Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3
Musings on life, the theatre, technology, culture and the occasional emu sighting
Winter wondering
It’s a snow day in Chicago. Not exactly the fun kind. The kind where you need to make at least three passes at the sidewalks before calling it a night. They’re predicting 10 inches or so. At the moment we’ve got about six with more to come overnight.
The good news the snow blower is working harder than we are.
It sorta feels quite appropriate for the weekend after Thanksgiving for colder temperatures and snow in Chicago, even though the calendar says it’s still Fall. So, no complaints.
Free Hot Dogs!
Chicago is one crazy town. Especially when it comes to sports. Multiply that by a very large number when it comes to the Chicago Bears. After today’s win over last year’s Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles the crazy is out of this world.
So much so that new Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson, who has become famous for his post game chant of Good, Better, Best after the Bears have been on what once seemed like an improbable winning streak, took up a challenge today and ripped his shirt off in the locker room to lead his now famous chant.
The challenge came from another wonderfully crazy Chicago favorite, The Wieners Circle, famous not only for its Chicago hot dogs, but also it’s wonderfully witty and irreverent statements on its sign, challenged the coach to take off his shirt during one of his post-game rallying cries. And Coach Johnson did so today after a thrilling victory.
Johnson’s acceptance of the challenge means the Wieners Circle is serving up free hot dogs this week.
Meanwhile the Chicago Bears keep serving up wins to a hungry sports town heading into the stretch run before the playoffs. There’s no question Johnson has changed the culture of the Bears. It’s a far cry from a year ago on Black Friday when the Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus the day after a huge Thanksgiving day loss at Detroit. Perhaps equally important, Johnson is also rallying the entire Chicago Metro area after all we’ve been through this late summer and fall.
Put it another way that Chicagoans understand. He’s on his way to owning this town and certainly giving new meaning to the slogan, Bear Down!
Edit: Added the photo below from The Wieners Circle later in the evening.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
The making of video is actually a better advertisement
Apple has released its annual Christmas ad, this one called A Critter Carol and featuring a puppet potpourri of forest creatures singing about friendship in a sort of weird twist that combines the spirt of being friends along with lyrics about roadkill and being hunted. Oh, it also highlights the new iPhone 17 Pro.
Intriguingly I find the behind the scenes video of the making of the ad is actually a better advertisement for the iPhone, than the finished product. It also highlights the puppeteers and their art and craftsmanship.
Gobble gobble.
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and give thanks for their blessings! May you find joy, warmth and laughter in the company of family and/or good friends.
And may you survive the day’s cooking chores!
Just a quick share of a quick shot I grabbed that captures the season, and I dare say, my mood.
Picky pickpockets
I find this story funny. I shouldn’t. But I do.
Apparently thieves are picky when it comes to the smartphones they steal. According to this report in London Centric:
The thieves took Sam’s phone, his camera and even the beanie hat off his head. After checking Sam had nothing else on him, they started to run off.
What happened next was a surprise. With most of the gang already heading down the Old Kent Road, one turned around and handed Sam back his Android phone.
The thief bluntly told him why: “Don’t want no Samsung.”
As I said, I shouldn’t find anyone who finds themselves in this sort of misfortune funny. The victims. Not the thieves, obviously.
Discerning criminals are all about the resale value apparently. Which, if all of the analysts and fanboys get smart about it, might be a new metric to score the ridiculous game of which smartphones are better than another.
(Image from Donenko Okeksli on Shutterstock)
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
A nickel for your thoughts?
If you’ve got some pennies hanging around in a piggy bank or coin collection you might want to hang on to them. Yesterday, November 12th, the U.S. Mint minted the last round of pennies.
The penny has been tossed across sales counters and burned holes in pockets for 238 years, but apparently it cost almost four cents to make one, which certainly seems like a losing proposition.
Not to worry though. If you’re not sentimental about the coin, it will still be considered legal tinder. Although some retailers are looking to round things up to the nearest nickel to avoid having to deal with them.
As for the “pound foolish’ part of this post’s headline, if retailers do follow through on rounding prices up any savings generated by no longer printing pennies will probably be outweighed by the costs of printing more nickels, which costs substantially more than printing a penny.
Setting aside the costs, somehow “a nickel for your thoughts” and “nickels from heaven” just don’t sing the way the originals do.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
The snow from earlier in the week is gone, revealing a hidden blanket of leaves underneath. It appears we’ll begin the holiday season in mild weather again this year. No one is complaining.
Today
I love the change of seasons. I especially love the change of seasons where I grew up in Virginia and also where I’ve lived for most of my professional live in Chicago. The simple reason is I’m always impressed with Mother Nature’s show when the leaves return in the Spring and when they change color in the Fall.
We’re at the peak Fall color season here in Chicago and driving through many of the streets in my neighborhood you do so under canopies of color.
Here are a few shots I’ve captured recently.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 