Local Minnesota author James Lileks offers a health serving of barely edible food with a presentation designed to test even the most robust digestive tract.
Brain shaped tuna casserole competes with stringy meat wrapped in cabbage. Faded color images from the 50's and 60's provide motivation for a dieter's last ditch attempt to shed unwanted pounds.
Food was not meant to be observed in its natural state. With the help of gelatin, food could be formed into shapes not found in nature. The book visually catalogs the artistry in food presentation at the epoch of prepostmodernism.
More images are available for viewing at James Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Foods. Warning: some of the commentary is geared toward an adult audience.
The Long Island spy ring provided valuable information on British military operation during the Revolutionary War to General George Washington. After the failed attempt at spying by Nathan Hale, George Washington set up intelligence operatives in and around New York City.
The spies used many of the standard techniques used today including, unique invisible ink. Code names, a code book and people to transport the documents. The identities of individuals in the ring were kept secret. The lone woman in the ring remains unknown to this day.
The book provides more information about the activities and motivations of Benedict Arnold than the light gloss given during a typical history lesson. His wife's Tory sympathies played a significant role.
The authors provide a good description of the main players working for British and American espionage. Each person handled the emotional stress of the spy work differently. Some masked their American sympathies so well that George Washington had to offer them protection after the war to prevent them from being attacked as traitors.
Be aware that some of the dialogue in the book is fictionalized for narrative purposes. This did not take away from the well researched information provided in book.
Culpeper spy ring on Long Island, NY 5min.
Radio interview with Author Brian Kilmead - 14 min.
Bob offers a candid look back through his career. He started his comedy work as a duo with another man and when he left he just filled in the gaps offering one end of the conversation.
His real life personality is similar to the character he plays on the two longest running sitcoms: The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart. For his stand up comedy routine, he has a bit of a stubborn side and will occasionally toss in a joke that doesn't quite work into his routine.
Bob's wife doesn't follow show business too closely and enjoyed meeting Don Rickles, whose abrasive onstage personality is very different from his more reserved home life. Bob had to prepare her for the insults after that had a nice supper with Don before his stage show.
Bob describes the miserable conditions that they had to work under for the movie Catch 22. He and another cast member wanted to bolt from the set but were told their breach of contract would make that fiscally unwise. Bob also tried to get out of the last two seasons of the Bob Newhart Show but complied with his contractual obligations after being threatened with a lawsuit.
I enjoyed learning how Bob constructed his jokes and appreciated that someone can be very funny without going blue. I've included a sketch on the flea circus with his good friend Dean Martin alone with a couple other favorites.
Bob Newhart interviewing an author - Bob did not read the book beforehand. 6 min.
Hitler's Furies by Wendy Lowercovers the role of women on the Eastern Front during World War II. The daily lives of women serving various roles from horrified bystanders to active participants in the Holocaust.
Wide discretion was given to local field offices when it came to sending Jews to concentration camps, mass shootings and the gas chambers. Often female clerical workers in branch offices made the final choice. One woman was saved because she hadn't finished sewing an item for one of the secretaries.
The book is filled with specific details providing a forensic analysis of German women's life in occupied territories. For example: one of the women noted that the well water at a location had a foul taste which she attributed to the run off from the decaying corpses in the large number of mass graves nearby.
Indoctrination of students was very systematic. Adults and children read books highlighting the need for Germans to have more room to expand and the need for more land to provide breathing space. This set up the necessity to occupy territory to the east of Germany. The dehumanization of Jews was also as systematic.
The book highlights the big and small roles women had in maintaining the Nazi power structure. Nurses providing lethal injections, secretaries passing along war correspondence, female prison guards having discretion to be professional or brutal, and wives of Gestapo officers shooting Jews while hunting the woods when no other wildlife was to be found.
The capacity of humans to be kind or unkind is not limited to gender, race or religious affiliation. The capacity for good and evil is present in all along with the free will to act on that capacity.
Charles Grodin collected essays from over 80 friends and friends of friends on mistakes they made in life and what they learned from them. People from the entertainment world are well represented along with astronauts, politicians, doctors, policeman and members of the legal profession.
Many contributors focused on not trusting their instincts or missed financial opportunities. Some regret not taking time to show gratitude to someone who was very important in their lives. Others came to the brink of a bad decision and changed their mind at the last moment, like attorney Nancy Grace's story of the prosecution of a serial child abuser. She decided to play it safe and not risk disbarment during a trial. She changed her mind at the last moment and pandemonium ensued.
Alan Alda's confession about excessive preparation for and interview contrasts with another person's error caused by lack of preparation. The person spoke highly of an individual but repeatedly referred to them by the wrong name at a well attended charity event. Gene Wilder's story of something good coming out of a very miserable situation in a play with Anne Bancroft was both funny and enlightening.
As I look back on my mistakes, many of them center around not asking enough questions or making a poor decision on not trusting in others and wishing I had listening carefully to them and taken their advice.
For further reading, refer to an article by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman 9 Habits that Lead to Terrible Decisions subtitled for mass market appeal as, "Nine Habits of Very Unsuccessful People". The paraphrased list includes the qualities of laziness, indecision, lack of independence, failure to see how the decision fits with an overall strategy, lack of technical knowledge, isolation, failure to communicate, and being stuck in the past. My recent favorite is the failure to examine negative possibilities by viewing the world through a pair of tightly gripped rose colored binoculars.
The proceeds of the Mr. Grodin's book go towards HELP USA. An organization devoted to getting people out of the trap of homelessness.
