h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Jonathan Pryce kicked up a furor when cast as half-Vietnamese in "Miss Saigon."

Casting is a funny thing. Do you have to have experience as a prostitute to play Carmen in a opera? Or be half bird to play Papageno in "The magic Flute"? I've seen African Americans portraying Don Giovanni and Leporello, who should be Spanish.

Or is opera allowed to be so make-believe that people will make allowances?

People study acting. If they're any good, African Americans can take roles originally written for Caucasians.

There have been a number of non-white impersonators. In the sitcom "How I met Your Mother" actor and stuntman George Kee Cheung from Hong Kong acted as Korean Elvis

I saw Orson Wells as Othello.

One of the great actors, Edmund Kean, also played Othello.

Shakespeare aimed to entertain, not make documentaries.

Ugh... that last line... it sounded so current.

Sorry, I "post 20"ed. That was regarding The Duke Bunny clip.

One of these days I will be taking the three way breading of certain food items (like drumsticks, Wiener Schnitzel or shrimps) to a new level. For me anyway.
As you will undoubtedly know three way breading goes like this: First you powder the item in finely ground wheat flour, then you dip it in batter and lastly you roll it in bread crumbs.
But now I've learned about a special and fairly new Japanese kind of breading crumbs called panko. They are made of bread that is not baked but cooked by conducting electric current through the dough.
Watch this (and please ignore the advertising talk, I'm not paid to show you this):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCNU9TrbiRk&t=2s

T.I.L.

Thanks for that link! Recipes using Panko have been on my favourite cooking channel for a while. I even spied some in the supermarket here in Germany whilst shopping this week. I always wondered what the difference was.

Yesterday I did a recipe with chicken breasts cut horizontally and then halved and covered in the following:

1. Well-seasoned yoghurt
2. Crushed Cornflakes.

Then baked, not fried. So a lower fat version, but very crispy-crunchy and went down a treat with my 6-year-old grandson, who I have to feed 3 days a week. They only take about 13 minutes in a fairly hot oven. Which time you need to clean the gunge off your hands, as it's a pretty sticky affair, coating the chicken pieces in that combination!

Willo (my significant other) and I have had a 4-month run with the deliver-to-doorstep meal program called HelloFresh. The food was good quality, fresh (99% of time), and the menu cards were easy to follow.

The reason I mention it is it's the first time I encountered panko in a recipe. I liked it... As you said, crispy with fewer "bad things" attached.

Now that I know y'all are actually holding an on-going conversation here, I hope you don't mind that I tag along...

B4Ufindmelurking(hah!)allthetime

You are welcome, Blue-Eyes

Some day people will research the effects of the pandemic. The impact on physical shops (the old one on the corner and the ones in malls) vs. internet shops will probably stand out

And what about money? I haven't used cash for many moons now. Half the time I pay with my phone, the other half with plastic

While counterfeiting is on the decline, online crime is on the rise

Evening all!


Hows everyone

Pierre,

You're right about not only the Pandemic, but also the rise in technology, has affected our lifestyles. Alvin Toffler was right! We have ever more rapidly moved towards a "throw away" mindset in our societies, and so many of our ancestral traditions are stumbling to keep up.

The fact I rarely have any "real, hard cash" on-person at any given time still niggles at the back of my mind. I will say this, a cash-less society makes it easier to spend the Income. Sometimes wonder if I'm actually becoming the Consumer drone that so many Sci-Fi authors have warned us about.

I still used to prefer going to the local shops, versus online shopping, but the Pandemic definitely sliced the pie in favor of the larger retailers who already had internet presence. Yeah, Brazilian River, I'm looking squarely at YOU...! And the sad part? I'm part of that problem now, too. Almost exclusively buying online or at the local MallWart. ...and LEGO. {Good lord, I can't seem to stop myslef buying their newest kits.}

And the heck of it all about the Pandemic? There are still so many people who recognize this microscopic physical threat as being real... How many people have to die from it before it sinks in? Just because it hasn't (yet) hit home and debilitated or killed someone close to them, do they really think the virus doesn't exist?

Well... It's time for me to step down off the soapbox. Got some tasks to perform at work for my PM Shift, but I'll swing back around to check on the chatter.

B4someonefindsalargerollofGafferTape&mufflesme

"...people who [don't] recognize this..."

B4...etc.

I guessed that [don't] had been forgotten

What I meant was that while the little corner shops were already an endangered species and the number of internet shops were already growing fast before the pandemic this development is now exploding

At the same time the pubs are dieing at an alarming rate. Luckily the 79 year old barman in my favourite watering hole has promised to open shop again as soon as he is allowed (presumably 6 May) and will keep on working until he gets old

Welcome back, Jackruss, what've you been up to? Haven't seen you for ages

Here in 'Merica, we don't have no mask mandates or stay-at-home orders...

Oh. Wait. Yes, we do...

Here in Mid-Missouri, right in the Heartland of the US, in our little town of Fulton, the mask mandates are only loosely enforced, as are the sequestering orders. The thing is... we have so much elbow-room around each other, there's more of a buffer zone between people naturally. Hence some of the laissez-faire attitude about CoViD restrictions.

As for the local pub... Well, most of the bars in our town only serve beer... the standard fare from the main larger companies... that swill you have to keep chilled so you don't notice the (lack of) taste as you knock back a six-pack to get even a minor buzz. Usually the local grocers has a wider selection than the bars. I don't mean to paint a bleak picture, but most of these places aren't anything like the European pubs I've been to, though we have a couple that come close.

Let me give you some sense of what ~is~ available...

Beks
The upscale dining and drinking establishment, situated in the heart of downtown, on Court Street. It features beers from across the country and across the globe. Microbreweries feature prominently. They always carry a great selection of wine, from local vineyards and from abroad. They've had wine tastings, beer tastings, and liquor tastings in the upper room. Their food is consistently awesome and makes for a fine dining experience. The atmosphere is kinda like that seen in the US sit-com, Cheers, where "everybody knows your name."

1851 Underground
This is built below street level, the main window looking "up" to foot and vehicle traffic. It's heritage lies with the tunnel system connecting the State Hospital here to several other institutions. The Tap & Grill is part of the The Palace office building, situated at an angle across the intersection from the Callaway County Courthouse. I've seen it go through several name changes and owners, though this iteration seems to be the most stable. They serve a wide selection of beer on tap, in bottles, wine by the glass, and mixed drinks, as well. Their noshes consist of down-home burgers and fries that are a cut above the rest.

The Post Office Bar & Grill
Aptly named for its placement and refurbishment in the town's original US Post Office. It's a great place for local Callawegians to mingle and swap gossip. Wetting your whistle is narrowed down to tap and bottled beer from the major 'Merican distributors. None a that fancy sh-- from New Your City!

Killabrews
Yup. The name says it all. It's the "dive bar" in town, just across the street and a few doors down from the POB&G. Have I been in there? No. So... my assessment of the place comes second-hand. "I went to a fight and bar broke out." Too many stories of low-lifes frequenting the place ensured I never darkened their doorstep.

The Station
This is a new cocktail bar on the south side of town, a few doors down from C&R Market, a chain grocer. I haven't heard any tales about this one yet, but they seem to know some folks would appreciate a stiff drink and some good convo, or a foo-foo drink and a good pick-up line. Okay, I'm kidding around about the last bit, so I'd better check 'em out and bring back a report. They're only open Thu/Fri/Sat, so that means it'll be a weekend thing to scope them out.

B4thisgets2long4anyonetobotherreading

Bits and pieces about Covid-19 that I have picked up lately:
- A number of people have received another positive test result more than 90 days after their first positive test result for covid-19.
However, this does not mean that everyone has been ill with covid-19 in both cases. There may also be residues of virus in the body or a false positive sample.
- There will always be some people who do not store a proper immune response against a virus or bacteria. But in general, you are well protected if you have been infected once.
- The main rule is that you are immune after an infection. But there is a (very low) number of exceptions - usually with people who have an immune deficiency or the like.
- We are not aware that anyone who has had Covid-19 before will get a serious illness a second time.
- I still haven't had my first shot, not even an invitation and the prospects have just been lowered further: Both the vaccine from AstraZeneca and the one from Johnson & Johnson are now on hold so we'll have to do with PfizerBioNTech and Moderna until the EU approves others.

I thought I heard of a case where the patient did get the virus a few times, each time worse than the last, and eventually died of it. He did have other underlying conditions though. Somewhere on the East Coast of the US near a University where they are researching quite intensively and could follow the case.

I have also now been invited to register for a vaccination, but haven't heard any more yet. The 60-69 cohort must be huge.

I'm not particularly euphoric about having the vax. We shall still be wearing masks and disinfecting stuff for a long time yet. In fact, probably for ever, as I think this is the beginning, not the end.

I can hardly wait to get my vaccinations, TC. It will make my life so much easier. But I have to wait because we now have fewer vaccines

Why have our health authorities put AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson on hold (and will probably dump them completely), I hear you ask.

Well, it's actually quite simple: Our health authorities don't want to lose the public's trust and support for the vaccination program by injecting a vaccine into people, which they know will harm about 1 in 40,000 when 1. the epidemic has been under control since the beginning of February, 2. when we have other vaccines available, and 3. when the oldest and most vulnerable to serious infections have already been vaccinated.

In numbers: If 200,000 65-69 year olds get AstraZeneca, 5 of them will get severe blood disorders. Now that their vaccination is postponed for two weeks (until they can get another vaccine) one of them will be admitted to intensive care with covid-19. So it's 5 to 1. Simples.

However, while this may be true for our country the situation can be quite different elsewhere. If we were in the same situation as for example India we would not hesitate to use the two vaccines in question.