The Green Hornet

Not too much is going on here, although I am heading out to see the play Play Dead tonight.  It should be interesting.  It is co-written and co-produced by Teller, the silent half of Penn and Teller, the magicians.  I enjoy their shows and have seen them live twice.  The play is supposed to be quite interesting, full of gory special affects.  It is off-broadway in a little 50 seat theatre that is supposedly done up to look like an old deserted theatre.  I will report on my evening tomorrow.

But, today we will do one of these weird and little known connection things.  And, what with all the buzz about the new Green Hornet movie, what better topic.

First, did you know that the Green Hornet is a distant relative of the Lone Ranger?  Ah yes, and the reason has something to do with the fact that the impetus behind The Green Hornet was George W. Trendle who was the co-owner  and managing parner of WXYZ and spearheaded the development of The Lone Ranger.

In "real life" the Green Hornet is Britt Reid, a newpaper publisher.  The Lone Ranger was originally John Reid, a Texas Ranger and lone survivor of an ambush.  The Green Hornet is the great nephew of The Lone Ranger.

Now, after starting as a radio program, Universal Pictures made two Green Hornet serials.  In those serials the part of Kato was played by Keye Luke, perhaps best known for his role as "Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan movies.

In more recent time it was Bruce Lee who played Kato in the television series.  And, here comes that unexpected loop-around, Bruce Lee was strongly being considered to play the lead in the Kung Fu series.  One of the main reason he moved back to Hong Kong and started his movies career was because he was so upset about losing the role to David Carradine, who wasn't even Asian, to boot.  Anyway, so what has this got to do with anything?  Well, the actor who plays Master Po in Kung Fu is, you guessed it, the original screen version of Kato, dear old Keye Luke.

Now you will all have something to contribute to the water-cooler conversations about The Green Hornet.

Gone To Ghana

I had breakfast at Junior's, which is always a good thing.  I had kippers and eggs and cheesecake for dessert.  But, the reason I had breakfast there was because I met my nephew, Charlie, and his wife, Kaylee.  They are on their way to Ghana where they will spend four months doing their student teaching.

They flew from Las Vegas to JFK and got in around 8:00 AM.  I had given them instructions on how to take the Air Train and the subway to get to my place so they showed up around 10:00 AM.  The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I met them at the subway stop and we walked to Junior's for breakfast.

Anyway, Charlie and Kaylee started a blog to document their adventures in Ghana.  I am posting the link in case any of you feel inclined to take a look at it.  It might be quite interesting.

Charlie and Kaylee's Ghana Adventure

GO JETS!!!

What can I say, a real cliff-hanger, but the Jets did manage to win.

When You're A Jet You're A Jet All The Way


Things looked a bit grim when the Jets couldn't convert a third down on their second to last possession, even after being the beneficiary of a "roughing the kicker" penalty.  But the defense managed to hold Peyton and the Colts and our offense managed to get us down the field for the winning field-goal.

It may not have been the prettiest win in the world, but it looked damn pretty to me.  And with Sanchez pulling off that last drive, and winning some of the really close games, some in overtime, earlier this year, he is looking like the real deal.  He may be the most dangerous quarterback in the game with time running out and needing a score to win. 

And don't forget, last year Mark became only the second quarterback to win two playoff games his rookie year (the other being Joe Flacco) and now owns a 3 and 1 playoff record.

The Jets may not go all the way this year but, by-golly, they sure have become an exciting team.  And probably the most interesting team in the NFL with, certainly, the most interesting head coach.

Go Rex, We Love You, Man!!!


And, somehow, we have to thank Brett Favre for making this all possible.  Brett may have thought he played the Jets for a fool in his quest to go to the Vikings but, You know what?  He who laughs last laughts loudest.  And whose laughing now?

I am begining to like my Brett Favre New York Jets jersey more and more as time goes by.  I sniffed it this morning and it is starting to smell like napalm in the morning - it smelled like VICTORY.  Of course the Mysterious Chinese Woman thinks it just needs to be washed.  But then she also washed the two sweaty towels that Sue Wicks threw me.