Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I know I said I wouldn't do this for an Open Thread, but I haven't done one for a while, and I just wanted to. Smile

Something/Someone Old
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In honor of Burt Reynold's passing, this week I'd like to share a clip from Smokey and the Bandit. My favorite line from this clip: "Dammit! I saw 'em do it in movies!"

The seventies absolutely did the best and most awesome car chases ever. I had entirely forgotten that Sally Field was in this movie. In fact, I'm going to include another clip just because I love hearing her say "I've got the medal to the pedal and the...thing to the floor!"

Something New
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This next is hilarious. It's called "Salsa Tequila."

"When did you learn to speak Spanish?" the guy says in the intro...

Listen carefully to the words...

"Salsa Tequila" makes Shane MacGowan's command of Spanish look worthy of a diplomatic corps.

Something Borrowed
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If you are between the ages of 35 and 55, you may not believe that the following song could be good. It's a little like saying a cover of MacArthur Park is good. But, miracle of miracles, it is.

Yes, I just rickrolled my entire readership.

Something Blue
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Blue agave, or agave tequilana, comes from Jalisco, Mexico, and is a key ingredient in tequila. In the spirit of both "Salsa Tequila" and "Fiesta," today's "something blue" is this lovely plant that has brought joy and unsteadiness to so many.

Ah, college.

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Looks more green-gray than blue to me, but who am I to argue with the people who live where the thing originally comes from?

The tequila agave is native to the states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Aguascalientes in Mexico. The plant favors altitudes of more than 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) and grows in rich and sandy soils. Blue agave plants grow into large succulents, with spiky fleshy leaves, that can reach over 2 metres (7 ft) in height. Blue agaves sprout a stalk (quiote) when about five years old that can grow an additional 5 metres (16 ft); they are topped with yellow flowers.The stalk is cut off from commercial plants so the plant will put more energy into the heart.

This agave started as a houseplant 50 years ago; in 2006, it created a 30-ft flower stalk, which required its owner to make a hole in the greenhouse roof to accomodate it!


The flowers are pollinated by a native bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) and produce several thousand seeds per plant. The plant then dies. The shoots on commercial plants are removed when about a year old to allow the heart to grow larger. The plants are then reproduced by planting these shoots; this has led to a considerable loss of genetic diversity in cultivated blue agave.

This is the long-nosed bat of Mexico, which is agave tequilano's primary pollinator:

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Irritatingly, the long-nosed bat is endangered, threatened by loss of habitat. I'm getting to where this sort of thing makes me want to punch something.

Oh, actually only one sub-species is considered the blue agave; only one kind of agave tequilana is called "blue:"

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OK, that one looks a lot more blue to me.

Tequila is made only from a specific cultivar of Agave tequilana called 'Weber Azul'. This cultivar is larger and blue-gray in color compared to the smaller and green normal A. tequilana. It is a rapid grower and prolific offsetter in keeping with its agricultural advantages. Tequila is produced by removing the heart (piña) of the plant in its eighth to fourteenth year (depending on growth rate and whims of harvester). Harvested piñas normally weigh 80–200 pounds (40–90 kg).[4] This heart is stripped of its leaves and heated to convert the starches to sugars. Then the roasted core is pressed or crushed to release the sugary clear liquid called aguamiel, which is, in turn, fermented and distilled into alcohol.

Spanish is wonderful; the name, collectively, for all the pests and diseases that have begun killing Weber Azul since commercialization, is referred to as TMA: Tristeza y Muerta de Agave
. Strictly literally, this means: sadness and death of agave, although the word "sadness" is actually being used to mean "wilting." But I love Spanish. You would never, in English, find the idea of plant sadness.

How are you all today?

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Arrow's picture

Eh...my Spanish...not so good. I keep trying and that's important I guess.

I'm more a cerveza (Cusqueña or Crystal) guy.

Anyway...much-as grass-us....have a great day all!

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I want a Pony!

I speak velly fluent espanie. (Borrowed from a Cheech and Chong or Firesign Theater clip), iirc.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@QMS I spent a bunch of time trying to find the scene in Strictly Ballroom where they dance to "Tequila," but couldn't find it.

What a great movie. It's going to have to be "Something Old" one of these days.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

lotlizard's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal  
in the Dutch movie “Minoes” (based on the book by the beloved children’s book author Annie M.G. Schmidt).

https://www.soundtrack.net/movie/miss-minoes/

The movie has been released in English under several different titles, including “Miaou!”, “Miss Minoes”, and “Undercover Kitty”.

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mhagle's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

. . . is a personal cult favorite. I have watched it many times and recently shared it with my daughter. Beautiful and hilarious.

Thanks for the OT. I love this format. Smile

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

The Aspie Corner's picture

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@The Aspie Corner Thank you, AC. This is a good segment.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

smiley7's picture

Don't recall drinking too much tequila or beer with limes, but very much enjoyed this morning thread and learning about the 'blue' plant.

Beautiful day on the mountain, low of 40 predicted this week and daytime highs of 60.

I've friends who just left here for their home in Florida and they praise this time of year in your climate as well.

Thanks for this OT and hoping you and everyone have a great day.

PS, I recall that Burt had a theatre and school in Florida, was that near you?

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@smiley7 Ordinarily, this time of year is pretty nice. But ever since Florence went by, it's been mega-hot and quite humid. It's not the worst heat I've ever seen (which oddly, I think was in Philadelphia, not Florida...there's something about cities, all that asphalt and buildings close together makes it like you're in a big box that just keeps getting hotter), but I'm not going outside much.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@smiley7 I didn't know about his acting school.

OK, just looked it up. It's in Jupiter, FL, which is nowhere near me. Smile

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

It *is* still morning, barely.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

gulfgal98's picture

We love telling this story on a close friend of ours. Our friend lives in Asheville, but regularly comes to visit us, usually for the 4th Friday monthly gallery walk. Often we go to a local Mexican restaurant afterwards to eat and drink cerveza.

Our friend is Cuban, looks very Hispanic, and his late mother was a college professor of Romance languages so you would think he would know Spanish pretty well. One night we went to the local Mexican restaurant whose waiters are actually Mexican. We all ordered a beer with the guys getting a Dos XX's Grande (34 oz of dark beer goodness). I usually get a smaller Modelo Negra.

The waiter brought the two Dos XX's grande and they were so full to the top of the mug that our friend decided to ask for a straw in Spanish. Unfortunately, he used the wrong word and instead ordered a hair brush!

The waiter started laughing and said in English "Sir, are you sure you want a hair brush?"

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@gulfgal98 LMAO!

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

enhydra lutris's picture

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --