When Magnum, P. I. came out, I watched it religiously every week for years. Tom Selleck was my dream man come to life in all outward appearance - for a time, I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall. But life went on, real lovers came and went, and I lost track of him.
I haven't watched broadcast television for many years, and I had no idea he was/is starring in another hit TV show at this late date. Good for him. He looks like somebody's gruff old grandpa now - but a sexy grandpa. CBS Sunday Morning gives us the update on Selleck and his remarkable career:
Far, far away in a never-never land of swimming pools and movie stars sits a fabled mansion long celebrated in song and story, which every American over fifty, say, will instantly recognize - and indeed, feel intimately acquainted with, despite never having set foot in it. The name of the house - most incongruously to our British friends, I'm sure - is Chartwell, and it rises atop a bluff in Bel Air, commanding a breathtaking view from the mountains to the city to the sea.
And now this home of dreams, so well remembered, so fondly admired, can be yours - for only $245 million. With 11 bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, and a 5-bedroom guest house, the property can easily accommodate you, your whole dadburn family, a passel of country cousins, and all the critters you can stand. And rest assured that no element of comfort or convenience has been overlooked: it comes complete with a 40-car garage, a 12,000-bottle wine cellar, a cement pond in the back yard, and a terrace big enough for hanging out your laundry and cooking up all the rhumatiz' medicine you require.
Unfortunately, there are no photographs of the interior in this presentation video, so you just might have to bring your own pot passers for the fancy eatin' room.
But the presentation is just not complete without the theme song, which starts at the :30 mark below:
If any of you peckerwoods do buy this place, you be sure and drop ol' Russ a postcard, and tell me all about it.
A few weeks ago, amidst a discussion of what I call Southern Standard English, my dear old British chum Tim roused himself from the languors of life on the Costa del Sol to contradict your Head Trucker on a point of English usage: to wit, whether the verb to reckon, in the sense of "suppose," is or is not still in everyday use by the inhabitants of the United Kingdom.
I was, I need hardly tell you fellas, much distressed at having gotten this wrong, according to Tim, a native speaker and stalwart Man of Kent who ought to know about such things. I have at one time or another taken some pains to inform myself about all manner of niceties of the Queen's English, and I could scarcely believe I had been so self-deluded.
But I was not, and I have the incontrovertible proof in hand: if you have half a minute to spare, boys, kindly direct your attention to the following marks in these episodes of the endlessly fascinating BBC art-investigation series Fake or Fortune? - one of the regulars of which is the eminent art historian Bendor Grosvenor (B.A., Camb.; Ph.D., E. Ang.) - a scion of the Dukes of Westminster, as anyone could guess by his heraldic name alone - whom I reckon no one could accuse of having an incorrect, or even an inelegant vocabulary.
Please listen for just a moment to him saying "I reckon" at about the 5:15 mark of this 2014 episode on a work by Gainsborough, and again at 5:30:
And likewise at about the 25:15 mark of this 2012 episode on a work by Van Dyck.
Presenter Fiona Bruce says it at about 2:00 in this episode on a work by Winslow Homer:
And ceramics expert David Battle uses the verb in the interrogative at about 3:45 in this clip from Antiques Roadshow:
The original Candid Camera with Allen Funt and Durwood Kirby was always hilarious. Here's a clip, undated, that is sure to make you smile. My sides hurt now.
What do the Brits watch on the telly when they aren't lapping up American re-runs? Siobhan Thompson gives us a rundown on the ten most popular - and rather curious - British shows:
Labor Day is here, the last fling of summer. It's too hot to cook a big meal, but you invited all those people over for brunch - what to serve with the mimosas? Julia shows just what to do for a delicious, elegant brunch with baked eggs, shirred eggs, and omelettes, all easy as can be and takes no time at all. First broadcast January 1, 1964 - fifty years ago already, if you can believe it. Where does the time go?
Julia gives a shout-out in this episode to her British counterpart, Fanny Craddock, whom I'll feature in an upcoming post.
Sixty years ago, the inimitable Groucho Marx held court every week on his game show, You Bet Your Life, where the comedian's ad libs were more entertaining than the actual game play. In this episode, the old lady who appears at about the 19:00 mark is a real hoot - the only guest who ever made Groucho put away his trademark cigar!
I'm sure many of my truckbuddies will, as I do, remember What's My Line fondly - the original series ran on CBS from 1950 to 1967, and was always entertaining, always elegant. It's hard to watch these shows now and not weep for the decline of intelligence, beauty, and civilized behavior. But if you need an antidote to all the sad, distressing news of late, try this delightful episode featuring, as a stand-in, the lovely young Margaret Truman - and some surprising guest occupations!
A guest post by my truckbuddy Tim from England, now resident in Spain.
Guest Post: He’s so Fine
Prequel III – Whirlybirds, Wetsuits & Wet Dreams
Today I’m hanging up the saddle and leaving the cowboys in the bunk house till later. I do hope they behave!
In this post we’re getting all technical. Helicopters and submarines replace horses and stagecoaches. And we swap rugged guys in Stetsons and leather chaps for modern-day action heroes, muscles in neoprene and Ray-Bans. Kids’ TV in the late 1950’s was moving away from fixed-location, historical genres to technology-based series. Atomic power and space rockets were now science fact; science fiction and fantasy were becoming the new frontiers.
Once again I’ve selected three television classics, which, although from my childhood, strangely parallel my later adult life - though whether by co-incidence or design I’m not sure as yet; perhaps a little of both. So this could become a tale of discovery - see what you think.
Oh, and I almost forgot. Remember last time I left you a series of clues for one of the shows in today’s post – wetsuits, submarines and actor Mark Slade? Well, if you haven’t guessed it yet, read on to discover the answer!
This is the sort of thing I have in mind today, our friend Brian Kelly (of Flipper fame) in a scene from the film Around the World under the Sea.
No Brian, not that sort of wet suit! Go and change, please . . .
. . . yes, that’s better . . . although . . . I did kinda like that first one too. . . .
First off is the Whirlybirds - I was 5 when it started its 4 year run in 1957. It’s hard to understate how exciting I found this series as a small boy, with the whirr and clatter of the little bug-eyed helicopter, as my two heroes Chuck and PT took off on yet another daring escapade. Here they are:
A guest post by my truckbuddy Tim from England, now resident in Spain:
He’s So Fine
Prequel II – Cowboy Dreams
I wanna be the guy who wears the white hat and rides across the plain
I'm gonna be your enigmatic stranger Honey, you’re lookin' at your Shane
Cowboy dreams, cowboy dreams You give me cowboy dreams
--Cowboy Dreams by Paddy McAllon
Remember a while back I wrote some self-revelatory stories under the title He’s So Fine. Part I went back to my adolescent crush Wayne and starred the sexy Steve McQueen . . .
. . . whilst Part 2 featured the gorgeous Cam Gigandet doubling as a more recent crush, my Spanish friend José.
Then I wrote a Prequel, which looked back to some of my earliest memories and childhood heroes. It featured Champion The Wonder Horse, Tales of Wells Fargo, and Flipper. You fellows seemed to like that prequel, so here is Prequel II, where we take a look at another three of my all-time childhood favourite TV shows. They cover my age from 3 to 19, and whilst there may not be too many self-revelations this time, I hope you’ll be entertained by the personal anecdotes, and perhaps rekindle some happy memories of your own.
It’s not by chance that Steve is wearing cowboy gear in the image above, for Prequel II is all about the Wild West and cowboys, those chaps in leather and especially requested by your Head Trucker. I’m not sure which is more beautiful, Steve or the scenery, but thanks to Mother Nature for both!
The fact that Cam is in a wetsuit will give you a clue to the content of Prequel III, which is currently on the drooling board, er, I mean drawing board!
Contributed by my truckbuddy Tim from England, now resident in Spain:
Everyone is doing trilogies these days: The Hobbit, Iron Man, Lord of the Rings. Never one to lag behind the times, the Big Blue Truck has commissioned a third ‘He’s So Fine’ because you, dear reader, seemed to like the first two. So welcome to Part 0, the prequel to Part 1, which went back to my adolescent crush Wayne and starred the sexy Steve McQueen . . .
. . . and a precursor to Part 2, with the gorgeous Cam Gigandet doubling as a more recent crush, my friend José. Good news about José by the way: he has a motorbike again, so my fiery Spanish stallion has not been put out to retirement just yet!
This prequel takes us even further back in time than Part 1, back to some of my earliest memories and childhood heroes. This is another voyage of discovery for me, and hopefully it will be for you too. It stems in part from some discussions Russ and I have had on at what age you first realise you are gay, in your infancy or teens, or if, as some think, that you are born that way, the gay-gene theory. Was I gay at birth or at 5, or was it, as I have always previously thought, at puberty? Currently I’m not quite so sure, so by going back to analyse earlier thoughts and recollections I hope to shed more light on the subject. It’s also a good excuse to look back at some of the hunks and heroes that appeared in children’s TV all those years ago; which in itself is no bad thing. Who were your heroes?
If you sit down and list your childhood favourites I think you’ll be surprised at how many there are. From my own list of 10 or so all-time favourites, far too many to include in one post, I have whittled them down to my top three. They cover my age from 3 to 16, which hopefully will provide a good basis for my analysis. I’ve put them in chronological order to help you follow my development, and because it’s easier to write that way!
Your Head Trucker hasn't watched broadcast television for nigh on twenty years now, so there are a lot of shows I've missed - which is the point.
But every once in a while, on YouTube or Netflix I come across something that engages my interest and is decent enough to watch. Like this one I'm now working my way through the episodes of, Restaurant Impossible. I suppose most of my truckbuddies are already familiar with it, but if you aren't, it's worth a look.
At first, I took the host, Chef Robert Irvine, to be another one of those ranting ravers so very popular now - why do you people out there in TV land like to watch people berating other people and making them feel like shit - dehumanizing them? Which, by the way, takes no talent whatsoever - even a toddler can be ugly and maliciously cruel. Have you ever asked youself why you get off on that? You must, by the tens of millions, or those shows wouldn't stay on the air year after year, now would they?
But as I got into the first episode, I began to detect that underneath the contrived drama, he not only knows his way around a kitchen expertly, but he also has excellent teaching skills and people skills too - between bouts of shouting for the benefit of the cameras, he displays a lot of empathy where it's truly needed. He's a very sharp fellow, and a good guy; he really does help these people, if they have sense enough to learn their lesson.
So I can recommend it for those qualities, and because it's very educational. (Also because the butch head carpenter would be very studly if he had some hair on his face and weren't straight as a board - pity.) I've never done any sort of restaurant work, and I see that a lot of other people shouldn't do any. I suppose because no degrees or credentials are required, quite a few simple souls suppose that because they can pour soup out of a can, they can run a restaurant, ooh!
Which is sadly NOT the case, as witness this entirely clueless couple in South Carolina whom Robert labors mightily to enlighten:
And he really rips these cafe queens down in Florida a new one, but it's for their own good:
Somewhere in the back of my mind persists the idea I had in childhood that of course all grown-ups know what they're doing; and so it still registers with a faint shock to learn that they don't. In fact, it seems to me now that the vast majority of folks really haven't got a clue about anything: in many, many cases, what passes for success is really due not to talent or skill but to a kind of animal persistence and just sheer dumb luck.
Ran across these outtakes from Groucho Marx's old quiz program, You Bet Your Life - which your Head Trucker is old enough to remember watching - and thought I'd share 'em with you fellas just for laughs. These were NOT broadcast to the public; you'll see why.
1. Best line: at the 5:40 mark, "Have you ever been made love to by a Frenchman?"
2. Best line: at the 5:50 mark, "Everything I do is a bad habit." Texas gal gets off a couple more good ones too.
As a follow-up to my review of Ray earlier this week, have to share with my Truckbuddies this clip from the Cosby Show, with the whole Huxtable family getting down on the Ray Charles classic. The littlest girl - what was her name? - singing the backup vocal part is just priceless.
It won't embed, but click on this link and watch it for a great start to your weekend, guys.
Is it just me or does anyone else see the Obamas as a kind of real-life fulfillment of what the Huxtables were meant to portray? Minus the silliness and playing for laughs, of course.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
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