The Sunday Memory Drawer - All About Easter?

 

And yes, that is me dressed like a Frank Sinatra album cover.

Happy Easter to all.   Make sure you wear those great bonnets as you attend your Zoom services.

Ah, Easter.  It's admittedly a weird holiday on our calendar.  The first problem with Easter Sunday is that it's not consistent.  Sometimes it's in April.   Or, in other years, March.  It can be hotter than blazes.   Or you have six inches of snow on your doorstep.

Meanwhile, there is the day itself.  Unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas, when family gatherings were a requirement, there was less of a focus on the big holiday meal for Easter.  Sometimes we did.   Or, in other years, we didn't. 

There were one or two Easters when we got all dressed up and took a bunch of silly pictures out in a park or at City Island in the Bronx.  You see evidence of that as my mom poses for one of Dad's Technicolor slides with Bing Crosby Jr.    At the same time, there were several Easters where we never left the front of the television set.  Let's Go, Mets!   Let's Go, Mets!

There were gifts for Easter sometimes.  And then, sometimes, there weren't.   There was always a chocolate bunny and a basket full of candy.  Which my dad would eat most of since my parents were worried about cavities. 

A holiday celebration that was sometimes sweet and very frequently sour.

Yep, I could never get a handle on Easter Sunday.

Okay, there is the religious celebration and that was always stressed when I was a kid.  My grandparents didn't go to church all that much anymore, but they never missed Good Friday services.  Meanwhile, while we were a Protestant home with nary a religion-provoked dietary restriction, my own parents really pushed the "no meat" rule on Good Friday.  It was always grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. 

Part of my confusion about this Easter stuff naturally came from an innocent child's questioning of what I learned in Sunday school.  On Good Friday, you're told that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and took three hours to die.  There was one kid in my neighborhood who was a religious nut.  He told me that the nuns in his school told him that the skies get dark every Good Friday from the hours of 12 noon to 3PM. 

Yeah, right.

Naturally, that very year, it happened just like he said.  Day turned into night due to an impending storm.  I peered out the window of my grandmother's living room at the doom and gloom.  Maybe there was something to this all.   Ever the skeptic, Grandma injected her usual logic.

"Oh, don't believe everything those crazy Catholics tell you."

Oh.

My inward struggle also got contributions from my mother, who wasn't particularly religious but had dragged me to every Biblical epic that played at the RKO Proctor's Theater on Gramatan Avenue in Mount Vernon, New York.   We saw them all either first-run or in revival.

"The Story of Ruth."

"Spartacus."

"The Ten Commandments."

"King of Kings."

"Barabbas."

"El Cid."

"The Robe."

Whatever the film, most ended with Jesus dying on the cross and the subsequent resurrection.  The latter was another concept that had me raising my hand in question a time or two.

They put Jesus Christ in a tomb.   They blocked it with a stone.  But, by the third day, he was gone.   Risen to heaven.   His body was gone.

Okay, this happens to all people, right, Mom?

When my dad's brother, Uncle Fritz, died and was buried at Ferncliff, I had a novel idea.   Let's go up there and see if we can watch this happen.  I mean, you must be able to see these people coming out of their graves and going skyward.  I presented this idea to both my parents.   And got the vague response.

"It doesn't work like that."

But they told us that in Sunday school.  The pastor told us that.  Gee, we saw it happen just like that in "King of Kings."

"It's more complicated than that."

Uh huh.  Over the years of my life, I realized that those questions were at the very heart of Christian belief. 

So, along with the changing day and unplanned weather and the inconsistent holiday celebrations, that was the main reason I still can't figure out Easter Sunday.  Oh, I go to church on the day as I do every Sunday that isn't during a pandemic.  And we hear the story one more time. 

Perhaps that's the struggle that was originally intended. 

And then, to make the holiday even more confusing, I will spend the day watching the Dodgers play in Colorado.

Yes, Easter is weird for me all over again.

Dinner last night:  Mongolian Beef from Chin Chin.

Classic Musical Comedy Production Number of the Month - March 2024

Woo hoo.  A five Saturday month takes us to a classic musical number.   And this one from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" hardly looks...gasp...70 years old.

Dinner last night:  Leftover lasagna.

Who's So Good About Friday?

 

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

We Take This Time Out

...for what should be our national holiday.

Go Japan!

Go Dodgers! 

Dinner last night:  BLT at Art's Deli.

This Date in History - March 27

 

It's a slow birth date in history, which is why I'm stuck saluting idiot Quentin Tarantino.  But, wait till you see who all died on March 27, 2002!

196 BC:  PTOLEMY V ASCENDS TO THE THRONE OF EGYPT.

Did he invent ptomaine poisoning?  Seems logical.

1309:  POPE CLEMENT IMPOSES EXCOMMUNICATION, INTERDICTION, AND A GENERAL PROHIBITION OF ALL COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE AGAINST VENICE.

So, no intercourse in Venice?  Well, there goes that bloodline.

1329:  POPE JOHN XXII ISSUES HIS "IN AGRO DOMINICO" CONDEMNING SOME WRITINGS OF MEISTER ECKHART AS HERETICAL.  

Meister Eckhart?  Didn't he become commissioner of baseball later on?

1625:  CHARLES I BECOMES KING OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND AS WELL AS CLAIMING THE TITLE KING OF FRANCE.

Talk about being pushy.

1794:  THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHES A PERMANENT NAVY AND AUTHORIZES THE BUILDING OF SIX FRIGATES.

Oh, what the frigate.

1814:  DURING THE WAR OF 1812, US FORCES UNDER GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON DEFEAT THE CREEK AT THE BATTLE OF HORSESHOE BEND.

I must have missed this battle in eleventh-grade American History with Miss Castriota.

1851:  FIRST REPORTED SIGHTING OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY BY EUROPEANS.

Is this before Sarah Palin saw Russia from her backyard?

1879:  YANKEE MANAGER MILLER HUGGINS IS BORN.

No, his middle name wasn't "Light."

1881:  RIOTING TAKES PLACE IN BASINGSTOKE IN PROTEST AGAINST THE DAILY VOCIFEROUS PROMOTION OF RIGID TEMPERANCE BY THE SALVATION ARMY.

Now I'm sorry I put all those dimes in the bucket.

1884:  A MOB IN CINCINNATI, OHIO, ATTACKS MEMBERS OF A JURY WHO HAD RETURNED A VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER IN A CLEAR CASE OF MURDER.  THEY WOULD LATER RIOT AND DESTROY THE COURTHOUSE.

Paging Fred Goldman.

1886: APACHE WARRIOR GERONIMO SURRENDERS TO THE US ARMY.

You can stop jumping now.

1899:  ACTRESS GLORIA SWANSON IS BORN.

"I wasn't a big baby.  It's just the womb that was smaller."

1915:  TYPHOID MARY, THE FIRST HEALTHY CARRIER OF DISEASE EVER IDENTIFIED IN THE UNITED STATES, IS PUT IN QUARANTINE FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE.

So no Match.com for her.

1931:  ACTOR DAVID JANSSEN IS BORN.

Let the manhunt begin.

1945:  DURING WORLD WAR II, OPERATION STARVATION, THE AERIAL MINING OF JAPAN'S PORTS AND WATERWAYS, BEGINS.

Effectively shutting down the import of ramen noodles.

1948:  THE SECOND CONGRESS OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF NORTH KOREA IS CONVENED.

Workers Party, ha!  They're Communists.

1958:  NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV BECOMES PREMIER OF THE SOVIET UNION.

Shoebanging will commence shortly.

1963:  DIRECTOR QUENTIN TARANTINO IS BORN.

Asshole Unchained.

1968:  RUSSIAN ASTRONAUT YURI GAGARIN DIES.

He, at least, outlived a couple of those chimps.

1976:  THE FIRST 4.6 MILES OF THE WASHINGTON METRO SUBWAY SYSTEM OPENS.

As if any members of Congress would be caught dead on it.

1977:  ACTRESS DIANA HYLAND DIES.

Apparently, Forty-One is Enough.

1981:  THE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT IN POLAND STAGES A STRIKE, IN WHICH AT LEAST 12 MILLION POLES WALK OFF THEIR JOBS FOR FOUR HOURS.

The workers on top of a skyscraper walked off as well, which, of course, is your typical Polish joke.

1993:  ITALIAN FORMER MINISTER AND DEMOCRACY LEADER GIULI ANDREOTTI IS ACCUSED OF MAFIA ALLEGIANCE.

Surprised??  Anybody???

1998:  THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION APPROVES VIAGRA FOR AS A TREATMENT FOR MALE IMPOTENCE.

Up, up, and away.

2002:  COMIC MILTON BERLE DIES.

Glad Uncle Milty got to use that Viagra.  Meanwhile, here comes an amazing fatal hat trick.

2002:  ACTOR DUDLEY MOORE DIES.

Coming up short.

2002:  DIRECTOR BILLY WILDER DIES.

He lived across the street from me at the time and I do remember the hearse showing up.  Meanwhile, no jokes from me on Billy.  A genius.

2006:  TV PRODUCER DAN CURTIS DIES.

Now how dark are those shadows?

2011:  ACTOR FARLEY GRANGER DIES.

Last stop for that train, stranger.

2016:  MOTHER ANGELICA DIES.

That nutty TV nun.  The one that couldn't fly.

Dinner last night:  Leftover chicken parmagiana.

Len's Test For Air Passengers

 

I don't fly as much as I used to do, but still there are those horrible words I always dread on hearing. 

"We are 23rd in line to take off."

Of course, a jammed flight with the "public" does not help. I really think we need to emend who gets to fly---both when and how. I wish airlines would impose the following easy 10 step questionnaire to determine someone's "flyability."

1. Are you human? If yes, please continue to question #2.

2. Do you like to take your shoes off for long periods of time? If yes, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

3. Do the children traveling with you have problems sitting in their seat for more than 2 minutes at a time? If yes, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

4. Have you ever been trained in the use of a Kleenex? If no, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

5. Do you just love to stop at fast food places in the airport before boarding and buy anything that contains cheese or onions? If yes, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

6. Do you view public places as a simple extension of your living room at home? If yes, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

7. When you do a Sudoku puzzle mid-flight, do you explain out loud the logic of every number's place to the passenger next to you? If yes, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

8. Did you shower within twenty-four hours of boarding the aircraft? If no, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

9. Do you use the seat pocket in front of you as a garbage can? If yes, there is no reason to continue with this questionnaire.

10. Are you able to read? If no, then all other answers you provided above are now discarded.

If we impose these very simple regulations, air travel would be so easy. And it will probably reduce the number of Americans who qualify to about 173.

Dinner last night:  Chicken parmesan from Rao's.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - March 25, 2024

 No blog anniversary is complete without a visit from...Scarlett.

Dinner last night:  Pork spare ribs.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Spring Forward

 

Now you don't really get spring here in California.   Oh, sure, you'll get some warmer days when the temperature actually varies by about ten degrees.   It will rain less than once in every ten days.   Of course, with all the rain this past winter, things are a little greener than they have been.  And that has resulted in these huge poppy fields like pictured above.   You know how the folks back East drive around looking for leaves in October and November?  This spring, people in the Golden State are motoring all around for the requisite poppy field photo op.

I grew up on the East Coast in Mount Vernon, New York.   Now there's a place where spring really sprung.  The winter coats got moved into the back of the closet.  The Mets had started their season at Shea Stadium so WOR Channel 9 would be tuned into my television now until October 1.   My grandmother would be tinkering in the yard with her plants.  Sure, her beloved rhubarb patch was perennial, but there would be other plantings.  Perhaps some cucumbers.   Almost always a few tomato plants, the fruits of which we would enjoy for about three days at the end of August.

But there were a couple of harbingers of the season that would scare the shit out of me.   One usually began with a request from my grandmother to my father.

"Harry, don't you think it's time to take down the storm windows and put up the screens?"

Gulp.

For those of you not from cold weather states, your houses frequently came with heavy duty windows that you put in place for the winter.   Then you removed them in the warm weather and replaced them with screens that allowed you a mosquito-free environment.  Whatever, the process of making this change in October and usually April or May always spooked me out.   My father naturally needed an extra set of hands to get this done.  Those would be mine.  And I always was convinced that this would result in the mangling of my dad.

Why?   Well, the first floor...which was my grandmother's part of the house...was a piece of cake.  Naturally, the storm windows were heavy and the screens were light.   But the trading out on the front porch was a snap.  Even I could do it without screwing it up and that's saying something.

It was the front windows of our second floor that were the horror show for me. Because it required my dad to get on the roof over the front porch.  First off, he would hand me the detached storm windows through the actual window.  To do so, my father would remove and then back up on the roof in order to hand it to me.  

This was my family's annual circus act.  Because I would watch my dad walk backwards on the roof towards the edge as I grappled to get hold of the storm window inside.   Indeed, there were five different windows we needed to do this for.   I held my breath on every one of them.   I was convinced that the slightest slip from me would have my father sailing off the roof into Grandma's prickly hedges below.

Once this daredevil stunt was complete, we were not done.  And my fears would be renewed.   Because there was an acrobatic part to get the screens up there.   

My job was to get the screens out of the basement.   First I would hose them down.  Then I would move them to whatever part of the outside house where they would live till the fall.   Again, the second floor was an issue but Dad had a foolproof method to getting this solved.   

I would stand on the steps to the front porch and raise the screens enough so my dad could reach them from the roof.  Okay, again, my heart was in my throat.   I was always convinced that my father would have to reach too far and then come tumbling off the roof into a mangled mess in front of me.

It never happened but the fear was there every single spring.  That's an awful lot for a ten-year-old to handle.

Dinner last night:  Salisbury steak.

Classic Movie Trailer of the Month - March 2024

Hard to believe that this gem was playing in theaters seventy years ago.   All praise Lucy and Desi.

Dinner last night:  Had late PT session.

You Can't Spell Lent without Len

 

Dinner last night: Korean beef.

A Blip on the Screen

It was all supposed to be so simple.  A post-op exam on my new right knee.  Removal of the bandages.   A check on range of motion.  And, all of a sudden from the clear blue sky...

"That edema in your leg doesn't look so good."

Uh?

"We need to get you to the hospital across the street."

Huh?

"You need to get this looked at in the next couple of hours.

The last four words never sounded so scary.  Before I knew, my ass was kissing a hospital gurney.  And a similar image played next to me.

I asked if the screen showed if it was a boy.  The technician laughed.

"It's nothing."

Two words that never sounded better.

Dinner last night:  Chicken tenders.

This Date in History - March 20

 

Happy birthday in Heaven, Carl Reiner.  You are still missed.

235:  MAXIMINUS THRAX IS PROCLAIMED EMPEROR.  HE IS THE FIRST FOREIGNER TO HOLD THE ROMAN THRONE.

So, would Maximinus' father's sister be his Aunt Thrax?  On a slow historical news day, that may be the best joke I got today.

1208:  MICHAEL IV AUTOREIANOS IS APPOINTED ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

Told you it was a slow day.  You're going to be digging that "Aunt Thrax" gag any minute now.

1600:  THE LINKOPING BLOODBATH TAKES PLACE ON MAUNDY THURSDAY IN LINKOPING, SWEDEN.

Maundy Thursday?  Wasn't that a Mamas and Papas song?

1602:  THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY IS ESTABLISHED.

A news day as slow as Adrian Gonzalez.

1616:  SIR WALTER RALEIGH IS FREED FROM THE TOWER OF LONDON AFTER 13 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT.

That gave him a lot of time to collect those coupons that used to come on the backs of those cigarette packs.

1726:  PHYSICIST DR. ISSAC NEWTON DIES.

Don't sit under the apple tree with anybody else but me.

1760:  THE GREAT FIRE OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, DESTROYS 349 BUILDINGS.

And they thought Bobby Valentine was devastating to this city.

1815:  AFTER ESCAPING FROM ELBA, NAPOLEON ENTERS PARIS WITH A REGULAR ARMY OF 140,000 AND A VOLUNTEER FORCE OF AROUND 200,000.

Now that's what I call a "community organizer."

1852:  HARRIET BEECHER STOWE'S "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" IS PUBLISHED.

Topsy turvy.

1861:  AN EARTHQUAKE COMPLETELY DESTROYS MENDOZA, ARGENTINA.

Talk about your "Mendoza Line."

1903:  ACTOR EDGAR BUCHANAN IS BORN.

And that's Uncle Joe...he's a-moving kind of slow at the Junction.

1906:  NY MAYOR ABE BEAME IS BORN.

Coming up short again.

1906:  ACTOR OZZIE NELSON IS BORN.

Good.  Now Harriet will have somebody to sleep with.

1913:  SUNG CHIAO-JEN, A FOUNDER OF THE CHINESE NATIONALIST PARTY, IS WOUNDED IN AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AND DIES TWO DAYS LATER.

I will bookmark this factoid when March 25 rolls around for its "Date in History."

1914:  IN NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIP TAKES PLACE.

And today's historical news slows to a tortoise-like crawl.

1916:  ALBERT EINSTEIN PUBLISHES HIS GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.

Which states....that your aunt's son is your cousin.

1918:  TV GAME SHOW PRODUCER JACK BARRY IS BORN.

Joker, joker, joker...

1922:  RADIO PERSONALITY RAY GOULDING IS BORN.

Because Bob needed somebody to play off.

1922:  ACTOR/PRODUCER CARL REINER IS BORN.

I had a whole conversation with him once about people who throw paper towels on the floor in a public bathroom.  Hollywood can be so glamorous.

1928:  TV HOST FRED ROGERS IS BORN.

A beautiful day in his neighborhood.

1933:  GIUSEPPE ZANGARA IS EXECUTED IN FLORIDA'S ELECTRIC CHAIR FOR FATALLY SHOOTING ANTON CERMAK IN AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST PRESIDENT-ELECT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.

So if you shoot a President-elect, does that still count?

1935:  ACTOR TED BESSELL IS BORN.

Happy birthday to....That Guy!

1936:  COMEDIAN VAUGHN MEADER IS BORN.

Had a show business career for 1,000 days...or however long JFK was President.

1942:  GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR MAKES HIS FAMOUS SPEECH REGARDING THE FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES, IN WHICH HE SAYS: "I CAME OUT OF BATAAN AND I SHALL RETURN."

I read this too fast and I thought he said "I came out IN Bataan."  Completely different angle on the story.

1952:  THE UNITED STATES SENATE RATIFIES A PEACE TREATY WITH JAPAN. 

After completely rebuilding the country for them.

1972:  ACTRESS MARILYN MAXWELL DIES.

Bob Hope will need to find somebody else to warm his feet.

1974:  JOURNALIST CHET HUNTLEY DIES.

Smoking does kill.

1985:  LIBBY RIDDLES BECOMES THE FIRST WOMAN TO WIN THE 1,135 MILE IDITAROD TRAIL SLED DOG RACE.

And the slow historical news day hits rock bottom.

1990:  IMELDA MARCOS GOES ON TRIAL FOR BRIBERY, EMBEZZLEMENT, AND RACKETEERING.

Bad shoes should have been added to the list of offenses.

1999:  LEGOLAND CALIFORNIA, THE ONLY LEGOLAND OUTSIDE OF EUROPE, OPENS.

Well, it didn't really open.  It was snapped together.

2010:  POLITICIAN STEWART UDALL DIES.

A hearse U-Haul for Udall.

2015:  A SOLAR ECLIPSE, AN EQUINOX, AND A SUPER MOON ALL HAPPEN ON THE SAME DAY.

Which is news on a slow news day.

2020:  SINGER KENNY ROGERS DIES.

He had no idea how bad COVID would get.

Dinner last night:  Chicken teriyaki tenders.

Len's Recipe of the Month - March 2024

 

Go figure.   A month ago, I didn't know what a Basque cheesecake was.  But, somehow, three of the You Tube chefs I follow did recipes for it in a matter of two weeks.   The cooking gods might have been speaking to me.   I had to try it for myself.

Indeed, cheesecakes can be daunting.   Most of them require oven water baths, etc.  Not Basque...or burnt as it is known.   This is as simple as can be and the results are a cheesecake you will die for.   Supposedly, this concoction comes from Spain.   Whatever the origin, you will want to try it.

Now, from the get go, there are two elements you have to master.  For the springform pan, you will need to line it with parchment paper and that's a little tricky.  Additionally, it is almost mandatory that all the ingredients you use be at room temperature.  If chilled, the cheesecake is not as creamy and dense.

Given the above, now take your kitchen mixer and dump in two pounds of cream cheese.  Cream with the plastic kneader for about four to five minutes on low.  Add a cup and a 1/4 of granulated sugar.   Cream that in for three minutes.

You'll need five eggs for this and you want to add them one at a time, so each egg gets incorporated on its own.  Now add two cups of heavy cream.   Let it all blend together and you want to make sure the sides of bowl get mixed in as well.   Now add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.\

The last step is to sift 1/4 cup of all purpose flour in.   Pour the entire mixture into the springform pan.   You will have already preset your oven to 425 degrees. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the top "burns" or caramelizes.   Remove and let rest.   For best results, chill it overnight.

None of the chefs mentioned this, but you might want to drizzle some strawberry preserves or lemon curd over each slice.

And that's what a Basque cheesecake is.

Dinner last night:  Spicy Chicken.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - March 18, 2024

 The blog anniversary laughs continue with these two ice cream loving pooches.

Dinner last night:  Leftover Chinese food.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Back on March 15, 2007...

 ...I began this daily dose of nonsense called "Len Speaks."

I look at the history books and noticed that former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn died on March 15, 2007 so, technically, the life of this blog completely duplicates a post-Bowie Kuhn world.  It doesn't look like much else happened on that date so I guess the biggest deal about that date remains the birth of this blog.

I've done these anniversary pieces before and, unlike when Johnny Carson used to celebrate the birthday of the Tonight Show every year, I can't resort to showing you video clips of Ed Ames throwing a tomahawk.  Well, thanks to You Tube, I suppose I can.

  
But, other than that, how else can I commemorate what I do here every day?

In past years, I've brought back the very first post I ever wrote.  Actually, I've done that just last Friday.  

I've pretended to be interviewed by James Lipton on "Inside the Blogger's Studio."  If you're dying to know my favorite curse word, e-mail me privately.

One year, I explained why I never change the photo that adorns this blog.  If you don't recall, it's because the snapshot was taken by a good friend who has since passed on.  As a matter of fact, she posted the second comment ever seen on Len Speaks.

Several anniversaries ago, I pulled back the curtain and told you how I work this process to ensure that there is a fresh piece of flotsam here every single day, just as you get to see a new adventure of Blondie or Zits on the funny pages of your newspaper every day.  Well, there has been no change in how I populate these virtual pages.  As a matter of fact, I work very far in advance.  The Wednesday "Date in History" is written through the end of April.  The video features are also lined up through that month.  The only thing that I can't plan that far ahead is what I have for dinner.  If I had a bigger freezer, I probably could schedule that as well.

So, I'm stuck.  I can't think of a new way to celebrate my blog.

Oh, wait.  There is.

I will just keep on writing.  Tomorrow.  And the next day.  And the week after that.  Because I have discovered that, beyond the hoped-for entertainment of my readers, this blog has enabled me to work through the good times and the bad times.  The ups and downs.  The elevators of life.  So, selfishly, I am doing this for myself more than I am doing it for anybody else.

I can't fathom my life without it.

Year Nineteen starts tomorrow.  Be there.  I mean, be here.

Dinner last night:  Hot and sour soup.

Classic TV Theme Song of the Month - March 2024

 Sixty years ago, this was a Friday night hit and it lasted long enough to have three different openings.

Dinner last night:  Meat loaf.

Today Back in 2007

 And so this blog began.

Day One

Jell-o, this is Jack Benny speaking.

Well, not really. But I am commencing a new chapter in my world. I have been intrigued by some of the personal blogs I have read from friends, people in the industry, etc.. I never really got into doing a daily journal, but this might be a good venue to start.

I can muse everyday on whatever is on my mind. Hopefully, this will be a good way to stay connected with folks. And, this is an ideal offshoot of that Christmas newsletter I do---an annual device which has obviously been well-received, although I start it as a complete goof.

It will take me a while to learn how to upload pictures and all those other do-hickeys on my computer. And I am sure that, at some point very early on, I will write a completely captivating entry only to lose it in cyberspace.

I will have to learn not to vent on anyone I know personally, as they could potentially read it and stop sending me Christmas cards. Will this be a politically correct forum? I see no hands raised. That's good. It means you have been paying attention to me all these years. For instance, if I wanted to comment on "American Idol", you will not be surprised if I refer to that Sanjaya guy in terms that will signify his heritage from a God-forsaken country in this world where the flies are bigger than the meal on your plate. By the way, I now understand how that kid is surviving from week-to-week when he sounds like Rose Kennedy doing a cabaret act in Vegas. All his calls have been outsourced. If he somehow goes the distance, I am guessing the first contract he will sign is with Dell Computers. And I am thinking he has tons of support in this country. Go into any Seven-11 when they open up the Idol phone lines and tell me if the counter help isn't on a cell phone at the time.

Voila......c'est le blog pour Thursday, March 15, 2007.

The Price of a Good Laugh

 

You never know what you will see in Hollywood.,.or, in this case. Santa Monica.  I was getting driven to my post op appointment with a doctor.  People that know me are aware that I don't like to be compromised.  So I was feeling a little low.

And then I saw it.  Life imitates art.   I had just seen the latest "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode where Suzie opens up an on-line business with a billboard.

And there it was for real.

I smiled.  My low had gotten higher.

Way to go, Larry David.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

This Date in History - March 13

 

Happy birthday, Neil Sedaka.  What's with the screwy hat?  You playing bocce ball these days?

624:  THE BATTLE OF BADR - A KEY BATTLE BETWEEN MUHAMMAD'S ARMY, THE NEW FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM AND THE QURAISH OF MECCA. 

I know I just typed this as a significant event, but I got bored halfway through.

1138:  CARDINAL GREGORIO CONTI IS ELECTED AS ANTIPOPE AS VICTOR IV.

Later on, Rosalind Russell was elected as Antimame.

1639:  HARVARD COLLEGE IS NAMED FOR CLERGYMAN JOHN HARVARD.

Masters of the obvious.

1764:  UNITED KINGDOM PRIME MINISTER EARL GREY IS BORN.

Love his tea.

1781:  WILLIAM HERSCHEL DISCOVERS URANUS.

When did he discover his own?

1809:  GUSTAV IV ADOLF OF SWEDEN IS DEPOSED IN A COUP D'ETAT.

If you're going to depose somebody named Adolf, you backed the wrong horse.

1862:  DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, THE US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FORBIDS ALL UNION ARMY OFFICERS TO RETURN FUGITIVE SLAVES AND ULTIMATELY SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.

Emancipation Proclamation rhymes.  Maybe it was written by Neil Sedaka.

1881:  ALEXANDER II OF RUSSIA IS KILLED NEAR HIS PALACE WHEN A BOMB IS THROWN AT HIM.

I suppose that, if you throw a bomb at somebody, you would expect to kill him.

1901:  PRESIDENT BENJAMIN HARRISON DIES.

And?

1906:  SUFFRAGE ACTIVIST SUSAN B. ANTHONY DIES.

Didn't even get to see her own coin.

1911:  AUTHOR L. RON HUBBARD IS BORN.

The inventor of Scientology.  So, essentially the guy is officially a lunatic.

1925:  SCOPES TRIAL - A LAW IN TENNESSEE PROHIBITS THE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION.

Too much monkeying around with school curriculums.

1933:  BANKS IN THE US BEGIN TO REOPEN AFTER PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT MANDATES A BANK HOLIDAY.

This was one of his devices to end the Depression.  Of course, the country's financial woes wouldn't get solved until we got into World War II.

1938:  WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP IS BROADCAST FOR THE FIRST TIME ON CBS RADIO.

Since this is the only historical event that happened on this day in 1938, what the hell did they have to report on?

1939:  SINGER/SONGWRITER NEIL SEDAKA IS BORN.

Breaking up is hard to do.  Coming down a birth canal...even tougher.

1943:  GERMAN FORCES LIQUIDATE THE JEWISH GHETTO IN KRAKOW.

When they say "liquidate" here, I think they really mean it.

1950:  ACTOR WILLIAM H. MACY IS BORN.

Mr. Felicity Huffman to you.  And later married to a jailbird.

1954:  BATTLE OF DIEN BIEN PHU - VIET MINH FORCES ATTACK THE FRENCH.

Dien Bien Phu.  Gesundheit.

1964;  KITTY GENOVESE IS MURDERED, REPORTEDLY IN VIEW OF NEIGHBORS WHO DID NOTHING TO HELP.

Screaming?  What screaming?

1969:  APOLLO 9 RETURNS SAFELY TO EARTH AFTER TESTING THE LUNAR MODULE.

So, no movie this time, Ron Howard?

1991:  THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSITCE ANNOUNCES THAT EXXON HAS AGREED TO PAY $1 BILLION FOR THE CLEAN-UP OF THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL IN ALASKA.

And gas prices go up to..?

1997:  THE PHOENIX LIGHTS ARE SEEN OVER PHOENIX, ARIZONA.

Where would you expect to see them?  Over Bumfuk, Alabama?

2006:  INVENTOR ROBERT C. BAKER DIES.

Who?  The guy who first made a chicken nugget, that's who.

2006:  ACTRESS MAUREEN STAPLETON DIES.

You just know she drank a lot.

2007:  WRESTLER ARNOLD SKAALAND DIES.

A big fave of my grandmother.

2009:  ACTRESS BETSY BLAIR DIES.

Once married to Gene Kelly.  The ugly duckling in the movie "Marty," although she looked pretty cute to me.

2013:  POPE FRANCIS IS ELECTED.

Francis the Talking Pope.

2015:  BASEBALL STAR AL ROSEN DIES.

The hero of everybody's Jewish great grandfather.

2020:  PRESIDENT TRUMP DECLARES COVID-19 A NATIONAL EMERGENCY.

The date I remember as the day when everything started to shut down.

2022:  ACTOR WILLIAM HURT DIES.

A really big chill.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.