Your Most Disturbing Realizations

[Bushman]

I thought the resurrection of Peter Cushing in 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was utterly convincing. I'm not sure how I quite feel about CGI resurrection, yet, but in this instance the imitation was flawless.

The CGI young Carrie Fisher at the end, however, was unfortunately timed and straight out of the uncanny valley. It was amazing at the first glance, but when you pause the shot, something about it looks unnatural.

 

[tonyb]

For pretty much all my adult life I have rather enjoyed the excesses of the “holiday season,” many of those excesses, anyway — the lights and the (often faux) greenery and all that. In my carousing years I got a kick out of sitting in barrooms and looking out on the shoppers toting their bags of swag from store to store. The air is brisk, the nights are long, and I got to drink it all in without much by way of direct participation in the big spending part of it.

I’m looking forward to heading downtown a time or three between now and J.C’s Birthday (observed). But I’m waiting for some truly cold weather. Bundling up is a big part of the ritual.

 

[tonyb]

We busted out the Vince Guaraldi “A Charlie Brown Christmas” recordings a couple days ago.

It has become a favorite holiday tradition. That it dates from well within my memory, and that it has established itself so thoroughly in the culture, speaks to the talents of Messrs Schulz and Guaraldi, and to the nature of tradition itself.

 

[Zombie_61]

I thought the resurrection of Peter Cushing in 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was utterly convincing. I'm not sure how I quite feel about CGI resurrection, yet, but in this instance the imitation was flawless.

The CGI young Carrie Fisher at the end, however, was unfortunately timed and straight out of the uncanny valley. It was amazing at the first glance, but when you pause the shot, something about it looks unnatural.

I found neither of them convincing, mostly because there was no "life" in the eyes; it was like watching a couple of re-animated corpses.

 

[scottyrocks]

The creepiest thing are the CGI resurrections. Orville Redenbacher, Col. Sanders, etc. Bad idea dot com.

I was under the impression that the current KFC ad campaign was filled with different actors dressed up to look like Col. Sanders. And they make a point of using different actors, probably to suggest, 'Hey, it's dress up, we're not trying to fool anybody.'

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Colonel himself was a deliberate, anachronistic fabrication -- Harland Sanders cooked up the whole goatee-white-suit-string tie persona in the 1950s as a way of calling attention to himself when he first hit the road to try and franchise his chicken. (He even carefully bleached his whiskers to make them snowy white to match his suit.)

Somewhere along the line the real man behind the character was lost. That real man absolutely loathed what his company became after he sold out, and spent the last years of his life bitterly denouncing the "slop artists" who had "prostituted every damn thing I had" -- when he wasn't appearing in the TV commercials he was contracturally required to appear in.

That being so, you could see why the current-day owners of that IP entity called "The Colonel" would be eager to rewrite history wherever possible. The one that really got my goat was that animated Colonel from the '90s, who twirled his cane, pimp-strutted and jive-turkeyed across the screen, and bellowed out obnoxious sales blather in the yee-haw voice of Randy Quaid. An abomination that the real Colonel wouldn't have tolerated for a second.

 

[3fingers]

If the KFC stores elsewhere are anything like the ones in this part of the world the entire operation will be joining Sears, JC Penney and many others in the dustbin of corporate stupidity soon enough. They used to be as good as a license to print money but have declined to poor to awful in later years. I would guess 75% of them have already closed within 100 miles of here.

 

[scottyrocks]

We had a chain here called Kenny Rogers Roasters, that has almost completely vanished. A friend has said that their chicken is miles better than Boston Market (which is hard for me to believe - I really like Boston Market).

I've never eaten at a Kenny Rogers Roasters, as I don't often frequent chicken joints. Maybe that's why they closed up shop around here. haha

 

[Zombie_61]

If the KFC stores elsewhere are anything like the ones in this part of the world the entire operation will be joining Sears, JC Penney and many others in the dustbin of corporate stupidity soon enough...

We have two KFC locations within four miles of our house, and they're both terrible. I think they go out of their way to find the tiniest chickens they can, then they either over or under cook them. Neither of them has seen us since they finally opened a Popeyes here early last year. Now, I know Popeyes chicken and side orders are about as authentic a representation of Louisiana cooking as Taco Bell is an authentic representation of Mexican food, but we like it and it's far tastier than the rubbish KFC is overcharging for.

We had a chain here called Kenny Rogers Roasters, that has almost completely vanished. A friend has said that their chicken is miles better than Boston Market (which is hard for me to believe - I really like Boston Market).

I've never eaten at a Kenny Rogers Roasters, as I don't often frequent chicken joints. Maybe that's why they closed up shop around here. haha

Many years ago we ate at a Kenny Rogers Roasters somewhere here in southern California. I have a vague recollection of the food being slightly above average for that type of restaurant, but we never went back so it must not have been worth the trip.

 

[Bushman]

Our KFC has the worst chicken I've ever eaten. I'm rather partial to the Harold's Chicken Shack on Wabash in Downtown Chicago, myself. It was a reprieve when a Popeye's was opened up in the next town over. The only decent place I can get chicken without going downtown, or fearing for my life.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Our KFC has the worst chicken I've ever eaten. I'm rather partial to the Harold's Chicken Shack on Wabash in Downtown Chicago, myself. It was a reprieve when a Popeye's was opened up in the next town over. The only decent place I can get chicken without going downtown, or fearing for my life.

Harold's: yes. I also like Brown's, and Church's isn't bad- but occasionally, too salty.

Popeye's? Can't stand it. I'll go to KFC before eating that dreck.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Our KFC is what it is. Sometimes it's excellent, sometimes it's blah, sometimes you're better off eating the bucket.

I love Popeye's. We have three of them in the entire state, and I've been known to drive seventy miles just to have a Spicy Chicken Po' Boy. When I win the Powerball the second thing I'm going to do is buy the abandoned Tim Hortons up the road and put a Popeyes in there.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And speaking of The Real Colonel, here he is as a guest on "What's My Line?" in 1963. Sanders had been franchising his chicken for over a decade at this point, but he still wasn't prominent enough for urbane New Yorkers to know who he was.

 

[tonyb]

KFC entered my world circa 1965, and the consensus among my people is that it was RFG. It was a real treat.

Ain’t so G anymore, finger-lickin’ or otherwise. Hasn’t been for decades, in my experience.

 

[Bushman]

Harold's: yes. I also like Brown's, and Church's isn't bad- but occasionally, too salty.

Popeye's? Can't stand it. I'll go to KFC before eating that dreck.

I do like Brown's, and I do have one nearby in a relatively good location, but it's also somewhat out of my way for me.

 

[Zombie_61]

And speaking of The Real Colonel, here he is as a guest on "What's My Line?" in 1963. Sanders had been franchising his chicken for over a decade at this point, but he still wasn't prominent enough for urbane New Yorkers to know who he was.

I have no idea what it was called, but at some point during the 1970s one of the local Los Angeles stations aired a very short-lived game show (I think it was canceled after five episodes) in which celebrities were disguised to look like fictional characters, historical figures, other celebrities, and so on, and the contestants asked them questions in order to determine who was under whatever costume and makeup they were wearing. One episode featured Colonel Harland Sanders dressed as, you guessed it, Colonel Harland Sanders. They gave him a slightly exaggerated mustache, goatee, and wig, but he wore his own trademark suit and didn't fool the contestants very long because he couldn't disguise his voice.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I have no idea what it was called, but at some point during the 1970s one of the local Los Angeles stations aired a very short-lived game show (I think it was canceled after five episodes) in which celebrities were disguised to look like fictional characters, historical figures, other celebrities, and so on, and the contestants asked them questions in order to determine who was under whatever costume and makeup they were wearing. One episode featured Colonel Harland Sanders dressed as, you guessed it, Colonel Harland Sanders. They gave him a slightly exaggerated mustache, goatee, and wig, but he wore his own trademark suit and didn't fool the contestants very long because he couldn't disguise his voice.

I'm lucky (??) enough to say that I've chowed down on KFC in Corbin, KY: where Sanders opened his first restaurant before it was KFC. They had an all- you- can- eat lunch special, and I was famished. Skipped the mashed potatoes, however: starved or not I still have some standards.

 

[3fingers]

The spuds were never anything special, but the gravy used to be. Pour it over your biscuits or a slice of bread and get busy.
However the last time I had any it was a container of glop.
Col. Harland must be spinning 500 rpm in his grave.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"My God, that gravy is horrible. They buy tap water for 15 to 20 cents a thousand gallons and then mix it with flour and starch and end up with pure wallpaper paste. And I know wallpaper paste, by God, because I’ve seen my mother make it. To the “wallpaper paste” they add some sludge and sell it for 65 or 75 cents a pint. There’s no nutrition in it and they ought not to be allowed to sell it. And this cole slaw. This cole slaw! They just won’t listen to me. It should be chopped, not shredded, and it should be made with Miracle Whip. Anything else turns gray. And there should be nothing in it but cabbage. No carrots! And another thing. That new crispy chicken is nothing in the world but a damn fried doughball stuck on some chicken."

-- Colonel Harland Sanders, 1976.

 

[ChiTownScion]

"My God, that gravy is horrible. They buy tap water for 15 to 20 cents a thousand gallons and then mix it with flour and starch and end up with pure wallpaper paste. And I know wallpaper paste, by God, because I’ve seen my mother make it. To the “wallpaper paste” they add some sludge and sell it for 65 or 75 cents a pint. There’s no nutrition in it and they ought not to be allowed to sell it. And this cole slaw. This cole slaw! They just won’t listen to me. It should be chopped, not shredded, and it should be made with Miracle Whip. Anything else turns gray. And there should be nothing in it but cabbage. No carrots! And another thing. That new crispy chicken is nothing in the world but a damn fried doughball stuck on some chicken."

-- Colonel Harland Sanders, 1976.

If memory serves, hadn't Heublein taken over when he made that statement? I seem to recall the parents of two friends who were shafted as KFC franchisees by that corporation, although I cannot recall the details.