Random Thoughts
Notes jotted down during the first real cool stretch of the fall …
I keep hearing about something called the Metaverse, and I fear it’s something that I’m never going to understand, like the mysteries of Stonehenge, the popularity of flip-flops, and Bitcoin. Is it like Bitcoin?
This morning at the supermarket checkout, the cashier asked me if I wanted to enter my Super Extra Bonus Points Number (at least I think that’s what she said). I told her I didn’t and I didn’t even want to know what that is. The woman behind me in line laughed.
The best part of this story about the arrest of a man holding a Marie Callender’s chocolate pie after a foot chase is that the Ozark County sheriff’s office took the time to find a picture of the pie to post on their Facebook page.
I don’t know what made me think of this, but I haven’t been on a bicycle in over 35 years.
This is one way we know that things are at least kinda getting back to normal: The Radio City Rockettes are back for their Christmas Spectacular.
If Kanye West can legally change his name to Ye, I can change mine to Ob.
Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a New Motto!
Superman has been in the news a lot recently. First we learned that his son Jon (yes, he and Lois have a son named Jon and apparently he’s the new Superman in the comics) is bisexual, and now comes word that DC is changing the motto from “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” to “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow.”
Some people will be irritated by this and won’t understand it, and some will say “it’s just a comic book!” You can put me in the “I don’t understand it” camp. Not only is “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” an iconic motto, “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow” sounds like something a local politician would have on a yard sign or a line from a real estate sales seminar video.
Yahoooooooo!
If you’re of a certain age, you had a Yahoo! email account at some point (maybe you still have one). And you probably remember the TV commercials featuring a yodel as the tag line. But did you know that the yodeler, Wylie Gustafson, was only paid $600 for the yodel — he thought it was going to be just a small, regional ad campaign — and decided to sue the company when he saw that the campaign had gone national during the Super Bowl? The Hustle explains what happened next.
Squid Game, Cruella, and Scarlet Witch
If there’s one thing this Yahoo! article about the most popular Halloween costumes of 2021 has taught me, it’s that there’s a TV show on Netflix called Money Heist that’s apparently in its fifth (!) season.
A Complete Thanksgiving Dinner (In Candy Corn Form)
I honestly thought this was a joke, a photoshopped meme someone created for social media. But it’s real! Brach’s has a new candy corn product called Turkey Dinner Candy Corn. And it’s exactly what it says it is: a bag of candy corn with the flavors of turkey, green beans, glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, apple pie, coffee, sweet potato pie, and stuffing. (I’m impressed they included the coffee.)
The Brach’s site says you can buy it at Walgreens, and it’s also available on Amazon.
Being the Ricardos
I know I’ve had a lot of Lucille Ball news lately, but I have to include this. It’s the trailer for the new movie about Lucy and Desi Arnaz and the rehearsals and filming of an I Love Lucy episode. It stars Nicole Kidman as Lucy and Javier Bardem as Desi, and is written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.
Being the Ricardos: Official Teaser | Prime Video (Uploaded to YouTube by Amazon Prime Video)
RIP Colin Powell, Betty Lynn, Leslie Bricusse, David DePatie, David Finn, and Ray Fosse
Colin Powell was the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secretary of state, and national security adviser. He died Monday at the age of 84.
Betty Lynn played Barney’s girlfriend Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show. She also appeared on My Three Sons, The Magical World of Disney, and Matlock, and in movies like Cheaper by the Dozen, Sitting Pretty, and Payment on Demand. She died Saturday at the age of 95.
TV writer Mark Evanier wrote a nice remembrance of Lynn, whom he’d known since he was a kid.
Leslie Bricusse wrote several well-known songs, including “The Candy Man” and “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as well as the Grammy-winning “What Kind of Fool Am I?” He won Oscars for “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Doolittle and the soundtrack to Victor, Victoria, and wrote the lyrics for the James Bond themes from Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. He also co-wrote the song “Feeling Good,” which has been recorded by artists from Nina Simone to Michael Bublé. He died Tuesday at the age of 90.
David DePatie was one half of DePatie-Freling, the producing duo responsible for such animated shows as The Pink Panther (after they designed the character for the Blake Edwards movie), The New Fantastic Four, What’s New Mr. Magoo?, and several cartoons in the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series. He died last month at the age of 91.
David Finn was the co-founder of one of the more powerful public relations firms after World War II. They helped the career of a young singer named Perry Como, which led to representing Jack Lemmon, Dinah Shore, and The Mills Brothers. The company also handled PR for Coca-Cola, Philip-Morris, Exxon, and Lever Brothers. He died Monday at the age of 100.
Ray Fosse was a catcher for the Oakland A’s and was famous for being rammed by Pete Rose in the 1970 All-Star Game. He died last week at the age of 74.
This Week in History
Yale University Founded (October 16, 1701)
It’s 320 years old this week. That’s older than the Post.
CBS Eye Logo Debuts (October 20, 1951)
The logo has changed several times since it first appeared 70 years ago.
This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: March Band at Football Game (October 19, 1946)
The reflection of the football team in the tuba is a nice touch by artist Stevan Dohanos, and it’s interesting to see that airplane passenger rage was also happening 75 years ago.
October Is National Apple Month
Sure, I could give you a great recipe for the perfect apple pie, but haven’t we done that a million times here (and will again as Thanksgiving and Christmas get closer)? Besides, you can get your apple fix this week from that candy corn above. How about some recipes that include apples that aren’t desserts?
Like this Honey-Mustard Chicken and Apples from Food Network, or these Apple-Cheddar Quesadillas from Real Simple. Ree Drummond has a Mulled Cider with Bourbon (I told you it was starting to get cold), while Taste of Home has Granny’s Apple Scalloped Potatoes. You can even use apples in a soup, like in this Curried Pumpkin Apple Soup (also from Taste of Home), and pair it with Martha Stewart’s Turkey, Cheddar, and Green Apple Sandwich.
Next Week’s Holidays and Events
Transylvania Open (October 25-31)
Yes, it’s a real tennis tournament! And just in time for Halloween.
World Series Begins (October 26)
We don’t know who the two teams will be yet, but the first game airs on Fox at 8 p.m. ET.
Featured image: Shutterstock
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Comments
So Mark Facebook is planning to ‘re-name’ the company and its image. It’s like Time-Warner re-naming itself Spectrum. It’s no better or different than before. Thanks for the link on The Rockettes. They work very hard hard to put on those beautiful, dazzling shows.
Too bad there has to be controversy with Superman too, but of course. Anything done now doesn’t matter anyway. There are Christopher Reeve’s great films, the 50’s TV series, and the ‘Lois and Clark’ 90’s series. Thanks for the link of ‘Being the Ricardos’. I definitely want to see it. The ‘stomping grapes’ episode had to have been one of the most difficult to film for Lucy, as she (spoiler alert) nearly died making it. It’s one of her classic episodes, but now knowing and realizing what I’m actually watching has cast a dark shadow over it ever since finding that out. I look at it this way. She went through a terrible ordeal to make it so WE could enjoy it. So enjoy it anyway.
Bob, you can never do too many stories on Lucille Ball. She was the single greatest American (or foreign) entertainer of the 20th AND 21st centuries. Carol Burnett the only other close to being in her orbit.
What a great cover by Dohanos. Too much going on all at once down on the field, not to mention with that huge tuba. Makes me think of the plane flight return from Europe Lucy episode where she and Ethel had stuffed Ricky’s band’s instruments full of cheese to smuggle back here. My favorite scene in that one was her holding a load of cheese disguised as a baby, sitting next to a lady with a real baby. No wonder the woman screamed!
You didn’t know and you didn’t want to know. A man after my own heart.
My chief interest in the Internet these days is the avoidance of it.
I can’t see that it conflicts in any way with what you do or why the SEP appeals to people that I advise anyone who is apprehensive if not appalled by The Machine, which we are close to inescapably trapped by, consider availing himself of at least a free subscription to Paul Kingsnorth’s Substack blog. Kingsnorth is a visionary. His vision is remarkable and forbidding.