Slept In Again

Two days in a row where the alarm clock had to wake me? What's going on here?

The worst part is that I was interrupted during a pleasant dream. I can't remember exactly what was happening, but I do remember that Heather Locklear had impressed me with her virtuosity on the banjo, and that Dr. Pepper-flavored ice cream went pretty well with pepperoni-marshmallow sandwiches. I was definitely NOT ready to wake up.

My swimming was out of synch, too. By all empirical measures, I should be getting adequate sleep...and I certainly haven't overdone the exercise in the last couple of days. If I didn't feel so healthy, I'd suspect I was coming down with a cold or something.

But as it is, I guess I'll just hyper-caffeinate myself and muddle through one more workday. I'd love to be fully rested for the race-car thing tomorrow, but I'm sure the adrenaline from going over 100 mph will get me through the experience even if I don't sleep soundly tonight.

Anyway, I have nothing else exciting to report for now, so let's talk about our trivia puzzle.



Some people guessed that the common thread was "unspeakable evil". You'd be mostly right with that theory...except that I know of nothing the last fellow did that would put him in that category. So the correct answer is based on their names; they all contain "Mont."

I'm not sure what got me thinking about these folks, but it was probably a Simpsons joke. The cartoon tycoon in the second panel is C. Montgomery Burns, Homer Simpson's employer and poster boy for the government's grievances against capitalism.

The first panel contains the amazingly versatile Ricardo Montalban, shown here in his role as the genetically-altered super dude Khan in the original Star Trek series. Next to him is Montel Williams, who is...I don't know, some kind of comedian or something.

The young lady is fictional character Hannah Montana. The part is actually played by Miley Cyrus, a cyborg death machine created by that weird country/western singer who popularized the mullet.

The fellow in the final frame is Hugo Montenegro, a musician whose orchestra had a few hits in the 1960s, most notably a cover version of Ennio Morricone's wonderful theme to "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." I like the movie version better than Montenegro's, and I probably like the final shootout song ("The Trio") even better than the theme. (The trumpet player really injects musical emotion into that piece. I wonder if he knew his work would still be affecting people a half-century later. Beautiful stuff.) Anyway, if you haven't listened to Montenegro's theme version in a while, you can enjoy it here:



I probably won't post the results of my upcoming Speed Racer impersonation until Saturday, but I am sure it'll be chock full of adrenaline-packed action and thrills galore. I've been doing some ankle exercises to make sure I'll be able to hold the pedal to the metal tomorrow, so I expect to make Mad Max look like Mr. Magoo. Prepare for extended tales about the sound of squealing tires and high horsepower...and have a great day!