Tin tin deo

Last week, James Moody died. I first heard him when I was in college when I bought a copy of Blue Note Records Three Decades of Jazz, 1939-1949. The last cut on side four was "Tin tin deo". I played it for some of my college friends who, like me, knew very little about jazz beyond maybe Louis Armstrong. Yes we knew all about Jethro Tull and King Crimson and Pink Floyd, but jazz was new to us.

Years later, when I was working in Denver, we had a shared radio on the floor and the radio frequently played King Pleasure's warbling of Moody's Mood for Love.

Turns out he had a long career and recorded and performed widely. And what ever happened with the court of the crimson king.

The cure for cancer

After billions of dollars of research, they finally have discovered the cure for cancer. Aspirin. People taking aspirin for headaches will live longer. But they'll still have headaches.

Christmas leave

Assembly No. 1225

State of New Jersey

214th Legislature

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman John Christmas

Assemblywoman Susan L. Homaker

Synopsis:

Provides fifteen days paid leave in the month of December for women who wish to maintain family Christmas traditions. This includes needlework, baking, wreath making, the sending of Christmas communications, the purchase of Christmas gifts, candle making, and other tasks as assigned by the families of said women. Many traditions in New Jersey are being forgotten and this act is intended to rectify this situation.

An act:

Resolved that women need special legislation in order to maintain family Christmas traditions. This act will give fifteen days paid leave to all full time employees in the State of New Jersey to fulfill these traditions. A log must be maintained and photographs available to verify the activities performed. Photographs of outdoor Christmas displays must be available in computer readable format. Indoor candles must be photographed. Photographs and samples of Christmas cookies, pastries, baked geese and other holiday meats and fish must be maintained. Receipts of Christmas related shopping must be made available. This documentation, called a "yule log", will be submitted along with the New Jersey state income tax form the following year.

Egg nog must be prepared from scratch in order for a woman to be eligible for this paid leave. Christmas trees must be natural chopped down trees for houses over 4,000 square feet. Genuine stringed popcorn must decorate these trees. Decorations for all trees, artificial and natural, will consist of a ratio at or higher than 25% for ornaments hand crafted in the United States. Other regulations to be promulgated by the appropriate state agencies.

Editor's note: The turkey is now leftover sandwiches and we are now in the Christmas season. The egg lobby had a lot to do with the egg nog ruling.

Audrey Tattou

Thanks to Netflix, I've discovered Audrey Tattou. Yes we remember her from the DaVinci code, but I'm thinking of the string of French language comedies featuring the jolle fille. So far I've seen three movies with her, Amelie, Priceless, and He loves me he loves me not. All three movies are off-beat (very off-beat) romantic comedies/bedroom farces with lots of fast cutting. I'm sure there are more. So now you know what dvd's you can give me for Christmas.

Mortgage interest deduction

The new Commission on eliminating the Public Debt recommends ending the deduction for home mortgages. The mortgage deduction is as much a part of America as apple pies and penalties for unnecessary roughness in football games. It is part of our culture and our heritage.

Cooking for men

During my Denver days, a co-worker remarked, " I know why you're not married. You can cook."

Which may be true. I'm not a tv quality cook but I can cook tasty and interesting, if crude at times, meals. Doesn't the picture on the left look scrumptious? There it is, chicken basted with powdered garlic and under $10 (from Chile) wine. Cooked in olive oil (on sale at the Acme), carrots (California, Grimmway) mushrooms (A&P Gold Quality whole white) sliced white onions (from the Shop-Rite), sliced cayenne pepper (from the garden), cooked (not pictured) with brown rice, of provenance not determined (probably a local supermarket).

Well, enough eye candy. As good as the meal on the left looks, I had to microwave it later to cook the chicken, which had been frozen. Still the final result was not a bad dish of chicken and vegetables.

On the political prograstination note, Obama and the Democrats could have done worse, although they did lose some serious House seats. I would personally retire Nancy Pelosi. She did a good job but now it's time to settle down. We need a new, young, face to lead the party. Hope everybody enjoys their day off Thursday.

Foreign movies

Always loved foreign movies since my college days. Got to see some recently via Netflix. For the in the audience experience, there's always foreign film festivals like the one in Trenton this weekend at the Mill Street Playhouse. I'm ushering on Sunday.