Anne Levine Show
Funny, weekly, sugar free: Starring "Michael-over-there."
Anne Levine Show
Super Bowl Celebs & Celery Surprise
We checked out the extravagance of Super Bowl 59, where celebrities dominated over 70% of commercials and Americans wagered a staggering $1.4 billion on a very lopsided game. Join us as we humorously unravel the spectacle, critiquing the lavishness amidst America's financial struggles, including the skyrocketing prices for everyday essentials like eggs. From Brad Pitt's metaphorical musings on unity to Lady Gaga's dazzling performance on Bourbon Street, we explore the eye-catching highlights—like Harry Connick Jr.'s musical magic with the LSU marching band and the quirky fashion choices of Travis Kelce.
Switch gears with us as we transition from the Super Bowl's glitz to the world of cinema. We highlight a movie, Amelia Perez, featuring Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez, while celebrating the groundbreaking achievements of a trans actress nominated for an Academy Award. Our conversation underscores the power of modern storytelling in shaping societal narratives. And for those craving a culinary adventure, discover the surprising charm of Ruhama's celery salad, a delightful dish that even celery skeptics might embrace.
Our journey doesn't stop there. We venture into quirky tales and literary treasures, from the mysterious "blue people" of Kentucky to the captivating novel "The Book Woman's Daughter." Finally, we reflect on stories of resilience, love, and courage—particularly the poignant return of Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Shirabi, and O Levy after their captivity in Gaza. With each chapter, we weave a rich tapestry of curiosity, discovery, and hope, celebrating the power of human connection in challenging times.
Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/
I want to know if you've ever eaten in a restaurant in Port Angeles.
Speaker 2:I don't believe, so I've driven through several times. Meanwhile, ten years later, my niece, the daughter of my sister, is getting married.
Speaker 1:The Anne Levine Show. If you're not listening, you need to be listening. I love this. A whole section of sharks. Oh, Mr Engineer.
Speaker 2:You guessed right it's time for the Ann Levine Show. This is today and everything else is yesterday's mashed potatoes.
Speaker 1:W-O-M-R 92.1 FM Provincetown and that over there is Michael. She is always right, always right. If there were no words, no fear. Hello. Welcome to the Ann Levine Show. It's February 11th or thereabouts 2025. And here's a tune I haven't heard in a very long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it seemed appropriate to me. It's called Valentine. It's just a couple days away from now.
Speaker 1:I wasn't thinking about that so much Cause I got other stuff on my mind, but that's nice. Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 2:How about?
Speaker 1:that Super.
Speaker 2:Bowl. Oh yeah, that was something.
Speaker 1:How about the overwhelming celebrity presence?
Speaker 2:That was so. That was a bit much for me really to tell you the truth. Well, the amount of you mean in the commercials or just in general? Well, I mean at the stadium. In the commercial, you know, I mean the teams got introduced by Jon Hamm and Bradley. Cooper, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It was really weird.
Speaker 2:I saw a thing I was telling you earlier. I saw a thing that said that in 2010, like the television commercials themselves for the Super Bowl featured, about 21% of them had celebrities in them. Now it's over 70%, yeah percent yeah and um, I don't know. It's eight million dollars for 30 seconds of airtime to do a commercial. It just all seems so yeah, it's insane um, here's the saddest here's saddest statistic I've heard so far 1.4 billion dollars bet bet by Americans on the Super Bowl. Yeah, billion, $1.4 billion, yes.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God.
Speaker 1:As I said recently, $100,000 a day for 500 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's what a billion is, I know.
Speaker 2:That's what a billion is, I know.
Speaker 1:That's insane. Well, I mean, the whole thing just reeked of money. And at a really, I think, bad time for that, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know it's not like everybody's you know, unless not like everybody's, unless you've got all the money. You're feeling a pinch right now $15 for a dozen eggs at Stop and Shop yeah yes, indeed, I mean, that's the highest price there, but, come on, I think the lowest price was $8 or $9. Yeah, and that's the highest price there, but, come on, I think the lowest price was eight or nine yeah, it's all that's.
Speaker 1:That's insane it's all crazy and the whole thing this going back to the super bowl, the whole thing was like brad pitt did this big intro intro about how the football huddle is the metaphor for America.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:And how we all huddle together. Yeah, we're all in it together, and that's how we get it done, and all I could think was does he believe one word he's saying? That was one of my thoughts. Another one was how much did they pay him? Yeah, it's got to be an astronaut, but I mean, it was all so money-soaked and tilted. Money-soaked and tilted the whole intro was really kind of nauseating.
Speaker 2:I mean, I liked the New Orleans part of it. You know, harry Connick Jr and the people in the crazy.
Speaker 1:Mardi.
Speaker 2:Gras outfits and stuff like that. That was cool.
Speaker 1:I met Brad Pitt's intro which was this whole pre-filmed whatever? Yeah, no thanks. But then there was Lady Gaga singing Don't Let Go of my Hand or Hold my Hand. Hold my Hand yeah, on Bourbon Street, surrounded by a choir and I don't know.
Speaker 2:everyone was like tom brady was standing around there well, yeah, he's, you know he's doing the this sports, yakking part of it now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, and all and all of these commentators but sort of like Michael Strahan, Terry Bradshaw, but everyone sort of standing around. It was like choreographed while Lady Gaga was singing, that you'd see this person and then that person. And it just reeked of money they had cleared off Bourbon Street and so yeah, which looked really strange to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that did not look right.
Speaker 1:It wasn't right, and I mean of all nights.
Speaker 2:Yeah, really in the.
Speaker 1:Super Bowls in New Orleans. Yeah nights, yeah, yeah, really. Super bowls in new orleans?
Speaker 2:yeah, well let's just clear off the busiest bar street in the city. Everybody wants to be watching the game right because they can't be at it, they can't afford it, uh, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So it was kind of everything was just stinky. Everything was just stinky with celebrities and money, I don't know. That was how I felt about it. I did like the thing on the field with Harry Connick Jr and the LSU marching band and the cheerleaders in their triangle bikinis.
Speaker 2:Right and the purple velvet brass band.
Speaker 1:The all-women, all-brass band.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I did not catch their names but they did have on lovely purple velvet jackets and the marching band was fantastic that was a lot of fun to see so anyway, um, that was the super bowl.
Speaker 2:I could not really handle and we saw travis walking in before you know that's what I wanted to mention we saw travis kelsey walking in to work today in the most, I don't know, outrageously bizarre.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at you, taylor, it's. Yeah, I mean he was wearing first of. I would have to call it symphony and pumpkin.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or rotten cantaloupe. Either one is fine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can see To describe the color Exactly how that works.
Speaker 1:The color palette he was using and it was this really strange kind of somewhat oversized suit. Yeah, the jacket was very long. He had matching tinted shades.
Speaker 2:He had jewelry and some kind of strange color blocking kind of thing going on with it too.
Speaker 1:It was just shocking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was really, it was the most. Oh, you called it. What did you call him? Oh, the pumpkin pumpkin pimp. Yeah, pumpkin spice pimp or something, yeah.
Speaker 1:Exactly that's what he looked like. It was not anything anyone would wear ever, except for Travis Kelsey, brought to you by Taylor Swift in a moment that at some point he's going to look at those pictures and regret it, maybe even now. I mean, I want to hear what other commentators have to say about it. I've got to look up who made that damn thing you know.
Speaker 2:The thing with commentators is that they won't talk about his fashion. They'll talk about what taylor was wearing no, that's.
Speaker 1:Are you kidding me? They're to tear that suit apart, stitch by stitch.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know. We don't have the fashion police anymore, so who's going to do that?
Speaker 1:We got plenty of people on E that are doing all of this Plenty of them Well, yeah, well, this outfit sort of deserves it, in my opinion. Yeah, I mean, I was just truly shocked watching him walking into the stadium and knowing that somebody spent a lot of time and a lot of money putting this assery together. This assery together, travis Kelsey, brought to you by assery Assery.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Oh, by Tay-Tay, Assery by Tay-Tay God that was just, I would say, out of everything that happened in Super Bowl 59, that was for me the biggest moment.
Speaker 2:That was the thing right there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was it. Anyway. Yeah, america, oh yeah America, oh yeah, everyone's in a big heap of trouble everybody's hurting.
Speaker 2:We're all in it together.
Speaker 1:We're all in the huddle.
Speaker 2:We're all like alone in a huddle it's the huddled masses, oh yeah we are, we're the huddled masses. Oh, yeah, yeah, we are, we're the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, thanks, emma Lazarus, wretched refuse, yeah On your teeming shores On our teeming shores. There you go. Man Damn Brad Pitt you go. Yeah, yeah, ugh. And he's so freaking annoying. He is that guy. I mean, he's there doing this thing. Yeah, he's letting that rumble get into his voice.
Speaker 2:Right, well, yeah, he's Brad Pitt.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, but he's like what now? 65?
Speaker 2:range. Yeah, he's around there, I suppose.
Speaker 1:And he looks like he's 40. And I'm not being generous Like it could have been 30.
Speaker 2:He looks 40. 61. He just turned 61 in December.
Speaker 1:Well he looks 20 years younger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he does.
Speaker 1:And I just wanted to slap him and, as I said to Michael, michael wasn't in the room to view that part.
Speaker 2:No, I heard the beginning of the Brad Pitt thing and I told you I'm like I don't know why he's talking. What does he have to do with football? And I explained to you I could not listen to any of that he has nothing to do with football.
Speaker 1:He was doing a commercial for America.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah.
Speaker 1:The home of the brightest. And what's the other word that we are?
Speaker 2:Dumb. We're bright, but we're, you know we're really. We like to shine our dumb to the world the best and the brightest to the world, the best and the brightest.
Speaker 1:Anyway, yeah, it was super. It was so tone-deaf, so tone-deaf.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a very good way of putting it, I think.
Speaker 1:I said to Michael that if I ever see him walking past me on the street, I'm sticking my foot out yeah, just tripping going for the trip, the big trip I mean I want. What I would want to do is just like get in front of him and just slap him right across the face, but the trip feels more passive. Yeah, it's like oops my foot got in the way.
Speaker 2:Sorry, Mr Brad Pitt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, sorry, mr America. Glad your divorce went through.
Speaker 2:I really liked him in the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He was great in that movie.
Speaker 1:He was yeah, and my other.
Speaker 2:That's my favorite Brad Pitt performance.
Speaker 1:I have a second one, which is Thelma and Louise.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's like, which is like his first big movie, first big movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, and so I yeah, there are some. Obviously there are some decent Brad Pitt moments, yeah, but oh, inglourious Bastards.
Speaker 2:He was great in that. Yep, he was goofy, but he was great.
Speaker 1:Now come on, let's not get too pro-Pitt here. Well, you know yeah, what, what.
Speaker 2:I am terribly impressed by the whole Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really am. I am too. I was so blown away by it.
Speaker 2:That whole film was amazing, yeah, so yeah, so if you haven't seen that people that's another recommendation.
Speaker 1:Don't say how it ends From the Anne Lev. It ends. No spoilers, so anyway, yeah, america.
Speaker 2:Yeah, football yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hot, hot damn.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Tailgate. Who can afford to even go to that game?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I mean you got to. What does a ticket cost? That's a good question. I'll look it up while you're talking about something else.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I've been doing quite a bit of reading lately. Doing quite a bit of reading lately, I've been having a hard time watching anything. Watching anything streaming, or did we talk about now I can't remember what it's called now Amelia Perez, did we?
Speaker 2:talk about that, no. All right, and the average price for a ticket, by the way, was around $3,600. The average price yeah, from $2,000 to over $11,000. Okay, from 2,000 to over 11,000.
Speaker 1:Okay, so proving my point, which is that the whole thing just reeks of money, no one's there that doesn't have cash to burn, right, it's just insane, god. Anyway, all right, whatever. So Zoe Saldana.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah the movie.
Speaker 1:Selena.
Speaker 2:Gomez, that's right.
Speaker 1:I was very surprised to see her in it when we were watching it, and I'm forgetting the name of the woman who's nominated for the Academy Award, yeah, trans woman who there's some kind of kerfuffle with. I feel really bad. Just speaking completely emptily about the cast, can you look up the cast?
Speaker 2:Let's see Carla Sophia Gascon.
Speaker 1:I think that's the person. She's the one that was nominated is nominated.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:For Best Supporting.
Speaker 2:Nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Really, yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, I didn't know that. Yep, really, wow, I didn't know that. Anyhow, a very interesting film and a very modern film. I definitely didn't talk about this already.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure you did not talk about this, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's modern in the sense that the way that it's conceived and written, this is going to sound ridiculous. The way it's written, conceived.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, All of that.
Speaker 1:And portrayed.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what? All of those things are very different for this movie. I thought it was weird.
Speaker 1:Yes, michael thought it was weird. Yes, michael thought it was weird. Meaning what? Can you unpack that a little?
Speaker 2:Well, the all of a sudden, we're going to break into a musical bit, but only for like 30 seconds and then we're going to go back to the movie and that's very, very strange, but it takes these little musical breaks a lot. So, yeah, and I just thought, I don't know, I just thought it was weird. It didn't seem like a musical enough like a musical to be a musical, but there was too much music in it and too much singing and dancing for it not to be.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I disagree with you in the sense. I disagree with you, ebert, in the sense that we're not talking La La Land here. It's not actually a musical. It's not actually a musical, um, and anything that did happen with some music in it was definitely pushing the story forward and the lyrics right, like a, like a broadway musical. See, that's, that's how I'm looking at it yeah, no, no, I mean, I would not say to anyone oh, if you love Broadway musicals, here's a film for you.
Speaker 2:I also would not say that. Yeah, no, but I also wouldn't say it's not a musical, okay.
Speaker 1:I totally. I would look up the definition of musical.
Speaker 2:I have a particular definition.
Speaker 1:It's very basic. I know you you do.
Speaker 2:It's a movie that has people singing and dancing in it. Um, as you know, part of the part of the normal action of the movie, yeah, I didn't think it was normal action.
Speaker 1:It didn't seem normal to me. It didn't seem like it didn't seem at any point like I'm watching a musical. I never felt like that. I felt like, oh, this is going to be one of those weird brief kind of transitional things. I don't know the sets, the lighting, the colors, all of that it's all very cool.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the thing. I think that the music parts of it were kind of cool. I think the whole thing was cool and I think they're definitely the audience. We are not the demographic for that film, I believe that, no, we're not the demographic for many films anymore.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, they're aiming at a much younger audience, and an audience that is I mean films are changing dramatically compared to what they were when, when they were films. Yes, yeah. When what was for us the golden age, let's say in the 90s, and things are really different and they're getting more and more different, and so I feel like this is kind of on the cutting edge of you know, the thin edge of the wedge. Do you like a wedge Speaking?
Speaker 2:of salad.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you do, and you like the original, the OG wedge. Well, I don't like blue cheese, so that's typically part of the OG, but no, yeah Well, so no, you're not a wedge guy.
Speaker 2:No, but I'm a wedge guy. Just get rid of the blue cheese and put something else on it. Yeah, yeah, and put something else on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now see to me that was one of those things that and I think it still is in some ways and there's a reason I'm suddenly talking about this that was always an excuse to eat bacon and blue cheese under the guise of salad.
Speaker 2:I understand. Yeah, I get that yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, take away either one of those items and it's like what's the point?
Speaker 2:Yeah?
Speaker 1:With a little bacon next to it. You know who needs that Right? No one. That right no one. However, I have been following. Well, let me just get back to the film it's it's definitely a vision of where film is going in a lot of ways and what it sounds like, what it looks like um the story, which is really wild, uh yeah yeah, it's a very.
Speaker 1:I mean it's so out there. Um, I mean it's so out there, not the fact that there's a transition in the film, but that. Did I call those musical parts transitionals? I think you did. Yeah, I meant in terms of, but it's not the fact that it has trans people in it, it's the.
Speaker 1:it's just such a wild story and you know the fact that you have this drug lord this cartel boss who has always wanted to transition and who also needs to go quote underground because he's in big, big trouble and so he transitions. And you have these two reasons. The one is what we typically hear about, which is someone has always felt like they're in the wrong body, misgendered, yeah, but you know doing it because you need a new Right, you need a new identity. Right, a literal one, so you know you won't be found out by your enemies.
Speaker 1:Right, that makes it a little extreme, but yeah, especially like this big criminal, drug lord right doesn't seem like someone that would be in touch with, maybe that's, I don't know. I I've probably I haven't really spoiled it. I mean that all comes out in the first 10 minutes. Yeah, um, you know the crux of the story. And then it unfolds, and Zoe's part is really interesting too. Her, her whole jump from you know, sort of legal secretary, legal, what's the word that I'm missing?
Speaker 2:here Assistant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, To well watch it. Yeah, yeah, At the very least it's interesting and it is streaming, so and it is streaming and it's from France. Well, yeah, france, and where else? Mexico? I think it takes place in Mexico, but I think it's a Canal French production.
Speaker 2:It's under international feature film from France. They are from France, from France. So hey, by the way, you're listening to the Ann Levine show 92.1.
Speaker 1:WOMR.
Speaker 2:And 91.3 FM.
Speaker 1:Orleans.
Speaker 2:That's right, we're streaming worldwide at WOMRorg. We sure are. Just in case you didn't know.
Speaker 1:In case someone forgot to say all that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Who could it be? I don't know Ann. All that, yeah, who could it be? I don't know Ann Levine. Yeah, I may have opened the show by saying hi, what date is it? Yeah, Hello, who are you and who am I? Okay, so salad back to the wedge leads me to a great salad adventure that I'm on. Yes.
Speaker 2:That we are on I am aware of this adventure.
Speaker 1:Okay, so on Instagram I follow a few different cooks, slash chefs, and one of them is an Israeli woman who actually lives in the Boston area and her name is Ruhama. If you want to look her up, it's R-U-H-A-M-A and I think it's Ruhama's food, but you can just search on Instagram for Ruhama and you'll find her and she. I'm obsessed by her cooking and it's all Israeli, slash, well, israeli. And she does salads. She does all these interesting salads. She does tons of other stuff too, but I saw her do this one thing a few weeks ago a celery salad. Now, I don't like celery, no, no, you're not a fan, no until I saw her make this salad and I was sort of like wait a minute, that looks really good, yeah, maybe pretty good that sounds like you know from what she's describing and what she's showing like something I would actually like that's celery-based.
Speaker 1:And I got in touch with a friend of mine who also follows her and I said what is the deal with this celery salad? I should say it's Sean. I can say her name. She'll be thrilled. Hey, sean. I said what's the deal with Ruhama and the celery salads? You know, what do you think? She said oh, I've made that. And I said how was it? She said oh, I've made that. And I said how was it? She said fantastic. She said but I made it twice. And the second time I made it, my husband said please don't make that salad anymore. And she said why? And he said it's too crunchy.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, so, yeah, so it's too crunchy, oh my God.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so it's too crunchy. Now I thought, all right, I can't with him.
Speaker 2:It is a little, I mean it's crunchy.
Speaker 1:It's delicious crunchy.
Speaker 2:That is a fact, it is very crunchy. However, come on.
Speaker 1:Well, not only that. I mean you're going to have a celery salad and think it's not going to be crunchy. Meanwhile, you have a few options with this. You can make it and eat it immediately, which will be at premium crunch time.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Or you can put it in its dressing and let it sit in the fridge overnight and, you know, uncrunch it a little bit. Let me tell you what's in it and it might not sound like what you want, but it is. The salad is like crack, like Like I can eat this stuff. I told my uncle we need to prepare. I'll probably be so sick of this in two or three weeks, but right now it's all I can think of. So you've got celery cucumber chickpeas that's optional. Celery cucumber apple I think it really benefits from the apple. Ours didn't have apple in it, but I would love apple in it. Cilantro did I say that already? Nope, cilantro Did I say that already? Nope. Then you've got a dressing. So all that stuff. You, you know, you cube little bite-sized pieces of all of that stuff and chickpeas and then lime Pieces of all of that stuff and chickpeas and then lime. So there's a lot of lime in here, Lime zest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the zest of a lime and the juice of two of them.
Speaker 1:Right, and your dressing is lime juice, tahina or tahini as you may call it olive oil ceylon, which is date syrup yeah you could also, if you need to want to, you could use honey, you could use maple syrup, um in your dressing with your, and some salt and salt like rough, coarse salt, and then we used spices that you may or may not be familiar with. Za'atar sumac what else was in there?
Speaker 2:uh chia seeds chia seeds, rough salt yep anyway, that's pretty much the whole deal right there it is so unbelievably delicious that I want some right now.
Speaker 1:If it wasn't so crunchy, I would have brought a portion with me. Anyhow, I recommend that and anyone interested in the actual recipe and not just my sort of recitation, my big let me know, and not just my sort of recitation, my vague, let me know, because I've got it all ready to send.
Speaker 1:Yeah, send and print and make Gosh, it's good. And of course, you can do anything with this. You can add apple, you can subtract chickpeas, you can add scallions I was thinking that would be really good like some green onion in there, mm-hmm, or any, like a little red onion in there, right, you really can. Oh, and then sprinkle toasted almonds on top.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep yep, sprinkle toasted almonds on top. Yep, yep, yep. So, anyhow it's, it's basically once you've got your cucumbers and your celery in the bowl, you can go anywhere. I know that there are people that can't tolerate cilantro. All right, so use flat leaf parsley or whatever herb. Um you, you really can't go wrong. And so I've got to write a note to ruhama and tell her that she has greatly improved the healthfulness of and I do pretty well in that you do.
Speaker 2:It was really crazy to watch you chomp it down on some celery.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is something I oh. You could put little match to carrots in there. I'm thrilled, I'm thrilled.
Speaker 2:Or maybe a little A raisin Dates or a cranberry Dates. Well, you got the date syrup, so you know I was thinking something A little smaller.
Speaker 1:Well, the reason that we have date syrup, that I said to use the Ceylon, is because I said Get the dates, which is Now see. The thing With the dates Is they add a texture. Yeah, true, they add that kind of chewy. Yeah, deliciousness that they have.
Speaker 2:And you said, oh, but we have date syrup and I said oh, I say yeah, I said oh perfect, yeah, because we just got that you, yeah, I just ordered a whole bunch of not available at Stop and Shop on Cape Cod. Items no Although I think we can get za'atar now. You can get za'atar yeah but you're not going to get sumac.
Speaker 1:You're not going to get sumac, you're not going to get silan. I mean, I can think of where you could get whatever.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I know where to get all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, it was fun ordering my little oh, and I got my eggplant, my pickled eggplant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's fun to order occasionally. So I was starting to say I've been reading a lot lately and I really can highly recommend the Comfort of Crows by a woman named Margaret Yankee, and she is a writer. That sounds stupid she's a journalist, is what I mean to say and this is actually something of a memoir. It's a memoir that reads like a novel and it's not a memoir of her life, it's a memoir of six months of her life and it's all about the nature right around her house. And she lives in a neighborhood, like many or most of our neighborhoods that aren't city, in a city, um, and you know, on a.
Speaker 1:She's got a little lawn in front and one in back and but she lets her property go wild, so she doesn't plant anything, um, cultivated. You know she's got wild flowers in her garden. The grass is allowed to grow to a particular height, no pesticides. She's feeding all the birds different things at different times. She makes sure. So it's about her taking care of the nature right around her. You know, that's literally right around her, and she and her husband have this way that they live and interact with the wildlife right around them and they nurture it, so they grow. Oh, shoot. What are they called Michael the berries that blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are called something berries Support oh shoot, oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Are called something berries Support oh shoot, oh, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Berries that are meant for birds to eat oh okay, I don't know what that term is or for wildlife to eat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, oh.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry people, I'm very yeah well, we can move on without the word, though I guess we can move on without the word yeah, anyhow, shoot.
Speaker 1:So they do grow those things, the wild versions of them, but they don't eat them. They keep those going for the birds and the other things and they take care of the moles and the skinks and the frogs and the everything. And so she describes this book starts January 1 of any given year, and it's just fascinating. It also is for me anyway oddly comforting, even though she certainly pays attention to changes in the planet, to climate change and to bad things that are happening her concern for what's going to happen to wild birds and wildlife in general in the future and what she can already see happening now. So it's not like, you know, cinderella, uh, the mice and the birds, cinderella, the mice and the birds sweetly singing, there's all kinds of stuff going on.
Speaker 2:And what's the book called? Again, the.
Speaker 1:Comfort of Crows, so it's comforting in the sense that it's about the wildlife around her house and it could be the wildlife around your house. It's a matter of being willing to make these compromises with. Are you going to use pesticides, aren't you? Are you going to do these other things that are maybe good for the wildlife, but don't give you the lawn that you want? And she talks about the travesty of lawns, and I completely agree that lawns are kind of a terrible thing, and, given that I'm the biggest hypocrite in my neck of the woods, yeah, we do have a giant lawn, yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyhow. Comfort of Crows by Margaret Yankee, Highly recommend, one of the better things I've read of late. Then two books that I ended up reading because they were recommended to me. I have a friend group. It's five women and we actually talk about nature and wildlife on Cape Cod a lot, and someone was telling us about these fireflies in Kentucky that their lights flash synchronously. Really, you heard about this, right? No, I haven't heard this. Remember I said we were going to all get in a van and drive to Kentucky to see these fireflies blinking in unison. And there's this one place where this happens.
Speaker 1:That's very cool and because we had been talking about that, someone recommended reading the Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michelle Richardson, because it takes place in the 40s. Michael, when was the big coal mine disaster down there in the WPA? It must have been like the late 30s, early 40s, right, yeah, right, and in the hills, right. No place you can get to buy any automated vehicle then or now. So this is, you know, once you like, drive to X point and then you have to get on your mount are you know people, many of whom are starving to death. It was one of those horrendous times in this country, in that state. We have horrendous times everywhere.
Speaker 1:But the reason this was recommended is because of the Kentucky aspect of it the book woman's daughter and because of the fact that this takes place in such a remote quote, rural area. And these are people who have no way to get supplies, let's say, if someone gets sick or hurts themselves, they have to rely on. Okay, what do we have, you know, out the door or in the house staying warm, so you know even that, and you've got your wood stove and that's doing all the heat, and I know people still have wood stoves. I'm just. I'm trying desperately to give an atmospheric taste here and it's not working, I feel it not working.
Speaker 1:I deeply it, michael. Anyhow, oh, I'm, I'm with you on that yeah, I know.
Speaker 1:Um, anyway, that's so. The book woman's daughter is actually the second of two books. The first one one is the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. They're both by Kim Michelle Richardson. The Book Woman's Daughter is the better book and I enjoyed it. So I went back to read the first novel and I didn't like it as much, and that might be because I read them out of order. But I do recommend Book Woman's Daughter, kim Michelle Richardson. And there were people who had blue tint to their skin and some who still do. Do you know anything about that, michael?
Speaker 2:are we still talking about this book?
Speaker 1:yes, uh, no, okay so what's on your list?
Speaker 2:um, you know that's funny. You were talking about skin. What the heck is it? There is a component in one of the uh sodas out there that makes your skin transparent. I can't remember which one it is. I don't One of the common. Like you know, popular fizzy, drink, soda things out there can make your skin invisible. Mm-hmm, yeah, so I mean literally. Yeah, yeah, so I mean literally. Yeah, they found this out, they've, they've used this chemical and they've, and they've used it on, um, the skin of mice and it's made their skin invisible that's so bizarre, so they're transparent yes now do they just, you know, like, slam back that soda all the time I think they're, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:Um, oh wait, it's doritos. It's not a soda, it's something that's in Doritos.
Speaker 1:Oh well, you're in trouble. I know no wonder you're so pale.
Speaker 2:That is very funny, isn't it? Mm-hmm, and that reminded me of the other thing that I needed to talk about.
Speaker 1:Please, by all means, the Doritos.
Speaker 2:I have to try stuff so people don't have to Thank God. And yesterday I found have to try stuff, so people don't have to thank god. And uh, yesterday I found sizzling cheeseburger flavored doritos and I tried them how can I have waited a whole 24 hours?
Speaker 1:yeah I still haven't tried one. Well, tell all about it.
Speaker 2:They're good. I like them. I didn't expect to, but it tastes like you know. It's got that flavor like an Impossible Burger or you know, Guardian Burger, like you eat. It's got the cheese on it because it's a Dorito. It's got a little bit of like a pickle flavor thing going on in it. I don't know what. It's just a tiny bit, but oh, it's good.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:They are really yummy. I'm surprised, I'm very surprised at that. Well, there you go. Yeah, I didn't want to'm very surprised at that. Well, there you go. Yeah, I didn't want to like them, but I do.
Speaker 1:Well, now that.
Speaker 2:And my skin, apparently, is disappearing.
Speaker 1:Apparently, it is Now that you've told us about what are they called Sizzling Cheeseburger?
Speaker 2:Yeah, doritos, uh-huh.
Speaker 1:I can tell you about the fugue, the fugates um, who are commonly known as the blue fugates, the blue people of kentucky, an ancestral family living in the hills of kentucky starting in the 19th century, where they have a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder called methemoglobinemia, which causes the skin to appear blue. So this is an actual thing. Completely unknown to me whether or not there are still Kentucky blue people, but if you go ahead and look them up online, there are photographs and explanations.
Speaker 2:That's crazy.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and it's this rare blood mutation. So that Now, so you know, because what would it be if not American Blue people, people who had this trait, this blood disorder, were considered to be? I don't even know how to put this. The racism in the hills of Kentucky was beyond out of control.
Speaker 2:You know I mean constant lynchings. So we were racist against blue people as well.
Speaker 1:Worse.
Speaker 2:Worse yeah.
Speaker 1:So Great. Yes, so the blue people were treated. I mean, they were lynched, they were ostracized, what the hell? Oh yeah, and that if they touched you you might get sick or some horrible thing might come your way.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the, and of course, anytime it was, you know, different water fountains for different color groups. They were with Native Americans Wow, excuse me African Americans.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah.
Speaker 1:And Native Americans for that matter, right, but yeah, so they were the victims of horrendous hatred and mistreatment. So that's the other story in these books that is fascinating and you probably never heard about it. I certainly had never heard about it before. So about blue people no, I hadn't either.
Speaker 1:So that's what I've got for you in reading this week. Reading this week, Highly recommended. Well, happy Valentine's Day everybody. I hope you feel love, I hope you get some love and, most importantly, I hope you give some love. Best way to get it. Uh, For Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Shirabi and O Levi. Eli Shirabi and O Levy, three men who were held hostage in Gaza for what's it been now almost 16 months, just came home, not in very good shape, but alive. And for them, and for the hostages, dead and alive, who are still in Gaza, please put a light on your prayers will be answered.
Speaker 2:Let God whisper how To tell me you need me. I see that you're bleeding. You don't need to show me again, but if you decide to, I'll ride in this life with you. I won't let go till the end. So God with you. I won't let go till the end, so you can cry. I won't leave till I understand. Promise you just hold my hand, hold my hand, hold my. Hold my hand, hold my hand. I'll be right here. Hold my hand, hold my hand, hold my. Hold my hand, hold my hand, warm my head. Hold my hand. I'll be right here on my hand. I know you're scared and your pain isn't perfect, but don't you give up on yourself. I heard a story, a girl. She once told me that I would be happy again. Oh my, oh my.
Speaker 1:Oh my, oh my heart, oh my heart, oh my heart, oh my heart, oh my heart, oh my heart, oh my heart.
Speaker 2:I heard from the heavens.
