Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK
by Dr. Thorn Schwa



KLEENEX: Makem, Payette & Hurt, attorneys for the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, have warned us not to use brand names as generic terms.  Doing so is illegal use of a registered trademark.

Instead of Kleenex®, say tissue.  U-Haul® is just one rental company.  In the UK, Hoover® is both the generic noun and verb.  You'd think the company would like that, but it could get you sued.

Other names are so brilliant that they threaten to escape into general use faster than their parent companies can pursue them through the courts.  A Bandaid® isn't just any bandage, and Cheesebrough Ponds would like you to stop referring to generic cotton swabs as Q-Tips®, thank you very much.

And much to 3M Corporation's chagrin, Scotch® tape seems to mean any old cellophane or clear tape.

But we try to be careful, and so should you.

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Dave Ashton has joined Cayuga Radio Group’s Lite Rock 97.3 as Program Director and Morning Show Co-host.

If Dave’s voice sounds familiar, there is a reason. This is a return to Central New York for Dave, who was Program Director at Cortland’s WIII back in the mid-90’s.  In addition to PD stripes, Dave will be handling Mornings with co-host Jen Mattison.  Operations Manager, Chris Allinger says, “Dave is a great fit for Lite Rock.  He knows the area, he knows AC and he knows how to make a great radio station.  We couldn’t be happier.”

In celebration of Black History Month, the Sciencenter will honor African American inventors and scientists on the Wall of Inspiration exhibit and offer a special presentation to highlight the work of George Washington Carver.

On Saturday, February 5, at 2 p.m. Sciencenter educator Miriam Musco will discuss the work of Dr. Carver, an African-American scientist who developed more than 325 products from the peanut. Visitors will have the opportunity to make their own peanut butter, an activity best suited for children and families with no peanut allergies.

SMART TALK
by Dr. Clara Dix



IN THIS REGARD: I have the honor to memorialize our beloved mentor and Institute for the Linguistically Impaired board member Alfred Kahn.  I'm glad we named a clinic after him while he was still alive to enjoy it.

His own words to a dense federal staff are better than anything I could write:

"If sentence two follows sentence one, that fact alone usually suffices to demonstrate that you think two logically follows from one, without your having to tell [the reader], ‘Look, what I am going to say now, folks, explains or contradicts what I have just said.'

"If the relevance of the second sentence to the first is not obvious, then saying in this regard is not going to make it so."

He was trying to help government officials sound less like pompous idiots.  That he failed brings no shame to him or us.  He fought the good fight.

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The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s Painted Violins will be on display Friday, January 21st from 5pm-7pm with a light reception at the Community School of Music and Arts, simultaneous with CSMA's "Annual Open Show," which continues through January 28th.

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Science Cabaret gives people a chance to discuss current and sometimes controversial topics in science.  Presenters this month are Ithaca residents with intergalactic reaches, JG Hertzler and Nick Sagan, who will be featured at a free event at Delilah's on Cayuga on January 18th.

JG Hertzler is an stage and television actor, director, and instructor of drama. Perhaps best known for his role as General Martok on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, JG has also toured the country in numerous lead roles in Shakespeare plays, and has been seen on television in shows that include Seinfeld and Six Feet Under.

SMART TALK
by Dr. Ced Riley



HAVE A NICE DAY: This is just a long way to say goo'day, and we're sick of hearing it, but it can be fun.  "Nice" has some unpleasant meanings, so we staff at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired like to use "Have a nice day" as much as a curse as a blessing.  Our target, of course, has no idea of this.

Other meanings of "nice," most of them obsolete, are lascivious, senseless, dainty, strange, easily exhausted, tiny, and trivial.  We at the institute, knowing this, find "Have a nice day" to have a similar depth as the supposedly Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

My colleague Dr. Will S. Sert has a handicap that allows him the privilege of special parking.  When he sees a car with no validating hang tag in such a spot, he slips a note under one of the wiper blades:

"When I see a car illegally using a space for the physically disabled, I want to smash its headlights with my cane.  So far, I've resisted this impulse.  I hope you need this space as much as I do.  Have a nice day."



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Running to Places Theatre Company (R2P) is set to open its 2011 season with the Broadway favorite: Anything Goes. The old-school romantic comedy runs January 14-16, Friday and Saturday at 7pm, Sunday at 2pm at The State Theatre of Ithaca and is chock full of some of Cole Porter’s most beloved songs (Delovely, Friendship, You’re the Top, Blow Gabriel Blow, I Get a Kick out of You, and the title song).

Anything Goes, according to Director Joey Steinhagen, “is a door-slamming farce, complete with mistaken identities, ridiculous costumes, and fake beards. And for my money, a fake beard is reason enough to go see any play.”

'Dear Friend Amelia - Lives & Letters in the Civil War,' an exhibit honoring the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, and recognizing the lives and sacrifices of local people who served in the war opens at the History Center February 4th. Exploring the lives of the families and loved ones left behind, the centerpiece of the exhibit will be letters of soldiers, particularly the letters of Major Doctor Tarbell of Ithaca, and Private John Tidd of Caroline.

The letters of John Tidd are featured in a book being published in January by Six Mile Creek Press, written by Mary Jordan and Joyce Hatch, with Ron Ostman and Harry Littell, called Dear Friend Amelia - The Civil War Letters of Private John Tidd.