The air conditioner has been replaced, it works great, and I paid what I expected, a little over $1400, including the initial diagnosis; i.e., the cost of replacing the compressor. So that’s that. Time to move on to whatever coming’s next.
Add comment July 24th, 2008
I have the book by Brian Sibley, the BBC movie based on his original play is waiting to be watched, and on Friday my favorite (excuse me, favourite) radio station, BBC Radio 2, begins airing Ian Richardson’s serialized reading of Shadowlands. We Yanks will have to hope the installments appear on the listen again link.
4 comments July 24th, 2008
Considering Jo Stafford’s stellar career and her versatile singing talent, it’s somewhat ironic that she won her only Grammy for a comedy record. Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were the alter egos of Jo and her husband Paul Weston. They were a dreadfully earnest — or earnestly dreadful — lounge act, with Jo’s perfect pitch helping Darlene with her tin ear utterly destroy songs with stunning off-key precision.
You’ll find a wonderfully awful collection of Jonathan and Darlene here on MySpace. The link to Jo’s label, Corinthian Records, is wrong. Use this one instead.
Add comment July 23rd, 2008
I just heard a story on the radio where the news anchor and a reporter said “sign off on” back and forth half a dozen times. Where did this, and saying “EX-actly”, come from? They’re everywhere today.
Instead of saying “he signed off on the agreement” why not just say “he signed the agreement”? And is there no word other than “exactly” that springs to mind when agreeing with someone?
At least these two turns of phrase came into the vernacular spontaneously. Others are manufactured — for example, the Rovian “boots on the ground”. I really dislike the use of that expression. Will Rovian become a descriptive term like Machiavellian?
1 comment July 23rd, 2008
Back on Jo Stafford’s 90th birthday I posted a humorous video of her on the Steve Allen Show. YouTube has some more appearances of Jo, including the very funny “Tim-Tayshun,” and I’ve assembled them into a playlist.
Add comment July 22nd, 2008
