Mike Browne’s Blog

Irreverent but funny as hell.

Could it be … SATAN? When Claudette Soden put up a sign asking motorists to beep for Jesus outside her business in Naugatuck, Conn., fellow business owner Phil Young took exception. He thought it smacked of religious intolerance, so he erected his own sign.

[source sfgate.com]

Here’s a send up of the show…

4 Apr 2007
Director Bob Clark, who helmed the modern holiday classic A Christmas Story and was the writer-director-producer of the Porky’s films, died in a car crash with his son on the Pacific Coast Highway early Wednesday morning; he was 67.

According to police reports, Clark’s car was hit head-on around 2:30am by an SUV that swerved into Clark’s southbound lane; Clark and his 22 year-old son, Ariel, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The SUV driver, who was driving without a license, was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and is to be booked for gross vehicular manslaughter.

The director of the 1974 cult horror film Black Christmas as well as the 1980 Jack Lemmon drama Tribute (which nabbed Lemmon a Best Actor Oscar nomination), Clark scored a major box office success in the early ’80s with the teen sex comedy Porky’s, a surprise hit that he wrote, directed and produced which became the highest-grossing film of 1982 and one of the highest-grossing films ever in Canada.

Clark went on to helm the sequel, Porky’s II: The Next Day, a year later, but it was another 1983 film that would become his most memorable. Based on humorist Jean Shepherd’s short story collection In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, A Christmas Story was the nostalgic and humorous tale of a young boy named Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) growing up in the 1940s who yearned for the ultimate Christmas gift, a Red Ryder BB gun. Also starring Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon, the comedy (which Clark directed, co-wrote and produced) was a modest success in its initial box office run but gained a strong and steady following through the next two decades, becoming a TV staple during the holiday season and a consistent seller on DVD.

Clark’s other films included the Dolly Parton-Sylvester Stallone comedy Rhinestone, Turk 182!, From the Hip, and the two Baby Geniuses movies.

Recently, there had been talk of Howard Stern producing a remake of Porky’s, and Clark had begun development on a remake of one of his first films, the horror movie Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things.

–Mark Englehart, IMDb staff

I can’t wait to see Grindhouse!

My wacky wife met the Trailer Park Boys today and got their new book signed for me. Here’s the page of the book with all three signatures:

Interesting choice of pages to sign. Hehe! I’m grateful to have it.

Here’s a picture of Carol with the boys:

We’re not sure what the reflection is on Ricky’s teeth, but there’s my wife with Bubbles, Ricky and Julian. Oh dear. They’re probably thinking in their Nova Scotian slang, “This woman is some retarded.” She tends to get weirdly star struck… “Hi Cher!” Oh well, she did it without completely losing her mind, fainting or barfing so that’s a little progress at least.

Thanks Mrs B!

You can see more about Carol’s adventure on her blog.

I’ll close with one of my favourite Rickyism’s from the book:

“Sam’s got this thing like a calculator that can send messages all over the world” – Ricky

“Ricky, it’s the Internet.” – Julian

Help Dangerous Dave mole surf! Click the "Play Game" button to start your mole sufing training. Once Dave rides near Brutal Bob, click your mouse button to make Bob whack Dave over the cliff! The further you surf the higher the score!

My score after two tries is in the above picture. What’s your high score? Try it out at: Tredz.co.uk

Below is one a photo I took memorializing our beloved dog and attempting to share how much the loss of our sweetie has affected us. We used to see Moosh’s face happily waiting for us at the top of the stairs when entering the house after a hard day’s work or just being out for groceries:

I’ve created a photo set on my flickr account called Missing Moosh with a few more with the same theme. Click on each photo for a description of how it relates to Moosh.

The photos are more about what’s not there than what is.

Huge fire that started today on the Hollywood Hills. We stood there waiting for the Hollywood Sign to catch fire..luckily after a few hour it was under control..though the Hollywood sign on fire would be an awesome picture (hate to admit it)..haha. I’m glad no homes or lives were lost. (I enhanced the contrast a bit cause the smoke was kinda hard to see)

[source Shanty Cheryl at flickr.com]

Great shot Cheryl. Thanks for letting me use it. Very eerie.

There’s more on the fire at dailybreeze.com. Apparently two youths playing with fireworks started it. If you want to see more photos there are plenty more on flickr.

I’m glad he sign didn’t go. I love L.A. just the way it is, warts and all.