Category Archives: Media

Too Much of a Good Thing

April 12, 2018 reneeinnd 30 Comments

Two years ago, husband and I bought cow pots (containers made from cow manure), in which to start our vegetable seedlings. It certainly made sense, since they were advertised to fertilize the plants while they were getting started. Then the plants could be put in the garden pot and all, so they would continue to be fertilized as they grew outside.

They sure didn’t work the way the ads said they would. We had the most pitiful seedlings the last two years. (It didn’t help that last year the cat ate all the pepper seedlings before we could get them in the ground.) The seedlings started out fine, but 6 weeks after of germination their growth came to a stand still as the roots made contact with the pot, and they languished until we got them out of the pots and into the ground. It dawned on us that the manure that made up the pots was too rich and “hot” for the seedlings to tolerate. We should have known, since we put composted manure on the garden in the fall so it has a chance to really rot and cool down over the winter. The cow pots were too much of a good thing. This year we used plastic pots to start the seedlings, and they are the best we have ever started.

When have you experienced too much of a good thing? When has a product (or person) not lived up you your expectations?

History, Media, Uncategorized

Saints Preserve Us

April 7, 2018 reneeinnd 50 Comments

I really enjoy reading about the lives of the saints. I am fascinated by their histories, and I am also fascinated by the veneration of the saints by many Christians. Lawrence Durrell writes in his book The Greek Islands that he observed the Greeks to have an intensely personal relationship with their saints, often chastising them for not coming across with answers to prayers. He heard one person angrily refer to their saint as “that stinking old cuckold in the niche” after being particularly disappointed by him. I am Lutheran, a member of a church not typically associated with the saints. I understand, though, how important the saints are to many people, and how comforting and reassuring it is to know that someone who was human and not perfect but really, really special, has our interests at heart.

It is interesting to see references to the saints in modern day life. Unless you know about St. Apollonia, for example, you might not understand why the new dentist office in town is called Apollonia Dental Services.

Many of the saints died horrible and violent deaths for their faith. Many are exlemplars of Christian charity. Some saints are more difficult to fathom. St. Christina the Astonishing is one of the patron saints of mental health workers. Born in 1150, she was a rather alarming Belgian woman who died of a massive seizure at the age of 20, and arose out of her casket at her funeral and floated to the rafters of the church complaining that she couldn’t bear the smell of all the sinful people in the congregation. She went on to behave in very alarming ways until she died again at the age of 74. I don’t know if I would want her to intercede on my behalf. She was pretty odd. I would rather rely on Isidore of Seville, who wrote the first encyclopedia compiled in the post-classical world, and who probably knows a lot about everything there is to know.

Even if you are not a believer, who would you want to be your patron saint?

books, Media, Medicine, Movies, Uncategorized

Another World

March 27, 2018 Barbara in Rivertown 34 Comments

[Begun Friday past: ]

I am not turning on the TV till this evening. I spent most of the past two days allowing myself to surf the tube: the limited stations we get with our basic cable, which you have to have to get any reception here in Winona, because of the bluffs. I am down – nay, flattened – with a virus, onset early Wed. morning. This hardly ever happens to me, and I’m a little out of my element. Of course I have several books/magazines I could be reading, but nnnooooh, my brain would rather veg out. So I started flipping channels.

If you’ve been “grounded” for any reason, you probably know about this: daytime television is one of the strangest places on the planet. You have your soap operas, your game shows, your talk shows, your day-court shows, and your Dr. shows (Oz, Phil). And now thanks to Decades, we are treated once again to such gems as Donna Reed and Petticoat Junction. MeTV gives us Saved by the Bell, and Mama’s Family, which I didn’t watch, and Matlock and Diagnosis Murder, which I did. There are two or three channels full of all manner of Westerns (who knew there that many of them?). I saw a Gunsmoke and a Wild Wild West. Can’t recall where I ran into Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, but I’d much rather watch Broderick Crawford (Highway Patrol, late 50s)!

It’s probably just as well we don’t get any of the Movie channels.

There are a few bright spots – I can always watch an episode of I Love Lucy or M*A*S*H, and Laugh-in is still a hoot, but one a day is plenty. And for some reason I can still watch Dick Cavett… he was one classy interviewer. PBS has some episodes of Home Fires, one of my favorites, Last of the Summer Wine (for Clyde), plus cooking shows, some Rick Steves travel, some crafts like origami, and Paint This with Gary Yarnell, that I would watch any old time.

What do you do with your down time if you’re laid up for a while?

Media, News, Uncategorized, Words

Optical Illusions

March 26, 2018 reneeinnd 41 Comments

Husband and I were buying groceries when a magazine cover on display near the checkout gave me pause. It was a magazine tribute to Billy Graham. The way the magazine rack was designed made it look as though the Reverend Graham had payot, those locks of hair sported by Hasidic men near their ears. I had to look twice to convince myself I wasn’t seeing what I thought I was seeing. Whew! That would have really rocked my world had it been true!

I am the sort of person who sees fanciful designs and drawings in floor tiles. I like administering the Rorschach Inkblot Test because I like to hear all the interesting things people tell me they see. I know the person is in trouble when not even I can see what they see.

James Thurber writes about his poor vision and the interesting things he thought he saw, like an elderly admiral in dress uniform peddling a bicycle next to a vehicle Thurber was sitting in. The admiral wasn’t really there, of course. Thurber thought it was probably a billboard or starlight shining through the trees. He also writes of throwing stones at what he thought was a flock of white chickens that had invaded his neighbor’s vegetable garden, only to find they were newspapers placed on top of the plants as protection from frost.

I am going to pay more attention to the magazine racks next time I buy groceries. Who knows what I might see?

When have your eyes played tricks on you?

History, Media, News, Uncategorized

Napoleons of Crime

March 22, 2018 reneeinnd 38 Comments

The police here arrested two enterprising local men last week and charged them with passing thousands of dollars of counterfeit $20 bills around town. The men, ages 19 and 20, were caught with the fake money and the equipment for making the money. It was the wrong shade of green and had the wrong designs on it, but their scheme seemed to work, for at least a while. I think they might have had longer success had they gone to other cities to pass the bills. I am amazed that they were able to pass so many bills without people noticing the poor quality of the money. I guess people don’t pay as close attention as I thought they would.

Our two local guys reminded me of some shop lifters I heard of in the news who used the same method and the same get away car for multiple thefts from multiple big box stores. They always left through the fire doors of stores, and the police just started to watch the fire doors and surprised the thieves and the get away driver.

How do people come to ignore the poor chances of getting away with criminal activity? It seems to me that, eventually, most people get caught, whether at the local or national level.

What do you think makes for a successful crook? Have you ever known a real crook? How do they fool themselves?

Family, holidays, Media, Technology

Blowing Things Up

March 13, 2018 reneeinnd 72 Comments

I commented a few days ago that my cousins and I liked explosives when we were children, and used homemade beer can cannons and fireworks to lob things at younger relatives. (We were thoughtful, though, and gave them helmets to wear.) July 4 was a big holiday in my family. Most of my cousins are boys, and they started to collect firecrackers and other fireworks as soon as they could, saving their money for the purpose for months. It was handy that we were so close to the South Dakota border and had easy access to firework stands. I still really love fireworks, but I don’t shoot them at people any more.

I don’t know what has got into me, but for the past few weeks one of the first things I do when I get home from work it to put a recording of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture on really loud, and wait with gleeful anticipation for the cannons at the end of the piece. I love those cannons. I wish I could be the person in the orchestra to set them off. My recording is by the Kirov Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. The liner notes say that members of the Royal Dutch Marine Band also performed, and I assume they shot off the cannons and artillery. What a great job to have!

What music would best reflect the state of your life right now? What music helps you cope?

Art, History, Media, Movies, News, Speeches

My Favorite Maverick

March 7, 2018 Barbara in Rivertown 33 Comments

, I don’t usually watch the Oscars, but decided to tune in Sunday night about 8:00. It’s fun to see all the gorgeous gowns (or non-gowns) and the antics of the host, et al. – like Jodie Foster blaming her crutches on Meryl Streep (they were reportedly due to a skiing accident). And this year I was curious to see what would transpire as a result of the “Time’s Up” movement.

But for me Frances McDormand, who won Best Actor for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, stole the show. She played the glamour game to a point, wearing a long dress and little if any make-up or jewelry. And Sunday night she was all business: “So I’m hyperventilating a little bit. So if I fall over, pick me up ‘cause I’ve got some things to say…”

After setting down Oscar on the floor beside her, she continued: “And now I want to get some perspective. If I may be so honored, to have all the female nominees nominated in every category stand with me in this room tonight. Meryl, if you do, everyone else will… Ok, look around… ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell, and projects we need financed. Don’t talk to us about it tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple days or you can come to ours, whichever suits you best, and we’ll tell you all about them.”

From Variety.com: “She finished her speech by calling for contractually mandated inclusion across films: ‘I have two words to leave with you tonight: inclusion rider.’ Specifically, an inclusion rider is a clause in the contract of the top line talent on a film that requires a diverse crew to be hired around them.” The article continues with McDormand’s comments about how “trending” differs from what is really happening in Hollywood.

Frances McDormand has become my role model, and I plan to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, plus any of her other films I haven’t yet seen. She is my new favorite maverick. (Try and forget the Sarah Palin image that just entered your mind. I was going to call F.M. my favorite “renegade”, till I checked my definitions.)

Who is your favorite maverick, renegade, or iconoclast?

Art, Media, Movies

Red Carpet Time

March 3, 2018 verily sherrilee 86 Comments

I’m not much of a movie-goer – too cheap and too fussy. I prefer to wait until movies come around on the small screen; if it’s dreadful I can turn it off and not feel badly about wasting time and money. It it’s good, I can watch it again!

That’s just one of the reasons that I don’t pay too much attention to the Oscars. Most years I haven’t seen any of the nominees. In addition, I’m still not over the 1977 Oscars in which not only did Network win for Best Picture over All The President’s Men but Faye Dunaway won Best Actress beating out Liv Ullmann in Face to Face. Faye Dunaway. I’ll pause for dramatic effect.

So I doubt I’ll be watching the festivities this weekend. I’ve actually seen one of the movies this year as YA chose it for our Christmas morning movie; The Shape of Water isn’t something that I would nominate but since I haven’t seen any of the other movies this year, I guess I shouldn’t judge.

Do you have a favorite movie? Oscar winner or not.

History, Media, News, Technology, Uncategorized

Security Clearance

February 24, 2018 reneeinnd 60 Comments

I have watched with some amusement and alarm the struggles of certain White House aides to get security clearance. Changing their stories and accessing lapsed memories hardly makes them look trustworthy. Crystalbay’s unfortunate experience with a on-line scammers is another reminder of the dishonest among us.

How do you judge someone’s honesty? Have you ever been scammed? What is your favorite story or movie about con people?