Often, if I am breaking Orthodox Jewish law and someone points it out, I will explain it away by saying "It's OK. I'm part Sphardic." I get a shrug from people not in the know, and a quizzical look or a laugh from people in the know (depending on whether they also know me). It's actually true. I am part Sphardic -- some nonempty subset of my maternal grandmother's ancestors migrated from Spain to Eastern Europe a bit over 500 years ago. Of course that's not why I'm breaking religious law. And, besides, I use that excuse even if the law in question is something followed by Sphardic Jews.
Eating a sandwich during Passover? "It's OK. I'm part Sphardic."
Driving on the Sabbath? "It's OK. I'm part Sphardic."
Wearing a mixture of wool and linen? Well, you get the idea...
So, recently I was at a meeting at work. I was sitting at the conference table, and there was an empty seat next to me. For whatever reason, there was quibbling over seats on the other side of the table. I pointed to the empty seat and said "Don't worry. I showered." As someone walked over to take the seat, I added "last week." Just a joke, mind you.
One of my orthodox colleagues said, "I hope not. It was the Nine Days."
I looked her in the eye and said, "It's OK. I'm part Sphardic."
What made this great is that the custom of not showering for the Nine Days (not that anyone I know of still follows it) was an Ashkenazic-only one. So, of course, my stupid excuse actually made sense.
A while ago, I put out a post with five cover tunes. That was here.
Here are five more. The rules are the same.
1) Baby Let's Play House
The original by Arthur Gunter
The famous version by Elvis Presley
Rachel Sweet's cover version
I wanted to get at thenew wave-flavored cover by Rachel Sweet. But this represented a little bit of a philosophical challenge. Which do I present as the original? The "true" original by Arthur Gunter or the Elvis Presley recording that made the song famous? I decided to go with both.
2) What a Wonderful World
Louis Armstrong's famous version
Joey Ramone's cover
Louis Armstrong's recording is, of course, iconic. But I like Joey Ramone's cover better. It's from his posthumous solo album.
3) Tutti Frutti
Little Richard's original
MC5's cover
I became familiar with MC5's speedy cover of this when I was in college and Desmond included it on a mix tape.
4) The Devil Went Down to Georgia
The original
The cover (under a slightly different name)
The Toy Dolls always managed to inject humor into their act. Here they renamed a classic after a small port city in England. And they changed the instrument from a fiddle to a guitar.
5) I Hear You Knockin'
The original
The cover
This odd cover a Smiley Lewis classic was Edmunds' biggest chart success. Whih is odd considering that a lot of what he's done has been much better. At any rate, I have always found this "live" performance video odd. He strolls through the crowd carrying his guitar while the guitar track is already playing (and he knocks into one of the women). The dancers look like they're stoned. And what is with the guy in the yellow shirt and big brown bowtie? He is first visble in the background at about 8 or 9 seconds in. But he's at his best at 1:20. I mean, seriously, WTF?
A friend recently made some Facebook posts about Space 1999. Though the posts were pretty disparaging (and I was more than happy to pile on -- Bad, Marc! No pastrami for you!), they have kind of renewed my interest in the show.
By way of background, I remember when S99 first hit American TV screens. I was a tween, and I loved Star Trek. So, of course, I was looking forward to the show. My memory of the show from those years is fuzzy. I remember that I liked it at first. I also remember asking my Grandpa Herb about it, and him saying that it was more exciting than Star Trek. But other than that? Not much. I don't know how many episodes I saw, but I don't think it was very many. Oh, yeah, I remember thinking that their laser guns -- which were designed like staple guns -- were pretty goofy.
Fast forward a few decades.
A couple years ago I found some stray episodes on Youtube, and watched them. I've done that with a lot of shows that I remember from my childhood. Maude, Happy Days, Mork and Mindy. Nostalgia an be easily fed by Youtube. Seeing S99 as an adult, I found it virtually unwatchable. It was slow and plodding. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were wooden. Hell, even the way she turns toward the camera during the opening credits makes Bain look like a mannequin. That two (or so) second sequence starts six seconds into the video below.
It's actually, amazing to watch. Bain and Landau are generally considered to be good actors. Admittedly, I am largely unfamiliar with their bodies of work. But you wouldn't know it from this.
But for some reason, my interest has been piqued, and I'm going to try again. I want to watch the entire series. I am not entirely sure why. So far, I've watched the first two episodes, and I have a few initial thoughts.
My impression from a couple years ago was correct, at least judging from the first two episodes. The pacing is terribly slow, and the stars show little emotion. Is this really the British equivalent of Star Trek? Maybe if the Brits really have that whole stiff upper lip thing. And going along with the slow pacing and the wooden expressions is the complete lack of humor. Trek was written with warmth and humor. This gave the characters depth and personality -- something completely lacking in S99.
In the second episode, "Force of Life," several (I want to say four, but I'm not sure how many) characters died. This strikes me as a big mistake on the part of the production team. Start Trek, takes place on a space ship that's part of a military (or at least pseudo-military) organization. They can kill off characters to their heart's content, and it's not a problem. The ship returns to base and dead crewmen are replaced. No problem. But S99 is set on the moon after a terrible accident blasted it out of the earth's orbit. They're alone out there, hurtling through deep space, with no ability to get reinforcements. That being the case, it seems to me the writers should avoid killing characters. I mean, in Gilligan's Island, they never killed off Ginger.
And, speaking of the fact that they're hurtling through space with no ability to control their direction or speed, I find it amazing that they manage to keep finding planets with life. Seriously. How does that make any sense?
I read recently -- though I forget where -- that the second season had more action than the first. I fail to see how it could have less. But I asked about that on Facebook, and things aren't looking good.
On a closing note, I will say that the opening sequence from Season 1 (shown above) was great. It really made the show seem exciting. It's too bad that the show itself didn't live up to its credits. And the Season 2 opening (below) sucked by comparison. Why did they change it?
The one thing I will say on a hopeful note is that I watched Star Trek Voyager and Enterprise after those shows were cancelled. And, despite the negative comments from the naysayers, I found that both of those shows found their stride, and were quite good by the end. So, we'll see...
A week or two ago, I wrote a post about Alex Rodriguez and the fact that his ending his baseball career with fewer than 700 home runs means that I get pizza. That post was here. Now, it's possible that I jumped the gun. A-Rod didn't actually retire. It's possible that he'll play next year and manage another four homers. He has said that he'd like to get to 700.
And this all reminds me of a bet I made more than a quarter century ago. I won that bet, though at one point it looked like it might end in a draw, all because of the San Andreas Fault.
It was the spring of 1989, and I was in my final semester of grad school at the University of Michigan. The school is in Ann Arbor, just a stone's throw from Detroit. For whatever reason, I said something disparaging about the Tigers. My friend, Rod, overheard, and insisted that they had a good team. So good, in fact, that they would win the World Series. As an aside, let me note that the Tigers finished that year in last place with 103 losses. Anyway, Rod was so certain of the Tigers' greatness that he bet me that they would win the series. Ten dollars. Even odds. He didn't even make me pick a team. It was the Tigers against the rest of Major League baseball. To this day I don't know what Rod was thinking.
Anyway, come the fall, I went back to Ann Arbor for a visit. The Tigers were firmly in last place, mathematically eliminated from the playoff picture. No sooner did I enter the commons room where math grad students hung out, then someone (was it Joe?) suggested that Rod should just pay me. Rod demurred. The Tigers being eliminated from the series wasn't enough to ensure my victory. He pointed out that, by the terms of the bet, I didn't win unless someone else won the series. If no one wins, it's a push.
It seemed silly to me, there had been a World Series winner every year since 1905, and there was no reason for 1989 to be different. But Rod had a point, and I accepted the fact that I'd have to wait another month and a half to get my money.
And that was the year of the earthquake. As the Giants and A's prepared for Game 3, an earthquake struck San Francisco. The series was postponed, and there was talk about canceling. In that event, I wouldn't have won the bet.
The Long Island Daylily Society (LIDS) had their -- had our -- annual sale yesterday in Farmingdale. This was actually the first time I came to it, and though I did help out a little with setting up, and talking to customers (wow! I've gotten to the point where I actually can answer some questions about daylilies), it ended up being largely a social event. For me, anyway.
Blair, on the other hand, spent the entire afternoon on her feet helping customers. When they wanted to know what a particular cultivar's flowers looks like she would look it up on her phone and show them pictures.
Elmore James
At the end of the day we bought a bunch to plant in our yard. For some reason I decided I wanted purples. We ended up buying some of each of the following:
Got No Goat (Baxter) Dip. Purple, white midrib and waterwalk H: 29, D: 6 M. Sev.
Grapeade (Childs, F.) Dip. Purple self with green throat H: 30, D: 6.5 EMRe, Dor.
Prince of Midnight (Salter) Tet. Dark royal purple with green throat H: 28, D: 6 M. Sev.
Resistance is Futile (Baxter) Dip. Polymerous 85%, Light purple with white midrib above green throat H: 24, D: 5.5 EERe., Dor.
Sonic Waters (Hanson, C.) Tet. Pewter lavender self with green throat H: 28, D:6 M, Sev.
Swirling Water (Carpenter, K.) Dip. Purple with cream white splash and green throat H: 22, D: 6.5 EM, Sev.
Woodside Rhapsody (Apps) Dip. Purple self with light yellow green throat H: 31, D: 4
Resistance is Futile
M, Dor.
We would have bought Bela Lugosi, but it sold out -- Blair and I made a decision to only buy after the sale was over, so that we weren't taking anything that the public wanted. I'm actually surprised to see so many diploids on the list -- I've been under the impression that the dips are -- how to put this nicely? -- nebbishy compared to the tetraploids.
I was planning to plant them during the week, but since it was threatening to rain when we got home, we figured it was better to get them in the ground before the rain. Well, it started coming down while we were out therwe, but we just continued. And driversby slowed to stare at these nuts who were gardening in the rain.
The LIDS people will disaprove of this, but we planted without labeling things. To me they're pretty flowers, and keeping track of what's where means more work than I want to put in. It would be helpful if I ever get around to hybridizing. But my interest in hybridizing is still somewhat limited. The big draw is getting to name my introductions. Imagine daylilies with names like "385 Gallons of Money" or "Yammering Gorgon."
