How does one write a mere 600 words about a film like The Odyssey? A movie that’s well nigh three hours long, rife with dazzling visuals and a larger-than-life cast featuring a dozen major stars. A movie helmed by a man who may now be the world’s most bankable director — but who has herein
(But Actually, It Is … ) By Joseph W. Smith III “Don’t say ain’t or your mother will faint, and your father will fall in a bucket of paint.” I daresay most folks in my Boomer generation recall this jocular proscription — often used as a childhood taunt against some allegedly barbarian schoolmate. And indeed,
Union Pacific No. 4014 is the largest operating steam locomotive in the world. Notching 1.2 million pounds and 133 feet in length, the behemoth was one of 25 engines built for UP in 1941. Its normal home is Cheyenne, WY; but the last so-called “Big Boy” made its first-ever trip east of the Mississippi this
“Weird Words” is the name of this column — but I’m sure readers can tell that vocab isn’t the only off-the-wall aspect of these pieces; the writer has his eccentricities, too. Chief among these is an apparent inability to finish any given set of weird words in one column; last month, for instance, I launched
Quick pop-culture quiz: What do the following have in common? Tarzan. Sherlock Holmes. Bulldog Drummond. Charlie Chan. Andy Hardy. Ma and Pa Kettle. And a talking mule named Francis. Well, if you love classic movies, you probably already guessed that these are all film franchises; and I picked ones from the Golden Age — because
