The Happiest Street in America!

As seen in Iowa City, Iowa

Flynnfest #53 - The Cruise of the Zaca

Filmed in 1946-1947, but not released until 1952, The Cruise of the Zaca is acutally two cruises Flynn took at two different times (the color of the Zaca changes from white to black). It starts with Errol catching a helicopter to The Scripps Institute of Oceanography to meet with a group of scientists, and then agreeing to sponsor a research trip to collect rare fish and other sea animals. Along the way he picks up his father, a marine biologist, and his wife Nora Eddington, who by 1952 was in the middle of divorce proceedings from him.

There is some awesome footage of grey whales and other ocean activity, and great shots of the Zaca. Most of the rest of this short film, poorly narrated by Flynn himself, is pretty forgettable.

Flynnfest #52 - Deep Sea Fishing

Errol made this short, amateurish home movie in 1952 with close friend Howard Hill while fishing of the coast of Acapulco. It's silent, with a silly voice-over narration by another Flynn friend, Bob Edge. Errol had met Hill during the making of Robin Hood, when Hill was hired as his archery instructor. They remained drinking buddies for the rest of Flynn's life. The real star of this 10-minute short, however, are shots of Flynn's yatch, the Zaca, one of the greatest yatchs of the day, and still so to this day.

As for Deep Sea Fishing. OK. I saw it. Next!

Flynnfest #49 - Northern Pursuit

So, not the best of the genre. But certainly not the worst, and respectable enough. Errol is in top dashing form, and at the height of his career, though this movie was running at the time of his rape trial.

A good addition to the Flynnfest mix. Well, I liked it, at least.

All Hail ScorpioTV!!!

ScorpioTV, a Canadian purveyor of rare film DVDs, came through with the Errol Flynn motherload.Here's what I got in the mail yesterday:

1. The Adventures of Captain Fabian
2. Cuban Rebel Girls (perhaps thew worst movie ever made)
3. Northern Pursuit
4. Uncertain Glory
5. The Dark Avenger
6. Never Say Goodbye
7. Escape Me Never
8. Edge of Darkness (one of my favorites)
9. Too Much, Too Soon
10. Istanbul
11. The Perfect Specimen
12. Cry Wolf
13. The Big Boodle
14. That Forsythe Woman
15. Mara Maru (rare, and very hard to find)

With these 15 Errol movies to watch, and Objective Burma on hand, I will hit 50 movies knocked down in Flynnfest 2010. That will give me a good chunk of the year to knock out the rest, some of which are pretty easy to find, while others are probably impossible. The remaining Errol movies include:

1. I Adore You (thought to be a lost movie, with no prints in existence)
2. Murder at Monte Carlo (another lost movie)
3. Don't Bet on Blondes (kinda hard to find, but out there somewhere)
4. Green Light (ditto)
5. The Dawn Patrol (an easy one, seen it many times)
6. Dive Bomber (easy)
7. Kim (easy)
8. Hello God (probably lost, though it's rumored a single 35mm print exists in Europe somethere)
9. The Story of William Tell (never finished, with about 30 minutes filmed)
10. The Sun Also Rises (should be rather easy, but it's been hard to find)
11. Cruise of the Zaca (possible)
12. Deep Sea Fishing (possible)
13. Always Together (cameo role, but don't know if it's available)

Half of these are either easy to find or at least possible. The other half? Who knows?

nce

Pu Yi Returns!

For the first time in a long time, I've bought some art. At least I think it is.

A Tasty Treat Gone Terribly, Terribly Wrong

I'm clearing up my backlog of "WTF Bad Marketing Ideas" entries. The source of this one - the local Korean grocery store, of course. But I've also seen this, well, stuff, at my local Hyvee as well, in some way, shape or form.

Was this really necessary? I mean, if you're that concerned about diet and such, should you even have pudding on your menu to begin with?

Why is my coffee forming a slurry?

You've got to wonder what happened to the first person to discover this jar was mislabeled.

"You'll Eat It and You'll Like It!"

Matt and I were on on our way back from the butt-crunching bike ride weekend in Cedar Rapids when I passed this restaurant in Walford, Iowa (population 1425).

Now how many times did I hear this as a child - "You'll eat it and you'll like it"? That would be me and split peas. Katie and broccoli. Mary Jane and tomatoes. I think I heard this at least five times a week growing up.

My conclusion - this is what would happen if your Mom decided to open a restaurant. I bet the menu has split peas, broccoli, tomatoes, liver, and navy bean soup.

Bad Marketing Ideas - Just the Thing For That Notre Dame Grad in Your Family

I ran across this will doing some research on a monastery in Iowa. I'm amazed.

Notre Dame Caskets and Urns

Trappist Caskets, in partnership with the University of Notre Dame, now offers an exclusive line of custom-designed caskets and urns for Notre Dame alumni and their families.

As a work of the monks of New Melleray Abbey, Trappist Caskets are built on a long tradition that combines a reverence for nature with a preference for old-world craftsmanship. available, much of it coming from the monastery’s own award-winning forest.

All caskets, urns, and register books come with an engraved seal authorized by the University of Notre Dame. Included in the purchase of a casket or urn is a complimentary Guest Register Book and four family keepsake crosses. These keepsake crosses are in addition to the removable cross that comes on the lid of each casket and urn.

Novel Business Idea - Kansas

This was on NPR today. I have been to Preston. It is a typically sad, dying rural Kansas town. But it was this part of the article that caught my eye:

"...he bought the run-down bar and grill on Main Street to turn it into a mortuary and crematorium ."

I'm thinking, hey - what a unique marketing idea. Not a former bar and grill turned into a mortuary and crematorium, but rather - here ya go - a COMBINATION bar and grill and mortuary and crematorium! Imagine the possibilities.

Undertaker Hopes To Revive Kansas Town
by Carla Eckels

December 8, 2009

Ken Stanton and his family are renovating a building on Main Street in Preston, Kan., that will become the Heartland Funeral Home and Crematory.

Many small towns across rural America continue to see population declines as the farming generation dwindles and the younger generation moves to bigger cities. But one small western Kansas town is getting help from an unlikely source: an Arizona undertaker who plans to revive the dying town by catering to the dead.

'Everyone Got Quite Excited'

The tiny town of Preston, Kan., once boasted a very active Main Street with two grocery stores, a post office, a cafe, a drug store and a filling station. But now they are gone — along with the town's high school and church. In fact, only 170 people live here. Boarded-up buildings line either side of Main Street. A City Hall and senior center remain within view of two towering grain elevators.

Ken Stanton plans to change much of that. The 53-year-old mortician with a warm and easy smile has been in the funeral business for 18 years. He is no stranger to Preston. For 35 years, he and his wife, Donna, have come here to visit relatives. Donna Stanton's father dreamed of a revitalized Preston, and Ken Stanton embraced that dream.

"I saw this little town, and I saw some pictures of it back in the early 1900s and saw what it was, and believed that this town could thrive again," he says.

So a year ago, he bought the run-down bar and grill on Main Street to turn it into a mortuary and crematorium. On a recent day, Stanton and brother-in-law Mike Saldan are surveying the gutted 94-year-old brick building. The goal is to complete construction and open the facility by January.

Mayor Wayne Scott, a student in the last graduating class of Preston High School — in 1966 — acknowledges that news of an undertaker investing big time in Preston was at first met with some skepticism.

But Scott says that changed after Stanton attended a City Council meeting and started requesting permits and acquiring properties around town, including on Main Street. "We realized that it could possibly be a reality for us, and then I think everyone got quite excited," Scott says.

A Family Affair

Donna Stanton plans to work alongside her husband in the mortuary and support her son's new business: a 1950s-style restaurant to be built down the street. It's not just Ken and Donna Stanton coming here — it's more than 30 family members and friends.

"My sister from South Carolina is coming in with her husband, and she'll be staying out here; and my other sister came with me; and then, of course, my brother-in-law and my other sister is in Phoenix, so they'll end up here," Donna Stanton says.

Although some Preston residents are welcoming them here, Ken Stanton says others aren't so sure.

"I think there's a group of people that are kind of wondering, 'What are these people trying to do — come in and take over the whole place?' " he says.

Mike Snell, the longtime branch manager of the Cairo Co-Op in Preston, says he hopes the Stanton clan can jump-start the town.

"The city of Preston is just about a dead town," Snell says. "We got the co-op here and a local meat plant, and there's just not a whole lot going on in the town anymore."

Although Preston is tiny, Stanton plans to draw funeral business from a 50-mile radius. He also wants to encourage others to give small towns a second look.

"Metropolitan communities are getting so packed with people," he says. "So many people are out of work. People are starting to gravitate farther out, where housing and things are a little bit less expensive. So I think there's an opportunity for growth and things to happen in small communities and small towns, if people will just be willing to be ready for some change."

And whether Preston lives or dies may rest in part on the success of the funeral business

NIU - Still Bowl Watching

OK, NIU lost to Ohio. And then they lost to Central Michigan.

Fair enough. NIU is not the best team in the MAC this year. And not the second best. But after that, I'd put NIU up against all mid-major comers. They finished 7-5 overall, and are still in the hunt for a minor or at-large bowl game. While I certainly respect Notre Dame for saying in advance that, with a 6-6 record, they would turn down a bowl invitation, well - that's Notre Dame. I've got nothing against a Tier 1 school like Notre Dame (except, perhaps that they've managed to turn the entire Chicago Sun Times sports section into their local cheer section, but that's not the school's fault). Hell, NIU isn't Notre Dame, and would never deem to be. But any excuse for a couple thousand NIU alums and students to gather around, down a few Goose Islands, and eat some brats and burgers in advance of even the most insignificant college bowl game (hmm - that would be last year) would be welcome. And a damned good party. Go Red and Black!

For all those bloggers and free-thinkers who opine that, well, anything less than a BCS bowl game is somehow "unworthy" (despite that perhaps 90% of them are not alums from BCS schools), all I can say is, well, f#ck you. It's a game, dammit, not the election of the new President. There are 128 Div-1 schools. There are 32 Div-1 bowl games, which mean exactly 1/2 of all the Div 1 teams get to play one extra game a year. Why are there so many bowl games now? Easy. They make money - big TV money. To assume that it's anything other than financial is foolish.

So a bunch of alums get to travel to a new city, laugh it up with friends, and watch their favorite mid-major team get rare national TV time knowing that their school will rake in some big bucks for a small, underfunded sports program. Don't like it? Too bad. Turn the channel and watch "Desperate Housewives", loser.

Uncurdled But Curdled - Huh?

OK, a quick entry in both the weird food and bad marketing ideas category - Uncurdled Bean Curdle Pot Stew.

What? Is is curdled? Is it uncurdled? How can a curdle be uncurdled? I'm so confused.

Does it matter? Who would want to eat either curdled bean pot stew or uncurdled curdle bean pot stew? Whatever it is, I'll take a pass.

The Crowned Jewel of Sedalia - The Guberburger

After driving past the Wheel Inn Drive In billboard on Route 50 between KC and Jeff City every week for a year, I decided it was finally time to try the "Famous Guberburger". So once in Sedalia, I took the four block detour down Route 65 to the Wheel In Drive In, and sat at the counter to order a guberburger, fries, and a Diet Coke.

The good news. The Wheel Inn Drive In is no greasy spoon. It has a 50s diner decor, and is very clean and new looking inside. The service and kitchen staff - three rather matronly ladies -were fast, helpful, and small town friendly. Prices on the menu are low, with almost every burger on the menu under $4.00.

In the not-so-great side - well the guberburger itself. It's been the specialty at the Wheel Inn for over 50 years, but I, for one, just don't get the attraction. The guberburger is a hamburger bun, a beef patty, peanut butter on top of the meat, and then topped with lettuce, tomato, and salad dressing ($3.40). I'm assuming there was salad dressing on it, because I never actually tasted it. The problem with the g-burger - the peanut butter is so overwhelming that you don't really taste anything else. You can barely taste the burger. They do also have a double meat guberburger, but I doubt that would make a difference.

I guess it's an acquired taste. I just haven't acquired it.

There were other local specialties on the menu that looked pretty interesting, and would be worth another stop at the Wheel Inn in Sedalia. I'll probably try the bacon sandwich next time, or - if I need to eat enough to last a couple days - the Wimpy Burger, with three meat patties and three slices of cheese. They also have an egg sandwich, and a bacon and egg sandwich, topped with lettuce, tomato, and Miracle Whip. Just like Mom used to make.

The Wheel Inn Drive In
2103 S Limit (Route 65 South)
Sedalia MO
660-826-5

And Possibly Pants

Another humorous note from that bastion of ironic Midwest humor, the IGA store in Litchfield, Illinois. If it's hard to make out the blurry image, it goes from 'remove smocks" to "remove socks", to which another wit among the employees added ""& underwear" and then the best "and possibly pants". Great stuff.

No Punching? Huh?

I saw this note in the employee breakroom at a grocery store in Litchfield, Illinois. First, I normally eat off plates, but I kinda get what message they were trying to get across. And the writing thing. But, umm, "no punching". Is there some issue with furniture assault sweeping the Midwest I don't know about?

Don't Be Bitter, or In Brine

Another one of those oddities from the local Asian food store. Call me finicky, but I'm not instantly drawn to, or get a wild case of the yummies, by something with either "bitter" or "brine" on the label. Or a picture of a fruit, if that's what it really is, that looks all shriveled and wrinkly and about 50 years old. Decidedly unappetizing.

So That's Where Restaurants Came From

As seen in St Louis, en route to a Cardinals game.

The "original" restaurant? Really? What did they have before this? I can only imagine some folks cooking at home, and suddenly thinking "Hey, we call SELL this stuff!" And the rest is history.

And then, sadly, one day it closes. Another epoch closes. And the one and only Original Restaurant is lost to the ages. Like ancient Rome. Or the Romanov Dynasty. Or the St. Louis Browns.

Now That's a Big Bowl of Rice

As seen in Chicago, near Rush Street. Nothing says "I like Asian cuisine" like a rice bowl the size of a compact car.

Mr Squid. 'Nuff Said.

OK, for every great food idea Japan comes up with (like Vermont Curry), they also dream up one that is, well, not so great. Witness then "Mr Squid"-brand baked squid snacks. Made in Thailand for export to Japan and apparently for the Japanese palate. Or lack thereof. The things taste undeniably awful. Stale and somewhat rubbery, it doesn't even seem like it's a food source when you put it in your mouth. Bad. Like, really bad. Stunningly bad to almost being inedible. OK, you get the idea.

I should have known. Thailand. That explains it. The home of the fried egg flavored lollypop.