European Reacts

I've posted a bunch of "European Reacts" videos that a Portuguese fellow André does, often accompanied by his charming wife Sara, showing their intense love of America.  I haven't posted one for a while, and plan to get to more of them, including some videos of them finally making to the U.S. on a trip a few months ago.  But I want to jump ahead of my plans to post this "one off," that André just put on YouTube because it's timely.  (There's no adorable Sara here.  André says she wasn't available.)

This one has to do with him watching and commenting on someone else's video which shows the reaction of Europeans who've come over to the U.S. for the World Cup and are blown away by what they're discovering here that they never expected.  It's pretty funny (along with André's comments from his own experience).  Much of this how absolutely stunned people are by the size of food portions, as well as their near-disbelief at massive places like Walmart and Costco.  Though my favorite is a young woman's overwhelmed reaction to something all American's take as everyday ordinary (and her response is similar to one from a year ago that André himself had been amazed to discover -- that in the U.S., school busses are actually yellow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_iJJCDf0k0

Thank You for Not Smoking...

This morning, I woke up in the pre-dawn hours and sniffed the air a bit and got concerned that my apartment was on fire.  But when it clicked in that the smoke alarms weren't going off, I realized that my place was okay -- but maybe another building nearby was in trouble.  I didn't hear any fire trucks though, so I couldn't be sure.  But it was certainly odd.

Falling back off to sleep, when I woke up later, I still smelled smoke and kept trying to figure out where it was coming from and caused by.  It was almost like growing up back in Chicago and raking leaves in the fall and burning them.  Anyway, I had an early appointment and went down to my car -- to see it looked dustier than I expected.  I had a car wash a couple weeks ago, so I figured maybe the air was especially dirty the past week.

And then I put on the car radio.  Ohhhh, okay.  There's a massive wildfire burning out of control in Ventura, which is only about a 2 to 2-1/2 hour drive from here.

It sounds awful, lots of damage.  No risk here in West L.A., but big problems there.  I have some friends who live in the nearby area, though it seems out of the danger range -- but I'm sure conditions are horrible.  I hope firefighters are able to get it contained soon.

In fact I just called one my friend who lives close to the fire and smoke area.  He said they haven't had to evacuate yet and things are fine for their house, noting, "We can't even see the fire from here," though he then laughed and added, "Of course we can't see the hills around us either..."

By the way, before returning home, I stopped for gas and cleaned the windshield and back window. That was about an hour ago. Just moments ago I had to go and get something out of my car -- the windows already were covered with dust.

But that at least explains things.

The U.S.S. Niemietz Docks Again

As longtime readers here know, I'm a fan of singer-songwriter Sara Niemietz, and have posted a lot of videos of hers for a while -- though not for a few years.  So, it was a great treat to see that last week, she sat in with the Cletones house band on the Jimmy Kimmel Live!  She didn't get to sing a solo spot on the show, but whenever they'd go to a commercial with music,  she and the band would play the show out.

So, I thought it only proper to have another of her videos again.  Here she is with a lovely rendition of "I Want to Hold Your Hand."  Listening to it, I couldn't remember ever hearing anyone sing this that wasn't the Beatles.  And if I did, it certainly wasn't sung like this, as a tender ballad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0IWINu5cXg