Strawberries

Recently, I saw a Big Boy's Strawberry Festival Spot on TV. Ah, a tempting slice of pie to follow a patty melt. From there, my mind drifted. First, I recalled the scene from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery where Dr. Evil blasts into space, via a rocketed Big Boy. Then, the Kidnapped Big Boy stolen as homecoming prank. Or the Big Boy that ended up cradling a swiped nativity scene Baby Jesus in his arms.

But the strawberries themselves really got me thinking. First, there are the stolen strawberries of the Caine Mutiny, with its ensuing key search and anti-climatic conclusion. And finally, there are the eponymous Wild Strawberries of Bergman's Film, where it is not so much the strawberry as what the idiomatic expression in Swedish means: a personal treasure, especially one that may not be highly regarded by others. So, find your own Wild Strawberries and have some fun along the way.

Hawking, Sagan and Fermi

Stephen Hawking's recent admonishment about searching for and then contacting extraterrestrial life reminded me of the late great Carl Sagan. Sagan's Cosmos presented astronomy, physics and the history of science in a way that captured some of the minds of the best geeks of my generation. It was from this series and the companion book, that I first learned about the Drake Equation, which postulates how many other electromagnetically enabled and possibly communicating civilizations there may be in the Milky Way galaxy, which according to the SETI League, is estimated to be about 10,000.

The contrary to the Drake Equation is the Fermi Paradox, which basically states: if there are so many intelligent civilizations out there, why haven't we encountered them? This paradox was apparently expounded by Fermi in the 1950 almost 10 years before Drake's equation was first formally formulated.

I thought a really great Cold War reason why we may have not encountered or contacted extraterrestrial life is that highly technologically advanced societies may have a tendency to destroy themselves!

Bitter Ends? Civet Coffee

The Times recently featured Kopi Luwak, Civet Coffee. The "beans"undergo a unique journey on the way to the roaster, to say the least. In the Philippines and Indonesia, the civet purloins the sweetest coffee cherries from the trees; as the cherries are digested by the civet's g.i. tract, the nascent coffee beans--more seed-like than a run of the mill bean--ferment. The fermented seeds can be gathered from civet scat, rinsed, roasted and brewed into what is considered the world's best coffee.

With prices of $99 a cup and $227 for a pound of beans, fakes abound, so beware. And with market demand, a Vietnamese company produces a brand of civet coffee not fermented in the mongoose's gut, but in a synthetic enzyme wash. I guess it is not only for the thrifty, but also for the faint of heart.

Urban Farming? Green Acres meets The Good Life.

With the interest in turning Detroit's vast tracts of empty blocks into urban farms, I reflect on my Iowa/South Dakota boyhood and wonder what 40 acres of corn would like west of City Airport? I know it would look like: 40 acres of corn west of City Airport. This interesting idea of reusing idle land reminded me of two television series with a "Back to the Land" theme. Green Acres and The Good life. Let's have some fun with a thought experiment.


In Green Acres Redux, Oliver Wendell Douglas, now a Detroiter, could have kept his downtown law practice and had his hobby farm. Of course, Lisa would have been happy to keep a high rise penthouse on the waterfront and let Oliver commute. Also, being a lawyer, Mr. Douglas would at least have a shot in getting 40 acres with a clear title in Detroit!

In The Good Life 2010, Tom and Barbara Good, would not only be able to turn their own lawns into vegetable gardens, but could also put both adjoining lots into cultivation. In this case, we would have to find a comedic element other than the clash with the neighbors. For, even if the neighbors were rigidly upper middle class, they would applaud the Goods for doing the right the thing! I can see Tom replacing Lenin the chicken with a flock of pheasants; however, he would then need to reinforce the fencing to keep out the coyotes. Pheasants and coyotes, which use to make me think of South Dakota, actually are abundant in the Urban Prairie.

My mind races on, could Hoss and Little Joe graze cattle on the West Side?

Vampires and the small "r" romance

Vampire: a foul, stinking, undead creature from the grave or a suave victim in need of nurturing?

The first of what may be many post concerning the creatures of the night!

Over the last one hundred years, the image of the vampire has shifted from a nosferatu, "a plague carrier," to the doomed aristocrat, the goth rocker, the deadly and beautiful temptress, or a "perpetually troubled teen." Of course, earlier censorship restrictions and the demure tone of traveling companies soften the image of the vampire on stage.

I must admit that I am in the generation that was too young to remember the original Dark Shadows, just old enough to see Love at First Bite and greatly appreciated Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The vampire in some traditions is a noted shape shifter, and not just in an animal form. It is not too far a stretch to think that if a vampire can turn into a mist, a dreaded walking cadaver can appear to be or be perceived as beautiful being. Something, if not to be loved, to be desired.

Premier Post

Let's Just be Gleeful!

In this day when almost any successful film, television show or book can be repackaged as a musical and be taken seriously, thank heavens for a show that is just fun. We know that Glee is over the top. We know that Show Choir/Glee Club can be intense in real life; the anxieties of "fitting in" are just as intense. Adolescence is a roller coaster of emotions; and as the curse of 1980's mix tape shows, sometimes it is best expressed in song(s).

So bring on the covers, I won't look for the lip-syncing, but save us the Slushies in the face. They may echo Soupy Sale's pies, but they are painful reminders of the bullying that goes on in school.

I look forward to replaying song clips on fox.com; for I know it is often "a show about a show." All too often, many a television show tries to be about something, when we know that the best series are sometimes about nothing at all.