The Klingon Kemal Ataturk

To all of you uninitiated, here is a very short explanation of this post. In today’s NY Times Crossword, a clue was “_____ Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey”. The answer was Kemal. Crossword puzzle guru, Rex Parker stated the following in his blog:

“Today, accuracy was nearly compromised when I ended up at my final square: the KEMAL (52D: _____ Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey) / ELY (60A: English cathedral city) crossing. I'm sure I've seen both (particularly the latter) before, but intersecting at a vowel as they do here, they both may as well have been Klingon.”

Well, a little research revealed that Kemal Ataturk was indeed a Klingon (see photo at right). This photo is a detail of the one posted on Mr. Parker’s blog. As further evidence, please note for yourselves other similarities with a known Klingon, General Koord (oddly enough, pronounced kurd).

Well, Mr. Parker, once again you are correct. At least one of them was speaking Klingon.

QaQ ram 'ej QaQ poHmey

allan

jai guru deva

Here’s to New Friends

As I’ve said before, I have gotten into blogging thanks to the one I follow regularly, Rex Parker Does the NY Times Crossword Puzzle. This past weekend, some of the regular posters to the blog met in Westport CT for a CWP competition.

Since I didn’t have the courage to compete, I didn’t go. But one of the bloggers was kind enough to forward some pictures of the group to me (shout out to chefbea). Rex was a little slow in posting the pictures, as he wanted some commentary on them before he put them up on his blog. I offered to put them up here, but by the time I got them, Rex had posted them.

I’ve decided to post them anyway, so that those involved in the blog will have a place to come to comment their hearts out without breaking Rex’ rules. So without further adieu, I present the Westport 5:

NYT Puzzle Editor Will Shortz		Beet salad at the restaurant
	Rexites at Mac's house. From left to right : Ulrich, Mac, Karen, IMSDave, and chefbea in front wearing t-shirt featuring puzzle by IMSDave
Beet brownies (a la chefbea)		chefbea enjoying the beet salad

Looks like a splendid time was had by all; wished I was there.

allan

jai guru deva

On Bloggers Beating a Dead Horse, Mel Blanc, Jack Benny and Everything In Between

This is going to be a ramble, not a rant, so stick with it. As usual, I did the NYT Puzzle, and have spent part of my day reading and commenting on the Rex Parker Blog. Now one of today's clues was, "Blanc who voiced Porky Pig". The answer, a three letter word was "Mel".

This of course got me thinking about Mel Blanc who was the voice of all the great Warner Bros. cartoon characters. But he was a very funny deadpan comedian, and a sometimes guest on "The Jack Benny Show".

Here's another link to a Mel Blanc clip about how he created all the voices which I think is worth viewing.

Now I posted that clip on the comments page, but shortly before I did, someone else posted a link to a very negative article about Billy Joel, causing the group to go off on this equally negative tangent (IMO because Rex had commented about the author, whom Rex seems to have a strong dislike for going back to a previous article the man had written). I mean a tangent! It seemed that every third or fourth post referenced what a jerk the guy is, and really got boring.

There were so many fun things in this puzzle that would make great fodder for commenting. So I finally said something, and now await the negativity aimed at me.

Anyway, Mel Blanc got me remembering how much I enjoyed listening to or watching Jack Benny. His show was a favorite of mine growing up, featuring many other great cast members. Here's a brief list:

• Phil Harris
• Don Wilson
• Mary Livingston (Jack's wife)
• Dennis Day
• Eddie (Rochester) Anderson

I left Eddie Anderson for last because he was really ahead of his time. An African-American, in the days when very few were major players, Eddie was. In a way, the TV show Benson was derived from Eddie's character on the Benny show. Benson never took any guff from his employer either. Here is some Rochester at his best (I can still hear Jack saying Oh Rahchester).

Those were the days.

allan

jai guru deva

I Thought Blogging Was Fun

I have become an almost daily commenter on the Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle blog, and have been enjoying this new experience, at least until yesterday.

I made the mistake of posting to the blog without reading the author's comments; or anyone else's for that matter. On top of that, I announced the fact in my comment.

Later on, a frequent poster to the site took me to task for this faux pas. The blogger, who goes by the name PuzzleGirl, really laid one on (although I can't say for sure that her comments were directed solely at me, but it certainly seemed that way). I was told that posting without reading was like walking into someone's living room where a conversation was in progress, and blurting out a comment that was potentially off topic (she also posted a link to a site where someone had written a series of blogging rules).

Like the good little blogger that I am, I followed her link and read the rules, only to find that she had violated several of them herself in chastising me (at least in my opinion (hereafter written as IMO (has anyone realized yet that I'm in love with parentheses?))). (Must be my math background). (Are you really allowed to use a parenthetical sentence as a stand alone?).

Anyway, I tried to contact her outside of the blog comments (that's one of the rules (personal comments should be made only to the person that they are aimed at)), but could not find her email address. I knew from reading a different blog that PuzzleGirl was friendly with someone who posted their email address on their blog site (pronoun/referent issues? (but that's an inside joke to followers of the Rex Parker blog)), so I wrote an email to PuzzleGirl through that third party (yeah, that's keeping it just between the two of us!), asking her to forward the email to PG. She did, and I got a very nice response today (much nicer than I deserved (OK, enough with the parentheses, already).

Upon finishing today's puzzle, I was pretty apprehensive about posting a comment, but I finally overcame my fear and did. And, lo and behold, no one has as yet jumped down my throat. So it's back to blogging heaven, knowing the rules and having fun. (:>)!

allan


jai guru deva

Let's get started with this rant.

Is there anybody out there? I hate to think that I'm the only one reading this. A little background on why I started this blog.

As those of you who know me know, I am a devoted NYT puzzle doer. I've gotten hooked on the Rex Parker blog, and have even commented there. In writing my first comment, I discovered that I could start my own blog. So I decided to give it a whirl. I had a tremendous amount of trouble because I wanted the blog to appear on this site (my own site). I could not get the links right, and nothing was appearing.

I finally gave in, and called Joshua (my son for those who don't know this). In about 10 minutes, he had me up and running.

Now yesterday, I had a lot to say. But unfortunately that is all old hat. Maybe at a later date I'll get back to it.

Oh, OK. I'll get into it now. Yesterday's puzzle had an answer of "DEVILLE". In reading the posts on the RP blog, someone named Puzzlegirl posted that for some reason, that answer was pushing a song into her head, but she couldn't quite grasp the title.

Well, I immediately thought of the group, Mink Deville. So I googled them, to see if there was an appropriate song of theirs. I wound up on youtube, and listened to some of their music.

Now I was never into the group, so I was very pleased to discover that they were quite good.

Hope you enjoy,

allan