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Watching TV...
Apr. 1st, 2012 08:52 pmOne of the last memories I have of my stepfather before I saw him in the hospital was watching television with him, and seeing his interest quicken in response to an ad for a series of DVDs ("not sold in any store," naturally) featuring clips from the Dean Martin variety show that ran for some number of years at about the time I was in college.
I recalled that otherwise insignificant episode during a visit Galina and I made to the local Methodist Thrift Shop yesterday to say hello, because I noticed a number of Dean Martin DVDs on sale for a buck apiece.
So, after looking over a few of the packages to see what guest stars were featured, I selected and bought one.
I found the DVD sort of awkward to watch, at times. Or perhaps 'corny' is a better word. Attitudes were different. Dean could appear in front of a camera while a cigarette, for example. Another factor, curiously enough, was that the quality of the video on the DVD was excellent, certainly as compared to the slightly fuzzy images displayed on the analog color television of questionable parentage that our family owned back when the show was being broadcast. As a result, watching the show's (all-female) backing dancers perform—with their bare midriffs, 70s hair styles, and dated motions—was enough to induce mild cognitive dissonance.
At any rate, watching clips from the Dean Martin show was an entirely different experience from a little while back, when I watched some old footage from the Red Skelton show. I used to really love watching Red Skelton, and maybe it was just an atypical clip that I saw, but it seemed to me that in it, Skelton spent almost as much time laughing at what he was about to say as saying it, and that what he was saying wasn't terribly funny.
But surprisingly enough, while some of the comedy on the Dean Martin disk has not improved with time (Martin and Sid Caesar take two girls to a drive-in), some of it would look quite respectable on the tube today (Martin interviewing Jonathan Winters in a skit). Moreover, the musical numbers Martin performed were quite good (although the ones during which he appears to be looking offstage at cue cards were sort of hard to look at; those looks killed the mood, as far as I was concerned).
In other news, Galina and I made pea soup for pretty much the first time (it's never been among my favorites), and it turned out rather well. Training Shiloh continues apace, and her behavior at the end of the leash today was better than it was yesterday (which is to say, she pulls a lot less).
Two of the three short items were done and sent back today. The client said I could take it easy with the third item, so I did. Whatever else happens tomorrow, I need to get started on the journal I have due in a little over a month.
Cheers...
I recalled that otherwise insignificant episode during a visit Galina and I made to the local Methodist Thrift Shop yesterday to say hello, because I noticed a number of Dean Martin DVDs on sale for a buck apiece.
So, after looking over a few of the packages to see what guest stars were featured, I selected and bought one.
I found the DVD sort of awkward to watch, at times. Or perhaps 'corny' is a better word. Attitudes were different. Dean could appear in front of a camera while a cigarette, for example. Another factor, curiously enough, was that the quality of the video on the DVD was excellent, certainly as compared to the slightly fuzzy images displayed on the analog color television of questionable parentage that our family owned back when the show was being broadcast. As a result, watching the show's (all-female) backing dancers perform—with their bare midriffs, 70s hair styles, and dated motions—was enough to induce mild cognitive dissonance.
At any rate, watching clips from the Dean Martin show was an entirely different experience from a little while back, when I watched some old footage from the Red Skelton show. I used to really love watching Red Skelton, and maybe it was just an atypical clip that I saw, but it seemed to me that in it, Skelton spent almost as much time laughing at what he was about to say as saying it, and that what he was saying wasn't terribly funny.
But surprisingly enough, while some of the comedy on the Dean Martin disk has not improved with time (Martin and Sid Caesar take two girls to a drive-in), some of it would look quite respectable on the tube today (Martin interviewing Jonathan Winters in a skit). Moreover, the musical numbers Martin performed were quite good (although the ones during which he appears to be looking offstage at cue cards were sort of hard to look at; those looks killed the mood, as far as I was concerned).
In other news, Galina and I made pea soup for pretty much the first time (it's never been among my favorites), and it turned out rather well. Training Shiloh continues apace, and her behavior at the end of the leash today was better than it was yesterday (which is to say, she pulls a lot less).
Two of the three short items were done and sent back today. The client said I could take it easy with the third item, so I did. Whatever else happens tomorrow, I need to get started on the journal I have due in a little over a month.
Cheers...
