guitar was Temples of Syrinx from Rush's magnum opus, 2112. That song unlocked my interest in the bass and also in the study of lyrics ... and Rush, especially Peart, provided a rich feeding ground for how literature could move music. A lot of my bass repertoire contains Rush classics ... and so does my written library. Plenty of introspection this week with the realization that "we are only immortal for a limited time." RIP Professor. NPR article on remember Peart: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/11/795555335/remembering-neil-peart-a-monster-drummer-with-a-poets-heart Peart At Work in A Drum Solo In Frankfurt, Germany A chance to check out his melodic musings on La Villa Strangiato: Peart capping off Letterman's Drum Solo Week ... And, of course, a throwback post that looks at the musings of YYZ, inspired by the airport landing signal for Toronto's airport:

I thought it was a Stephen King book.

A non-direct consequence was seen a couple of times this season. My daughter is on the dance team for Jeff. For home games, she'd often stay after school and then we'd pick her up after the game. I told her to text us at the start of the 4th quarter and we'd come get her ... from that text, you've got 12 minutes to get to the school with the mercy rule. Used to be able to have time to grab a bite for dinner if you got there by the half and still have enough time to finish up and get over to the school for pickup. Depending on the opponent and the mercy rule, you may have to go fast food or skip the appetizers and get it to-go. 😉

Oh, my bad ... you're not as entertaining as @Impartial_Observer.

Oh, I find you quite entertaining IO. 😀 Others, not so much.