google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, November 18, 2013 Erik Agard

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Nov 18, 2013

Monday, November 18, 2013 Erik Agard

Theme: D&D - Sorry boys, not Double D. Phrases that start with D's, more like Dungeons and Dragons except in this case, the first two letters of each D word are duplicated.

16A. First two reindeer named in Rudolph's song : DASHER AND DANCER

25A. Use a mouse to move a file between folders, say : DRAG AND DROP

43A. List of behavioral recommendations : DOs AND DON'Ts

55A. 2003 prequel subtitled "When Harry Met Lloyd" : DUMB AND DUMBERER

Argyle here. I don't know if having the first two letters dupe was intentional but it probably was. Still pretty straight forward for an Eric Agard puzzle. No need for a unifier or reveal. Outstanding long Down fill today plus two grid spanners.

Across:

1. Michael who plays Alfred in many Batman movies : CAINE. Alfred "Pennyworth"(an assumed surname)

6. Mess maker : SLOB. Certainly not Alfred.

10. Remote : FAR

13. Lightweight synthetic : ORLON

14. Nothing, in Nicaragua : NADA

15. Scheme in which three of four lines rhyme : AABA

19. Jai __ : ALAI

20. Fury : IRE

21. Baseball legend Mickey : MANTLE. Do you have a rookie card, C.C.? (From C.C.: Nope. Boomer had the whole set of 1952 Topps, but he sold all in the 1980s. He sold his Mantle card (in perfect mint condition) for $900 and has been regretting every day.)

22. It has a trunk but no wheels : TREE

24. Layered cookie : OREO

30. Queue between Q and U : RST. Unique way to clue an alphabet string.

33. Charged, infantry-style : RAN AT

34. The Beatles' "Abbey __" : ROAD. EMI Studios were on Abbey Road.

35. Administer, as justice, with "out" : METE

36. Eden exile : ADAM. 11D. 36-Across' second son : ABEL

37. Thorax organs : LUNGS. Thorax, the part between the neck and the abdomen.

38. Thor's father : ODIN

39. Book part : PAGE

40. Former Atlanta arena : OMNI

41. Lopsided : ATILT. An "A" word.

42. Make a typo : ERR

45. Cry of dismay : "ALAS!"

47. Ten-speed unit : GEAR

48. Prisoner : INMATE

50. "How can __ sure?" : I BE

                             LINK

51. Ring of light : HALO

58. Many Keats poems : ODEs

59. Stunt rider Knievel : EVEL

60. Sprinkles or drizzles : RAINS

61. Was in first : LED

62. "Don't touch that __!" : DIAL

63. Supplement : ADD TO

Down:

1. Sonata ending : CODA

2. Inland Asian sea : ARAL

3. "Casablanca" heroine : ILSA

4. Diamond gem : NO HIT GAME

5. Santa Barbara-to-Las Vegas dir. : E-N-E

6. Marching band percussion instruments : SNARE DRUMS

7. Freeway division : LANE

8. Unusual : ODD

9. Snits : BAD MOODS

10. Accounted for, as during calculations : FACTORED IN

12. Steak request : RARE

15. Diarist Frank : ANNE

17. Nothing, in Nice : RIEN

18. 50-and-over org. : AARP

23. Critter before or after pack : RAT

25. Fall in folds : DRAPE

26. Plane tracker : RADAR

27. Made "talent" from "latent," e.g. : ANAGRAMMED. Got thrown by the double M.

28. Prima __ : DONNA

29. 1980 De Niro film about a boxer : "RAGING BULL". Filmed in black and white.

31. Clown heightener : STILT. Neat trick, standing on one stilt.

32. Camp shelters : TENTS

35. British heavy metal band with the album "Ace of Spades" : MOTÖRHEAD

                               LINK

37. Not as tight as before : LOOSENED

41. Cavity filler's org. : ADA. (American Dental Association)

43. Census gathering : DATA

44. Regard : DEEM

46. Research sites : LABS

48. Revered entertainer : IDOL

49. Naked : NUDE

50. Inventor's spark : IDEA

52. Bone-dry : ARID

53. Gave for a while : LENT

54. Roughly : OR SO

56. 506, in old Rome : DVI

57. Bikini top : BRA. OK, Double D bra link


Argyle


57 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    I thought we were looking at a vowel progression theme today and was wondering why there were only 4 theme answers. But then I got DRAG AND DROP and got totally confused for a few seconds until the light bulb went off.

    Not much to say today. Didn't know that MOTORHEAD was from England, but a few perps took care of it. Everything else was smooth sailing (although I did try NOHITTER at first and had to wait for NOHITGAME to reveal itself).

    [roorwal]

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  2. Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

    When I saw the double D's I thought sure there would be a bra in there somewhere, and knew you couldn't resist, Argyle! I didn't notice that both of the first letters repeated in each theme entry, so thanks for pointing that out. I guess my brain is still on weekend mode.

    I had aRLON instead of ORLON at first. What was I thinking? Then I went with MOTley Crue when MOT appeared at 35D. (That'll teach me to do the long down fills first on a Monday.) But it quickly corrected itself when DOS AND DONTS popped up.

    Barry, I never thought of vowel progression, but that would have been neat - I can think of DEAN AND DELUCA and DINE AND DITCH for the E-I words, to add to the A-O-U pairs he already had. But they don't fit the needed letter count. Oh well, it was still a fun puzzle just the way it was!

    Have a nice start to the week, everyone!

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  3. *Yawn* Afternoon, everyone! I seem to have overslept a bit today. I finished the puzzle before I went to sleep, but hadn't yet come up with any gimmick for my limerick. Still haven't, but I'll try to catch up in just a little bit.

    Do want to comment on an oddity of today's fill. Stacked suffixes. DUMBERER. LOOSENED. ANAGRAMMED almost. Like DUMBERER, DASHER & DANCER has two ER endings tagged on, but at least they have the decency to be on separate words! LOOSENED especially bothers me because neither of the suffixes was the comparative ER the clue led me to expect. *Grump*

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  4. Good morning!

    I would have bet money that the second reindeer mentioned in the song was PRANCER. Good thing I didn't. But I can recall the most famous reindeer of all.

    Zip, zip, done -- pretty much describes my solving experience today. Even so, my brain must still be half asleep; TREE had me stumped. Und on that note I vill leaf.

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  5. Slightly more hesitation as I filled in for a Monday, but good for waking up for the week. WBS about a nohitter.

    For sprinkles or drizzles I was thinking of topping on a baked good, instead of rains, time to stop for one on the way to work.

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  6. Barry, don't you mean "a light bulb went ON"?

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  7. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Erik Agard, for a very good puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the fine review.

    Got started with ODD, LANE, SLOB, and SNARE DRUMS.

    DASHER AND DANCER was easy.

    Wanted ESE for 5D, but having been to both cities many times, and having lived in southern California, I did a mental map and wrote in ENE. I also figured 13A would end with an N.

    Never heard of the movie DUMB AND DUMBERER, but it appeared with a bunch of downs.

    Great start to the week. Off to the dentist to have a crown replaced. I am always skeptical about some of their decisions. Oh well.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    (polhil)

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  8. Good morning everyone. Nice intro, Argyle.

    WEES. Pretty much a romp today. I did like the theme, No issues but had to watch some of the ending spellings.
    ANAGRAMMED - My instinct was to double the 'm' to preserve the sound of the last syllable - something the Dutch do fundamentally, but the English are SLOBby at, at best, with so many exceptions. I trod carefully here until getting all the perps.

    Have a great day.

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  9. These rules are almost always true.
    -If it’s a one-syllable word and it ends in one vowel + one consonant, the final consonant is doubled: drop-dropped, swim-swimming, thin-thinner-thinnest.
    -If it has more than one syllable, we only double the final consonant if it satisfies rule #1 and if the final syllable is stressed (accented): begin-beginning, prefer-preferred but visit-visited, endanger-endangered.
    -Exception: we don’t double w, x, or y: sew-sewing, box-boxing, sway-swaying.

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  10. Usually in a mufti-syllable word ending with one vowel followed by one consonant the final consonant is doubled only if the last syllable is accented.

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  11. Hello Puzzlers -

    Impressive puzzle for a Monday! Not hard to do, but creative fill.

    I've never seen Dumb and Dumber movies. I suspect they're not, well, cerebral.

    Morning Argyle, enjoyed the Rascals - haven't heard that song in decades.

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  12. At the Bugle, the reindeer's newspaper,
    The editor won't use an eraser.
    Reporter Danny knew
    That the boss would line through,
    They were a team, reindeer DASHER AND DAN, SIR!

    Larry's heart picked the second green to stop.
    He was putting, and then fell over, plop.
    It shook all our souls;
    For the next seven holes
    It was DRAG AND DROP, hit the ball, DRAG AND DROP...

    We all can recall Goofus and Gallant.
    DO'S AND DON'TS they'd exhibit with talent.
    Doofus is now a top lawyer
    For a corporate employer.
    For scam cons, Gallant's now in internment!

    The Creationist influences the preacher
    Who then proselytizes the teacher
    Who tells kids what to think,
    Now at science they stink.
    That first guy was both DUMB AND the DUMBERERer!

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  13. I had DONNER AND DANCER and not DASHER AND DANCER so I ended up with AROL, ILNA and NO NIT GAME. I was not happy.

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  14. Good morning all,

    I found this a bit sticky for a Monday. Started out poorly with trying to spell Keaton with 5 letters.I had argon for orlon and since Dancer was my 1st thought, I had Dancer and Dancer! That corner took awhile and then we got to Raging Bull, Dumb and Dumberer, and a complete unknown, Motorhead.Having bike for gear didn't help either. This took me longer than Sunday's!!!

    On a positive note, it did wake up my brain so I am ready for the day. Have a great week all.

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  15. Owen - I had forgotten about Goofus and Gallant. They're from the Highlights magazine, iffen I recall correctly.

    Must be dating ourselves.

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  16. Musings
    -Don’t you just love hearing DASHER AND DANCER before Halloween?
    -Most famous infantry charge in American history
    -Do you really need 18 GEARS?
    -LED – If you pass the guy in second place in a race, what place are do you now have?
    -The TV DIAL of my ute required pliers to turn when the knob stripped so you really didn’t touch that DIAL
    -NADA runs and near NO HITTERS is forcing the NCAA to flatten the SEAMS on the baseball to make the ball less lively
    -West Coasters, have you ever used a mannequin so you can use the MOV LANE ;-)?
    -JFK upset the RAT PACK when he stayed at Republican Bing’s house in 1963 instead of Frank’s and Marilyn Monroe said mischievously, “I think I made his back feel better!”
    -Pvt’s Eliot and Lockard saw the planes coming on newly installed RADAR an hour before the zeros hit Pearl Harbor on December 7th, reported it and were told to “forget it” by Lt. Tyler
    -Owen, your golf limerick has been told on the golf course many times. Not as a limerick but still…
    -In what movie is Michael CAINE trashing Maggie Smith with Neil Simon’s brilliant prose?

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  17. Good Morning:

    Cute theme and some nice long fill. Nice job, Erik, and good expo, Argyle.

    Anyone watch The Mentalist last night? My head is still spinning from all the story-line twists and turns.

    Hope everyone who was in the storm's path is okay.

    Happy Monday

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  18. Husker, you would then be in second place.

    In these parts is called an HOV, though if you pay the fee, you can legally use it solo. And yes, some people have used mannequins. We've also had scoflaws who run the EZTag lanes on the tollways. One lady (I use the term loosely) ran up several thousand dollars in unpaid tolls. It's not like they don't know who you are; a photo of the license plate is taken automatically if the EZTag doesn't register. The EZTag is one of the few instances where you have to pay in advance -- deposit a cushion of money with the tollway, and they deduct from it when you go through the gates. When the balance drops too low, they charge you to rebuild the cushion. Somehow that seems like it oughta be illegal.

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  19. Argyle, thank you for the 'Link' under the big, blank white spaces in your blog. They almost always allow us old iPad users to see what you linked.

    This wasn't a speed run. I guess I didn't know CAINE, so I started with the downs and solved much better. The two Ms threw me off. Thanks, Anonymous, for that explanation.

    Off to an early Thankgiving dinner at 2-year old granddaughter's daycare academy.

    Have a good day, everyone,
    Montana

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  20. Morning All...

    Quick and easy Monday with the exception of the NW. I knew CAINE but no ILSA and had a brain cramp on ARAL (nyLON) didn't help... ALAS, a Monday DNF :-(

    But, on the plus, Erik's theme was fun and Argyle's writeup and the posts here just kept on giving.

    Fav: NOHITGAME - just becuase I was thinking "but a diamond is a gem, huh?" and then Wack! V-8. I guess I am getting DUMMBER...

    I've heard you golfers will do anything to finish a round - Loved it Owen!

    D-O: I prefer the prepay on the tolls - It beats 80 $1.25 charges on the CC every month.

    Cheers, -T

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  21. Good day to you all!

    Thanks to Eric and Argyle for starting us off on a fun romp.

    Michael immediately brought to mind Keaton, but then backtracking, I thought, Alfred! Not Batman. Once CAINE was in, the rest fell like dominoes.

    I thought the second reindeer might be Prancer but AND dispelled that notion.

    Even the sports clues didn't faze me and I sashayed right along down to the southern belt.

    You sure fooled me, Argyle, because I was certain the theme would be Double D.

    Have yourselves a fantastic Monday, everyone!

    It's the smashogram,er,mammo, for me today.

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  22. Husker - Yikes! I didn't know that story about radar at Pearl Harbor. The outcome would have been a lot different if we had met the offensive air-to-air.

    18 speed bicycles? Why bother?

    D-Otto - the Mass Pike uses that same prepay scheme. I suspect they get away with it because you consent to the plan when you sign for the transponder. This is the same toll highway that was built in the 60's with the understanding that tolls would be removed as soon as the construction was paid off. Hah! Never happened.

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  23. I dont have my link instructions with me, but here are photos of fall colors in each of the lower 48 states.

    http://www.lovethesepics.com/2013/10/american-the-beautiful-in-autumn-peak-fall-foliage-dates-for-48-states-50-pics/

    Montana

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  24. Well, this was more a speed lope than a speed run for me, but a totally enjoyable one, all the same. Many thanks, Erik! And, Argyle, thanks to drawing our attention to the double letters and to those amazing downs and grid spanners. This really is brilliant construction, isn't it!

    The only memorable trip into the past for me was Robert De Niro in RAGING BULL. He sure made some great movies, didn't he? (Why am I asking so many questions today?)

    Went on a rare movie outing yesterday and saw "Enough Said." Am hoping that both Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini get Oscar nominations (at the very least). Wonderful, moving performances.

    Have a great start to your week, everybody!

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  25. Hi Y'all! Funday Monday! But Erik really made one think while speeding along. Really liked this one. Great one, Argyle! Especially loved the rascal.

    Double D's: you guys see "woo woo". I feel "ow ow".

    Has anyone actually heard someone cry, "ALAS"?

    Sure had a lot of EVEL lately. "Dumb & Dumberer" was a sequel to "Dumb & Dumber", I think. Didn't watch them, just couldn't avoid the trailers.

    Vidwan, where are you? I miss you.

    Bright still fall day here after all the horrible wind of the last few days. Supposed to hit 60 degrees. Good garage cleaning day. I could weave a blanket with all the cat hair and spider webs out there.

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  26. I would have had a pristine fill if I had not misspelled DIAL in my rush to finish. I had to Google for CAINE because I have not watch many movies for about 30years.

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  27. Argyle: Nice write-up & links (I listened to "almost" 15 seconds of the MOTORHEAD tune).

    I thought the "Double-D" reveal was LUNGS ...

    I remember getting autographs from Mickey MANTLE and Roger Maris during Spring Training when I was a kid ... those baseball cards probably ended up on my bike spokes a couple of weeks later. ALAS!

    Nothing to drink in the grid ... I'll probably have better luck at the Pub.
    Cheers!!!

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  28. Long time listener, first time caller here...

    I just have to comment on Dumb and Dumber(not -er). Back when I was single and dating, I would slide in my dvd of D and D in the first chance I got. If my date scoffed at it, it wasn't splitsville but I'd turn the car towards that direction. Finally found a super woman who laughed out loud at the movie as I rolled on the floor laughing. Nothing sexier than a woman with great sense of low brow humor. We've been married 10 years now.

    Like the scene from 'A Tree Grows In Brooklyn', appreciating forms of entertainment deemed 'beneath' some is akin to unlocking my door as I circle around the car.

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  29. Fun run, thanks Argyle and Erik of the young guard Agard. No problems, no nits except for dyslexia which slows me down, especially when I solve online.

    Already into xmas references in puzzles and it isn't even Thanksgivukkah. Turkey and potato latkes this year.

    I just sent a subscription to the baby Highlights for my granddaughter.

    Flying the plane was fun, thanks CED.

    Montana's link would not open either way for me.

    I watched the Mentalist and the only thins I am sure of, are: 1> I am sick of the whole Red John story arc; 2. The escape was too predictable and hackneyed; Federal Judges do not have that kind of power; and things are not what they seem

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  30. I guess I was channeling Desi Arnaz.

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  31. Very romantic Idaho; I agree laughing together is probably up there with breathing as important to be happy. Come talk anytime, lines are always open.

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  32. cont...

    You don't have to like The Three Stooges or Airplane but its great if you do. You can hate Beavis and Butthead and Jackass.

    I'll watch and enjoy As Good As It Gets and When Harry Met Sally, even Pretty Woman. Please don't make me watch Eat, Pray, Love or The Notebook or Divine Secrets of The Ya Ya Traveling Pants.

    You don't have to hunt with me but fishing is required.

    I like dining by candle light but also enjoy wings at The Croaking Lizard.

    I'll go to the performing arts center at least twice a year. Even dress up. I like that.

    Like a night at the Plaza as much as a chilly night in a tent.

    Yin and Yang. Already knew I was lucky, feel even more so now.

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  33. When my daughter was still home, eons ago, we watched Dumb and Dumber together in an effort to spend time together and I have to say, laughing was spontaneous! It is so outrageously silly that you can't help yourself.

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  34. -Further information about the use of nascent radar on that infamous Sunday
    -Answer to the Michael CAINE/Maggie Smith movie question I posited earlier
    -The juniors I had today also got that the runner would be in second not first place.
    -Caller from Idaho, any date who scoffed at something I offered her (e.g. shrinkage) would receive some lovely parting gifts on the way out the door. That applies in the grown up world too. I try to take the temperature of the room before blurting out my unsolicited opinion. The only thing worse are people that claim they never watch (don’t own a)TV, only listen to opera and read Nietzsche for entertainment. The arts are a big tent! BTW, Airplane is the only movie where I left the theater (drive-in) with actual pain in my jaw and ribs from laughing so hard and often. It “Shirley” was a fun night at the cinema.

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  35. I found this example of an AABA rhyme scheme on Wiki. I gather it's from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerals:

    Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
    A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
    Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
    And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

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  36. Hello all,
    I enjoyed this one with just a few mishaps (perhaps a few more than a usual Monday).

    Hand up for BIKE instead of GEAR and NYLON before ORLON.

    Favourites were DIAMOND GEM=NO HIT GAME and QUEUE BETWEEN Q AND U. My first thought for TRUNK BUT NO WHEELS was ELEPHANT but it wouldn't fit!

    Anne Frank clue reminded me of the new movie The Book Thief also about a young girl in the Holocaust. Has anybody seen it yet??

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  37. Fun puzzle. WEES about nohitter. Somehow, the theme reminded me of our pals Lucy and Lois (and others I'm sure). :>)

    My bike has 18 speeds (gear ratios) though I only need about five if they're the right five. I used to get by fine with the three gears on my first "English" bike.

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  38. Hola Everyone, I whizzed through this puzzle. It was fun, but with some long down fills which gave it a little more than a Monday feel.

    I thought the clue for RST was very clever.

    With the D---andD--- entries, the first two helped me get the others as I knew that there would be the same entries for the others as well.

    Last week was very, very busy, so I wasn't able to post much. I did do all the crosswords, except Saturday's and read the blog.

    Another busy week with all the holiday preparations beginning to creep up. I have to bake several kinds of cookies to fill several plates for a cookie raffle the first week of December. I only have two batches in the freezer so I have my work cut out for me the next few days.

    Have a great day everyone.

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  39. Dudley, if you ever took a spin on some off-road single-track you would use everyone of those eighteen gears and probably wish you had twenty one!

    You prolly think ten is too many.

    [searbut]

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  40. I wonder if this guy ever uses any of his "granny gears"?

    I always think of this funny picture when I fill in RADAR. Not sure if I first saw it here or some junk e-mail from my friend who fills my email with these type of things.

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  41. Anon at 2.23. That guy on the bike down the canyon is plumb crazy. ...... WOW. Some people have a death wish, so bad .

    Cross eyed Dave, you're pretty wild yourself. In a nice way, of course. We love you being here. I thought I saw you fishing, in one of those fall pictures, that you linked from Montana's URL. Thanks A LOT , by the way. Those pictures were a real treat.

    Picture no 6, is the one with the horses, Look at picture number nine , It has you fishing under the trees .. It shows you on your haunches, looking for the fish, next to the Blackwater river ... It shows only your backside, but I knew it was you.

    Do you hunt, in the web cloud, for the pictures for the birthdays yourself, or do you subscribe to a virtual birthday cake agency. You are unbelievably incredible. Thank you for being a part if our lives.

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  42. Canadian eh @ 1:44, I have not seen the movie yet, but did read “The Book Thief.” If the movie is half as good, it should be a pleasant evening’s entertainment.

    Anon @ 2:23 and CED @ 2:53, those are some crazy videos!!

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  43. I am amused that the anon thought when I said I didn't watch "Dumb & Dumber" it might be because I think I am too above it. Anybody who has supposedly read my posts would know I'm probably the most low-brow person on the blog. And trailers that run time and time again on television are pretty much unavoidable. I didn't watch the movie because I don't watch many movies at all. Short attention span these days.

    I agree that it is impossible to love someone unless you can laugh together. Good feelings beget other good feelings.

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  44. Gee, I'm glad I'm not Kelly McGarry's mother. Who the heck got up there and built that biking trail, I'd like to know? Do they just take their bikes up and start challenging each other to die and the trail is "born". My SIL is becoming a bike nut, but I don't think he's that nuts. YET!

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  45. My geezer cruiser bike has one gear. That's plenty.

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  46. Gary,
    Surely you aren't referring to moi?
    While its true that I don't own a TV, and also true that I believe that 90+ % of programming is crack for white people, I also can give PK a run for her money in the low brow sweepstakes. I do watch TV, mostly ball games in bars (where you meet a much nicer class of people than in church) and occasionally at friends houses, where like any mortal I'm instantly readdicted even though I haven't had one in my house since 1973.
    As for opera, I prefer Opry. Nietzsche I've read but don't understand. My theory is that he was just trying to get laid and well, who can blame him for that?
    Cue the Anon chorus. :-)

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  47. Hi Wind! It’s great to hear from you again. The TV watching and reading in our house extends to high and low brow and I make no accusations about what anyone watches or doesn’t watch, certainly not vous, as I have no idea what entertainment venues exist in your house! Anyone’s viewing or reading menu is his or her own business and that was my point. Bias can enter all our entries here and I was just saying that that our statements should never lean toward judgments about others predilections. I look forward to everyone’s academic and entertaining contributions. Isn’t Nietzsche a center for the Dallas Mavericks?

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  48. Hey Gary,
    No harm, no foul. I was kidding anyway. As for entertainment at Casa Windhover, I'd love to tell you what my wife's two word reply was when an acquaintance we had just met at a dinner party asked when informed that we had no TV, "So what do you do all night with no TV?"
    I can't type that on this family blog, but I can say that I immediately added, modestly, "The all night part is just a figure of speech." The subject was quickly changed and several tongues were bitten nearly off. The laughter around the table erupted an hour or so later when that couple left.

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  49. I wasn't going to comment... then I read Windhover's post.... and I definitely have to agree with the opry over opera.... infact I pretty much agree with windhover's post in whole.... :) except I do have tvs which I rarely watch..... yes.... I could probably give PK a run for her money in the low brow catagory.... :)

    Thanx for the chuckles...... :)

    Thanks too to Argyle and Eric for a puzzle that wasn't beyond me... :)

    thelma :)

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  50. I've never been to a real opera though I do enjoy some of the best-known arias, duets, etc. My father's favorite, which he played for me on a 78 record player, was "Chi mi frena in tal momento", the sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti. I don't think I fully appreciated it at the time but I have it on iTunes now and it's a favorite.

    I'm an Opry fan too though I don't care much for any of the new stuff. I'm a happy camper with Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline and the like, all the way up to early EmmyLou Harris.

    I do enjoy my TV. It would be a tossup which would be the harder to live without; the TV or my iMac.

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  51. Caller from Idaho... loved your story.Do you remember Richard Pryor in The Toy? Every time my DH sees it he nearly pees in his pants from laughing so hard.

    Lemon, I just upgraded Truman's Highlight subscription to the big kid Highlights because he is able to read them now.I was a fan of Ranger Rick.

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  52. Bill G.... yes.... it has to be "old" country.... :) throw in some down home blue grass and then I am the happy camper.... :)

    Then of course, there are many others I like and it would take too long to list them... :) pretty much around the 70s era :)

    You all have a great evening.....

    thelma

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  53. Well hey, maybe I'm not the lowest brow on the blog after all. AHEM, I have been to an opera! My brother was in "Marriage of Figaro" in college and sang a minor part. Well lah de dah, folks! I enjoyed a stage performance of all Patsy Cline songs more though.

    Hi Windy, good to hear from you. I watch some TV now that I have nothing else to do all night. These days I'm likely to be watching a bunch of muscly men run up and down the hardwoods throwing their balls in hoops. That's about as stimulating as it gets.

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  54. Argg - iPad & Google conspired again to eat my post... I'll try again...

    I wish I'd had time to play with everyone today, but sleeping off the Crud this weekend made for a hectic Monday (finished grocery shopping at 10, then checked on Mom (lost power last night in IL & her cousin lost a house in Washington, IL) and then MIL)...

    I guess I'm a low-brow guy. My only exposure to opera is Loony Toons (Kill 'da Wabbit) and Queen. :-) As far as comedy, anything slightly cerebral is good by me (Carlin & 'Coz are tied for #1 in my book). Movies, give me Python or Brooks.

    Story - Dr. DW while pursuing PhD in English was talking to colleagues... "What do you read for fun?", she's asked. "Oh, now I'm reading Calvin & Hobbes." All were horribly impressed not knowing she was reading the books I just purchased [see link].

    Cheers, -T

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  55. Doh! I had a link to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody that got mulched.

    OK, time to DRAG AND DROP myself to bed. Tomorrow starts at 6...

    Cheers, -T

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