The Writer's Life 11/26 - The Unusual

From Yahoo Sports, edited by yours truly: There was an unusual occurrence in college basketball yesterday in a game between Alabama and Minnesota at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn. The entire Crimson Tide bench was ejected after a fight broke out. Later, one of its five remaining players fouled out with 11:37 left in the second half. At the 10:41 mark, another player left with an injury. The team played with three men the rest of the way - and they didn’t fare too badly. In fact, the trio did better than when the whole team had been available, outscoring the Gophers 30-22 during the span. The lead was cut to three with 1:39 left before Minnesota pulled away for an 89-84 win... Also in college sports - the argument for expanding the FCS playoffs from four to eight teams will never be more solid after Alabama's loss yesterday. Unless Wisconsin runs the table, there will be no true champion this season.

Last night MeTV ran The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) on its Svengoolie program. Every time it's aired I'm drawn into it. Despite the outrageous premise, it was made plausible by the creative forces behind it. If there were ever a movie, pre-CGI, that had better special effects, I do not recall it. And the science is beautifully simple. A riveting story is told in only 81 minutes. It was directed by Jack Arnold, who had a long career, first on the silver screen, then TV. He did Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), as well as multiple episodes of The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, The Love Boat and other popular series. According to IMDb, the special effects were uncredited, done by Cleo Baker, Fred Knoth and Ardell Lytle. The wonderful visual effects were created by Everett Broussard and Roswell Hoffmann. Grant Williams, who died at 53, earned a place in cinema history for his portrayal of the unfortunate soul. The screenplay was written by Richard Matheson, based on his novel. Fans of The Twilight Zone will recognize him as a frequent contributor to the show. Richard Alan Simmons did some uncredited work on the script. The film ends with Williams doing a voice-over, which concludes with these beautiful lines: "... And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing. My fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation, it had to mean something. And then I meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something, too. To God, there is no zero. I still exist!"

Given the floating book shop's almost zero returns the past two days on Bay Parkway, I decided to take the show to Park Slope. It was the right move. Although I had only two customers, both bought in bulk. My thanks to the couple who purchased the King Creole soundtrack on vinyl, a Christmas CD and The Idiot's Guide to Weight Training, and to the woman who snatched up the three remaining holiday discs and romance novelist Susan Wiggs' Candlelight Christmas.

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