persona non sequitur

a review of media by a slightly jaded baby boomer.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

DISNEY'S "ON ICE" roadshows.

I must say I never thought these were any good, and never wanted to see them. But bear in mind, people think you can translate anything to the ice ballet.

Convert these:

Marquis deSade
MEET THE FEEBLES
GODZILLA
ARMY OF DARKNESS
CABIN FEVER
PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE
Dante's INFERNO

You get the idea...

MY CAR DOOR.

On the 5th of December, it snowed. I went out to my car at 4:45 AM to turn on the engine and warm it up, defrost the windshield and put my lunch in.

Door handle broke off.

Making it one of "my cars". I have this history of cars what which one of the doors gets damaged in some way--usually the driver's side door--for whatever reason. An encounter with Bambi, rust, a SUV, close encounters from other cars...etcetera...

As per usual, I have to go through sequences of opening the passenger side and opening the right door.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Again, looking at the book WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? (by David Hofstede) being "the 100 Dumbest events in Television History" seems to think "The Flying Nun" was a hideous event, ignoring the contemporary "The Pruitts of Southhampton". In the latter, Phylis Diller played a wealthy woman who becomes broke and tries to keep up the facade that she is still rich.

And "Turn On" isn't even mentioned. That was the show that was canceled after its first appearance. One midwest station dropped it after 12 minutes were played because of a few phoned in complaints, leaving only an on the air screen check to fill out the remainder of the half hour. Four shows were made and in the can before it was killed.

Still an update on this book would need to involve the death of Anne Nichole Smith, who got more air coverage than certain presidents of this country received. Then again, none of them was a Playboy Bunny.

Then there's a whole chapter devoted to "Scrappy Do", but nothing for "Godzooky".

Monday, December 24, 2007

24 December 2007.

I'm spending part of my day here in my small room, looking over books and loading CDs into the computer and trying to fill up my iPod.

I noticed I haven't put The Beatles into it. I was going to but thinking it over, I've heard them so often, sometimes it's painful to sit through an album I've heard many times before. I guess if I was travelling down the road and "Let it Be" shuffled up, I'd be forwarding it.

Also noticed, what with the comedy and novelty tunes and instrumentals and the variety...that when a bit of Captain Beefheart crops up, I find he sounds diffrent. As if he always was trying too hard to be different. He sounds strained...

IN THE POSTAL ZONE: GOING POSTAL

We need to remind ourselves even when we are driving two ton vehicles in house, there are things which need to be watched out for...

***
And a small story. When it was out that I lived on a farm people asked if I was going to grow something. I said, "I was thinking about popcorn..."
And I was interrupted.
"You don't grow that. They make it." The man was in all seriousness about his statement.
I think education has been lacking for a lot of people, as well as the ability to go outside and walk around.

And for a note of variety. There was a man still employed at the post office who has missed a LOT of time. He was onced referenced as "he showed up one day in a row."

Sunday, December 16, 2007


There have been many movies recently about penguins. And a bunch of films about zombies.

Where's the film about Penguin Zombies?

SOME NOTES ABOUT THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL


I was reading a book of WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? the 100 Worst Events on Television.

The #1 worst event was THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL. Not Christmas Special, but Holiday, 'cause George Lucas is Jewish, and wanted to be politically correct.


***
This is what I call "anti-art". There is talent here, and there is ambition. There is also of a large sense of WTF?
Something went terribly wrong with this idea, but it was bulldozed through the actors, the cameras, the direction, the producers, the network, and of course, George Lucas.

Along the way, something unique was created.

Film students should see this film in order to process ambition, ideas, conception and execution. A "what went wrong" book could be culled out of this production, if Lucas wasn't paying off people to keep their mouths shut.

It's not unwatchable, but the dropped jaw you get every five minutes is a bit distracting. It is a mess of plotting and be friendly stuff.

However, Harvey Corman and Bea Arthur and the Jefferson Starship and everything in this muddle seem to be out of place. Going over a VHS tape of it, I found I could only deal with it ten minutes at a time. Carrie Fisher can't carry a tune, and her vocalizing of something towards the end makes you wonder if not too many people watched it to the end. But it was "Star Wars" and someone did watch it and the public at large did manage to save copies of it for trading, and later "bootlegging." It appeared at the beginning of the VHS era, and Science Fiction fans have been notorious for being on the razor edge of technology: they all had their own copies....

The existence of the program is one way to disable a fannish conversation. If a Star Wars fundamentalist starts a conversation about the series, just ask "Is Harvey Corman on the dark side or what?" (Akin to asking a Trekkie "When Spock's brain was missing, did his human side come out?")

Lucas wishes he could destroy all copies of the tape, and now, DVD. Purchasing it off eBay is one way to 'enjoy' the special--and notifying Lucas with the hope he will stop by your house with a hammer and you can discuss other things after he finishes. (TBC...)

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Note: created because the guys at the post office, when I bid a new job, claimed it was traditional for people to buy everyone donuts. I claimed not to know this and said I wouldn't buy stuff I wouldn't eat. So Giani made these. For the next two years people nagged me for the recipe.


GIANI’S (it’s your funeral) HABENERO COOKIES

2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

sift all these together.

1 cup of sugar
1/2 -- 3/4 cup of butter
1 half to a whole dried habenero (depending on how brave you are, but hey, you work at the PO with my husband --well, you’ve been warned). Wear gloves when you do this part, or you should not let your hands wander onto any neuron rich skin areas on yourself or anyone else for several hours, including private areas, nose, eyes and any place you scratch nervously or grope for whatever reason.

Do not use the stem. Chop pod into small fragments .

Cream the butter and sugar together, add the chopped habenero to the mixture. Cover the mix and let it sit overnight. This let's the heat migrate evenly through the recipe so you get an even heat not surprise hot spots

Then take the butter/sugar mix and mix it with one egg
one teaspoon vanilla
one teaspoon cinnamon

Add the flour mixture and form a dough. At this point you can chill it in wax paper into a roll that you can slice and then bake, or you can bake individual spoonfuls.

Bake at 325 -340 degree for ten to 15 minutes until they set up.

Don’t let them burn, otherwise the fumes that result will require a Haz Mat team to rehab your house.