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Showing posts from August, 2009

VIOLENT NAPLES

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Original Title : Napoli violenta Year : 1976 Director : Umberto Lenzi Writer : Vincenzo Mannino IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074952/ Genre : Polizia imdb synopsis: A detective sick and tired of the rampant crime and violence in his city, and constantly at odds with his superiors, is finally kicked out of the department transferred to Napoli for a "questionable" shooting of a vicious criminal being a pain in the ass? In Napoli, Betti brings his hard, vigilante style justice to an ongoing organized crime problem in the city. This is the second appearance of the Inspector Betti character, the first being 1975's Violent Rome that I reviewed previously . After watching these two films back to back, I have to say it is evident from this production at least, that Lenzi had a better grasp of what works with this genre. The film opens strong as did Violent Rome, this time a little more stylish with some cool shots of a hood ornament traveling through Naples along with ey

I Must Be Doing Something Right---Truly Grateful Series

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My fifteen year old son had the index card pictured above pinned to the bulletin board in his bedroom. I don't know where it came from. It is not written in his hand writing. I don't know if it is something he got from school or church or youth group or from one of his friends or even something he just found somewhere. The fact that it is pinned to his bulletin board, though, means that it is something important to him. It made me smile to see it there. His bulletin board is where he keeps little reminders to himself. Things like important dates for his music and sports events and other things he wants to remember are stuck there with little pushpins. I've made a lot of mistakes in my lifetime, and it is guaranteed that I will make many more. I've made poor choices that I have lived to regret. I have made a mess of more things than I care to remember or count. When I see something like that little index card stuck to my son's bulletin board, though, it make

The First Day

I was a baby in the 60's, a kid in the 70's, and a teenager in the 80's. I am now 42 years old, and I'm a college student. Again. Today was the first day of class. Now, I'm usually not a big believer in portents or omens, but the first thing I saw this morning when I went outside was a loose pit bull. I managed to retain my calm, said "Hello, Dog!" in the most cheerful and non-threatening way possibole, and quickly got a closed door between me and him. He had a collar on, and seemed gregarious and inquisitive - if he were almost any other breed, I wouldn't have been concerned. He hung around until boredom overtook him. It was only later that I thought of him as a spookily accurate and possibly hilarious predictor of the upcoming semester and year - a happy pit bull who thinks he's playing as he's really tearing your face off. I went to class. I am pretty sure I was the only one there wearing mirrored aviator shades and who listens to Siouxsie a

Weekend Fun Times!

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Whew! What a busy and delightfully fun weekend! It started Friday night when Dannon took me to the Space Observatory. The free telescope viewing is pretty cool, which they do every Friday and Saturday nights, but you aren't missing out on much if you don't pay to see the museum {unless you have kids}. The wonderful part though was that a bunch of my friends came and surprised me! It was a freakishly warm night so we hung out on the patio talking and laughing. It was lovely! Then on Saturday we happened upon Circus Bella performing a free show at Fort Mason where we have our spiritual discussion group Second Wind . We grabbed some lunch and enjoyed the show! There was a slack rope walker who put a ladder on the rope and then climbed it!!! {click the pic for better mind-blowing images} And another crazy balancing act! And a trapeze artist! There were more amazing acts and a live circus band! I highly recommend checking them out on September 26 in Golden Gate Park if you&

VIOLENT ROME

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Does anyone have a higher resolution file for this poster? A.K.A. : Roma violenta Year : 1975 Director : Marino Girolami Writer : Vincenzo Mannino IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073633/ Genre : Polizia imdb synopsis: A detective sick and tired of the rampant crime and violence in his city, and constantly at odds with his superiors, is finally kicked out of the department for a "questionable" shooting of a vicious criminal. However, he is soon approached by a representative for a group of citizens who themselves are fed up with what they see as criminals going unpunished, and they make him an offer he may very well not refuse. This is the first appearance of the Inspector Betti character. He is most definitely a ripoff take of Dirty Harry or something of the sort, but Merli is entertaining in this role regardless. Like all good Italian tough-man cops from the 1970s, he is sporting a whopper of a stache. It really completes the scowl I think. His teeth just look too good

Things I Cannot Believe I Have to Say in my Classroom

I say things every day that shock me and make me laugh. A lot of them are from one person. There's always one....She's a sweetie, except going through early puberty, so there are a lot of mood swings (more than the usual). She has autism and is still "in her head" a lot. I am trying to get her in touch with me as much as I can so we can actually accomplish something. She drives me crazy but at the same time, she does so many funny things, and is so loving at times, that I have to just love her. She is nonverbal but finds plenty of ways to let us know what she wants. Plus, she is the loudest kid for being the least verbal! Ha! Volume 2 coming later, after this week's shenanigans. Stop licking the glass! Don't lick me, either! Put your clothes back on! Move along kids, move along. No students in HERE only wearing diapers because they've taken up defiant stripping. Eat that pureed hot dog. (Followed by: OK, you know what? That's gross. I won&#

There are things you do hate, Lord. Perfume-smellin' things, lacy things, things with curly hair.

No 71 - The Night of the Hunter Director - Charles Laughton Apparently this film got such little interest that Charles Laughton never directed again, and yet, over time it has been regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. I knew nothing about it, only the iconic 'Love' and 'Hate' hands . The hands belong to the travelling preacher, Rev Harry Powell, played by Robert Mitchum in an intense bit of acting. From the moment he arrives in the film (very early on), you can see that he is a bad bad man. He murders women because he believes God hates them. Then he uses their money to fuel his next murder. It is a very short term life plan, but he seems to be good at it. Well, good at the murdering and escaping bit... as he gets caught for stealing a car and is sentenced to jail. We are then introduced to the children protagonists John and Pearl Harper and their dad. In my opinion, the dad is just as bad as the Preacher. He kills some people, steals some money and then

Feathered Hats, Cream Puffs, and Lederhosen

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Because my husband won tickets to the German American Festival over the radio, we traveled to Oregon, Ohio yesterday afternoon. Parking for the festival was in a large field. We have had so much rain of late, that the field was quite muddy in places. We had to walk a short way across the field to get to the festival. This photo below was taken as we were walking through the field where the cars were parked. Ahead you can see a woman dressed in a traditional German costume. At the entrance to the festival was a giant inflated beer bottle. It seemed like a good place for a photo, so my husband took a picture of me standing next to it. It was very windy yesterday and my hair was whipping around my face all a whirl. It was driving me crazy. Because I have naturally curly hair, it easily becomes unruly in windy weather or when humidity levels are high, both of which we had here yesterday. (When I was a little girl, my mother often told me that I have hair like the wild women of

Fashion-O-Lic: Blogroll

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It's called a reality check. The last thing Amélie wants

No 196 - Amelie Director - Jean-Pierre Jeunet I have just been to France for a week. Which was lovely. Wherein I decided, rather than sitting indoors with a DVD player I should go to the pool. Reintroduce my self to Ping Pong . Sip fine red wines as I read American Gods . Visit Cognac and stare in disbelief at 200 year old bottles of booze which cost upwards of £1,500. So I did all these things and I returned to England. I sit in my Putney home feeling fully Francophillic with nothing worth drinking but a bottle of White wine. Therefore it seemed a butch and manly evening of plonk and Amelie was in order. Or to give it its full name (which is never used for some reason) The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain . Or... to give it its actual proper and real name Le fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain . Before I start talking about the film, I want to mention the oddness of the stock from which it emerged. By which I don't mean I'm going to get hideously geeky about negatives

Miley Cyrus-With Emily Osment, TEEN Magazine Photo Shoot

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"Miley Cyrus-With Emily Osment, TEEN Magazine Photo Shoot" . Behind the scenes of Miley Cyrus & Emily Osment's TEEN photo shoot! Well the differences between both of them is Miley Cyrus is cute and Emily Osment is hot + has more style and has that mean girl effect to her, while Miley Cyrus is just plain cute and can be looked up to as an idol basically someone who wont turn into a disaster as Miley Cyrus grows up... :) Source: youtube

Ziti with Sausage, Onions and Fennel

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Ziti with Sausage, Onions and Fennel adapted from Lidia Bastianich via Adam Ingredients 1 tablespoon sea salt 1 pound hot Italian sausage 1 large fennel bulb with stem and fronds (about 1 pound), trimmed and halved lengthwise 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 onions, halved and sliced 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/2 cup tomato paste 1 pound ziti fennel fronds 1 cup Romano, Parmesan or grana padano cheese, freshly grated Method Boil lots of water with the salt until rapidly boiling. Remove the sausage from the casing and break the meat up with your fingers. Slice the fennel into 1/2-inch slices. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat and add the sausage, cooking, stirring and breaking it up with a spoon for 1 to 1 -1/2 minutes until it is sizzling and beginning to brown. Push aside and add onion slices and cook, stirring, until they are sizzling and wilting, about 2 minutes. Stir in with the meat. Push aside and add the fennel and cook for 1 minute u

Twilight Saga: New Moon Fashion Guide 2 ~ Volturi Clan

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Twilight Series fans, here's a post dedicated to all of you. Last month, I blogged about Alice Cullen's fashion style . Now, let me present to you the fashion statement of the Volturi Clan. "The Volturi are an organized coven of vampires. They enforce the laws of the vampire world. They "invite" other vampires with powerful gifts to join their coven. They are the largest, and most powerful Coven of vampires in the series."~ Twilight Saga Wiki Marcus in long draped robe with a somber brown/black paisley scarf and Volturi crest necklace. Jane in a somber dress with a dark brown bow and the Volturi crest necklace. Aro in a regal black suit with the Volturi crest necklace. Caius has a black robe with a red scarf accent. Alec of the Volturi in black and crimson number. Source