[Sca-cooks] OT - Crypto-American-Idlers

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Apr 27, 2006, at 11:14 AM, Susan Fox wrote:

> I really need to hang out with you some time, even if you're on the  
> opposite coast.  I frequently expound on the subject of "Commedia  
> Dell'Arte:  The First Sitcom."  My best paper in film school  
> connected the Hitchcock favorite NORTH BY NORTHWEST with THE MAN  
> FROM U.N.C.L.E. and included a map of the action which proved that  
> it was really more West By Northwest.

Many people today forget that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a comedy.  
But then, so was the first season of "The Sopranos"...

>
> How does BLACKENSTEIN compare with BLACKULA?  William Marshall's  
> fine voice always did it for me, I'd have listened to that man read  
> the phone book.  Bwahaha.

Let's just say that it wastes no valuable resources on the snooty  
production values of a high-class production like Blacula ;-). My  
favorite part is when, once it has been determined that the  
experiments in limb-grafting on a huge African-American Vietnam war  
veteran are going horribly awry, and he's becoming physically  
distorted, undergoing brain degeneration, apparently growing in size,  
and acquiring a sort of flat-topped head (with discreet flat-topped  
Afro), somebody decides that the thing to do is get him a man's black  
suit and pullover to wear under it, and some big clunky boots. Let's  
sedate him and dress him like Herman Munster; that'll solve  
everything. The music is really, really, good, too. At one point a  
teenaged couple inamorato in a convertible can be heard listening to  
an orchestral rendering of "Good King Wenceslas" on the car radio.  
And who knew there were so many spooky castles, as well as nightly  
lightning storms, in L.A.?

> I didn't get into "American Idol"

Not me, either. My computer is in the living room, and as I said, my  
evil spawn sometimes puts it on, probably as part off the endless  
dance of teenage conformity. Every so often I'll look up from a bash  
shell to rest my eyes and I'll hear some terrible noise, determine  
that it is _That Cr*p_ again, and apart from hoping one particularly  
obnoxious contestant experiences catastrophic reversals and personal  
tragedy, I pay no attention to it.

> but I have my own embarrassing viewing habits, including Star Trek  
> episodes that I'd memorized 30+ years ago. My TV crap-watching  
> lately has been multi-cultural;  my regular TiVo list includes  
> DOTCHI COOKING SHOWDOWN which is one of those really cruel Japanese  
> game shows that tortures the contestants by letting them watch  
> chefs make favorite dishes and not letting them taste unless they  
> are very, very lucky.

"No soup for you! Come back... one year!!!"

>   The subtitles are almost unnecessary, except for the filmed  
> segments about special high-end ingredients and their production  
> methods, which is the most interesting part for us Culinary  
> Historian types.

Yuh! We have perfectly good idiots here, thanks, but a good  
documentary about food is another matter.

> Oh, and LOST, which is driving me crazy with all the "clip shows"  
> this season, including last night's.  Arrrrgh!  We want the Story!

People keep telling me I need to see this, and as with most things I  
am heavily pressured to do, it has attained a fairly unpleasant odor  
in my worldview. Maybe in 20 years I'll find out what I've been missing.

Adamantius






"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04