I can open up an ocean

I stepped into the bathroom for practical reasons, and at the sinks was presented with three young fellows in similar red shorts with black T-shirts (the center guy stepped aside so I could wash). Covering all the counter space and stacked several high were small plastic bags, filled with water, and tied shut. A plastic bag with tied top is a popular way to carry out drinks, as it's convenient and practical to put a straw into the open bag, and it works for precisely as along as you don't set your drink down. Still, ordinarily, drink bags come from drink stalls.

To try prodding some explanation, I said, ``I hope you aren't planning to drop those on me.'' They laughed a bit, smiled, and said no, they didn't, and that's where things stopped. I waited and recognized that they had nothing further to say. Having turned an odd scene into an awkward one, I triumphantly left. When I got to the elevator, a trio of similarly-dressed girls carrying several buckets full of bags full of water got off. I have to infer the existence of some kind of mass athletic activity.

Meanwhile, great news! King Features Syndicate has finally responded to the rocks tossed at their windows by generations of Popeye fanboys, and after asking people to at least wrap messages around the rocks, has signed an agreement to release the Popeye shorts on DVD. The deal is for everything: all 109 Fleischer (or ``Great'') shorts, all the Paramount/Famous Studios (or ``Good declining to Boring'') shorts, all the made-cheaply-in-the-60s (or ``Jaw-dropping'') shorts some of which are already released, the 1978-81 Hanna-Barbera (or ``Boy, if only they had a sense of timing'') ones, and the Popeye and Son (or ``Mauriche LaMarche was Popeye?!'') cartoons from 1987. Jerry Beck's already a consulting producer. Plans are to get them all digitally processed for maximum grumbling from the hardcore fans and everything. I don't want to sound jaded: I'm really psyched about this.

Trivia: For the 1936-37 Popeye the Sailor radio series Popeye got his remarkable strength from Wheatena, the sponsor. (``Wheatena's me diet / I aks ya to try it/ I'm Popeye the sailor man!'') Source: On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, John Dunning.

Currently Reading: Willard Gibbs, Muriel Rukeyser.