Now that I know that measuring by weight rather than volume can produce better results, I want to convert my recipes to weights where appropriate. I found a very useful site from King Arthur that gives the equivalents for many ingredients: Ingredient Weight Chart It’s been awhile since I mentioned The Beatles, hasn’t it? So … Continue reading Three Things
Humor
Tattoos
If I keep referencing Graham and Maria Wanging videos, perhaps I need to make them a separate category. In any case, once upon a time, it seemed that about the only people who got tattoos were prisoners and sailors (assuming we include Marines in there as the Marines are part of the Navy). I didn’t … Continue reading Tattoos
Plowing On
Things haven’t changed much. Our street still hasn’t been plowed. I don’t blame the mayor for that, even though I don’t hold her in very high esteem. Cities plan their budgets for the kind of weather that they normally expect. We haven’t had a snowstorm like this in ten years, so naturally I don’t expect … Continue reading Plowing On
Wanging On with Graham and Maria
In addition to his television chat show, Graham Norton used to have a radio program; he’d interview guests, and he and his friend Maria McErlane would dish and answer listeners’ questions about nearly anything under the sun, even though they admitted they were not qualified to do so. Highlights from those shows were repackaged as … Continue reading Wanging On with Graham and Maria
Dial Seven for Agatha
Regular readers will note that there are certain recurring characters in this blog. It’s rare that I go more than a few weeks without a mention of Stephen Sondheim, for example, or Isaac Asimov. Not quite at their frequency but still an often mentioned personage is the Queen of Crime, Dame Agatha Christie. Hard as … Continue reading Dial Seven for Agatha
The Curious Thing About Sitcoms
Here are the climactic final minutes of the 17th episode of the first season of The Dick Van Dyke Show entitled “The Curious Thing About Women”. The story is about Rob basing a sketch on Laura’s habit of opening his mail and depicting her as a ridiculous snoop, so that even their neighbors are laughing … Continue reading The Curious Thing About Sitcoms
Lucy and Jeannie
One of the famous I Love Lucy episodes involves Lucy making wine and getting into a fight with her fellow grape stomper. That’s in the fifth season episode “Lucy's Italian Movie”. A few years ago the last boss I had at the Defense Support Center Philadelphia, Jeannie Lacovara, sent me a photo of her at a … Continue reading Lucy and Jeannie
Lucy Goes to School
Quote of the day: The man who says his wife can't take a joke forgets that she took him.—Oscar Wilde In Jess Oppenheimer’s memoir Laughs, Luck…and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time he relates how he got to work on Fanny Brice’s radio show, “Baby Snooks”, and when … Continue reading Lucy Goes to School
The Obvious Question
Quote of the day: From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.—Groucho Marx Jess Oppenheimer’s memoir Laughs, Luck…and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time is filled with anecdotes about his time in radio. … Continue reading The Obvious Question
An Unintelligible Radio Moment
Quote of the day: There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.—Alfred Hitchcock Todd Purdum’s book on Desi Arnaz reminded me that years ago I had read another book that covered some of the same material. It was Jess Oppenheimer’s memoir Laughs, Luck…and Lucy: How I Came to Create the … Continue reading An Unintelligible Radio Moment