Connecting the Dots

 

 

 

 

This is my entry in the Norman Jewison blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room.

 

 

 

Norman Jewison was not the most prolific director to come down the pike. IMDb credits him with only 44 entries as director and of those 20 were either TV shows of made for TV movies and documentaries.  So, all-in-all, he only has 24 major motion pictures to his credit.  But of those 24, there are some of the most iconic films of all time.  

In the Heat of the Night is one that many people will remember. As well, he also brought two classic Broadway musicals to the big screen; Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar. One of my favorites, and one that may not be all that well-known, is A Soldier's Story, which I saw in conjunction with a project for a history class, even though it is not based on an actual historical event.

In the 40 year career from his first major theatrical endeavor to his final film had a variety of actors and actresses appear in his films. In the course of those movies there was an interesting  connection to them.  You could almost do a connect the dots with the actors who appeared in his movies, as some would appear in more than one film.

Hence the game that I came up with for this entry.  How are the movies connected with each other?  Admittedly some don't exactly connect in any way on this level.  For instance: Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof are connected by the presence of Barry Donnen, but I could find no way to connect any of the other movies with these two.  (Presumably because the rest of them were not musicals and possibly none of the other actors in those films had any musical ability whatsoever, with the exception of Doris Day, of course.)

This idea came as a result of seeing Edward Andrews' name appear in the list of credits for the first three major theatrical releases in the Jewison oeuvre. So it's fitting that we start there.

Edward Andrews: From 40 Pounds of Trouble-

My experience with Andrews got it's start when I saw him in an old Twilight Zone  episode "Third From the Sun" in which he was ostensibly the villain of the piece. In this movie he plays Herman.

  To The Thrill of it All-

Where Edwards plays Gardiner Farleigh. The main stars of TTOIA are Doris Day who plays the wife of a doctor, who in turn is played by James Gardner.

     To Send Me No Flowers- 

Where Edwards once again shares billing with Doris Day, this time as the doctor of a hypochondriac, played by Tony Randall.

But ....

James Garner, who skipped a leg in this sequence returned in The Art of Love-

Where he played the best friend and roommate of Dick Van Dyke. One of the other players in the film was 

Carl Reiner, who segued from there to-

The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming! -

Where he played a writer on vacation when a broken-down Russian submarine  and it's commander intrudes into his life.  One of the minor characters is Peter Brocco as a preacher.  Brocco also was part of the cast in

Gaily, Gaily - 

Where he played along side of Brian Keith (who had also been with him on the set of TRAC,TRAC!) 

See how they all seem connected?  It goes even further.

Denzel Washington was one of the main featured actors in A Soldiers Story. He was also the star of The Hurricane, a movie which featured a role played by Rod Steiger as the Judge who overturned the main character's conviction.  And we all know Rod Steiger as the Academy Award winning actor in In the Heat of the Night.  He also had a role in the Sylvester Stallone flick F.I.S.T. 

Jack Weston appeared in both Steve McQueen/ Norman Jewison collaborations, The Cincinatti Kid and The Thomas Crown Affair.  And, as stated earlier, Barry Donnen had roles in the two musicals directed by Jewison. Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof. 

And with a few stretches, you could end up linking all of them together.  (By that I mean you'd have to accept one of those Oracle of Kevin Bacon connections. You know, like James Caan was in Rollerball. He also shared the screen with Al Pacino in The Godfather, who was also the star of Jewison's ...And Justice for All.)

Apparently, either Jewison, or his casting directors had a good rapport with a stable of actors and actresses or just a whole lot of people enjoyed working with HIM. 

Or maybe there some finger of fate swirling around the pie filling with her finger.  Either way, this was a fun post to create.  Hope you got a chuckle or two.

Quiggy

Announcing the Barbarians at the Gates Blogathon

 

A muscle-bound, (usually) bare-chested Adonis (or in some cases, a woman, although NOT bare-chested..) stands facing a supernaturally powered horde of enemies, the only one who has the courage to face the onslaught and prevent the success of some evil force from it's nefarious goals.

"Sword and Sorcery" stories and movies have been around since the early days of pulp fiction.  Authors familiar to all, like Robert E. Howard, made a name for this type of fiction, and beginning in the late 50's, Hollywood even got it's fingers in the pie.

The term 'sword and sorcery" was given to the genre by Fritz Leiber, another stalwart of the pulp fiction days, and it was more or less defined by a statement made by another giant of the print industry of the genre, Lin Carter:

"We call a story sword and sorcery when it is an action tale derived from the traditions of the pulp magazine adventure story, set in the land, age or world of the author's invention - a milieu in which magic actually works and the gods are real _ a story, moreover, which pits a stalwart warrior in direct conflict with the forces of supernatural evil."

This blogathon was originally inspired by a long-planned post on the two Arnold Schwarzenegger / Conan films from the 80's and spurred into commitment by my acquisition of a book "Barbarians at the Gates of Hollywood". 

My friend and frequent cohort, Rachel @ Hamlette's Soliloquy agreed to help bring this blogathon into fruition.  The sword and sorcery genre is rife with possibilities, not only in film, but as previously noted, in print.  Therefore it would be a shame to limit the idea to only movies.  Therefore the ground rules are a bit expanded (see rule #1)

Rules for the Barbarians at the Gates Blogathon:

1. Anything that fits the idea of "sword and sorcery" are allowed.  Want to write about Robert E. Howard or one of the other authors who kick-started the theme?  Or any of the plethora of films that have made their way to either the theater or even direct-to-video films?  Any questions about whether an idea fits can be addressed to Rachel or myself, but it's pretty wide open.

2. Only one person per film or idea, but you can go several ways with it.  A general overview of the print genre and an entry specifically on the career of Robert E. Howard, say, would be two different ideas.  The same goes for movies.

3. We would like to limit the entries per person to 3 (if you are that ambitious..), so more people can enter.

4. For your enlightenment the following page will give you some ideas to start with on movies (but not limited to just these.  Got another idea?)

Sword and Sorcery Films

5. The dates of the blogathon are Sept 14-15. Early entries are OK, but we are asking that you post new material. And extensions for late entries could be accepted if you get tied up those days.

6. Please use one of the following banners to help promote the blogathon.

7. Have fun 

Additionally, I have a few gifts which will be in a drawing for all people who post entries in the blogathon.  You could be the winner of one of these.  If you win, I will mail your prize, And postage is not a problem. If you are in the UK, (or elsewhere) you can still be a winner.

Set of 4 pins

20 sided die lapel pin

Dungeons and Dragons lanyard

2 unpainted (sorry) miniatures

This list will be updated as time permits me to do so over the next few weeks.  Here are the entries so far:

The Midnite Drive-In: Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer (the two "Ahnold" entries in the saga).

Hamlette's Soliloquy: Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: (2023) 

Realweegiemidget Reviews: The Beastmaster  (1982)

Soeakeasy: Hercules and the Haunted World (1961)

Whimsically Classic: Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Risque Happenings

 

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This is my entry in the Seventh Broadway Bound Blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room

 

 "Rumors spreadin' 'round

In that Texas town

About that shack outside La Grange.

(You know what I'm talking about.)

Just let me know

If you wanna go

To that home out on the range.

(They got a lot of nice girls there.) 

  Lyrics to "La Grange" by Z Z Top

It was featured in a movie.  Before that it was in a hit Broadway play.  Before that it was paid homage by a boogie band from Texas, Z Z Top (see above).

And before that it was a REAL place. 

"The Chicken Ranch", as it was known, operated from the early 1900's until 1973. Quite a bit of the folklore behind the actual place became a part of the play (and subsequent movie) that was eventually produced.  Local constabulary were indeed involved in keeping the place open and there was also a crusader, Marvin Zindler, who was behind it's eventual closing, in 1973.

Vintage icon

 

The historian (and general "in your face" provocative person) in me thinks the place ought to have been made a state treasure and kept as a historical site. To his credit, the owner has been trying to get a historical marker for the site. The building itself is in such disrepair that it's nothing to look at. Part of it was used to build a bar in Dallas and the rest is in shambles.

Breaks the heart, don't it?

The city of La Grange would like to have visitors come for more than just the "less than reputable" historical site, but there are some memorabilia available on their city website which feature "The Chicken Ranch" on it, so it's not exactly like they are trying to sweep the past under the carpet.

Shop La Grange  (just in case you're interested...)

In 1978 a Broadway musical was produced based on the place and the events surrounding it's eventual closing, written by Peter Masterson and Larry L. King (no relation to Larry King, the radio talk show guy, as far as I know...).  The name of the town was changed from La Grange to a fictional town of Gilbert, but the story was basically the story behind the real place. 

In the play, Miss Mona and the local sheriff, Ed, kept the place running on the up-and-up (so to speak), but pressure from an investigative journalist, Melvin Thorpe, caused the place to come under scrutiny. And eventually causes it to have to close down.

The play garnered some Tony Award attention. (The Tony Awards are the Oscar equivalent for Broadway shows.) It won Best Actor and Best Actress (for Henderson Forsythe and Delores Hall, respectively).  It was also nominated in the categories of Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (the story), Best Direction and Best Choreography.

In 1982, the play was produced as a film, with Dolly Parton as Miss Mona and Burt Reynolds as Ed, with Dom DeLuise as the crusading Melvin. The movie also added a new song (which wasn't exactly "new", as Dolly Parton had first recorded it years earlier) "I Will Always Love You" (later to be recorded by Whitney Houston for The Bodyguard). Note: I always thought "Hard Candy Christmas" was an original Dolly song, too, due to the fact that her version is the one I always hear, but it turns out that it was written for the original musical.

The film version had the production team of Miller-Milkis-Boyett. Who are they, you might  be asking (especially if you don't pay attention to the credits)?  Well, under various incarnations of those three we got a plethora of TV shows of the past.  Those three together were behind the Tom Hanks / Peter Scolari TV show Bosom Buddies. But under Miller-Milkis, we got Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Mork Mindy. And under the Miller-Boyett production label we got Family Matters, Full House (and Fuller House), Perfect Strangers and Step By Step. Surely you've seen one or more of those. (Of course they also gave us Joanie Loves Chachi , but don't hold that against them.) 

This time around, the story was not quite the boffo event that the play had been.  It only made about double it's budget back in ticket sales. Impressive, maybe, but that's only $69 million against a $35 million budget. Musicals, by the early 80's, had become passe', so it's not entirely surprising. I went to see it in it's original theatrical release (mainly for the story; even then I wasn't big on musicals.) But there was also another reason...

Dolly at 36

 

(Hey, what were you expecting from a 20 year old [at the time] male?) 

The movie did garner some notice in the awards community.  Charles Durning as the Governor got a nod for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars.  And the Golden Globes committee gave noms for the picture and Dolly for Best Picture and Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. 

 

No. I'm serious... 36...

It was rated R, of course.  I mean, what were you expecting in a movie about a whorehouse? Eight course dinners? But there are no overtly explicit scenes in it.  Of course, late in the movie there is a raid on the place and many in attendance are caught in flagrante delicto. But it's pretty tame for the most part.  Of course, you wouldn't want to watch it with the young 'uns in the room, but if I have to warn you of that, you didn't read the title of the movie...

So, was it a good film?  Read on.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982):

Note on the pictures: If the caption has "" on it, the caption is the title of the song being sung in the scene.

The film opens with a shocker.  Deputy Fred looks through an old -fashioned stereoscope and then turns and breaks down the fourth wall and addresses you, the viewer:

 

It was the nicest little whorehouse you ever saw

And if you can get past Gomer Pyle touting a house of ill repute, you 're halfway home...

The background is told about the original madam and the original sheriff, both of whom moved the base of operations from the back of the town feed store to a place on the outskirts of town.  And through two world wars, and thick and thin, the place managed to survive.  With sometimes other ways of paying the piper when money was tight. Which included trading chickens for services (thus explaining how the place became know as "The Chicken Ranch"... cute, huh?)

"20 Fans"

The action moves to present day (1973), where the whole plot takes place.  The original madam has passed away, leaving the house and it's environs to Miss Mona (Dolly Parton) who runs the house, with the blessing of the town sheriff, Ed Earl Dodd (Burt Reynolds), where everything is under control by Mona, keeping the place on the up-and-up (more or less).

"Little Bitty Pissant Country Place"

Mona and Ed have a romantic relationship outside of the professional relationship, even though Ed sometimes gets on Mona's nerves, due to his unwillingness to actually be romantic about it. And at this point we get Dolly and Burt (Burt sings???) singing about their relationship.

"Sneakin' Around"

The get together is interrupted by Deputy Fred who tells Ed earl that the mayor is looking for him. Business before pleasure... Trouble is brewing.  The mayor (Raleigh Bond) and town bigwig C. J. (Barry Corbin) inform Ed that a Houston news personality, Melvin P. Thorpe, who has an expose' program called The Watchdog Report, is planning an expose' on the Chicken Ranch.  Not exactly the kind of publicity that the town wants. (although it's intimated in the beginning that the existence of the place is already a known quantity, so you'd think it wasn't that big a deal).

But Ed decides to take matters in his own hands and goes to Houston to take care of the "little peckerwood". Melvin (Dom DeLuise) is not a man to shy away from controversy, especially if it means ratings.  Despite Ed's polite democratic chat, Melvin goes on the air anyway.

"Texas Has a Whorehouse in It!"

And that ain't the worst of it.  Melvin takes his show on the road and sets up a live broadcast in front of the county courthouse.  But he may have bit off more than he can chew as Ed runs his oversized butt out of town, with a few choice words to go with him.  But then again, maybe Ed misjudged the power of an egotistical self-righteous publicity hunter like Melvin P. Thorpe.

Ed and Mona go out camping and (Product placement warning) drink Schlitz beer.  Now, why, in God's name, are they not drinking Lone Star?  It is Texas, after all... oh, well...  Anyway, that night Melvin runs the video of Ed chewing him out. Shoulda been a little more discreet, there, Ed.

The city leaders convince Ed to have Mona shut down the place for a couple of months until the storm blows over and Mona agrees.  But she forgot about the annual celebration.  See, after every year's Texas / Texas A&M football game the seniors of the winning team get treated to a party at the Chicken Ranch.  And we can't be breaking tradition, what would we be if we broke tradition...? Savages, that's what!

So she goes back on her promise, but it's only going to be for the football celebration, so things should go all right if she waits until tomorrow. And with A&M the victors, the team is highly anticipating their celebration.

The Aggies Song"

(Just a side note: it's supposed to be a winning present but it's also supposed to be only the seniors. If that's the case, then when this class graduates, A&M may have trouble next year... Because it looks like the whole team is in attendance.)

And, of course, as luck would have it, the Watchdog crew goes through town on it's way out to the Ranch.  And Fred gives Ed the bad news.  Miss Mona is not closed down entirely. Melvin and his crew arrive and take pictures which includes one of the district's Senator (Robert Mandan). Ed arrives just a little too late to put out the fire before it starts. Mona and Ed have some harsh words, and he leaves. 

He leaves town to go to Austin to discuss the situation with the governor. And finally, an hour and 20 minutes into the movie we finally get to see The Governor (Charles Durning).  

"The Sidestep"

Why do I say finally?  Because Durning was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at that year's Oscars.  While admittedly there have been nominees with less screen time in a film (his on screen time only amounts to about 10 minutes, 6 of which is his song and dance number...), I would hazard a guess that it was the latest in a movie for one of those who garnered that nomination to make their appearance.  (And, BTW,  I'm not going to speculate on who SHOULD have won. Louis Gossett, Jr actually took the award for An Officer and a Gentleman, but also in the running were Robert Preston for Victor/Victoria, John Lithgow for The World According to Garp and James Mason for The Verdict. Based on those, I'm guessing that Durning was possibly lucky if he came in fourth in the voting.)

Ed tries to get the Governor to use his power to keep the place open, but being a politician, he refuses to do anything before knowing which way the wind blows. Once he gets the results of a poll that has a majority in favor of closing it, however, he tells Ed he has to shut it down.

Ed calls to break the bad news to Mona, who has to break the news to her girls.  And she finds out about Ed's trip to Austin to try to get the Governor's help in keeping it open.

"Hard Candy Christmas"

The ending of the movie has Ed showing up and repairing the damage as best he can.  He tells Mona he wants to marry her.  Mona, for her part, tells Ed he would be better off, since he has a future in politics, to do without being married to a former prostitute.

"I Will Always Love You"

But Ed is nothing if not determined. He takes Mona's stuff off the truck she had packed to leave town and throws it in his own truck.  And they drive off into the sunset.

So it occurs to me that this movie quite possibly could be rated as a "romantic comedy". If so, it is one more in a very relative few in that genre that I like.

If you made it this far into the review, and haven't decided it offends your sensibilities, I'm going to leave you with a final few tidbits of trivia. All courtesy of IMDb, so take them as you will, depending on your trust in the authenticity of the site:

First, the part of Ed Earl went to Burt, but there were several others who had been considered for the part including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Gene Hackman.  Miss Mona had her own list of candidates, including Crystal Gayle and Barbara Mandrell. And by the way, does anybody else besides me think Lois (Dulcie Mae) Nettleton looks a lot like Mandrell? I actually though she was until I watched the credits...

And also, in the role of The Governor, Mickey Rooney was considered.  It was Burt himself who suggested that Charles Durning be given a shot at the role.

At the end of the movie Burt picks up Dolly and carries her to his truck.  He supposedly suffered a double hernia as a result.

Despite the prurient subject matter, this movie is a fun movie to watch. 

Really... 36!!!

Well, folks, time to get the old Plymouth on down the road.  I'm going straight home.  Really.  I am NOT going to route a detour through some little pissant country place.  Honest!

Quiggy

The Neighbors Are Coming Over: The Neighbors Blogathon Roll Call

 

Well folks, it's Memorial Day Weekend and the neighbors are coming.  Open up the bottle and set the table for the dinner.  (Or lock your doors and put up the "Gone for the summer." sign... your choice.)

We have a full slate of guests on their way.  Keep checking back to this page or check my co-host's page at Taking Up Room. We will be updating our respective pages as the neighbors start showing up.

Earl and Enid and Vic and Ramona get to know each other as new Neighbors (posted by The Midnite Drive-In)

Daniel meets Bruno in Next Door/Nebenan (posted by Realweegiemidget Reviews)

Grady and Fred Sanford are neighbors on TV's Sanford and Son (posted by By Rich Watson)

Those wacky Satanists next door are the focus in Rosemary's Baby (posted by johnrieber)

Laurel and  Hardy are neighbors in Sons of the Desert  (posted by Critica Retro)

Tommy has trouble with the neighbors in The Window (posted by NitrateGlow)

The Neighbors from Hell

 

 

This is my entry in The Neighbors  Blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room and yours truly.

OK.  So here's a premise.  You've got a low-key, sedate and almost milquetoast man.  He lives a day-to-day life with his equally mousy wife.  Until a loud brash and overly invasive neighbor and his sexpot wife move next door.  Now you cast Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the male characters.  So which one is the obnoxious one and which one is the guy you would be comfortable with because you know he is a quiet kind of guy?

It's just quite possible you've got those two roles switched.  At least, if you are like me and remember Belushi as Bluto in Animal House or Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers. If that's the case you probably think Belushi is playing to type and is the radical invasive new neighbor.

But here's the kicker.  It's Belushi who is the laid back quiet guy and it's Aykroyd who is the neighbor from Hell.

If you've ever wondered what kind of future Belushi might have had if he hadn't let drugs take priority in his life, Neighbors is an insight into his potential.  Aykroyd lived long enough to show a wide range of possibilities as an actor Sure he made a mark in some off-key roles in movies like Doctor Detroit and, of course, Ghostbusters, but he also had some straight-laced roles like the son of Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy. I like to think that Belushi might have made some similar roles work, too.  And as Earl Keese, I think he showed some potential to move that direction.

For instance, Eating Raoul, which involves a couple of would-be swingers who put in want ads for sex couplings in the personal ads with the intention of luring them in and killing them to supply food for a struggling restaurant.  (It's funny, trust me, if you can get past the somewhat off-setting initial premise.)

Neighbors was based on a novel by Thomas Berger.  Berger is probably best known as the author of the novel Little Big Man, which was filmed starring Dustin Hoffman.  The  script for Neighbors  was written by Larry Gelbart, the man behind the scenes writing for the TV series M.A.S.H. The movie was directed by John G. Avildsen, the Academy Award winning director of Rocky (as well as having directed the first three Karate Kid movies).  The soundtrack was written by Bill Conti, himself an Academy Award winner (The Right Stuff).  As you can see, the movie has enough of a cache of talent that it should have been a winner.

Oh, and by the way, just a point of pre-history.  The original casting of this film did have Aykroyd and Belushi playing the opposite roles.  Would it have been the same?  Or would this be a movie buried even farther into the dark past as just a knock-off follow up to previous Belushi/Aykroyd endeavors?  Who knows?

So here we go with Neighbors (not to be confused with the movie of the same name with the same name from 2014 with Seth Rogen and Zach Efron).

 

Neighbors (1981):

One of the hallmarks of what I refer to as dark comedy is that expectations are never what you get. Watch out with this one, though.  Just when you think you've finally got a line on it, the fish wil slip the hook and leave you wondering where it went.

Earl (John Belushi) and Enid (Kathryn Walker)  Keese are a typical suburban couple who live on a cul-de-sac in which there are only two houses.  

 

The Keese household looks pretty sedate, although the neighboring house is kind of run-down.  (To me it looks sort of like a reject for the Bates house in Psycho... which may or may not be fitting considering what is to come.

 

The neighbor house has been empty for a few months, but there are new neighbors moving in.   Here comes the neighbors.  Vic (Dan Aykroyd) and Ramona (Cathy Moriarty).  Earl observes they've got new neighbors and they are not shy at all. 

 
First to show up is Ramona, who basically makes herself at home (in more ways than one).  

Then Vic shows up. 

 

Both of them are uninhibited.  As to why, well, that's a secret we don't find out until late in the movie.  Suffice to say, the (mostly) proper Earl is a bit put off.  Especially since his wife doesn't seem to ever see much of the strangeness, and that which she does see is taken for charm by Enid.

At the outset, Vic invites himself and Ramona over for dinner.  He volunteers to go get take out from an Italian place in town, generously offering to drive Earl's car for the job. And use Ear's money.  (Geez, what a stand-up guy...)

Except Vic takes the money and then goes over to his house and cooks up a spaghetti meal in his own kitchen.  Earl spies on him and, apparently, decides that is not too kosher.  So he decides to play a trick on Vic and move his truck.  Except the truck has no brakes, so it ends up at the bottom of a swamp. (Why is a swamp in this cul-de-sac in suburbia?  Who knows?)

Things go back and forth between Earl and Vic.  And Earl also has to deal with Ramona who seems determined to put Earl at ill ease by coming on to him.  Which Earl is not entirely put off by.  (Maybe Earl isn't the dedicated husband he tries to put up a front as, after all..)

Interspersed with this is the arrival of Earl and Enid's daughter,  Elaine (Lauren-Marie Taylor), home from school because she has been kicked out of the private school she was attending.  Elaine also likes Vic and Ramona and doesn't see any of the shenanigans.

 

One of the highlights of the film is the appearance of Pa Greavey (Tim Kazurinsky), a crotchety old geezer who operates an all-night auto shop and towing service who shows up to get Vic's truck out of the swamp.  Of course, initially, he thinks Earl's car is the one he has been called to tow, and is quite put out when he finds absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

Eventually Vic's actions end up with the house next door catching on fire and burning down.  And the truth comes out.  Vic and Ramona did not actually buy the house.  They just commandeered it from their nurse at the mental institution they escaped from.  Vic and Ramona are not married, they did not have insurance on the house and they are basically on the run from the insane asylum. And are going to hit the road (because what other choice do they have?)

They return, however and invite Earl to go with them.  And because Earl's boring life has been dramatically changed (for better or worse, you decide), he decides to go with them.

 

There you go.  As much as this movie had going for it, it did manage a profit (probably due to expectations from fans of Belushi for another madcap performance from the star of Animal House). But it never really was  a big hit. Of course, dark comedy is what might be called an "acquired" taste/ but if you like movies like Heathers and War of the Roses this film might appeal to you.

Well folks, if your neighbors are not like these guys, you probably owe a prayer of thanks.  Or maybe, just maybe, you could use something to shake up the dull life.  Either way, be sure to drive safely.

Quiggy