List by Tosca
"And where are the clowns?
Quick - send in the clowns
Don't bother - they're here."
- Stephen Sondheim from 'A Little Night Music.'
I've never liked clowns so the above lyric always seemed more like a threat that killer circus clowns would take over the world rather than the song of irony and regret it seems to be. With an imagination like this I'm never lonely! Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns but, seriously, what's not to be afraid of? They're creepy and monster-otherworld looking. I don't have coulrophobia. What I do have, though, is a very healthy, albeit somewhat irrational, dislike of clowns. I can remember when I first became scared of them - years ago my parents took me to see a circus and I remember being afraid of the too bright clothes, the orange wig and the too wide smile that looked like it ate children for dinner. Soon on the heels of that, my love affair with the tv series Little House on the Prairie ended abruptly when Laura, my idol of the time (I was 5 or 6 - don't judge me) had to dress as a clown (season 6, episode 5). I felt so betrayed. An episode of David Soul's Unsub series (1989) featured a child-killing clown (which sure as Hades didn't engender any warm and fuzzy feelings) but the final crushing blow came when Brian Dennehy, an actor whose work I'd always liked (yes, even as a kid) played John Wayne Gacy (1992) and ensured that my intense dislike for clowns was set in stone. Any tv episode where they're the bad serial killer just confirms why they scare me and I live for the moment they get their just desserts at the end, whether it's an arrest, surrendering, being exorcised, opting for death by cop or, even better, having it's huge inanimate head used for target practice by a hot FBI agent. Welcome to my silly list of top 5 tv clowns whose serial killer tendencies confirm why I will forevermore be scared of clowns.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Top 5 favourite Elvis Presley movies
List by Tosca's dad, introduction and comments by Tosca
"Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do 'em all together."
- Elvis Presley talking about the way he moves on stage (1956).
My main reasons for coming to Taipa were to visit dad in hospital and to reassure myself that my parents had settled in ok to rural living. My maternal grandfather is from Kaitaia so in some respects this was a kind of homecoming for me. I may not come back often but I do consider the far north home. My parents had decided to relocate here permanently about a year ago. It wasn't a total surprise as mum had been dividing her working life with half weeks both in Auckland and in Kaitaia for the last three years. During our stay we learned how dad had ended up hospitalised and it made for a pretty harrowing tale (in short: falling in the Mangonui harbour, passing out, floating under a boat and being dragged aboard by fishermen). No time is a good time to be faced with any family member's mortality and yet, in some ways, it's been a really good trip. Over the last few days dad and I have had some good talks, some even greater silences and, better yet, have re-discovered a mutual love of Elvis movies. Where our tastes differ is that dad enjoys all of Elvis, including the hype and the tacky jumpsuits and the Las Vegas days, and I'm just a fan of his early films and music. This list is nothing more than dad's top 5 favourite Elvis DVDs. Or at least, top 5 that match what he owns and what our libraries hold :)
"Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do 'em all together."
- Elvis Presley talking about the way he moves on stage (1956).
My main reasons for coming to Taipa were to visit dad in hospital and to reassure myself that my parents had settled in ok to rural living. My maternal grandfather is from Kaitaia so in some respects this was a kind of homecoming for me. I may not come back often but I do consider the far north home. My parents had decided to relocate here permanently about a year ago. It wasn't a total surprise as mum had been dividing her working life with half weeks both in Auckland and in Kaitaia for the last three years. During our stay we learned how dad had ended up hospitalised and it made for a pretty harrowing tale (in short: falling in the Mangonui harbour, passing out, floating under a boat and being dragged aboard by fishermen). No time is a good time to be faced with any family member's mortality and yet, in some ways, it's been a really good trip. Over the last few days dad and I have had some good talks, some even greater silences and, better yet, have re-discovered a mutual love of Elvis movies. Where our tastes differ is that dad enjoys all of Elvis, including the hype and the tacky jumpsuits and the Las Vegas days, and I'm just a fan of his early films and music. This list is nothing more than dad's top 5 favourite Elvis DVDs. Or at least, top 5 that match what he owns and what our libraries hold :)
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