I heard this on the jazz station the other day… On an unrelated note, John Oliver has a followup to a story he did a couple weeks ago.
Video
Eating Corn
I love corn on the cob, but it takes me so long to shuck the corn, that I don’t make it very much. I hate to get the silk in my teeth, so I have to make sure that every last bit of silk is removed. Do you have a preferred method of eating corn … Continue reading Eating Corn
Rat Race
In a recent episode of Scriptnotes Craig Mazin mentioned the 2001 movie Rat Race, which reminded me that I haven’t watched it in about 20 years. So I corrected that the other evening. It’s a totally wacky screwball comedy about greed, and you can’t find a subject much wackier than that—other than sex, of course. … Continue reading Rat Race
Lavalier Not Cavalier
I bought a lavalier microphone a few days ago as I want to make some videos where it will come in handy. A lavalier mic is one of those tiny little gizmos that you often see TV announcers or others clip onto their shirts when they are away from their studio and don’t want to … Continue reading Lavalier Not Cavalier
Dial a What?
Here’s a Bob Newhart routine from 1969, you know, when Richard Nixon was president and Spiro Agnew was vice-president. The video is labelled “Dial an Atheist” but that’s misleading. That’s from the opening banter that Bob uses to get into the routine.
The Living Doll
As a reminder, in the Boston Legal television show William Shatner played Denny Crane, James Spader played Alan Shore, and Candice Bergen played Shirley Schmidt. Now watch this video and I’ll explain why afterwards. That’s from the episode entitled “Can't We All Get a Lung?” There’s a reason that that particular sequence came to my mind, … Continue reading The Living Doll
Åse’s Death
Coincidences seem to happen to me all the time. Case in point: A few nights ago I was watching a video of an orchestra playing Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, but I got distracted and looked something up on the internet and lost track of time until the final piece, “In the Hall of the Mountain … Continue reading Åse’s Death
November 3, 1956
In November 1956 we were living in the Great Stone House on my grandparents’ farm just outside Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, but as my mother had been brought up in Richland and my father on a farm just outside Richland, and my mother’s parents still lived in Richland, we visited that borough frequently. On November 3 Richland's … Continue reading November 3, 1956
They’re Back!
SummertimeAnd the Proms are returning! One of the great joys of summertime for me is the BBC Proms. Of course, I don’t live in London, so I can’t attend the concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, which is where most of the festivities are held, but happily for me, many of the concerts are televised, … Continue reading They’re Back!
Rene Auberjonois
One of the pleasures of watching television programs from 40 or more years ago is to see actors in their younger days before they became better known and received larger roles. Case in point is Rene Auberjonois. Unlike many actors of his generation, he refused to changed his last name to something pronounceable by the … Continue reading Rene Auberjonois