The Exorcist Was Inspired by Blatty's Neighbour Shirley MacLaine and Her Daughter?👿😇👺😎

Sweet Charity (1969)

It has been speculated that Shirley McLaine, a former neighbour of the William Peter Blatty in California, may have been the basis for the Chris MacNeil character in 'The Exorcist'?

 'The Exorcist'

Shirley MacLaine: The Fool's Journey and No One is an Island?🎥🃏🌴🎬

NPR's Book of the Day
(November 15th, 2024)

After reading Shirley MacLaine's 2011 book 'I'm Over All That' and watching the weird 1969 movie 'Sweet Charity' recently, I did a search for podcast episodes featuring, or about Shirley MacLaine, and one interesting one that came up was an episode about the 1973 movie 'The Exorcist' and how Blatty had modeled the mother and daughter of his book on MacLaine and her daughter Sachi.

X012 The Exorcist (1973)

I'm a big fan of the original movie, but I'm no believer in Satan or Hell, although I found it interesting that MacLaine's co-star in the movie 'Sweet Charity' actually was a Satanist around the time he played Big Daddy and sung 'The Rhythm of Life' in that movie, according to his Wikipedia page.

"Davis experimented with Satanism following his 1968 divorce.[44] He became a warlock in the Church of Satan and was a friend of its High Priest, Anton LaVey. Even after cutting ties with the Church, he continued to perform Satanic rituals.[83]"

Sweet Charity (1969)
Sammy Davis Jr.: Big Daddy

Shirley MacLaine's 2011 book 'I'm Over All That' 

Shirley MacLaine's 2011 book 'I'm Over All That' 

The Rhythm of Synch is hard to beat?-)

The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972)

Life According to Stephen Hawking and Shirley MacLaine? 🌠🔭🔮🤩

Happy Gravy Day 2024?🎄🦃🤶🎅

I wrote a post about 'Gravy Day' back in 2021 when ironically a lot of Australians were locked-up ... or locked-down -

Happy Gravy Day?

"To many Australians, Saturday is more than just Dec. 21. 

It’s “Gravy Day,” all because of a lyric in one of the most unlikely Christmas songs ever written.
“How to Make Gravy,” written by singer Paul Kelly, has become a holiday classic in Australia over the past few decades."

How to Make Gravy (2024)

And now this year there is a TV movie based on the song's lyrics called, 'How to Make Gravy', which is pretty good in that 'Boy Swallows Universe' kind of way.

I know because I watched it a few days ago and will be watching it again tonight with my youngest son when he comes home from work, as he is yet to watch it.

On the subject of the similarities to 'Boy Swallows Universe', I listened recently to the podcast episode below about Trent Dalton's real-life stepfather Gary Lawrence, who was the head cook in the Boggo Road jail for many years.

Magic Words and the Power of Language?

Universe swallows a street fightin' man

I guess that's why the fantasy scenes in the book and TV series 'Boy Swallows Universe', where a young Trent breaks into the Boggo Road jail to visit his mother for Christmas suddenly make more sense to me now?

Because his stepfather Gary was a cook in the men's prison around that time, too.

Funny thing to my ears is that Andrew Rule mentions in that podcast that Gary was a bodyguard for Malcolm McGregor Lowndes.

My father was a cabbie and told me that he drove his mother around Brisbane a lot because she would always ask for his cab number if he was working, as she said he was her favourite cab driver. 

I remember meeting her one night in the mid 70s when my father took me and my younger brother to the Mac's Drive-in at Eight Mile Plains, which they owned.

She said to my father that he had beautiful daughters, because we both had long hair back then like the kid in 'Boy Swallows Universe'.

Small world it seems in Brisbane in the 70s.

Synchronicity ... Yeah, Nah!?👌🙆🙅🚫

UPDATE: 22nd December 2024

I got my son to bring me home a supermarket microwave oven meal containing gravy and looking like something they would serve up in prison last night, and he bought me home the above meal, which was uncannily similar to the food they were eating in prison in the movie:-)

Heretic - A Movie Review/Bledsoe Said So?👿👽😇

Heretic (2024)

I've got about as much interest in becoming a Mormon or a member of Pentecostalism as I have as becoming a Satanist ... which is none. 

To me they are all fantasy religions like Scientology.

Although out of the lot of those mentioned above Satanism appeals to me the least and I really can't understand the folk who join such a so-called "religion".

And while I'm not, or would call myself an Atheist, I'm not really religious either, when it comes to following a religion.

But it was good to hear Ryan Bledsoe is as fond of the A24 2024 movie 'Heretic' as I am.

Bledsoe Said So 
[What?-] podcast

The UFO/UAP Fight Club Fighting for the Truth and Fighting Over Half-Truths?

And Ryan Bledsoe is ... or was, a member of a Pentacostal church, so it's good to hear his review from that POV.

The Heretic and the Butterfly?⛪🦋

The Unexpected Passing of Howard Hughes Explained?😔

I only learned of the passing of Howard Hughes last night when writing my last post about Dean Radin, which referenced an old post of mine where Howard had interviewed Dean on his show back in 2019 -

Dean Radin on Telepathy, Skeptics, and Pulling Back the Curtain on Reality? 🤔💭🤔

Edition 387 - Dean Radin

The Unexplained Real Magic of Dean Radin?

An Important Update About Howard
 - November 2024

I hadn't heard of Howard's recent health battles, apart from a while back when he needed some urgent dental work done.

I had been checking in on Howard's site from time to time, but figured he must have grown tired of podcasting, like most podcasters eventually do. 
I was one of those listeners who would write to Howard and suggest people to have on his show, or to cheer him up a bit when other listeners would piss him off with their stupidity and/or criticism about his podcast.

To be honest, I hadn't been listening to a lot of his recent shows, because podcasts about UFOs and bigfoot and the like don't really interest me that much.

Although I would listen to the occasional UFO podcast of his, if I thought the guest was interesting enough, or I was skeptical of people like Nick Pope's involvement in the subject -

Edition 562 -
Ross Coulthart

The Unexplained Aerial Phenomena ... in Plain Plane Sights?

It's talks about subjects like "life after death", synchronicity and the like that drew me to his podcast, not UFOs.

And I'll bet that a lot of his former guests are still unaware of Howard's passing, like I was until last night, when I read and listened to Adam Cornwell explain Howard's absence from podcasting lately.

Howard Hughes, Mediumships & UFOs?

WhatsApp Doc?

Dean Radin on Telepathy, Skeptics, and Pulling Back the Curtain on Reality? 🤔💭🤔

Something to think about for sure:-)

The Unexplained Real Magic of Dean Radin?

This Jungian Life: The Star? 🎄🌟🔭🤩

Having a nautical/north star tattooed on my right wrist (although I now have the 'Neverending Story' luck dragon flying over it) I enjoyed this 'This Jungian Life' episode, which was just released.

The Red Hand [X-]Files?

True North (Star)?

Blinded by the Nautical Star?

I Finally Got That 'Neverending Story' Luck Dragon Tattoo?🍀🐲

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas in 2024? 🎄🎅🤶

I've decided to decorate the tree with Disney Christmas decorations (and McDonalds Happy Meal Christmas figures) this year in the spirit of commercial monopolization and capitalism:-)

Besides it was pretty much all I could get from Big W (that reminds me of a former POTUS, for some reason) anyway, as far as Christmas decorations went.

The Grinch theme seems to be big this year for some reason, so I went with it, as well:-)

And being a cat person myself (unlike The Grinch, who I notice is a dog person) I've also gone with a Christmas cat theme around my home this year:-)

I'm even reading 'Christmas at the Cat Cafe' right now, which is an animal story told from the cat's POV:-)

Much like the movie 'Strays' is told from the dog's POV, but in a more Disney kind of way.

Strays (2023)

I'm even reading 'Christmas at the Cat Cafe' right now:-)

A Tea Towel/Kitchen Towel I picked up
 at the Op Shop this year

I actually picked up all the Christmas cat stuff in July, because in Australia it's winter in July and a lot of cafes, restaurants and holiday resorts like to serve hot Christmas meals and promote Christmas in July weekends. 

And my son and I are watching the 'Christmas Time in South Park' DVD I picked up at the Op Shop this year, because we'll be heading to Colorado next year after we leave Vegas.

I don't think I have seen these 'South Park' Christmas episodes since they first aired on TV, so it's kind of a sentimental Christmas this year watching them again:-)

Ah, the more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems to me:-)