Happy Halloween

Start spreading the oleo

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Frank Sinatra was into crossword puzzles.

After his name appeared in the New York Times crossword in the early 1980s he wrote a thank-you note to puzzle editor Eugene T. Maleska, starting a friendship that lasted for many years.

Here's a letter he wrote to Maleska about his first brush with crosswords as a Hoboken teenager:

[Letters of Note]
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Carrie Fisher speaks

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I mean, sure, she does that throughout her autobiographical one-woman show, Wishful Drinking, because that's what you do in an autobiographical one-woman show. What I'm referring to is a post-show Q&A session in which she generously participated after a press performance I caught the other night.

Of course, it may not have been entirely altruistic in that the assembled Qers were (a few) journalists and (a lot of) bloggers in a position to promote the show to a wide audience. Attending on behalf of both Flavorpill Chicago and this blog, I wore both hats.

Far be it from me to criticize, but my fellow scribes roundly failed to make the most of the opportunity. Forget asking questions that might evoke interesting responses; they barely asked questions at all, instead attempting to impress Carrie Fisher with racy or "funny" stories about themselves. And at least two of those who did ask questions, offered variations on the decidedly nonjournalistic theme of "Can I please get an autograph [for my husband who likes Star Wars / on my breast / etc.]?"

It was all rather embarrassing, and the uninspired, amateurish discourse is presumably why the Broadway In Chicago staff abruptly cut things short.

Before they did, I dutifully asked Ms. Fisher about her experience filming The Blues Brothers in the great city of Chicago. The first thing she said was the somewhat telling remembrance, 30 years later, that the wardrobe assistant was the cast's go-to person for mescaline. She also tossed in the interesting nugget that Dan Aykroyd asked her to marry him.

My frustration with my fellow bloggers took me off my game a little bit, so I failed to satisfy my curiosity as to whether Ms. Fisher knew the official name of Princess Leia's cinnamon buns hairdo.

Yes, there was one: "star puffs."

Makes sense to me

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The match game

Calling all meteorologists

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Can someone tell me what temperature "NaN degrees" is? Because I have a big tennis match this afternoon and I should probably figure out whether sodium nitrate will be falling from the sky.

Thought of the day

Maybe it's the coffee talking, but perk perk bubble I was grown in a field in Colombia.

And speaking of Star Wars...

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Last night I attended the Broadway In Chicago press opening for Carrie Fisher's autobiographical one-woman show Wishful Drinking.

The lively, entertaining story of her eventful life plays the Bank of America (née Shubert) Theatre on Monroe Street through October 16.

My Flavorpill Chicago preview is here.

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Speaking of the 'book...

Post of the week goes to FOBB&B Stephen T. of Silver Spring, Md.:

My 7-year-old just asked my 10-year-old, "Will you carry my bag like a chump?" His reply: "No. Unlike Dad, I have dignity." Yep, both mine!

Scary

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