I want these 7 hours back. I just finished watching Stephen King’s “The Stand”, a mini-series that I recorded on SyFy. It runs 8 hours with commercials, but I’m so handy with my remote that I can save tons of time. Even on something where I know the story back and forth.
Read the book a couple of decades ago. Enjoyed it. Re-read the book, when it was re-released as an extended version. Re-enjoyed it, even though the new edition’s main addition to the old edition was a homo-erotic side story that had zero to do with the outcome. When the mini-series originally aired, I caught bits and bobs of it, but this was in the days before TiVo and DVRs, and I apparently did not have a blank VHS tape. Anyway, over the past few days, I learned a couple of things…three actually.
1) Gary Sinise got much better as an actor. These were not his finest 7 hours. Stu Redman was no Lt. Dan or Ken Mattingly. Oh, come on, do you need to go to IMDB.com? Forrest Gump & Apollo 13.
2) How on earth did our generation stand for Molly Ringwald as a leading lady? Yeah, I still like Sixteen Candles, but it’s because of Anthony Michael Hall’s sublime rendition of The Geek/Farmer Ted, the finest acting job of all time. Yeah, Nicholson, Brando & Olivier, I said it…AMH kicks all of your asses. Tell me when DVRs have a Ringwald-filter. And a Whoopi-filter, Juliet-Lewis-filter and Rachel-McAdams-phony-smile-filter would be great, too, while they’re at it.
3) Do I remember the 3rd? That diatribe in #2 took a lot out of me. Oh, yes…when you’re 1 hour into a 4-part mini-series, and you’re not enjoying it…STOP WATCHING IT. I failed to follow this advice, because it was not written until an hour or so after finishing it. Now I’m mad and I’m picking on poor Molly Ringwald. She still phoned it in.
This is a tie blog, right? Sheesh, sorry.
Farfalle di Vincenzo
Dr. Vince Roberts, a great new friend of mine, and big fan of 100 Days, 100 Ties, was one of the first to suggest bow ties as part of my project. On Monday, he gave me today’s Bow Tie du Jour, and he mentioned that there was a story to it. Here’s what he had to say…
So, I have been wearing bow ties since high school, where ties were mandatory. I always tied my own, paying homage to my grandfather, Vincenzo Grilli, who always wore bow ties (“farfalle”) in his small-town law practice and said they looked more professional and that it was certainly more difficult to get tomato sauce on a bow tie; so why even consider a long tie?
A few years ago, I made the decision to start wearing them more regularly again. I informed my wife that bow ties were on the holiday gift list for me that year. As these things go, holiday gifts had always been fraught with let’s say “near misses,” but we did enjoy some perfect gifts from time to time. While shopping, I showed her a few gorgeous striped silk bows that she said reminded her of the one she helped me tie for my high school graduation. Well, Christmas morning arrives, the kids are wildly shredding paper to get to their gifts, and then it’s my turn to open. The look on my face told the
story of the near miss: a solid blue clip-on tuxedo tie. Another gift revealed the second – a green clip on tuxedo tie. The third? A maroon clip-on, and the fourth is the tie you are wearing today. This yellow silk patterned bow is the best of that bunch and the only one I kept these past few years. So, I have chosen to set this “farfalle” free and give it to you, to be worn and enjoyed. As this silly bow tie signifies a watershed in my relationship, one fraught with near misses, may it grace your neck, avoid tomato sauce and charm your onlookers. Enjoy it!
Couldn’t have written it better myself. Grazie, Vincenzo. Vince is going through a split, as I am, and I am looking forward to drinking some Chianti (which will also spill less–in theory–on a bow tie) with him as we go through the change.
As clip-on bow ties go, this one was tough to tell that it wasn’t tied. It has real character, which you don’t see in the tuxedo-type clippers. And I have to say that the French and Italian terms for bow ties–noeud papillon & farfalle–are much more fun.
Anyway, I have to get some sleep. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the tie, Vince.
Brooke
100 Days, 100 Ties 
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