It had to have been a very long day for Pete last Saturday. He got up early and drove his Metropolitan sedan to the British Car Show, Brits on the Beach, which was being held in Ocean Grove. The Positive Earth Drivers Club runs this annual event and chose Ocean Grove as the venue. Anyway, all summer long, Peter kept saying, “You know the Met should be in the British car show” and I would always pooh-pooh the idea and I’m not even sure why. Well on Friday he got it into his head as we drove 80 mph on the NJ Turnpike that he really should do the show. We thought all you had to do was drive up early in the morning and park your car like we did in the Vintage Auto Show. So I called the Chamber of Commerce just to make sure and was told, “oh no, this is a show you have to register for and we don’t run it and they already have their quota of cars”. Not to be deterred, I suggested we call and see if someone canceled. I left a voice mail and by the time we reached the cottage, a gentleman called him back. We were in!!!
The Nash Took It!
I was happy for Peter but did not really want to participate, so he went off by himself on Saturday morning. I was a bad wife and didn’t even go to the show until it was over and they were giving out awards. By the time I got there (that is found a parking spot) the officials were calling everyone to the stand so they could announce winners.
There must have been 20 categories, Triumphs 3, 4 and beyond, MGA‘s to MGTD’s, Morgans, Rovers and Austin Healeys. Award after award was announced and given out. There were 3 trophies left on the table and since we didn’t have a Triumph, Austin Healey, MG, Jaguar, Morgan or a Rover I guessed Peter and the Metropolitan weren’t in the running for anything. However, there was an S class which was to cover other British cars.
Third place went to a great MG Magnette which had a lovingly restored engine but a body that needed work, Second place went to a cute green perfect little Morris Minor. And then, and then… the man announced the first place winner and this is what he said,”First place in Class S, Other category goes to Peter Press, the Nash took it, congratulations”!!
Yippee, wowie zowie, Peter won!!! And brought home the Trophy.
First Place - Other Sedan - Brits on the Beach
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
The American – George Clooney Gets Shot
Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged Gary Cooper, George Clooney, Hollywood, John Wayne, Michael Clayton, Paul Newman on September 28, 2010| 2 Comments »
THE AMERICAN
Run George Run
YUP that’s right – the title is a spoiler so if you don’t want to know anymore about the movie STOP READING now.
So here we have a thinner, trimmer George Clooney and unless he had a body double (duh!) he also showed off some very visible Pecs and Lats. He bears the same sad, detached and tired demeanor that was characteristic of Michael Clayton. These characters are haunted men, weighted down under the heavy cloak of their misdeeds and sleepless over their sins. Was it all done in the line of duty? Duty?? We’re not talking about a soldier in the defense of his nation – we’re talking about MONEY, mercenaries if you will, a gun for hire, well Mr. Clark kills, I don’t think an actual death was part of Michael Clayton’s job description.
Anyway the travelogue is beautiful as Mister Butterfly flits through Sweden and Rome and into the hills of Tuscany. And the butterfly thing – what was that all about? Were we supposed to see the softer side of this killer? From cold-blooded murderer to lepidoperist all in an afternoon. He even had a butterfly tatttoo!
This isn’t going to be a long review, the movie was long enough or so it seemed. And why did it seem that way? Because it practically felt that it was being shot in real time. It moved ever so slowly. I thought it was too slow and then I thought maybe this was the way movies used to be made, you know with the long shots and no cuts and not made up of hundreds of sound bytes. This question is still up in the air.
Basically we watch Clooney kill a few people, get shot at by a few people and see how he forms an ego-manical sexual liason with a prostitute.
Edward Clark, a/k/a Mister Butterfly to those from whom he is hiding his real identity, is a loner, a man who turns to a whore for sexual solace and ends up caring for her (??) – that’s debatable since he was prepared to shoot her during their picnic. He suspects everyone and well he should because this character is the perfect exemplification of the cliche: What goes around comes around. He can trust no one – even his boss (?) tells him not to make friends.
Following a tried and true and time-worn story line; we see the bad guy who wants to get out of the game and wants NOT to be alone anymore so he picks a woman definitely below his own intellect but one who either satisfies him sexually or feeds into his own lack of self-esteem so he doesn’t deserve any better – does this sound like Paul Newman in The Hustler?
Anyway Clooney’s fate is sealed-Hollywood does not want to send the message that is okay to kill people and get away with it. They stopped doing that when they stopped making John Wayne and Gary Cooper westerns.
Rate this:
Read Full Post »