Owl Chatter sources tell us that Hegseth’s testimony in Congress yesterday really blew the Senators out of the water.
Phil got these shots of him testifying.
My favorite clue/answer in today’s puzzle spanned the grid (15 letters). The clue: “Words of caution.” The answer: DON’T POKE THE BEAR. Commenter Pablo said it’s a familiar line to Boston Bruin fans. It’s uttered when someone takes a cheap shot at a Bruin.
It made me wonder, how many bears does it take to change a light bulb? Here are my thoughts. Bear with me now.
If it’s unbearable then no amount of bears would be enough.
But it may be a bear bulb.
In that case, three bears would be ideal: one bear to bear the ladder, one bear to bear the bulb, and one bear to bear witness.
And I would urge us all to bear that in mind.
The exquisite Rooney MARA dropped in yesterday, boringly clued with “Actress Rooney.” What the hell is she wearing? The life vest from under her airplane seat?
Hard to imagine linking the striking actress with the brutes who play pro football, but some of you probably know that her name comes from the two football families she was born into: Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Mara of the NY Giants. She gets down on her knees every morning and thanks God she is not connected to the Jets.
Roo has two children with Joaquin Phoenix, whom I hope friends call Joe. They have been together since late 2016 and JP refers to her as his wife in interviews, though it is unclear if they ever took the trouble to get married, to the chagrin of the catering industry. They did announce they were engaged in 2019. Their first child is a boy named River to honor the memory of Jo’s older brother who passed away in 1993. Their second is a daughter whose name has not been revealed, as far as we can tell. They guard their privacy.
One of the songs in yesterday’s puzzle has much more of a story to it than we were aware of. “2008 hit by Katy Perry,” was I KISSED A GIRL. But the late Jill Sobule released a song with the same title back in 1995. Per Anony Mouse: Katy Perry’s hit was an inferior rip off of Jill Soble’s original “I Kissed a Girl,” the first openly gay song to land in the Billboard Top 20. That was 1995 -13 years before Perry’s song.
Sobule’s song title is ho-hum until you realize it’s being sung by a girl. She tells a bit of the story before singing it below.
When Katy Perry released her song with the same title, Sobule calmly stated: “Fuck you Katy Perry, you fucking stupid, maybe ‘not good for the gays,’ title-thieving, haven’t heard much else, so not quite sure if you’re talented, fucking little slut.” Sobule later claimed that her comments were meant to be facetious and that she bore KP no ill will.
At 10D today “Iterate” was REPEAT. It led two commenters to wonder: If iterate is repeat, is reiterate redundant? I explained that “Reiterate is redundant, and iterate is dundant.”
For our Dirty Old Man Dept, several commenters thought the answer at 2D (“It might be on a rack”) was BRA. I went with tie first, but the answer was HAT. (Boo.)
At 45A, “Where much of ‘Brokeback Mountain’ was filmed,” was ALBERTA. Here’s Rex on it: “My favorite mistake was probably the one where I learned (‘learned’) that Ang Lee filmed Brokeback Mountain in ALBANIA. ‘Must’ve been more affordable,’ I thought.”
Here’s an “Alberta” song in very good hands that never fails to clutch at my heart. If it’s new to you, brace yourself.
Still I wish you’d change your mind
If I asked you one more time
But we’ve been through that a hundred times or more.
Headline from The Onion:
Authorities: Missing Plates And Glasses Found Filthy But Safe In Roommate’s Room
CARSON CITY, MI—Nearly a week after the dishes vanished from the kitchen cabinets, authorities reported Wednesday that a collection of missing plates and glasses were found filthy but safe in roommate Brian Massoud’s room. “We are pleased to announce that the three missing plates and five glasses were located on the floor next to Brian’s bed, absolutely disgusting but now, thankfully, out of harm’s way,” said Sgt. Michael Sanders, who led the exhaustive search of the three-bedroom apartment that seemed hopeless until a tip from Massoud’s girlfriend directed authorities to a dinner plate crusted with melted cheese. At press time, the dishes had been placed in the kitchen sink, where they were reportedly soaking.
This poem is called “The Fall” and it’s by George Bilgere. It’s from yesterday’s Writer’s Almanac.
Although there were no witnesses
In the hallway outside the women’s room
Of the Hotel Coronado,
When my aunt stumbled
And fell to her knees on the ancient marble
It must have been like the swordsman
Falling in The Seven Samurai,
A whole dynasty collapsing,
Falling out of its bones
Into the mud. I was reading
The sports section in the lobby
When a boy, probably sixteen or so,
Ran in and called my name.
An old woman has fallen, he said,
Frightened that something
So enormous could happen, that fate
Should cast him as an emissary
Announcing dynastic collapse
Instead of just a high school kid,
And I stood up and ran to her
Although I’m fifty-six now, and breaking
Into a spontaneous run feels like
Trying out a language you’d lost
As a kid who’d swapped countries.
And there she sat, lean and elegant,
Like an athlete who’d collapsed
From sheer exhaustion, her legs
Drawn up to her chin as she fought
To lift the whole city again,
The crumbling Coronado,
Where Miles Davis used to jam,
And the Continental, where the Gershwins
Hung out at the Tack Room,
And the abandoned Fox Theater
Where she saw Olivier’s Hamlet
And even the boarded up
Forest Park Boat house, where her father
Used to take her for ice cream
In the sweltering St. Louis summers.
An old woman has fallen.
We’ll give our art department the last word today. At 21A, the clue was: “Subject of the Bouguereau painting ‘The Abduction of Psyche.’” Anybody? EROS. Here’s Rex on it: “I like how this clue assumes I know who Bouguereau is. ‘Oh, the Bouguereau painting, yes, of course, what a master… [sips cocktail, nibbles on canapé] …’ Literally first I’m seeing his name today.”
See you tomorrow Chatterheads! Thanks for wasting some time with us.
The Wellington Files 