The Ashes

[General Johnson Jameson]

P.G. Wodehouse was George R. Noory's pen name?  I didn't even know he could read.

Doesn't he use ghost writers for his books? Yet he still has a nom de guerre? Damn what a choad.

[SciFiAuthor]

Oh man, you've got to watch the women's curling during the winter olympics.  Somehow it draws you in and becomes more captivating than any of the other sports.

Oh, and Canadian football and basketball preceeded American football and basketball, sort of

Oh I have. I actually love curling. It's just the weirdest Olympic sport. I have NOT however forgiven Canada for burning down the White House. That was uncharacteristically rude of you Canadians.

[The General]

What have you guys done with Falkie?
I don't even recognize this place anymore.

[Yorkshire pud]

What have you guys done with Falkie?
I don't even recognize this place anymore.

He's turned his attention to learning cricket batting techniques; next week he moves to bowling.

[SredniVashtar]

He's turned his attention to learning cricket batting techniques; next week he moves to bowling.

He's spent most of his time practicing the sweep. Well, no wonder, given all that shit in his apartment.

[Roswells, Art]

What have you guys done with Falkie?
I don't even recognize this place anymore.

Shut up and eat a crumpet.

[SciFiAuthor]

Yes, but he did it in a very Edwardian, Buckleyish way, didn't he? It went something like, 'listen to me, you queer, call me a crypto-Nazi again and I'll sock you in your goddam face'. I remember he threatened to take Chomsky outside too, but he was joking on that occasion (I think, although god knows with that dude).

His Woody Allen interview was classic as well. Some girl asked him if mini-skirts were in good taste and he replied "on you I think they are".

Talking of Vidal reminds me I picked up a copy of his memoirs the other day and found, when I got home, that they had been signed by the author. They are patchy but worth a read. My favourite part is when he went to a party without his glasses and went to sit down on 'a small ottoman', only to find out it was Truman Capote.

I spat my coffee across the room when I read that. Hilarious. I've never read them, but will.

[Yorkshire pud]

Shut up and eat a crumpet.

Toasted, oozing with butter.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

Oh I have. I actually love curling. It's just the weirdest Olympic sport. I have NOT however forgiven Canada for burning down the White House. That was uncharacteristically rude of you Canadians.

Sorry.

[General Johnson Jameson]

What have you guys done with Falkie?
I don't even recognize this place anymore.

General - Salute!
Good to see a fellow Scorpion Army General back at his post. Good to see you friend.

[SciFiAuthor]

What have you guys done with Falkie?
I don't even recognize this place anymore.

Word has it he's in L.A. with Dave where he's now known as "The Gimp". They'll turn him loose when his non-compete ends, don't worry.

[Yorkshire pud]

Someone wake Jazmunda up; he'll have too much catching up to read through otherwise.

[Yorkshire pud]

I think the game is about even, don't you, YP? It depends on how the Aussies do when it's their turn, of course, but I will be a bit more confident if we can nose above 400. Moeen is way too good to bat at eight, and I hope he gets a chance to make some runs in a proper way and not just throw the bat and run out of partners. I don't know about Broad these days; he used to be almost an all-rounder for a while before he got whacked in the face. I saw him at Lords against NZ and he was trying to be aggressive, and played a few shots, so maybe he can find some form in the end. An hour of him swinging the bat might help his bowling too as he is such a confidence player.

As for Root. Different class. Face of a cherub, heart of an assassin. Even Ballance made a few today. Not quite sure what part of Yorkshire he comes from with that accent  . Perhaps some remote corner cut off from civilization, like those Brazillian rainforest chaps.

Joe Root was born in Dore, a posh district of Sheffield. I used to live there, though I'm not posh.

[SredniVashtar]

His Woody Allen interview was classic as well. Some girl asked him if mini-skirts were in good taste and he replied "on you I think they are".

Yes, I recall seeing that too. He got a good laugh with that, and he had a lot of charm in his weird way, and handled Allen like a pro. A big proponent of marijuana, of course, which may have had something to do with it  . He had this very buttoned up conservative style, but you always felt that there was a boiling cauldron bubbling away underneath.

Yes, the Vidal is worth a read. In the first few pages we get Jackie O with her leg up on the bathtub, telling some younger member of the Kennedy clan how to douche post-sex, so he ain't pulling many punches as you can imagine.

[SredniVashtar]

Shut up and eat a crumpet.

Ooooooooh, Matron! Obviously you have never seen a Carry-On film.

[Roswells, Art]

Ooooooooh, Matron! Obviously you have never seen a Carry-On film.

No but I'm googling it now.

[SciFiAuthor]

Yes, I recall seeing that too. He got a good laugh with that, and he had a lot of charm in his weird way, and handled Allen like a pro. A big proponent of marijuana, of course, which may have had something to do with it  . He had this very buttoned up conservative style, but you always felt that there was a boiling cauldron bubbling away underneath.

Yeah, I always heard Buckley's anti-drug war stance and agreed with him on it. I have little doubt that he went home at night and rolled a doob over a nice Chateau Lafitte Rothschild 1958. Another American pot-head celebrity of those days was Carl Sagan.

Yes, the Vidal is worth a read. In the first few pages we get Jackie O with her leg up on the bathtub, telling some younger member of the Kennedy clan how to douche post-sex, so he ain't pulling many punches as you can imagine.

He never did pull any. I miss those people, the US just doesn't produce people like Buckley and Vidal anymore.

[SredniVashtar]

Yeah, I always heard Buckley's anti-drug war stance and agreed with him on it. I have little doubt that he went home at night and rolled a doob over a nice Chateau Lafitte Rothschild 1958. Another American pot-head celebrity of those days was Carl Sagan.

He never did pull any. I miss those people, the US just doesn't produce people like Buckley and Vidal anymore.

The Cavett show with him and Mailer is a hoot. I wish we could see the whole thing. The funny thing about it is that Cavett got genuinely pissed off with Mailer. And the old lady who was in the middle of all this cut them right both down to size. You want to punch both Vidal and Mailer but can't help loving all that argy-bargy at the same time.

[SredniVashtar]

No but I'm googling it now.

Oh dear. Hope that doesn't put me in line for a charge of 'corrupting the innocent'.

[SciFiAuthor]

Sorry.

Apology accepted, I shall now eat poutine and butter tarts again.

[SredniVashtar]

He never did pull any. I miss those people, the US just doesn't produce people like Buckley and Vidal anymore.

I read Palimpsest and enjoyed it, more or less. I had never read any Vidal before so I went out and got a copy of Duluth. Big mistake. Just felt like warmed-over stuff I had read before by people like Heller, Borges, Calvino etc. Don't know if it is worth trying anything else now, he has written so much over the years.

[SciFiAuthor]

The Cavett show with him and Mailer is a hoot. I wish we could see the whole thing. The funny thing about it is that Cavett got genuinely pissed off with Mailer. And the old lady who was in the middle of all this cut them right both down to size. You want to punch both Vidal and Mailer but can't help loving all that argy-bargy at the same time.

Another good one was where Jack Kerouac showed up drunk on Buckley's show.

[SredniVashtar]

Another good one was where Jack Kerouac showed up drunk on Buckley's show.

I've not seen that one. I shall have to look for it. I suppose new stuff gets unearthed on YouTube all the time. That sounds like one worth catching. I never finished 'On the Road'. You either get it or you don't, I guess. It just felt like self-indulgent balls to me.

[jazmunda]

Someone wake Jazmunda up; he'll have too much catching up to read through otherwise.

Ok I'm awake and caught up and what happens while I'm asleep doesn't count so we'll have to resume at 3/88. Except for the Falkie Thread disappearing. That can stay gone.

[SredniVashtar]

Ok I'm awake and caught up and what happens while I'm asleep doesn't count so we'll have to resume at 3/88. Except for the Falkie Thread disappearing. That can stay gone.

He bowls to the left
He bowls to the right
That Mitchell Johnson
His bowling is shite.

All those old guys out in the field all day, must be hell on their rheumatism.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

Ooooooooh, Matron! Obviously you have never seen a Carry-On film.

They had all of those on a classic movie station out here about three months ago.
Sad story about Kenneth Williams.

[SredniVashtar]

They had all of those on a classic movie station out here about three months ago.
Sad story about Kenneth Williams.

Yes, I think the last words in his diary were something like, 'what's the bloody point?'. He was an absolutely brilliant 'low comedian' who was also an extremely good actor who was rated by people like Orson Welles. There was also a rumour that he poisoned his father, though goodness knows if there is anything in that. He was a really split personality who enjoyed discussing philosophy and history, while also at the same time enjoying annoying his female co-stars by putting his cock behind his thigh and pretending to be a woman. Very like Tony Hancock, another tormented genius.

[SciFiAuthor]

I've not seen that one. I shall have to look for it. I suppose new stuff gets unearthed on YouTube all the time. That sounds like one worth catching. I never finished 'On the Road'. You either get it or you don't, I guess. It just felt like self-indulgent balls to me.

I agree, though I basically view the entire "beat generation" thing as a self-indulgent "shake things up with shock value" movement.

[eddie dean]

Really? A cricket thread?
This is 'Merika buddy! We dont take kindly to a thread 'bout some silly foreign game pretending to be bowlen' 'n baseball or sum such faggy concoction!!

Ban um MV, Ban um all!!

Excuse  me while I git back to mud jumping in the ole' swimmen' hole. 


Now that's a good god damn 'merikan game!

-Skeeter

[SredniVashtar]

I agree, though I basically view the entire "beat generation" thing as a self-indulgent "shake things up with shock value" movement.

I recall Vidal reminiscing about an evening with Kerouac in the book.  I think there was some controversy about who fucked whom. Vidal being very much the fucker rather than fuckee, and taking pride in not deliberately giving pleasure to anyone.

The whole counter-cultural stuff is more or less of a closed book to me. I have never read any Burroughs or Ginsberg, though I suppose I should eventually. About the only person I have any time for is Alan Watts, who was tangentially a part of all that stuff.