Atomic Monster Cafe: The Thief...

...Of Bagdad...the 1924 silent movie classic written, produced and financed by the great Douglas Fairbanks.

Ok, so you think silent movies are a hoot...all those old film clips that seem to be moving just a little too fast with wide eyed actors gesturing furiously to communicate sans the spoken word...got it.

Now consider that most of the special effects you watch on the big screen today aren't real...they're green screen stunts brought to life with digital imagery courtesy of computers...

...but when you watch The Thief Of Bagdad and see the amazing Mr. Fairbanks climb hand over hand up a magic rope, that's him doing it. When he's clinging to the bottom of a moving carriage, reaching up to steal the bejeweled ring off the fat finger of a nobleman, that's actually him.

Scaling the dizzying heights of the vertical walls of the palace? Yep, him.

And the special effects included in the film - the flying carpet, underwater spider, the winged horse, the army created from the desert sands - well, it amazed audiences of the day.

So come on...get your culture on and enjoy a silent movie night...there are some real gems from the 19-teens and 20's. We may be arrogant enough to believe we've got a lock on artistic genius, but newsflash: genius is present in every generation...it's simply expressed within the constraints of its time and technology.

Enjoy some genius from days gone by.

I know for a fact Mr. Spielberg did...ET flying in front of the full moon?

Fairbanks and his flying carpet did it first back in 1924, y'all...

Hollywood hasn't had an original idea since the 1920's, so why not treat yourself and go to the source?

It's a rainy Saturday morning...

...so no golfing today...

...but that's ok...got my two rounds of 9 in Thursday and Friday after work this week.
That's a young Walter Hagen, by the way, circa 1925 or so.

Yesterday especially went pretty well...no mulligans from the tee, and while every tee shot wasn't perfect, they were all serviceable and a few of them were really pretty good. Starting to get the hang of hitting my brassie...or at least I was yesterday. Actually parred a couple of holes along the way and most of my shots looked like they were supposed to...no big hooks or slices and decent distances (for me).

And since I was golfing in the afternoon / evening rather than being the first one on the course in the morning, several times I had an audience. Normally that spells trouble and I just know I'm going to hit it fat or top it for a worm burner, but yesterday was ok. I was able to stick to my personal golf mantra of relax, hips, head and swing away with acceptable results.

One surprise is how much attention I get for carrying my Sunday bag with hickory clubs. Others on the course drive their carts to where I'm about to hit and ask a dozen questions about my equipment. They're more or less amazed you can still actually play with hickory the way the game started lo, these many moons ago.

haven't seen my old pal Deuce Mulligan in a while...

I'll be glad when Mr. Weather starts cooperating again and I can go back to enjoying an early morning round in solitude, but at least they're not banishing me from the course for my lower, slower game swinging my hickory sticks.

I still need to rummage through my All Hallows decor and pull out from the mothballs what we'll be using this year...bc of all the chaos related to buying / selling / moving / renovating it's going to be a scaled back event, but I suspect we'll find a spot for some favorites...

...should be fun as always...

So today Karen sent me out in the rain to retrieve some pumpkins from a roadside stand...it's the honor system and only $2 or $3 for a pumpkin...pretty good deal.

While I was doing my duty Karen decided it was the perfect photo op...