Alfred Hitchcock (03/26)

Alfred Hitchcock was originally a draftsman/advertising designer for  a cable company, he then became interested in photography and broke  into the movie industry by designing the titles for silent movies.

It  only took 5 years from the time he started as a title designer to  become a film director.

Earworms (03/25)

No, I am not talking about the horrible scene in Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn. If you don’t know the scene I am talking about, consider yourself lucky.

I am talking about the term used to describe when you get a song stuck in your head.

Many people are set off by the theme music of a film or television show or advertisement. This is not coincidental, for such music is designed, in the terms of the music industry, to “hook” the listener, to be “catchy or “sticky” – to bore its, like an earwig, into the ear or mind; hence the term “earworms” -though one might be inclined to call them “brainworms” instead.

from Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, p 45

Now the next time you get a song stuck in your head you can imagine it as a worm. You can thank me later.

Like Father, Like Son (03/24)

Joakim Noah, of the Chicago Bulls, is not the only athlete in the family.

His father, Yannick Noah, was a professional tennis player and won the French Open in 1983.

I am not sure if Joakim has the same musical aspirations, but Yannick is also a pop-soul singer. Who says you have  to the same thing your entire life?

Wear Gloves (03/23)

Jalapeno Pepper

I learned a few things about jalapeno peppers. First of all, the smaller the pepper the hotter it is. Second of all, if you are chopping a jalapeno – wear gloves.

If you do not , your hand will feel like it is burning (up to 24 hours). It feels like a slow burn, as if you are holding a cup of hot soup for just a little too long, coupled with the pins and needles feeling of a hand that has fallen asleep.

If you are experiencing this pain in your hands and are wearing contacts – DO NOT take your contacts out before going to bed. That is unless you want your eyes to burn as well.

The cure? I read several on message boards. The one that worked for me? Milk. Soak your hand in milk. It may sound a little gross, but it is better than be driven crazy by the pain in your hand.

I would like to share one more helpful tip that I learned last Thanksgiving:

You should also wear gloves when peeling butternut squash. If you do not, the skin on your hand will become dry, tight and have a film over it. This may be an allergic reaction (contact dermatitis) and not affect everyone, but it is worth knowing. It is also recommended to peel the skin off with a knife rather than a peeler. It gets the job done faster and your not in direct contact with the starch.

My hand was so dried out that I could not even open my palm. It was scary at first, but once again message boards saved the day. Although it ook a few days, lotion and hand washing (with a little gentle scrubbing) took care of the problem.

Now you don’t have to make the same mistakes that I did…

Caribbean Pineapples (03/22)

For many years Eleuthra (Bahama) was a major center for pineapple production. It has a number of large pineapple plantations and because the pineapple are allowed to ripen slowly without chemical assistance they’re extremely sweet.

Pineapples have been cultivated in the Caribbean for thousands of years. Scientists have reached that conclusion because the Caribbean pineapple no longer produces seeds, and that the fruit has been farmed by man for so long that it no longer feels responsible for its own reproduction.

-Burt Wolf

What is Your Wish Today? (03/21)

One of the most memorable Seinfeld episodes is The Soup Nazi, much to the surprise of everyone involved. It is easy to remember all that is involved with getting the soup and of course the dreaded “No soup for you!”. However, there is another memorable part of this episode — the armoire thieves.

John Paragon & Yul Vazquez playing the armoire thieves

By any chance, do you recognize the gentlemen on the left? (I’ll give you  hint, he was a prominent character on a children’s television show.)

If you don’t know, don’t worry. I didn’t know either that is why I am posting the answer now.

John Paragon as Jambi the Genie

“Mekka-lekka hi mekka hiney ho!”
“Mekka-lekka hi mekka chahney ho!”
“Mola-mekka chala mekka hola hayla hey!

Long live Jambi.

A Musician’s Brain (03/20)

In Part II, chapter 7 of Oliver Sacks book, Musicophilia he states that:

Anatomists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer, or a mathematician–but they could recognize the brain of a professional musician without a moment’s hesitation.

p.100

You may be asking yourself how on earth is that possible?

Using MRI morphometry, Gottfried Schlaug at Harvard and his colleagues made careful compariaons of the sizes of various prain structures. In 1995, they published a paper showing that the corpus callosum, the commissure that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, is enlarged in professional musicians and the auditory cortex has an asymetric enlargement in musicians with absolute pitch.  Schlaug et al. went on to show increased volumes in gray matter in motor, auditory, and visuospatial areas of the cortex as well as the cerebellem.

Django Reinhardt (03/19)

I first heard of the musician Django Reinhart when I saw Woody Allen’s film Sweet and Lowdown. As you may recall, Sean Penn’s character Emmet Ray idolizes Django and if I recall correctly, passes out when he sees Django at a gas station.

Shortly after seeing the movie, I began listening to some of Reinhardt’s guitar solos. The music he makes is amazing and after you read what happened to him in 1928, you’ll be even more amazed.

On November 2nd, 1928 an event took place that would forever change Django’s life. At one o’clock in the morning the 18 year old Django returned from a night of playing music at a new club “La Java” to the caravan that was now the home of himself and his new wife. The caravan was filled with celluloid flowers his wife had made to sell at the market on the following day. Django upon hearing what he thought was a mouse among the flowers bent down with a candle to look. The wick from the candle fell into the highly flammable celluloid flowers and the caravan was almost instantly transformed into a raging inferno. Django wrapped himself in a blanket to shield him from the flames. Somehow he and his wife made it across the blazing room to safety outside, but his left hand, and his right side from knee to waist were badly burned.

Initially doctors wanted to amputate his leg but Django refused. He was moved to a nursing home where the care was so good his leg was saved. Django was bedridden for eighteen months. During this time he was given a guitar, and with great determination Django created a whole new fingering system built around the two fingers on his left hand that had full mobility. His fourth and fifth digits of the left hand were permanently curled towards the palm due to the tendons shrinking from the heat of the fire. He could use them on the first two strings of the guitar for chords and octaves but complete extension of these fingers was impossible. His soloing was all done with the index and middle fingers! Film clips of Django show his technique to be graceful and precise, almost defying belief.

Beware of Bezoars (03/18)

I will spare you, and not post a picture of this:

bezoar - A ball of food, mucus, vegetable fiber, hair, or other material that cannot be digested in the stomach. Bezoars can cause blockage, ulcers, and bleeding.

In other words, a hairball.

But I am not talking about a cat here.

Humans and cud-chewing animals, such as cows, oxen, sheep, goats, llamas, deer, and antelopes get hairballs or other types of “bezoars”.

“Bezoar” is a Persian word that means “protection from poison,” because bezoars were believed to be a universal antidote against poisoning.

to see pictures and read more click here.

Persimmons (03/17)

not tomatoes

On a recent trip to the local fruit market I purchased a persimmon for the very first time. As you can see above, it’s not a friendly looking fruit, especially since it bears a strong resemblence to tomatoes, which are not one of my favorites.

Not knowing anything about the fruit, I was not willing to try it until I read more about it.

It’s important you know there are two kinds of persimmons: the Fuyu, the kind you can eat right away (thankfully this in the type I purchased), and the Hachiya, the kind you can’t. If you bite into an unripe Hachiya persimmon, it is if you just drank six cups of extra strength tea. This astringent flavor is due to the high level of tannin in the fruit, and there is a good chance that you would never try a persimmon again because it tastes so bitter. This would be a shame because ripe persimmons have an exceptional flavor and provide us with important nutrients such as beta-carotene, Vitamin C and potassium.

China is the largest producer of persimmons, followed by Brazil, Japan, and Korea. The United States grows comparatively few persimmons compared to the major producers, but virtually all, of the domestic persimmon crop comes from California.

from Tony Tantillo.

Feeling confident that the persimmon I purchased was indeed ripe, I decided to try it (well, after my boyfriend tried it first). It has the texture of a peach and the flavor is somewhere in between a plum and a peach. So if you have seen this fruit and been afraid to try it, fear not!