An Irishman abroad tells it like it is!

This was sent to me by a former shipmate of my late father. No, this isn't my dear old dad. But as the former shipmate accurately noted: It sure as hell sounds like him. (By the way: Definitely NSFW.)

Somewhere in that great screening room in the sky, Roger Ebert is offering a thumbs-down to this crowd

Oscar Wilde once noted: "You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies." I think Roger Ebert -- and, come to think of it, Oscar Wilde -- would be amused to know that hatemongers from the Westboro Baptist Church, the sort of "Christians" who give Christians a bad name, plan to protest at Roger's funeral. Why? Hey, why not. Haters got to hate, right?

On the other hand: I would advise these haters to stay clear of my own funeral after I shuffle off this mortal coil. See, I figure there will be a bunch of sorely hung-over Irishmen at this event, all of them barely recovered from the revelry of what I expect to be a robust Irish wake the night before. And since I suspect more than a few of these fellows will be former IRA confederates of my late father, they'll likely be packing heat. Think about it, Westboro Baptists: Cranky Irish dudes with guns. They'll not be patient with the scurvy likes of you.

Father's Day

On a weekend when I am being treated to all manner of culinary delights by my son -- who, as I often have noted, is an upstanding and outstanding young man solely because of his mother's influence -- I find myself thinking of my own father, who departed this realm six years ago. Here is a link to the tribute I paid him back in 2006. I think he would be amused to see it has attracted two comments by Generic Viagra. That, or it would totally piss him off.

Update: On second thought, I think I'll go ahead and delete the spam.

Remembering my dad on Father's Day

My father -- third from the left, after me and my son George -- passed away nearly four years ago but, of course, I still think of him most days of the year, and especially today. This is what I wrote on the occasion of his passing in August 2006.

The Top 10 reasons why I don't have my Top 10 list ready yet

1. I am such a wuss that I still can't decide whether two or three films I would like to include would be eligible for a Top 10 of 2006 list. (Of course, it's my list, so I should be able to make the rules, right?)

2. Due to various demands on my time -- like, the six college courses I taught during Fall 2006, the master's thesis prospectus I finally prepared, and the full-time job I landed in December -- I still haven't seen all of the eligible movies I want to see.

3. I devoted an entire week to serious drinking after the death of my father. He would have wanted it that way: We're Irish.

4. I devoted what seemed (to me, anyway) an unusually large amount of time to writing obituaries for other people. Indeed, I often found myself thinking of something Francois Truffaut said: "Each year we have to cross out names from our address book, and a moment comes when we realize we know more dead people than living." On the other hand: When I repeated that quote to a dear friend, she countered: "Well, that's why you have to keep making new friends."

5. I missed several screenings to stay home and watch Keith Olbermann's "Special Comments."

6. I missed several other screenings because, while I waited for my insurance company to process my claim after my car was totaled by an uninsured driver, my transportation options were seriously limited.

7. I missed a few more screenings because they were scheduled on nights when I just didn't feel like going to the movies. (Hey, it happens.)

8. During the past week, I have had to cope with several interruptions -- including, no kidding, a power brownout on New Year's Eve -- while viewing and re-viewing films on DVD.

9. I feel fairly crummy today -- and not because of any New Year's Eve revelries. Truth to tell, I have sleep apnea, but because of the aforementioned brownout, I wasn't able to use my CPAP machine while I slept -- or, more accurately, tried to sleep -- last night.

10. I strongly suspect that there aren't many of you out there impatiently awaiting any Top 10 list I might complete.

In any event: I hope to have the list posted by Thursday. Maybe Wednesday, if the electricity doesn't go out again.