The Match Game

The magazine, Life in the Finger Lakes, has published a general interest genealogy article focusing on my Murray search. It was great to see the photo of my great-grandfather on the opening page. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will be read by cousins who recognize a shared history.

Searching for cousins who might know tidbits that will help me in my pursuit has become a bit of a mission for me.  For that reason, this post is designed to snag a cousin or two who might be doing some research of their own, but haven’t gotten far enough to connect the dots to me.

So, if you come from the Murrays or Van Pattens in the Cayuga and Seneca County areas of NY, particularly the towns of Auburn, Sennett, Waterloo, Geneva, Fayette, and Varick, we may be related.

I’ve done some census and newspaper archival research and have uncovered the following people who share ancestors with me. When listed, females’ last names are married names. These are not complete genealogies.

Richard Murray (married Ellen/Mary Ellen/Mariella)

            Son-John W. Murray (married Irene)

                        Son-Frank R. Murray

                                    Daughters-Lois and Evelyn

                        Son-Earl J. Murray

                                    Daughter-Victoria

                        Son-Donald Murray

            Son-Albert L. Murray (married U’elma)

                        Daughter-Laura Clise

                                    Daughter-Jean

                                    Son-Ward

                        Daughter-Ella Brooks

                        Daughter-Nellie McCoy

                        Son-Richard Murray

                                    Son-Alan Murray

                        Daughter-Mildred Speer

                                    Daughter-Joanne Sickles

                        Daughter-Lydia Fischer

                        Son-Almond L. Murray

                                    Son-Alan Murray

                                    Daughter-Doris

                        Daughter-Alice Brown

                        Daughter-Dorothy Maloney

Mary Jane Murray Van Patten (married Asa Van Patten)

                        Daughter-Violet Parish

                        Daughter-Jennie Chilson

                                    Son-Frank Chilson

                        Son-Fred Van Patten

                                    Daughter-Marjorie/Margery Sanders

                                                Daughters-Lucille, Lorraine

Maybe, at some point in the not-to-distant future, someone will do an internet search on one or more of these names and see a possible connection.  And if anyone does, just post a comment.

And then let’s see if we have a genealogical match.

The Incredible Suit's Christmas Playlist: The Sound Of 2012

Look at you. You're already filling your face with turkey and Warninks, you've got screeching children and / or dribbling pensioners clogging up your personal space and nobody bought you The James Bond Archives for Christmas. Well, fear not, for The Incredible Suit is here to make it all better with a delicious playlist of music from some of the best (and, to be fair, some of the worst) movies of ye olde 2012. So stick it on, tell everyone to shut the chuff up for an hour and have at least a small amount of fun this Christmas Day. You deserve it! Especially if you've been reading this blog for the last twelve months.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO

THE INCREDIBLE SUIT'S

CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST:

THE SOUND OF 2012

Let's do the Oscars right this year, shall we?

Your Christmas TV movie guide

I picked up the bumper Christmas edition of TV Choice last week (only 90p!), partly so that I could read about every single thing that happens in every single episode of every single soap on every single day over the festive period, but also so I could peruse the amazing choice of films screening on telly between December 22nd and January 4th. And let me tell you, there is a bewildering selection. On the five terrestrial channels alone there are 207 movies you could potentially watch through a mist of turkey vapour and gin.

In order to prevent you having to wade through acres of pages to choose your films, I felt it was my duty to pick a selection for you. So here are ten films you could watch in the event that you don't have a decent DVD collection or Netflix or a life.

Saturday 22nd December, 9.55am, Channel 4

A Christmas Carol

Kelsey Grammar plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Jane Krakowski as The Ghost Of Christmas Past.

Saturday 22nd December, 8.00pm, Channel 5

A Christmas Carol

Patrick Stewart plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Richard E Grant as Bob Cratchit.

Monday 24th December, 8.30am, Channel 4

Christmas Carol: The Movie

Simon Callow plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this animated adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Nicolas Cage as Marley.

Monday 24th December, 11.00am, Channel 4

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Michael Caine plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Kermit The Frog as Bob Cratchit.

Monday 24th December, 4.00pm, TCM

Scrooge

Albert Finney plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Alec Guinness as Marley.

Monday 24th December, 4.10pm, Channel 5

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Alastair Sim plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Patrick Macnee as Marley.

Monday 24th December, 6.45pm, BBC1

A Christmas Carol

Jim Carrey plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Jim Carrey as The Ghost Of Christmas Past, Jim Carrey as The Ghost Of Christmas Present and Jim Carrey as The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come.

Tuesday 25th December, 2.25pm, Channel 4

Scrooged

Bill Murray plays Frank Cross in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Mary Ellen Trainor as Ted.

Thursday 27th December, 4.25pm, Channel 5

It's Christmas, Carol!

Emmanuelle Vaugier plays Carol in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars Carrie Fisher as Eve.

Friday 28th December, 3.40pm, Channel 5

A Carol Christmas

Tori Spelling plays Carol Cartman in this adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Stars William Shatner as The Ghost Of Christmas Present.


Something for everyone there, I'm sure you'll agree.

Jack Reacher: He's not big and it's not clever

When you think about it, it's a genius tactic. Cast the world's most famous shortarse in the part of a 6' 5" ex-military police major loved by millions of readers and watch the publicity for your film go through the roof. Bravo, Paramount. And that's not all - the most ingenious part of this nefarious plan is to follow: upon the film's release, all the chatter will be about whether or not Tom Cruise successfully fills the literary Jack Reacher's boots, rather than whether or not the film itself is a load of archaic, misogynistic crap that would have struggled to be taken seriously in 1987, let alone 2012. Well, guess what? Jack Reacher is a load of archaic, misogynistic crap that would have struggled to be taken seriously in 1987, let alone 2012, and therefore it doesn't matter a hoot whether Reacher had been played by Tom Cruise or a medium-sized beetroot.

Deducing and punching his way through the film like a small, vicious Sherlock Holmes, Cruise, it seems obligatory to point out, physically resembles the literary Jack Reacher like Woody Allen resembles the literary James Bond. But for all the pre-release hoo-ha surrounding the dissonance between author Lee Child's man-mountain and Cruise's buff hobbit, Jack Reacher's biggest problem is not its tiny star but its massive rubbishness.

With a plot that must have seemed ropey even in 2005 when the book was published, Jack Reacher trundles from one unspectacular development to another with all the wit and innovation of a straight-to-video flick found in a bargain bin in ye olde Woolworths. Instead of the force of nature found in Child's pulp fiction, the movie Reacher is a character-free character: Ethan Hunt without the sidekicks; James Bond without the sophistication; Jason Bourne without the splintered memory. He's almost as dull as The Bourne Legacy's Aaron Cross, the poor bastard. Meanwhile Werner Herzog (interesting casting only to the geekcore audience) channels the worst of the eighties' generic Euro-baddies, standing - or, when needs must, sitting - in the shadows comically muttering inconsequential 'zogwash.

If the protagonist and antagonist are ill-served in Christopher McQuarrie's creaky script, they're gods compared to the film's women. If you're in Jack Reacher and you don't have a penis, your mission, whether you choose to accept it or not, is simple: get killed or get kidnapped. That's it. And if you do get kidnapped, for Christ's sake don't try to do anything about it. That's what Tom Cruise is for!

In its meagre defence, Jack Reacher at least doesn't take itself too seriously, and Robert Duvall pops by to drop off a bag of much-needed class, but there's precious little else to recommend it. Capping off proceedings with a lacklustre fight ironically reminiscent of Lethal Weapon (a film which feels fresh as a daisy in comparison) and an uncomfortably vicious final act of violence from our hero (the bad taste of which is not washed away by a wish-fulfilling epilogue), Jack Reacher may well mark the point at which Tom Cruise is finally too old for this shit. His pecs may be in bizarrely fine fettle but his judgement is all over the place, and the question now is not whether or not he looks the part but whether he should be playing these parts at all.

Possibly rubbish, definitely intriguing documentary idea of the week

The Life Of Pi chart

It's very good.