Good-Bye Mr. Chips

I learned the sad news that one of the giants of cinema passed away over the weekend.  He was one of my favorite actors from my earliest fascination with the medium.  Peter O’Toole lived to a ripe old age despite a well chronicled penchant to party hard (maybe there’s hope for me yet).  A favorite quote from a friend who knew him well, “He didn’t leave much of life unlived.” – a fitting epitaph.

He’s most well known as Lawrence of Arabia or several other prominent roles but there were several smaller films that I always thought were his best.  He was a surprisingly effective Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha with his final scene in that movie still one of my favorites of all time.  He also more than held his own against and even stole scenes from Katherine Hepburn (no mean task) in The Lion in Winter as King Henry II. 

As Dr Wolper in Creator

My two favorite O’Toole roles though were both late in his career.  He played a brilliant but intensely quirky college professor in Creator where he brought such heart and otherworldliness to a difficult role.  I think I liked him best, however, in My Favorite Year in which he played a parody of himself called upon to appear in a 1950’s live television show.  If you haven’t seen either of these two movies, do yourself a favor and check them out.  I’m going to miss him.

I was really proud of my fellow New Englanders yesterday as we dug out of the first major snow storm of the year.  I’ve written before how frustrating it was to live in Northern Virginia where it snows every year and yet it still seems to surprise everybody, the government most of all.  Two inches of snow was tantamount to a panic inspiring natural disaster.  The ten inches we received over the weekend would have shut down the place for a week.  They really shouldn’t issue snow to people who don’t know what to do with it. 

That’s why I felt a little bit of pride yesterday as New England woke up, bundled up and got outside to clear away the snow.  By the time I made my way to church most of the driveways along my street were clear and those that weren’t had someone hard at work starting to.  The roads were completely drivable due to the hard work overnight by the road crews. 

My Heroes

Speaking of issuing snow to unsuspecting locations I heard Jerusalem received nearly fifteen inches of snow and it even snowed in Cairo, Egypt. I’ve been to both places and can only imagine what that did to the areas.  They, at least, have excuses for being un-prepared (unlike Virginia).  Maybe the worst Christmas song ever written, “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid played on the way to church with the lyrics “And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime, The greatest gift they'll get this year is life”.  Well so much for that!

Last Gasp Falls Short

I won’t bemoan the fact the Patriots lost a game they could have won yesterday because karma finally caught up with them.  Well, karma and serious lack of Gronk in their red zone package.  The Dolphins just outplayed them and hopefully that can serve as some sort of motivation for the Pats going forward.  I’m still trying to figure out why the defense plays half way decently until the end of a half or the game when they invariably allow the opposing team to march down the field.  That has to change.  All that being said Brady still gave them a chance to win until he was faced with throwing into the end zone to a set of receivers who resembled the company of dwarves from The Hobbit.

The Door

Finally it can be revealed that apparently the door decorating gene breeds true! My daughter took a page out of her mother’s Christmas book and wrapped her NYC Apartment door, much to the joy of her mother.  My daughter hosted her 8^th annual Christmas Party (she can’t have been out of the house for that long!!! Could she?) on snowy Saturday night.  I was on strict orders not to reveal the decorated door until she surprised her friends with it; that moratorium has been lifted.

Son in Law and Daughter at the 8th Annual
I am So Ready For Christmas Where I Get to Hang Out With These Guys!