Tuesday, 5/9

Maybe it wasn't the best song to sing along to in the grocery store. But, in my defense, maybe it wasn't the best song to play in a grocery store, either.

I was at a local grocery store Saturday, doing what all Americans do. Actually, I was doing two things all Americans do—shopping for food, and singing along with the music they were piping over the speakers. It was a good selection, too...mostly current hits with a few oldies stuck in here and there.

It fact, it sounded very much like this very radio station. So it's probably not a surprise I was singing along..

Even if the song was Jax's “Victoria's Secret”.

If you haven't heard the song yet, it's a cheery and very pointed little ditty about the prominent lingerie chain and the horrid effects it can have on the body image of women who don't look like their models (in other words, 99.9999999% of all women). It makes a fantastic point, all wrapped up in an earworm of a chorus that says, and I'm quoting directly here, “selling skin & bones & big boobs”, with the last word in that sentence stretched out over a gloriously long measure of music.

So I'm pretty sure you can guess which part I was singing out loud in the grocery store. Yup; sometimes, I amaze even myself. And usually not in a good way.

Of course, what makes it even better is what usually happens when I'm singing something rather embarrassing—someone walks by, hears me, and gives me one of those looks that vacillates between amusement and pity and horror. That's about the time I usually smile and then slink away; however, after it happened to me Saturday I kept passing the lady who gave me that look in each of the next three aisles

Thankfully, I finally lost her once I got to frozen foods.

So if I offended anyone at a local grocery store late Saturday morning, I do apologize. I was just singing along...even if it was to one of the last songs you think you'd hear while shopping.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Now, to allow YOU the chance to sing along...

 

Monday, 5/8

I can't believe I missed it!

First of all, I had a nice weekend, thanks for asking. The weather wasn't perfect, but I got to lounge around for a few days doing what I wanted to do and just what I wanted to do. That was the best part of it.

One of the things I didn't want to do, and therefore didn't do at all, was to check my work e-mail. So when I started going through it this morning I noticed I had missed a press release sent out late Friday night, and because I missed that press release I didn't have a chance to celebrate a holiday Saturday.

Yup. I missed World Naked Gardening Day.

I know; it's a tragedy of the highest order, isn't it? If only I'd checked my e-mail while I was off for my weekend. I could have skipped all the political releases, the event releases, and the press releases that I (for some reason) receive from a PR firm in Milan, Italy (all in Italian, natch). But if only I had sifted through all the garbage I would've been aware of what I could have done on Saturday.

Instead, I missed it. Now I'll have to wait another year to romp around my garden without any clothing on. But on the bright side, that now gives me a year (minus a few days) to actually get a garden.

The press release itself was a ranking of the 100 top metro areas in the US and now they ranked on everything from gardening to the weather on May 6^th to public ordinances on people walking around their gardens without any clothes on. If you're curious (and I know you are) Miami is best place in the country to garden naked, while of the 100 biggest places in the US Lincoln, Nebraska ranks last. It's kind of ironic, considering they grown nothing but corn in Nebraska.

I guess they just do it with their clothes on.

So learn from my mistake. If you have a calendar upon which you write dates for the future, remember to mark down Saturday, May 4th, 2024 when we can actually to remember to celebrate this momentous holiday.

After all, we don't want to miss another World Naked Gardening Day, do we? Especially seeing as how it'll fall on Star Wars Day, as well? I tell ya—it'll be a celebration unlike any seen in human history!

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 5/5

It doesn't take much to make me happy. In fact, it only takes something like this--

It's been seven months since we returned from our trip to Germany, and we were starting to run out of all the goodies we brought back with us. And since we're not heading back there for the foreseeable future, we did the next best thing--

We brought Germany to us

There's a very cool online store—GermanShop24—that sells all this stuff (and lots more). I can't recommend them more highly; even though they're based in the US we placed the order last Tuesday and it arrived this Wednesday, which means that an entire basket worth of grocery stuff made its journey from a quarter of a planet away in slightly over a week.

Yes, we live in strange, weird, and occasionally dangerous times. But at least you can get a package from Germany in just eight days.

Most of what we ordered is just replacing stuff we usually get. However, if you look at the tea box sitting on top, that's something new. It's a sage-eucalyptus tea that I'm really looking forward to trying. The company that makes it (Messmer) used to make a sage-honey-vanilla concoction that may have been my favorite tea of all time. Unfortunately, like many things, it's no longer in production. But maybe this one will approach it in yumminess.

I guess I'll find out this weekend.

So there you go. Now you know what I'll be doing with part of my weekend. I hope yours is just a productive. And just as yummy!

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Thursday, 5/4

Happy Star Wars Day!

Wait. You say you don't celebrate Star Wars Day? You say you didn't even know it's Star Wars Day today?

What are you—normal??

8-)

For a subset of us—a subset that's small but probably bigger than you'd believe—today is Star Wars Day. Why, you ask? Well, I answer, today's May 4^th. And what's the greeting one Jedi gives to another? “May the Force be with you”. “May the Force”...May the 4^th? Get it?

Okay, I need help. But I'm not the only one. There are people out there—like I said, probably a lot more than you'd think—who will celebrate the day with all the gusto they can muster, dressing in costume, watching as many of the films as they can in a 24 hour period, or standing on the street corner, shouting out to the galaxy just how evil the Empire really is.

And you know what? There's nothing at all wrong with that.

Yesterday I had touched upon just how powerful a single piece of pop culture can be, but unlike Gordon Lightfoot's “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” the “Star Wars” universe has forty-plus years of growth behind it. Three generations now have soaked up the worlds and the characters that make up that universe, and are still eagerly awaiting the next chapters in the ever-growing saga. With that background it's probably no surprise that people celebrate today.

Maybe what's more surprising is that more people don't.

So if you come a cross someone today who says “Happy Star Wars Day” or “May the Force be with you”, don't assume they're a little off-kilter. Nope; they're just among the three generations (and counting) whose lives have been touched by a series of movies, books, and games.

And considering some of the, well, incredibly bizarre (if not outright dangerous) ideas that get passed around the world these days, is there really anything wrong with celebrating a little bit of our shared pop culture and its history?

May the Force be with you!

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps—oh, just because you can never hear this piece of music too much...)

Wednesday, 5/3

It's amazing how one song can transcend time & space.

As I'm sure you've heard, Gordon Lightfoot died Monday night. While he was known for many songs (including my personal favorite, the number one “Sundown”), the song with which I'm sure he's most associated is “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. While I'm not surprised it's insanely popular around these parts (named, among other things, as “Upper Michigan's Favorite Song of the Past 50 Years” by our astute listeners), in many of the articles I read on his passing “Fitzgerald” is the tune that's mentioned the most.

Go figure. A folk song about a ship sinking on Lake Superior transcends all else. But, I guess, that's the power of that one tune.

The New York Times actually had a great article about the song and how it shouldn't have been a hit. And they were absolutely right—in the middle of the seventies, when both rock and disco reigned supreme—a six minute folk song—a six minute historically accurate folk song, no less—hit number 2 on Billboard's Hot 100

Who knew?

I have to wonder about something else, too. Had the Fitz went down in 1975, and had not Lightfoot sung about it, would anyone outside of the Great Lakes even remember the sinking these days? But he did sing about it, making it perhaps the most famous shipwreck since that other big boat hit an iceberg and sunk in the north Atlantic back in 1912. In those six minutes, he immortalized not only the accident itself, but also thrust the memories of the 29 people who died into our pop culture consciousness forever.

Not many songs do that. But this one did.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 5/2

I'm just gonna say this about that, because I promised not to whine any more.  But because several of you asked, here's what it was like at 930 this morning--

And, like I said.  That's it.  Maybe if I just don't talk about it it'll go away.

That works, right?

8-)

Actually, I have one more picture to share.  To prove that this indeed HAS been a weird year, here's something I shot 7 years ago on this date—May 2nd 2016--

Now tell me this hasn't been a weird “ Spring”.  Go ahead. Tell me.  I dare ya.

*****

I feel like I should write a little more (especially something that's not complaining about the weather), so here 'tis--

Did you know my friends at TV-19 won a Michigan Association of Broadcasters award for best newscast (smaller market division)?  That's right—despite having produced shows for just over seven months now, they were given the award over stations both near and far that have been doing it a LOT longer than just those seven months.  And while I do play a (very) small part in the newscasts, all of the credit—all of it—goes to Sarah, Ariane, and the gang at the studio five nights a week.  It's not easy producing two half hour TV shows five days a week (trust me—I KNOW of what I speak) so for them to walk away with the award so quickly after launch says something amazing about each and every person who works there.

So way to go, gang!!!!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 5/1

Okay, “Spring”, this is your last chance. The third month had better be a charm.

I know I've been complaining about our wacky weather in here a lot recently, and I promise not to do it much more (unless, of course, summer sucks, and then all bets are off). But when you've had a 2023 like we have no far—January and February abnormally warm and comparatively snow-free, and then “winter” coming in March and April...well, a little complaining is to be expected.

As well as a little trepidation as to what May will be like. And that trepidation may be warranted, with a winter storm warning through tomorrow and schools all closed today.

Don't believe me?  This was at 8:11 this morning, before the "heavy" stuff even started--

I know we've wrecked the planet. I know that all this is just Mother Nature trying to compensate for everything we've been throwing at her for 150 years. On a macro level, I understand it completely. But on a micro level?

It just sucks.

Being an optimist by nature, I'm hopeful that this is the month that rights everything, the month that some kind of equilibrium is restored to our local climate. But having developed a healthy sense of realism the past three years, I'm not totally convinced that restoration will take place. We'll see; hopefully, the optimistic part of me is correct, and by the end of the month I'll be writing about warmth and flowers popping out and days on the beach.

But if the realist in me is right...well, then let me apologize in advance for what you may be reading in the weeks and months to come.

Because I'm guessing it won't be pretty.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)