David Thorne and Missy

Remember David Thorne, who tried to pay a bill with a drawing of a spider? Here is another of his email exchanges . . . 

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Poster

Hi

I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.

Thanks Shan.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

That is shocking news. Luckily I was sitting down when I read your email and not half way up a ladder or tree. How are you holding up? I am surprised you managed to attend work at all what with thinking about Missy out there cold, frightened and alone... possibly lying on the side of the road, her back legs squashed by a vehicle, calling out "Shannon, where are you?"

Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Poster

yeah ok thanks. I know you don’t like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

I never said I don't like cats. Once, having been invited to a party, I went clothes shopping beforehand and bought a pair of expensive G-Star boots. They were two sizes too small but I wanted them so badly I figured I could just wear them without socks and cut my toenails very short. As the party was only a few blocks from my place, I decided to walk. After the first block, I lost all feeling in my feet. Arriving at the party, I stumbled into a guy named Steven, spilling Malibu & coke onto his white Wham 'Choose Life' t-shirt, and he punched me. An hour or so after the incident, Steven sat down in a chair already occupied by a cat. The surprised cat clawed and snarled causing Steven to leap out of the chair, slip on a rug and strike his forehead onto the corner of a speaker; resulting in a two inch open gash. In its shock, the cat also defecated, leaving Steven with a wet brown stain down the back of his beige cargo pants. I liked that cat.

Attached poster as requested.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

It's a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.33am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Thats just stupid. Can you do it properly please? I am extremely emotional over this and was up all night in tears. you seem to think it is funny. Can you make the photo bigger please and fix the text and do it in colour please. Thanks.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don't come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I am willing to overlook this faux pas due to you no doubt being preoccupied with thoughts of Missy attempting to make her way home across busy intersections or being trapped in a drain as it slowly fills with water. I spent three days down a well once but that was just for fun.

I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.59am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

This is worse than the other one. can you make it so it shows the whole photo of Missy and delete the stupid text that says missing missy off it? I just want it to say lost.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.21am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah can you do the poster or not? I just want a photo and the word lost and the telephone number and when and where she was lost and her name. Not like a movie poster or anything stupid. I have to leave early today. If it was your cat I would help you. Thanks.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Awww

Dear Shannon,

I don't have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend's cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter, I kept the cat in a closed cardboard box in the shed and forgot about it. If I wanted to feed something and clean faeces, I wouldn't have put my mother in that home after her stroke. A week later, when my friend came to collect his cat, I pretended that I was not home and mailed the box to him. Apparently I failed to put enough stamps on the package and he had to collect it from the post office and pay eighteen dollars. He still goes on about that sometimes, people need to learn to let go.

I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.47am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Awww

Thats not my cat. where did you get that picture from? That cat is orange. I gave you a photo of my cat.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Awww

I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says "I haven't seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?" you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill.

I knew someone who had a basset hound that had its hind legs removed after an accident and it had to walk around with one of those little buggies with wheels. If it had been my dog I would have asked for all its legs to be removed and replaced with wheels and had a remote control installed. I could charge neighbourhood kids for rides and enter it in races. If I did the same with a horse I could drive it to work. I would call it Steven.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.07pm

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Please just use the photo I gave you.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.34pm

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

I didnt say there was a reward. I dont have $2000 dollars. What did you even put that there for? Apart from that it is perfect can you please remove the reward bit. Thanks Shan.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.

From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm

To: Shannon Walkley

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley

Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Fine. That will have to do.

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More Faces in Objects

When I previously posted photos faces in everyday objects, son Thomas sent me an email: “This is due to a phenomenon called pareidolia – an evolutionary hangover. Quite interesting…”

It turns out he is right. Not that I doubted him (doubting Thomas, ha ha).

This is what Wikipedia says about it:

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, a form of apophenia. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse.

Apophenia: the human tendency to seek patterns in random information in general, such as with gambling and paranormal phenomena.
Moon rabbit: in folklore, especially Asian, that a rabbit lives on the moon

Carl Sagan hypothesised that as a survival technique, human beings are "hard-wired" from birth to identify the human face. This allows people to use only minimal details to recognize faces from a distance and in poor visibility but can also lead them to interpret random images or patterns of light and shade as being faces. The evolutionary advantages of being able to discern friend from foe with split-second accuracy are numerous; prehistoric (and even modern) men and women who accidentally identify an enemy as a friend could face deadly consequences for this mistake. This is only one among many evolutionary pressures responsible for the development of the facial recognition capability of modern humans.

Well, if I am pareidolic, so be it, because here are more pics of faces in everyday objects:

So there it is, our perceiving faces is part of being hardwired by evolution to recognise dangerous situations.  I thought I was the only one seeing faces constantly looking at me until I realised other people saw it too.  By the way, do your faces talk to you like mine do?. . . 

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Who? What? When? Where? Why? - Cunning Kick and Shirley Temple

Cunning kick

My friend Arthur told me that he had his wallet with him at a shop and discovered that he had no money in it when he had to pay for his order. Then a thought struck him: he told the shop assistant he would check the cunning kick and sure enough he found a $100 note in it. An elderly person nearby told him it had been many years since she had heard that expression. I told him I had never heard it. He explained that in bygone years it had meant a secret part of one’s wallet used to hide money from a wife.

I came across a comment as follows by a chap with the nickname “Swinger” on a golf website forum:

In the old days we use to call it the "Cunning kick", a hidden part of your wallet where you used to fold notes in small parcels and hide them for drinking and punting without the missus knowing about it. You would open your wallet and have nothing where you would normally have money , but hidden away is your cunning kick. 

http://forums.iseekgolf.com/topic/43138-keep-this-quiet/

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Shirley Temple (drink):

The main claim as to the originator of the Shirley Temple drink is an unknown bartender at Chasen’s, a Beverly Hills restaurant. It is believed that it was prepared for Shirley Temple when she visited in the 1930’s. Other claimants include the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood and the Royal Hawaiian in Hawaii. What is common to all claims is that the drink was invented by the chef as a response to her complaints at not having a drink the same as the ones her parents were having.

The drink is a non-alcoholic drink made with ginger ale and a splash of grenadine, garnished with a maraschino cherry. Today lemon-lime soda is often substituted for the ginger ale.

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Monday Miscellany

A couple of odds, ends and personals to start the week.

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An item sent to my mobile by son Thomas:

Betrayal, an artwork by Mario Sanchez Nevado

Nevado is a Spanish digital artist, see more of his work by clicking on the following link:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/mario-sanchez-nevado.html

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Another item sent by Thomas:

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As a digression, here is a death pic of Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton (left to right) in the window of the undertakers after the shootout at the OK Corral. This is the only known photo of 19 year-old Billy.  

The gunfight took place in 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona.  Despite its name, the gunfight actually occurred in a narrow lot six doors west of the rear entrance to the OK Corral on Fremont Street, and also in the street. The two opposing parties were initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart. About thirty shots were fired in thirty seconds. Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday but they were eventually exonerated by a local judge after a 30-day preliminary hearing and then again by a local grand jury.

On December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was maimed in a murder attempt by the remaining outlaws, and on March 18, 1882, they murdered Morgan Earp. The suspects furnished solid alibis, and newly appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp took matters into his own hands, hunting them down in what came to be known as the Earp Vendetta Ride. Wyatt Earp became an itinerant gambler afterwards and died in 1929 of chronic cystitis.

Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) at age 33

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Btw, Thomas has finished his bar exams and is now awaiting the results. (Don't ask him to look at a contract though, he is purely criminal law).

These are for you, Thomas:

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Speaking of matters Earp, friend Graham is home with his new titanium hip. If anyone is interested as to what the op entails, this is it:

Mother in law Margaret has also just come home from hospital. Marg was in for a month over Christmas after needing a plate inserted for a fractured hip. On walking through the front door when returning home she fell again, this time on the other hip, but fortunately didn’t fracture it and didn’t need to go to the hospital again. 

Thinking about artificial joints, does anyone recall the Australian ad for Caltex with the old lady shopping? Funny. Click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLmWU7cCW10

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5 More Quotes from US Presidents

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“I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything. I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone.”

- Abraham Lincoln 

(1809-1865, President 1861-1865)

1858, Fourth debate with Stephen Douglas for election as an Illinois senator.

The central question was whether slavery should be extended to the territories: Douglas and the Democratic party believed that the territories themselves should decide whether to allow slavery, whereas Lincoln and his new Republican party believed that slavery should be banned from the territories. The Dred Scott case of 1857 said that neither Congress nor a territorial legislature could exclude slavery from a territory and that no African American, slave or free, could be a citizen of the United States.

Whether Lincoln changed his views to more radical ones when he became President, whether he had earlier adopted a less controversial position (above) to enhance his electoral prospects and what his actual position was (at the same time as the Emancipation Proclamation was passed, he implemented steps to resettle African Americans in a central colony outside America) remain matters for conjecture.

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“I don’t want loyalty. I want loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy’s window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses. I want his pecker in my pocket."

- Lyndon Baines Johnson

(1908-1973, President 1963-1969)

Quoted in David Halberstam ‘The Best and the Brightest’ (1972). Discussing a potential assistant.

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Bill Clinton in college days, with Hillary

"It was a real sort of Southern deal. I had AstroTurf in the back. You don't want to know why, but I did."

- Bill Clinton

(1946 - , President 1993-2001)

On his pimped-out 1970’s van

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I suppose I should be ashamed to say that I take the Western view of the Indian. I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian. Turn three hundred low families of New York into New Jersey, support them for fifty years in vicious idleness, and you will have some idea of what the Indians are. Reckless, revengeful, fiendishly cruel, they rob and murder, not the cowboys, who can take care of themselves, but the defenseless, lone settlers on the plains. As for the soldiers, an Indian chief once asked Sheridan for a cannon. "What! Do you want to kill my soldiers with it?" asked the general. "No," replied the chief, "want to kill the cowboy; kill soldier with a club."

Theodore Roosevelt

(1858-1919, President 1901-1909)

speech, January 1886

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"You know what happened to the Greeks! Homosexuality destroyed them. Sure, Aristotle was a homo. We all know that. So was Socrates. Do you know what happened to the Romans? The last six Roman emperors were fags....You know what happened to the Popes? It's all right that Popes were laying the nuns, that's been going on for years, centuries, but, when the Popes, when the Catholic Church went to hell, in, I don't know, three or four centuries ago, it was homosexual." 

Richard Nixon

(1913-1994, President 1969-1974)

Fretting to his top aides in 1971 that the Rob Reiner character Michael ‘Meathead’ Stivic on All in the Family was bisexual

Bonus Nixon quote: 

"I urge the Congress to join me in mounting a major new effort to replace the discredited president." 

— President Richard Nixon, in his 1974 State of the Union address at the height of the Watergate scandal, fumbling a line in which he meant to say "replace the discredited present system"

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Movie Quotes: 100-96

In 2005 the American Film Institute compiled a list of best film quotes, as selected by judges who comprised film artists, critics and historians. Selection criteria of the quotes included cultural impact and legacy, for example, to what extent the quote had become part of everyday language and the memories of the film as a result of the quote. Selections were from films shown in American cinemas, hence there is a weighting for American films. There have also been many superb films since 2005: the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Queen to name just a couple. Nonetheless the list is fun to consider.

The list below begins a countdown of those 100 movie lines, on their own at first to enable you to see if you can identify the film and the actor speaking the line. This is followed by an identification and some trivia.

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Top 100 movie quotes countdown: 100-96

100. “I’m the king of the world.”

99. "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!"

98. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."

97. "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you."

96. "Snap out of it!"

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100. “I’m the king of the world.”

Spoken by Leonardo Di Caprio in the role of Jack Dawson in the 1997 film Titanic.

Some trivia:

• When the scenes set in the present day, along with the opening and ending credits, are subtracted from the movie, the movie length (all the 1912 scenes) adds up to two hours and forty minutes, the exact time it took for Titanic to sink.

• In the movie, exactly 37 seconds pass between the lookouts warning and the actual collision with the iceberg - the same amount of time it took in real life.

• When James Cameron was writing the movie, he intended for the main characters Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson to be entirely fictitious. It was only after the script was finished that he discovered that there had been a real "J. Dawson" who died aboard the Titanic. This "J. Dawson" was trimmer Joseph Dawson, who had been born September 1888 in Dublin, Ireland. His body was salvaged and buried at Fairview Lawn cemetery in Nova Scotia with many other Titanic victims. Today, his grave stone (#227) is the most widely visited in the cemetery.

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99. "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!"

Spoken by Margaret Hamilton in her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.

Trivia:

• When the wardrobe department was looking for a coat for Frank Morgan (Professor Marvel / The Wizard), they decided they wanted one that looked like it had once been elegant but had since "gone to seed". They visited a second-hand store and purchased an entire rack of coats, from which Morgan, the head of the wardrobe department, and director Victor Fleming chose one they felt gave off the perfect appearance of "shabby gentility". One day, while he was on set in the coat, Morgan idly turned out one of the pockets and discovered a label indicating that the coat had been made for L Frank Baum. Mary Mayer, a unit publicist for the film, contacted the tailor and Baum's widow, who both verified that the coat had at one time been owned by the author of the original "Wizard of Oz" books. After the filming was completed, the coat was presented to Mrs. Baum.

• Many of the Wicked Witch of the West's scenes were either trimmed or deleted entirely, as Margaret Hamilton's performance was thought too frightening for audiences.

• Judy Garland had to wear a painful corset-style device around her torso so that she would appear younger and flat-chested.

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98. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."

Spoken by Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle in the 1987 film Dirty dancing.

Trivia:

• Although it is never explicitly spelled out, the medical procedure for which Penny needs Baby's money is an illegal, back-alley abortion (the doctor is described as having only "a dirty knife and a folding table"). In 1963, when this movie is set, abortion was still illegal in the US (it would become legal in New York State up to the 24th week of pregnancy in 1970 and across the country in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision), and women seeking abortions either went to a country where they were legal or (much more commonly) went to an abortionist who was willing to perform the procedure in secret. Since abortion was illegal, it was medically unregulated and often performed by people who were not even actually doctors (some women even tried performing the procedure on themselves), and thousands of women every year were killed, maimed, or rendered sterile from septic or botched illegal abortions.

• The book that Robbie tries to lend to Baby as an explanation for his refusal to help Penny is 'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand (pictured below). Rand was the creator of a philosophy called Objectivism, which holds (among other beliefs) that it is more important for a person to be concerned with his or her own well-being rather than to try to help others. Some of her adherents (including, apparently, Robbie) interpret her books as justification for selfish and self-serving behaviour and the disavowal of responsibility to others.

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97. "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you."

Spoken by James Cagney as George M Cohan in the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Trivia:

• A biopic loosely based on the of the life of George M Cohan (pictured below), American composer, librettist, actor, dancer, author, director, and producer on the stage. Cohan started his career in his family vaudeville shows (the above line being spoken at the end of performances) and came to Broadway at the beginning of the 20th century. He was the composer of the American battle hymn of World War 1, 'Over There' and received the Congressional Gold Medal for his lifetime achievement in 1936.

• George M Cohan chose James Cagney to play him. If you think of Cagney only as an actor, have a look at this film to see some Cagney singing and quite impressive dancing.

• This was the very first black and white movie to be colourised using a controversial computer-applied process. Despite widespread opposition to the practice by many film aficionados, stars and directors, the movie won over a sizeable section of the public on its re-release.

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96. "Snap out of it!"

Spoken by Cher as Loretta Castonini in the 1987 film Moonstruck

Trivia:

• Cher had just done two movies back-to-back and was so tired, she originally turned this part down. She also thought she could not play a bookkeeper because she is such a lavish spender in real life.

• Nicolas Cage’s screen test didn't impress the studio, and they wanted to get someone else to play Ronny. But Cher insisted that Cage was the one to play that role, and threatened to quit unless he was hired. After a few days, the studio relented.

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