The way I see it, ‘Chopped’ is a game show and a cooking show and reality television all wrapped into one. They take four pretty good chefs, give them a basketful of sometimes bizarre, unrelated ingredients that really don’t work well together at all, then ask them to prepare a fabulous dish in 20-30 minutes. Last night, two of the ingredients were short ribs and spicy grub worms. Ick. Lake Jackson’s own Leonard Botello IV, owner and pitmaster of Truth BBQ in Brenham, was among the four pitmasters competing in Food Network’s Chopped Grill Masters competition, a five-part series featuring 16 chefs representing regional barbecue styles from Kansas City, Memphis, Tennessee, North Carolina and Texas. Winners from each regional competition will face off on the finale airing August 28, with a grand prize of $50,000. (PS – Botello won last night and will represent Texas.) woohoo!! Go, Leonard.
ABC 13’s Ed Brandon passed away this week. He was chief weatherman from 1972 to 1989 and 1990 until his retirement in 2007.
Ford Motor Company marked the production of the 10-millionth Mustang. Mustang is the best-selling sports car of the past 50 years in the US and the top selling sports car for the past three years. A 22-year-old, third-grade school teacher bought the first Mustang on April 15th, 1964. It was skylight blue and she paid $3,447.50. Gail Wise is now 76 years old and still owns the fully restored mustang with just 68,000 miles on it. Today’s value is estimated at approximately $350,000 to $450,000. My first car was a ‘66 Pony. Should have kept it. It sure was fun back in the 70’s.
A real estate agent in Granbury, Texas had someone dress up in a giant T. Rex costume, then pose for pictures while mowing the grass, showering, raiding the refrigerator, taking a nap and fishing on the lake, to help advertise and sell a house. Within two days, the agent had over 45 showings and a contract on the cute little, 796-square-foot home that had an asking price of $89,900. Smart advertising.
“…to me, Aretha Franklin was really the top, the best. She was one of those people who opened her mouth and out came brilliance.” James Taylor
Bill and Jen Arnold, stars of “Little Couple” have finally sold their home in the Houston Braeswood area after a year on the market and 10 price cuts. Yep. My first thought was the home was set up for little people and that was the problem, but the home had been remodeled for people of standard height. Harvey probably didn’t help things.
There is a bristly, swiveling, motorized ‘thing’ that spins when a cow brushes against it, allowing the cow to be brushed and buffed in places that the animal cannot reach. They’re called mechanical brushes and they are required for cattle in Denmark but not in the US or Canada. On average, cows will spend seven minutes a day rubbing their heads, necks and backs on these body buffers. This is important to their well-being since some of these cows may never leave the barn or experience the joy of a pasture during their lives, so there’s not really an opportunity to find a fence post or a tree to rub against. This makes for happy cows. I wonder if they make them for cats. And people.
In Dreams: Roy Orbison In Concert – The Hologram Tour is coming to Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land. The tour promises “breathtaking state-of-the-art cutting-edge digital and laser technology and extraordinary theatrical stagecraft.” Remember “Oh, Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely, and Crying?” I’m betting that ‘hologram’ Orbinson will be a great show. Orbison died in 1988. I love watching him play in the Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Boxer Leon Spinks is 65. Remember the ’78 fight with Muhammad Ali. Actress Sela Ward is 62. Jazz musician Kirk Whalum is 60. I will Always Love You with Whitney Houston. Actress Lisa Rinna is 55. Billie Reed on Days of Our Lives, Taylor McBride on Melrose Place. Wildlife expert Jeff Corwin is 51. Rapper Lil’Kim is 43. Rock star Ringo Starr is 78. Actor comedian Jim Gaffigan is 52. Actor Brian Dennehy is 80. Sheriff Will Teasle in First Blood. Semi-Tough with Burt Reynolds.
Actor Richard Roundtree is 76. Shaft. I can still remember some of the words from the theme song. Actor Jimmy Smits is 63. Actor Tom Hanks is 62. Actress Kelly McGillis is 61. Singer Arlo Guthrie is 71. He is coming to Jones Hall on February 20, 2019. Actress Sofia Vergara is 46. Singer-actress Jessica Simpson is 38. Rock singer David Crosby is 77. He is the father of Melissa Etheridge’s two children. She could have had Brad Pitt but decided against it. Hmmm.
Comedian-actor Steve Martin is 73. Author Danielle Steel is 71. Actress Halle Berry is 52. Actress Mila Kunis is 35. Football baseball player Tim Tebow is 31. Director James Cameron is 64. Actress Angela Bassett is 60. Actor Timothy Hutton is 58. Actor Steve Carell is 56. Actress Rumer Willis is 30. Actor Danny Bonaduce is 59. The Partridge Family. Actress Debi Mazar is 54. Extra Virgin. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is 36. Bet she feels older than that. Especially right after a press conference.
Actor George Hamilton is 79. Forever tan. Rock singer musician Mark Knopfler is 69. Dire Straits. Singer Kid Creole is 68. Jazz musician Pat Metheny is 64. Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is 55. International Tennis Hall of Fame Pete Sampras is 47. Actor Casey Affleck is 43. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 59. Actor Antonio Banderas is 58. Actor writer Justin Theroux is 47. Actress Angie Harmon is 46. Actress Jill St. John is 78. Former President Bill Clinton is 72. Actor Gerald McRaney is 71. Simon & Simon.
Tipper Gore is 70. Wife of former VP Al Gore. Actor John Stamos is 55. Actress Kyra Sedgwick is 53. Country singer Lee Ann Womack is 52. Actor Matthew Perry is 49. Country singer Clay Walker is 49. Actor Sam Elliott is 74. Actress Melanie Griffith is 61. Actress Amanda Bearse is 60. Married with Children. Actress Gillian Anderson is 50. Actress Anna Kendrick is 33.
On the Trinity River, in Liberty County, ‘somewhere south of Highway 59,’ Lance Stephens reeled in an alligator gar measuring 8-feet, 4-inches, weighing 264-pounds, with a 44-inch girth. He caught it with gaspergou and will have it mounted. But he’s still not going to tell you exactly where he caught it.
So, do it. Decide. Is this the life you want to live? Is this the person you want to love? Is this the best you can be? Can you be stronger? Kinder? More compassionate? Decide. Breathe in. Breath out and decide. – Meredith Grey
Apple became the world’s first publicly traded company to be valued at $1-trillion.
New Zealand plans to ban disposable plastic shopping bags by this time next year. As you know, the bags are polluting the coastal and marine environment, so a number of countries have introduced bans or restrictions on the single-use plastic bags, including France, Belgium, China, (and even Hawaii and California). Carry your re-usable bags with you in your car.
The Taj Mahal and 100 other sites in India went litter-free in June with a pledge to get rid of all litter for 500 meters (.31 miles) around the buildings, plus an awareness campaign warning about the dangers of single-use plastics. Anyone listening?
Ironic: The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum switched to solar power last year to save on energy bills. The owners said they installed the solar panels because two kinds of energy can work together. Hmmm. I agree.
You remember the ‘animal cracker’ box, don’t you…red box resembling a circus boxcar with four animals riding in the car. It had ‘Barnum’s Animals’ crackers written on the side and as a kid, you loved to have that string handle hanging on your wrist. Your own private box of cookies. Thanks to the efforts of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) the box has been redesigned to where the lion, giraffe, elephant, gorilla and zebra are free-roaming animals. If you remember, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed last year after 146-years. I wonder if PETA will have a problem with us eating the animals.
Sweden’s tallest peak, Kebnekaise, shrunk in height by 13-ft in July during a glacier-melting heat wave.
A Houston sports bar is getting a lot of support after saying that they won’t be purchasing the NFL Sunday Ticket package offered by DirecTV this year due to National Anthem protests. “If the NFL and media continue to use these games as a way to further divide our country, we will stop showing any NFL games altogether,” Henry Hudson’s Pub management wrote. “We come together to watch these games and support our teams for entertainment, it is not political, and it is not educational. It is for our entertainment and it always has been. We fully support anyone’s right to raise awareness for their issues and causes and believe that as sports celebrities they already have a large platform to do so,” the statement continued. “There is a time and a place, and the beginning of an entertainment show is not it.” According to USA Today, the NFL Sunday Ticket package cost the regular home subscriber $293.94 for just the basic package. But, bars are charged depending on their occupancy and can run thou$ands.
Another bar story that I love. A 31-year-old man from Palm Beach was having dinner with his long-term girlfriend and their twin daughters in Savannah, Georgia, when he walked by a 21-year-old waitress and groped her rear end. Without missing a beat, the waitress turned, threw him down then told a co-worker to call the police. The man was arrested in front of his girlfriend and children and charged with sexual battery, then spent two nights in jail before being released. The waitress said, “I honestly didn’t even give it much thought, I just did it. I didn’t even know I could do that. I don’t care who you are. You have no right to disrespect me.” Oh, and what makes this story even better is that there is a surveillance video that is just awesome.
The original hand-drawn map of Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Woods sold at auction for $571,000, a record price for a book illustration.
A new Oscars category to recognize popular movies was announced by the Academy. The move is seen as a bid to boost the award show’s ratings. I personally like the idea.
Robert Redford is 81-years-old and has said that he will retire from acting after his next movie, “The Old Man & the Gun” is completed. Redford made his film debut in War Hunt (1962). Inside Daisy Clover (1965) won him a Golden Globe for best new star. He starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), which made him a major star. In 1972, he had Jeremiah Johnson, and in 1973, the greatest hit of his career, The Sting, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. All the President’s Men (1976) was considered a landmark film. The first film that Redford directed, Ordinary People (1980), won four Oscars including Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Director. In 1980, he starred in Brubaker, and Out of Africa (1985) won seven Oscars including Best Picture. He released his third film as a director, A River Runs Through It, in 1992. Certainly, one of my favorites. He didn’t mention retiring from directing and producing so there is still hope for more.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Don’t forget to recycle and share the paper with a friend. Lisa
