Shakespeare – in a Nutshell

Went to the Fireman’s Kitchen last night to see its penultimate presentation of the Hickory Community Theatre’s “The Complete Works of Shakespeare – Abridged”.  Well, it was truly magnificent?  But I had the feeling that Shakespeare would have loved it.  I think he would be right up there on the stage piling absurdities and mis-quotes on top of all of the other actors.  He would have sent a messenger  off to the Olde Hickory Tap Room, just around the corner or perhaps right around the other corner to “The Crescent Moon”, to supply ale for the entire congregation, and would have probably brought his own bottle of Sack along with him.

We were generally a demure group.  We did laugh at the appropriate points (most of them) and we giggled at the off-color references, and enjoyed as many of the absurdities that we could recognize.  And we even hung in with the endless demonstrations of various ways to do Hamlet quicker and quicker, even finishing one entire rendition off in 30 seconds, and we then watched as they repeated THAT one backwards, ending at the beginning.  

It was a good evening, back in the Fireman’s Kitchen, back with old friends and new friends and a fine evening of entertainment.  

We also found out that the Hickory Community Theatre celebrated its 50th anniversary by becoming one of 6 community theaters nationwide to produce a winning play of a new playwriting competition.  Over 200 plays have been submitted to the competition.  Once the top plays have been chosen, HCT will select which one they would like to produce.  the playwright will journey here, workshop the show, and be on hand for the opening night festivities.  Not bad for a town with 5 community theaters!

Poetry Alive in Hickory, November 13, 2012..

Jakia Propst

A marvelous group of poets assembled tonight in Hickory at Taste Full Beans and blessed the world with expanded horizons and deepened dimensions, and everybody lifted their wings and rose into glorious realms of new understandings and the entire world was clearly seen – briefly – for the very first time.  

At any rate, Nancy Posey, Helen Losse, Mel Hager, Scott Owens and “Versus” – Jakia Propst and Andrew Licout, two students from St. Stephens High School presented a stellar demonstration of really, really good poetry.  Versus gave us hard hitting stuff that opens your eyes, your emotional eyes, and your unconscious eyes, and shows you who you really could be.  Good.

Joseph Mills who teaches writing at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, then read from three of his books to finish a marvelous evening.   Mills had conducted a class in Taste Full Beans for poets just before the readings began. 

A good evening.  Thanks to Scott Owens and Taste Full Beans.

Hushpuppy. The Hickory Footcandle Film Society.

The Hickory Footcandle Film Society presented the “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Thursday night at the Carolina Theater.  Basically, the carrier story is about people in Louisiana’s coastal swamps and bayous still trying to live in an old world which is now being reclaimed by changing weather, rising sea elevations, hurricanes and pollution from great corporate enterprises.   

Interesting story.  But I think most of the people who watched the movie detected a deeper feeling moving within themselves.  No longer are only those people still living on the ecotone between nature and civilization who are being threatened by earth’s changing environment and weather, but all of us are feeling changes coming into our lives also.  It is no longer only those “uneducated” people of our planet who are helping contribute to the deterioration of their own immediate environment, but now we all participate in the acceleration of these changes. And the changes we feel are also accelerated by our habits, our life-styles and our own “education”, which also prepared us for a world that no longer exists.  And it is not the simple superstitions of simple people who make them deny the reality of the world before their eyes but many of us now, captured by our own convictions, religions, facts and answers, are no more prepared to confront this new world we now inhabit.  The simple people portrayed in the film, who once were fully capable of functioning and living a fruitful, even bountiful life of blessings poured upon blessings, now see their world, their friends, their family and themselves slowly slipping away like a dream that is disappearing.  

The acting and portrayal of these people were very interesting.   The 8-year old actress, Quvenzhane Wallis, who portrayed a 6 year old girl, called “Hushpuppy”, was played without noticeable flaw. Her actions were impressive and easily led me to forget her age. She clearly is a product of that new world which is now replacing the ones we all remember so fondly.  Those who survive into this new future will see many more amazing stories from her.

Also, congratulations to the producers for an astonishing achievement:  no cigarettes were lit in the entire film!  Haven’t seen that in years.  Also there was no evident “product placement” anywhere in the film, although I’m not really sure that any manufacturer would really want their product recognized in this film.  There was a super abundance of cheap American beer, whiskey, and a lot of other alcoholic beverages constantly being consumed without apparent harm to the constant guzzlers.

Good movie.  If you haven’t seen it, go now – before it is too late!

Congratulations to Alan Jackson, good job.

And one more thing.  Why the focus on the nostrils near the end?  Nothing is ever done without meaning in a movie like this.  So why did the camera linger on a close up of the boar’s nostril and then VERY shortly after that do the same thing with Hushpuppy’s dad?  I even hate to bring this up because it might seem racist.  But still, I wonder.  Any ideas?

Nicholas Carr in Hickory.

Another fine day in Hickory, NC.  In spite of the fabulous weather with temperatures in the 70s and gentle breezes on a sunny day, we went out to LRU to take part in their Visiting Writers program, now in its tenth year.  

Tonight’s speaker was Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google” and “Does IT Matter?” .  He is in Hickory tonight to speak about his new book “The Shallows:  What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains”.  The program was recorded to be rebroadcast tomorrow morning on WFAE, Charlotte, at 0900, and was MC’d by Mike Collins. 

Carr was fresh from his second encounter with Stephan Colbert last month http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/01/nicholas-carr-on-colbert_n_632304.html

and he talked with Collins about the book, its implications and the messages it carries for all of us.

He pointed out how the current emphasis, especially in education, on teaching children facts and answers is reinforced by the internet’s constant shifting of topics.  Carr says this leads to an actual restructuring of the brain cells by the reinforcement and neglect of different neurons involved.  Contemplative thinking, introspection, and the ability to mentally reflect become lost along with our abilities to concentrate our attention.  Carr also pointed out how this negatively affects our long-range memories, and our abilities to differentiate between trivia and important concepts.  Then he talked about how psychologists believe that we now tend more so than in the past to seek information that corresponds with our beliefs and to reinforce those beliefs rather than use new information to learn and grow.

On the way back we stopped in Bistro 127 for a couple of their craft beers and a really good margherita pizza.   Bistro is in the process of developing a new brewery in Hickory, the Loe’s Brewery.  We tried two of their new presentations a Loe’s Pale Ale and a Loe’s Amber Ale.  I preferred the Amber which I found to be an interesting experience with a variety of tastes and complexity.  The Pale was more straightforward, a bit like a lager with a couple of surprises.

Then back home to the doggies.  Another enjoyable day in Hickory. 

A Day in Hickory

A normal day.  Nice day.  High temperature about 78°, clear  skies, soft breezes.  Oktoberfest is on one of our horizons, rising slightly.  How to spend this day before sending it off into the record of "past events"?  Well, to begin with, writing – but writing is hard to do on such a nice day as this.  Dog walking?  Oh yes, but the doggies can only walk so far.  They don't see the sky, they see the grass instead, and clumps of weeds, and fireplugs, and they walk in a trance, breathing in worlds we will never know,  pausing occasionally to read their p-mail, comment, scratch it in deeply and walk on self-righestously.

But it is a wonderful day in Hickory.  There's more to do.  We go to the Democratic Headquarters and pick up voter registration forms and then go on to the Patrick Beaver Library.  We get some wonderful coffee from the new Taste Full Books, the delicious branch of Taste Full Beans now at the library, (mine was cafe latté, (deLICious!)), and we meet some 60 people coming in and out of the library.  "Pardon me, are you registered to vote?"  Most said "Yes!", many gave us a thumbs-up.  But we also encountered five foreigners and two felons.  (Felons CAN vote in North Carolina under certain  conditions).  We also met members of the Hickory International Council who were meeting to determine actions to 

take in the coming months.

Then back home to walk the doggies again, and then back downtown again.  Not easy.  Ten minutes each way.  At least.  Maybe eleven. We spent a little bit of time looking at some of the art exhibitions currently on display in Downtown Hickory, now in one of its "Art Crawls".  Some 22 different venues have art ranging from jewelry to statuary to paintings to photography and all of this is under the aegis of music from street musicians.

But onward.  On to the Old Hickory Tap Room.  The Belfast Boys are playing tonight.  There will be singing and dancing and the night will be filled with music.  Ireland will be front and center and the place is filled with people who have Ireland not only deep inside their souls but also shining brightly on their sleeves.  Adrian Rice and Alyn Mearns, both natives of Belfast, Ireland, thrilled their congregation with mana from heaven.  Meanwhile, the Old Hickory Tap Room took care of more basic basics such as jerked chicken breast, Rueben sandwiches and great craft beer from the Old Hickory Tap Room Brewery.  We had "Oktoberfest", then "Death by Hops", and of course, "Irish Walker".

Then back home to the doggies again.  It was a great day.  Another great day in Hickory.

Click on photos for enlargement.

A Saluki Story

Enrolled in 1952.  Part of the class that pushed SIU over a total attendance of 3,000 students.  My qualifications?  Really?  None.  I got too close to a college that had a dream and got sucked in.  Effect?  Every good thing that has happened to me in my life is a result of my attending SIU.  

I was right out of the sticks.  Graduated from a high school with about 20 students.  When confronted with initial registration I didn’t know which line to get into.  There were signs reading “Last name beginning with an A and ending in an F”, next one read “Last name beginning in a G  and ending in an L”.  I was amazed.  My last name began with a W and ended in a K; where was my line?  The most appropriate answer would probably have been “back home!”  But a beautiful lady with a “Can I Help You?” button on her blouse smilingly showed me the line I should get into, and she insisted I stay in it even though it ended in the wrong letter. 

Vera Peacock was my French teacher.  First year, first class, 8 a.m.  She was totally unreasonable.  Her homework assignments were unbelievable.  We students banded together and decided we would confront her.  And we did.  We told her she was demanding too much work.  She went to the door of the classroom – which lead to the outside street – and flung it open. She turned and looked at us and said “Get out!”  She glowered at us, “This place is reserved for COLLEGE students!”  I remember looking through that door and seeing Korea.  I saw rifle flashes and felt concussions. It was a relief when she finally closed the thing.  It was tough after that.  Mais une pâle ampoule a commencé à briller.

Well, it wasn’t all that serious.  I did get to work with the only Saluki we had then.  He was in the back of the Men’s Residence Hall, which was named after Susan B. Anthony.  The yard had a sundial inscribed “Count None But the Sunny Hours”.  And I did get to know Dick Gregory, in fact fenced with him as part of a fencing “team”.  Having recently arrived in Illinois from MIssissippi, I wondered how my uncle would react seeing me jabbing at a black guy, who was jabbing back at me.  He would have wondered what the world was coming to.  Well, we were building a new one.

Worked on the University Farm for much of the first year, since driving tractors and feeding stock was the only thing I knew how to do besides drive steam locomotives which were in short supply at SIU.  Then spent my sophomore and junior years under shelter from the elements as a janitor at the University School, working from 5 p.m. until 10 every night and from 10 a.m until 10 pm on Saturdays.  One of the residences called “The Coterie” let some of us working guys eat in their  cafeteria before 5 p.m. which was when they officially opened.  I still remember them and still appreciate that.  Sundays were for study.  Last year at SIU I ran mail to the MRH.  I wanted to be a lawyer.  But between my junior and senior years, the military cancelled draft deferment for lawyers.  So my senior year I had to switch majors.  Had to choose Political Science since it required French, which I had “mastered”.  Left in 1956, with a B. A. in Liberal Arts and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force, a result of the ROTC at SIU, required of all men since it was a “Land Grant” school.  And I went off from Carbondale to meet the world.  

Six Gun Women

Well, it was different.  This movie plummeted through the realm of “Camp” like a star falling from the heavens (no pun intended – well . . .).   And this great fall was accompanied for the most part by the same silence one finds outside on a dark night.  Let’s just say it resembled a lost tongue unable to find a suitable cheek.  It strained our incredulity and in the spirit of the evening, we cheerfully gave into that.  But that turned out not to be enough.

There seemed to be stories presented during the course of the movie but they kept changing and then disappearing.  Reasons were given for the unusual collection of “workers” at this “mine” but those reasons only made probabilities less likely.  The women with six-guns were supposed to be a farce based on the cowboy movies of the 1950s but somehow the talent seemed to have not been familiar with those things.  

Best part of the evening was the discussion afterward.  Here we found details of the movie which apparently took somewhere around 15 to 20 years to complete.  The lead actor, Tony Clay, who was also the writer, and the director, spoke to us after the showing.  He pointed out how the “first photographer” had used up a lot of money and did poor work, so he had to get another photographer and re-shoot a lot of the movie.  He talked about some of the structural work of photographing any movie, and I think most of us had our horizons broadened somewhat by all this.  He referred to a constant problem with money and he attributed that to the distributors-to-be.  Apparently distributors are just no good, and  I’m sure everybody in the business would agree with that. 

And there were boobs.  Bare boobs.  Nice.  Big deal.  But without good writing and good photography and good acting, boobs are just things that deserve better than what they got here.  A boob is one of God’s greatest creations, and should be handled with care.  It deserves proper framing and suitable presentation.  If these things start jumping out at you when you least expect to see one . . . well, people will begin to regard them as ordinary  and unimportant things and quit staring at them all the time.  You could probably summarize this movie by saying that there were a lot of boobs in “Six Gun Women”.   And that’s true.  They were all over the screen and the audience was full of them too. Including me. 

Baby Birds

I scheduled the pruning of our shrubs back in late March, but the actual event finally happened just two days ago.  Now the shrubs and crepe myrtles are bushy and full of leaves, nascent berries and other whatnots.  Like these two surprised and indignant victims.  They were up in a top limb about four feet above the cut and they fell to the ground still wedged into their nest.  The pruner told me what happened and together we managed to wedge the cut branch back into some type of new position in the crepe myrtle.  But it was late in the day.  Dusk was falling, darkness coming quickly.  Mama bird flew back and forth dipping down lower and lower.  Finally it was all done, the branch – and nest – were wedged firmly in place, the workers were gone,  darkness closed in and no mama bird was present.  A deck light about 15 feet from the nest was left on, turned down to dim, and the light simulated moonlight.  Careful glances stolen throughout the night revealed nothing.  The light seemed like a dim hope in a vast darkness.  No mama bird showed up.



Next morning revealed mama bird in action!  Full of food for baby birds, she flew in again and again, and even papa bird showed up, bringing food to his little ones.  Next day the baby birds were moving about within and on the nest.  Now the concern is about our dogs.  They would LOVE to "play" with a itty-bitty-baby bird – especially our puppy would.





Now comes today.  Roofers are here to tear off our old roof and replace it.  They are shown the nest and asked to "respect" the progress of life.  They grinned and spoke rapidly in Spanish.  At least the dogs have a day in "dog-camp".  Meanwhile, the branch which contains the nest is drying up and withering, its leaves are drooping, mama bird and papa bird are flying back and forth!  What will happen?  How will this end?  We don't know at this time.  Stay tuned . . . . .

Empty Nest

The nest is empty.  
The birds are gone. 
Mama bird and papa bird and the baby birds are now just – birds.  You know, you see them flying around.  All over the place, here and there.  

The two babies took off yesterday.  Last  I saw, there was a little baby bird out in the great big back yard.  All alone.  Then a BIG red male cardinal flew in a few feet away.  Something dangled from his beak.  I could “hear” baby bird saying “bring it to me”.  Papa bird “said” something like “fly over here”.   Baby bird said “I’m tired of flying.  How much longer will I have to fly?”  Papa bird said “You’ll find out, but first come on over here.”  Baby bird took off and fluttered and crashed.  But he crashed at papa bird feet, and he got up and opened his beak and he got fed.  

Then papa bird and baby bird flew away together.   

Keeping in Touch

Like the fingers of an unknown god creating new worlds in some new place, a young lady spins ideas out to people in a far distant galaxy.  Perhaps they are even way out somewhere in this large auditorium, seemingly present here with her, and “with” the rest of us, although none of them are really “here” in some deeply significant sense, but orbiting around a now-being-created-electronic mind.

The lights in the room are dimmed so not to interfere with the performers, yet even a casual glance reveals several small auras of white light with fingers moving smartly, caressing mental messages, tapping and radiating thoughts and feelings that are too good to spin around in just one person’s mental world.  

Not to criticize in any way, no, not any longer.  Dimly now I realize that some new being has entered into our presence.  Perhaps theologians will someday debate endlessly about this event but it is becoming apparent that a new world is being created and perhaps this present time is no longer still the First Day.

TEDxHickory 2012

TED came to Hickory on Saturday in a big way.  It clearly was an unqualified success.  The presentations taken as a whole were “marvelous”,  “wonderful”, “magnificent”, “stunning”, “beautiful”, “very instructive” and so on.  These are not my words but responses to my questions from other viewers as I worked my way out of the theater after the day was done.

A number of people mentioned Bill Carson, the retired rocket scientist from IBM who helped put men on the moon and helped invent the GPS and other amazing devices, and who is now an apple farmer over at Altapass near Little Switzerland on the Blue Ridge Parkway – well, that’s only part of the story – you really need to find Bill and get filled in.  Ask him about music, and history, and – oh yes – “Sweet Lips”.  Contact him at www.altapassorchard.com

The day began (for us attendees) at about 9:30 with some snacks and coffee, included a lunch which I ate with some new friends in the museum main floor surrounded by some 60 paintings commemorating a mythical breakfast these modern painters "had" with Van Gogh. One of the finest aspects of TED was the networking.  Like many people, I began by interacting with friends established from other occasions, then began meeting new friends in this very open atmosphere.  The meetings ended at four in the afternoon and featured 14 presenters.  

The discussions centered around Hickory, NC, a town and a region in the process of recreating itself after the American furniture and textile industries abandoned it for foreign riches.  I was surprised to find that Hickory is in some pretty high cotton, technologically speaking, in addition to its association with its large data centers for both Google and Apple.  It was also interesting to hear of the work being done in several different areas to work on the rehabilitation of people who have fallen on hard times lately.  All this to help make Hickory a community and not just a town.

Alan Jackson tells us not to call this event TEDxHickory, but TEDxHickory 2012.  And he called it the “first annual”.  Good.


Photos will enlarge if clicked on.

King Lear in Hickory Community Theatre

"You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!"

Bill Boyd as King Lear.

King Lear returned to life on a rainy night in Hickory, commanding a stage shuddering with lightning and thunder and other flashes and rumbles of madness and blindness that reached out far beyond any simple dream of despair. 

Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, these are my daughters

Not an easy play to understand because you really have to see it first. It doesn’t make sense until it is over, and when meaning comes, it comes in glimpses and you see a little bit here and a little bit over there.  But it shows the importance of seeking to understand that which lies behind what is presented for viewing, searching deeper than just those flashes that flicker across one’s retina.  King Lear is really a story about the blindness one inflicts on one’s own soul through an intentional denial of reason. 

The play was probably one of the best the Hickory Community Theatre has produced in its 63 year history because it compressed so much humanity into one stage, and because the actors all played the main parts so well.  As the story progressed it became easy to understand that ALL of the actors there were insane, and we left wondering  when did we first notice they had each gone mad, and why didn’t we notice it before?  And – well, maybe – perhaps we should look more closely at other people we know?  Hmmmmm.

The night on the heath was well presented and reminded us all of nightmares we have had, even though we probably did not play our own part in those mad dreams as well as Bill Boyd played that of King Lear tonight on this stage.  

Jonathan Ray, playing the Earl of Gloucester and George Page as Edgar, the Earl’s son participated in one of the great scenes of the play, the leap off the cliff.  The saddest part of the entire play though was seeing in the play notes that George Page is departing HCT.  Godspeed George.  We WILL MISS you!

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!"


Old King Lear

was consumed by the fear

that his daughters didn’t really love him.  

At least not as much

as he thought they should – 

to inherit the keys to his country.  

So he asked them a question  

they wouldn’t dare answer,

and it led them all to Dover.  

Where they found the answers 

to many deep questions 

in a famous and sad reunion.

"Things that love night
Love not such nights as these."

King Lear himself was no match for Scott Owens tonight as lightning flashed across the heath of the piedmont and thunder raced down the street of Hickory rattling the windows and doors of those who don't believe in Poetry. 

For the True Believers though, it was a night with a secret entrance into another world – one which no longer REALLY exists – except within our own suppressed memories. Ah yes, we were different people when we left than we were when we entered, which was a lifetime ago. 

Tonight was a launch into a new universe as Scott shared some of his latest books with us.  And that's what poetry does. It's our spaceship.  And Scott Owens was our pilot on our night's flight.

Belfast Boys

Went to see an amazing performance of The Belfast Boys.  Beautiful. Marvelous.  An entry into a different world of beauty.  I went there without my camera.  (All my friends who know me well just suffered  a lower jaw injury from their jaw hitting the floor.)  But the Belfast Boys really didn't need any cameras.  They were SO good that their image and music became a part or our permanent memories.   Next day my pen ran out of control trying to conjour them back.  No luck.  Although Adrian has probably never looked better, and Alyn – well Alyn is always busy making love to his guitar, anyway.

But if you have a chance – and you will – to see them, don't miss it!

Elliott Engel in Lenoir, NC

Went up to Lenoir last night to see Professor Elliott Engel and listen to his talk on Edward Thatch, a distant relative of Margret Thatcher.   Edward was perhaps better known by his nickname, “Blackbeard”.  Edward became a pirate although he didn’t really intend to, he just wanted to be a privateer.  What’s the difference?  And how many people did he kill?  Really?  Wow!  And why did he live in North Carolina?  And what is a “swash-buckler”?   Or “kit and caboodle”?   Ever wondered about any of these things?  And which is proper when referring to the Caribbean Sea:  cara BEE an, or ca RIB ian?  Huh?

Well, let me tell you. Gather ‘round.  Actually – now that I think about it for a moment, you really need to see professor Elliott Engel.  He held a large crowd in the palm of his hand in the Broyhill Civic Center last night as they (we) listened in rapture to his revelations.  It’s not often you see an entire auditorium filled with people who have their eyebrows raised and their mouths open.  Professor Engel is probably used to that.

Dr. Engel lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he has taught at the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University, and Duke University. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at UCLA. While at UCLA he won that university’s Outstanding Teacher Award.  His lecture series on Charles Dickens ran on PBS television stations around the country.

If you missed him, he will be back next February.  He has spoken in Lenoir every year for the past 20 years.  See you there.

John Rambo Strikes Again! – By a Flared Nostril

And he has obviously upset this young lady (played by Kelly Dowless) who clearly has a flared nostril.  Or two.  Maybe more.  What’s wrong with this guy?  I’ve talked to him before and he always seemed unusually quiet and withdrawn, a meek, mild-mannered gentleman.  He spoke to my wife yesterday and hesitatingly admitted that he played a tiny bit part in the play and that if we looked carefully we might possibly see him.  Hah!

And then!  Just as we were beginning to get a handle on the play, a head suddenly appeared out of a small hidden “door” on the wall.  And it was RAMBO!  Back again!   And he was shouting at everybody in the audience!  Now, EVERYbody had flared nostrils!  

Wow.  What a night at the Hickory Community Theatre.  I sure hope they find John.  He used to be a nice guy.  Maybe somebody can help him.  He certainly deserves another look.


Of course nobody will know what to do with him now.

Portrait of a Writer

Portrait of a writer in the internal agony of actually writing.  As you can see the body is fully consumed by the process.  The arms, instead of writing intelligible words are waving wildly, pointing nowhere.  The skull has shrunk down to fit the size of the brain.  BUT – one foot has got a hell of an idea – maybe, maybe . . . Hey!

Movie - "The Guard"

Brendan Gleeson, Irish Sheriff, on left,
and DonCheadle, FBI on right

This was billed as a dark comedy.  It was dark all right, but as far as being comedic – well, that required a bit of viewer participation.  The movie was seriously hurt by not having a story to tell. There was no plot, no flow, no character development or growth,  It was simply a platform for the actors to portray a limited amount of acting skill.  

The FBI was there, in name only, portrayed as the F-ing Bumbling Idiots.  And the reason I used the “F-word” there is because it was used in the movie 1,643.5 times.  (Anybody get a different count?)  And the one-half time was when one of the f-ers got shot while trying to get the word out of his own mouth.  

There was love, kind of.  But it was a strange love.  All three times.  And there was a lot death in the movie, but nobody important. There was even an angel in there, with his dog and a bicycle and a bit of mystery around all that.  There was a lot of drinking, even double-drinking.  BUT not much smoking of cigarettes.

It was filmed in Galway, Ireland.  That’s what somebody said, although we didn’t see it in the credits.  Didn’t really matter because probably less than 120 seconds of landscape was shown. 

Best thing about the movie was its closing credits. 

Worst thing about the movie was that it didn’t end