B & A : Larcena Pennington

 

Badass Babes of History & Legend
tougher than stale eskrima sticks

The buzz last week was that The Mary Avina (TMA) had migrated north to Cambria, CA. This was not the case. TMA is still bobbling around locally no doubt rocking out to air guitar and/or throwing bushels of rose petals upon herself in front of a mirror (both of these are featured in her YouTube videos, if you are curious). The most recent intelligence gathered regarding this Elvis of the pool world consists of the following text message sent to me this week:

Ok, so what’s up with that Mary chick? I saw her at [local poolroom] yesterday. she said she was being bashed online. She was saying cuz everyone thought she was rude.

Here is a link to my archive of TMA’s posts. I don’t “think” she is rude. She IS rude.

At first she told me people were bashing her, and I didn’t know Wtf she was talking about … She said, u know who they are. I was trippin cause I haven’t seen her except one time and I think that was during Oscar’s match. … and she said u know her, and I said oh! Ok! I said [OMGWTF]? She said yes, and she wants to play me for big money. So I asked if she was going to play and she changed the subject.

And that’s the Weekend Update with TMA.

All good things must come to an end someday, but this one has the potential to provide me (if not you) with several weeks of amusement. TMA, I think you are beginning to understand how small the billards community can be. As someone once suggested to you, “Don’t s— where you eat.” It seems that TMA still has action on her mind so there’s hope yet…

Carrying on…

Larcena Pennington

P I O N E E R

 

Excerpt from Badass of the Week:

Back in the day, the pioneer west was a horrible bitch goddess who feasted on the broken dreams of wayward travelers and drank the blood of anyone foolhardy enough to cross her.  Disease and famine were rampant, and in the more-common-than-not occasion that you contracted Malaria or Diphtheria of some other god-awful Oregon Trail-style disease, you were about ten times more likely to be stuck in the chest with an Apache arrow than stuck in the arm with any sort of medicinal syringe.  There were great amounts of land and riches to be had on the American frontier, but if you wanted to survive out there you had to be tough, resilient and badass.  And Larcena Pennington was all of those things.

[read the complete Badass of the Week article]

 

Excerpt from “Life Stories” on The Arizona Daily Star:

Hardships were part of life for Southern Arizona pioneers in the mid-1800s, but the trials endured by Larcena Pennington Page would have brought the toughest frontiersman to his knees. Her survival after being kidnapped, stabbed, beaten and left for dead by a band of Apaches was near-miraculous.

[read the complete Arizona Daily Star article]

 

 

the economy sucks what else is new
recessionary bloggage

Decreased staff at my work means an increased workload for me. Hence the lack of bloggage. Apologies.

 

 

cinema
stuff I’ve watched lately

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
I watched the previous Jason Bourne films (The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy) a long while back. This film continues the general espionage and ass-kickage the earlier ones featured. I generally like action-adventure-thriller type films and this one was entertaining.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
The fact that I got another 2007 movie is pure coincidence. This move is a sequel to Elizabeth which came out in 1998, almost ten years earlier. While QE2 is not a bad movie, I liked QE1 a lot better as the plotlines were more interesting (both movies take a lot of liberties with historical accuracy). QE2 is all right but it’s more about romance and much less about history. The costumes and sets are lovely but the visually arresting doesn’t make up for the mentally unstimulating.

The Cave (2005)
Okay, two movies about caves and creepy cave creatures came out in 2005. One was good, one was full of Too Much Asshattery (TMA). This is the one full of TMA. The one I wanted to see was The Descent, not The Cave. This movie was crappy but not crappy enough to be entertainingly campy. The creepy cave creatures are kind of neat but look a lot like the monsters in Pitch Black, a 2005 sci-fi flick, minus the hammerheads. And I think Lena Heady is really pretty.

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
Yeah, yeah. It’s another 2007 movie. Whatever. This is the third installment of the Danny Ocean line of humorous casino capers. Like its predecessors, this movie had an all-star cast, memorable and witty lines, casinos, cash, diamonds, and fun (if predictable) twists. It went well with a one pound skirt steak (on sale!) seasoned with McCormick’s Montreal seasoning and a Coke.

Next up are Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007, again) as suggested by reader Brian in VA) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).

 

 

random reading assortment for the week
because sometimes, even Friday can be a drag

French hamster hotel lets guests live like rodents

A French hotel is offering guests the chance to live like a hamster for a day.

http://RandomCreepyGuy.com

If you have a picture which has a person in it who is Random and Creepy – submit it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a guy per se. Because any “girl” who qualifies to be showcased on our site certainly can be called “one of the guys”.

Analysis of a Toxic Death
Gloria Ramirez was a Riverside, California, woman dubbed “the toxic lady” by the media when several Riverside General Hospital workers became ill after exposure to her body and blood. This article from Discover magazine is a long, detailed, and very interesting read about the investigation into what caused the toxicity.

 

 

thank you for your input
Galveston World Classic

Okay, this event happened a long, long time ago (September) in a galaxy far, far away (Galveston, TX). I have never gotten around to writing about it (there is a lot to write about) although I have worked on it sporadically.

Do you still want to read about the Galveston World Classic?

If someone donates $3.40, it will encourage me to work on it. That’s the price of a white chocolate mocha out here, the one beverage I must drink continuously to get me through the big blog posts.