National Banana Day 2024

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national-banana-day-2024

National Banana Day 2024

It would be somewhat punny of me to say National Banana Day has a natural appeal, so I won’t say that. 🍌 Let’s slip into the topic of my beloved firstborn’s least favorite fruit…

The Funniest Fruit

Time flies like an arrow – but fruit flies like a banana. ~Terry Wogan

It’s strange to think that bananas are somehow an inherently humorous piece of fruit.

I’m not sure how they got this reputation, but the very name is a synonym for craziness and havoc.

Slapstick comedy and cartoons extol the comical slipperiness of a stray banana peel or the excellence of a banana cream pie as a food fight projectile.

Despite their inherent hilarity, I find them tasty. A bunch of bananas doesn’t last long in our household.

Except, of course, in the case of Emmeline. She absolutely hates them. No idea why, but she detests the taste of bananas except for the artificial banana flavor in banana Runts.

🍌 Entertaining Bananas 🍌


Bananas in Pyjamas Intro 1997

A long, long, long time ago, Emmeline used to find bananas amusing. The Bananas in Pyjamas were a big hit for a little girl, but her tastes have matured in the intervening centuries, I mean, decades…

She’s now primarily entertained by her silly dogs and who can blame her. Max and Spencer are very silly pooches and they get up to some mischief.


Slipping on a banana peel – 3 versions of the classic joke


Pie Fight – The Three Stooges – In the Sweet Pie and Pie (1941)

Still, there’s nothing more basically comical than a banana peel pratfall or a rousing banana cream pie fight to brighten your day. You simply can’t beat the classics.

Speaking of classics, even though my kids think the stuff Kelly and I found engrossing back in the 70s is nightmarish, you have to admit that they have a catchy theme song.


The Banana Splits Opening and Closing Theme 1968 – 1970

writing-divider

Blink And It’s Stale

Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana. ~Bill Gates

I know that’s right. Ideas are fleeting and easily imitated. It’s been the bane of my entire writing life.

I had an idea back in the 90s for a sci fi story in which conspirators would use interstellar travelers as data mules.

The basic notion was that when you travel to certain foreign countries, it’s advisable or even straight out required to get a variety of inoculations.

Naturally, if you’re traveling from planet to planet, you wouldn’t want to carry or catch alien pathogens. So, a service that provided these vaccines might use the inert viruses to carry information at a nano-scale. Interesting idea that had some potential.

And then… Star Trek: Enterprise got the same idea.


Returning the Klingon | Star Trek: Enterprise – Broken Bow

Okay, it happens. I’ve mentioned the Peter Brady thing before. There’s nothing new under the sun.

The annoying thing is that if I ever use that idea, people are going to think I got it from ST:ENT Ep1, which is really maddening because I had it before that show hit the air.

Will I use it? Who knows? It’s going to be a while before I get to my Far-Flung Reaches series.

In the meantime, I’m working on The Sentinels and it’s getting harder because NYC is really going to 💩. Empire City is a parallel universe fictionalization of the Big Apple, but even with a fertile imagination it’s hard to envision my version of the city over the madhouse it’s quickly becoming.

Instead of the high end tourist destination that it’s been for as long as I’ve been old enough to travel on my own, it’s becoming more like the bedlam that Snake Plissken had to rescue POTUS from in Escape From New York.


Escape From New York Official Trailer #1 (1981) Kurt Russell, John Carpenter HD


Escape From New York Official Trailer #2 (1981) Kurt Russell, John Carpenter HD

That’s the thing to do these days. Escape.

That sincerely blows. I wanted to go there to see some of my story locales in person and really get the feel for the place.

Not anymore. Until they fix things, I’m staying well the hell away from it.

So, what to do? Shelf the superhero stories until somebody crams the Democrats back into their dark holes?

Maybe, but I’d rather not. I really wanted to get this series going.

It’s a purely academic matter anyway. I spend all my time working on reports for my day job. I haven’t got a brain cell to spare for creative activities.

I’m not sure how to get out of this cycle and get things more balanced again, but I seriously need to.


That’s all for this delicious Hump Day. I hope your week is sweet and free of flying pies.

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