Icons

Thank Chione It's Friday!

"Quit crying about the snow, or I'll give you something to cry about!"

Weather Weirdness

When I woke up yesterday morning, the temperature here
in the Bluffs was 12 degrees, with
a "feels like" of 3 degrees when factoring in the wind. Typical February cold, not a big deal.


Today, it is 35 degrees warmer, and there is a chance the high for the day might top 60 degrees. If I still owned a grill, I'd probably cook outside!

All of this is happening while my best friend Skip and other acquaintances further east are still struggling with the blizzards brought by Winter Storm Niko, which barely touched us here in southwest Iowa...

"Wow! There might even be nice weather on your birthday for a change."

If history is any guide, that will not happen...

Feast Day

Statue of St. Scholastica at the Abbey of Monte Cassino

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Scholastica, twin sister of
St. Benedict and foundress of the women's branch of what we now call Benedictine monasticism.

Scholastica is the patron of nuns, and because of a story made famous by St. Gregory the Great in Book II of his Dialogues she is often  invoked for protection from storms and rain.

Railfan Fun

GG1 No. 4868 pulling PRR's The Congressional

I'm the sort of railfan who is mostly interested in iconic locomotives, and few were more distinctive than the Pennsylvania Railroad's famous General Electric GG1 electric units.

On February 10, 1935 the GG1
went into revenue service for Pennsy, hauling the line's famous Congressional passenger train round-trip between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.


When I visited my best friend Skip back in October, I got to see GG1 No. 4800 on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.

"That trip was BIG fun, and I want to do it again!"

We'll see...maybe one of these days...

Life's Little Ironies

From the insightful pen of Michael Ramirez, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

On February 10, 1929 Jerrald King Goldsmith was born in Los Angeles. The son of professional parents, he began studying piano at age six. Ten years later, he saw the Alfred Hitchcock motion picture Spellbound, and was so impressed with its Miklós Rózsa score that he decided he wanted to pursue a career in music himself. That turned out
to be a wise decision, as Jerry Goldsmith would go on to become one of Hollywood's most honored composers for both motion pictures and television.

In addition to his five Emmy Awards and his Academy Award (for The Omen in 1976), Goldsmith placed two scores (Chinatown and Planet of the Apes) on the American Film Institute's 2005 100 Years of Film Scores Top 25 list (only John Williams with three had more), and 11 of his scores were nominated for the honor. No other composer had more nominations for AFI's list.

Goldsmith has done much of my all-time favorite TV and movie music, but if pressed to chose
a single favorite it would have to be his stirring score for the 1970
Best Picture winner Patton, a film I've watched dozens of times.

Jerry Goldsmith's scores were famous for being innovative,
and his music for Patton was certainly noteworthy in that regard, especially in the ways it musically embodies key aspects of Patton's own fascinating personality.


Goldsmith's failure to win the Academy Award that year (the execrable Love Story was honored instead) is a black mark on the Academy. I vividly recall yelling at the TV when the award was announced.

Today's send-off is the film's iconic main title, recorded in 1997 by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Goldsmith conducting, from Jerry's YouTube channel. Enjoy...