Saturday 9: Alfred Hitchcock Presents

The Saturday 9  meme is hosted by Sam Winters. Nine questions posted every Saturday — sometimes random, sometimes with a theme. This week, the theme is...

Theme from
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents"

Listen to it HERE.

1. The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, was born in England. Name another pop culture contribution England has made.

First thing that comes to mind has to be the Fab Four — the Beatles! But I suppose Chaucer and Shakespeare were also the "pop culture" kings of their days.

2. This week's song is recognized as the theme to Hitchcock's long-running TV show, but "Funeral March for a Marionnette" is a classic piece written for piano in the late 1870s by Charles Gounod. Do you often listen to classical music?

Not as often as I used to. These days I mostly listen to jazz, which I think of as sort of modern classical.

3. Janet Leigh's shower scene in  Hitchcock's Psycho is considered one of the scariest sequences ever filmed. What's the most frightening movie you've ever seen?

I love scary movies (though not the really gory ones), so I've seen a lot of them. It would be hard to name just one as scariest. I think my all-time favorite is the old Ray Milland film, "The Uninvited" (from 1944). But the ones that probably scared me the most, the first time I saw them, were "The Haunting" (the 1963 original, not any of the remakes) and "The Innocents" (the 1961 film based on Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, with Deborah Kerr as the haunted governess). And one more — "The Changeling" from 1980, with George C. Scott as a composer who moves into a wonderfully scary haunted house after his wife and daughter die in an accident.

4. Hitchcock admitted that he "never trusted birds," and he took that fear and turned it into the movie, The Birds. Is there a member of the animal kingdom that just gives you "the creeps?"

Not sure about animals, but there are quite a few insects that spook me. 

5. Halloween will soon be upon us. Will you carve a jack o'lantern this year?

Not likely. Actually, I don't think I've ever carved a jack o'lantern. 

6. What candy will trick or treaters get at your house?

We don't really get trick or treaters at our house. We live in an area where there just aren't many children. I usually buy a bag of snack-size Kit-Kats or M&Ms or something, just in case. But I always end up eating them myself.... Which is one of the reasons Halloween is my favorite holiday.

7.  When you went trick or treating, did you prefer fantasy costumes (like a storybook character) or scary ones (like a monster)?

Mostly fantasy. I think I did go as a ghost one year. And as a witch, at least once. But other years, I was a clown or a gypsy or a pirate or Peter Pan or Snow White or some other fantasy figure.

8.  Which candy was your favorite? Which one were you disappointed to find in your trick or treat bag?

OK, we're talking a looong time ago, back before all trick-or-treat candy had to be store-bought and hermetically sealed. And back in those bad old days, my favorite things on Halloween were the homemade popcorn balls some people would hand out. Also always loved candy corn and Tootsie Rolls. Can't really think of any candy I would have been disappointed with.

9. Which do you find scarier — cemeteries or haunted houses?

In movies? I'd say haunted houses. In real life — at my age, cemeteries are getting scarier and scarier. 

Happy Saturday, everyone!
Have a great weekend.

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SkyWatch Friday: Dumpling Clouds

I might have mentioned this before -- I am not a fan of rainy weather. And we have had SOOOOO much rain lately. Not nearly as much as some parts of the country, but a lot more than usual for this part of the world. Feel like I've been transported from central Texas to Seattle. (Not that I have anything against Seattle. I hear it's a lovely place.) But if I hear one more person say "Well, we need the rain," I'm gonna scream really loud and for a really long time.

This September was one of the wettest months on record around the Austin area, and even though the weather has been a little better the last few days, we do have more rain predicted for this weekend. Whoopee.

But the rain has produced some really interesting clouds, like these from a week or so ago. I think these are called cirrocumulus clouds, but I always think of them as "dumpling clouds" because when I was a kid, they always reminded me of my Aunt Gussie's chicken and dumplings. Yum.

For more sky shots, click on the button above.

Unconscious Mutterings: Week 809

Wow, I haven't muttered in months. These Mutterings are for the weeks of September 23rd and 30th (I think). Unconscious Mutterings is hosted by LunaNiña. And here we go....

1. Secure :: safe, home
2. Untamed :: free, loose, dangerous
3. Private :: Benjamin (Remember the old Goldie Hawn movie?)
   
   
   
4. Blue :: -bonnet, -berry, -tooth
5. Total :: all, entire, sum
6. Scrunch :: wrinkle, crumple, compress
7. Supply :: office, school
8. Ill-fitting :: most of my wardrobe
9. Aches :: most of my body
10. Warranty :: promise

Saturday 9: She Works Hard for the Money

The Saturday 9  meme is hosted by Sam Winters. Nine questions posted every Saturday — sometimes random, sometimes with a theme. This week, the theme is...

"She Works Hard for the Money" (1983)
by Donna Summer

Listen to it HERE.

1. This song is about a woman who works hard as a waitress. What's the hardest job you've ever had?

Well, I spent most of my working life at a desk, behind a typewriter or computer screen — not really what you'd call hard labor. But while we were in college I spent part of one summer helping my husband paint his mother's house. She did pay us, so I suppose it counts as a job (instead of just a mom favor). And that really was hard labor. And it was August in south Texas, so we almost had heat stroke. But we were young and hardy — and stupid.

2. The lyrics tell us she has worked at this job for 28 years. What's the longest you stayed with one employer?

Eleven years. Wanted to quit almost from day one, but the benefits were too good to leave.

3. Donna Summer was inspired to write this song during an awards show. She ducked into the bathroom and met the elderly ladies' room attendant, whose job it was to make sure the room the spotless, the complimentary hairspray and moisturizer was abundant, and there was a hot towel for every celebrity who used the facilities. "Wow," Donna thought, "she works hard for those tips." Who is the last person you tipped?

Hmmm. Haven't really gone anywhere lately. I guess my last tip probably went to the lady who cuts my hair. She works hard for the money, too.

4. Early in her career, Donna was in the touring company of the musical Hair. It played in Munich for so long that she became fluent in German. What's the longest you have ever lived away from home?

Away from home, as in out of this country? Three months — once spent a summer in England. Other than that, I've been away from home for vacations and visits, but never really lived away from home. I even lived at home while I was in college.

Of course, Texans always feel that any time they spend living out of state is away from home — and by that reckoning, I lived away from home more than half my life.

5. Sam's dad is naturally outgoing and enjoys striking up conversations with waitresses, librarians, the checker at the supermarket, etc. Sam is always polite but more private. Are you more like father or daughter?

Daughter. I always try to be pleasant, but I'm not naturally gregarious. The hubby is. I'm trying to be more like him. 

6. A little more than 10% of the American workforce is self-employed. Have you ever been your own boss?

I've done some free-lance editing work. Nothing I could have supported myself with.

7. Labor Day weekend may offer a golden opportunity for napping and sleeping in. Do you snore?

Probably, but not enough to be a problem. 

8. Will you be attending a Labor Day picnic or barbecue?

We haven't made any plans for Labor Day, so I guess we'll be just relaxing at home. Which is pretty much what we do everyday anyway.

9. Labor Day traditionally marks the beginning of the fall. Will you be adding any new fall clothes to your wardrobe?

I'm sure I will, although I haven't really started thinking about that yet. I know I should get out there right now and start putting together that new fall/winter wardrobe, but I just can't bring myself to admit summer is coming to an end. I don't start looking at cool-weather clothes until the cool weather actually gets here. Maybe November or December. By then, of course, the stores will be selling spring clothing. It's a never-ending battle I fight with the retail world.

Happy Saturday, everyone!
Have a great weekend.

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