OH LUCKY MAN / AND A SHORT STORY

Here is the answer to yesterday's post's trivia question. The sheep man is from the movie O Lucky Man!, which starred Malcolm McDowell. I have been a fan of Malcolm's for what seems like forever. He does tend to be in films that have heavy adult themes, but not always. You may know him from A Clockwork Orange, Caligula , Halloween (remake by Rob Zombie) or more recently as the guy who killed Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations or from Heroes or as H. G. Wells in Time After Time.

Here is a music video clip of the character, Alex from A Clock Work Orange to the sound of The Offspring's You're Gonna Go Far Kid. (Great song, BTW)

A Clockwork Orange, dance Alex dance

Malcolm McDowell @ CBC, 2008, A Clockwork Orange, Star Trek

An interview with Malcom if you are

interested.

Oh Lucky Man! was my second Malcolm movie. I saw it with my friend T.R. a bazillion years ago (AKA 1973). My first movie of Malcolm's was A Clockwork Orange. It's all Malcolm's fault that I ended up with StbX too... they looked similar. Live and learn.

Malcolm McDowell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crazy4coens got the closest to winning when she said it was StbX... but crazy... close does not count! And actually, Malcolm is not the sheep man. I had that part wrong. My bad. He's the one screaming. Hey... it's been awhile.

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Michael over at Innocents and Accidents, Hints and Allegations did a post yesterday

The Red Sox are off, so let's talk about poop.

that touched on a subject that has long bothered me; People who don't have kids and think they have all the parenting answers. Oh simple fools! So here is my favorite story about that issue. I'll let it speak for itself.

When I was still smart enough to only have one child...period... and that was never going to change. (Never say never!) I had the world's most darling child. He had blond hair, green eyes and was so adorable that everyone liked him. Boo, as we called him then, was very friendly. So friendly that I was in constant fear that he would walk off with any creep who happened to pass by.

My small perfect family went "home" to Fresno to visit the relatives. We stayed with SuzieQ and Bex. They did not have children. Bex was an only child. He came from a family that never went without and had little clue about the reality of life as so many of us know it. He felt very secure about offering his opinions.

We laughed behind Bex's back. When he spoke to Boo, it was with the same tone and verbiage as when Bex spoke to his dog. Simple commands. As you know, children can wear on your nerves over time, no matter how cute or how loved. Bex lasted as long as he could with Boo, before his lack of patience was starting to show.

He began to make suggestions and comments on parenting. Hummmmmm....He is a kind man and a good man, so we let it slide. We were after all, guests in his home. He had the right to make any rules he wanted there. Soon we would all be going home. But the closer that got, the harder it was to listen to his theories on child care.

Our last night we all gathered in their formal dining room for a nice sit down meal. The food offered was not child friendly food. I was going to go and make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, when Bex shook his head. The child, he felt, needed to learn that good manors require you to eat what is offered. Oh dear. StbX and I looked at each other. StbX shrugged, so I sat back down.

I won't waste time on the conversation involved. Let me say there was a push and a shove situation. Bex ended the struggle with 5 year old Boo by telling Boo that he would not leave the table until he finished the food on his plate. Boo looked at me and I nodded. Yes, he should give it a try. StbX and I looked at each other and smiled. We were well aware of what was about to happen. We had seen this before. We really did have a clue about our kid and how to deal with him.

Boo picked up his fork and obediently began to shovel in food items. He hardly chewed. Down they went. Bex looked around the table in tirumph, victorious face aglow. He was telling us how simple that had been and if we were just a little more firm... when...

Boo stood up, made a desperate little noise and projectile vomited across the table. To his credit, Bex laughed and said "I guess you know you're kid don't you?" Then Uncle Bex made Boo a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. :)

Hey it's FRIDAY on the 4th of July weekend! My friend K has invited me for potluck and I'm absolutely going to the port to watch the explosions over the water. They used to do them in the water, but people worried about the fish. I say... let us eat those fish if we must! Explosions in the water were so very cool! So it goes.

Happy 4th... except for billy, of course! What are you all doing? Except for billy and my other country visitors... but you must be doing something on that day, so cough it up!

I'm thinking of making Friday my story day... what say you about that? I thought I'd call it Friday Fables.