Read This!
The current issue of the Post has ten books you might want to read. Here are six more.
Familiarity Breeds Content and Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life, Especially If You’ve Had a Lucky Life by Joseph Epstein. Two new books by one of the best living essayists. The first is a collection of new and selected essays, and the second is a memoir.
The Lede by Calvin Trillin. A collection of journalism from Trillin’s 60-year career.
Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman. A group of workers at a big box store in upstate New York band together to get one of their own promoted to management so working conditions improve.
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. The subtitle for this book is “How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” and it discusses how smartphones and social media have ruined everything (and I’d say not just for kids).
Never Too Late by Danielle Steel. I’ve lost count of how many books Steel has written (and all on a manual typewriter!). This one is about a woman who moves from San Francisco to New York City to start a new life close to her two adult daughters.
Why Are People Stealing Razors?
I was waiting in line at the pharmacy the other day when I happened to glance at the cold medicine section. Instead of actual packages of cold medicine and similar products, there were just cards, cards that looked like an ad for the product. You have to take the card off the shelf and bring it to someone who works at the pharmacy and they’ll get it for you.
This is what the world has become. People are stealing cold medicine and razors and now things have to be locked up. Some stores are even locking up toothpaste and deodorant.
Oddly, none of that stuff is locked up at the supermarket right next door, where I buy my Gillette blades and Crest.
maybe u dont mind sentences like this maybe you type like this urself but it drives me crazy! omg amirite??
I have many pet peeves. Too many to list here, but I’ll tell you one of them. It’s when people send me emails where they don’t capitalize the first word in a sentence (or any other word that should be capitalized), they don’t use periods, they use emojis too much, and they have, at best, just a passing familiarity with proper spelling.
Now, I don’t text, so the messages I get like this come via email. And maybe it’s because I don’t text that I’m being a bit of a curmudgeon about this. But can’t people take the time to use capital letters and proper punctuation? I mean, people always type “K” to me instead of “OK.” Come on, it’s just one more letter! How much time and energy are you saving?
Everything else is falling apart around us, can’t we hold on to the simple, everyday things that we used to do? Just because you’re texting or emailing doesn’t mean it has to be shorter, quicker.
The Wall Street Journal agrees and says it’s time for texters to grow up.
In about 20 years humans will have gigantic thumbs but the inability to speak in complete sentences.
Unfrosted
A few years ago I brought you the news that Jerry Seinfeld was making a film about the invention of Pop-Tarts. Here’s the trailer.
(Netflix)
Headline of the Week
“Study Finds Coin Flips Are Not Exactly 50/50”
RIP Louis Gossett Jr., Barbara Rush, Joe Flaherty, Vernor Vinge, Lou Conter, Lynn Loring, Jennifer Leak, and Eleanor Collins
Louis Gossett Jr. appeared in such films as An Officer and a Gentleman (for which he won an Oscar), Iron Eagle, Enemy Mine, and Don’t Look Back: The Story of Leroy “Satchel” Paige, as well as TV shows like Roots, The Lazarus Syndrome, Watchmen, Gideon Oliver, and The Young Rebels. He died last week at the age of 87.
Barbara Rush appeared in It Came From Outer Space, Magnificent Obsession, When Worlds Collide, Come Blow Your Horn, and Robin and the 7 Hoods, as well as TV shows like Peyton Place, 7th Heaven, Flamingo Road, and All My Children. She died Sunday at the age of 97.
Joe Flaherty was a cast member of the classic comedy series SCTV, as well as Freaks and Geeks. He was also in films like Back to the Future II, Innerspace, Stripes, Happy Gilmore, and 1941. He died Monday at the age of 82.
Vernor Vinge was an influential writer of science fiction. He died last month at the age of 79.
Lou Conter was the last known survivor of the bombing of the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor. He died Monday at the age of 102.
Lynn Loring started out as an actress, appearing on Search For Tomorrow, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Studio One, Fair Exchange, and The F.B.I., but then went on to become president of MGM/UA Television. She died in December at the age of 80.
Jennifer Leak was one of the kids in the Lucille Ball/Henry Fonda film Yours, Mine, and Ours and appeared in several soap operas. She died last week at the age of 76.
Eleanor Collins was an acclaimed jazz singer and the first woman and first black person to host a TV show in Canada. She died last month at the age of 104.
This Week in History
Jeopardy! Premieres (March 30, 1964)
Or maybe I should say “What is March 30, 1964?”
Washington Irving Born (April 3, 1783)
The author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” also wrote short stories for the Post, including “The Ruined One” and “A Haunted Ship.”
This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “Stork Brings Sextuplets” by B.B. Sams (April 1, 1984)
Wait … he’s not going to drop those babies down the chimney, is he?
Sunday is Coffee Cake Day
I was wondering why coffee cake is called coffee cake. Could it simply be because it goes well with coffee? Apparently, yes!
A few recipes. Sally’s Baking Addiction has this Sour Cream Coffee Cake (with Crumb Topping), and King Arthur has a Triple Chocolate Coffee Cake. Handle the Heat has a Caramel Apple Coffee Cake, while Nora Cooks has a Vegan Coffee Cake.
Oh, if you’re having one of these coffee cakes, don’t forget to make some perfectly average coffee to go with it.
Next Week’s Holidays and Events
National Library Week (April 7-13)
I haven’t had a library card in 25 years. I feel bad about that.
Total Eclipse (April 8)
Here’s everything you need to know, including which states will have the best views, what the weather is going to be like, and where to get glasses (though you better hurry!).
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Comments
We don’t have any .99 stores in TN. However, we do have Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Stores (owned by the same company), which many are in rural communities. A recent news story indicated that a great number of those Family Dollar Stores are shutting down here and around other rural areas in the South. One the flip side, we have Dollar General Stores popping up everywhere. We have two which are about 8 miles apart where we live and we are centrally located between them. They are quite handy to have around even though it seems they can’t keep enough employees.
Thank you Mark Scott, for your comments to Bob. I forget to thank him for all the work he puts into this weekly column that he makes look easy, which is a lot that he makes it look easy. It’s sad that so many things have to be locked up now because of criminals. The razors make for profitable re-sells apparently, per the link.
The 99 Cents Only Stores (Ca., AZ, NV., TX) are being shut down immediately/permanently once the existing merchandise is gone. NOTHING’s been .99 ($1.10 w/tax) for a long time anyway, so I’m not that surprised. The Dollar Tree should fare better (hopefully…) at least for awhile.
Most things there are $1.25, and some that are higher, they make clear are, so there’s no unpleasant surprises at the checkout. The very name ’99 cents Only’ I knew would trap them at some point. I was only a matter of when, and now we know.
Agree with you Bob on the texting. I DO text, but because I’ve known how to properly write (and speak) from a young age, it would be more trouble mentally to write amirite than ‘am I right?’
‘Unfrosted’ looks wonderful to me. A fun trip back to the early-mid ’60s via Jerry Seinfeld. Thanks for the trailer, I love it already. May I have a cinnamon and brown sugar Pop Tart?
I love Barbara Rush. A beautiful, classy, charming and versatile actress if ever there was one. Definitely check out the film ‘No Down Payment’, quite a shocker from 1957, and ‘Maude’s Reunion’ from 1972; a different kind of shocker to be sure. Poor Maude. Ouch!
What a great 1984 Post cover. A vintage classic to be sure. There were some fun ones in that era, like the ‘Garfield’ take off on NR’s triple self portrait. Bob, you should get a new library card. Can’t speak for the MA libraries, but my new (’22) L.A. card is plastic debit card size, and they just scan it. I think you’ll like it.
I’ll see the Total Eclipse on the news and You Tube. I can already hear how thousands of Americans will have either lost their eyesight, or have it greatly diminished. College students bragging they don’t need protective eyewear. That’s their choice. With all the weirdness aligning otherwise, God knows what else will happen on Monday, and around the 20th.
Mark: Thank you! Glad you enjoy it.
Bob Sassone I wish I could write like you. I so enjoy your weekly comments on current events. Your collum is the first thing I pull up on the Saturday Evening Post’s website. Thank you for doing what you do so well.
I agree with all of your disgust about the atrocities texting has imposed on the written use of the language.
My enraging peeves are acronyms. I always want to scream, “Guess what!? We don’t all share your particular parochial interests!! And because I do not, I have no interest in anything, even if intelligible to me, which you might have to say!!!”