CHRISTMAS STORY

confession: i'm from NEOhio, but until last Xmas, i had never seen this movie. it's a cult here - a cable channel runs it 24-7 during the holidays, and there are tours of the house & sites used as exterior shots (shot here, tho it's supposed to take place in Indiana...christ, Clevo looks more like Indiana than Indiana???). there was even a cellphone company who parodied the film in its Xmas ad, complete with bunny costume and "you'll run the bill up, kid" tag line.

and in NYC, Jean Shepard is still having an impact on radio = just listen to Steve Post's "The No Show" and see what i mean: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/noshow/episodes/2007/02

...or read Jim Testa's Jersey Beat blog: http://jerseybeat.blogspot.com/

confession2: so the movie inspired me to get a BB gun to deal with the squirrels and other varmits that lurk around Dun Giggen...and of course it had to be a Daisy "Red Ryder" model. now, unlike my hippiepassivistnonconfrontational pals, i am reasonably familiar with firearms...which is why it is a total mystery to me as to how come my first shot was at a perfectly vertical tree trunk, guaranteeing that the BB would bounce straight back and land just below my right eye.

which it did.

"you [can!] shoot your eye out, kid"

from AA also up the Hudson:

'Christmas Story' Director Dies in Fiery Crash

Bob Clark and His Son Killed in Early Morning Collision

By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, AP

LOS ANGELES (April 4) - Film director Robert Clark, best known for the beloved holiday classic "A Christmas Story," was killed Wednesday along with his son in a head-on crash with an alleged drunken driver on Pacific Coast Highway, the filmmaker's assistant and police said. He was 67.

Clark and son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed in the accident in Pacific Palisades, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant.

Remembering 2007's Lost Movie Legends
Bob Clark's 'A Christmas Story' was a modest theatrical success in 1983, but has since become a beloved holiday classic. Watch Clips:

The two men were in an Infiniti that collided head-on with a GMC Yukon around 2:30 a.m., said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman.

The driver of the other vehicle, Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles and his passenger, described as a 29-year-old woman, were taken to UCLA Medical Center with minor injuries.

The driver remained hospitalized and will be booked for investigation of "gross vehicular manslaughter" after being treated, Vernon said.

"The initial investigation has concluded that Nava was driving without a license northbound in the southbound lanes while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage," Vernon said.

Nava's passenger was released from the hospital after receiving treatment.

In Clark's most famous film, all 9-year-old Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle.

His mother, teacher and Santa Claus all warn: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."

A school bully named Scut Farkus, a lamp in the shape of a woman's stocking-clad leg, a freezing flagpole mishap and some expletive-laden defiance helped the movie become a seasonal fixture alongside "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street."

Clark specialized in horror movies and thrillers early in his career, directing such 1970s flicks as "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Murder by Decree," "Breaking Point" and "Black Christmas," which was remade last year.

His breakout success came with 1981's sex farce "Porky's," a coming-of-age romp that he followed two years later with "Porky's II: The Next Day."

In 1983, "A Christmas Story" marked a career high for Clark. Darrin McGavin, Melinda Dillon and Peter Billingsley starred in the adaptation of Jean Shepard's childhood memoir of a boy in the 1940s.

The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it.

In 1994, Clark directed a forgettable sequel, "It Runs in the Family," featuring Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen and Kieran Culkin in a continuation of Shepard's memoirs.

In recent years, Clark made family comedies that were savaged by critics, including "Karate Dog," "Baby Geniuses" and its sequel, "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2."

Among Clark's other movies were Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton 's "Rhinestone," Timothy Hutton 's "Turk 182!", and Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd 's "Loose Cannons."


NP: Amy Winehouse on youtube. is this gurl the proverbial shit, or what?



PEEVE DE JOUR: court tomorrow.

JOIE DE JOUR: Wonder Gurl giving me a tour of Ulster County.

cb...where are you?






UPSTATE NEW YORK