JULY’S HOT AND COLD
Yum! July is National Ice Cream Month!
CHER NEWS
“Think album will be out in sept. ”
According to this tweet, Cher recorded an album of ABBA covers. Yes, ABBA songs. This follows her role in the new film, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, where she plays…wait for it…the grandmother part! “After I did ‘Fernando’ [in the movie] I thought it would really be fun to do an album of ABBA songs, so I did. I was a huge fan, I saw the musical on Broadway three times and was dancing in the aisles with everybody,” which is why she took the role. She loves the film because “it shows women being in control of their life.” She says that her renditions are not exactly how ABBA did them. “It’s not what you would think of when you think of ABBA, ’cause I did it in a different way.” Really? Cher doing something different? No! Well, I guess ABBA is sorta cool, after all. Did I just write that? … Breaking news! This just in, more Cher news! … Cher (and others) will be honored for lifetime achievements in the arts at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. Cher’s legacy speaks for itself. She can and she has done everything … Upon hearing this news, she stated (oh yeah, this is what she said): “When I was very young I saw Dumbo and Cinderella and knew then what I wanted to be and the path my life would take and here I am!”
MARGARET MITCHELL’S LEGACY
In 1936, Margaret Mitchell’s beloved Gone with the Wind was published and won the Pulitzer Prize … Who could ever forget the last line? “Tomorrow is another day.” It was almost the book’s title. Mitchell also considered calling it Bugles Sang True or Not in Our Stars. The final title comes from the poem, Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae sub Regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson.
“I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind”
She spent 10 years writing her masterpiece. But Mitchell only enjoyed the subsequent fame for a little more than the next 10 years, not that she really enjoyed the fame. In 1949, she was hit by a speeding car while crossing Atlanta’s Peachtree Street with her husband on their way to see a movie. She died from her injuries a few days later.
SPREAD A LITTLE CHEER!
An outdoor advertising company is donating more than 700 billboards in 21 states to promote positive messages by designers from the U.S. and eight other countries, too, through September 23. These graphic artists’ inspiring messages of hope and conviction sure are a balm in these unsettling times. In fact, the company’s creative director said, “The messages are positive, encouraging, and heart-warming. The world needs more positivity right now, and we think this campaign can help.”
THIEBAUD
This is Wayne Thiebaud’s Confections (1962). Is there a better time to celebrate Thiebaud’s art than in National Ice Cream Month? He was a graphic designer and cartoonist before his painting career in the mid-1950s. He combined thick, expressive brushwork, everyday subject matter, and commercial imagery. You’ve probably seen his paintings of cakes, pies, and candies. Arranged in a diner or cafeteria style, they are depicted as commodities with an emphasis on their appearance and taste. He achieved this effect through repetition, synthetic colors, and by painting with a knife, as if he were spreading the “frosting” onto his cakes. By focusing on sugary foods, Thiebaud modernized the traditional still-life genre for the age of mass production and consumption. His ice cream sundaes sure do look delish! (His watercolors, sketches, pastels, and charcoal drawings are on view in Wayne Thiebaud, Draftsman at the Morgan Library & Museum through September 23.)
GO BANANAS
Where does this expression come from? Go bananas is slang. In the 1920s people said “banana oil!” to mean “nonsense!” To go bananas became popular in the 1950s, around the same time as go ape, leaving many to think there may have been some association between apes, bananas, and crazy behavior. When we say it now, we mean to go crazy. And anyway, isn’t banana just a really zany-sounding word?
DOG NEWS
The dog days of summer are here. Keep ‘em cool! How about some ice cream? Well, ice cream isn’t healthy for dogs because they can’t properly digest lactose. But it’s easy to make homemade ice cream that’s dog safe, lactose-free, and doesn’t contain xylitol. A good frozen treat is 100% fruit sorbet using frozen fruit and a blender. Here’s how to make Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream using only two ingredients: frozen bananas and peanut butter. Take three ripe or brown spotted bananas, peel and cut into small pieces. Freeze the bananas for two hours. Blend the bananas in a powerful blender or food processor. When it’s creamy, add one tablespoon of peanut butter and blend again. Then you can serve it to your pup as a soft creamy ice cream or put it in a sealed container and freeze it to make firmer ice cream. The best part of making homemade dog ice cream is sharing it with your dog.
ENDNOTE: HARLAN ELLISON
Harlan Ellison (May 27, 1934-June 28, 2018)
He brought a literary sensibility to science fiction writing. The Hugo-winning short story, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, depicts an apocalyptic world where machines wage war, killing off humanity. And he wrote classic episodes of Star Trek, Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits.
“I go to bed angry every night, I wake up angry every morning. There are certain injustices in this life you’ve got to do something about. You can’t just say that you can’t fight it, or it’s too much trouble, or that you don’t have the time or the effort, or that you can’t win. Forget all that. Fight them all! I fight them all because you never know which one is the big one. You never know which you give up and then it will come back and bite you in the ass. You never look away from a mountain lion, you lock eyes and you don’t let him get behind you.”
WE CAN HELP
The lives of dogs and other pets are most at-risk during the summer months – the peak time for owner-surrenders, new births, and abandonments. Our donations to the ASPCA this summer helps them continue their work on behalf of homeless, abused, and neglected animals. It’s summer, but the ASPCA never takes a vacation because every animal deserves a loving home.
Soundtrack to this Issue
Seals and Crofts
Summer Breeze
C’mon, sing along, you know the words:
See the curtains hangin’ in the window,
in the evenin’ on a Friday night
A little light a-shinin’ through the window,
lets me know everything is alright
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine,
blowing through the jasmine in my mind…
See the paper layin’ in the sidewalk,
a little music from the house next door
So I walked on up to the doorstep,
through the screen and across the floor
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine,
blowing through the jasmine in my mind…
Sweet days of summer, the jasmine’s in bloom
July is dressed up and playing her tune
And I come home from a hard day’s work
And you’re waiting there, not a care in the world
See the smile a-waitin’ in the kitchen,
food cookin’ and the plates for two
Feel the arms that reach out to hold me,
in the evening when the day is through
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine,
blowing through the jasmine in my mind…
Who rescued whom?
So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.
Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l
“…live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
(Buddha)
Sources:
Cher pic: @Cher/Twitter
Billboard pic: instagram.com/goodtype
Billboard quote: Todd Turner, Adams+Fairway’s national creative director/The Drum, July 9, 2018
Dog News pic and Dog Ice Cream Recipe: Golden Woofs/Sugar The Golden Retriever
Harlan Ellison pic: Leonard Nimoy, Harlan Ellison, and William Shatner on the Star Trek set in 1966. @TrekCore/Twitter
Harlan Ellison quote: from a 2009 interview with Autograph magazine
We Can Help dog and cat pic: aspca.org
Soundtrack lyrics: Darrell Crofts and Jimmy Seals ©Universal Music Publishing Group
July 27, 2018
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Yvette Perry's Blog 
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