- Things are changing at the ol' Star Tribune. Shortly on the heels of the forced departure of Publisher Par Ridder, the great minds on Portland Avenue have forced out editorial page chief Susan Albright and moved the eternally useless ombudsman Kate Parry off to the "health" beat. Don't know if these changes mean that the Star Tribune editorial page, which has been as useful and pleasant as 55-gallon drum of duck vomit on most issues, will start to regain a little sanity. Probably not. But we can always hope that maybe, just maybe, the level of ignorant snark will start to come down a bit. After all, we'll give you ignorant snark right here and we don't charge you a thing! And I don't employ Sid Hartman either.
- My beloved Brewers aren't looking too good, following an embarrassing 9-5 loss to the Padres. The Cubs have been trying really hard to give away the pennant, but the Brewers do not appear to have the wit to take it. I hope that the Brewers can secure a few more reliable pitchers for next season, because they look like they're on their way otherwise. On the bright side, at least I'm not a Mets fan.
- We've been watching parts of Ken Burns's latest saga "The War," on PBS this week. As with all Ken Burns productions, it's very good, although it's a bit much for the kids at times, especially with all the corpses. It's somewhat amusing to see how such things get interpreted by my daughter. She was asking my wife about her 2nd grade teacher, whose surname is Opheim, which is a good Scandanavian name, I believe. My daughter had assumed he was Irish, since she knows various O'Briens and O'Doughertys and came to the conclusion that since her teacher's name starts with an O, he must be Irish too. My wife suggested that his name might be German. My daughter then said, horrified, "Oh No! That means he's from Hitler!" I believe my wife was able to set my daughter straight, otherwise it may make for an interesting conversation in the class next time.
- Even though "The War" is heavy going, it's a lot better than most of what's on television these days. Have you watched Cartoon Network recently? My goodness, it makes my eyes hurt. Some of the cartoons we used to watch when we were kids were pretty crudely drawn, of course - no one will ever say that "Clutch Cargo" or "Underdog" were exactly the pinnacle of the art form. I tell you, though, watching an episode of "Ed Edd and Eddie" is like having an allergic reaction.
- Savoir Faire is everywhere!
- Okay, cheesehead readers, here's one for you. Remember Biggie Rat? It was the best scary story going on the St. Therese playground back in the early 70s. Whatever happened to that?
Friday, September 28, 2007
Ping ping PING
Apparently that means Sheriff Richochet Rabbit is in town, or I've turned the blog over to a golf manufacturer, or the bullets are flying again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
Biggie Rat ... didn't he have an altar of sorts in the grave yard by Appleton Papers? Never met the dude but certainly heard plenty of him. Probably didn't hang around Xavier too much, what with the nuns and brothers ready to pounch on his every move.
Cartoons have changed big time. Lippy the Lion, Casper the Ghost and Wally Gator -- not to mention Grape Gorilla -- were EXTREMELY mild compared to the stuff our kids watch these days.
Brewers ... oh what could have been. I don't know what would have made me happier ... the Brewers in the playoffs or the Brewers taking advantage of a Cubs' collapse. Alas, thanks in large part to Turnblow's errant pitching and some shabby fielding, is wasn't meant to be ... at least not THIS year.
I think that was the story on Biggie Rat. I also remember there was some avenging guy named Biggie Cat who was going to put things right. All I know is, ol' Biggie Rat scared the bejeezus out of us back in 1971 or so.
Hey, the Brewers are getting there. They are about 3 pitchers away. Maybe Attanasio can pry open his wallet and buy a few in the off-season.
When I was a little kid (1970's), I remember "scary stories" about someone who went by this name "Biggie Rat". Stories that this guy wore all black w/black cape & would dance on graves in cemetarys at night, and that he ate spiders (& or babies), was into the Occult & worshiped the devil basically. In 7th grade I had the privelidge to meet this guy. He came to the "alternative" school I was attending and had a "sit-in"/gathering. He was wearing a rust colored liesure-suit w/a yellow shirt!! Ha! Ha! So much for the black outfit. Anyway I dont really remember much of what he said, but after- in our ceramics class one guy made a "Biggie Bong" that looked just like him w/protuding nose and all!!! Too funny!!! (It also worked pretty good!)(The Bong that is.)
I was just asking a guy I work with, he's from Kimberly (49 years old), if he remembered Biggie Rat from Appleton from back in the 70's. I decided to search it on
Google, I did before but never came up with anything, and I finally got a hit on your blog. I remember he used to run around with a black cape and dance on graves like the other blogger said. My ex-brother in-law knew him in high school and said he was weird, he must have hung out in Kinky's woods.
oh my god! i am having a discussion about biggie with a friend and so i also googled him and came upon this blog. he used to hang at erb park, and i was a 6-7 grader and we were all afraid but also quite impressed by him. black clothes, yes, and then a few years later, apparently he wore all white. i did see him myself with the black get-up...and he had this sort of satanic theme going...goth before there was goth.
Ok, thought this might be a fun little tid bit for you ! My sisters and I were just talking about Mr. Big yesterday,so I had to check it out. Does anyone remember this guy ?
Around 1970 (ok kids, if you weren't born yet, you missed out lol... but maybe you heard about him) we lived on Hancock St. and went to school at St.Therese. I remember like it was yesterday...On the intersection of Hancock and Durkee,going south on Hancock. I I was about 8 yrs old riding my bike on the edge of the street,minding my own business,I saw Biggy Rat walking towards me on the sidewalk. All dressed in his black garb, looking creepy as hell !!My heart dropped to my feet. My front tire hit the curb, and I wiped out about 5ft. in front of him ! Of course I was frantic, scrambling like crazy,checking to see how close he was getting to me,trying to get back on my bike to get away,every second it took me to get off the ground, was another step he made towards me. Hopped on my bike, looked back,he was just passing right where I fell.... whew he was so close to "getting" me !
And the legend goes.... He put a curse on me and made me fall !
I also remember something about him having a dead rat around his neck for a seriously freaky charm. Does anyone have a picture of him in his "sundays best" ? I remember hearing about Biggie Cat too... and feeling like there was some type of "hero" out there that was gonna keep us safe! Also, I wonder if any of us know each other? I remember some of the people in our neighborhood. ( ElFairy's, Hockensteads,Koerner's,Mrs. Burns and her dog Tory,"Kay Kay",Starks, and others I remember, but can't remember the names.
I grew up in Neenah, but heard about Biggie Rat. As I remember it, fear of Biggie was what led to daylight trick or treating. I remember some older kids talking at school saying they saw his picture in the paper. They told me Biggie Rat was going to get me. I must have been about 7 years old.
I grew up in Neenah, but heard about Biggie Rat. As I remember it, fear of Biggie was what led to daylight trick or treating. I remember some older kids talking at school saying they saw his picture in the paper. They told me Biggie Rat was going to get me. I must have been about 7 years old.
The fact that they are so widely used is testament to the fact that they make a good cup of coffee. Get him! Get him!" You've only got a few seconds to get up, get a handheld vacuum, and attack the intruder. It takes a week or ten days at the most to receive a product. For more details on this espresso machine, go click on the link. However, in saying this there are increasing complaints of people falling sick from drinking water from our taps at home.
There's a picture of the infamous Biggie Rat on the Appleton Then & Now facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.339988382683529&type=1#!/photo.php?fbid=10200579794791856&set=oa.496122853736747&type=1&theater
Hilarious reading! Biggy Rat went to Appleton East around 1970. Dressed in black, with a cape, he would run around school with a plastic knife, chasing the girls. One time he popped out of the girl's bathroom stall, hanging on the door. I think I smacked him some good ones a few times while the rest of the girls ran screaming out into the hall. He never chased me again. Harmless and insignificant yet what uproar that would raise now.
Ha! I was googling Biggie Rat too and this blog came up. We thought he was a vampire. This was during the time Dark Shadows was popular. One time I saw his creepy self walking down Memorial Drive wearing the black cape outfit. Aaahhh! I wonder whatever happened to him? Maybe he invented the goth look. I wonder if he ever really did any of those things he was rumored to do or if people made up stories because he was "different"?
Also... where/what was Kinky's Woods? Wasn't that a homeless encampment/shanty town along the tracks off W College Ave?
I grew up on Hancock west of Oneida back in the 1970's, heard of the rat but never saw him.We figured biggie cat got him.
Yes, kinky's woods was west of town and way too tough for a rat to live in. Been through it during daylight but never after dark.
Biggy did some odd things, but my oldest brother was a friend of his...a lot of what is said now a days has some embellishment for sure.He did love hanging out in the cemetary, but never harmed anyone that I know of.
Post a Comment