It’s National Polka Dot Day! It’s not exclusively linked to Minnie Mouse, but she’s a central figure. BTW, did you know “Minnie” is a nickname? Her name is Minerva (not kidding). Does life imitate art or is it the other way around? Whatever. Get this: One of Minnie’s voice actresses, Russi Taylor, fell in love with and married one of Mickey’s voice actors, Wayne Allwine. They each held their roles for over 30 years. They had four children together: Two boys, a girl, and a toon. Just kidding — actually they had no children together, but Wayne had four from a previous marriage. Russi and Wayne were married for 18 years, until Wayne’s death did them part in 2009.
Polka dots popped into the national consciousness in 1926 when Norma Smallwood was named Miss America and wore a dotted swimsuit in the swimsuit competition. Hubba hubba.
Here’s a shot Phil gave us for the legmen in our Dirty Old Man Dept. That’s Norma (Miss Tulsa) way on the right. Phil himself confesses he went bonkers for Miss Yonkers.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from writing close to 1,000 posts (!) on a blog devoted to nonsense, it’s that nonsense pops up everywhere. It’s not limited to the White House. So it didn’t surprise me to find a course in our local Adult School catalog on “Reliving Past Lives.” It meets once and costs $39. “Many of our present day problems may be traced to a life that may have existed before our time. Using self-hypnosis, discover some interesting things that could help improve your life.” I sent an inquiry via email asking: “If it turns out I took the course before, do I get my $39 back?”
It goes on to say (I am not kidding): “Bring a pillow to class.” That is so fantastic. I just wish I had told that to my students at Hunter. I taught my law class at 8 am one semester, and the hardest part was tiptoeing out of the room when it was over so I wouldn’t wake anyone up.
Here’s the photo Hunter used for my courses in the college catalog.
In the puzzle today, at 14A, for “Goddess depicted with cow’s horns,” the answer was ISIS. At 2D, for “Am I wrong about that?” the answer was IS IT NOT?
Here’s what egs put together for us:
Scene from Bill Clinton’s upcoming Epstein testimony:
Comer: Mr. Clinton, can you please tell me who is the Goddess depicted with cow’s horns?
Clinton: That depends on what your definition of ISIS.
Comer: IS IT NOT ISIS?
Clinton: What ISIS IS IS a terrorist organization.
The puzzle had some folks in a tizzy today. The theme was TRAFFIC SIGNALS. And the four theme answers only made sense if you switched GO for GREEN, and STOP for RED. E.g., at 45A, for the clue “Result of missing the boat,” you were to fill in LOREDOPPORTUNITY. So if you (mentally) switch STOP for RED, it becomes LOSTOPPORTUNITY.
And what frazzled a few pearl clutchers was 18A where the clue was simply “Happens.” Exchanging STOP for RED gives you COMES TO PASS, but what got filled in in the grid was COME RED ASS. It’s rare to get a scarlet tuchas in the NYTXW.
The minor league baseball newsletter I get tipped us off to a team we must see play this season: The Hartford (CT) Yard Goats. They play in Dunkin’ Park, dubbed the nicest Double A park in the U.S. It’s in the Colorado system. We’re starting to have baseball fever as the snow piles up.
Yesterday, “What arms might do on a final gym rep,” was TREMBLE. It led Son Volt to share this Laura Cantrell song.
We’ve become big fans of LC. Loved “Bees.” Hauntingly beautiful, she’s a Tennessee girl.
Two worthy ballplayers were voted into the Hall of Fame this week: Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones, both centerfielders. They were born exactly one day apart in 1977, with Jones a day older. Jones is the first player from Curacao to make it into the Hall. Bravo, gentlemen. Jones played most of his career in Atlanta. Beltran bopped around a lot but spent seven years each in KC and NY, with the Mets. He’ll likely go in as a Met, meaning he’ll be wearing a Mets cap on his plaque.
Carlos and wife Jessica live in NYC and have three good-looking kids, below. In 2012, Andruw got into deep shit with his ex-wife in a domestic abuse situation. They have two kids.
Good night, Chatterheads!
The Wellington Files 