TV Quote of the Day (‘Frasier,’ Demonstrating the Ironic Impact of Sleep Deprivation)

[Much to his disgruntlement, Seattle’s favorite radio psychologist and advice dispenser, Dr. Frasier Cranier, has been scheduled beyond midnight by a new station program director. After gamely trying to subsist on acres of coffee, he and his assistant Roz have both fallen fast asleep in their chairs.  Suddenly, a caller names Phyllis is on the line.]

Phyllis [voice of Carrie Fisher] “People think insomnia is a laughing matter, but it's hell.  If I don't get some sleep soon, I'll just—I'll go crazy!  You've got to help me, Dr. Crane?  Dr. Crane?  Hey, I'm talking here!”

[Frasier and Roz wake up with a start.]

Frasier [played by Kelsey Grammer] (frightened at first before going into his customary greeting): “What?!  I'm listening.”

Phyllis: “So what do you think I should do?”

[Frasier looks helplessly at Roz, who can only shrug. He decides to wing it.]

Frasier: “Well, you know, sometimes these things seem clearer in the light of day.  My advice is to sleep on it.”

Phyllis: “Is that some kind of a joke?!  To make fun of the insomniac?!”

Frasier: “Oh, no…”

[She hangs up.  Frasier sighs.  Roz signals him to go to a commercial.]

Frasier: “Oh, oh, and now for a word from, um, uh, ah [shuffles some papers on his console] I forget, I think they sell paint.”—Frasier, Season 3, Episode 1, “She's The Boss,” original air date Sept. 19, 1995, teleplay by Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano, directed by Philip Charles Mackenzie

Photo of the Day: Elephant Ears, Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA

I have already spotlighted the marvelous Berkshire Botanical Garden in prior posts on the single-seed juniper and the pineapple lily. But another plant I saw and photographed up there in Stockbridge, MA, is also worth mentioning.

One look at this plant and you’ll see why few know it by its formal scientific names, alocasia and colocasia, but instead as elephant ears. Granted, I focused hard on the leaves in taking this shot, but it didn’t take much for them to fill up the frame of the camera. They are enormous—up to two feet across. In contrast to alocasia, this variety, colocasia, tends to spread out more. 

Their foliage can be stunning, but it might have been most appropriate that I viewed it, along with the rest of the garden, in late August, because—even though their size would make them quintessential solo performers in any garden—they look great with other summer bulbs and annuals.

Quote of the Day (Gerald Nachman, on the Over-Reporting of Winter)

“Winter wouldn't seem quite as miserable it wasn't so over-reported. In the old days, the weather was simple. A person was content to shiver, ‘is it chilly out there!’ But now, through the miracle of weathermen, you can say, ‘That wind-chill factor must be minus 20 degrees!’” —American author, columnist and critic Gerald Nachman, Out on a Whim: Some Very Close Brushes With Life (1983)

So true—but baby, it’s cold outside!

Quote of the Day (William Shakespeare, on Being on Holiday All Year Round)

“If all the year were playing holidays,

To sport would be as tedious as to work.”—Prince Hal in English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Henry IV, Part I (1600)

When I came across this quote a week ago, there was no identification of it other than the fact that it had been written by Shakespeare. But it reminded me an awful lot of a class I took on Shakespeare nearly 40 years ago with Columbia University’s Edward Tayler. 

The theme I recall, from that single semester, was about going from the world of holiday to the world of everyday—and sure enough, this is the passage that Prince Hal, boon companion to a bunch of hellraisers like Falstaff, will negotiate on his way to becoming King Henry V, the monarch who will reject his old way of life in assuming his new responsibilities.

This week, then, will be the last chance to enjoy the world of holiday while we can. Let’s enjoy it while we can.

Quote of the Day (Henry Adams, on Experience)

“All experience is an arch, to build upon.” —American historian (and descendant of two U.S. Presidents) Henry Adams (1838-1918), The Education of Henry Adams (1907)