Shifts

Surprising headline from nypost.com: “Florida principal who paddled 6-year-old girl cleared of wrongdoing.” Although it’s allowed only in the presence of one of an offending child’s parents, it’s shocking to hear of such a practice nowadays. I lean toward its abolishment. Then again, I suffered several beatdowns from nuns and laugh at the memory.

From Reuters, edited by yours truly: Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is developing battery-powered technology for passenger pods that will hurtle at speeds of up to 750 miles an hour through almost air-free vacuum tunnels using magnetic levitation. It will seat 28. If all goes well, the target date is 2027. Get to work, sci-fi writers.

From NYP, another story idea for sci-fi writers. There are now pizza vending machines in Rome, of all places. One would have thought such an idea would have sprung from America. “Pay the equivalent of $5.20-$7.20 and Mr. Go Pizza kneads the dough, adds toppings and then cooks it behind a small glass window.”

Headline from NYP: “Scott Stringer joins Andrew Cuomo in paying the price for unfairly condemning Brett Kavanaugh.” Karma, Kramer.

Friday night’s movie fix was fun. 12 Hour Shift (2020) is the story of shenanigans at an Arkansas hospital. It mainly involves organ piracy. Things go south when a kidney is misplaced and bad guys want an immediate replacement. Blood flows. Although the narrative strains credulity, it is saved by dark humor and its offbeat nature. Angela Bettis is outstanding as a drug addled nurse, as is Julianna Dowler as a ditz whose error puts the plot in motion. Although I was unfamiliar with either, each has impressive credits, Dowler 25 as an actress, one as a director; Bettis 47 as an actress, two as a director. Most of the cast have successful careers going. It includes David Arquette and pro wrestling legend Mick Foley. The flick was written and directed by Brea Grant, her second full length feature. There are five other titles under her name at IMDb. She also has 85 credits as an actor, including arcs on Dexter and Heroes. She also has written nine scripts. 3000+ users at IMDb have rated 12 Hour Shift, forging to a consensus of 5.4 on a scale of ten. Its rating is higher at Rotten Tomatoes. It runs only 86 minutes, a plus. I think fans of black comedy would enjoy it. Released during the pandemic, it returned only $6000+ at the box office. It deserves better. Here’s Bettis in character:

RIP actress Tawny Kitaen, 59, cause of death not yet disclosed. She was so memorable in the The Nose Job episode of Seinfeld from season three, first aired in November 1991. She wasn’t the one who had the rhinoplasty. That was George’s girlfriend. She played the stunning bad actress Jerry at once lusted for and was repulsed by. She also appeared in three Whitesnake music videos with her then husband, lead singer David Coverdale. Overall, there are 45 titles under her name at IMDb. She did 47 episodes alone of the Santa Barbara soap opera, 44 of The New WKRP in Cincinnati, 38 of the animated Eek! The Cat, and ten of Mom’s Anonymous. She was a mother of two. Well done, madam. Thank you. Here she is as the bodacious Isabel:

The floating book shop was open only a half hour when the rain came. My thanks to the gentleman who bought a paperback in Russian, and to Bill Brown, author of Words and Guitar: A History of Lou Reed’s Music, who purchased three Verve label jazz CDs.

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