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Lights and Other Miscellany
Jan. 16th, 2023 10:55 pmMoving on to 2023, my trip to New Bedford last weekend deserves its own entry. As does the MIT Mystery Hunt, which was this weekend. But I have done a few other things.
Celebrity Death Watch: Terry Hall was the lead singer of The Specials, a ska group I liked quite a lot back in the 1980’s. Franco Harris played football for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thom Bell was a songwriter, best known for “The Rubberband Man.” Joyce Meskis owned The Tattered Cover, an excellent bookstore in Denver. Vivienne Westwood was a fashion designer. Anita Pointer sang with the Pointer Sisters.
Fred White played drums for Earth, Wind & Fire. Edith Lank wrote a syndicated column giving real estate advice. Buster Corley cofounded Dave & Buster’s. Suzy McKee Charkas was a writer, primarily of fantasy. Walter Cunningham was an Apollo 7 astronaut. Casey Hayden was a civil rights activist. Arthur Duncan was a tap dancer who became the first African-American to appear regularly on a weekly television show. Russell Banks was a novelist. Slim Newton was an Australian singer-songwriter. Bernard Kalb covered international affairs for the New York Times. Charles Simic was a poet. Blake Hounsell wrote about politics for several publications, including the New York Times and Politico. Jeff Beck was a rock guitarist, starting with The Yardbirds. Lisa Marie Presley was the daughter of Elvis and a singer-songwriter in her own right. Paul Johnson wrote extensively about history. Robbie Bachman was the drummer for Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Robbie Knievel followed in his father, Evel’s, footsteps as a motorcycle daredevil. Gina Lollobrigida was a film actress. Constantine II was the last King of Greece.
Pele was the first big celebrity soccer player. I remember him fondly from his days playing for the New York Cosmos. He pretty much single-handedly raised the profile of soccer in the U.S. - and that was after an outstanding career playing in Brazil, including three World Cup championships in 1958, 1962, and 1970.
Ian Tyson was a singer (with his wife, Sylvia) and songwriter, best known for “Four Strong Winds.”
Barbara Walters was the first major female television journalist and had a career of over 50 years. She was particular notable as an interviewer, particularly of political figures.
Pope Benedict XVI was the pope from 2205-2013, when he resigned and became “pope emeritus.” That was the first papal resignation since 1415.
Fay Weldon was a feminist author. She was best known for The Life and Loves of a She-Devil. I read it years ago and remember it being a powerful tale of envy and revenge.
Naomi Replansky wrote poetry about women’s lives. She lived to 104, which is impressive. She earned me 32 ghoul pool points.
Frank Thomas played for the original Mets.
Ghoul Pool: Since the lists have been published now, I can reveal my list. Note that the ordering determines how many points you get if that person dies, with a 12 point bonus for uniqueness. You get to refill that slot.
20 Naomi Replansky (who died, giving me 32 points). I backfilled with Agnes Keleti
19 Michael Tilson Thomas
18 Yayoi Kusama
17 Caren Marsh Doll
16 Lee Adams
15 Bob Barker
14 Sam Nujoma
13 Tony Bennett
12 Jimmy Carter
11 Al Jaffee
10 John Goodenough
9 Robert Solow
8 Sandra Day O’Connor
7 Jiro Ono
6 Mel Brooks
5 Shannon Doherty
4 James L. Buckley
3 Bud Harrelson
2 W. Nicholas Hitchon
1 David Oreck
Don’t Analyze This Dream: I was cleaning my ears with a Q-tip (and, yes, I know you are not supposed to do that). Grey ashes kept coming out of my right ear. But swabbing my left ear was normal.
Winter Lantern Festival: Cindy and I had made plans to go to this light exhibit at Tyson’s Corner in late December, but she got stuck in upstate New York due to a combination of weather and the Southwest Airlines meltdown. So we ended up going on New Year’s Day. It was definitely worth going to. Here are a few photos - just a small sample of the spectacle.
They had feathered headbands with flashing lights to wear. They were supposed to be for children, but they let us take them, too.
Polar bears live in the Arctic and penguins in the Antarctic, but they lived together here.
There were a lot of Tweety Birds. I have no idea why.
Here’s the aquarium.
This was my favorite feature. Don’t feed the plants! (Click through to flickr to play the video.)
Grimmkeepers' Storytelling Show: Grimkeepers is a discussion group about the Grimm fairy tales. There were 7 tellers, all of whom told folk tales, not all from Grimm. My favorite was Marilyn Mcphie’s use of wordplay about fiber in her version of “The Spindle, The Shuttle, and The Needle.”
Schmigadoon!: I got three months of Apple TV free from activating the iPad I got as a retirement gift. I don’t have a lot of time to watch things,, but I had heard good things about Schmigadoon! A musical parody is right up my alley and I did, indeed, enjoy watching this. Sure, it’s a little bit predictable, but that is pretty much necessary for parody to work. I understand that there’s a second season in the works (to be called Schmicago) and I might have to pay for a month or so of Apple TV to watch it.
I am also open to suggestions of other things I might like watching.
Annoyances: I had a fraud incident on a credit card the day after I had activated it. When I called the bank, they said the card had been used physically at a Target store in Maryland, which sounds very odd to me, suggesting an inside job. Fortunately, they were able to overnight me the replacement, since this was the card I wanted to use for hotel room on the New Bedford trip.
Even more annoying, the fire alarm in my condo complex went off around 6 a.m. both yesterday and today. I suspect an idiot neighbor, something of which I unfortunately have no shortage.
Local Politics: We had a special election on Tuesday to backfill our Delegate. The House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia legislature. Mark Keam, who had been our delegate, resigned in the fall to take a position with the Biden administration. I am pleased that the candidate I supported, Holly Siebold, won the election. I think she’s going to do great things for us in Richmond.
Celebrity Death Watch: Terry Hall was the lead singer of The Specials, a ska group I liked quite a lot back in the 1980’s. Franco Harris played football for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thom Bell was a songwriter, best known for “The Rubberband Man.” Joyce Meskis owned The Tattered Cover, an excellent bookstore in Denver. Vivienne Westwood was a fashion designer. Anita Pointer sang with the Pointer Sisters.
Fred White played drums for Earth, Wind & Fire. Edith Lank wrote a syndicated column giving real estate advice. Buster Corley cofounded Dave & Buster’s. Suzy McKee Charkas was a writer, primarily of fantasy. Walter Cunningham was an Apollo 7 astronaut. Casey Hayden was a civil rights activist. Arthur Duncan was a tap dancer who became the first African-American to appear regularly on a weekly television show. Russell Banks was a novelist. Slim Newton was an Australian singer-songwriter. Bernard Kalb covered international affairs for the New York Times. Charles Simic was a poet. Blake Hounsell wrote about politics for several publications, including the New York Times and Politico. Jeff Beck was a rock guitarist, starting with The Yardbirds. Lisa Marie Presley was the daughter of Elvis and a singer-songwriter in her own right. Paul Johnson wrote extensively about history. Robbie Bachman was the drummer for Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Robbie Knievel followed in his father, Evel’s, footsteps as a motorcycle daredevil. Gina Lollobrigida was a film actress. Constantine II was the last King of Greece.
Pele was the first big celebrity soccer player. I remember him fondly from his days playing for the New York Cosmos. He pretty much single-handedly raised the profile of soccer in the U.S. - and that was after an outstanding career playing in Brazil, including three World Cup championships in 1958, 1962, and 1970.
Ian Tyson was a singer (with his wife, Sylvia) and songwriter, best known for “Four Strong Winds.”
Barbara Walters was the first major female television journalist and had a career of over 50 years. She was particular notable as an interviewer, particularly of political figures.
Pope Benedict XVI was the pope from 2205-2013, when he resigned and became “pope emeritus.” That was the first papal resignation since 1415.
Fay Weldon was a feminist author. She was best known for The Life and Loves of a She-Devil. I read it years ago and remember it being a powerful tale of envy and revenge.
Naomi Replansky wrote poetry about women’s lives. She lived to 104, which is impressive. She earned me 32 ghoul pool points.
Frank Thomas played for the original Mets.
Ghoul Pool: Since the lists have been published now, I can reveal my list. Note that the ordering determines how many points you get if that person dies, with a 12 point bonus for uniqueness. You get to refill that slot.
20 Naomi Replansky (who died, giving me 32 points). I backfilled with Agnes Keleti
19 Michael Tilson Thomas
18 Yayoi Kusama
17 Caren Marsh Doll
16 Lee Adams
15 Bob Barker
14 Sam Nujoma
13 Tony Bennett
12 Jimmy Carter
11 Al Jaffee
10 John Goodenough
9 Robert Solow
8 Sandra Day O’Connor
7 Jiro Ono
6 Mel Brooks
5 Shannon Doherty
4 James L. Buckley
3 Bud Harrelson
2 W. Nicholas Hitchon
1 David Oreck
Don’t Analyze This Dream: I was cleaning my ears with a Q-tip (and, yes, I know you are not supposed to do that). Grey ashes kept coming out of my right ear. But swabbing my left ear was normal.
Winter Lantern Festival: Cindy and I had made plans to go to this light exhibit at Tyson’s Corner in late December, but she got stuck in upstate New York due to a combination of weather and the Southwest Airlines meltdown. So we ended up going on New Year’s Day. It was definitely worth going to. Here are a few photos - just a small sample of the spectacle.
They had feathered headbands with flashing lights to wear. They were supposed to be for children, but they let us take them, too.
Polar bears live in the Arctic and penguins in the Antarctic, but they lived together here.
There were a lot of Tweety Birds. I have no idea why.
Here’s the aquarium.
This was my favorite feature. Don’t feed the plants! (Click through to flickr to play the video.)
Grimmkeepers' Storytelling Show: Grimkeepers is a discussion group about the Grimm fairy tales. There were 7 tellers, all of whom told folk tales, not all from Grimm. My favorite was Marilyn Mcphie’s use of wordplay about fiber in her version of “The Spindle, The Shuttle, and The Needle.”
Schmigadoon!: I got three months of Apple TV free from activating the iPad I got as a retirement gift. I don’t have a lot of time to watch things,, but I had heard good things about Schmigadoon! A musical parody is right up my alley and I did, indeed, enjoy watching this. Sure, it’s a little bit predictable, but that is pretty much necessary for parody to work. I understand that there’s a second season in the works (to be called Schmicago) and I might have to pay for a month or so of Apple TV to watch it.
I am also open to suggestions of other things I might like watching.
Annoyances: I had a fraud incident on a credit card the day after I had activated it. When I called the bank, they said the card had been used physically at a Target store in Maryland, which sounds very odd to me, suggesting an inside job. Fortunately, they were able to overnight me the replacement, since this was the card I wanted to use for hotel room on the New Bedford trip.
Even more annoying, the fire alarm in my condo complex went off around 6 a.m. both yesterday and today. I suspect an idiot neighbor, something of which I unfortunately have no shortage.
Local Politics: We had a special election on Tuesday to backfill our Delegate. The House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia legislature. Mark Keam, who had been our delegate, resigned in the fall to take a position with the Biden administration. I am pleased that the candidate I supported, Holly Siebold, won the election. I think she’s going to do great things for us in Richmond.
