Yesterday, dear reader, I subjected you to another one of my "I remember when" posts. If I do say so myself, I suspect some of you may have liked it, as the thing I was remembering is the sort of bike that's, sadly, not made anymore.
Today's post will also begin with "I remember when". What am I recalling from the good ol' days? Listening to a song with the lyric "all of the colors of black" with rainbows of polyester all around me? Hearing Bruce Springsteen before the rest of the world would hear of him? (Yes, I did!) Seeing Michael Jackson when he was still black?
No, I'll tell you about something that, if you're not of a certain age, you will find truly incredible. No, I'm not talking about a time when the Rolling Stones and Joni Mitchell were actually worth listening to. (Believe me: There was such a time!) I'm also not talking about the Knicks winning the NBA Championship. (Yo lo vi, I swear!) Instead, I'm about to tell you something you may find even more unbelievable. But I swear it's true.
Here goes: Saturday Night Live was once actually worth watching. In fact, it was the funniest, and simply the best, program on TV for a time. Really, it was. In those days, it offered skits like this:
It's a dessert topping. No, it's a floor wax. Dan Ackyroyd, Gilda Radner and Chevy Chase were parodying all of those products hawked on late-night TV that try to serve disparate functions. Can you imagine what the original SNL cast would have done with smart phones when they first came out?
Now, I'm not against products that can perform more than one function or task. But just about every product has at least one thing it should never, ever be made to do. As an example, I don't see how any device could be a juicer and a deep fryer at the same time. At least, I don't think I'd want to eat or drink anything that came from such a device.
I have seen bicycles used to generate power for hair dryers and laptops, or spin grinding stones used to sharpen knives and cut keys. I have even seen them used as amphibious vehicles. I don't mind such uses; in fact, I applaud them.
But I don't think I like this:
If the bars and stem can flex enough to double as a gym machine for upper-body workouts, I'm not sure I'd want to ride them. And, really, you have to wonder just how good of a workout someone would get---whether in the upper body or legs--from the Revolution.
Today's post will also begin with "I remember when". What am I recalling from the good ol' days? Listening to a song with the lyric "all of the colors of black" with rainbows of polyester all around me? Hearing Bruce Springsteen before the rest of the world would hear of him? (Yes, I did!) Seeing Michael Jackson when he was still black?
No, I'll tell you about something that, if you're not of a certain age, you will find truly incredible. No, I'm not talking about a time when the Rolling Stones and Joni Mitchell were actually worth listening to. (Believe me: There was such a time!) I'm also not talking about the Knicks winning the NBA Championship. (Yo lo vi, I swear!) Instead, I'm about to tell you something you may find even more unbelievable. But I swear it's true.
Here goes: Saturday Night Live was once actually worth watching. In fact, it was the funniest, and simply the best, program on TV for a time. Really, it was. In those days, it offered skits like this:
It's a dessert topping. No, it's a floor wax. Dan Ackyroyd, Gilda Radner and Chevy Chase were parodying all of those products hawked on late-night TV that try to serve disparate functions. Can you imagine what the original SNL cast would have done with smart phones when they first came out?
Now, I'm not against products that can perform more than one function or task. But just about every product has at least one thing it should never, ever be made to do. As an example, I don't see how any device could be a juicer and a deep fryer at the same time. At least, I don't think I'd want to eat or drink anything that came from such a device.
I have seen bicycles used to generate power for hair dryers and laptops, or spin grinding stones used to sharpen knives and cut keys. I have even seen them used as amphibious vehicles. I don't mind such uses; in fact, I applaud them.
But I don't think I like this:
If the bars and stem can flex enough to double as a gym machine for upper-body workouts, I'm not sure I'd want to ride them. And, really, you have to wonder just how good of a workout someone would get---whether in the upper body or legs--from the Revolution.
