A BIT OF WHATEV: November 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Vintage Slide: Underdog @ Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1969

Vintage Slide: Underdog @ Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1969, originally uploaded by High Steel Heels.

up in the air

up in the air, originally uploaded by trixiebedlam.

Behind the Purple Door Official Trailer

just watch this

Ann Coulter's Jaw Wired Shut

For the next few weeks, fans of Ann Coulter--anyone?--will have to rely on Lindsay Lohan to provide insensitive, backward-thinking sound bites.

Because of a nasty fall last month, says the New York Post's Page Six, the 46-year-old will have her jaw wired shut.

News is scant at the moment, but Page Six writes, "WE HEAR...THAT although we didn't think it would be possible to silence Ann Coulter, the leggy reaction- ary broke her jaw and the mouth that roared has been wired shut..."

Enjoy the silence while you can.

The Pushup Bandit

Liquid Liquid - Cavern

Liquid Liquid LAST NIGHT 11/19/08 in NYC !!!

The Tielman Brothers - Bossa Nova Baby

NO! The P&G Bar Is Closing!

IMG_3711.JPG, originally uploaded by jeremoss.

Your Weekly Address from the President-Elect

How's This For Lame! I love a flea, but I know I don't love this

'FLEAING' CONEY
By RICH CALDER

November 16, 2008 --
Expect fewer rides but more thrifty retail on the Coney Island boardwalk next summer.

The fabled seaside is losing Astroland Park, but it's gaining it's very own "Flea by the Sea."

That's the quirky name of a massive outdoor flea market developer Joe Sitt is planning to operate April through December along vacant Stillwell Avenue land he owns off the boardwalk.

Sitt is also planning other interim uses next summer along the remaining 10 acres of land he owns in Coney Island, including the Astroland site. This includes new rides, games, food stands and live entertainment, said Sitt spokesman Stefan Friedman.

The announcement shows Sitt isn't planning to buckle anytime soon in an ongoing two-year-old game of chicken over Coney Island's future with the Bloomberg administration.

The city wants some of Sitt's land to build a new nine-acre amusement park, but the developer won't budge. Rather, he wants zoning changes from the city to create his own $1.5 billion Vegas-style entertainment complex.

The city last month tried to stick a fork in Sitt's plan by purchasing a prime acre of beachfront land the developer desired for his project. With the parcel, he would have controlled 11 contiguous acres of land. Instead, he is left with two large areas of land separated by a parcel that is currently occupied by part of Deno's Wonder Wheel Park.

While Friedman said the flea market would be "shopper's paradise" offering great prices, many Coney Islanders said they had doubts considering Sitt's track record.

Sitt two years ago infuriated City Hall and the community by bulldozing longtime popular rides on Stillwell Avenue – including batting cages – to make way for his stymied project. Since then, he has offered temporary amusements - including a much-maligned "inflatable" water slide – on the site that were huge flops.

Sitt has also come under fire for failing to renew a lease to keep nearby Astroland open next summer.

rcalder@nypost.com

sylmar fire sunrise

sylmar fire sunrise, originally uploaded by hereinmalibu.

my eyes are burning

Spam Turns Serious and Hormel Turns Out More

By ANDREW MARTIN
AUSTIN, Minn. — The economy is in tatters and, for millions of people, the future is uncertain. But for some employees at the Hormel Foods Corporation plant here, times have never been better. They are working at a furious pace and piling up all the overtime they want.

The workers make Spam, perhaps the emblematic hard-times food in the American pantry.

Through war and recession, Americans have turned to the glistening canned product from Hormel as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table. Now, in a sign of the times, it is happening again, and Hormel is cranking out as much Spam as its workers can produce.

In a factory that abuts Interstate 90, two shifts of workers have been making Spam seven days a week since July, and they have been told that the relentless work schedule will continue indefinitely.

Spam, a gelatinous 12-ounce rectangle of spiced ham and pork, may be among the world’s most maligned foods, dismissed as inedible by food elites and skewered by comedians who have offered smart-alecky theories on its name (one G-rated example: Something Posing As Meat).

But these days, consumers are rediscovering relatively cheap foods, Spam among them. A 12-ounce can of Spam, marketed as “Crazy Tasty,” costs about $2.40. “People are realizing it’s not that bad a product,” said Dan Johnson, 55, who operates a 70-foot-high Spam oven.

Hormel declined to cooperate with this article, but several of its workers were interviewed here recently with the help of their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 9. Slumped in chairs at the union hall after making 149,950 cans of Spam on the day shift, several workers said they been through boom times before — but nothing like this.

Spam “seems to do well when hard times hit,” said Dan Bartel, business agent for the union local. “We’ll probably see Spam lines instead of soup lines.”

Even as consumers are cutting back on all sorts of goods, Spam is among a select group of thrifty grocery items that are selling steadily.

Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives and beer, according to data from October compiled by Information Resources, a market research firm.

“We’ve seen a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans,” said Teena Massingill, spokeswoman for the Safeway grocery chain, in an e-mail message. “They’re real belly fillers.”

Kraft Foods said recently that some of its value-oriented products like macaroni and cheese, Jell-O and Kool-Aid were experiencing robust growth. And sales are still growing, if not booming, for Velveeta, a Kraft product that bears the same passing resemblance to cheese as Spam bears to ham.

Spam holds a special place in America’s culinary history, both as a source of humor and of cheap protein during hard times.

Invented during the Great Depression by Jay Hormel, the son of the company’s founder, Spam is a combination of ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, potato starch and a “hint” of sodium nitrate “to help Spam keep its gorgeous pink color,” according to Hormel’s Web site for the product.

Because it is vacuum-sealed in a can and does not require refrigeration, Spam can last for years. Hormel says “it’s like meat with a pause button.”

During World War II, Spam became a staple for Allied troops overseas. They introduced it to local residents, and it remains popular in many parts of the world where the troops were stationed.

Spam developed a camp following in the 1970s, mainly because of Monty Python, the English comedy troupe. In a 1970 skit, a couple tried to order breakfast at a cafe featuring Spam in nearly every entree, like “Spam, Eggs, Sausage and Spam.” The diners were eventually drowned out by a group of Vikings singing, “Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful Spam.”

(Familiar with the skit, Internet pioneers labeled junk e-mail “spam” because it overwhelmed other dialogue, according to one theory.)

Here in Austin, local officials have tried to capitalize on Spam’s kitschy cultural status, even if a decidedly unpleasant odor hangs over the town (a slaughterhouse next to the Hormel plant butchers 19,000 hogs a day). Austin advertises itself as “Spamtown,” and it boasts 13 restaurants with Spam on the menu.

Jerry’s Other Place sells a Spamburger for $6.29. Johnny’s “Spamarama” menu includes eggs Benedict with Spam for $7.35. At Steve’s Pizza, a medium Spam and pineapple pizza costs $11.58.

“There are all kinds of people who have an emotional connection to Spam,” said Gil Gutknecht Jr., the former Minnesota congressman, who was in the gift shop at the Spam Museum buying a Spam tie, sweatshirt and earrings. Mr. Gutknecht recalled that he once served as a judge in a Spam recipe contest.

“The best thing was Spam brownies,” he said, with more or less a straight face.

No independent data provider compiles sales figures that include all the outlets where Spam is sold, including foreign stores, so it is not clear exactly how much sales are up. Hormel’s chief executive, Jeffrey M. Ettinger, said in September that they were growing by double digits.

The company would not discuss more recent sales of the product or permit a tour of the Spam factory, citing rules that Hormel said prevented it from speaking ahead of a forthcoming earnings report.

However, Hormel executives appear to be banking on the theory that Spam fits nicely into recession budgets. Workers on the Spam line in Austin — more than 40 of them work two shifts —see no signs that their work schedule will let up.

“We are scheduled to work every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas,” said Darwin Sellers, 56, a Spam “formulator” who adds salt, sugar and nitrates to batches of Spam. “Mr. Ettinger is negotiating with the man upstairs to get us to work eight days a week.”

Mr. Sellers said he had not seen much of his family in recent months, but the grueling schedule had been good for his checkbook. He bought a new television and planned to replace a 20-year-old refrigerator.

Unlike his colleagues though, he has no plans to stock up on Spam. “It’s not something I’ve ever developed a taste for,” he said.

A rising segment of the public, it seems, does have a taste for Spam, which is available in several varieties, including Spam Low Sodium, Spam with Cheese and Spam Hot & Spicy.

James Bate, a 48-year-old sausage maker, was buying it at Wal-Mart in Cleveland recently. Not only was it cheap, but he said it brought back fond memories of his grandfather’s making him Spam sandwiches.

“You can mix it with tomatoes and onions and make a good meal out of it,” he said. “A little bit of this stuff goes a long way.”

Christopher Maag contributed reporting from Cleveland.

Do It Again

Geoff Edgers, the Boston Globe's arts reporter, is spending all his free time on a personal mission: to reunite The Kinks. ("I've stood by helplessly as countless crappy rock bands have gotten back together -- Styx, Flock of Seagulls, The fucking Eagles!") Local movie director-producer Robert Patton-Spruill is documenting Geoff's quixotic efforts, but I haven't been paying much attention -- because it seemed crazy, to me. But check out this excerpt from "Do It Again," their documentary in progress. Geoff talks to Kinks bassist Pete Quaife, who compares the band to the movie The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly; he gets Sting's endorsement, and the two of them duet on The Kinks' "Set Me Free"; and Hollywood lovely Zooey Deschanel says she thinks the band secretly wants to get back together.