"Untenable, Inescapable, Irreplaceable"

       Charles Mc Nulty's review of Long Day's Journey into Night recently in the L.A. Times used three uncanny words to characterize the heartwracking, entangled life of that play--about author  Eugene O'Neill's own family.

       Speaking of the relationships amongst Eugene, his mother, his father, his older brother, which the play is at pains to draw upon, McNulty says they are "untenable, inescapable, irreplaceable."

       Those words could not be better chosen or more accurate, as Connie and I recall so distinctly from our witnessing of the play almost 60 years ago on Broadway. 

       McNulty's words all begin with negative prefixes, but each suggests the terribly vital part nuclear family relationships play in every person's life.

I'm with you, Chase!

       I don't think I was the only one who had an emotional twinge February 11th to read on front page of the L.A. Times Sports section in a  little side capsule:

       Utley re-signs 
       with Dodgers

       Before I saw that as a positive thing I would very much want to learn about a big fan favorite, I read it with pangs and a small heart-drop.  Did Chase Utley "resign"?!  Oh, no.  Finally the other possibility clicked in:  did Utley re-sign a contract with the Dodgers for another year?  The story on page 7 made it clear that he'd be back.  Yippee!!

       "Re-sign"?  "Resign"?  Don't play with my heartstrings!  Those words (if there is such a word as "re-sign"), are too close to kid around with.

        

My Kind of Magazine

I really don't think I thought any of this stuff was sexy in school.  I just was intrigued!

In "Hollywood" Everyone Has a Calling Card

       A kind of calling or publicity card with a photograph of the dentists was available for pickup at Connie and my dentist's office today.

       I picked one up.  A square, shiny card with all the pertinent information, and this smiley, sunny day outdoor, suit-and-tie, color photograph of the dentists.

       Only one thing curlicued my eyebrows a bit--this phrase--"emergencies welcome."

       Oh, I guess I know what they intended.  But isn't that a little too eager and crass sounding?  Smacks of another professional breed, doesn't it, certain lawyers given to ambulance chasing?  

No Way to Pronounce This Restaurant Confidently

       "Shogun Sushi."  "Shogun Sushi."

      
       Especially if you say it with alacrity:


       "Shogun Sushi Shogun Sushi Shogun Sushi"



It's those "easy" Tongue Twisters again.  Does the vowel have an "h" in front of it or not?!

A Quadrant? AN Octant? Wait a Minute.

       "Have a quadrant or an octant," I said to Connie, bringing her 12 equal portions of her morning orange and a half.

       She laughed.  I said, "Or would Khan approve?"

       Connie's been studying fractions online at the Khan Academy, which is available to all to teach arithmetic and math, apparently very effectively.

       I had just cut those slices myself and came up with what they were:  the 8 parts of the whole orange and the 4 parts of a half orange--hence in my mind and language usage, octants and quadrants.

        Connie got it and was amused at my putting fractions to practical application and immediately began figuring out what the fractions really were. . .

Take a Leap; the Vacuum is Fine

       So many outlandish things are appearing in the newspaper with Trump, and so much is he associated with and approving of world-wide business transactions, that I guess I wasn't shocked and even willing to believe the lead headline in the L.A. Times Business section on January 10th, 2017:


               MARS IN DEAL FOR PET HEALTH CHAIN


       Interplanetary dealing?!

       No, it's just the YUGE candy bar, etc., company I remember from my youth:  Mars, Inc.

"Do Make It a Good Day"

       There's a department at Kaiser Permanente which leaves a phone message to remind you of an upcoming appointment.   The nurse always ends with the same few words:

       "Do make it a good day."

       That stops/me/in/my/tracks/.  How different from just "Have a good day."
   
       Both sentences are imperative with an implied "you" as the subject, but "Have a good day" rings for me as "(I hope you experience) a good day."  "Make," however, with its auxiliary verb "do," creates a special message and emphasis:

       "Oops!  This "good day" is up to me?   I can cause it to happen??  Indeed, that's the only way it will???"

        That message helps me turn my day in a better direction, and I don't see how it wouldn't for anybody.   

"Mapping" the Body in Song Lyrics

       Listening to great old songs on radio.
     
       In "All of You,"  Cole Porter has a guy declaring the many beautiful parts of his girl friend.  The line that struck me was "The East, West, North, and the South of you."  I thought that's brilliant, but I hadn't heard what went before.

       On the Web I found the line preceding was "The eyes, the arms, the mouth of you."  "Mouth" didn't sound quite right . . . except to rhyme with the wonderful line that followed.

        Porter could have written "breasts" in the preceding line.  Then he'd have "The North, South, East, and the West of you," a more pedestrian order, and "breasts" probably was unpublishable in a song at the time.

       Besides, the South is the most interesting "part of you" he could name.  Save it for last!