TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28,

 

+ Did you know that Walton’s Mountain was originally Spencer’s Mountain?

The popular 1970s tv show “The Waltons” was actually based on the 1963 movie “Spencer’s Mountain”, from the 1961 novel of the same name, both written by Earl Hamner, Jr, who also created and narrated the tv series.

The movie starred Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara as the prolific parents and James MacArthur (Danno from the original “Hawaii 5-0”) as elder son Clayboy (John-Boy in “The Waltons”).

Spencer’s Mountain was in Wyoming, while Walton’s Mountain was in Virginia.

BTW, Earl Hamner Jr also wrote the screenplay for the 1963 “Where the Boys Are” clone “Palm Springs Weekend”, which starred Troy Donahue, Stefanie Powers, Robert Conrad, Ty Hardin, and Connie Stevens.  Instead of the beaches of Fort Lauderdale this movie takes place in the California desert.

And EH Jr also created the tv soap “Falcon Crest”.

 

+ Do you need any proof that Trump is, was, and has always been an unethical businessman?   

Here is a real-life example from what one of my 1040 clients told me back in 2015 during Trump’s candidacy for President -

In 2002 the client purchased an apartment at one of the Trump Place buildings in New York City.

At closing, there were three layers – my client, the Trump Organization (the builder/developer) and a bank (Trump's construction financing bank - not the client’s bank, as it was an all-cash deal).  There was about an $1,100 difference in a 6-figure deal.

For almost an hour and a half, the bank's lawyer kept cajoling my client to try and get a wire transfer to the bank done for the small amount.  The Trump lawyer suggested that the client write a check in the full amount to Trump and they would in turn write a check to the bank for their portion.  Since 90% of the money was to go to the bank and only 10% to Trump, the Bank did not feel comfortable at all for any money going to Trump. The bank’s lawyer suggested that they could not trust Trump.

The client was later told that Trump always ended up shorting his sub-contractors by 5 to 10% and didn't care if they sued - ultimately, they settled, taking a 5%+ haircut and Trump always came out ahead.

 

+ I thank God every day that there was no Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. when I was a child and teen-ager.

 

+ When checking the credentials of Republican candidates for Congress today only two questions are asked by Party leaders.

Are you a moron?

Do you have a conscience?

If they answer yes to the first and no to the second, they qualify.

The only question true conservative and “traditional” Republican voters need to ask is –

Do you oppose, denounce and disavow Trump and his lies?

-      and they must only support and vote for those who answer yes.

 

TAFN

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

Sorry – I am a bit late getting my ramblings together this week.
 
 
+ Last night I enjoyed Cottage Pie, one of the evening’s entrée specials at a local restaurant – Gresham’s Chop House across from Lake Wallenpaupack.  However, the menu erroneously identified the entrée as Shepard’s Pie.
 
Shepard’s Pie is sheep and potatoes.  Period.  My “pie” last night had beef, potatoes and vegetables.
 
Most American restaurants make the mistake of identifying Cottage Pie as Shepherd’s Pie, despite the fact that it contains beef and not sheep and vegetables.  Although I have come across a very few that actually serve true Shepherd’s Pie.
 
If a local in England or Ireland went to a restaurant or pub, ordered Shepherd’s Pie and was present with the meal I had last night they would send it back.
 
I did enjoy my Cottage Pie, regardless of what it was called, and I knew what I would be getting when I ordered.
 
 
+ Trump the candidate and the President has always been a potential danger and threat to America, the American people and the world based on his history as an unethical businessman and an extreme malignant narcissist with a pathological need for attention.
 
Opposing, denouncing, investigating, and trying to stop Trump throughout his candidacy and Presidency, by any person regardless of job or position or political Party, has always been about patriotism and not politics.
 
Trump continues to be a threat and danger to America, American values and American democracy.  We must not stop until he is fully investigated, indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated.
 
Anyone who believes, supports, defends, and would vote for an unethical, immoral, ignorant, incompetent, and totally self-absorbed wannabe dictator – Trump – is a complete imbecile.
 
By embracing Trump and his lies today’s Republican Party is clearly the Party of Imbeciles.
 
It is very important that liberals, progressives and moderates, as well as true conservatives and traditional Republicans, work together to combat the true threat and danger presented by today’s Republican Party.
 
 
+ Here is something no one ever told you.
 
Dick Wolf’s “Law and Order” franchise is perhaps the most successful one in prime-time television history.  It began with the premiere of “Law and Order” in September of 1990 and shows no sign of ending.  “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” begins its 23rd season on, appropriately, September 23.  And two new L&O series have been added to the franchise.
 
How did Wolf come up with the concept for the original “Law & Order” – first half “law” (police capturing the “perp”) and second half “order” (the trial)?
 
Successful broadcast television shows can make lots of money in “syndication”, often more than the original production. Some shows have been known to operate at a loss on the initial broadcast episodes (they cost more to make than the network pays for airing) just to be able to create a sufficient syndication “inventory”. As one online explanation of the process put it – “If you can get a television show in syndication, you can live off that money for the rest of your life.”
 
30+ years ago it was easier, and more profitable, to syndicate a half-hour series than it was an hour-long program. But the networks were looking for hour-long drama series. The “Law and Order” format – basically a half hour of police and a half hour of lawyers - was essentially created so it could be run as two-part half-hour episodes in syndication.  Dick had toyed with several such two-part shows, with names like Night and Day.
 
As it turns out DW did not have to worry about creating half-hour segments for syndication. I expect that the L&O franchise is the most syndicated in history, and that every hour of every day an episode of L&O or one of its spin-offs is running somewhere in the world.  
 
 
+ DANCING WITH THE STARS, which should really be retitled DANCING WITH THE RELATIVELY FAMOUS, is running out of “stars” and starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. 
 
I have only heard of 3 of the fall season’s contestants.
 
BTW, I have never watched an episode of this show.
 
 
TAFN

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

 
+ Carl Sagan spoke about the “Dumbing Down of America” in his 1995 book “THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD: Science as a Candle in the Dark”.  He spoke of “a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time” when –

“The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media . . . lowest common denominator programming”.

It will be a time of “but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.”

It is obvious that time has come.  He was clearly warning of the excrement erroneously known as “reality tv”.  And of Americans reveling in their stupidity.
 

+ This past summer I have been enjoying the “Death on Demand” mystery series by Carolyn Hart about mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance Darling and her “unofficlal” private detective, and “trust-fund baby, husband Max that takes place on fictional Broward's Rock Island in South Carolina.  There is a total of 26 books in the series to date, and I have only 3 more to go.

Broward’s Rock rivals Cabot Cove, Maine as the “murder capital” of small towns on the Atlantic coast.

The series spans 30 years in “real time” – the books published from 1987 to 2017 – but the South Carolina island must be the home of the Fountain of Youth, as the hero couple and supporting characters haven’t aged more than perhaps 5 years during the series.  One active senior citizen supporting character, a retired school teacher and avid mystery aficionado who flew planes in WWII is still in her 70's 30 years later..

I am surprised that this book series has not been adopted by the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries cable channel as part of its stable of “cozy” Signature Mysteries.

FYI, the 2008 horror film titled DEATH ON DEMAND has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this cozy mystery series.

You can check out the series be going to http://www.fictiondb.com/series/a-death-on-demand-mystery-carolyn-hart-carolyn-g-hart~373.html.
 

+ The official application form to join today’s Republican Party has only two questions –

Are you a moron?
Are you a racist?

If you answer yes to either question you are welcomed with open arms. 

If you answer no to both you are told - "We don't want you".

And the new official theme song of the Republican Party is based on “I Enjoy Being A Girl” from FLOWER DRUM SONG -

“I watch FOX NEWS faithfully each evenin’
I listen to everything Trump says.
I believe the election it was stolen.
To wearing a mask I reply with loud nays.
I enjoy being a fool!” 
 

+ It is truly sad that for every two genuine Christians who attempt to follow the actual teachings of Christ in America today there is at least one person falsely claiming to be Christian who distorts and perverts Christianity to justify personal prejudices and bigotry or for some other self-serving reason.
 

+ I have always been a fan of the British tv series “Midsomer Murders”, based on the novels in the Chief Inspector Barnaby series written by Caroline Graham that take place within small country villages across the fictional English county of Midsomer. 

It premiered on the ITV channel in the UK on March 23, 1997.  I first became aware of the show when episodes were shown on the American cable channel A&E in the summer of 1998, back when A&E actually presented content that involved art and entertainment.  I have been able to watch all the episodes of all series on Acorn.tv (http://acorn.tv/browse/mystery).  The 22nd series will return to Acorn.tv at the end of September.

The series originally starred John Nettles as Inspector Tom Barnaby.  When Nettles retired at the end of 2010, after 13 series, he was replaced by Neil Dudgeon as his cousin Inspector John Barnaby.  It is odd, and truly rare, that a lead character in a police series is replaced by a relative with the same last name.  But there was a very good reason in this case.   

Midsomer Murders was, and is, very popular around the world.  In 2004, it was among the three most-sold British TV shows worldwide.  It was especially popular in Scandinavian countries, where it was shown under the title “Inspector Barnaby”.  So, this title is the reason the replacement for Tom Barnaby had to be another Inspector Barnaby.
 

TAFN