I'll Drink To That

Hello World, Greetings again from our little corner of the world to yours, and you don't dare mention the weather to anyone, no matter where they live, because it's just been so outrageous everywhere, and just when you think it can't possibly get any worse, that's exactly what it does, and often in the oddest places. Of course, we've all long since resigned ourselves to the idea that things can always be worse, and not to make light of anyone else's problems, but a recent story in the newspaper about a firehouse burning down in Goldens Bridge may have set a new standard for irony, if nothing else. To their credit, The Journal News reported the incident without a hint of sarcasm - which I personally would have thought would be impossible under the circumstances - although I found it about as incredulous as a burglary at a Police station, or getting frostbite at a tanning salon. They said the blaze was sparked by a faulty electrical connection to a fire truck, and in spite of the fact that it was broad daylight at the time and the firehouse was not deserted, and also had plenty of firefighting equipment and vehicles right at hand, it took less than 15 minutes for the building to become engulfed in flames and shooting through the roof. It's all too easy to poke fun, but here I'm thinking, those well-meaning volunteers at the firehouse might not want to give up their day jobs just yet. Also not covering themselves with glory, the article right under that was about Westchester Medical Center's plan to purchase a local hospital, that was approved in federal bankruptcy court, or as the sub-head explained it: ============================ Medical Center clears hurtle in St. Francis buy ============================ Ouch! I won't even mention the spell-checker here, because even the most backward schoolchild should be expected to understand the difference between "hurdle" and "hurtle," much less actual newspaper reporters, for heaven's sake. Honestly, you just can't make this stuff up. Speaking of making stuff up, in honor of the upcoming Academy Awards festivities, the newspaper ran a feature about classic movie cocktails, although they point out there is no category for "Best Supporting Drink" at the ceremonies. Perhaps there should be, as they often play an important role as props, symbols or reflections of current society in an indelible way, from the famous tippling of "The Thin Man" to James Bond's iconic martini, and just about everything before and since. We have Cheryl Charming to thank for tracking the history of movie drinks on her web site, and please do feel free to go right ahead and visit at www.MissCharming.com and see for yourself. Her list starts all the way back in 1917 with the Charlie Chaplin film "The Adventurer," in which he makes what appears to be a whiskey and soda. His exact method: Squirt the soda into the whiskey bottle, drink from the bottle, then use the glass as an ashtray. That may have been an idea whose time had not yet come, or may not actually ever come, but let's face it, ya gotta love it! In other entertainment news, such as it is, apparently the only schools of thought on "The Wizard of Oz" are fans who love it, and others who are even more fanatical about it, with nobody in the neutral camp, or God forbid, anyone who just doesn't like it to start with. In honor of the 75th anniversary of its original release in 1939, Warner Brothers teamed up with technical experts from a variety of sources, and created a re-mastered version from the original negatives that were still safely in storage. The finished product rendered the story not only in 3-D, which would seem a natural for this sort of imaginative fantasy, but also IMAX, which would add a mind-blowing impact on top of everything else, especially to many of the special effects sequences in the Emerald City segments of the picture. Rapt audiences would find themselves completely enveloped in the narrative, sucked up by tornado winds, surrounded by Munchkins, and chased by flying monkeys on all sides, not to mention, lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Even the purists who consider the film a national treasure begrudgingly admit that the work was meticulously done, and the results were far superior to what anyone expected. The 3-D version is available for home viewing on Blu-Ray, and if you see the theatrical version popping up in your nearby IMAX cinema, you might want to check it out and see what all the fuss is about. After all, there's no place like home, and I'm not just talking about Kansas, Toto. In other news, and in what I would consider typical fashion for the way this winter has been going, we hit yet another snag in our continuing efforts to liberate my poor car from its icy confines in the back yard. I don't want to be the one who says this winter has been so intractably abominable, but here's a cautionary tale that should give anyone pause. We asked our landscapers to come and plow out the driveway, and clear a path to the back of the Chevy, as the first step of the process. What happened instead was that their truck got stuck in the ice halfway to the back yard, and in their attempts to dig the truck out, somehow the plow blade managed to punch a hole in our neighbor's new fence, thanks not. (When we complained to the landscapers later, they replied blandly, "Oh, we thought that was your fence," as if that would have made it all right.) They were finally able to extricate the truck and back down the driveway, but they never got close enough to the Aveo that anyone could reach it, and also left a huge lump of snow and ice piled up behind it, which was as far forward as the truck reached before getting stuck, and once again, thanks oh so very much not. So that plan, while decent in theory, fell woefully short in execution, much to our chagrin, and I can't say that the neighbors thought all that much of it either, I shouldn't wonder. Of course, Bill is not one to be daunted, and heroically dug out around the car with sheer brute force in spite of the conditions, and accomplished by hand what tons of mechanical equipment had failed to do previously - and didn't even break anything in the process. After that, we hatched a plan to have our automotive dream team come over and get that little red bucket of bolts back up and running, or know the reason why, by golly. Frankly, I'm not worried unless something catches on fire and we have to call Goldens Bridge, and then, all bets are off. Elle