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New facts for old people - 2021

Chad ochoseis Jan 04 2021 07:18 PM

The "Things I Didn't Know Until Now" thread. The Tokay gecko, native to Asia, was known to American soldiers in Viet Nam as the "fuck you lizard" for the sound it makes. The linked wikipedia entry has a recording of the sound. The inflection is about right, but it takes some imagination to think it sounds quite like "fuck you".

Frayed Knot Jan 04 2021 07:55 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

I'm Frayed Knot and I approve of this thread title.

whippoorwill Jan 05 2021 09:45 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Oh he's got a cute smile too!

Lefty Specialist Jan 05 2021 10:27 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

IKEA is an acronym which stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, which is the founder's name, the farm where he grew up, and his hometown.

Lefty Specialist Jan 09 2021 06:02 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Everyone in the UK can now get a free 4-pack of beer. That's 67,886,011 4 packs, or 271,544,044 cans for free. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/brewdog-free-beer-uk-twitter-b1784828.html A £1.95 postage fee will apply, however.

Frayed Knot Jan 09 2021 06:17 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

And since those crazy Brits tend to drink their brew warm there's no need to keep it cold during shipping.

G-Fafif Feb 22 2021 03:46 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Based on her television birth date, Pebbles Flintstone and I would have been in the same high school graduating class, give or take a Stone Age. https://twitter.com/retronewsnow/status/1363981726805065728?s=21

Edgy MD Feb 22 2021 04:41 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Sheesh. She didn't come out with that bone already in her hair, did she?

Edgy MD Feb 25 2021 08:14 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Ace's "How Long Has This Been Going On?" was about bass player Tex Comer moonlighting with other bands.

Frayed Knot Feb 26 2021 03:27 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Sung by a guy who moonlighted everywhere.

whippoorwill Feb 26 2021 07:15 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

I wonder if he knew it when he was helping record it

cal sharpie Feb 26 2021 07:56 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Back when "How Long Has This Been Going On" was a hit I saw Ace opening for Yes in a battle of the three-letter-bands. Yes won.

kcmets Feb 26 2021 08:35 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Couple of things: a> If I knew a band called Ace sang that song years ago it long left my memory banks. b> I just watched the youtube video with good headphones and forgot how great a song that was. c> Ace singer Paul Carrack was later the front man for Mike and the Mechanics? Sometimes I feel like Rip Van Winkle.

Frayed Knot Feb 27 2021 06:52 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Paul Carrack's business card essentially read: 'Vocal Chords for Hire' He also played keyboards but his main asset was that voice so he'd often wind up bouncing from group to group including not just 'Ace' and 'Mike & the Mechanics' but also 'Squeeze' for a short time ('Tempted' was his vocal) and other projects, many of which seemed to be short-lived or even one-offs.

Frayed Knot Mar 14 2021 10:57 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Apparently, "Deep Fakes" are a thing.

Edgy MD Mar 14 2021 01:33 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

And it's creepy as shit.

Fman99 Mar 14 2021 08:43 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the eponymous pottery company that produced so many fine ceramics and pottery (including quite a number of pieces my grandmother collected), was the maternal grandfather of Charles Darwin.

MFS62 Mar 16 2021 04:41 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Citizens of Guam are called Guamanians. Later

Frayed Knot Mar 17 2021 09:41 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

A name which beat out several other candidates: Guampas and Guammas, Guamcamolians, the Guam Squad, and, a bit oddly, Norwegians.

kcmets Mar 17 2021 10:18 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

[Cliffy] It's a little known fact there, Normie, that guacamole actually originated in Guam and not Mexico where they were once know as the Guamcamolians. Look it up. [/Cliffy]

Frayed Knot Mar 17 2021 12:41 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

The less intelligent members of their society are known as Guamalamadingdongs

MFS62 Mar 18 2021 08:04 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

When I see this thread title, I read it as "New Farts for Old People", which, when you think of it, would be kinda' correct. Later

Frayed Knot Mar 19 2021 07:41 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

'New Facts for Old Farts' would work too.

Willets Point Mar 25 2021 07:05 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Randy Newman's uncle, Alfred Newman, composed the 20th Century Fox fanfare (and a whole lot of other film scores).

Frayed Knot Mar 25 2021 07:20 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Willets Point wrote: Randy Newman's uncle, Alfred Newman, composed the 20th Century Fox fanfare (and a whole lot of other film scores). Please tell me his middle initial wasn't E. There are several from that Newman clan who are/were musicians and composers.

Edgy MD Mar 25 2021 07:25 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Yeah, they're a huge chunk of the film scoring pie going back almost to the dawn of motion picture sound. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ba2dc39b27e3954255a5f63/1539410440613-0TDDE4G982W08IUGKJMM/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kPHRrskTGGEeXxDrX1ToPfZZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpxtlxp-br1ZQt_OL9DrccLOxhqoo8cGtfYSIwHm-x8-2q4_7n5AphNYxL7s8jqToyo/newman_family_tree.jpg>

Willets Point Mar 25 2021 07:25 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

As far as I can tell, he doesn't have a middle name. I've learned that there are 9 Newmans in total who work or have worked in movie scoring in some capacity.

Fman99 Apr 15 2021 03:50 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Nabisco was a short name for the National Biscuit Company.

Willets Point Apr 15 2021 06:55 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

When I was little they still spelled out the full name on the Animal Crackers' box.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 15 2021 07:01 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

If they weren't using the British term for "cookie" the name of the company would be Nacoco. Or Nacooco. The supermarket chain Finast (which was on Long Island when I was a kid; don't know if they still exist) got its name in a similar manner. FIrst NAtional STores.

Edgy MD Apr 15 2021 07:43 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Yeah, if any corporation has a brand name ending in "-co," it's a good bet that their name is a portmanteau of a longer, more formal, corporate name. Norelco was the North American Phillips Electric Company, until Philco sued them to keep them from using "Phllips" in their name. Sunoco was the Sun Oil Company. Tyco was the Tyler Company. As corporations tend to do, everyone got clever in exactly the same unclever way.

kcmets Apr 15 2021 08:08 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Necco Wafers was New England Confectionery Company. (When I typed 'Conf', Android suggested Confortoboom. Maybe it's a sign.)

Willets Point Apr 15 2021 08:23 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Esso is a bit fancy abbreviation of Standard Oil. I remember the sweet, sweet smell of the Necco factory in Cambridge. It's a biotech company headquarters now.

Johnny Lunchbucket Apr 20 2021 06:21 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

more from the food industry ALDI stands for Albrecht Diskont, or a discount store by the Albrecht brothers. LIDL is a four-letter word that means nothing but to look suspiciously like ALDI Hy-Vee: Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg, co-founders Publix: Founder stole the name from a chain of movie theaters in the 1930s Harris-Teeter: Merger of Harris Drug and Teeter Food Stores Winco Foods: (Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon) H-E-B: Initials of Howard Edward Butt, son of founder of a store originally known as CC Butt)

Fman99 Apr 30 2021 08:52 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Martin Sheen's role in Apocalypse Now was originally given to Harvey Keitel. He left after a few days of shooting because he didn't feel comfortable in the role.

RealityChuck May 02 2021 03:12 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Willets Point wrote: Esso is a bit fancy abbreviation of Standard Oil. Mobil used to be Socony Mobil: Standard Oil Company Of New York.

kcmets May 04 2021 01:55 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Is this the things you didn't know thread? Pancho is a male nickname for the given name Francisco.

Ceetar May 04 2021 02:06 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Frayed Knot wrote: Willets Point wrote: Randy Newman's uncle, Alfred Newman, composed the 20th Century Fox fanfare (and a whole lot of other film scores). Please tell me his middle initial wasn't E. There are several from that Newman clan who are/were musicians and composers. [url]https://www.20k.org/episodes/20thcenturyfox Fun podcast, Twenty Thousand Hertz, about sounds and what not, covered this.

Willets Point May 04 2021 02:25 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Thanks. Twenty Thousand Hertz is where I learned this New Fact for Old People, and I should have included the link.

Double Switch May 04 2021 04:29 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Alfred E.'s last name was Neuman. Not that it matters, homophonically, but .. truly unimportant. Still a fact.

MFS62 May 05 2021 02:08 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

William Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman was also the inventor of the polygraph (lie detector). A woman friend of his wore metal bracelets, and when he got the idea for Wonder Woman he had that character wear metal bracelets and gave her a rope that made the person captured in the rope tell the truth. Later

Benjamin Grimm May 05 2021 02:26 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

This is a really interesting book, and the author has contributed many great articles to The New Yorker. https://www.news.vcu.edu/image/8847/620>

Frayed Knot May 05 2021 08:27 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Double Switch wrote: Alfred E.'s last name was Neuman. Not that it matters, homophonically, but .. truly unimportant. Still a fact. So you're saying that he's not a member of the musical family?

Edgy MD May 05 2021 09:34 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

There are no unimportant Alfred E. Neumann facts. https://64.media.tumblr.com/f3c7986d6a9d2cc6dbdab22030ffcf92/b9001e9d0e33c9f8-88/s500x750/1e9ccb9ca1005cc3a025a540ff93b07360bfe652.jpg>

Double Switch May 05 2021 09:43 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Frayed Knot wrote: Double Switch wrote: Alfred E.'s last name was Neuman. Not that it matters, homophonically, but .. truly unimportant. Still a fact. So you're saying that he's not a member of the musical family? No. Just saying he, being a noncomformist, spells his name his way. I suspect he could whistle through the gap between his teeth but only dogs could hear him do it

LWFS May 06 2021 11:13 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Benjamin Grimm wrote: This is a really interesting book, and the author has contributed many great articles to The New Yorker. https://www.news.vcu.edu/image/8847/620> Seconded. The polygraph might not be even the third- or fourth-most interesting datum about 'im.

kcmets May 06 2021 12:42 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

I've never really bought the polygraph thing. Liars are gonna lie, often undetectablely. I'd wager all 46 US presidents could beat a polygraph device. They wouldn't fall for pitch framing either, but i digress.

Ceetar May 06 2021 01:03 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

=kcmets post_id=63289 time=1620326524 user_id=53] I've never really bought the polygraph thing. Liars are gonna lie, often undetectablely. I'd wager all 46 US presidents could beat a polygraph device. They wouldn't fall for pitch framing either, but i digress.

well that's good, because it's not really a thing. it's mostly about making the subject uncomfortable. I don't know if presidents typically could 'beat' them, though definitely the last guy, who had no morals and was so full of himself and had nothing going on between the ears that they'd probably have to check if it was plugged in.

kcmets May 06 2021 01:09 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

I'm trying to systematically expunge him from my memory banks.

Willets Point May 06 2021 02:38 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Jill Lepore did some research in my archives once. Well, probably more than once, but once when I was working the desk in the reading room that I remember in particular.

Willets Point May 10 2021 08:40 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

The Weedpatch Camp featured in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath and John Ford's film adaptation (this is the government-run camp that is clean and equitable) is still operating and helping migrant farm workers.

Edgy MD May 12 2021 08:17 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Warner Wolf's father was, for a year or so, a member of the Three Stooges.

Willets Point May 14 2021 08:45 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Edgy MD wrote: Warner Wolf's father was, for a year or so, a member of the Three Stooges. Back then, everyone was a Stooge for 15 minutes.

kcmets May 17 2021 10:26 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

I was kinda aware Todd Zeile was involved in showbiz but didn't know he co- produced the TV show Anger Management.

RealityChuck May 17 2021 02:23 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Despite the rumors, Joseph Kennedy (father of JFK) was not a bootlegger during prohibition. The story emerged because he traveled to the UK when the 21st Amendment was well on its way to ratification and arranged for a shipment of alcohol to be shipped once repeal was enacted. The liquor wasn't shipped until after the amendment was ratified.

Ceetar May 17 2021 02:38 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

=RealityChuck post_id=64457 time=1621283036 user_id=82] Despite the rumors, Joseph Kennedy (father of JFK) was not a bootlegger during prohibition. The story emerged because he traveled to the UK when the 21st Amendment was well on its way to ratification and arranged for a shipment of alcohol to be shipped once repeal was enacted. The liquor wasn't shipped until after the amendment was ratified.

Prohibition was actually about racial equality and womens' rights.

Frayed Knot May 17 2021 04:10 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021 Edited 3 time(s), most recently on May 18 2021 03:14 AM

There were bootleggers on JFK's mother's side of the family but, yes, Joe Sr. was merely one of many rich folks who took advantage of the year-long lead-up to the Volstead Act taking effect to stock up on whatever they might need to minimize the effect on them personally. Prohibition was actually about racial equality and womens' rights. The growing political power of women had been a major force behind the temperance movement for a half century leading up to the amendment so Prohibition was more a result of increased women's rights than it was a goal. And I'm not sure where the racial equality angle comes into play as, in many ways, Prohibition was a reaction against the influx of certain ethnicities. Then, as now, parts of the populace were worried that not only were there too many immigrants but that these newcomers were the wrong kind of immigrants. Instead of South Americans and east Asians the ire then was directed at southern and eastern Europeans, against those darker Mediterranean types, those from Slavic nations, and especially at all those Catholics and Jews invading this nice, clean Protestant country. Add that to the beginning of the southern black migrations north which began to pick up during WWI and many of the elites feared that this culturally inferior swarm needed to be deprived of their Irish whiskey, their Italian wines, Polish vodka, and the domestic cheap booze sometimes referred to as "Nigger Gin", so the idea was that it was better to have the booze go down the drain than it was the country. oe: cross posted with Ceets below.

Ceetar May 17 2021 04:29 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

was just using your fact as a jumping off point really. podcast episode: [url]https://gastropod.com/youre-wrong-about-prohibition/ I didn't know this, but alcohol was heavily tied into subjugation of many other peoples. Introducing distilled spirits to people that had only really been drinking beer and wine, has quite the profound effect.

Double Switch May 17 2021 05:23 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

I didn't know this, but alcohol was heavily tied into subjugation of many other peoples. Introducing distilled spirits to people that had only really been drinking beer and wine, has quite the profound effect. Firewater. Recalling all those ancient b/w cowboy-Indian moves from mid last century. Chronicled on "Temporarily Humboldt County," Firesign Theatre, Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him. God Bless Vespucciland.

Ceetar May 17 2021 09:37 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

certainly makes a little more critically about "haha they sold Manhattan for like $12!"

RealityChuck May 18 2021 08:24 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

=Ceetar post_id=64460 time=1621283913 user_id=102] =RealityChuck post_id=64457 time=1621283036 user_id=82] Despite the rumors, Joseph Kennedy (father of JFK) was not a bootlegger during prohibition. The story emerged because he traveled to the UK when the 21st Amendment was well on its way to ratification and arranged for a shipment of alcohol to be shipped once repeal was enacted. The liquor wasn't shipped until after the amendment was ratified.

Prohibition was actually about racial equality and womens' rights.


Not exactly true. Prohibition was its own thing. It clearly had little to do with racial equality, since the most ardent dry states were in the South and midwest and plains states. Minorities were second class citizens in the South, and the midwest and plains were very white. The fight for prohibition was one of the main unifying issues for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, The Klan and the Anti-Saloon League had a good deal of overlapping membership.



As for woman's rights, remember the 18th Amendment (prohibition) came before the 19th (women's' right to vote). There was some overlap, but mostly because the drys figured that if women voted, they'd vote to keep prohibition. Woman may have been an influence, but it was men who pushed hardest, notable Wayne Wheeler, head of the Anti-Saloon League, who turned the organization into an unstoppable influence on politics.

Willets Point May 24 2021 08:08 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

I've learned from the Hit Parade podcast that the same producer, Frank Farian, created Boney M and Milli Vanilli. It seems obvious in retrospect.

Fman99 May 24 2021 09:07 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Despite the rumors, Joseph Kennedy (father of JFK) was not a bootlegger during prohibition. The story emerged because he traveled to the UK when the 21st Amendment was well on its way to ratification and arranged for a shipment of alcohol to be shipped once repeal was enacted. The liquor wasn't shipped until after the amendment was ratified. Prohibition was actually about racial equality and womens' rights. Not exactly true. Prohibition was its own thing. It clearly had little to do with racial equality, since the most ardent dry states were in the South and midwest and plains states. Minorities were second class citizens in the South, and the midwest and plains were very white. The fight for prohibition was one of the main unifying issues for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, The Klan and the Anti-Saloon League had a good deal of overlapping membership. As for woman's rights, remember the 18th Amendment (prohibition) came before the 19th (women's' right to vote). There was some overlap, but mostly because the drys figured that if women voted, they'd vote to keep prohibition. Woman may have been an influence, but it was men who pushed hardest, notable Wayne Wheeler, head of the Anti-Saloon League, who turned the organization into an unstoppable influence on politics. Reading a particularly good piece of nonfiction on this very topic. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/P/0743277023.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg>

Frayed Knot May 24 2021 09:22 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Yup. Read that one a couple years ago. And his later book on immigration, THE GUARDED GATE, is a good follow-up companion to this one.

RealityChuck May 24 2021 11:58 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Prohibition was actually about racial equality and womens' rights. Not exactly true. Prohibition was its own thing. It clearly had little to do with racial equality, since the most ardent dry states were in the South and midwest and plains states. Minorities were second class citizens in the South, and the midwest and plains were very white. The fight for prohibition was one of the main unifying issues for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, The Klan and the Anti-Saloon League had a good deal of overlapping membership. As for woman's rights, remember the 18th Amendment (prohibition) came before the 19th (women's' right to vote). There was some overlap, but mostly because the drys figured that if women voted, they'd vote to keep prohibition. Woman may have been an influence, but it was men who pushed hardest, notable Wayne Wheeler, head of the Anti-Saloon League, who turned the organization into an unstoppable influence on politics. Reading a particularly good piece of nonfiction on this very topic. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/P/0743277023.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg> That's what I was quoting from. :)

Fman99 Oct 22 2021 05:59 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

The song "Four Sticks," from Led Zeppelin IV, was called that because Bonzo played the song with two drumsticks in each hand to try and achieve a difference percussive sound.

kcmets Oct 22 2021 07:24 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

[YOUTUBE]iJp27QMR2KU[/YOUTUBE]

Willets Point Oct 22 2021 11:28 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

The song "Four Sticks," from Led Zeppelin IV, was called that because Bonzo played the song with two drumsticks in each hand to try and achieve a difference percussive sound. Well, I'll be!

Frayed Knot Nov 04 2021 05:05 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

While we're on a new facts 'bout Zeppelin jag, the backing vocals on 'The Battle for Evermore' were from Sandy Denny [English folk singer variously a member of The Strawbs, Fairport Convention, others]. It was the only guest vocalist on a LZ track.

kcmets Nov 04 2021 06:37 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Wonderful song! [YOUTUBE]88b0OYxdtyM[/YOUTUBE]

Fman99 Nov 05 2021 04:45 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Frayed Knot wrote: While we're on a new facts 'bout Zeppelin jag, the backing vocals on 'The Battle for Evermore' were from Sandy Denny [English folk singer variously a member of The Strawbs, Fairport Convention, others]. It was the only guest vocalist on a LZ track. I should work on this one for my set, actually. I always loved this song.

Willets Point Nov 09 2021 12:50 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Listening to "Battle of Evermore" with this "new fact" in mind and realizing that Sandy Denny's alto is the low voice to Robert Plant's falsetto.

kcmets Nov 09 2021 01:11 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

It's a great song, can't wait to see pics of Fmann on mandolin lol

Fman99 Nov 11 2021 10:00 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Richie Sambora was not the original lead guitar player for Bon Jovi. That was Dave Sabo, who left the band to form Skid Row.

Frayed Knot Nov 11 2021 11:47 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Actor Richard Castellano -- Peter Clemenza in THE GODFATHER -- brought some real life experience to the set of that movie as he was from a mob family and was the nephew of 'Big Paul' Castellano, later a real-life crime boss until running into a hail of gunfire outside Sparks Steakhouse in mid-town. Fun fact: In the TV Series 'The Super' -- it lasted 10 episodes in 1972, the same year as GODFATHER -- Castellano played the father with Bruno Kirby portraying his teenage son. Two years later Kirby would play the younger version of Peter Clemenza in GODFATHER Part 2 Finally, considering all the jokes about how old Abe Vigoda looked for much of his on-screen life, he may have looked younger than Castellano in GODFATHER despite being a dozen years older. Castellano was just 38 y/o during the shooting of the movie. Vigoda was also several years older than Brando although Brando was famously made up to look more aged than he was.

Fman99 Nov 11 2021 12:27 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Frayed Knot wrote: Actor Richard Castellano -- Peter Clemenza in THE GODFATHER -- brought some real life experience to the set of that movie as he was from a mob family and was the nephew of 'Big Paul' Castellano, later a real-life crime boss until running into a hail of gunfire outside Sparks Steakhouse in mid-town. I loved him in the Godfather, and, also, never forgave him for pricing himself out of the sequel. Frankie Pantangelo as the substitute Clemenza character/story line is a downgrade to me from what Castellano could have done with that arc. If Frankie Five-Angels is so beloved and important, as GF II would have you believe, how come he's so invisible in the first movie?

Edgy MD Nov 11 2021 12:30 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Richard Castellano — voted by his high school class as Most Likely to Know a Guy. [fimg=550]https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/richard-castellano.jpg[/fimg]

Frayed Knot Nov 11 2021 01:01 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 11 2021 04:36 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: Actor Richard Castellano -- Peter Clemenza in THE GODFATHER -- brought some real life experience to the set of that movie as he was from a mob family and was the nephew of 'Big Paul' Castellano, later a real-life crime boss until running into a hail of gunfire outside Sparks Steakhouse in mid-town. I loved him in the Godfather, and, also, never forgave him for pricing himself out of the sequel. Frankie Pantangelo as the substitute Clemenza character/story line is a downgrade to me from what Castellano could have done with that arc. If Frankie Five-Angels is so beloved and important, as GF II would have you believe, how come he's so invisible in the first movie? There are apparently some conflicting stories on why Castellano wasn't in the second movie. F. F. Coppola claims that Castellano, perhaps feeling that his family background gave him more insight into 'the life' than most, wanted to write his own lines, or at least to have someone of his choosing write them. Castellano's widow claims he was already having health issues (he'd die of a heart attack at age 55 in the late '80s) and didn't want to gain the weight that movie producers routinely wanted him to do in order to play what were usually the narrowly defined roles into which he'd get type-cast. Mario Puzo's novel was the source for all of the first movie and about half of the second one. All the early century NYC scenes with DeNiro as Vito as well as the Sicily scenes from which young Vito Andollini emerges and where grown Vito later returns to get his revenge were mined from the book. Everything that takes place after the ending of the first flick -- the 1950s era scenes in Vegas, in Miami, and in Havana -- were newly written by Puzo & Coppola for the sequel. So Frank Pentangeli -- along with Hyman Roth, Johnny Ola, Frank Cicci, Senator Geary, etc. -- wasn't in the first movie because, prior to the writing of the sequel, his character didn't even exist.

MFS62 Nov 11 2021 03:21 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Frayed Knot wrote: Actor Richard Castellano -- Peter Clemenza in THE GODFATHER -- brought some real life experience to the set of that movie as he was from a mob family and was the nephew of 'Big Paul' Castellano, later a real-life crime boss until running into a hail of gunfire outside Sparks Steakhouse in mid-town. Which is why, when my boss wanted to have a lunch to celebrate an associate's 20 years with the Company at the Sparks Steak House, I suggested we make reservations in the non-shooting section. Later

Fman99 Nov 11 2021 07:57 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Frayed Knot wrote: Mario Puzo's novel was the source for all of the first movie and about half of the second one. All the early century NYC scenes with DeNiro as Vito as well as the Sicily scenes from which young Vito Andollini emerges and where grown Vito later returns to get his revenge were mined from the book. Everything that takes place after the ending of the first flick -- the 1950s era scenes in Vegas, in Miami, and in Havana -- were newly written by Puzo & Coppola for the sequel. So Frank Pentangeli -- along with Hyman Roth, Johnny Ola, Frank Cicci, Senator Geary, etc. -- wasn't in the first movie because, prior to the writing of the sequel, his character didn't even exist. This is known to me, I have read the book as well. I just find him to be less compelling because he isn't Clemenza.

Frayed Knot Nov 12 2021 09:17 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Yeah, the Pentangeli story arc only with Clemenza in it would have been a richer story. The whole will he betray the family/will he not becomes more personal especially since the audience just saw earlier in the movie how he and Vito went back to their days as young men.

Lefty Specialist Nov 17 2021 05:42 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Turns out that WD-40 is named for Water Displacement, and the formula was perfected on the 40th try. If they'd been a little luckier, I guess it might have been WD-39.

vtmet7 Nov 17 2021 03:49 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Don't try this if you are easily offended. My wife didn't appreciate it (yes, she is easily offended)...but: If you ask "Alexa": "What is 100 in Welsh?", she will likely offend someone with her pronunciation (hint, it sounds an awful lot like one of John Lithgow's favorite words to say as the Trinity Killer in Dexter)

vtmet7 Nov 17 2021 03:51 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Lefty Specialist wrote: Turns out that WD-40 is named for Water Displacement, and the formula was perfected on the 40th try. If they'd been a little luckier, I guess it might have been WD-39. luckily it didn't take 86 tries, otherwise WD-86 would have gotten thrown out

Johnny Lunchbucket Nov 17 2021 04:41 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

"No More I Love Yous" by Annie Lennox is a cover song... [YOUTUBE]GEDrISl5z_4[/YOUTUBE]

Willets Point Dec 04 2021 09:58 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

George Thorogood's album Bad to the Bone was recorded at a studio that was once located in my neighborhood in Boston. I didn't even know that Thorogood was based in Boston for a time.

Johnny Lunchbucket Dec 05 2021 07:09 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Lonesome George's early LPs were on Rounder Records, a blues label based in Boston and run by a guy called Bill Nowlin, who today is a bigwig in SABR, having published and written dozens of books on Red Sox history. #FunFact

Edgy MD Dec 05 2021 08:13 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

My first two associations with Rounder are Jonathan Richman and NRBQ.

Fman99 Dec 05 2021 09:47 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Mercury 7 astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom got that nickname because he had written "Gris" on a sign in sheet and someone misread his handwriting.

Willets Point Dec 05 2021 09:52 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Rounder is still around. I associate them with folk music artists.

Frayed Knot Dec 05 2021 10:41 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Mercury 7 astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom got that nickname because he had written "Gris" on a sign in sheet and someone misread his handwriting. And NASA encouraged the use of 'Gus' because his full name was Virgil Ivan Grissom which sounded far too Russian for that space race as proxy for cold war era.

Lefty Specialist Dec 17 2021 11:40 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Was Jimmy Carter the head of a special response team lowered into a nuclear reactor to prevent a deadly meltdown near Ottawa in 1952? Why, yes he was. https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-jimmy-carter-stop-nuclear-reactor-ottawa-canada-1660067

kcmets Dec 17 2021 11:46 AM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

It's amazing he'll be 100 before long.

Frayed Knot Dec 17 2021 03:02 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Lefty Specialist wrote: Was Jimmy Carter the head of a special response team lowered into a nuclear reactor to prevent a deadly meltdown near Ottawa in 1952? Why, yes he was. And when he came out he was 90 ft tall. SNL's 'Two Mile Island' sketch. THE funniest SNL sketch EVER!!!!!* * Or maybe there's been better, I dunno. I haven't watched in like three decades

A Boy Named Seo Dec 28 2021 10:54 PM Re: New facts for old people - 2021

Watching the Bob Einstein/Super Dave doc on HBO and I just learned that Bob's brother was Albert Brooks (born Albert freaking Einstein).