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Batkit Crazy
If Einstein Simplified ever wins the lottery, there are a lot of responsible things I should do with my share. However former member Wes Hope and I may just have to buy a Batmobile instead. We basically agreed to do so via Twitter.
Three years ago I met a local guy who was making his own Batmobile from a kit. As I recall, his was going to have a back seat for his kids.
The big news this week is that an Indiana man named Mark Racop is selling an officially licensed replica Batmobile on eBay. He meticulously studied footage of of the classic TV show and actual cars from the series.
Once Wes and I buy the car with our imaginary winnings, we can start looking to buy a place to keep it. I’m thinking Cherokee Caverns.
Nu Order
Steve Smith of Food City doesn’t know that I fancy myself to someday be another Chef Walter or another Ken Schwall. However, he may have started to realize it after meeting me and hearing my questions at his press conference on Monday. The Tombras Group invited me to attend the event to learn more about the introduction of the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System at Food City. I will be voicing some endorsement commercials for them next month.
NuVal is an independent research company in Braintree, Massachusetts. They developed an algorithm that assigns a number between 1 and 100 to thousands of food products. The higher the number, the better it is for you. For example, bananas score an excellent 91 on the scale but Banana Creme Pudding & Pie Filling gets a measly 1. The new TV spot sums it up perfectly. A mother and father tell their kids that if they eat their 85s and 94s, they can have a slice of 13 later.
The three news stations sent cameras. WATE also sent Tearsa Smith to cover the announcement. The Knoxville News Sentinel sent a photographer and business reporter Carly Harrington, who took copious notes for her article. She posted a blog entry too.
Public relations executive Laura Bower urged those of us present to ask questions, which she may now regret. Tearsa asked a legitimate question and so did I but when things started to slow down, I asked another one as a joke: “Can I earn some of those Fuel Bucks Rewards by getting a higher NuVal score?”
Osseous Anomaly on the Mesophalangeal
If my DVR could talk, it might have asked me why I was setting it to record “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Monday. I’ve seen more minutes of Oprah clips on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” than I have seen minutes of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Thanks to Facebook, I had been tipped off that Monday’s Oprah episode featured Angie Harmon visiting the National Forensic Academy in Oak Ridge. My son and I got a tour of the building over the summer.
Harmon dusted for fingerprints and flung some blood at the wall at the NFA. She went to the morgue at the UT Medical Center but did not get to visit the Body Farm, which is just across the parking lot. Instead, the instructors had Harmon search for a mannequin they had buried in the woods a few years ago. Last week, Susan from the Bone Zones team emailed some pictures of the Body Farm gate (not this one) to Oprah’s producers but the photos weren’t used on air.
Harmon, the star of “Rizzoli & Isles,” coincidentally has a dream job that promotes her TV show. Oprah outsmarted her by airing the segment two weeks after “Rizzoli and Isles” ended its season. Tony Danza’s dream job is a TV show. He filmed a reality series in which he taught high school English for a year since he has mastered the subject. Like millions of viewers, Serena Williams’ dream job was to give Oprah a pedicure.
LZTYBRN
A scene from “Toy Story 2″ nearly played out in real life on Saturday as my mother and sister held a garage sale. A shopper spotted an old toy of mine that wasn’t supposed to be included in the sale. Some handymen had accidentally carried an extra couple of boxes out of the basement, including the one containing a replica of the tanker ship SS Texaco North Dakota. There was no price tag on the battery-powered toy ship and the customer wanted to know how much my sister would accept for it.
Texaco toys were very popular in the 1960s. When I was a boy, I sailed the tanker in the lagoon in front of my grandparents’ house. Apparently it has been sitting in a basement on Long Island for years. I didn’t realize that it was still in the family.
My sister called me to see if I was willing to sell. She even put the customer on the phone when I asked how much he was offering. He wouldn’t name a price but seemed to know a lot about the toy. He repeatedly said that my tanker showed signs of wear and tear, which made sense. The man’s persistence prompted me to search the Internet for the toy’s value. Boats like it are priced at $450 in mint condition. A more realistic price range on eBay and elsewhere is $200 to $250 for one in good condition. The guy wasn’t just looking for a bargain. He was looking for a steal, which is why my sister decided not to sell it to him.
Don’t Say the Text!
Knoxville Catholic High School’s football team took a drubbing from Webb School of Knoxville on Friday night. My wife and I saw a lot of people we know at the game. I was there to join Lori Tucker in announcing the winner of the 6 Shares High School Football Challenge. Webb won that too, though Second Harvest Food Bank was the real winner with over 112,000 pounds of food collected by the two schools.
Late in the game, my wife and I were chatting with two of the guys who run the concession stands as Bishop Richard Stika and Deacon Sean Smith walked past. The bishop stopped short and took a step back to look me in the eye. “You got me in trouble” he said jokingly. The bishop went on to say that my blog post about Cardinal Justin Rigali’s eventual retirement plans had been noticed by the secular press before the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was ready to make an announcement. I pointed out that I had copied and pasted a quote from Bishop Stika’s own blog. He said it was the words “Southern Cardinal” in my headline that caused a stir. It was merely a twist on the official name of the red bird, which is Northern Cardinal, I explained.
My favorite part of the story is something my wife noticed while Bishop Stika and I were talking. She said that the concession guys slowly backed away when they heard the bishop start to “scold” me. They probably didn’t realize that the bishop and I have spoken before. On Friday, we had been chatting at halftime about St. Louis ice cream parlors. I even made some mild jokes at his expense at a Catholic Charities dinner in March, so I had it coming.
Six Eight Ten
Michele Silva will be unhappy with me. Although she and I had our picture taken with her camera for her Facebook page, I didn’t get a shot of her with my camera. She was one of the many local media people serving hot dogs and chips at the annual “Downtown United for United Way” fundraiser on Friday. As usual, Michele teased me about the time I spent talking with the other female news anchors. I missed getting a picture of Michele but I did photograph 14 other news, sports and weather ‘casters and Mayor Bill Haslam.
From WATE: Matt Hinkin, Tearsa Smith, Lori Tucker, Bo Williams, Jim Wogan (keep looking)
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From WVLT: Lauren Davis, Daryl Hobby, Shirley Nash-Pitts, Rick Russo, Mike Simon
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From WBIR: John Becker, Abby Ham, Steve Phillips, Robin Wilhoit
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Gotta Go Right Now
The announcement of America’s Best Restroom has me counting the days until my next trip to St. Louis. Unfortunately I’ll have to hold in my enthusiasm until January.
The winner of this year’s award is The Fountain on Locust, an art-deco ice cream parlor and restaurant. I can’t believe I haven’t already been there. I’ve been to Ted Drewes a couple of times and to Fitz’s American Grill and Crown Candy Kitchen once each.
After reading the news, I scoured through The Fountain’s menu. If only I could eat it all. The salads sound good but it’s the ice cream desserts that have me salivating, especially:
Dark and Sinister
Tall glass coated with hot fudge, filled with Zanzibar chocolate ice cream, topped with marshmallow sauce and a chocolate coin. $6.29Standing Banana Split
A tall glass with a bruléed banana and scoops of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream, layered with fresh raspberry sauce and hot fudge. Topped with real whipped cream. $6.99
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