Fifth Night
-- of Chanukah, that is. Empire State Building was again white and blue and the clock tower of the old Met Life Building was too.
Saw the Lubavicher "Menorah Mobile" in both Union Square and Soho. (Don't know if they have more than one.) In Union Square, they had set up a table next to a large electric menorah and were showing a film about Jewish triumphs over tremendous obstacles followed by one about giant menorahs made out of chocolate and Lego blocks (two separate projects). You know, real spiritual stuff.
Union Square holiday mart was in full, festive swing. The streets in general felt bustly and Christmastimey today, despite the relatively warm weather. There's even a (laser?) light setup in Union Square Park projecting animations of snowflakes and birds (turtledoves?) and whatnot under a canope across the park.
Of course, even during the Christmas season, there's time to get samples at the local markets. Today I had portobello mushrooms with cheese, some kind of fish (haddock, I think), raw vegetables, fresh-baked breads, pieces of various fiber bars, warm clam dip, and the first prosciutto made entirely from humanely treated animals. (I think that might have been specifically intended for an actual customer but she seemed to have abandoned it.)
Today's sample girl at Trader Joe's was ugly in both manner and looks, a fact only slightly mitigated by my having asked a dumb question as I returned for a third portion. And Food Emporium provided evidence of a culinary might-have-been in the form of sample residues -- melon and angel food cake, which I arrived too late to enjoy. (No, I didn't taste the residues. . . . But I thought about it.)
Entering the subway, I ran into Chris, a writer/editor of The Onion. We shared our mutual uncertainty as to proper beard maintenance, then he headed off to a latke party.
As a Jew, I felt he was attending a party that was rightfully mine -- why should a gentile get to eat latkes during my holiday? But I think I may have been confusing this with my real issue, which is that he lives with a girl I was pretty much in love with (I may have written about this before) and one of the things that ruined my friendship with her was my (unspoken) jealousy over what I believed to be their mutual interest in each other. As it happened, she went out with some other guy -- an idiot (I don't really know him but let's just assume he is) -- before finally getting together with Chris (which at least gave me the belated unsatisfying satisfaction of having been right).
Anyway, Chris is a good guy and he's used me on the Onion radio show and I don't dislike him. Although I did tell Vicki (his girlfriend -- oooh, it hurts to say it) that I was glad she went out with someone before Chris 'cause otherwise I'd have been forced to hate him.
Just did a search and saw that I did come at this from another angle here.
Joe Barbera died yesterday. What is it with these 95-year old guys just dropping like that out of nowhere with no warning -- it's unnatural. (Well, it should be.)
Like seven, eight years ago, I saw him when I was in a restaurant with Bob Scheerer (about whom here) and Will Ryan (not yet written about). We thought it was him but we weren't sure because he looked so young (and handsome too). Thinking about him makes me remember how mad I was to discover while in Virginia that Boomerang is showing "The Flintstones" with the laugh tracks removed.
No matter what you think about laugh tracks, they were part and parcel of the show. Someone at Cartoon Network probably thinks they're purifying the cartoon by removing this strange sitcom element but "The Flintstones" was a sitcom of its time that just happened to be animated. Stripping the laugh track is the same as stripping the music track -- its an alteration; a mutilation. (Although, it's a tribute to the show that it works without the laughs, even though it was intended that they be there.)
Cartoon Network tried this once before, back when I was an editor at Wild Cartoon Kingdom magazine, and I exposed them for their treachery. I like to think I had something to do with their reversion to the unaltered originals but I know I probably didn't. Still, it's clear that without constant vigilance, these uncomprehending bureaucrats can be counted on to do the wrong thing again and again.
And now, not even Joe Barbera is here to stop them.
Not that he would have.
But boy, at his best, he -- along with the late Bill Hanna, who I once annoyed by breathing bad breath into his face at a party - was great.
Rest in Pieces, Joe.
_________________
Originally posted December 20, 2006, 02:43 GMT @ http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
Saw the Lubavicher "Menorah Mobile" in both Union Square and Soho. (Don't know if they have more than one.) In Union Square, they had set up a table next to a large electric menorah and were showing a film about Jewish triumphs over tremendous obstacles followed by one about giant menorahs made out of chocolate and Lego blocks (two separate projects). You know, real spiritual stuff.
Union Square holiday mart was in full, festive swing. The streets in general felt bustly and Christmastimey today, despite the relatively warm weather. There's even a (laser?) light setup in Union Square Park projecting animations of snowflakes and birds (turtledoves?) and whatnot under a canope across the park.
Of course, even during the Christmas season, there's time to get samples at the local markets. Today I had portobello mushrooms with cheese, some kind of fish (haddock, I think), raw vegetables, fresh-baked breads, pieces of various fiber bars, warm clam dip, and the first prosciutto made entirely from humanely treated animals. (I think that might have been specifically intended for an actual customer but she seemed to have abandoned it.)
Today's sample girl at Trader Joe's was ugly in both manner and looks, a fact only slightly mitigated by my having asked a dumb question as I returned for a third portion. And Food Emporium provided evidence of a culinary might-have-been in the form of sample residues -- melon and angel food cake, which I arrived too late to enjoy. (No, I didn't taste the residues. . . . But I thought about it.)
Entering the subway, I ran into Chris, a writer/editor of The Onion. We shared our mutual uncertainty as to proper beard maintenance, then he headed off to a latke party.
As a Jew, I felt he was attending a party that was rightfully mine -- why should a gentile get to eat latkes during my holiday? But I think I may have been confusing this with my real issue, which is that he lives with a girl I was pretty much in love with (I may have written about this before) and one of the things that ruined my friendship with her was my (unspoken) jealousy over what I believed to be their mutual interest in each other. As it happened, she went out with some other guy -- an idiot (I don't really know him but let's just assume he is) -- before finally getting together with Chris (which at least gave me the belated unsatisfying satisfaction of having been right).
Anyway, Chris is a good guy and he's used me on the Onion radio show and I don't dislike him. Although I did tell Vicki (his girlfriend -- oooh, it hurts to say it) that I was glad she went out with someone before Chris 'cause otherwise I'd have been forced to hate him.
Just did a search and saw that I did come at this from another angle here.
Joe Barbera died yesterday. What is it with these 95-year old guys just dropping like that out of nowhere with no warning -- it's unnatural. (Well, it should be.)
Like seven, eight years ago, I saw him when I was in a restaurant with Bob Scheerer (about whom here) and Will Ryan (not yet written about). We thought it was him but we weren't sure because he looked so young (and handsome too). Thinking about him makes me remember how mad I was to discover while in Virginia that Boomerang is showing "The Flintstones" with the laugh tracks removed.
No matter what you think about laugh tracks, they were part and parcel of the show. Someone at Cartoon Network probably thinks they're purifying the cartoon by removing this strange sitcom element but "The Flintstones" was a sitcom of its time that just happened to be animated. Stripping the laugh track is the same as stripping the music track -- its an alteration; a mutilation. (Although, it's a tribute to the show that it works without the laughs, even though it was intended that they be there.)
Cartoon Network tried this once before, back when I was an editor at Wild Cartoon Kingdom magazine, and I exposed them for their treachery. I like to think I had something to do with their reversion to the unaltered originals but I know I probably didn't. Still, it's clear that without constant vigilance, these uncomprehending bureaucrats can be counted on to do the wrong thing again and again.
And now, not even Joe Barbera is here to stop them.
Not that he would have.
But boy, at his best, he -- along with the late Bill Hanna, who I once annoyed by breathing bad breath into his face at a party - was great.
Rest in Pieces, Joe.
_________________
Originally posted December 20, 2006, 02:43 GMT @ http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
posted by Andrew J. Lederer at 6:16 AM
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