The Supreme Tradition of Spelling Bees

nutrax, I'm glad to hear that Mr N is doing well.

Chris: I asked for a double espresso with two extra shots of espresso

How can you drink that much coffee altogether?

El Exigente, I find out, was Carlos Montalban, Ricardo's brother.

While looking to see what I could find out there, I unearthed the Weekly World News, Junior Edition for May 30, 2005. There's an article about "Juan Cortez" who brews his coffee right in this mouth. The "reporter" is Maxwell DeKafka. The dateline is El Exigente, Arizona. Juan keeps his coffee his custom built "Java the Hut." HIs favorites are Turkish Tafi and North Korean Red.

He grinds the coffee with his teeth, puts on some sort of tongue protector, gulps some rainwater &heats it in his mouth with a Bunsen Burner.

Here's the link, but I understand that Google Books doesn't always work in some countries.He brews Java in his Mouth Scroll down to find out how to use a voodoo doll to make your own gasoline.

I guess Ricardo had the more successful career overall as most people would measure it, but having been El Exigente is much cooler than having talked about soft Corinthian leather/

"The small Chrysler"?!!? Lucky they didn't have him drive a VW Beetle. I wonder too if Montalban had to practice to put the accent in Cordoba on the second syllable rather than the first.

El Exigente, I find out, was Carlos Montalban, Ricardo's brother.

Yes nutrax. The only other thing I recall him in is Woody Allen's Bananas, in which he plays the Batista-like dictator who gives way to the Castro-like dictator.

I used to love the Weekly World News. It was a cut above the rest.

How can you drink that much coffee altogether?

Loscar, I used to have eight shots but I got very tired of the looks of astonishment. The coffee I made at home in NYC was Bustelo (espresso style), but instead of making it as espresso I'd use a regular coffee filter and fill the mug full. Just one cup a day though...

I wonder too if Montalban had to practice to put the accent in Cordoba on the second syllable rather than the first.

Bjd, I remember him on the Letterman show in the 1980s goofing on the Cordoba commercials. He was amused by the pronunciation ("cahr-DOW-buh," he said), and also the fact that there is no such thing as Corinthian leather. He had to stop taking English lessons when he was told he would get more work with a thicker accent.

I love it! I was just reading an article on the BBC website about a man trying to hold up traffic on a highway running through his village by pressing on the button and then crossing the street very slowly. But he might be in trouble because The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossing Regulations and General Directions of 1997 are not the most fearsome bit of legislation in the police's pocket, but regulation 19 bodes ill for Mr Fuller

I know the animal names for pedestrian crossings were discussed on SiT some time ago, but I didn't realize there was a law about them.

I don't know where all those people who complain that only bad news is published get their information. I went to the next article on the BBC and got this: abducted by aliens

I think Russian papers must contain more UFO articles per capita than any other country, bjd.

I know what a zebra crossing is, but will now look up pelican and puffin. I have a couple of little English-Hungarian and Hungarian-English dictionaries I picked up in 1990, and remember flipping through both at the time with a Hungarian colleague, in search of words that might appear familiar to me. Zebra was the only one we found in our quick search.

I have much too much to do here before getting on that plane tomorrow.

If good news is what you're looking for, here you have an article about the reopening of Teatro Colón in less than two weeks, after being closed down for restoration for three and a half years.

I saw a video about the final work and the planned reopening recently on BBC mundo. That article sounds as though it was run through Google translate.

So, are you going to the theatre soon, Loscar?