I couldn't find that photo of my Dad wearing his Timex that I mentioned yesterday - which is a cause for concern for me. Normally I'm so well organized that I can put my hands almost immediately on any photo I have. I'll have to dig around some more. But
here's my watch, in obvious need of repair and cleaning. I'll have that crystal replaced. It's a
Timex Marlin, only $13 in 1966 (which is what I think I paid for it in Alexandria a few years ago)! I won't put one of those hokey period twist-o-flex bands on it... I hate those things... a nice cordovan leather strap will look far better.
While the Swiss were using jewels to create low friction bearings for pins and gears, Timex came up with a technique of hardening the pins and making them finer, which more or less had the same effect for less cost and complexity. At least that's what I read somewhere. But the standard today is jewels, 17 or more, mounted in incabloc shock absorbers.
I am now intellectually slumming with my current book: "For Laughing Out Loud - My Life and Good Times" by Ed McMahon with David Fisher. ("Great Stories from English History Part II" was checked out.) Fact is, I
like Ed McMahon - always have. (
See entry for 17 July '08.) Normally I intensely dislike entertainment industry personalities, but he's a rare exception. I would be delighted to meet him.
In his acknowledgements he explains his agreement with the use of a professional writer to assist by citing one of his own written sentences: "I went off to the Korean War and left thirteen television shows that I was doing in Philadelphia and people were shooting at me and they never saw any of my shows." Ha!
Few people are aware that Ed McMahon served in the Marine Corps in WWII as a flight trainer, and flew 86 missions behind enemy lines in Korea. After the war he stayed in the reserves, and became a full bird colonel. So he's Col. Ed McMahon, U.S.M.C. Heigh-ohhhh!
Here's an excerpt from his book about two flying mishaps.
Disney's Iconic 'Small World' Ride Makeover Finds Nemo - To which I say,
Paugh. Stick the cartoon fish in the water of the submarine ride if you have to but leave Small World alone.
Growing up in Southern California, Disneyland was like my own backyard, and, like many of my generation, I feel proprietary about the place. The Small World ride is admittedly dated and even somewhat annoying, but it was also my mother's favorite ride, and whenever I go there and ride it I think of Mom. And, besides, the thing even
smells like it used to. When I go there I smell my childhood, as weird as that seems.
The current Disney management is untrustworthy - they stuck Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride - and nearly everything they do seems like a gross and unwonted extension of the now heavily materialistic Disney brand.
Hey, earlier this week I mentioned Don McLean and "American Pie"; I suppose it behooves me to blog about it a little. I got some e-mails.
I had just started high school in late 1971 when it came out, and, generally, it was received like Holy Writ by the music listening public. (You know, the same people who were convinced that
Paul is Dead.) Speculation has been going on ever since about what the lyrics are about. The Internet came along in the Eighties and Nineties and naturally this was an early topic of exchange.
I got my first Internet account in late 1994 and downloaded this
Annotated "American Pie" from usenet (remember usenet?) shortly thereafter. You will note that this article cites a "Great Usenet Discussion" on the topic from 1983! Anyway, it's about as good as anything else I've read on the subject. But if that isn't enough, here's
Don McLean's own comments on the subject.
Now, when it comes to song lyric meanings I am absolutely clueless - as I prove in
this article. And, at the time, for some weird reason I thought "American Pie" had something to do with the Civil War! (I heard the refrain about levees and figured since the Battle of Shiloh, which I was writing a paper on at the time, had a levee the two things must be related - or some such tortuous logic.) So don't look for any American Pie revelations from me.
I do like McLean's comment, however: "When asked what 'American Pie' meant, McLean replied, 'It means I never have to work again.'"
The other night I watched what I believe is the world's worst video production about an historical topic:
Vlad the Impaler. This was a Canadian production by a Romanian that had the cheesiest graphics, video techniques, voice-over and script I have ever seen in something purporting to be an educational video. "How many times did Vlad's curly black hair get blown in the wind of the Sighişoara streets? How many times did the rain batter his intense face?" etc. Peeee-uuuuw.
Vlad and I have a long acquaintance. Back in 1972 two fellows named Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu published a book entitled "In Search of Dracula - the History of Dracula and Vampires" that was a runaway hit and introduced the historical Vlad the Impaler to non-Romanians. For the first time people got a look at what
the real Dracula looked like. Cool, I thought. So I asked my dreamy gal pal Angela to paint one for me, and
she did, in 1972. I have it to this day. Funny thing, however - my wife won't let me hang it anywhere in the house where people can enjoy it.
The image is now well-known. Enter "Vlad the Impaler" into google's image search tool and you will find a host of variations. He's become iconic, like Grant Wood's farm couple.
Finally, I watched another installment of that fascinating video series about the Tower of London. Did you know that the British government executed spies in the Tower during World War I and II? I didn't. They had an interesting little interview segment with a Yeoman Warder about it. He mentioned that while tourists love enthusiastic stories about bloody executions in the Middle Ages, the Warders, in their tours, don't talk about the ones that took place within living memory. Too close to home. You might be talking about somebodies grandfather or even father!
And that's it for this lengthy and somewhat schizoid blog entry. Have a great weekend!
I finished Coriolanus last night. Okay, it's confirmed: Coriolanus is the WORST Shakespeare play I have ever seen. It is even duller and more talky than King John. At least in King John I knew who the characters were!
