April 2

What a day that I have had. I got Tunes of Glory to watch for Alec Guinness’ birthday. Since it is a Saturday, I started my day pretty much as I have done for about a year, watching The Bowery Boys film. I wanted to DVR Tarzan, but my DVR didn’t work. It had been slow, but it still worked. I still had plenty of memory, but it was about 5 years old and I have used it a lot lately. I did what the IT department always tell me when I have computer problems soft and then hard boot. Still it did not work. So I went out looking for new DVR. Apparently they are not being made any more. Living in a university town in Kansas there were only 3 stores that sold electronics. Only one store sold them and they were sold out. I went online and finally found some in a city about 30 minutes away. While I was looking the information my stomach started making funny sounds and had a physical problem I won’t go into. I felt fine, so it must have been something I ate. Once my stomach settled down, I decided to take a drive. I got to the store and even though online it was stock it wasn’t. I went to another store and they didn’t have it either. I basically wasted 2 hours and less than a ¼ tank of gas. I drove back home and thought about going to another city another 30 minutes away on Sunday. I looked online again and decided to order what I wanted and for less than a gallon of gas I could get the item on Tuesday. I feel like I spent the whole day trying to find something. It is always said “Buy Local”, but it is hard to buy local when the items are not local. I still have a VHS so I should be ok this week for Anthony Perkins on Monday and Melvyn Douglas on Tuesday.

Like most people my age the first film I remember seeing for Alec Guinness is Star Wars. I was only about 11 at the time and had no idea who he was. I was more interested in Mark Hamill. Within a few years I saw him in The Lady Killers and Bridge on the River Kwai. The characters that he played were diverse and he seemed to have a sense of playfulness in his comedies. He always seemed like the typical Englishman to me: stiff upper lip with a wicked sense of humor. I watched Tunes of Glory for Alec Guinness’ birthday. Alec played a leader of a Scottish troop. He is leaving his command after the war and John Mills is taking over. Alec as leader has the respect of the men both personally and professionally. John Mills is very regimented and only has the respect as leader, but not as a person. John never fit in with the group. John commits suicide. He has mental problems, but there seems to be a deeper reason I don‘t quite get. I watched part of the film a second time to try to understand. Alec is promoted to colonel. He has planned the military funeral but the men of the group do not believe in all the details since he committed suicide and he was not well liked. Alec thinks that he pushed John over the edge and the men were the accomplices. Tunes of Glory represent the bagpipes of his beloved homeland. As he makes his big speech of death and is basically describing his own funeral with his back to the men, the enlisted men are told to leave the room. Alec breaks down and is taken to his barracks.