As soon as the on-the-field celebrations died down after the Chiefs great win against the Ravens yesterday, the phone rang at Owl Chatter headquarters. It was Taylor asking for Phil. We explained that he had just fallen down two flights of stairs, drunk, and we thought it might be good to let him sleep, at least until Tuesday. Of course, she agreed. So, instead, she asked George and me to help her look into how she might make it to the Super Bowl in Vegas from Tokyo where she’ll be on tour. “We’re on it, Tay!”
We called her back with the good news that it can be done and explained how, but her response was exactly what we expected: “Oy, it’s quite a schlep.” She’s right. Here’s what we told her:
Your last show in Japan is on Saturday, Feb. 10, the day before the game. If you start at 6 pm, you should finish at 9:30. Haneda Airport is about a half hour’s drive from the Tokyo Dome. Building in time for traffic and checking in, you could be up in the air as early as 11 pm.
Now, of your two private jets — the Dassault Falcon 7X and the Dassault Falcon 900LX — you’re going to have to use the 7X. It’s a 4,800 nautical mile trip and the 900LX only has a range of 4,750. The range of the 7X is around 5,900. Flying time should be 10 to 10.5 hours, BUT you’ll gain 17 hours due to the time difference, so you should arrive late afternoon on Saturday, Feb. 10, a good day ahead of the game.
Here’s the problem, though, and it’s a big one. The airport in Vegas is so booked up for the Super Bowl that there are no slots for landing a plane. It turns out, it had to be arranged months ago. We’re going to keep trying to squeeze you in (there must be some Swifties in the airport management), but you may have to land in LA and drive from LA to Vegas. This would save about 45 minutes of flight time, but add a 4-to-5 hour drive. You’d still arrive in plenty of time, but, as you say, it’s a real schlep.
Taylor thanked us profusely (Awwww — happy to help girl, as always), and said she’d decide soon. She told us to give Phil a big fat kiss for her when he comes out of his coma, but we’re going to pass on that.
Here’s hoping this scene will be repeated after KC topples the Niners in two weeks!
This is a pic Caity sent me this morning.
I’ve always loved impressionists: I mean the comedian kind, not the artist kind. My favorite growing up was Rich Little. He’s from Canada and I saw him once imitating Canadian political figures. Makes no sense, of course, nobody knows them here, but he was funny. He’s 85 now, kinehora.
Anyway, if Little were to develop a routine on, say, George Carlin, he’d work on copying his voice and mannerisms, and put together Carlin-esque material to perform. The only complaint anyone would have would be if it weren’t funny. But Will Sasso and Chad Cultgen say they did the same thing, sorta, for their podcast “Dudesy,” and they’re being sued by Carlin’s estate. Ouch! The difference is Sasso and Cultgen used AI to sift through Carlin’s material and create a character sounding like Carlin and performing like Carlin in a podcast: ”George Carlin: I’m glad I’m Dead.”
The estate is suing for copyright infringement and for using Carlin’s name and likeness illegally. Carlin’s daughter, Kelly, said: “It is a poorly executed facsimile cobbled together by unscrupulous individuals to capitalize on the extraordinary good will my father established with his adoring fanbase.”
Arguing for the other side:
“George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead” begins with a voice saying, “Hello, my name is Dudesy, and I’m a comedy A.I.” It goes on to say, “I just want to let you know very clearly that what you’re about to hear is not George Carlin. It’s my impersonation of George Carlin that I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would. I listened to all of George Carlin’s material and did my best to imitate his voice, cadence and attitude as well as the subject matter I think would have interested him today.”
So whose side are you on? I know one thing: I’m not glad he’s dead.
It’s not the only case of its kind. We’ll keep an eye out for what the courts have to say.
Here’s your Owl Chatter Zen question of the day: If a man says something in the forest, and his wife isn’t there to hear him: Is he still wrong?
A man training for the London Marathon was stopped and questioned by the police recently, the Hertfordshire Constabulary to be more precise. They actually put on their twirly lights and stopped traffic and everything. What piqued their interest was the refrigerator he had strapped to his back. They thought he may have stolen it. He hadn’t stolen it: he just decided to run the marathon with a refrigerator strapped to his back, so it seemed logical that he should train for it the same way.
His name is Daniel Fairbrother and he’s 34. He’s running to raise 10,000 British pounds to fight diabetes because a friend of his came down with the disease. He didn’t think running normally would be much of a draw for fundraising. So when he heard about a marine who ran a marathon with a refrigerator strapped to his back, he thought, Aha — that’s the ticket!, or something like that. Once the police were informed of the reason the refrigerator was strapped to Fairbrother’s back, they shook his hand and wished him good luck. One of the officers said jokingly: “You do know if you order from Currys, they will deliver it for you?”
Fairbrother named the refrigerator “Tallulah,” after the bobsled of the Jamaican team in the movie Cool Runnings.
The opening tax class was okay, but dead. The energy level from the kids in classes meeting late afternoons or evenings is rock bottom. It’s been that way since the pandemic. They are young — I don’t get it. Is it me? I shouldn’t have more energy than they do. It’s a good thing I’m not a complainer or you’d hear from me about it.
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 