A Mondegreen: "You Make Me Feel Like a Manchurian Woman"

PRONUNCIATION:

(MON-di-green) 

MEANING:

noun: A word or phrase resulting from mishearing a word or phrase, especially in song lyrics.

When I was growing up, I thought Aretha Franklin's "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" was "You Make Me Feel Like a Manchurian Woman."

I was certain "The Girl from Ipanema" was "The Girl with Emphysema."

One of my favorite college students said Afrojack's "Take Over Control" was blaring at a recent sorority rush. She could have double-sworn they were singing "Take Your Birth Control."  I think she was right. (Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fe4dk0Jtcw and go to 2:07.)

My other favorite is Elton John's "Benni and the Jets".

Kids can hear the darndest things.   Feel free to sing along:

Hey Q
Chain the Lous Together
The spy is hitting zombies
That are known to chafe in leather,
We'll kill a fatty cop tonight
So stick around
You've got a hairy leg
Trick music, malt balls of sound,
Oh Kerry and Romney,
Have you seen them yet?
Oooh, cuz they're so spaced out,
B-B-B-Benni and the Jetssss,
Oh the sweet and the wonderful,
Oh man, she's a rent-a-cane,
She's got electric boobs,
My ma has two,
You know I read it in a magazine, oh, oh,
B-B-B-Benni and the Jetssss.
Hey Keys,
Why don't you plan it to the faceless,
Maybe they're blind, but then again they're faceless,
Reach out to take ourselves home alone,
Well, we found a pair of sarongs
In the street, but we couldn't be wrong,

REPEAT
Oh Kerry and Romney,

Have you seen them yet?

Oh, but they're so spaced out, 

B-B-B-Benni and the Jets.

Oh, but the wheels are so wonderful, 

Oh man, she's a rent-a-cane, 

She's got electric boobs,

My ma has two,

You know I read it in a magazine, oh, oh,

B-B-B-Benni and the Jetssss ...

Benni, Benni, yeah, yeahhh, 

Benni, Benni, Benni, oh Benni and the Jets,

Benni, Benni, Benni, Benni, Benni, Benni, Benni, Benni, yeah, yeahh.

Incidentally, I thought Elton John wrote this song for me. (Bonni.)

Get Ready for Oscar Night with Arcane Academy Award Trivia

Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other woman.

Rekindling Friendships

So we were walking down Main Street in Edgartown and I hear, "BONNI KOGEN!!!!!" It was Larry Sprague, a good friend from Maplewood. We went to Jefferson School, Maplewood Junior High School (sorry kids, we didn't call it "middle school" back then) and Columbia High School together. I trick or treated at his house, and his parents had the same names as my parents: Betty & David. 

Motto of the story: when you see an old friend, stop, run across the street if you have to. Say hello! Rekindling friendships is mighty nice. (Thanks, Larry, for dodging cars on Main Street to come over and say hi.)

A Personal Note

     ACB has joined Teach for America and will be an elementary school teacher in Hawaii next year. (I am so proud.)

Mr. Matthew Crawley (1890-1921)

Okay, "Downton Abbey" devotées ... here I go. I was incredibly disappointed with last night's ending of Matthew getting creamed in a car accident. (And if anyone cries "Spoiler," I'll scream. Get with the program, kids. The news was out there, and it's actually been out there from British press, since December.) That said, creator Julian Fellowes toyed with our emotions as dedicated viewers. Wasn't it enough that Lady Cybil died in childbirth? Did we need another death following a joyous birth? Couldn't viewers have been left with season 3 finale's happy memory of a new heir to DA? The death of Matthew in no way is a cliff-hanger to lure the audience to watch Season 4. I will be counting the months anyway.

Also, if Fellowes had wanted to keep in the Mr. Crawley character, another actor could have replaced Dan Stevens. I know, I know ... he is too handsome for words and he is excellent in his role ... but remember the role of Darrin York in "Bewitched"? The role went from Dick York to Dick Sargent without a stitch. (Even Gladys Kravitz was played by two characters -- Alice Pearce and Sandra Gould--throughout the run of "Bewitched.")

How about "James Bond 007"? Without much ballyhoo the character has been played by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

Matthew Crawley, R.I.P. The rest of us will balk and gripe about your untimely demise.

Then again, could it just be a dream?  Stay tuned for Season 4. And fear not. We hear that there is already a suitor lined up for Lady Mary.

Carry on.

Chicken Wings at the Movies. (Huhh?)

A reader of the "Popcorn Can Make You Insane" story in the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonni-brodnick/popcorn-can-make-you-insa_b_2635787.html) wrote to tell me that he was at the movies last week and the person sitting next to him was eating CHICKEN WINGS. 

NO WAY!!  Just the sound of it makes me want to gag (a little).

What's the weirdest/rudest thing someone has eaten while sitting next to you at the movies? We have given second thought to bubble gum popping. Unless you swallow it. In that event, we can classify it in the food category.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Eleanor Roosevelt's Visit to Pound Ridge

 
                                                                                                        Photo: Fran Collin

     "George T. Bye, Eleanor Roosevelt's literary agent, lived on Trinity Pass. One summer, Mrs. Roosevelt visited him and was taken to Rock School. She was shocked that only 38-miles from Manhattan, Pound Ridgers were so backward as to still have a one-room schoolhouse system. There was no proper heating or ventilation, and we still had privies out back, one each for the boys and the girls.
     "There was thought that Mrs. Roosevelt may have been the kickoff for the Union School, which opened in 1939. ... Pound Ridge Elementary School was called 'Union School' because it unified all five one-room schoolhouses in town." ~ Excerpt from POUND RIDGE PAST: "Bob Suda: Halloween Thrills in the 1940s."

     To read more about country life through the eyes of a young boy, pick up a copy of POUND RIDGE PAST, available exclusively at Booksy Galore, right in the heart of Scotts Corners/Pound Ridge.

The Academy Awards: May I have the envelope, please?

Okay, so I checked Moviefone.com and my Huffington Post "Popcorn" story isn't there. So I'm not sure what the heck this is, other than a really funny google listing that looks like I'm starring in a movie, "Popcorn Can Make You Insane."

HUFFINGTON POST: "At the Movies: Popcorn Can Make You Insane"

 
Raise your hand if you are among the many who wonder: "Is there a connection between insanity and popcorn?"

Click here to read my Huffington Post: "At the Movies: Popcorn Can Make You Insane." 


~~ Many thanks to 14U NEWS for picking up the story and for the snappilicious accompanying photo of Beyoncé.

"Downton Abby" / Episode 5: Mr. Bates's Limp & Other Pertinent Stuff

A few pertinent perspectives (pertinent, at least, to those who are "Downton Abbey" fiends ... such as myself):

Whatever happened to Mr. Bates's limp? His rehabilitation from the circular prison walks appears to be going magnificently.  However ... why is he still 40-pounds overweight?  Prison food must be pretty good.

Enough flirting between the footman and the new cook (who dared to wear blush because it's "... all the rage, Mrs. Patmore.") This burgeoning story line needs a little spice. Mix it up.  Get it baking. Turn up the heat.

I always appreciate my mother-in-law stepping in when there is momentary marital strife (which there NEVER is).  We are grateful to the Dowager for bringing together Cora and Robert. Bravo for the line, "People like us are never unhappily married."

We shall forever curse that doctor-of-the-stars who wore a smoking jacket during Sybil's labor. The outfit alone should have given us enough warning that he was taking it all too casually and that all he was really thinking about was "Me, me me." Whatever happened to white coats with the doctors' names embroidered in blue-threaded script above the right pocket? And that certain formality of ... je ne sais quoi?

Lady Edith: is it me or what, but she is starting to look more beautiful.  The slightly longer hair is more becoming to her slightly long nose.

Lady Mary ... graceful and poised as always. Matthew ... handsome and eloquent as ever.  For the moment.

Stay tuned.  Sunday is only a handful of days away.

Super Bowl Commercials: Thumbs Down ... Grrrrr ... Arggggghh

Why didn't the black-out come on during the Go Daddy commercial?

And the Oreo commercial should have been pulled. Do we really need to see violence inside a school library? And hear sirens in the background? The timing of the ad was especially insensitive since the Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus opened the game with the "National Anthem."

This is what I call a clever/original Super Bowl commercial. To view "An American Finds Love in Paris," hit this link --->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU

. . .//|||\\. . .