Secrets of the City

As a college student, young Peter would tape record the professors’ lecures, but the tapes would always misteriously burn up after they were played once. Weird.

Arnes looks like a Thing from Another World in that photo.

I’m surprised this post was approved by Max. After all, Dillion counts, but just barely.

What? They are total locals, so of course this was approved. I believe they went to West High, which was on 28th and Hennipen. No idea where I got that idea.

I wonder if Tippie Hedren-related material would count. She was from here, and grew up on the street I grew up on, in a now-razed tiny little house.

Hennepin. Agh, I am ashamed I misspelled that.

Mike Ferrell, of M*A*S*H fame, was also a Minneapolitan. It’s his birthday today, too, btw.

I once met Mike Ferrell. In Kansas, of all places.

They are total locals, so of course this was approved

It was my weak atempt at an “insider” joke, jane. Posters on the site get a list of max’s maxiums, aka ‘da rules.’ I keep forgetting some of you have NEVER posted an original tought of their own, and just snipe and snark at the work of others. So you may  not have seen this.

See rule #1:

Submission Guidelines

1) Topic must be local. Dylan counts, but just barely.

tought?

What are you, Tweety?

I’m one who has never posted an original tought, if original tought = start a tread.

I prefer to direct treads from witin, via inane comments.

I like knowing where the Arness boys lived when they were young.

Am I sensing a meme for today’s open tread?

I think Dylan would definitely qualify if, as with the James Arness material today re: growing up in Minneapolis, Bobby was reminiscing about his days on The Range. IMO that’s what was meant by “barely;” that the level of local relevancy is determined by both birth AND subject matter. Arness pontificating about clubbing baby seals would not qualify; Arness telling stories about Lake Minnetonka lake scum would qualify.

Max, do you like gladiator movies?

I tink so

Nice picture. James ended up being 6′ 7, I believe (borne out by the photo).

Gunsmoke had a reasonaby profound impact on my life.

How about Saturday morning Fury? That dates me.

Gunsmoke and the Lawrence Welk Show were the two TV shows during which we could do absolutely no talking while visiting my grandparents each Saturday.

The only James Arness movie in my DVD collection is a co-starring spot in the John Wayne western “Hondo.”

Hondo was filmed in 3-D, and there are a couple of scenes clearly staged to take full advantage of the visual illusion.

Wayne liked Arness. When the Duke himself was approached for the role of Matt Dillion when the show jumped from radio (where burly actor William Conrad played the Marshal) to teevvee, Wayne turned it down, but suggested Arness instead.

Conrad also worked with Wayne, playing his brother in the truely bizarre 1956 file “The Conqueror.”

I’ve always found this desperation to find a “Minnesota connection” to everything and anything famous hilarious–in a sort of sad, embarrassing way. I think it stems from the massive inferiority complex some Minnesotans have vis-a-vis non-fly-over country.

You’re right, Jim.

I think Minnesota is too far north to even be fly-over country.

Yeah, because nobody else anywhere ever does that.

I love it when people try and disparage Minnesota as being somehow so small town that they must cling to every celebrity. It just shows that the critic is too small-town to have lived elsewhere.

Talk to people who have gone to Hollywood High, and they’ll list off some of the famous graduates of Hollywood High. It’s a universal phenomenon.

I’ve always found this desperation to make fun of “Minnesota connections” hilarious–in a sort of sad, embarrassing way. I think it stems from the massive inferiority complex some readers here have vis-a-vis non-douchebag commenters.

@max

And look at colleges that rattle off their successful/famous alums. They all do it. Hell, Harvard claims Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates and they didn’t even graduate. It’s not just a MN small town thing. New Jersey just made a big fuss about Shaq being inducted into their hall of fame. I didn’t even know he was from there.

Also, Al Franken graduated from my high school and hung out in the parking lot or in the halls, “Boy, aren’t you glad that you guys can claim I graduated from here and not Diablo Cody?” All the fucking time. He still might do it.

-1 for Jim for using vis-a-vis in his elitist comment yet not properly accenting it (at least from what I can tell on my browser).

+1 for Jane for combining vis-a-vis and douchebag into one sentence, demonstrating just how much English has jacked from the French AND insulting someone at the same time.

IIRC, Shaq was an army brat. So he’s from everywhere. And nowhere. We are all Shaq.

Final note on our man Jim.

I don’t think he cares that people enjoy celebrity talk. I think he probably wants to show (even though he’s rather anonymous) how much he is above past times that he considers common.

Kinda like people who boast that they don’t have a television.

You wanna be really hip and Out There? — Kill your computer.

Mary Hart graduated from my college and grew up in SD, so did Tom Brokaw, Oscar Howe, Hubert H. Humphrey, Cheryl Ladd, Bob Barker, Pat O’Brian, Tom Daschle. It’s everywhere, I tells ya!

Defensive much? I guess I hit a nerve. Sorry if I hurt your feelings.

Thanks for illustrating my point, though. FIVE STARS for that.

What was your point? That the Twin Cities is somehow unique in taking pleasure from celebrities it has produced?

Jim, we disproved that point.

FIVE STAR FAIL.

That the Twin Cities is somehow unique

I question your ability to read. I didn’t say that the inferiority complex that some Minnesotans have is unique. Ad hominem tu quoque is not a counter-argument, by the way: it is a logical fallacy.

Here ends the lesson.

Yes, what we need is lessons in argument from somehow who believes troll reasoning:

It hit a nerve, so it must be true.

You’re a frigging genius. Thank you for stopping by to crap on a thread. It’s always appreciated. Maybe there is a child somewhere you can go punch now.

Oh, yeah, well you wouldn’t refute it unless it was true, so there! Or something like that. I’m still sorting out the rules troll logic myself.

It’s different than real-world logic. For instance, in the real world, when you refute an argument that someone else isn’t making, it is called a straw man. Presuming Jimw as claiming my response was ad hominem, he’s dead wrong — I never argued against the man. It would be a straw man, presuming he is right that he never said that Minnesotans are unique in their inferiority complex, except Jim said this:

I’ve always found this desperation to find a “Minnesota connection” to everything and anything famous hilarious–in a sort of sad, embarrassing way. I think it stems from the massive inferiority complex some Minnesotans have vis-a-vis non-fly-over country.

Nothing about this sentence says “I am just pointing out a generalized foible,” and everything about it says “this is something specific to Minnesotans.”

So, in the troll world, a logical statement is as follows:

A. A specific group of people are like this.
B. I never said I was talking about a specific group of people.
C. Stop attacking me.

@Jim: No one was “reaching in desperation” for a Minnesota connection to James Arness or Peter Graves. The connection is both birth and work-related. (Graves still does PR for the U of M.) I think it’s more of the TV station news teams that reach for anything remotely resembling a MN connection, e.g. some Minnesotan’s cousin in Kentucky is also related to Loretta Lynn; therefore Loretta Lynn is a Minnesotan.

On the other hand, Winona Ryder can be considered a Minnesotan. Not only was she born in the state, she was named after Winona, MN.

Alas, Abraham Lincoln was not a Minnesotan.

However, Terry Gilliam was born here so Monty Python is a Minnesota comedy troupe.