Sep 29, 2015

School Mascots



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Trivia Today’s Fact of the Day today was that Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn! Guess unicorns must bless Scotland…


~ Jan Madsen Alton


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Unicorns, huh? I guess it is just a reflection on who gets to choose.  A community college in our conference, Scottsdale Community College's mascot is the Fighting Artichokes. I had always wondered about where that came from and last week I heard the story.














Back in the 1970s the college didn't even have a library yet, and the board voted to build and expensive athletic complex, and made the mistake of letting the students choose the mascot. Since this was the early days of Political Correctness and student activism, amd the majority of the kids were not athletes, they decided to deliver a message by choosing the Artichoke as their mascot.

And the school colors chosen at the same time? Pink and White. I kid you not.

The colors did get changed later on, but the mascot remains the Artichoke.

How would you like to be the athletic director having to recruit for the Fighting Artichokes?

Will Hepburn


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I don't like fighting with artichokes. They can be very prickly! 


My daughter graduated from UC Irvine. Their mascot is Zot, the anteater! A sign at John Wayne Airport says "Welcome to Anteater Country". They aren't native in California (they are native to the hottest parts of South and Central America). Don't know how they came to choose it but the student body likes it just fine. 

Jan Madsen Alton


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Prior to August, 1978, I saw Unicorns all the time........ and other things, but yeah....they were regulars in my hallucinations .... Nessie never did show up.... but the Unicorns mentioned her..

Ron Robertson


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UC Santa Cruz has the banana slug. 


~Taffy






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I thought the Loch Ness Monster was Scotland's national animal.

I won't embarrass myself by telling you how old I was when I learned that unicorns weren't exactly real, but I do remember looking in the dictionary to bolster my position and seeing that

the definition was "a fabulous animal." I thought that made my case...

~Taffy Cannon

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It has been determined that with no sightings in several years, believers think Nessie is dead. I have still not finished mourning the loss.


Tom Schildhouse




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The mascot of South Dakota State is the Jackrabbit.

Craig Hullinger





And don't forget the Fighting Jackalopes from the University of Southeastern Skaskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A rare and dangerous breed.




You can join these Pleasant and Erudite Conversations with your former classmates by clicking on and joining:

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Sep 22, 2015

Murder in Chicago



Sep 21, 2015

GhostGhost 1990 - Movie Review by Charles Kuenneth MPHS Jan 66



My Movie Monday

Ghost ------ 1990 (on my 21 to 50 favorite film list)

One has to give up reality to love this film. And I do!

But what is unreality? Many of the fantasy/super hero films of today dismiss reality. But what do they bring to the movie. Endless cliches, violence, super villains, unrealistic confrontations! "Ghost" is an incredibly personal film about two people, Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, with the problem of communicating their feelings for each other. Swayze dies and before his absolute farewell at the end of this film, his love for his partner is displayed, confirmed and deepened. Sure the whole conception of ghosts in this movie is made up, but it is just a device to tell of the love between these two people. Between this device, the acting, the music and the special effects, it grabs my emotions every time I watch it. What about my favorite movie component, the music?

The crucial musical scene begins. The Juke-box in Moore's and Swayze's New York city loft stops playing one song. The mechanism is shown changing the 45rpm record. The Righteous Brother's "Unchained Melody" starts to play softly. It's the middle of the night and in a nightgown Demi Moore is busy crafting a vase on her pottery wheel. A sleepy Patrick Swayze joins her, concerned that she is up so late. He sits behind her and inadvertently ruins the clay vessel she was working on, then starts to become affectionate with her. This, combined with the song increasing in volume and becoming stereophonic, the necking becomes much more intense and the viewer can see their relationship is truly one of passionate love. The scene becomes quite physical and ends with the music coming to an end and a close-up of the juke-box showing the stylus arm lift off the record. This was a pivotal moment in this movie for me. Between the power of the song and the passion of the two characters, it made me care intensely for these two protagonists!

The Swayze character after his death resides in a half-way world, caught between life and what the film implies is an afterlife. This movie could have become just another ghost story with scary and spooky scenes. But because of the love between the two major characters and Swayze's concern for Moore, it becomes very personal.

This intense emotion might have overwhelmed this film, maybe even to the point of making it difficult to watch. However, clever plot elements leaven the movie as well as the comic element of Whoopi Goldberg's character. Whoopi Goldberg won a well deserved supporting Academy Award for her performance and other wonderful actors enhanced all the many elements of this film. However the love between the two main characters is what stays in my memory. For me, this is what "Ghost" was about.

Cast:

Patrick Swayze ------ Sam Wheat
Demi Moore ------ Molly Jensen
Whoopi Goldberg ------ Oda Mae Brown
Tony Goldwyn ------ Carl Bruner
Rick Aviles ______ Willie Lopez
Phil Leeds ------ emergency room ghost
Vincent Schiavelli ------ subway ghost
Stephen Root ------ police sergeant


Search Results

    [Unchained Melody] (With Lyrics) Clips from the Ghost movie

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1idoLQYjMI
     
    Feb 21, 2012 - Uploaded by Aquarius ® ▶ Let's Play
    +Carlos Natorce ghost la sombra del amor ... (With Lyrics) Clips from the movie Ghost. .... Quante volte e ...

    Unchained Melody - Ghost Music - YouTube

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=81nsGjv91b0
     
    Dec 26, 2007 - Uploaded by EmilyJoseph89
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    Ghost (soundtrack) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(soundtrack)
     
    Ghost is the official soundtrack, on the Milan Records label, of the 1990 Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning film Ghost starring Patrick Swayze, Demi ...

Sep 19, 2015

Giants walking down Las Ramblas Streets






Las Ramblas in Barcelona is one of my favorite places. I've never seen vendors organized like they are there in the parkway between the two streets. Animals being sold in one block. Flowers in the next. Street theater, and the restaurants that set up tables in the parkway and run food across the streets to diners. Incredible atmosphere.



Will Hepburn


Click for more photos


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