James Earl Jones (Jan 17 1931 – Sept 9 2024) Jones not only gave permission but worked with Disney/Lucas Film to preserve the voice of Darth Vader through digital A.I. so the character can continue indefinitely. Click here to watch him read the alphabet.

Dick Tracy Zooms In – Warren Beatty made a Dick Tracy movie back in 1990. There were never any sequels made but it wasn’t from lack of trying on Beatty’s part, who actually owns the rights to the character. Every couple of decades he releases a TV special, a short film made on zero budget, that the courts recognize as sequels. This allows him to retain ownership of the character for the sole purpose of not letting anyone else do anything with it. Dick Tracy Zooms In is the latest of these, here’s a link. The 2023 special, broadcast by TCM, features a Zoom call in which at one point Dick Tracy and Warren Beatty are on the call at the same time. I watched it but very few people do; in fact being impossible to watch is sort of what they were going for. This latest sequel will allow Beatty to retain rights to the character until it becomes public domain in 2027.

I really wanted this story to be true… but it’s not. What is true is that (as of 2021) the red eared sliders Cuff and Link were still alive and well. Stallone says they make an appearance in the 2018 film Creed II. Although he posted the pic to his Instagram account he never meant to imply he owned and cared for the turtles himself. Joseph Marks who was the original owner, and the owner of J&M Tropical Fish where Adrian worked in the movie, says the turtles were loaned to the film and returned afterwards. The two females were about five years old at the time in 1976. Marks’ nephew John Stuart has cared for them all these years. So all the details of the meme are true, the turtles are alive (or were) in 2021, that is Stallone pictured with them, he just never claimed they had been his pets all this time. As fake stories go this one is not so bad.

That’s not exactly what happened. Tupperware suffered an image problem. My mother and grandmother owned Tupperware products and as far back as the 1960’s my mother went to “Tupperware parties.” The products were well made and lasted a long time but I think shoppers today associate the brand with their grandmothers. Abercrombie and Fitch is an old company that it made itself relevant again by rebranding as A&F. Another issue may be cost. Tupperware is well made but not exactly cheap, and today Zip Lock and others make disposable containers that don’t have to be washed and can simply be thrown away. We’re talking about leftovers here and an empty margarine tub will work just as well as overpriced Tupperware.

It may not be an ancient Egyptian pyramid with historical, cultural and religious significance but being shaped like a pyramid is exactly what makes it a pyramid. Bass Pro Shop may have cultural significance in the US now that I think about it.

I asked a Facebook group why digital multimeters still have an analog dial. There are a few good reasons why most of the devices are made this way but apparently that is a multi-positional switch, not a dial, and because it has a dozen or so preset values it is actually digital. The knob is mechanical, not analog, and 200 or 300 people quickly let me know that I don’t understand what analog means. Many of them were in the UK or Australia and kept writing analogue. There are some digital meters with digital inputs such as touchscreens and such but most users agree this is easier to use and quicker to read.

Good news Red Lobster fans. The seafood chain is coming out of bankruptcy and will continue to operate 544 locations. We discussed the issues leading Red Lobster to declare bankruptcy back in March of this year.

It’s candy corn season. I’m corny 11 months out of the year and during October I’m candy corny. Let me share with you the honest truth: I was never the world’s biggest fan of candy corn. It gets a lot of hate and I didn’t have anything against it so I decided to double down on how much I love it. Same thing with black jelly beans. But I may have over-exaggerated my love for this confection as other people began to embrace my fondness as legitimate. A sweet old lady at church gave me a container of candy corn and even brought me a magazine article about the history of the stuff. My father-in-law learned about having groceries delivered during the pandemic and around that same time discovered he could order from Amazon and have those things delivered anywhere. Last year I got a 3.5 lb. tub of candy corn delivered to the house and he may have forgotten that did that and sent another. I like candy corn but 7 pounds of it proved to be more than we could handle between October and the following spring. Eating candy corn is not a defining aspect of my personality like lollipops were for Kojak. I realize I did this to myself.

Well that’s pretty self-explanatory. Everything related to nerd culture ended up on the Big Bang Theory in one way or another and Sean Astin had a recurring role on the final season. His character was kind of a jerk on that show; BBT reruns get played a lot. I would worry about that being my legacy but surely the beloved Samwise Gamgee will outlive the sitcom role in the hearts of fans.