Good heavens, a Yale man!

Click to enlarge: Top: Jim Backus as Thurston Howell IIIl Bottom: Alan Young with Mister Ed the talking horse. Willllllllburrrrrrr.

Ever wonder where Jim Backus honed his Thurston Howell III persona before Gilligan’s Island?

His Hubert Updike III character on the radio show The Alan Young Show is so close to Thurston Howell it’s uncanny.

d(-_-)b
The Big Yacht Race >
Start at 7 minutes in to hear what Mr Howell sounded like in 1947!

All of Alan Young’s shows are archived here >

You may remember Alan Young from Mister Ed.

No?

Hmmm. I thought Mister Ed was as iconic as Lassie.

Lassie… L-A-S-S…. oh, never mind.

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"The first choice among young Americans"

I've heard lots of old radio ads promote cigarettes as the first choice among doctors, but recently a Martin and Lewis show I listened to promoted them as appealing to young smokers.

My guess is this was adspeak for "Not your grandfather's cigarette."

When I was a smoker, I had a friend tell me, “Clarence, you have the soul of a smoker,” by which he meant I had a relationship with tobacco that was more than an addiction. It was a love affair. And he was right.

But I did break off the affair, and I miss it to this day. If I could smoke and not get yelled at by my wife or die from it, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

 

Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis: Commercial for Chesterfields
(sound doesn't match picture)

 

[2013-11-04]

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What possesses someone to decide “this rule isn’t for me”?

Either every car I’ve ever owned has had a faulty speedometer, or nearly every other Michigan driver drives over the speed limit, and most of them a lot over.

What possesses someone to decide at some moment that “this rule isn't for me”?

And where do you draw the line, and how do you hold others accountable for more serious infractions when we freely make little ones every day?

Being honest is a matter of character, not context.

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FWIW, I think what possesses us is a history of example or instruction that it’s okay to bend rules if we don’t get caught (outside of exceptional situations that rules can’t anticipate).

I once had a coworker who said his father always taught him, “Just drive a little slower than the fastest guy on the road and you won’t get stopped.”

Hmmm… how about just stealing a little less than the next guy? Or leaving fewer bruises on your wife, or not lying as much, or littering a little less?

[2013-11-03]

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Selective suspension of disbelief.

Of all the scenes in The Exorcist, there was one, and only one, that as I child, I said to myself, Whoa, okay, you just crossed the line into unbelievability.

(Sort of like the moment when you see a bus take a corner at 50mp in the movie Speed and you think Yeah, right, but in another theater on another weekend you’re willing to believe a man could dress up in a bat costume and fight crime).

Which scene strained my credulity? When Fr Damian is possessed by the demon he’s exorcising from the little girl Regan.

You see, we were taught as Baptists that a Christian can’t be possessed, so that scene unraveled the entire movie for me.

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I think a bit differently now. The story is credible within the world it occupies. I occupy a part of it myself.

[2013-11-02]

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今日は休憩に値する

I always thought McDonalds should offer breakfast all day. I heard a long time ago they’d be testing that, and indeed they are, in Japan >

 

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My 2¢ about McDonalds

McDonalds’ greatest weakness is not the competition, but a drop in consistent quality across the franchise.

Being old enough to remember the brand’s heyday, I can tell you there was a time when you could trust nearly any McDonalds to have a friendly staff, clean bathrooms, and accurate orders. That’s not the case anymore. There are probably some McDonalds you avoid for one or more of those reasons.

You may remember when McDonalds had long counters where you waited at the register you ordered at. Now there may be only two registers, with an “order here” and “pick up there” system, during which customers jockey for attention and are constantly asking each other “Have you ordered yet?”

Then when you pick up your order you have to press through the throng that thinks their order will arrive faster if they crowd closer to the counter while it’s being prepared.

 

I still prefer it to healthier alternatives.

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What’s ”今日は休憩に値する“ mean? “You deserve a break today.” I don’t know if Google Translator did the English justice.

[2103-11-02]

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