Saturday 9

(Link in meme-roll)
A Summer Place (1960)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song highlights the soundtrack from the movie A Summer Place, which is about two teenage lovers named Molly and Johnny. Did you ever have a youthful summer romance? If so, what was his/her name?

Not ... exactly. I had a Christmas Break romance, sort of, one year in college, for which I should probably have been arrested; he was younger than me and I was 18. Otherwise, no.

2) The "summer place" of the song/movie is a resort along the Maine coast. What "summer place" are you day dreaming about this winter morning?

Anyplace where the sun in shining! I don't even care what the temperature is at this point--I just need some sunshine.

3) In the movie, Johnny was played by Troy Donahue, who is remembered as nice looking but not terribly talented. Can you think of one of today's actors who you could describe as "nice looking but not terribly talented?"

So ... many ... choices ....

4) Molly is played by Sandra Dee, a perky blonde who was one of 1960's bankable movie stars. Two other blondes -- Doris Day and Debbie Reynolds -- joined Sandra Dee in the Top 10. The only brunette to sell a lot of movie tickets that year was Elizabeth Taylor. Do you believe men find blondes more attractive than brunettes or redheads?

I don't know. I think in commercial terms, yes, but I'm not sure about actual attraction. From my perspective, blond hair (in a guy) is "pretty" but I prefer darker-haired guys in terms of sex appeal or whatever.

5) "A Summer Place" was by far the best-selling record of 1960. Also in 1960, two brothers in Ypsilanti, Michigan, opened a pizza place called Dominick's. That was the beginning of a chain now known as Domino's. What's the last food you had delivered to your front door?

Pizza, but not Domino's! Never, ever. Partially because they don't deliver out here in the boonies, and partially because of the owners' politics. But they do have pretty good breadstick thingies... (people at work order from them for work-related stuff)

6) In 1965, one of the brothers sold his share of the business to his brother for cash so he could buy a VW Beetle. Tell us about a time you had buyer's remorse.

Almost every time I buy clothes these days. Nothing is comfortable, because it either pinches all the fatty parts of my or makes me look (shock!) fat.

7) In 1960, novelist Ernest Hemingway returned to the United States from Spain and settled in Ketchum, Idaho. Tell us about the last book you read. Was it a novel or non-fiction?

The literal last book I read from is Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin. Rebus had just wakened up with a killer hangover and no member of his return to his hotel. The last book I finished is Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey. Good, a bit more violent than I normally appreciate, but set in some places I know fairly well.

8) In December, 1960, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was baptized in the Georgetown University Chapel. His godparents were Charles and Martha Bartlett, the couple who originally introduced young John's famous parents. Do you have godparents?

Not that I know of. I wasn't baptized till I was confirmed so I doubt that was a thing my dad was willing to do.

9) Random question: You're at dinner with a married couple who begins to fight. Would you intercede and try to make peace? Or would you just sit back stay out of it?

Depends on the topic of the argument and how much alcohol they've each put away. I've done both options. My instinct is to intervene, and I totally would if it looked like things were going towards violence, but often it's hard to know how to intervene without taking sides. Or appearing to take sides. I just know, either way, I'm going to feel icky the next day. We had friends do this while playing cards on vacation one night 10 or so years ago. He stormed off to bed. She stayed up and we continued playing for another half hour or so. In terms of who was right: he was. Too weird. I still feel icky about that one.