Irritating and/or Obnoxious

 I don’t watch many half-hour comedy, western, detective, or sci-fi television series these days, so I can’t really compare contemporary ones with those of the ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s.

Why that early time period? Because I see them on MeTV, a habit I picked up during my stay at Kalakaua Gardens Rehab Center. They’re pretty much formulaic, with many recurring characterizations. 

The characterizations that stand out to me are the irritating and obnoxious ones. There are two types.

The first ones are usually minor side characters. They get on my nerves, and I think that if their personalities changed, it definitely would be for the better. In fact, if they disappeared completely, the series would be more enjoyable.

• Eddie Haskell (“Leave It to Beaver”): Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver’s brother Wally’s best friend.
• Eustace Haney (“Green Acres”): Dishonest Hooterville salesman.
• Charles O’Casey (“My Three Sons”): Live-in housekeeper “Uncle Charley.”

(Shudder … you know what I mean?)

The other group consists of major co-stars. These are a lot more tolerable as they are sidekicks and add a lot to the cast, and in fact, they’re often the focus of the episode.

• Festus Haggen (“Gunsmoke”): Marshall Matt Dillon’s deputy.
• Barney Fife (‘The Andy Griffith Show”): Sheriff Andy’s deputy. 
• Gunnery Sgt. Vince Carter (“Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”): Pfc. Gomer Pyle’s drill instructor. 

Any thoughts are welcome.

MeTV’s Plethora of Medical Ads

Recently, I’ve spent several weeks in a hospital rehabilitating after suffering a stroke (still here as of this posting). I watched a lot of daytime television and all I can say is thank goodness for cable TV.

Two years ago, a friend told me about about MeTV (Saturday nights on the locaI ABC affiliate). She told me about “Svengoolie,” a weird character who hosted a two-hour show on Saturday night. His shtick is classic ‘50s-‘70s horror, monster, and sci-fi movies.

That made me a mini-MeTV fan. Then, while lying on my back in the hospital, I discovered the 24-hour MeTV Channel ‘way down among the triple-digit cable channels. Series galore! Westerns (e.g., “Gunsmoke”), detective (e.g., “Mannix”), crime (e.g., “In the Heat of the Night), comedies (e.g., “Leave It to Beaver”), varieties (e.g., “The Carol Burnett Show”), and more.

It took me back to my high school and college days. Save for live Los Angeles Dodgers games, it’s my in-room channel exclusively.

One thing surprised me — there are lots of pharmaceutical television commercials throughout the day. My conclusion: The pharmaceutical companies are catering to people more or less my age, who remember but haven’t watched these shows in years. And we are most likely to be affected by the medical problems that can be treated with the products.

With little to do, I took notes. I had heard of two; maybe you are familiar with more:

• Austedo (Deutetrabenazine): Unintentional movements
• Enbrel (Etanercept): Auto-immune diseases
• Entresto (Sacubitril /Valsartan): Heart failure
• Farxiga (Dapagliflozin): Type 2 diabetes
• Fasenra (Benralizumab): Asthma
• Jardiance (Empagliflozin): Type 2 diabetes
• Lynzess (Linaclotide): Constipation
• Neuriva (Phosphatidylserine): Brain supplement
• Nucala (Mepolizumab): Severe asthma
• Rybelsus (Semaglutide): Type 2 diabetes
• Skyrizi (Risankizumab): Psoriasis 
• Tepezza (Teprotumumab): Thyroid eye disease

I feel so much smarter now. Do you?

Acquired Accents

It’s a matter of life, we all take on the local accent of the area where we grew up or lived in for a substantial period of time.

Where we went to college, for example. Or where we relocated for our longtime employment.

Well, let me tell you, I recently unintentionally acquired some language inflection (accent) changes from—get this—television series on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.

During my recent Facebook break, I watched 78 episodes (6 seasons), of “Justified,” set in Harlan County, Kentucky. After the first season, I noticed a Southern inflection in my speech. As might be expected, it intensified as the series progressed.

Even in mah wrahting, I stahted using “y’all,” “yondah,” “precious” and “bless” moah than ah used tah . And when ah rehd thangs, ah mentahly sounded lack a true Suthnah.

Any thoughts of growing out of it were dashed when I started binge-watching “The Closer” (7 seasons, 109 episodes), whose principal character moved from Atlanta to become Deputy Chief of LAPD’s Priority Murder Squad.

And she has one helluva Southern accent.

I had the same experience when I binged on a few British detective drama series (e.g., “Midsomer Murders,” 20 seasons, 122 episodes; “Broadchurch,” 3 seasons, 24 episodes).

Result? A bit of an English ahccent. I stahted dropping my “r’s,” saying “Jawj” when I meant “George.” It made me wahnt t’open a can-a beah. I started wokking the flaw.

I guess the English and Southern accents have become permanent parts of my language now. And maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

Thankfully, I don’t speak pidgin English with a Hawaii accent anymore. Got rid-a DAT buggah when I relocated to Los Angeles in the mid-‘60s. 

Former Crush Revisited

Recently, while watching “Midsomer Murders” on Netflix, one of the older supporting actresses looked awfully familiar. But for the life of me, I couldn’t think of her name. So I googled the episode’s cast.

C. 1962

It was Hayley Mills. Remember her? She starred in “Pollyanna” and “The Parent Trap.” She’s a little younger than I am, and I had a crush on her in high school and college.

C. 2014

TV cinematography can be rather unforgiving at times and if I paused the picture, I’m sure I could have counted every single wrinkle on her face.

But having said that, she’s gone from early ‘60s teen-age cutie to mature senior beauty.

God, I feel old.

It's Bosch, B'Gosh

I found another excellent drama series that you can only see if you are a member of Amazon Prime—Bosch, about an LAPD detective introduced by novelist Michael Connelly. Connolly also authored The Lincoln Lawyer, which was developed into a 2011 movie starring Matthew McConoughey.

Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch is a veteran detective in the Los Angeles Police Department. He's pretty high profile, earning fame years earlier when Hollywood paid him handsomely to use his name for the lead (he calls it "technical advisor") in a highly rated TV series.

Bosch has appeared in 20 Connelly novels, The Black Echo (1992) being the first.

Personality-wise, Harry Bosch is uncompromising, a pretty serious guy who has a problem with authority. When told not to do something (which is pretty often), Bosch goes ahead and does it anyway. And that of course, gets him into trouble. But ... it usually turns out that he's right.

Bosch enjoys a solid supporting cast: 

• Partner Det. Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector): Clothes horse, efficient, smart and loyal.
• Boss Lt. Grace Billets (Amy Aquino): Tough, understanding, down-to-earth with an uncensored mouth.
• Bureau Commander Dep. Chief Irvin Irving (Lance Reddick): Always watching for threats to position and career.
• Ex-wife Eleanor Wish (Sarah Clark): Former FBI agent, expert profiler, professional poker player.
• Teenage daughter Maddie Bosch Madison Lintz), rather innocent but smart, headstrong, impulsive and curious.
• Girlfriend, rookie cop Julia Brasher (Annie Wersching), not very ethical, recurring after season one.

I've just finished season one, which was based on three of Connelly's books. I'm now watching season two, based on three different books. Season three will start soon (either this fall, or early 2017) on Amazon Prime video.

I recommend this series, which I watch on my Roku 3. It's smart, it's gripping, and it's so damned entertaining. I think you'll like it.

The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime Video)

 

If you're a fan of alternate history science fiction, then you have to watch the Amazon video series, The Man in the High Castle. But your problem is, it's not on commercial television—network or cable. You need to be an Amazon Prime Video subscriber.

 

To watch it on your home television set, you need a streaming device like Roku. Or, you can watch it on your phone or some other mobile device (e.g., iPad, tablet, laptop).

 

The Man in the High Castle is based on the 1963 Hugo Award-winning dystopian novel of the same name by Phillip K. Dick, the same novelist who wrote Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), which became the film, Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford. Other movies based on Dick novels include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and Adjustment Bureau.

 

The premise is simple and intriguing: What if the Allies had lost World War II? How did that happen? Well, for starters, the Germans dropped a nuclear bomb on Washington, D.C., wiping out our leadership. Then, things got worse.

 

 

Our western states are now a puppet government of Imperialistic Japan (the Pacific States of America), and the eastern half of America is now a puppet government of Nazi Germany (the Greater Nazi Reich). The Rocky Mountain states serve as a buffer zone between the two occupiers, who are now in a tense Cold War of their own.

 

It's 1962. Adolph Hitler's famous black hair and mustache are now gray. Although under oppressive rule, and despite the ever-lingering tension, Americans move about fairly freely. The Resistance is functioning in secret; subversive enemy spies are everywhere. Bibles, while not exactly illegal, are hard to come by. Everybody's searching for a newsreel film called, and destined for, "The Man in the High Castle."

 

The early principal cast of characters is excellent and includes:

 

 

• Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos), whose sister hands her an apparently genuine black-and-white movie newsreel showing historical World War II scenes that we are familiar with—the fall of Nazism, Japan's surrender. But how can this be?
• Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank), a double-agent searching for the Resistance contact in Colorado. While waiting for contact, he meets Juliana, discovering later that she's the operative who took over after her slain half-sister.
• John Smith (Rufus Sewell), a former American citizen and now an SS Oburgruppenführer investigating the Resistance in New York. He is Joe's handler and a cunning and ruthless pursuer.
• Frank Frink (Rupert Evans), Juliana's boyfriend, a Jewish-American war veteran fearing for his life. When his sister and her kids are killed in his stead, he plots to assassinate the visiting Japanese Crown Prince and his wife.
• Nabosuke Tagomi (Cary-Horiyuki Tagawa), the trade minister of the Pacific States of America with an agenda that moves toward a puzzling season-ending revelation.
• Ed McCarthy (D.J. Qualls), Frank's co-worker and friend who does what he can to curtail Frank's life-threatening plans, placing himself in dire jeopardy.

 

Rolling Stone has named The Man in the High Castle one of the best 40 science fiction television shows of all time. Season 1 (10 episodes), which I’ve completed, is currently on Amazon Prime. Season 2 will be available on Dec. 16, 2016.

 

Warning: If you are offended by stereotypical racial and religious denigrations, you may want to skip watching this series. Plus, this was the '60s, so everybody smokes ... second-hand smoke be damned.

 

 

Vikings (History Channel)

Thanks to Roku and Amazon Prime, I have been able to catch up with every episode of “Vikings,” the gory historical series about the Northmen as they went about their plundering ways in what are now England and France.

My Facebook friends had posted about the show, and although I’d been eager to watch it, the scheduling prevented it.

It’s a gutty series (literally), with well-developed characters that include a host of unfaithful spouses; one loses track of how many lovers the warriors and women have taken. Still, it apparently is how the Viking society functioned.

Ragnar Lothbrok was a real-life Dane who ruled in the 9^th Century. His sons—Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and Ubba—became legendary figures in themselves. Ragnar was married to Lagertha (three times), Aslaug, and Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr.

The second half of Season 4, it’s been announced, will debut later this year. According to the History Channel series creator Michael Hirst, Season 4 Part 2 will focus on why King Ragnar returnd, after his self-imposed banishment following his stinging defeat at the hands of brother Rollo and the Parisians of Frankia.

You will remember that the final episode of Season 4 Part 1 began with a 10-year leap forward in time. It’s then that we met his sons by Aslaug, grown up and apparently ready to prove their worth in the season(s) to come.

Spoiler: Ragnar and his former wife, Lagertha, will get back together again.

My New Roku-3

Remember the last time I visited family in Fremont, CA, and made full use of their Roku? Well, my son, bless his heart, got us two Roku-3s for Christmas and installed them soon-after so we could begin using them.

 

I already subscribed to Amazon Prime so I could get special pricing on ebooks and other stuff I bought on Amazon.com, but never used their Amazon Video service. Well, now I can ... and I have!

I also subscribed to Hulu so the wife can watch some Korean drama videos (remember how she hogged the Roku at my son's house on a previous trip?) on her own living room TV.

Each has its benefits: Amazon has a better selection of movies; Hulu has the Criterion Collection and Science Channel process-geek series (eg, "How is It Made," "How Do They Do Ii").

Most other channels require subscriptions, but I found at least two (FilmRise and Watch Free Flix) that offer free streaming of "discount dvd-type" old B- and C-movies. Mostly the movies suck, but at times if you find the right ones, they can be humorously entertaining.

Netflix is on my home screen because they're offering me a free trial, in hopes that I will subscribe. But for now, I think Amazon Prime and Hulu will suffice.

Yep, I'm now in Couch Potato Heaven.

'Haven’ Bites the Dust

In case you’re a fan of the AMC Channel’s Haven, and haven’t kept up with the news, the supernatural/horror/mystery series was cancelled last year, effective at the close of the current season.

The show’s two-hour series finale (titled “Now” and “Forever”) will air tonight, Thursday, Dec. 17.

Haven is based on Stephen King's 2005 novella, The Colorado Kid. Seasons 1-4 (2010-2013) had 13 episodes each, Season 5 was split into two 13-episode halves, with the first half airing in 2014, and the second half airing this year.

I'm going to miss Audrey, Nathan, Duke, and Dwight — not to mention all those intriguing "troubles" that they had to deal with.

But I have to say it was a good run while it lasted.

‘Entertaining’ Cooking Show Hosts

A trend I've noticed in the past few years is the increasing proliferation of entertainers as hosts of the Food and Cooking Channels cooking shows. They provide refreshing changes from professional chefs, which is understandable because they've previously been welcomed into our homes on a regular basis.

Here are the ones I've noticed so far:

Patricia Heaton (Patricia Heaton Parties, Food Channel): She's best known as Raymond Barone's (Ray Romano) wife, Debra, for 10 seasons on the Emmy-winning CBS sit-com, Everybody Loves Raymond. I've seen every episode. She currently stars as Frances "Frankie" Heck on the ABC sitcom, The Middle, which I don't watch. Verdict: A-

Tia Mowry (Tia Mowry at Home, Cooking Channel): Tia played teenager Tia Landry on the ABC/The WB sitcom, Sister, Sister. She's a vegan. I've never seen her acting work; her cooking show is pretty average. Verdict: C

Valerie Bertinelli (Valerie's Home Cooking, Food Network): Best known as Barbara Cooper Royer on the CBS sitcom, One Day at a Time, (watched this regularly), Gloria on the CBS drama series, Touched by an Angel, and Melanie Moretti on TV Land's sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. Verdict: A-

Trisha Yearwood (Emmy-winning Trisha's Southern Kitchen, Food Network): Tricia is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer whose signature song is "How Do I Live." She is married to country singer Garth Brooks. I watch her show, and especially like it when her sister Beth guest-cooks with her. Verdict: B+

Tiffani Theissen (Dinner at Tiffani's, Cooking Channel)): Tiffani currently stars as Elizabeth Burke on USA Network's White Collar. Young adults of the late-'80s and '90s will remember her as Kelly Kapowski on NBC's Saved by the Bell (1989-1993), and Valerie Malone on Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210 (1994-1998). I wasn't a great fan, but I did see quite a few episodes of each. Verdict: B-

Debi Mazar (Extra Virgin, Cooking Channel): Debi has a recurring role as press agent Shauna Roberts on HBO's Entourage. She's appeared in dozens and dozens of movies and television shows, usually playing a sharp-tongued "Jersey"-type woman. Her husband, Gabriele Corcos, co-hosts with her, preparing standard Italian dishes. She doesn't cook much on the show. Verdict: C+

Haylie Duff (Real Girl's Kitchen, Cooking Channel): A teen star, Haylie played Sandy Jameson on The WB's 7th Heaven. She has performed several times with her younger sister, Hilary, and has appeared in many television shows and features. I've watched a few of her cooking shows, but I'm not enamored of her. Verdict: C

Patti LaBelle (Patti LaBelle's Place, Cooking Channel): This multi-Emmy Award winning R&B singer is quite famous — most of us have at least heard of her. Rolling Stone put her on their list of "100 Greatest Singers." Unfortunately, I have never seen her cooking show. Verdict: Incomplete

I can't recall any male entertainers who host cooking shows.

 

Code Black – ER on Steroids

 

I have to admit that I haven’t seen too many movies or TV shows with Marcia Gay Harden in it, but I can tell you that when I have, I’ve enjoyed her performances. Thinking back, the last time I saw her in a movie was the 2007 adaptation of Stephen King’s 1980 novella, The Mist. She played an obnoxious religious fanatic. 

This current television season, I’ve become hooked on Code Black, Ms. Harden’s tour de force that airs Wednesday nights on CBS. 

Every September, I pick a couple of new TV shows to watch – a few episodes, to see if I want to follow them for the rest of their lives. Since I was a fan of ER, which ran for 15 seasons on NBC (I saw every one of its 331 episodes), I gave Code Black a try. Guess I’m just a medical adrenalin-rush junkie. 

I wasn’t disappointed and was hooked after the first episode. Harden is great as Dr. Leanne Rorish, ER residency director of Angeles Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. Originally cast as Christa, the older soccer mom who became a doctor, Harden brings experience and depth to her role. 

Maggie Grace (“Kim” in the Taken movie series, “Shannon” in the TV series Lost) was originally cast as Dr. Rorish, but was let go. Can you imagine her in the role? Nope. She lacks Harden’s gravitas. 

Episodes of Code Black, the condition level reached when the number of seriously sick or injured patients outstrips the emergency room staff’s ability to service them adequately, are wall-to-wall tension, so much so that when the emotional breaks arrive, I am deeply, deeply touched and have to reach for the Kleenex. 

I hope this series lasts for a long time. Medical adrenaline-rush junkie? Yep.

Roku

The TV monitor in my son's spare bedroom doesn't have a cable connection, so when we visit his family in California, I generally watch DVDs or Blu-Rays while propped up on the bed at night.

Recently, he bought a Roku Streaming TV and Media Player. The service comes with a cute little remote and offers 2,000 channels of entertainment. My son subscribed to two of the most popular – Netflix and Hulu Plus. He gets PBS, Smithsonian and Crackle free.

This made the wife happy, because now she can watch her Korean dramas from the bed. It makes me happy because I can watch old first season episodes of How Do They Do It, one of my favorite process-wonk programs in the Science Channel.

Unfortunately, she began hogging the Roku and iced me out of How Do They Do It.

Wives! Can't live with them, can't live without them.

Opt In, Yes ... Opt Out, No

Recently, Oceanic Time Warner Cable sent me a "Mahalo" card offering me a gift for 12 months - a free subscription to their EPIX movie channel.

Normally, as a movie lover, I'd jump at the chance. I watched several movies during their initial free promotional period, but then didn't subscribe. Ah, but wait. As the saying goes, "Nothing is free." And sure as tooting, when you read the fine print on the back of the card carefully, you find this:

After promotional periods, regular rates will apply. You may cancel at anytime by calling 643-2337.

Their hope, of course, is either (1) I will be so hooked on the channel that I won't want to cancel, or (2) I will completely forget that I can cancel at any time. Either way, more revenue for them, not that there's anything wrong about that.

Personally, I don't like "opt-out" agreements. I'd rather be able to "opt-in," to make my own conscious choice when I decide to do something.

I have until Jan. 15, 2015 to make up my mind, but it's already made up.

Thank you very much, Oceanic, but I think I'll pass on this great offer.

Its, It’s and ... Its’?

Recently, on Food TV’s Good Eats program starring one of my favorite nerd-chefs, Alton Brown, one of the facts that popped up on the screen during his “American Classics V: A Pound of Cake” show made me sit up and squirm.

There, for all to see, was a big boo-boo. Now, I’ve seen “its” confused with “it’s” many times, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen the word “its’” used in any context anywhere.

The show first aired on Oct. 26, 2009, by the way. That’s five years. Do you think nobody caught the error? “Its’” a possibility.

Funny, Tennessee Doesn't Look Like That

I was watching the Travel Channel recently and hung around to watch a program about barbecue. Can't remember exactly what the show was called, unfortunately.

Anyway, one of the featured BBQ restaurants was Central BBQ in Memphis, Tennessee. That's the owner (or maybe it was the show's host) outside with the restaurant's sign.

But that's not what I wanted to show you.

Look at this graphic. It shows the host (hey, he's got a hat like the guy in the other picture, so that guy must be the host) driving toward Memphis, Tennessee. The problem is, he's in Kentucky and Kentucky is labeled "Tennessee."

That's Tennessee below Kentucky (the colored area). Methinks the show's producers, graphic artists, editors and whoever must have all flunked U.S. Geography 101.

Raisin Raising Raison

I'm not a huge Bobby Flay fan, but I do enjoy watching his Brunch with Bobby series on The Cooking Channel (or is it the Food Channel? I forget). Why? Because he makes brunch dishes that include breakfast favorites done up in a more creative style.

A little while back, I had to stop the show, back up, freeze frame, and read what was on it, just to make sure I wasn't having vision problems.

The intro graphic that they showed promoted his rum raisin pancakes. Only they called it "RUM RAISON PANCAKES." Now, I only had two years of high school French, but I do know that "raison" is French for "reason" ... as in raison d'etre, or "reason for existence."

Is Bobby Flay trying to tell us that rum is the reason to have these pancakes? Huh? Huh?

I can't believe they made that mistake, that nobody caught it in proofreading. But there it is, forever indelibly stamped in my mind ... and now, yours.

'Bates Motel' After-Show Stinks

I’m a big fan of two AMC horror dramas – Walking Dead and Bates Motel. The first is the continuing saga of how a group of people who survived the upcoming zombie apocalypse are faring in a world where all the rules have changed; the second is a prequel of sorts of how psycho Norman Bates came to be before Alfred Hitchcock made him famous in Psycho.

Immediately after Walking Dead airs, the after-show, Talking Dead, comes on the air. It’s a funny, yet serious discussion of the episode we’ve just seen, hosted by stand-up comedian Chris Hardwick, with a small live audience and some great guests.

Starting this year, immediately after Bates Motel aired on Monday night, it was followed by a one-time-only after-show, Bates Motel: After Hours. It was hosted by Carrie Keagan, with guest appearances by Vera Farmiga (Norma Bates), Max Thieriot (Dylan Massett), and executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin.

It was bad. Real bad. I blame Carrie Keagan. She’s pretty bad, I can describe her hosting style as opening a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup, adding a can of water, and heating it on the stove. Yep, that bad. Her voice is extremely irritating (I had to turn the volume ‘way down). The only redeeming factor was Vera Farmiga.

In their online poll, 55.33% of those voting said they’d tune in to After Hours if it were expanded to a weekly show. A whopping 44.67% said “No.”  One of those is me.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen,
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men.
Feared by the bad, roved by the good,
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood.

He called the greatest archers to a tavern on the green,
They vowed to help the people of the king.
They handled all the trouble on the English country scene,
And still found plenty of time to sing. 

* * * * *

'Way back in the late '50s, when I was still in junior high school, I used to spend quite a bit of time watching television on our brand-new set in its blond cabinet with state-of-the-art black-and-white square picture. 

One of my favorite programs was The Adventures of Robin Hood, a series of 143 episodes starring Richard Greene as Robin of Locksley, and Alan Wheatley as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Archie Duncan (Inspector Lestrade in the 1954 Sherlock Holmes series) played Little John, Bernadette O'Farrell and Patricia Driscoll played Lady Marian "Maid Marian" Fitzwalter, and Alexander Gauge was Friar Tuck.

A couple of months ago, I bought a DVD set of 26 selected episodes that covered the origin of Robin Hood, his first encounter with the Sheriff of Nottingham, how Little John came to join his merry band, how Friar Tuck became a valued ally, and his acquaintance with Maid Marian. 

Very entertaining and nostalgic stuff indeed. I'm still singing that blasted theme song.

Who Do You Think You Are? Chris O'Donnell

I've started watching this season's TLC's series of "Who Do You Think You Are?" that runs on Tuesday nights, and find it very interesting and touching.

Celebrities seek out information about their ancestors and dig up enlightening facts that make their own history so much more meaningful. This season (4), I've watched episodes featuring Christina Applegate (very touching indeed), Kelly Clarkson, Chelsea Handler (I had no idea who she is), Zooey Deschanel, and Chris O'Donnell (more about him later).

Upcoming are Cindy Crawford, Trish Yearwood, and Jim Parsons (I have no idea who he is).

Anyway, back to Chris O'Connell. The dude is 43 years old, and what he doesn't know about U.S. history is appalling. I think it was his great-great-great-great grandfather who was stationed at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812.

O'Donnell visited the site and had to learn from the guide there about the siege by the Royal Navy that ended in a victory by the Americans simply because the British ran out of cannon shells and didn't want to risk coming within range of the American cannon.

I knew that, because I remember stuff from my American history class in high school.

He also didn't know that Francis Scott Key, impressed by the large U.S. Flag that was raised in place of the regular U.S. Flag, wrote a poem that turned out to become our National Anthem. I swear, O'Donnell was shocked. It was a huge revelation to him that his ancestor was present at the event that inspired our National Anthem.

C'mon! Everybody should know that history ... especially if he's in his 40's, no?

The Barber’s Pole

I was watching a Science Channel program one night – Oddities San Francisco – and learned something.

Barbers used to do bloodletting. I knew that. Barber poles identified a barbershop. I knew that. But I didn’t know what the colors of the barber pole stood for.

According to Audra Kunkle, owner of "Loved to Death," the store featured in Oddities San Francisco on Saturday nights, the swirling red banner stripes represent blood, and the white stripes represent a tourniquet or bandage.

What she didn’t address was the swirling banner of blue on some barber poles. And that required a little bit of research on my part. In the U.S., the color blue is also used, as an homage to nationality. It’s also been said that the blue represents venous blood, differentiating it from red arterial blood.

And, I was somewhat amused to learn that in some parts of Asia, the red, white and blue barber pole is used to identify brothels.

“Shave and a haircut, six bits. Anything else is $25 an hour.”