Saturday, June 20, 2020

Summer Begins / Dad's Weekend

BUENOS DÍAS good Saturday morning.

Something new this first day of summer in Rink Rats. On our off weeks this summer we will have a short (1,000 words) Saturday edition, enjoy.

 

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY - Five songs we are listening to this Father’s Day weekend on our iPhone:

1). “Tennessee Whiskey”, 2015: Chris Stapleton

2). “Green Onions”, 1962: Booker T. & The Mg’s

3). “Mr. Soul”, 1967: Buffalo Springfield

4). “Tupelo Honey”, 1971: Van Morrison

5). “Can’t You See”, 1973: The Marshall Tucker Band

 

RR QUIZ – Fill in the blank:  This week, _____ suspended its plan to sell up to $500 million in stock in a last-ditch effort to raise money.

A). Hertz

B). Quicken Loans

C). Carnival

D). Delta

 

007 QUIZ - The 25th James Bond movie finally has a title, “No Time To Die”. To celebrate, we’ll give you four cocktails. You have to decide whether they’re traditionally shaken or stirred.

Manhattan

Cosmopolitan

Daiquiri

Martini

Answers at the end of the blog.

 

GOOD WATCH – How about a good music documentary to add something different to your pandemic viewing list:

Amazing Grace (2018)

Sydney Pollack originally shot this documentary in 1972, capturing Aretha Franklin as she recorded her live album, Amazing Grace. Due to technical issues syncing the footage and the audio, the film languished in a Warner Bros. vault until 2007, and then, after producer Alan Elliott restored the footage and got sued by Franklin, it sat around for a few more years until after the artist’s death, when he came to terms with her family. Finally, you can see the concert film nearly 50 years in the making!

Fleetwood Mac: The Dance (1997)

The scandalous interpersonal drama among the members of Fleetwood Mac is well known to their fans, which is why it was such a big deal when, in the late ’90s, everyone who had made the group so successful in their heyday—Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks—reunited for this tour, memorialized on the live album The Dance, and in this accompanying concert film.

Stop Making Sense (1984)

Long before winning an Oscar for directing The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme was already a legend for helming Stop Making Sense, in which the Talking Heads perform songs from Speaking in Tongues at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.

The Last Waltz (1978)

Martin Scorsese directed this acclaimed film, in which the Band puts on their “farewell concert appearance” in San Francisco. In addition to the members of the Band—Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson—special guest performers include Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young, among many others.

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

The Beatles’ first film, directed by Richard Lester, is a lightly fictionalized comedy about Beatlemania, following the Fab Four through 36 hours of their crazy new life in London. Amid the madcap set pieces are several early hits, including “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” “Tell Me Why,” and (of course) the title track.

 

THE OLDEST WORD - What did the first words sound like? Did cavemen grunt like they do in cartoons and movies? Did they say, "me, man, you, woman"? Humans have been speaking for more than 50,000 years (some estimates say 150,000 years), so we really don't know what they sounded like. Evidence of written language dates back only 4,000 years.

But if we want a clue as to how the building blocks of language developed, we can take a look at the oldest identified words. And that's just what researchers at the University of Cambridge did when they studied 23 words in an extremely ancient language believed to have been spoken around the Black Sea area. These words gave rise to an extensive language family, Indo-European, which includes everything from Sanskrit to Latin to Russian to Irish to, yes, English.

Researchers found the meaning of these early words hadn't changed much over thousands of years, showing how truly durable they are. Just think, you could show up to a Paleolithic barbecue some 15,000 years ago and actually talk to your ancestors!

What's the first word you'd need to introduce yourself? How about “I”, the ultimate pronoun? This first-person singular personal pronoun develops from the Old English ic and ih. Humans have always needed a way to refer to themselves (as opposed to their mother, brother, husband, child). Self-identity was and always will be important. It would make sense that some of the most basic, nuts-and-bolt words are very old.

 

THE SWAMI’S WEEKEND PICKThe Belmont Stakes, Grade 1, $1,000,000; 06/20. 5:00 pm (EDT), NBC: Clearly, this is not your father’s Belmont Stakes, or yours, or anybody else’s. Not only does it precede the Kentucky Derby and Preakness rather than occupy its traditional position as the third jewel, it has been shortened to a mile and one-eighth and thus becomes the first Triple Crown race ever to be contested around one turn. With several potential contenders either injured and off the trail or bypassing the race to point for the rescheduled Run for the Roses (Sept. 5), this year’s Belmont will offer what surely will be an odds-on favorite, thus requiring creative wagering strategy to manufacture value.

The Swami likes:

1). Tiz the Law (6-5): Velazquez / Tass

2). Tap It to Win (6-1): Franco / Casse

3). Dr. Post (5-1): Ortiz / Pletcher

4). Modernist (15-1): Alvarado / Mott

Remember, bet with your head not over it.

 

RR QUIZ ANSWERS –

Hertz

Manhattan - stirred

Cosmopolitan - shaken

Daiquiri - shaken

Martini - shaken


HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL DADs –


Next Blog: “The Future of Collegiate Sports”

Until Monday June 29, 2020 Adios.

Claremont, California

June 20, 2020

#XI-5-411

1,011 words, four minute read

 

CARTOON OF THE WEEKEND – Pepper … And Salt


 

RINK RATS POLL – Do you think Juneteenth should be a national holiday?

___ Yes

___ No

___ I'm not sure

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND – “In America justice should be a verb not a noun.

    Bakari Sellers

 

 

 

 


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