APR 30, singable satire: "THREE BEARS IN OUR HOT-TUB"

PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Three Coins in The Fountain", 1954, as performed by Frank Sinatra. The song was written by Jule Styne (melody) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the romantic film "Three Coins in the Fountain". The film has a plot involving Rome's famous Trevi Fountain, with a man named Giorgio as one of the principal characters. The song received an Academy Award in 1955 for Best Original Song. Hear Sinatra croon the tune HERE.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, 2016. 

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Three Bears in Our Hot-Tub" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

INSPIRATION: A newsfeed story related that a California man found his outdoor jacuzzi invaded by a bear who had climbed over his fence; the animal drank a cocktail at tub-side, then left the property and fell asleep in a nearby tree. Similar tales are not uncommon in the Pacific Northwest, but the current story of ursine home-invasion is considerably more elaborate than any single news report found online. 

THREE BEARS IN OUR HOT-TUB

(to the tune of "Three Coins in the Fountain")

Three-meter-high barriers

Should ensure your privacy.

Yogi swings with his cronies,

Down from that overhanging tree.

Three bears in our hot-tub

Each one loosening its bowels.

Good guests should wipe up messes;

These bears use our new white towels.

Three bears drank our cocktails,

Each snarfed snacks in our lanai.

Bare bears then tried romance

When margaritas got them high.

Is the new pool-liner wrecked?

Is the new pool-liner wrecked?

Three bears on our pool-deck,

Snoring after so much fun.

"I can no longer bear it - 

Get help! (I think that that's a pun.)"

"Nine-One-One.

Nine-One-One.

Nine-One-One."

"Three Bears", Anna Hyatt Huntington,
aluminum sculpture,
Brookgreen Gardens, SC. 

APR 29r-, exotic destination: Nome, Alaska

 

reprise from April 2020

APR 30, exotic destination: Nome, Alaska

Other verses about 'Exotic Travel Destinations' can be found on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE.

APR 28r-, insects: mosquitoes

 

reprise from April 2020

APR 28, insects: mosquitoes

You can review Giorgio's other verses about pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

APR 27, photo-analysis: flight of the great blue heron

Start at the right hand side, uppermost row, and scroll downward to follow the bird as it flies from your right to our left.

Interested readers might also want to review an illustrated poem about great blue herons in an earlier post on this blog. Or, you could check out our entire collection of illustrated verses on this topic in a wider context by proceeding to 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

links for any date on this blog: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

APR 26r-, trees: gnarling

reprise from April 2020:

APR 26, trees: gnarling

TO ENLARGE any slide or stand-alone photo on this blog, just click on it. To reverse the process, and return to this standard view, find the little 'x' in the upper right corner of the black field and click there.

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Uprooted Verse: 'Poems about Trees' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". 

APR 25, photo-collage: Carolina lowcountry wildlife, with another trip to the pelicatessen

A continuation from the post of April 18 

processing the morning's catch

the "pelicatessen" reopens for lunch

See our previous posts about the "pelicatessen", and brown pelicans.

Henrietta poses for a formal portrait

another five-lined skink

tractor-seat plant

snowy egret, afternoon fishing

sediment balls, intertidal zone,
sign of crabs' feeding activity.

fiddler crab, carrying food,
sandy edge of brackish marsh at low tide

glossy privet hedge in bloom

great blue heron, in crepuscular light 

Get a poetic glimpse of the term "crepuscular" by clicking HERE.

sunset view from the boardwalk

APR 24r, scopes of medicine: endoscopic spectrum

 a) reprise from April 2020

APR 24, scopes of medicine: endoscopic spectrum

Authors' Note: 

Uro: medical jargon for 'urologist'

scope: (jargon, as here) in modern usage, a camera with flexible fiberoptic cable to visualize internal viscera; abbreviated from endoscope

   This verse deals with endoscopic procedures that use flexible fiberoptic devices to inspect and sometimes to biopsy or to treat the lining of various hollow body organs (viscera). Recently, as  such instruments have become more technically sophisticated and widely used, these procedures have expanded their role and their accuracy in specialty medical practice. Advanced training is required for practitioners to acquire expertise. In addition to the procedures mentioned in this collection of verses, similar considerations underlie operative laparoscopy, culdoscopy, etc.

You can view a collection of verses on this topic  by proceeding to 'Inner Enlightenment: The Scopes of Modern Medicine' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

b) rainy-day excursion:

trip to a charming rural church for a chamber-music concert

APR 23, American satire (prolongation): obstruction of justice

 

Author's Note: 

A.G.: Attorney General, a political appointee heading the US Department of Justice   

prez: casual term for president, used in lightweight discussion of the American political situation

Forty-Five: a sequential numbering system is used in the United States for successive holders of the elected office of President; we are currently on number Forty-Six (Joe Biden)

capo: 'head', or 'boss' in Italian, frequently used in connection with the Cosa Nostra (Mafia)

We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find 40 more on this topic in 6 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 

 

APR 22, submitted palindromes, targeted: "No 'X' In NIXON"

The enthusiastic reader can also find a nice little illustrated verse about this featured palindrome by clicking HERE.

For word nerds like us, who adore palindromes, hours of delight await  on our blog "Edifying Nonsense".

First of all, there  is a series of posts, on the 25th of each month (2020 through 2024) featuring collections of "submitted palindromes", attributable to the contributing authors shown above, constituting a loosely organized compendium of intriguing back and forth phrases; frequently, these are inspired by the "classic" palindrome repertoire, as is the case in today's offering as shown in the above slide.

Then, on the 20th of each month, original topic-based collections of wordplay items are displayed, often as "wordplay maps". These include anagrams and other forms of wordplay in addition to palindromes. However, the latter lexical device is honored in major outpourings including "New World Palindromes", "Old World Palindromes", "Magical Palindromes" and even a post on "The Meaning of Life as Revealed in Palindromes". 

The first three posts of each month on "Edifying Nonsense", (on the 5th, 10th and 15th), are the repository of short poetic verses, mostly limericks and "limerrhoids",  the majority of which have gone through rigorous collaborative editing on an online site. But even there, wordplay, particularly palindromic phrases are honored and discussed. So you can, by following the links, find some five collections (with eight verses each),  dealing  with the "classic palindrome repertoire", not to mention  extensions displaying terse verses about the fabled "Palindrome Valley" and parodies about the "Panama canal". 

And, even further, there is under construction a group of parody-songs honoring the classic palindromes. The song lyrics will be posted here, on this blog ("Daily Illustrated Nonsense") and also, with more musical direction on "Silly Songs and Satire."  We will update you when that project has been completed, but if you insist, you could sneak an advance peak at the song "Sin and Redemption".    

APR 21r-, mammalian wildlife: star-nosed mole

reprise from 2020

APR 21, mammalian wildlife: star-nosed mole

You can find a song about the star-nosed mole on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to access it! 

You can also review the whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".

  

APR 20, singable patter-satire: "The UNIQUENESS OF NUCLEAR"

ORIGINAL SONG:  "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959. 

Tom Lehrer, parodist

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, October 2013, a follow-up to our childhood enjoyment of Latin classes, as expressed in the earlier song "No Elements". Please note that T.L.'s genius has provided inspiration for a further handful of parody patter-songs. 
An earlier version of this particular song was first web-published in 2013 on the site "AmIRight" under the title "Residents and Presidents". It has now been extensively updated for presentation to you, our favorite readers. 

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany this song on your favorite instrument, proceed to our lyrics-blog "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE" by clicking HERE (and when you get to the bottom of the SillySongs post, you can find links to our other songs inspired by Lehrer.) 

THE UNIQUENESS of 'NUCLEAR'

(to the tune of Tom Lehrer's "The Elements")

Singable Introduction:

There was a swarm of parodists who pounced straight for the jugular;

They satirized a Prez whose speech was smug yet sometimes struggular;

Disdain for George the Son, less blame for James from Plains in evidence;

They pegged the mis-spoke "NUCULAR" the catchword of the Presidents.

I toiled for several decades in the Section known as "NUCLEAR";

Though now fairly famili-ar, I still find it peculi-ar

That highly educated voices, palatal and uvular

Would schedule tests, requests infested with the mis-spoke "NUCULAR".

Presidents
 Jimmy Carter and George W Bush

test requests
(web-illustration)

 

Patter-Song Lyrics

There's popular and insular and regular, oracular

Cuticular, vehicular, vesicular, vernacular

And tabular and tubular and muscular and modular

And cellular and singular and circular and nodular.

There's fibular, follicular, and pustular and jocular 

Vestibular and valvular, auricular and ocular

And vascular, crepuscular and titular, testicular

Peninsular, peduncular, avuncular, particular.

Triangular, corpuscular, spectacular and annular,

Articular and angular, glomerular and granular,

And glandular and scapular and spicular and globular

Molecular, trabecular, lenticular and lobular. 

And endless adjectival terms in Med'cine and Biology

With current usage driven by their Latin deriv-ology,

Like saccular and secular and ovular, fascicular

Reticular, radicular, furuncular, funicular.

So, clearly there's no stimulus for apparatus cochlear,

That simulates the sound unique of proper-spoken "NUCLEAR".

 

APR 19, postal places, USA: Hoboken, NJ

 

Authors' Note:  NJ is the official abbreviation for the American state of New Jersey, in which Hoboken, a town with population of about 60,000, is situated, commuting distance from New York City.

THe town was first settled by Europeans in the 17th century as part of the New Netherland colony. Following the Dutch era, it became known as the site of the first recorded game of baseball, and as the birthplace (1915) and hometown of Frank Sinatra. 

At one fell swoop, you can review all our postal poems about intriguing places in the USA and Canada, by proceeding to the encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

APR 18, photo-collage: this week's Carolina lowcountry wildlife

green anole, on backyard fence

Henrietta, the sociable great egret,
at Shem Creek boardwalk

"Blue-tailed skink",
 the origin of that common name is obvious here;
(juvenile five-lined skinks and broad-headed skinks
 have a similar appearance)

jellyfish, recently washed ashore,
Sullivan's Island, SC

a weight-lifting skink

foraging nocturnal opossum
 captured in our porch light 

Henrietta watching kayakers

"Hop to it" (on one leg),
peculiar habit of many shorebirds

African iris
(floral break from all the fauna)

pelican flight

Editor's Note: More photos on this topic can be found on a later posting HERE.