semi-famous people run-ins … see How I Ended Up Living with Former NDP Leader,
Audrey McLaughlin, How I Hung with Miles Davies, and How I Ended Up Twisting on Stage with Chubby Checker …
today’s post is How I Ended Up Dinning with Alien Star, John
Hurt.
in the original Alien movie. He’s the first to get consumed by the alien thingee
when they land on the planet and investigate the alien ship. It is there where
he – rather foolishly – leans over and gazes into one of the pod eggs. You’ll
remember the pod spews forth an alien octopus thing which crashes through this
helmet and imbeds itself on his face. Yuck!
went on to roles in Spaceballs, where he spoofs the scene in Alien where they’ve
removed the alien octopus and they’re having dinner around the table when bango,
things get a little gross and the alien baby breaks out of his chest (it’s really gross and I won’t put a picture of it up but if you’re interested, click here); and most
recently in V for Vendetta, where he played Adam Sulter.
London in 1984 visiting my great Auntie M, and my cousin, Nicholas. I think it was ’84?? … I don’t quite remember … I was much younger and drank back then! he he. My great auntie is
quite the women. She’s been there; done that with everyone! She’ll soon be 80 and
is still going strong. The picture below was taken on her 70th birthday!
Auntie M was
a child of the European theatre set and danced/acted her way across the stages
of Rome, Paris and London. The homes she owned in Bedford Park were some of the
first ‘suburbs’ ever in London (designed by Richard Norman Shaw and finished off
by architect EJ May in the 1880s). The area was very popular with writers and
artists, especially those of the Arts & Crafts movement (think William Morris
and John Ruskin). I know she rented the back house to the BeeGees when they
first descended on the UK in the 1960s, and there was some famous artist or
other renting it out when I was there in ’84 but I forget
who.
Dustin Hoffman when she’s in LA and she spent months on Fire Island caring for
Patricia Neal (actress who won an Academy Award for her role in Hud; and famous
for her affair with Gary Cooper) after her stroke in 1965. Neal was married
to Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame). Gosh, got all
that? Oh, the machinations of Hollywood movie stars eh? Want more, rent “The
Patricia Neal Story” dvd.
Auntie M gets
about and was most recently in Thailand to attend the marriage of
someone-or-other in the Thai Royal Family. She’s a riot to be around and is
very, VERY over-the-top theatrical. Her stories are hilarious, though how
many are true versus exaggerated I’m not sure. She was married once, just at the
end of WW2. Her husband left shortly after the honeymoon (hmmmm) and fled to
Argentina. She hunted him down but the marriage did not last. Her most noted
role on the small screen was in the 1960s series, The Avengers.
when I visited, we went to lunch at Harrods … we simply waltzed in, were
seated, ate and left without any visual sign of payment (I presume she had an
account there?!). One other thing, omg, Auntie M is scary to drive with.
When my mum visited her in 1997 they went touring up to the Midlands and my mum
was white-knuckled the whole way there and back. There is apparently a different
set of rules for Auntie M when it comes to driving (and life in general).
a long way of telling you John was dinning at Auntie M’s when I was there. He was down to earth, engaging,
charming, very dashing I thought actually. We ate an all-organic, vegan dinner
off Auntie M’s wooden plates. There was much ‘highbrow’ discussion and a lot of
praying I remember. After dinner, Auntie M and John asked Nic and I to stay on and
join their prayer group. Nicholas was having none of that though so we escaped
downtown to a pub instead. hehehehe
Friday’s television documentary: Looking for China Girl, CBC Newsworld (actually saw it Wed at 10pm)
This very interesting documentary spoke about the lack of eligible (single) women in China for marrying. A result of the government’s one-child policy and a cultural norm which favours boys over girls. By 2020 there will be 40 million single men in China and not enough women to go around. Won’t that prove interesting in bars and on the streets?
This reality is significantly changing the dynamics of the country with rural guys leaving farms to head to the city to find wives and a growing (and illegal) trade in women which the government is trying to crack down on with raids and executions. Also, women in the cities are becoming more discerning in their choice of husbands … and some opting not to even get married at all. It was quite a fascinating show.
AppsScraps 
celebrity run-ins are the best.
Random props, wow nice. He was also in 1987 the film wasn’t he? And more recently V for Vendetta?
sigh i miss having lunch at harrods!!!
ryc = WTF?!!!! I’M SO JEALOUS!!!!!! omg chess played at least 2000 years ago?! WHOA! digging up canaanite material is just as good as israelite or gentile stuff! ARG! you lucky sob
china, but also other countries like india, are all going to run into the same problem of having way too many males and not enough females. i guess that’s one way to enforce population control…
Alien? Was that long ago? China might soon be having its own version of Sex and the City!
RYC- thanks for the advise, i think i’ll stay out of it. About the CBC show, hehe… good for me! :)
Love the story! It is a good example of the unfinished that keeps on finishing
I saw that program. Very interesting indeed. I wonder how many how many are not married because they are gay?… hmmm…
interesting..- jimmy
How nice that you keep on meeting these special people in life. =)Yes, my seat at the ACC was quite close…row 7. And the sound was ok too.