I’ve been away, lured back by this photo via fluffyfollies, of all places (don’t ask). In the 60s, plastic leather had passed its prime and the marketers decided that they wanted to make the products distinctive and memorable. So they created a creature called the Nauga (for Naugahyde, a branded vinyl product). Needless to say, it wasn’t the huge success that the Mad Men had predicted. Johnny seems nonplussed.
For TC (and others) who didn’t understand ‘A Serious Man.’ They are not always detectives, but the main characters in Coen Brothers movies resemble Raymond Chandler’s remark about his own main character:
Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honour – by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.
My 500th post (almost exactly one year, not by design)Thanks for bearing with the growing pains:
Xmas for the Jews this year featured a Moroccan pea soup and “Up in the Air,” Ivan Reitman’s terrific and sobering film (half-full St. Joe Michigan theater). Frank Rich, deserved recipient of a week’s worth of brickbats (having made Tiger the poster-boy for clay feet, imitates the Nobel Committee and disses Barack by presumption), writes about the movie and gets it 100%. Read the article and see the movie.
Extraordinary photo. Thanks, Frango.
“Gang up on the Quakers; play for the Lakers…”
Because the lyrics go by so fast, and because I just enjoy it.
Christmastime for the Jews
by Robert Smigel, Matt O’Brien, Eric Drysdale, Julie KlausnerOn Christmas eve the Gentiles gather ‘round the Christmas tree.
They stay at home and party with their goyishe family.
They disappear one day each year and pass the eggnog ‘round,
but it’s all right, ‘cause that’s the night the Jews control the town.Well it happens every year on Christmas eve.
All the happy Christian people take their leave.
Yeah, the streets are deserted and that’s big news:
It’s Christmastime for the Jews.Yeah, the Holiday party starts ‘bout 6 PM.
Ain’t nobody re-creating Bethlehem.
Yeah, the three wise men, that’s a big old snooze.
Christmastime for the Jews.They can finally see King Kong without waiting in line.
They can eat in Chinatown and drink their sweet-ass wine.
They can crank Barbara Streisand on the streets they cruise.
Christmastime for the Jews.They can gang up on the Quakers, play for the Lakers,
[they can do what they wanna, even blow off Madonna,
Get a chance to drive a tractor, win on Fear Factor,
See Fiddler on the Roof with actual Jewish actors.Now they really get the party going after dark,
Circumcising grateful squirrels in the city park,
Picking fights in the bars, knowing they can’t lose.
Christmastime for the Jews.Now it’s nearly 10:30. Yes, it’s time for bed,
Daily Show reruns dancing in their heads.
Maybe next year they’ll learn how to hold their booze.
Christmastime for the Jews.
Have some water…
Christmastime for the Jews.
Don’t get sick now…
Christmastime for the Jews.
Sleep it off, yeah.
Christmastime for the Jews.
Thanks to Tom Alexander for making my Xmas especially happy!!!!
A Chicago specialty from a planet ever further away.
The religion of the future; something that was born early in the century, had its flowering in post WWII USA, and its demise after the moon landing, in the years surrounding the Challenger Disaster. This is the voice (and the faith) of my childhood (Orson Wells and the sound-alikes) from Disney (Bell Telephone and GM other primary contributors).
Another good one via Frango.
