An Irish Ghost Story

Some of the best memories from my childhood are being at camp and telling ghost stories. Sitting on the porch or around a campfire, listening to a well woven tale of the supernatural when all of a sudden my father would yell or toss a pan, anything to do to scare the bejesus out of all the kids. One of my favorite scenes in the movie "Meatballs" is when Bill Murry takes the counselors on an overnight camping trip and as they sit around the fire he tells the story of the escaped killer with a hook for a hand. Of course the story ends with everyone screaming and then laughing. So when a friend recently sent out this ghost story I knew I had to share it.

An Irish Ghost Story

This would sound like an Alfred Hitchcock story if it were not true.
John Bradford was a student at Dublin University traveling back to the city. He found himself standing on the side of a lonely country road late one night hitchhiking. The night was dark and rain was coming down. Not a car in sight. When the storm reached the point where you could barely see two feet in front of your face John saw a car approaching very slowly and stop right next to him.
In dire need of protection from the storm, John jumped into the car and closed the door behind him be fore he noticed that their was no one behind the wheel.....and the engine was off. The car started to move forward and John was paralyzed with fear. Looking ahead John could see a the car approaching a curve. John prayed , begging for his life. A hand came in the window and at the last minute turned the wheel. several times the hand appeared never touching John or causing him any harm.
Soon John saw the lights of a pub ahead and summoning all his courage found the strength to jump out of the car and run to the pub.
Wet and out of breath, John Bradford started to tell the patrons of his horrible experience. A silence enveloped the pub as the people realized that John was crying....and that he wasn't drunk.
The door of the pub opened and two more travelers came in. Both in the same condition as John, soaking wet and out of breath.
The men looked at all the people staring at them. When they saw John sobbing at the bar, the one man said,
"Hey Paddy! There's the fecking idiot that jumped into the car when we were pushing it"

Trivia

trivia  unimportant, trifling things or details, especially obscure and useless knowledge. — trivial, adj.

Sure that's what the dictionary says about it, I take umbrage at the word unimportant but I understand how some people, mostly academe types, would see trivia as unimportant. Then again I may not know the periodic table but I can tell you what Dudley Do-Right's horse's name is. I have always loved trivia, in eighth grade I scored the highest on a trivia test (actually tied with three others, we got to go out for pizza). So a couple of weeks ago when asked to go to trivia night at a local bar I agreed.
The game was broken down into four rounds, each round had ten questions worth one point each and a bonus question worth three points. At the end of all four rounds you can wager any or all of your points on the final question. The first round of the first night was "twitter" the host read out three names and you had to pick which person had the most followers. This people is unimportant and useless knowledge. The night went on. Another round used fashion as it's category (yes I did know that Vera Wang designed wedding dresses). The third round, music of the 90's. This was not a good night for my useless knowledge. I returned this past week and redemption was mine. The first round category was films. The host read three names and you had to name the movie. The first question, Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Leslie Howard. Now if you don't know this answer you should drink up and leave. The hardest question was, Johnny Depp, Ann Heche and Michael Madsen. I didn't get this one and I was kicking myself. Round two was right in my wheel house, TV Theme songs. The host would play a bit of a theme song and you had to name the show. First up, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, named that tune in three notes (oops wrong game), The second was Castle. At this point my team is just looking at me with a strange look. I am on on roll when about question number six plays. Base drums and a slow marching beat. We are all looking at each other then the faces turn to me "well?" at this point I'm thinking maybe the HBO series Rome but I'm not sure when the theme breaks into a voice, "Honey, I'm Home" and the music picks up. I know the show but I can't remember the name. "It has Dinosaurs and a baby Dinosaur . No not cartoon but animated aaaaggghhh". We finish the round with Mrs EK singing along with "Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow "(Baretta) and what I thought the easiest one, Peter Gunn. As we were about to hand in our answer sheet I said, "Write Dinosaurs for number six" . we get the results, the name of the show  was Dinosaurs. The night went on and we didn't win but we did do well. the final question was, In what state, according to creator Matt Groening, do the Simpsons live?
So if you like trivia as much as I do head out to your local watering hole on trivia night and have fun. To get you started here are some questions.

1) Dudley Do-Right's horses name (two correct answers)?
2) What movie, Viven Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard?
3) What movie, Johnny Depp, Anne Heche, Michael Madsen?
4)What state do the Simpsons live in?
5) What two words in common English end in "gry"?
6) What 1976 chart topping song did Barry Manilow sing but not write?
7)On The TV show "Quincy", What was Dr. Quincy's first name?
8)What is the best selling musical instrument?
9)Name the seven dwarfs?
10) How many movies did John Wayne die in?

answers in the comments section

Spring, When a Young Man's Fancy Turns to Love Songs

So it is spring, and if you are a red blooded American male, or any male I assume, it is time to fall in love....again. I say again because it seems that this is a yearly occurrence, it can be the same woman year after year or it can be someone new each year but Spring is the season for love. I believe it comes from the parting of heavy winter clothing. Layers and layers of hats, gloves, scarves, coats, snowsuits etc.etc. Spring brings out new, light clothing, shorts and it leads to that sexy summer sun dress. What ever the reason, you'll need music. It's too hard to pin down the best of love songs, any list would surely miss someone's favorite so let's try it this way. There are three parts to any love affair, the sighting, the affair and the aftermath. Here's a few songs for each.

So you are walking down the street or at the mall or where ever and you see her/him, what song do you want for this cd of your life?
The Beatles, Something
Barry White, My First, My Last, My Everything
Al Green, Let's Stay Together
Marvin Gaye, Let's Get It On
John Denver, Annie's Song
Jim Croce, Time In A Bottle
Eric Clapton, Wonderful Tonight
Elton John, Your Song
John Mayer, Your Body Is A Wonderland
Goo Goo Dolls, Iris

There are ten, it's not a top ten list by any means just ten good love songs. Now if you really think she's the one for you, and by you I mean me. The list would need Van Morrison. Have I Told You Lately, Into The Mystic, Someone Like You, Crazy Love and when she leaves you, You Don't Know Me (in my humble romantic opinion, the greatest love song ever). I or you, would also add a little old school, Dean Martin, Return to Me, and Frank Sinatra, The Way You Look Tonight.

See, now here is the problem with a list of love songs, it just keeps growing.
Lou Rawls, Roberta Flack, Sonny and Cher, Dan Fogelberg, Bread, Seals and Croft,
Help me out here, everyone add three to the list and let's see how it turns out. Just add them in the comments section and we can start our own Time/Life series.
Springsteen, Jersey Girl aaaaahhh

Baseball

Baseball season is upon us. Those of you who know me know how much I love baseball. I was a great sandlot player but when I got into uniform the pressure took over and I was a terrible player. Not being the fastest runner didn't help (fastest ha, I almost got thrown out at first base from right field one time.), but I love the game. A 1-0 game is great, good pitching is fun to watch. I enjoy "small ball", the term used when a team manufactures a run using different players instead of a home run to score a run. (a perfect example, the batter walks, then he steals second. The next batter grounds out to second as the base runner heads to third. The next batter flys out to left field as the runner tags up and scores. The team has just scored a run with out getting a hit). I can even tell you the six ways to get to first base without getting a hit. So now a week into the season the Yankees are 2-3, the Red Sox are 1-4 and the Mets are 4-1. Yankee fans are starting to freak, Red Sox fans are giving up on the season already and Met fans, and there seems to be more and more every day are ecstatic. Alas the baseball season is a long season. Come June the Yankees and the Red Sox will have righted themselves and the Mets will be playing like the Mets and it will again be hard to find someone who will admit to being a Mets fan.
Although it is only a few games into the season my son and daughter-in-law have already been to a game. I am hoping to see a couple of games this year. When ever guys get together and talk baseball they start to talk about ballparks. Who has been at and the like. I have been to, Yankee Stadium, old and new, Shea, Stadium, Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Fenway Park, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Nationals Park in DC and outside Wrigley Field in Chicago. My list of places I want to go would be, Dodger Stadium, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, AT&T Park in San Francisco. When I'm retired a perfect summer would be to see a game in every major league ball park in the country. I would also like to have my congressman submit a bill making it illegal to name a ballpark after a corporation. Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, The Polo Grounds, Crosley Field, these names conjure up images of what baseball should be. AT&T Park, PNC Park, Citi Bank, Citizens Bank and Ameriquest have ball parks, Minute Maid and Tropicana, (orange juice? at least name it after beer) The only ones that I am ok with are Busch Stadium because it's the family name and Coors Field in Denver because Colors just says Colorado. And these stadiums that keep changing their names that is just wrong also. For example, if Citi Bank wants to end their affiliation with the Mets the name should become City Field after New York City. Think about it "The ivy covered walls of Home Depot Field" just doesn't make me warm and fuzzy, and instead of AstroTurf we would be calling artificial turf Overstock.com grass (Overstock.com Coliseum Oakland).
So pull up a chair and enjoy baseball, America's national sport.




Six ways to get to first base without getting a hit.
1. walk
2. hit by pitch
3. error
4. fielder's choice
5.catcher's interference
6.dropped third strike

Easter Week Movies and Carols

Ok, we go through this every Holiday. What makes a day a Holiday? The Saratoga Irish rule of thumb is, a Holiday has movies and carols. This coming Sunday is Easter. Yes, Easter is a Christian Holiday, it has movies, King Of Kings, The Robe, The Passion Of the Christ. It has carols, Here Comes Peter Cottontail and Hot Cross Buns (Alright I know that they are not as good as Christmas Carols but look at it this way, Christmas doesn't have a rock opera ). So Easter fills the requirements although the movies seem to be on the religious side and the carols are on the secular side. Jesus Christ Superstar is in a genre of it's own. Let's try and push the envelope a bit here to make Easter a bigger day than it is. First we need movies. The clip above is from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, although the title reflects the religious side of Easter, the bunny scene and the Trojan rabbit scene play up the secular side. Other movies we could use are, Harvey, how can you have a holiday movie and not use one of Jimmy Stewart's. Truly Harvey is no It's a Wonderful Life but it has Jimmy and a bunny. Watership Down, OK, so not all rabbits can be the Easter Bunny. Rabbit Proof Fence, I've never been to Australia and I'm not sure just how they celebrate Easter but it has rabbit in the title. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, every good holiday movie needs a tag line and how can you not go with, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way". Last but surly not least, Fatal Attraction, need I say more.
Now for the musical side we must start with Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. The Magnetic  Fields, Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, ,Grass, by The Cat Heads and  The Lemonheads, I Am a Rabbit. Apparently if you have the word head in the name of your band you write about rabbits. Of course it might just be easier to listen to anything by Eddie Rabbitt.
There it is, spend Sunday relaxing eating jelly beans and chocolate bunnys (and peeps!!!) watching Life of Brian and singing What's The Buzz and have a great Holiday.