“Knot without a struggle” was a cute clue today for CLIP-ON TIE. I don’t think I’ve ever used one, though I don’t often wear ties these days. We sent our crack photographer Phil to find a pretty girl wearing a tie, and here’s whom he came up with. Can’t blame her for eyeing him a bit suspiciously. Who knows what he was up to? Phil!! No funny stuff!!
If you do not enjoy opera, you will like the clue/answer at 16A: “Where there is ‘too much singing,’ per Debussy.” Answer: OPERA.
Joe Dipinto noted that “Debussy himself did compose an opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, which has, y’know, quite a bit of singing in it. I remember reading this succinct plot synopsis of it somewhere: ‘Nothing happens, then Mélisande dies.’”
Another good clue was “How a sailor achieves a good work-life balance?” and the answer was SEALEGS. “Work-life” here means “life while at work,” not balance between work and life.
The theme was revealed by “prevails eventually,” which was ENDS UP ON TOP, and for the theme answers the ends of the words shifted to the front to form a new word or phrase. Here they are:
- Lineage became age line
- Barstool became toolbars
- Tapered became red tape
- Headspin became pinheads
- Potshot became hotpots
- Tablescraps became craps tables
Here’s the cartoon for this week’s New Yorker cartoon caption contest.
I’m voting for “How’d you get yours off?”
Are you a Stevie Nicks fan? If so, you might try to pick up one of the new Barbie dolls that Mattel brought out recently that captures her likeness wearing the outfit from Rumours. They are selling for $55. Don’t dawdle, though — pre-orders sold out fast.
Even though the album came out in 1977 (ouch!), Stevie still had the outfit. She sent it over to Mattel and they used it to model the doll along with the Pasquale Di Fabrizio black platform boots, which Stevie called “gorgeous.”
Mattel has been producing celebrity dolls since the 1960’s. The Tina Turner doll’s hair must have been a challenge. Tina, aleha hashalom, was very much involved with the doll’s design.
The dolls are not limited to females. There are two David Bowie dolls. The one on the right, below, doesn’t look much like him, but Mattel explained it was designed to be Barbie herself with a David Bowie look. The one on the left really nailed it, IMHO.
You may not have heard of Celia Cruz (I hadn’t), but you (and I) should have. Not only is she the Queen of Salsa, but the U.S. Mint is planning to put her on a quarter next year as part of its American Women Quarters program. No sh*t! She’ll be jangling around in your pocket before you know it.
Well, Mattel is not about to let itself be scooped by the U.S. Mint. So they recently revealed their Cruz Barbie. Mazel Tov Celia!
Getting back to Stevie. Did she see the Barbie movie? The answer is yes, and she loved it. She said: “I had to come right home and tell my Stevie doll all about it.”
BTW, the other four women to be honored by the U.S. Mint with quarters next year will be Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray, the Honorable Patsy Takemoto Mink, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, and Zitkala-Ša.
Patsy Mink was the first woman of color and the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress, and is known for her work on legislation advancing women’s rights and education. In 2002 Congress renamed the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, which Mink had co-authored, as the “Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.”
“Pauli” Murray was an American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray’s work influenced the civil rights movement and expanded legal protection for gender equality. She went to college at, get this — Hunter College! Go Hawks!
Zitkala-Ša wrote the libretto and songs for the first American-Indian opera, The Sun Dance Opera, and was an agitator for Native American rights.
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, and surgeon. She is the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor, the US Armed Forces’ highest military decoration awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, etc. who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor.
This beautiful art-space, above, is the Long Island City Artists Art Space in The Factory building in Long Island City (Queens), NY. We sent Phil over to take this shot of it because we have some wonderful news: An esteemed, if not steamed, member of Owl Chatter’s Art Department, Bob Lobe, just informed us that two of his paintings will be in the group exhibit “Abstract Abstraction” which opens there next week!
If you’re up for a pleasant distraction, catch the action at Abstract Abstraction.
There is an opening reception on Thursday, October 12th from 5 to 8pm. The exhibit is on view from October 12 to November 22. Gallery hours for the Art Space are Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm.
(Don’t all go at once, Owl Chatter fans — organize yourselves.)
The address is The Factory, 30-30 47th Avenue, Suite 105a, Long Island City. The Factory building is located very close to LaGuardia Community College. By subway, it is a 5 minute walk from the 33rd Street – Rawson Street station on the #7 train.
Hope you can make it over there — we’re going to try to catch it. If you go, let us know what you think.
Hey! Wow! That’s Bob, below, way on the right!
Good night everybody! Tomorrow night we fly off to Ireland. Yikes!
The Wellington Files 