Saturday 9: Twilight Zone
Unfamiliar with this week's featured song? Hear it here.
1) This is one of the first songs to see a bump in sales after its video was shown on MTV. Do you ever watch music videos?
A. I used to when they actually showed music videos. I was a big fan of VH1 in the early to mid 1990s.
2) Golden Earring is from the Netherlands. The average life expectancy there is 79 years old. Who is the oldest person you know?
A. Probably Joe Johnson at present, who is in his 90s, but I had a great-great aunt who died about five years ago at the age of 107! She was born in 1900 and died in 2007; she saw the entire 20th century! Her name was Pearl. She was my great-grandfather's sister on my mother's maternal side of the family.
3) The song's composer says the song and especially the video were inspired by the 1980 book, The Bourne Identity. The espionage thriller was finally made into a movie with Matt Damon in 2002. Do you have a favorite secret agent/spy?
A. I was always very fond of Nancy Drew when I was growing up. These days I like Sue Grafton's books about Kinsey Millhone and I like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. As for TV, I was a big fan of Charlie's Angels (the original) and Cagney and Lacey.
4) The song's title comes from The Twilight Zone TV show, which ran from 1959 to 1964. Are there any old shows that you enjoy watching in reruns?
A. I like to watch The Golden Girls, Andy Griffith, Frasier, and The Big Bang Theory, which is not old but has been around long enough to almost qualify. I also like to watch Little House on the Prairie, JAG, and The Waltons.
5) "All guys cheat on their girlfriends, so yeah, I forgive him." Sam heard a young woman say that into her phone as they waited in line at the drugstore. While Sam is always surprised by how much personal information people share in the public, that's not what we're concentrating on this morning. Do you think that it's true? Do all guys cheat on their girlfriends?
A. No, they do not all cheat, and if a man cheats the woman should dump him and run far, far away, especially if they are in the girlfriend/boyfriend stage. If they're married (or common law live-ins) then there must be some exploration to see if there is something salvageable, but if those ties that bind are missing, then see you later, you cheating-ass alligator.
6) Whenever Sam goes to the grocery store she picks up Snausages because her dog looks at her with sad eyes when she tries to reward him anything else. What product has your brand loyalty?
A. Charmin bathroom tissue. Yes, I know, it is toilet paper. But it very, very important and the thing I most worry about running out of.
7) Do you have a piggy bank or a coin jar?
A. I do, yes. Except it is shaped like a fireman, not a piggy.
8) Sam knows that she's always supposed to wear sunscreen, even on cloudy days, but she sometimes forgets. What do you know you should do, but sometimes don't?
A. I know I am supposed to not eat chocolate but I do, which is the opposite of the question, isn't it. I know I should exercise 30 minutes every day, but I sometimes don't. Lately I've been too ill to manage it.
9) Retailers report that sales of Halloween costumes for grown-ups are strong. Since Halloween was earlier this week and there will be parties this weekend ... What's your costume for Halloween 2013? If you aren't dressing up this year, tell us about one of your favorite outfits from a Halloween gone by.
A. I am not dressing up. I guess my favorite costume when I was a child was the year I dressed as a hobo. But my favorite Halloween memory is the one where I was trick-or-treating and a witch answered the door. "Won't you come in, my dear, I have goodies for good little children," she said. And I held out my bag and said politely, "No thank you, my mother told me not to go into the homes of strangers."
