Relativity

The interesting thing about the 10 Commandments movie is that all the major co-stars seem so appropriate for the Halloween season. Each of the folks I used for the puzzle are known to be fairly scary.

Vincent Price is, after all, the Master of the Macabre. Who else would be creepy enough to provide the voiceover for "Thriller"?

Yeah, I know he never played anyone as creepy as Michael Jackson was in real life, but still...you gotta love his voice. And with the exception of Yvonne DeCarlo, the other folks in the puzzle all have very distinctive voices, as well.




Yul Brenner's rogue cowboy robot was one of the scariest things I'd seen on the screen at the time Westworld came out. It's still one of my favorite horror movies, and its tagline is a classic: "Westworld--Where nothing can go worng!"

One bit of Westworld trivia: James Brolin (the first guy Yul plugs in the movie) is also in "Capricorn One" with O.J. Simpson...who also turned out to be an unstoppable machine who went haywire. Hmm.

Eddie G usually played scary guys throughout a career founded on gangster roles. Another instantly recognizable voice, he became the inspiration for Chief Wiggum on the Simpsons. (Hmm. Two Simpson references in two paragraphs -- you see how this stuff all fits together?) Anyway, more about Mr. Robinson in a moment.

As for the Munsters, well, I have to admit that they still strike terror into my fragile heart, much like Gilligan does. If someone turns the channel to a Munsters episode, I run screaming from the house.

I love John Carradine, though. He's always entertaining, and he parlayed his odd combination of aristocratic and lugubrious character traits into a long and successful career. Though he often played ghoulish roles, his largest contribution to horror was unleashing the dual evils of David and Keith Carradine upon an unsuspecting and innocent world. (I have no problem with his other son Robert -- he was in "Revenge of the Nerds," and I have a deep fondness for nerds, for obvious reasons.)

Anyway, what does any of this have to do with dump trucks?

The answer is that Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson were pals in the movie "Soylent Green," which (in an eerie foreshadowing of Obamacare) discusses what happens when government takes over the health and wellness industries. The other strange coincidence is that Heston's nemesis is played by Chuck Connors, who also had a role in "Support Your Local Gunfighter" as a relentless bald killer who was stalking a pair of genial fellows who were just having a good time. Copying Yul Brenner? I dunno -- that's a tough call. Yul was bald long before Soylent Green came out, but Westworld was released two years after that. I don't know what to think; perhaps they were both just imitating Otis Sistrunk.

Oh well. When I started writing this blurb, I was planning to talk about my Saturday run (with its lack of bear encounters), the stroke clinic we did on Sunday, and the fact that I seem to be needing more sleep these days. But those topics will have to wait. For now, I have to get ready for track practice. I need to make it a good one -- You never know how long it'll be until we have nice weather like this again.

Have a great day!