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The popcorn story

By demand from Island Rambles. I mean Shooting Parrots asked for it, but IR INSISTED!

When I was forced to get rid of my microwave by my lovely bride after we got married and moved in together, one of the things I most missed was making microwave popcorn. Now Carol would say, “Oh, you can make popcorn on the stove.” Well, no; maybe SHE could, and occasionally/rarely she did, but I could not, unless you considered creating a smoky and scorched pot, oddly filled with burnt popcorn AND unpopped kernels, “making popcorn.” I used the oil, even moved the pot as instructed but to no particular success, unless the goal was to make a mess without having a satisfactory culinary outcome. It’s OK to mess up a lot of pans if there’s a payoff, but without one…

I must have mentioned me missing this appliance at a gathering of her birth family, around Thanksgiving or Christmas of 1999. When we all got together for Mother’s Day the next year, they brought ME a box of microwave popcorn, which I accepted graciously. This was just the wrong response for them.

What I was SUPPOSED to do is kvetch, “But we don’t have a microwave! What am I to do with this?” At that point, they were going to then give us a brand new microwave from Unclutterer, which we could use in the new house, where we were going to move into the following week, and there would as room for it. Instead, I figured to just use the microwave popcorn at work.

Finally, the following weekend, they brought us the new microwave, as a first anniversary/housewarming present, disappointed that they did not have a little fun at my expense. Indeed, inadvertently, I had some fun at THEIR expense, and I wasn’t even trying.

AND, after very little practice, I almost NEVER burn the popcorn.

LISTEN: Buttered Popcorn by the Supremes

S is for Billy Strange

Billy Strange wrote music for Elvis Presley, arranged songs for Nancy Sinatra, and played on some Beach Boys recordings

When I was twelve or thirteen, I had a newspaper route, and thus, my own money, so I joined the Capitol Record Club. For those too young to remember, one would order on a postcard 12 albums for a penny, plus postage and handling; then I had to buy 10 or 12 more at full retail, plus P&H.

Ordering those first dozen albums, I got my first six Beatles albums, plus a Herman’s Hermit album. But what else should I select? One I picked at random was Goldfinger by Billy Strange. It turned out that it was an instrumental album featuring popular songs of the day, including the title tune [LISTEN] and a Beatles tune, I Feel Fine.

When I went to college in New Paltz (NY), I left most of my albums at my grandmother’s house back in Binghamton (NY); I had room in my dorm for only a couple dozen LPs, which were mostly my later Beatles and Beach Boys albums, the Band, Led Zeppelin, CSNY, and a few others. Then I went back to Binghamton one summer and discovered that some of my albums had been stolen. Unsurprisingly, my albums were arranged alphabetically, so I could tell at a glance that the albums were taken were artists starting with A, B, and S-Z, So I lost my early Beatles, Supremes, Temptations, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass…and Goldfinger by Billy Strange.

Listening to the Coverville podcast in the fall of 2012 about James Bond songs, I was pleased and startled to hear the last tune, The James Bond Theme, by Billy Strange. I hadn’t thought about him in decades.

As it turned out, William Everett Strange recorded a LOT of Bond music and more than a couple of Beatles covers. He wrote music for Elvis Presley, arranged songs for Nancy Sinatra, and played on some Beach Boys recordings, including the legendary Pet Sounds album. Unfortunately, Strange died on February 22, 2012, at the age of 81. In his honor, I went out and bought that Goldfinger album again; my, at 24 minutes, it is really short.

ABC Wednesday – Round 12

Disney Animated Feature Challenge

The first movie you remember seeing was 101 Dalmatians in the early 1960s, at the cinema. It’s possible I saw Snow White or Sleeping Beauty on TV before that, but not sure.

SamauraiFrog did this Disney Animated Feature Challenge a couple of months ago…

1: Your favorite character
My favorite Disney character is Roger, the adult human in 101 Dalmatians, who sings Cruella de Ville. But of the more anthropomorphic, Donald Duck, who I used to do a poor imitation of.

2: Your favorite official princess
I suppose the more modern ones, like Tiana from the Princess and the Frog, or Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

3: Your favorite official prince
Excluding The Beast, they are pretty much interchangeable.

4: Your favorite heroine (that isn’t an official princess)
Dumbo’s mom, Jumbo, protecting her child.

5: Your favorite hero (not an official prince)
Tramp, from Lady and the…

6: Your favorite cast of characters
Beauty and the Beast. Always liked Mrs. Potts and her colleagues.

7: Your favorite friendship
The cubs in the Lion King.

8: Your favorite sidekick
The Genie in Aladdin.

9: Your favorite couple
Beauty and the Beast

10: Your favorite animal couple
Lady and the Tramp

11: The pet(s) you wish you had
Nemo

12: Your favorite villain
Scar in The Lion King

13: Your favorite villain song
Gaston from Beauty and the Beast; I find it hysterical.

14: The most chilling villain demise
The villain in Snow White, which I saw in the last few years.

15: A moment that makes you laugh until it hurts
The Genie in Aladdin, any number of antics.

16: A moment that makes you cry your eyes out
When the Beast “dies” in Beauty and the Beast, though I was also sad about a character dying in The Princess and the Frog because I wasn’t expecting it.

17: A moment that scares you
When I was a kid, there were countless moments. Bambi and fire, good chunks of Pinocchio.

18: A moment that makes you mad
Aunt Sarah in Lady and the Tramp.

19: A moment that makes you happy
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Fantasia

20: Your favorite musical number
When You Wish Upon a Star

21: Your favorite romantic moment
Beast giving Belle the library, because I’m a librarian.

22: Your favorite ending
The restaurant in The Princess and the Frog

23: A line that inspires you
Hmm. not coming to me.

24: The first movie you remember seeing
101 Dalmatians in the early 1960s, at the cinema. It’s possible I saw Snow White or Sleeping Beauty on TV before that, but not sure.

25: A movie you think is under-appreciated
The Princess and the Frog, which had a lovely empowering story

26: Your favorite movie of the Golden Age (1937-1959)
Fantasia

27: Your favorite movie of the Dark Age (1960-1988)
101 Dalmatians

28: Your favorite movie of the Renaissance Age (1989-1999)
Beauty and the Beast

29: Your favorite movie of the Millennium Age (2000-present)
Finding Nemo

30: Your favorite movie
Fantasia. Didn’t see it until I was an adult, and I still appreciated it.

This week in Obama political scandal

It’s the attempt by the federal government to make legal acts, or marginally illegal acts, literally a federal case.

President Obama is currently embroiled in three situations labeled as political scandal. The IRS scandal is the most problematic in that it involves a highly disliked arm of government that affects almost everyone’s lives. But I agree that the REAL scandal in the IRS issue is that there are lots of political groups on both ends of the political spectrum getting tax-exempt status, when that designation should be limited to more cultural/civic issues. Since the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court in 2010, there have been far more organizations of every political stripe trying to influence elections, sometimes illegally. Also, the richer applicants fell under lesser scrutiny, a real class distinction. The President has shown public indignation over this particular issue, but he may be missing the bigger picture.

The notion that the Benghazi story is bigger than Watergate and Iran contra combined suggests that the “silly season” has already begun, Bob Woodward’s assertion notwithstanding. If there are altered documents, it may be Republicans feeding them to the mainstream media. At the end of the day, the real story on the government side will be that the US was ill-prepared for an attack in a hot spot, on a significant day (9/11 in 2012) despite warnings within the Administration, that no help was available to those who died there; that’s the scandal. The “talking points” of who said what, and when? An issue will be made of this, but it seems like usual interagency jockeying, rather than malicious intent to me.

I’m much more concerned by the unethical seizure of phone records of Associated Press journalists in connection to media leaks; it’s not just that First Amendment “freedom of speech” thing; it’s a Fourth Amendment “unreasonable search and seizure” thing, which has the effect of stifling whistleblowers. It’s the attempt to make legal acts, or marginally illegal acts, literally a federal case. One saw this in the Aaron Schwartz case, huge governmental overreach. The story of the octogenarian nun in federal prison for protesting may tick you off as it did me.

The President, as noted, seems to be worked up over one of these issues, but is more defensive about the other two. I would wish he’d get more excited about trampling people’s constitutional rights, but that does not appear to be in the cards. I find his behavior disappointing, to say the least.

Still, when the I word gets thrown around, I agree with this assessment: “it would take about fifty of each of the three to collectively equal Watergate, let alone the impeachment and incarceration we should have had over Iraq.”

As Illya Kuryakin, the baby sister

I was the debonair Solo, while Marcia emulated the clever Kuryakin.

As I perused the pictures my baby sister Marcia sent me this spring via Facebook, I noted only one of just her and me. That’s not that surprising; I have not a lot of memories of things she and I did alone together. There were many things the THREE of us did together: Leslie, 16 months younger, and Marcia, five years my junior. Also, Leslie and I sang together, and Leslie and Marcia shared a room.

Still, there was one thing Marcia and I did together that was just ours, without Leslie or my parents: we played spies, based on the 1964-1968 NBC-TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; the acronym stood for the United Network Command for Law Enforcement. The two prime agents were Napoleon Solo, played on the series by Robert Vaughan, and Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum (who now plays Ducky on the TV series NCIS). It was one of those spy shows undoubtedly influenced by the success of the James Bond films, complete with an array of gadgets.

When we played, I was the debonair Solo, while Marcia emulated the clever Kuryakin, busy fighting evil in the form of a group called THRUSH. I don’t remember storylines, but I do recall vaulting off the side porch of our house to capture the imaginary bad guys, with “Illya” on the stairs right behind me.

Happy birthday, Marcia; thanks again for all those photos. (Can’t call her little sister; she’s taller than I am!)