2019 Oscars-- Part 1: Best Picture

I did pretty well (for me) picking Oscar winners in the local Classic Cinemas Theatres prediction contest after seeing a majority of the movies in each of the major categories.

I saw 6 of the 8 nominees in Best Picture:

Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
A Star Is Born
Vice.

I did not see BlackKKlansman or Roma (I don't get Netflix).

I was amazed that I had seen three of them before nominees were announced.  Usually most of the nominees are movies most people did not see.  If the Oscars want to raise its ratings they should have two categories for Best Picture:   Movies People Have Seen and Movies People Haven't Seen.

Though I must admit, whenever I get to see one of the movies people haven't seen, I must admit that it is an excellent movie.  I do appreciate Regal Cinemas and Classic Cinemas showing all those movies people haven't seen after they are nominated.

They were all great movies and I picked "Green Book" to win, and it did.

Must be a Film Critic  Now.  --CootPicker

Nine Things You Didn't Know About the Fourth of July-- Part 4:

7.  Celebrating with fireworks is as old as the holiday it self.  At the first celebration in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, 13 cannons were fired, one for each colony.  That night, 13 fireworks were shot off in the city commons.

The tradition of fireworks has gotten bigger since then.  In 1934, American Arctic explorers set off fireworks even though it was 33 degrees below zero.

8.  And today, fireworks are a massive industry.  The American Pyrotechnics Association, Americans spent over $1 billion for fireworks in 2017.  That number has tripled over the last twenty  years.

Judging just by the folks around our subdivision Saturday and last night, I'd say a WHOLE lot of it was spent here.

9.  July 4 is the biggest hot dog day of the year.  Americans consume roughly 150 million hot dogs on July 4, enough to stretch from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles five times.

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, which is a century old, takes place every July 4.  The record, currently held by Joey Chestnut, is 72 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

Have a Dog On Me.  --RoadHot

Competitive Eating at Nathan's Last Friday: Competitive Eating's Biggest Weekend

From the July 4, 2014, Chicago Tribune "Warriors of mass digestion".

I have to admit that the headline was one clever one.  None of that "Weapons of Mass Destruction" for us.

And, this stuff has gotten very organized.  People vying to get into the record books for eating huge amounts of stuff have the organizations called Major League Eating and the International Federation of Competitive Eating to oversee them and make sure every things is on the down swallow.

These groups oversee some 80 professional contests every year, the most famous being the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog eating one held every July 4th in front of the place at Coney Island in New York City.

We watched it Friday at Antonio's in Spring Grove after the parade and almost got sick doing so.  Yuck!! and what a waste of good Nathan's hot dogs.  Plus, I am amazed that no one puked eating stuff like that.  I would prefer to savor mine if I ever get the chance to eat one at that historic place.  I have had some Nathan's Hot Dogs, but not there.

--Cooter

So Hot, You Can Fry An Egg On the Sidewalk?

From the July 6th Chicago Tribune "So hot, you can fry an egg on sidewalk? Whose idea was that? "by Bob Manker.

The Chicagoland area has really been hit up with a bit of a heatwave: three straight days of 100+ and today in the mid-90s.  And, it was in the 90s most of last week.  It has bothered me, even though it usually doesn't.  And poor Liz is about to dab her head off.

The earliest-known reference to the above cliche appeared in the June 11, 1899, edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Later, the October 5, 1933 Los Angeles Times mentioned it.  There is a June 14, 1929, of two women with one holding what appears to be a fried egg in a skillet on a concrete wall in Washington, D.C. with the caption "Women frying eggs near US Capitol."

Sadly, however, it would have to be really, really hot to cook an egg, even more than Chicago's record 103 degrees this past Thursday.  An egg needs a temperature of 158 degrees F. to become firm.

And, a bit of Route 66 connection.  The organizers of the Sidewalk Egg Frying Contest in the venerable old one-horse, many burros, town of Oatman, Arizona, have been running the even every July 4th since 1991 did not have a winner from among the 15 contestants Wednesday, even though they were allowed to use aids such as foil, mirrors and magnifying glasses (no blowtorches though).

A YouTube serach of "fry egg on sidewalk" tuened up 200 attempts.

How Hot Was It?  --DaCoot