• Every so often, I think that maybe people with different viewpoints could come together in some sort of middle-ground compromise or understanding. Then I look at how many people get outraged over the question of whether pineapple belongs on pizza.

I long ago figured out that my life works best when I…

1. Plan ahead…
2. …but not so firmly that I'm thrown when things don't go as planned and I have to make a new plan or maybe even a series of new plans.

I know people who err both ways. They're constantly being caught by surprise by unexpected needs and events that they should have expected. Or, at the other extreme, they expect the universe to adhere to their schedule and don't understand that universes have a nasty tendency to not do that. And when things don't go the way they expected, they're clueless as to how to plot a new course. Sometimes, your G.P.S. takes you to a sign that says "Road Closed" and you have to figure out a new way to get when you're going.

One of the lesser but significant downsides to The Pandemic is it makes planning impossible. When things looked rosier than they do now, I bought semi-expensive tickets to see two of my favorite comedians perform locally — one in mid-October, one in mid-November. Those two dates and a few doctor appointments are just about all I have on my calendar.

Will I be going to those two shows? Wish I knew for sure. I don't even know if they'll have them. The October date is the third rescheduling of a show that was originally going to take place in June of 2020, then was postponed until February of 2021 and then to its new date. The question of whether I'll be in attendance on the new date starts with the unknowable — at the moment — question of whether Ricky Gervais will reschedule yet again.

And if it isn't, will I feel safe to go then? Again, that's unknowable — at the moment).

I've learned I just have to live that way. There are oodles of predictions out there about when our lives may normalize and I've decided it's easier to trust none of them. Some of them are educated guesses. Some are of the seriously-uneducated variety. So far, none of them have been right so I think this is one of those times when "I don't know" is the only reliable answer.

In the last few days, a half-dozen e-mails have asked me if I've heard anything about the announced Comic-Con Special Edition to take place November 26-28 in San Diego. It's darn near the only other thing on that calendar of mine.

Folks are asking me if I'm sure it's going to happen, when tickets might become available, when rooms might be rentable, if they'll require proof of vaccination, etc. Here's an absolutely true answer: I don't know. No one has told me anything lately.

The convention website says it's happening. The website of the San Diego Convention Center says it's happening. That's what I know. They've both said what they say for a while.

And I know one other thing: I know the people who run this convention are very skilled and very benevolent and they don't like keeping folks in suspense like this. If they had something firm they could tell us, they would. And when they do, they will. It's just one of those things that comes from living in such uncertain times.

The following is just me wondering aloud about something. I have spoken to no one in San Diego about this.

We currently have a recall election happening in this state. While I think Governor Gavin Newsom should stay in office — and have already voted accordingly — the polls have it as neck-and-neck.

If it doesn't go his way, the most likely person to replace him seems to be Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder. Mr. Elder has zero experience in government which I gather is one of the reasons some of his backers back him. He has said, "When I get elected, assuming there are still facemask mandates and vaccine mandates, they will be repealed right away and then I'll break for breakfast."

This brings me back to I Don't Know territory. I don't know, of course, if Newsom will be turned out, I don't know if Elder will replace him.

If Elder is elected, I don't know how far he would carry that pledge. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed off on a law banning cruise companies from requiring proof of COVID vaccines to board ships in his state. He seems to be losing that battle but that kind of fight rages on there and in other states. In what sorts of public places might Elder or any other Newsom replacement try to block requirements of masks and/or proof of vaccination? I don't know.

I don't know if the State Legislature has the power to overrule a governor on this kind of thing or if they would. I don't know if it will affect the Comic-Con. I don't know if it will affect the facility in which the event will be held if it indeed is held.

The Convention Center is not a private business. It's a nonprofit public benefit corporation formed by the City of San Diego. Its website has a lot about this current policies on this page. Here's one key excerpt…

In California, unvaccinated people are required to wear face masks in all indoor public settings, including our convention center. Policies for vaccinated guests vary by event. Our State and County are also following CDC guidance in recommending everyone wear a face mask in indoor public settings, whether you've been vaccinated or not. Individual event organizers may be more restrictive than this guidance.

Will the recall election change this in any way? You can probably guess my answer but in case you can't, I'll give you a hint: It's a three-word phrase that starts with "I." The "I" is followed by a contraction and the phrase ends with the word "know." If you can't figure it out and you find yourself saying "I don't know," you've got it!

I wrote myself a little note to remember to mention the birthday (though, being a gentleman, not which one) of Julie Newmar yesterday. And then I didn't do it. I guess it's because she's still stupefyin' and still the only person I've ever met who when I see her, I instantly think "Movie Star!" I've met lots of movie stars who didn't have that impact on me but Julie always has and always will.

Jeff Blair sent me this link to a gallery of photos of Julie as Catwoman. I'm passing it on to you with the reminder than that role was a very small part of an amazing, amazing career.

Matthew Yglesias on what we should and shouldn't have done with Afghanistan. I am no expert on any of this…which gives me much in common with all the people who are trying to put the blame on whoever in this country they want to see become less electable. But I think Yglesias explains well why there's so much blame to go around and that no one can escape some of it.

I've received quite a few messages from folks who remember the Banana Wackies cereal, not one of whom recalls it favorably. The nicest thoughts were from my buddy Paul Dini…

In response to your recent post, I have also used the expression "Banana Wackies" throughout my childhood and into adulthood.

And for the same reason — overexposure to those commercials. I actually tried the cereal though. It was unremarkable. The cereal pieces were Styrofoamy in taste, but the banana marshmallow bits were not bad. My sibs and I picked them out and squeezed them together to make banana marshmallow balls out of them. On the whole, I preferred Quisp when it came to mid-1960's junk cereals, and even now I still order it online.

I did consider using the expression "Banana Wackies" in a cartoon when when describing some crazy character, but I wasn't sure if I would be risking copyright infringement, so I changed it to "wacky bananas" instead.

And the following is from C.K. Wyman…

What I remember about Banana Wackies is that at age 10, I finally found a pre-sweetened cereal with cartoon characters on the box that I didn't want to eat. I did not then think such a thing was possible, though I came close with the original Lucky Charms. I think they've improved Lucky Charms since then because I had a few spoonfuls of it once when my son insisted I buy it for him and it wasn't as bad as I remembered.

If they still made Banana Wackies, I would not buy it for him no matter how many tantrums he threw, not because I wanted to spare him the agony of having that garbage in his mouth but because some court would pronounce me an unfit parent, take him away from me and throw me in a cell somewhere. And I'd deserve it.

I remember in the sixties eating one bowl of Lucky Charms at a friend's house and deciding that could last me for the rest of my life. I also remember the frustration that the cereals I did like were never the ones that offered the neatest prizes or offers. I'm sure I got my mother to buy me a number of cereals I would never have otherwise eaten because they had Hanna-Barbera characters on the front and inside, a Huckleberry Hound or a Yogi Bear something.

But as a kid, I think my favorite cereals — going just by what was inside the box — were Cheerios and Rice Krispies. This was when Huckleberry Hound was on Sugar Stars, Yogi Bear was on OKs, Snagglepuss was on Cocoa Krispies, Quick Draw McGraw was on Sugar Smacks, Pixie & Dixie and Mr. Jinks were on Kellogg's Raisin Bran…

No child should be pulled in that many different directions.

I posted this back in 2014. It's from John Oliver's third episode of Last Week Tonight on HBO and I just came across it again. This kind of smart comedy is why he wins the Emmy every year. And it is still sadly relevant…

I almost never watch Late Night with Seth Meyers on TV but I often catch highlights — especially his "A Closer Look" segments — online. They're real good. In case you didn't catch it tonight, here's what he did about the mess in Afghanistan…

• I just mailed my ballot in the California Recall Election. There should be a way I can now opt out of all the phone calls, e-mails, ads and possibly showing-up-at-my-door campaigners trying to sway my vote. My vote is gone. That's why some of us vote early.

As we all stare with what I call "The Springtime for Hitler" look at anti-vaxx/anti-mask efforts in our country, I try not to let it distract me from things I can actually do something about. But I paused to read this article by Jonathan Chait and I think he nails exactly what the problem is all about. It's Republicans who, having taken Trump's counsel that COVID was no big deal and would go away soon, trying to not admit how wrong he and his followers have been.

We haven't had nearly enough baby panda footage on this blog lately so…

A friend of mine spent several years in Afghanistan working as a doctor attached to the U.S. forces. He told me some pretty harrowing tales about his tour o' duty here but the thing I remember most is when he said, "Staying there is a disaster. Leaving there would be a disaster. Nothing about the country is not a disaster." I think that's proving to be the case.

I seem to recall a lot of politicians of both parties saying we should just get the hell outta there. So we tried to get the hell outta there and they're not happy about that.

The two pundit/experts I look to on this kind of topic are Daniel Larison and Fred Kaplan. You can read what each has to say.

It's several numbers from the Broadway musical 42nd Street except that it's a Korean production. They did a nice job of it…

Jim Henson, who was a pretty smart guy, once said…

At some point in my life I decided, rightly or wrongly, that there are many situations in this life that I can't do much about — acts of terrorism, feelings of nationalistic prejudice, Cold War, etc. — so what I should do is concentrate on the situations that my energy can affect.

That's a pretty good quote there…one of the ones I find myself quoting to others a lot these days.

Geoff Hall writes to ask…

In your latest blog post, you described someone as "banana-wackie," which I assume means crazy or nuts. I've seen you use that term before and I'm wondering where it comes from. Is it a joke I'm missing or something?

It's something that wormed its way into my vocabulary in the mid-sixties when the General Foods people marketed (briefly) a breakfast cereal that was called "Wackies" on the box but "Banana Wackies" in the commercials for it. I never tasted it and am not sure it got as far as supermarkets in Los Angeles before they gave up on it…but I sure saw a lot of those ads. Here are a few…

It was, I'm given to understand, a sort of spin-off from the same company's Lucky Charms cereal which came out to great success in 1964. A box of Lucky Charms contained puffed oat cereal mixed with little marshmallow pieces shaped like moons, stars, clovers, etc. A box of Banana Wackies contained puffed oat cereal mixed with little marshmallow pieces that were allegedly banana-flavored. Since I never cared much for Lucky Charms, I probably wouldn't have tried Wackies if I'd had the opportunity…but I liked the name.

Incidentally! In the commercials you may have just watched, there's a little boy and a gorilla. I have no idea who did the little boy's voice but the gorilla seems to be the comedian and character actor, B.S. Pully. And if it isn't him, it's someone doing a darned good impression of him.

B.S. Pully was said to be the dirtiest comedian of his day, starting in the mid-forties. The "B.S." was not an abbreviation for his actual first and middle names. His real name was Murray Lerman. He named himself "B.S." to hint at the profanity and for a time was teamed with a comedian named H.S. Gump who operated on the same principle.

Pully with his gravel voice and earthy manner did bit parts in movies until 1950 when he accompanied a friend to an audition for the original production of the show Guys and Dolls. According to legend, the friend who was trying out for a role did not get the part but B.S. wound up getting cast as mob boss Big Jule on Broadway and later in the movie. He spent most of the rest of his career playing gangsters. And he outlived Banana Wackies, though not by much.

I have a lot of e-mails about Glen Campbell's recording of "Galveston" and yes, I guess I did make the connection when I first heard it. I did realize it was about a young soldier off fighting a war somewhere, wishing he was home with that 21-year-old lady he loved. I forgot or perhaps never knew it was a Jimmy Webb song. When I get through with this whole mixtape series, I need to go back and figure out how many Jimmy Webb songs I had on my tape. I bet a lot.

What I didn't know is that "Galveston" was first recorded by Hawaiian music superstar Don Ho. His version sounds sad and not all that interesting and if someone told me it could be turned into a top-selling hit with a few alterations, I'd have thought they were banana-wackie. Buzz Dixon pointed out to me that over on Wikipedia, they show how some lyrics were changed for the Campbell version. Originally, one section went like this…

Galveston, oh Galveston
Wonder if she could forget me
I'd go home if they would let me
Put down this gun
And go to Galveston.

And it got changed to…

Galveston, oh Galveston
I still hear your sea waves crashing
While I watch the cannons flashing
I clean my gun
And dream of Galveston.

I didn't know most of this when I put it on my mixtape. I just liked the song.