It was 1 a.m., and I was sipping from the ever-full pitcher of That '70s Show, but then a commercial came on that by some bit of late-night laziness I didn't mute: "Scott, I want you to do something." "Not doing that again. Got burned." What!? My cultural gaydar -- infinitely more accurate than my personal one, and we won't go there -- started the beat beat beat of its tom-tom. Then as I watched, my socks, which were still on, got knocked off, and you will see why when you click on the ad … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2009
‘Obama Fingers’ — Surprise, Food Has Race
I thought this was old news. The link to the report from Deutsche Welle I'm adding here is dated March 10. But the story hasn't been widely seen. In short, a frozen product called "Obama Fingers" has appeared in German freezer cases: just pieces of fried chicken (with curry sauce, yikes). When asked if anyone was aware that a racial, uh, problem arises when you link an African American "brand," even a presidential one, to a fried-chicken product, the Fingers spokeswoman basically shrugged her shoulders and said, "Warum?" We … [Read more...]
Depression, Saltines, and I
I was fascinated with his "nicotine-stained" fingers -- that's what everyone called them then, even though the chemical is colorless -- as he plucked saltines one by one from the box and crumbled them into the soup. Campbell's Chicken Gumbo, Beef Noodle, or Cream of Anything, made no difference, in they went. "Thickening," he said, and of course Dad was right, because after he stirred it, the mingy housewife shortcut became something a man might want, a solid stew, a filling meal. Yet his stained fingers treated the crackers with a delicacy … [Read more...]