AP picks up story from The Pinetar Rag

The Pinetar Rag has shaken the world media industry. Ok, here’s how it went: My wife’s cousin, married a guy who happens to be Japanese. They moved to Japan after living in the USA for over 10 years. My wife’s cousin works for the AP in Japan. Recently, I became fascinated by this new Pepsi Cucumber softdrink. I asked Mrs. Pinetar to ask her cousin if they had it in the stores in Japan where it is being marketed. Here is that section of my wife’s email to her couz: “[Foggy] saw Pepsi iced Cucumber soda on the internet but it is only available in Japan. He wanted to know if you ever had any and what did it taste like? Is it big there? Don’t worry if you don’t know, I just needed to ask.“

So today, she gets the reply:

Hello,

I’m glad to hear you’re feeling good. I thought you’d get a kick out of this- I was telling my co-workers about the cumber pepsi and our writing staff decided to do a small story on it. I’ve attached a copy of our picture that went with it:

 
TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese are staying cool as a cucumber this summer with “Pepsi Ice Cucumber” _ a new soda based on the crisp green gourd.
¶ The soft drink, which hit stores here on Tuesday, doesn’t actually have any cucumber in it _ but has been artificially flavored to resemble “the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber,” said Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan’s Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd.
¶ “We wanted a flavor that makes people think of keeping cool in the summer heat,” Takemoto said. “We thought the cucumber was just perfect.”
¶ The mint-colored soda is on sale just for the summer and only in Japan, Takemoto said. She said initial sales were brisk, and Suntory aims to sell 200,000 cases over the next three months.
¶ Pepsi trails behind industry leaders Coca Cola (Japan) Company, with about 15 percent of the Japanese cola market, and also faces stiff competition from non-fizzy bottled drinks like green tea and coffee, which are popular here.
¶ Suntory said it sold 20.5 million cases of Pepsi brand drinks in 2006, including its popular Pepsi NEX zero-calorie soda.

 

So you can tell [Foggy] he officially led to the tip on our story. Things are good on this end. I’m gonig to bring a ton of pictures on stuff we’ve done since we’ve been here so you’ll get to see all our crazy wedding pics and some cute ones of Mimi also.

I can’t wait to see everyone

**********

We are movers and shakers here at The PineTar Rag. Cutting edge.

***

In other news, this morning in Franklin Lakes, NJ, my parents were awakened to a Bear in their garden. The bear was rooting through dad’s strawberries. He got tangled in the net and got freaked out and walked away. My dad said the bear was limping. And as always, there was obligitory: “…well, you could aways gut-shoot him, and he would go off and die somewhere else…”

***

Pool with Ciro saw my first ever “defeat” in Rotation. It’s in quotes. First of all, I was completely exhausted and my knee was killing me. But that was ok. Then, in game one, I got 60 and Ciro made the last ball and also made 60, so he won on the 2nd-guy-to-60-rule-in-Rotation. Phooey. I thought that 60 to 60 ties were rare but apparently not. Maybe I should buy lotto tickets.

In the second game, Ciro cheated. He had a shot where the 1 ball was partially eclipsed by a pocket-hanging 3 ball. I went over and stood over it and said, “…I’m reffing this one, you better hit the 1 first…”, to discourage him from doing what I knew he would do–pocket the 3 and claim that the 1 was first contact. He did exactly as I expected and 4 balls total fell on that shot. I objected, saying that he hit the 3 first (he did) and he was not going to admit to it. It wasn’t an accident. I take it as a compliment and figure if he wants to beat me that bad, then fine.

I also use these little events to galvanize my concentration and try to spank him. And it usually works great only this time, I guess I was tired and the balls were not falling, so he won. I was quiet after that shot for the rest of the night and left early so I think he “gets” it but that doesn’t stop him. All will be forgotten but I owe him one baaaad night on the table. I’m laying in the tall weeds for him. Next time. And I guess the softball game was part of it. And I guess my taunting him all night about the softball and looking out the window and saying, “…isn’t that your wife?” every couple minutes didn’t help.

***
Yankee fans are all out of breath that they wooped up on the Pirates. I think ARod and Giambi combined make more than the Pirates whole squad. Oh boy.

***
On one of my favorite blogs (deadspin? thebiglead?) they had a great story of the one year anniversary of Ben Rothilsberger’s motorcycle accident. Did you know that Steeler fans actually COOKED OUT outside the hospital when he was having his operation? My goodness, only in America. –fog

4 Minute Civil War

In case anyone hasn’t seen this, it is worth the 4 minute investment. Neat. What you would expect from Neatorama:

 

Click here to see the US Civil War in 4 minutes

Cheny is Evil. The Taliban? Misunderstood.

I got to talking politics a little with the woman next to me at work. Somehow it came up where she repeated the oft-chanted, Democratic/Liberal-talking-point, “Cheney is evil”. Now this woman is older (50’s) and is pretty darned smart, so when I heard the talking point come out of her, verbatim, I was fascinated. I asked her if she was joking. “No”, she said she was serious, and kept repeating that “he is just evil”. I said, “well, what has he done that is evil? Can you give me some examples?”

Weird Wyckoff

The banter about the phone which lead to the under ground railroad banter have been a popular topic. Tonight, while doing taxes with dad, I mentioned the Zabriskie house and the UGRR legend. He told me that his sister Sue, baby sat in the 1930’s for a family (Hollister I think) in an old house on Godwin between Crescent by Farrier’s and Ralph Ave. It’s up next to the road and the word was that there was a tunnel of sorts out the back to the swampy, railroad cut back behind it. This was for the UGRR. Dad is very skeptical normally, and yet he didn’t think it was altogether unlikely and he clearly remembers Aunt Sue going on about this. He thought that perhaps Quackenbush family had owned the thing going back and thus the connection to the Zabriske house. Dunno. The house is certainly predating the civil war. Who knows? –fog

PS-My number 1 draft pick Carpenter, got lit. Anyone want to tell me why a major league left fielder can not catch that ball DelGado hit? I thought the Jap players were fanatics for fundamentals. Later in the game, he drops a ball that’s in his glove. I was better off last year starting Taylor J. Buckholz.

And Glavine is amazing, isn’t he? Watching him isn’t thrilling like when Smoltz or Schilling is going right at guys. It’s so anti-climactic. But for 20 years, this guy has consistently made the best hitters on oith look silly. The arm action must be unreal because you KNOW is going to soft-away/soft-away/soft-away. Why aren’t guys just diving over the plate and shooting that crap to right? It must be hard but my point is that it doesn’t look hard from the center field shot.

And I was burying Mariano earlier in the spring but I have seen him lately and his 2-seamer is remarkable. I think you’ll see it a LOT more this year. He’s got the same bite and location on the sinker that some guys who make their living at it have. And it’s just a pitch to take your eye off the cutter but now I think he could get by on it. He is something, that guy. Even with the three postseasons he has tossed away (1997, 2001, 2004). -

And congrats to Liverpool for the 4-1 beating they put on Arsenal.  Crouchy had himself one of those Robbie Fowler days.  Of course, it doesn’t mean much if they’re flat on Tuesday.  Tuesday is everything.

-fog

What Exit, Liberty?

 

Mrs. Pinetar and I went to Princeton, NJ today just to look around and shop and see what there was to see. It’s a unique and historic American town (and it’s in New Jersey–no “exit” jokes, please~) I liked this marker placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Civil War Re-enactors With Man Perms

I was watching History Channel recently and there was some Civil War documentary on and they had shots of re-enactors, playing out the scenes of this raid and that skirmish. As I looked at it and thought, “gee, they sure went to a lot of trouble, these guys…”.

And they had. Uniforms, guns, tents, wagons–the works. Then I noticed that almost every last one of these guys were huge! We’re talking 30 to 50 pounds overweight and some north of that. I suppose the demographic of your garden-variety, fully-equipped, Civil War re-enactor is basically fat guys. And it’s a shame really because the scenes were done up in such painstaking detail otherwise.

In 1864, guys who marched around and ate wormy hardtack (a fat saltine) and salt pork on Sundays, would be super-skinny. Every last one of them would be bones and sinew. If you were ever lucky enough to get a big-ole fatty meal, they’d march it right off of you in a day or two. Yet on the show I see our re-enactors come marching in, busting out of their fake uniforms and all puffy cheeked and doughy-faced like little Confederate-woodchucks. And if you really think about it, the re-enactors are all 35, 40 years old and the “boys” they are “playing” were as young as 16 and most 18-22 years old.

And you know? God Bless those Civil War re-enactor guys. Hey, they dig history. Whatever floats your boat. They read the books, rent the movies and the next thing you know they’re camping out in tents with a case of Pabst and in the morning, they get to be in the movie and play with mild explosives. Just remember, they’re serious historians, right?

Click here to go to a Civil War Re-enactor site

[Here's a shot off of that Reenactor site I googled up. Clearly, this is a modern day guy posing for the retro Daugerotype. He's got the tell-tale, pop-tart fed, puffy cheeks going. (Maybe if you had triathletes posing?)]

[You know, since putting this up this morning, I see that the Civil War Reenactors site has changed the main photo from this guy to a scruffier looking dude. I really hope that it is a routine rotation of the members and that I didn't get this guy DQ'd. I mean only fun in pointing this out. It's the same way that people in Europe know instantly that we're Yanks, because we're all fat b****s, relatively. I am a student of history and have personally visited Gettysburg at least 3 times, Chickamunga, Fredricksburg, Chancelorsville, Spotsylvannia, Manassas, Petersburg and Antietam. I read the books and watch the shows and argue the silly arguments and I "get" the whole thing in a way. I just don't do it myself and I was just having a little fun is all. (I actually think the Daugerotype looks pretty cool)  Hope some click-traffic went their way. --fog]

I’m not even going to get started on the hair. The truism in Hollywood is that no matter the cost of getting the period right, the hair of the actors is always a dead giveaway as to when it was shot. I never understood that. These people work for you. You’re paying them a good buck. Shooting the movie is costing you a FORTUNE! MAKE them get the period hair too!

Look at Little House on the Prairie (that Mrs. Pinetar seems to have on all the time). Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon) has a man-perm that the guy in REO-Speedwagon would be proud of. Now how the he|| am I supposed to get into the show with the bad 1970’s hair? The give and take with my wife goes something like this: “…but honey, if you showed up in 1870 with the Jimmy Page hair, they’d probably pitchfork you as a…”

–fog

Remember “Southern Rock”?

When I was in high school in the first Reagan term, what we used to think of as rock and roll music was suddenly and actively subdivided up into categories.  In the late 1970’s, bands that were pretty mainstream to our ears now (The Cars, The Pretenders) were packaged as “New Wave”.  I guess it was supposed to be all edgy and different but when you look back, it really wasn’t anything different at all!

It’s funny, but I can remember having completely retarded and super-serious arguments with my friends about what was and what wasn’t “Heavy Metal”, or “New Wave” msuic, in addition to whether it was good or not.  We bought into these made-up marketing distinctions so completely that it seems funny to realize now just what complete bulls*** it all was!

I think the thing that made me realize that I’d been had as a youngster was looking at a bad Southern Rock album cover–by Badfoot, I think it was.  It just hit me.  You take an ordinary band and put a rebel/Confederate flag on the cover, maybe a deck of cards (not to mention the obligatory Jack Daniels bottle somewhere on there), have the band grow beards perhaps and presto!  You had a Southern Rock band.

I can still close my eyes and see the black concert tees going down my high school halls in New Jersey (Yi-haaa!) no less!  And always, the faded stars and bars.  It’s amazing to me, how little it takes, to sell millions in crappy merchandise to kids, if you just package it with the right imagery.Now I wasn’t (I swear) a “Southern Rocker”, but I knew guys who were into it.  I just couldn’t stomach Skynard and you had to like them if you were going to be a competant Southern Rocker.  And this isn’t the only example of this kind of marketing, but it is the one that consistently makes me laugh today.  And not all Souther Rock is trash.  Most of the Allman’s stuff is good and bluesy.  The anthems: Green Grass and High Tides Forever and Freebird do not automatically get shut off if they come on sattelite radio however, I prefer the Outlaws Green Grass any day.  Faster and faster, guy after guy with guitar riff after guitar riff, until it sounds like 29 guitars going at once–dood…pass the Jack! –bb

Robert E. Lee screwed the pooch (but Rather won’t report it)

It’s basically a pet peeve of mine that certain guys like JFK, Ali and Robert E. Lee, to name only a few, seem to get glowing, rave writeups.  It’s just automatic after a point.  No one questions the hype.  That’s why the Pinetar Rag loved what Phillip Marlowe sent in:

Historical, non-anti-Yankee Rants

To answer Dave’s question of “WHY do I always rip the Yankees?”, I say, “allright, fair enough”.  Here we go.  I’ll rip a guy who was most decidedly NOT a Yank.

General Robert E. Lee.  One of the most over rated guys in American History.

In December of 1862, Lee’s forces decimated the Union Army at Fredericksburg, Virginia.  The Feds marched up an incline near the Potomac River and attacked the entrenched and well-artilleried, Mayre’s Heights.  The Rebs shot up the Feds something awful–to the point where the land where it all went down is called, “The bloodiest 2-acres in North America”.  Someone did the grim math.  They tell you about it on the battlefield tour anyhow.  I was just amazed that the bloodiest 2-acres of North America is covered with houses.  Yikes.  Talk about moving the headstones (and not the bodies)…Whoahhh.  John Edwards would have a headache walking down the street there in Fredericksburg.

Anyway.  After the slaughter at Fredericksburg came a series of battles which led, just six month later in July of 1863, to Gettysburg, and Pickett’s charge.  Lee had stood on Mayre’s Heights and watched his forces vaporize the Union frontal assault that day.  It was carnage.  He couldn’t have missed it.  But order a frontal assault of his own, against the well-defended Union center at Gettysburg is just what he did.  And 10,000 of his men paid for his blunder.  Now anybody can make a mistake but this guy had a dry-run just 6 months before this!  The Union men, as they repulsed the charge and killed the rebels by the bushel, were heard shouting “Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg…”, proving that even the lowliest grunt remembered–so why couldn’t Lee?

You always hear all sorts of over-the-top, romanticized sendups on Lee and I suppose he did many, many things right but it’s always like that with guys like Lee and perhaps Kennedy(s):  They never get the blame for really screwing the pooch.  I guess it’s because the guys who write up these things, have a lot emotionally invested in certain myths and they seek to create and maintain them (and besides, you don’t tune in a program or buy a book to read about a bum).  Robert E. Lee got 10,000 men slaughtered by being dense?  Naaahhh, can’t be.  He looked too good on Traveller.  He was THE MAN–break out the Lynyrd Skynyrd records…

Grant gets bad press for doing the same dunder-headed thing in 1865 at Cold Harbor–he presides over a total slaughter of a frontal assault.  They can write about that and hang that on Grant but somehow, it is sacrilege to do the same thing to Lee.  And Grant wasn’t AT Fredericksburg–he was out west and was very successful and never with the kind of headcount that he had when he got the big chair in the east.  And Grant had Lincoln TELLING him, “dude, we can trade them 3 to 1 and still win–I need you to attack and keep on attacking until they collapse–they can’t take it–we can”.  Ok, maybe he didn’t say “dude”.

No Yankee-bashing there Dave.