Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Winners
One of my favorite jokes from The Dick Van Dyke Show:
Sally: Boy, look at all the fun I missed. And I, like a dope, went to a dog show.
Buddy: You win anything?
Sally didn’t win anything this week either, but Monty the giant Schnauzer did. He won the prestigious “Best in Show” award. Runner-up was Bourbon the whippet. It’s the third time she has been runner-up.
She’s the Susan Lucci of whippets.
Are TV Ratings Still Accurate?
Years ago, they were known as “Nielsen families.” Mine was an Arbitron family.
When I was a kid – this would have been around 1975 – we got a little booklet in the mail and were asked to keep track of every single TV show we watched, the time we started it, the time we ended it, etc. There was a dollar bill included in the envelope! As a TV-obsessed kid, getting that booklet in the mail was like Christmas morning.
I think I told them I watched several of my favorite shows whether I happened to watch them or not that particular month. So, if you’re happy that The Rockford Files lasted a few more years, you’re welcome.
But in this day of 500 channels on broadcast, cable, and streaming, when people watch TV shows on various platforms and devices, at various times at their leisure, do ratings still matter?
And the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Are …
This year’s nominees are Chubby Checker, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, Bad Company, Mariah Carey, Oasis, The Black Crowes, The White Stripes, Joy Division/New Order, Phish, Outkast, Soundgarden, and Maná.
I’ll admit I’ve never heard of Maná, and I’m surprised Chubby Checker wasn’t inducted years ago. (I was going to just say “Checker” there but his name is one of those names where you can’t just say the last name, you have to say the full “Chubby Checker.”)
This list of nominees will be sent out to 1200 industry people who will select the winners in the fall.
I’m still waiting for Marshall Crenshaw to be inducted. Hopefully someday, someway.
What People Spend on the Lottery Every Year
I spend approximately four dollars a year on the lottery, maybe if a jackpot gets into the $500 million range.
That makes me an anomaly in Massachusetts because the average person in my state spends $1,037.00 a year on tickets. And most of those are scratch tickets?
(My jaw is dropping right now.)
100 Years of the New Yorker
The exact date of the 100th anniversary of the first issue is next Friday, but this week CBS Sunday Morning went behind the scenes of the magazine.
Uploaded to YouTube by CBS Sunday Morning
The magazine has a bunch of great features for the anniversary, including profiles of the founders and the writers who worked at the magazine for years.
Headline of the Week
“Battery-Operated Socks Linked to Burke Mountain Hotel Fire”
RIP Tony Roberts, Tom Robbins, Bruce French, Joe Hale, Mort Künstler, Gene Barge, and Gunilla Knutson
Tony Roberts appeared in such Woody Allen movies as Annie Hall, Radio Days, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Play It Again, Sam. He also appeared in Serpico and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, the TV show Rosetti and Ryan, and in several Broadway productions. He died last week at the age of 85.
Tom Robbins was the acclaimed author of such counterculture novels as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction, and Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas. He died Sunday at the age of 92.
Bruce French was a prolific character actor who appeared in hundreds of films, TV shows and plays. He died last week at the age of 79.
Joe Hale was an animator who worked on such classic films as Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. He died last month at the age of 99.
Mort Künstler was a veteran artist and illustrator known for his magazine covers, paintings, and ad work. He died last week at the age of 97.
Here’s an interview the Post did with Künstler in 2017. And here’s a sampling of his work.
Gene Barge played saxophone on such songs as “Rescue Me,” “Quarter to Three,” and “Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher and Higher).” He died Sunday at the age of 98.
Gunilla Knutson was a model and actress famous for her “Take it off, take it all off” Noxzema ads in the 1960s. She died last week at the age of 84.
This Week in History
Death of a Salesman Opens on Broadway (February 10, 1949)
The first Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s play was Lee J. Cobb.
Nelson Mandela Released from Prison (February 11, 1990)
Four years later he became South Africa’s first democratically-elected president.
This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “First Valentine” by Richard Sargent (February 11, 1956)
Do they still make kids buy a box of cards and give them out to everyone in class? I never liked doing it. Though the kid on this cover looks like he’s picking out just one Valentine for a certain someone, and he’s hiding behind the display in case any of his friends come in.
Dinner for Two (or One)
I’m going to spend Valentine’s Day with the person I always do, the one who means the most to me.
Myself.
But if you have a special someone in your life, someone you’d gladly spend $6 on to get a card with a red heart on it, here are some recipes.
Allrecipes has 14 great ways to make Shrimp Scampi. I’m sure one of those will please you (if you like shrimp). Food Network has Steak Diane For Two, while Smitten Kitchen has this Rigatoni Alla Vodka. I don’t know if it’s Valentine’s Day-specific but it has a fancy name so it could be.
For dessert, The Pioneer Woman has the Best Flourless Chocolate Cake, Sally’s Baking Addiction has these Sparkle Sweetheart Cookies, and Southern Living has these Chocolate Velvet Truffles.
Rigatoni is my go-to pasta shape, so I’ll be making Rigatoni Sans Vodka, because I have memories of drinking too much vodka one night many years ago and I don’t need any flashbacks while eating dinner.
Next Week’s Holidays and Events
Daytona 500 (February 16)
It airs on Fox at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary Special (February 16)
It starts at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Here’s the guest list, and here’s who former and current cast members pick as their all-time favorite cast member.
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Comments
Monty is a beautiful dog, and definitely a winner. Honestly, I wasn’t aware they came in the larger size until now.
The R&RHOF is a mess, and has been for years now. Good luck to the first 4 you mentioned, despite that. My mom used to subscribe to The New Yorker. Admittedly, it did have some good cartoons, and reviews. They’ve leaned too far to the left, and best be careful siding with that screaming, meltdown crowd, double-downing on continuing to degrade themselves more by the day. Dad’s team is ripping the lid off what they want to remain covered, and for our tax dollars to continue paying for it.
The editor’s slight dig at LIFE magazine at the 6:41 mark isn’t entirely unfounded. There was an announcement last March the MAGAZINE was going to be revived in ’25, and I didn’t see how that could possibly work. Nothing online about that since, so I’m sure it’s been dropped, and it’ll remain in the form of the softcover books we see in the stores.
Then there’s the 50th Anniversary of SNL, which has been creatively dead since the early Clinton Administration. Millions on automatic pilot still watch it in the hopes that maybe THIS WEEK it’ll be funny. A few also watch that insufferable nasally voiced, beady-eyed, Disney mouthpiece Kimmel will for the same reason. Not happening.
An excellent Richard Sargent cover this week. Oh, and the POST is definitely a more exclusive and prestigious publication than The New Yorker.
Midnight rider- you’re such a breath of fresh air! Reading- ugh! Learning something different from your daily diet of curmudgeon- ness-how awful!
The New Yorker – What a waste of time reading as well as news print. Their magazines are hopefully recycled into toilet paper which is more fitting of where they belong. Period.