HALLOWEEN 2022

In Brazil, the voting public, as in the USA, returned to the presidency an old-time liberal politician, kicking out the ultra-conservative miscreant, another Donald Trump.  Not to say that the new president is the equivalent of Joe Biden, for Luiz Inácio LULA da Silva was a former president who was convicted of graft and served 580 days in jail.  He is 77, and Biden was elected to the White House at the same age.  

Lula just this May got married for the third time, to a 55-year old sociologist.  About incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, he is the model of Trump, with integrity and conspiracy problems, also blaming the loss on crooked counting.  The results were close, with Lula getting less than 51% and Jair more than 49%.  Certainly, Bolsonaro will maintain a Trump-like effort to legally or illegally maintain power.  I don't think, for example, that he has yet conceded.  Also, he has been blamed for mishandling the pandemic.  Brazil is #2 to the USA in total COVID-19 deaths.

Halloween does come with candy, but the backdrop is a range of scary human emotions.  Never before had this "celebration" gone so far as to kill more than 150 and injure another 150 or so, as what happened in Itaewon, South Korea.  I go there virtually every time I visit the country.  Halloween is not a big deal in the country, for there is no trick-or-treating.  However, Korea recently removed restrictions, and this was the first opportunity for party-goers to publicly celebrate.  Halloween costumes were aplenty in the deadly stampede  There were 137 police officers already present, and Itaewon is not all that spread out.

In another part of the world, Saudi Arabia once banned Halloween. This year, the government sponsored a “horror weekend.”  Just another measure to modernize the country.  Riyadh was crowded with people wearing spooky outfits.  But no crush of people.

What is this? 

Well, it's Halloween, and on the left is Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly reimagined as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.  Frankly, I am only vaguely familiar with Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, and certainly haven't the faintest idea who Megan Fox is, nor Machine Gun Kelly.  So I googled, and now you too know who they are if you click on those links.

As must know by now, today is Halloween, a tradition supposedly originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain 2000 years or so years ago, when bonfires were lit and people wore costumes.  

• This celebration first came to the U.S.in the 1840's when Irish immigrants escaped their potato famine.  Coincidentally, there is an Irish practice where going door-to-door to collect soul cakes and offerings for dead relatives was traditional.  Failure to supply a treat could result in some practical joke.  Even the Jack-o'-lantern can be linked to Irish folklore. 
• Thus the pumpkin industry in the U.S.  
• The first official citywide celebration was held in Anoka, Minnesota in 1921.  
• People will this year spend $5 billion just for Halloween costumes.

To close:

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JUST ANOTHER WEEK AT 15 CRAIGSIDE

This was a good week at 15 Craigside.  Not terrific, but above average.  As most readers know, I am in a Honolulu retirement community.  I lived next door in the Craigside condo for 32 years and saw my present building coming up, and merely out of curiosity almost 9 years ago dropped by for a visit, was convinced to move in, and now have been here for more than 8 years.

A few months after becoming a resident, I posted on COULD 15 CRAIGSIDE BE PURGATORY?  We are surrounded by graveyards and churches, as that article showed.  Then a few years later, in June of 2017, I posted on FOUR SEASONS HUALALAI VERSUS 15 CRAIGSIDE.  This hotel is among my favorites, and you can read for yourself about this comparison.  Earlier that year (in May) I had a related posting titled, OKAY, IS THIS HEAVEN OR WHAT?  

This blog site has been vacillating about whether 15 Craigside is Purgatory or not.  Well, after my 44-day Global Adventure and anticipating a week on the Big Island next month to interact with another group of friends--ocean resources, this time--with golf at the Four Seasons Hualalai, where I'll be staying, the events of the past couple of days seemed to indicate that I actually could well already be in Heaven. 

Pardon me for all this religious stuff, but, after all, this is Sunday.  So on to this week at 15 Craigside.  Why do I like it here?  The security, meals, people (residents and staff), control of temperature, no cockroaches (I caught a thousand of them in Hoy Hoy Trap-a-Roach traps in my previous apartment) and all-around comfort.  You want activities?  Just this coming week:

• 
  Four worship services.  This place is run by a church.
• 31 exercise classes.  They stress strength and balance, but also tai chi, yoga and so on.
• A half a dozen wellness sessions dealing with diabetes, osteoporosis, etc.
• Various free snack give-aways.
• University of Hawaii football in the theater.

I enjoyed two tailgates in my apartment.  On Friday, maybe the best lunch I've ever had here, lobster and dungeness crab from Tamashiro's.

A feast of lobster, crab and clams linguini, with beer and red wine.  

Then for the UH football game, pork tonkatsu with hamachi sashimi, plus hot sake, cold soju and cold beer.

We have a monthly Aloha celebration, usually focusing on a holiday or event, to introduce new residents and usually with some entertainment.  Tomorrow is Halloween, and we had an advanced activity:

I didn't show you my Giant Pumpkin costume.  Maybe I'll wear it again next year.

I might finally add that we have rainbows...a lot of rainbows.

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A FEW INTERESTING THINGS

Maybe you missed this, but Italy swore in its first female prime minister last week.  She is 45-year old Giogia Meloni, a white supremacist and first Far-Right leader since Mussolini.  Her party will partner with 85-year old former PM, Silvio Berlusconi's.  She caught the public's attention three years ago when a video of her I am Giorgia speech went viral because two DJs from Milan turned the performance into an electronic dance music track.  Worth a watch.  Meloni has been accused of being fascistic, ala Mussolini, who ran the country from 1922 to 1943, and defended Viktory Orban, Hungary's authoritarian leader, who quashed democracy in this country.  She is, however, pro-NATO, for democracy and supportive of Ukraine.

Europe is more and more leaning to the right (they would be called Republicans in the U.S.), with the recent election of Swedish conservative Ulf Kristersson to Prime Minister.  Maybe they're beginning to lean away from socialism.  One of their scientists, Svante Paabo, recently won the Nobel Prize for medicine for his work in human evolution.

Too much of Europe?  Well, back to America and our most prominent alcoholic drink, bourbon, which developed around the time of our Civil War in the South, and more specifically Kentucky.  A few things about bourbon:

• BOURBON can only be produced in the USA.
• Been around since the 1700s.

• 
  George Washingon was the nations largest distiller of rye whiskey, a cousin of bourbon.
• In 2005 there were 50 distilleries.  Today, 2300 and growing.  I think this is extraordinary.  Except I checked, and the more accurate number today is 740, WHICH IS STILL EXTRAORDINARY.

• 
  Frank Sinatra and Winston Churchill drank Jack Daniels and the late Anthony Bourdain said Pappy Van Winkle 20-year was the most glorious bourbon on the face of the planet.

• 
  The top two sellers are Jim Beam (which Mila Kunis likes) and Jack Daniels. 
• Evan Williams built Kentucky's first commercial distillery in 1783, where 95% of bourbons are produced.

• 
  The oldest registered bourbon distillery, however, is Jack Daniel's, made in Tennessee from 1866, and is supposedly the best-selling individual whiskey brand in the world.  
• This is controversial, as scotch whisky outsells bourbons by a factor of 4.
• There is no mention of bourbon on JD bottles.  Why?  Read this.

• 
  However  Jack Daniel's Black moved past Johnnie Walker Red as the best-selling single expression of a whiskey product.
• The confusion is that all of Jack Daniel's sold 13.4 million cases in 2019, while Johnnie Walker sold 18.4 million.
• I visited this JD site once, and had to be bussed to another location for bourbon-tasting, as Lynchburg is a dry county.  They squeezed a wedge of lemon into JD on rocks, which is today how I drink this brand.
• 
  Incidentally, this article insists that there are six Johnnie Walker colors:  Red, Black, Double Black, Green, Gold and Blue.  However, I personally own seven, and last month drank the last drop of Double Black, and, shucks, threw the bottle away.  Thus there are 8 colors of Johnnie Walker scotches.

• 
  For the picky, why whiskey and whisky?
• In the U.S.it is whiskey.
• In Japan it is whisky.
• In Scotland it is whisky.
• But in Ireland it is whiskey.
• No wonder we're confused.

My big bourbon day is during coverage of the Kentucky Derby in May.  I annually post about what I'm drinking while watching the Derby on TV.  Regarding the classic Mint Julep:

Old Forrester was once the bourbon used, but since 1999 Woodward Reserve, a new bourbon at that time, paid money to become the official sponsor.  However, the Derby outlets still use Old Forrester.

Ever wonder how many ants are on Planet Earth?  Well, the latest estimate is 20 quadrillion, or 2.5 millions ants/person.  There is a 1974 science-horror movie, Phase IV.  It was a box office flop, but gained cult status after being shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Click on that for the entire 1 hr 36 min film.  However, Rotten Tomatoes?  53/54.

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