Sunday, June 12, 2022

Unseemly fortune

From our Thai restaurant’s fortune cookies:

There is a massive opportunity
 sitting right under your nose.
In this time of ultra-high pollen and mold counts, that seems like a terribly unseemly fortune.

The real context for this cookie: cryptocurrency. Every fortune is an ad, veiled on the fortune side, explicit on the other.

Jack White, Beatles savant

This is extraordinary: “Jack White showcases his hidden talent of being able to recognize any Beatles song instantly.”

[I got six of twelve.]

Apollo

[Apollo Theater, 253 W. 125th Street, Manhattan, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a larger view.]

According to this compendium of Apollo shows, the February 23, 1940 bill had Lucky Millinder as headliner. Supporting acts included The Four Step Brothers and Three Magnandes. Click for a larger view and you’ll see these names.

Here’s a sample of the Millinder sound. Here are The Four Step Brothers in action. I’ve got nothing on the Magnandes, or whatever that name might be. (Machandis?)

My dad saw Billie Holiday at the Apollo.

Related posts
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is a rerun (with updates) from 2012 while Stan Newman, the puzzle’s editor, is on vacation. The puzzle is by Anna Stiga (“Stan Again”) the pseudonym that signals an easier Stumper, but I found this one tough. Just two clues feel dated: 42-A, three letters, “GM news of 2010” and 60-A, five letters, “Dockers’ cousins.” The clue that broke open the puzzle for me: 45-A, seven letters, “Prime time for oysters.”

Some other clue-and-answer pairs of note:

6-A, nine letters, “Conclusive procedures.” SYLLOGISMS won’t fit.

6-D, seven letters, “Carrying mail.” Nicely misleading.

8-D, seven letters, “Of volcanic origin.” My daughter learned the three kinds of rocks in grade school. This one I remember. Some rocks!

13-D, six letters, “Greek bread spread.” But I think the Middle East might have something to say about it.

18-A, nine letters, “Longfellow lover.” Now there’s an out-of-the-way name.

34-A, six letters, “Pulitzer winner for The Good War.” It’s good to find his name in a puzzle.

46-D, six letters, “Refusal of assistance.” I like the terseness.

58-A, five letters, “‘Bow down, archangels, in your dim _____’: Yeats.” Good to see his name too.

My favorite from this puzzle: 19-A, nine letters, “It may be underfoot.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Spelling fail

[Beetle Bailey, June 11, 2022. Click for a larger view.]

In the words of another comic strip, “Good grief!”

[Beetle Bailey, June 11, 2022. My correction. Click for a larger view.]

I can think of two possible explanations other than a plain old mistake on the assembly line. Perhaps the strip’s makers feared that the correct spelling would look wrong to their readers. Or perhaps the mistake belongs to Sarge. “O solo mee-o”?

A few other troubling Beetle Bailey posts
Bathrooms : Fingers : Ketchup : Pillow : Razors : “Some rocks” : Squirrels : Toilet bowls

Book chain

I like this story from Southampton, England: “Human chain move thousands of books into new October Books store” (Daily Echo).

[But shouldn’t that be moves?]

Friday, June 10, 2022

A moral umbrella

The scene: the Antient Concert Rooms, before the music begins. Hoppy Holohan, the concert’s manager, leads a memeber of the press to a room. Another member of the press is already there.

James Joyce, “A Mother,” in Dubliners (1914).

I read this story aloud yesterday as Elaine sewed. (What century are we living in?) This passage was one of many that made us laugh, also aloud, repeatedly.

Related reading
All OCA Joyce posts (Pinboard)

A husband

Meet Mrs. Kearney’s husband, a bootmaker on Ormond Quay:

James Joyce, “A Mother,” in Dubliners (1914).

Spoiler alert: Mrs. Kearney, manager of her daughter Kathleen’s budding musical career, driver of a hard bargain, does almost all the talking for her family. Kathleen speaks just twice. Mr. Kearney never says a word.

Related reading
All OCA Joyce posts (Pinboard)

Draw-your-own

The distillery was offering a draw-your-own-bottle option. You drew a shape and the distillery turned it into a bottle. I drew a bottle with a long sloping side that ended in a shallow puddle of glass. The bottle was to be filled with — with what? I didn’t know.

Related reading
All OCA dream posts (Pinboard)

[As Elaine points out, this dream is likely influenced by our reading of Dubliners.]

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Making it plain

“Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy”: Representative Bennie Thompson (D, MS-2), a few minutes ago.

*

“There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain”: Representative Liz Cheney (R, WY), a few minutes ago, addressing fellow Republicans who continue to, in her words, “defend the indefensible.”