Category Archives: People

Number 6

Death, People, ,

I’m not sure when I first saw The Prisoner, but I know it was on WTTW (Channel 11) out of Chicago. I suspect I was in my teens, but I feel as if I was younger and that I watched it with my parents. However, that doesn’t seem right — The Prisoner is not something my parents would have liked.

Regardless of when I first saw The Prisoner, it left its mark on me in a few ways. For one, I had an irrational fear of big white balloons. Honestly. Of course, I didn’t see them very often, but weather balloons come to mind. Now, where on earth would I have seen a weather balloon? Beats me. Maybe I just dreamed about it.

I also had a fear of those old fashioned bicycles — the ones with the huge front wheel — especially when being ridden by someone that seemed more comfortable in a painting by Renoir or a Charles Dickens novel than in real life.

And skinny men with long faces in striped shirts and tight pants? That scared me too.

Putting aside the few things that scared me on the program, it was probably my first taste of quirky science-fiction, and possibly my first taste of surrealism. It was unlike anything I’d seen, except for maybe The Avengers. It also, along with all other media in my life, helped shape the person I was to become. So, when I heard that Patrick McGoohan died this week, I paused and smiled and remembered Number 6.

When we first joined Netflix I rented several episodes from The Prisoner. We watched it as a family — my kids were very young, but liked the program. I think that they appreciated the episodes of The Simpsons where the big white balloon made an appearance more after seeing the “Rover” on The Prisoner.

We didn’t watch the entire series because we grew tired of Number 6 thinking he was going to escape each episode, only be thwarted in the end. I’ve not seen the ending of the program, but I suspect he is still in The Village. Maybe I’ll rent them again though — just for me.

Anyway, here’s to you Number 6. You are, indeed now, a free man.

3 degrees from Neil Gaiman

People, Reading, , ,

So on Christmas Day my brother’s housemate, Josh, mentioned that he knew Charles Vess. (I think I’d said something about Neil Gaiman — perhaps I suggested that my niece might like his books?). It seems that Josh grew up in Lynchburg, VA and his father and Charles Vess were friends. Josh remembers going to Vess’ house as a kid.

Of course Vess illustrated Gaiman’s Stardust.

So — Dona Patrick knows Josh Holland who knows Charles Vess who knows Neil Gaiman. That’s three degrees right? (come to think of it, I met Josh’s father once but that doesn’t up my degrees to Neil Gaiman.)

But being 2 degrees from Charles Vess is pretty cool as well.

Storyteller Wine & Facebook

Blogging, People,

In Illinois you can buy wine, beer and alcohol in the grocery store (as opposed to Montgomery County, Maryland) and recently I browsed the shelves for wine for Christmas dinner and again yesterday. I found a blogging buddy’s handle on a bottle of wine (delicious, by the way):

Then I logged onto Facebook to show my mom how to use it and ended up making confusing and misspelled comments. I think it will be to my benefit to return to our nearly dry county.