OldSchool's Replies


I thought that it was 100% ironic for Maher to call ANYONE obnoxious. To me, he is the epitome of it! Started a professional photography studio in downtown Minneapolis, 2500 sq ft, shot advertising and fashion. Was a huge amount of work and the work came in faster and faster until I couldn't keep up with it all. ok. :) humor rec'd. :) Hey thanks! I am new here, not a fan of murderers, no matter if they are killers or killers of killers. ;) Shogun: I read that they have a man in custody that they suspect, he is a Greek hitman that was in prison. The biggest complaint I read was stated by a former Prison Warden who said, "you don't put a high visibility prisoner like Bulger in general population, that warden just was setting Bulger up to be killed. Especially an older guy in a wheelchair." The hitman was a guy that hated men that hurt women and Whitey was known to have killed women so that was part of it. well, to be honest, I miss the 60's. But, I might be a bit older than you. ;) It was a simpler time, less stress, less crime, certainly less VIOLENT crime and much less drugs. It was a time when America was stretching it's arms and waking up. Now we are what we are and I question if the country will even exist as a separate country in 50-100 years. I also wanted to mention that I thought that Bunchie's character was the one that was THE most human, realistic, and down to earth. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and as a fellow alcoholic (with 35 yrs of sobriety) I can certainly relate to that trait! It was his past that hurt him and to this very minute he is still reliving the pain on a daily basis. Every decision, every choice he makes today or tomorrow is affected by what happened to him as a child. And he shows us that so skillfully. I choose a series or film I like by how well the actors make me think about the person they are portraying, or secondly, how much they make me hate them. The person that I hated in the series was that old shrew that leant Mickie money and who talked in "short bursts" and pursed her lips when thinking or before telling you what she has decided will happen to you, regardless of your concerns, thoughts or feelings. Ray was a powerful character on screen, but Bunchie made me sad for him, he made me worry about his next move. Will the female wrestler hurt him, steal his money, will he drive the getaway car ok, will Mickie use him again, and on and on. Fascinating theory. I spent 6+ months there and never heard that "urban legend" uttered. I suppose that in the past there may have been some truth to it but I would be hard pressed to believe it now. I spent hundreds of hours printing the photos taken and relived the pain each person experienced at their tragic end, over and over. Each negative got more painful to print, the enlarger was not forgiving and opened it's lens to show all of us how terrible and cruel death can be when it comes to take you. Regardless of fame, fortune or wealth each person on this flight was brought to be equal with the others at the end. Ironically that was the second plane crash I had been part of, the other was a P3 Orion that crashed in Maine in 1978 I believe it was. This provided me with the ability to step outside myself and do the job. What no one will ever tell you is that when you come home from a job like that, working in and around the rubble, burnt corpses, and spending day after day searching for clues and documenting each one with a camera, is that you literally have to throw your clothes away because the smell will almost never come out. You shower with a ferventness and try hard to wash your hair clean of the scent... I am working hard to be very respectful of the situations and not over dramatize it and certainly not to feel at all sorry for myself, but rather to represent the truths of working in these extremely complicated scenarios and presenting it in a non-cinematic manner or fashion. These types of situations are represented daily on screen and what the movie screen cannot and does not do is to represent the reality of each situation, that being that those that document, study, explore, scientifically work to examine it all can never put a simple handkerchief over the memories, they are implanted for eternity. My point, you ask? There is nothing romantic about working in the industry that helps study the accidents or murders after the fact, but there is something that needs to be said and that is, every person involved in the chain of command needs to be given the utmost of respect because it is a "permantly ugly scar on that persons memory or soul" Eric56: Ant. is a multi country agreement that it would be used only for scientific purposes until 2100 or something like that. After that I believe the agreement will need to be renewed. Minorly so. Having grown up in northern MN I was completely used to working, playing and traveling in that clime. I had winter camped and done many miles of snowshoeing in my teen years in MN. I suspect and hope there is truth to that suspicion. I see little reason for them to be there, it's so cold and there is NO public recreation, the reason anyone goes it to brag back home that..."I went to Antarctica, just got back, gosh it was cold!!" The day I landed, Nov 28th 1979 was the day that the traumatic incident of the New Z airliner accident in Antarctica occured, when the pilot erroneously crashed into Mt Erebus. If I do recall he was new to that particular flight as it was not a heavily traveled one, and mistook his headings and hit the side of it. People had paid $10k per to make the flight, all 247 were killed, sadly. It was a celebratory flight of Scotts Expedition if I remember correctly. Keep in mind I am 64 and that was almost 38 yrs ago. That was a very sad day for all and the entire base was swept into action and people were flown in that were expert ice climbers from China and Japan to help ascend the side of the volcano and hopefully find survivors. Unfortunately that was not the case...even if they had survived the crash the weather most likely would have caused them to succumb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_New_Zealand_Flight_901 I went to Antarctica! I loved it down there. I ate lunch with the greatest scientific minds in the world every day!! I went as a photographer to document the science projects and had the greatest experiences a person could ask for. I camped out in 80 below, using 3 sleeping bags, one inside the next. The food is second to none because it's a psychological advantage for your employees to look forward to their meals instead of hating the quality of it and being disgusted about that. If a person eats well they are often a happier employee and I met no one down there that was unhappy in the least. I went with the New Z dogsled team over to the back side of Mt Erebus (a live volcano) and skiied down the side of it on New Years Eve, 1980. They had a tow rope and generator set up so people could actually go there and say they skiied down the volcano. And I can! I met wonderful intelligent people that were there for one purpose: to help the science community advance knowledge of the surrounding environment and seeing how that affected and applied to the rest of the world. How great is that?? Oh, I have to say that I loved Mickies character, not in who he was but how well Jon Voight made us hate the guy, laugh at him and somehow, feel sorry for him too. He is always scheming, always manipulating, always being the consumate con, and doing it so well you completely FORGET that its a tv show, not real life. To me, thats a sign of a great show. And of course, Ray's character is impeccable and played so well that I find myself admiring him and very often, dissapointed in him when his character flaws are so huge the word chasm wouldn't apply. But when you boil it all down, its ALL due to how he was abused. Same with Bunch, same with Terry. Mickie doesn't reveal much about his childhood but when he does, its an unhealthy situation as well. All those things added up make for an incredible series that I find myself looking forward to sitting down and watching the next episode!