All I Can Say Is "Spooky" -- Is 68 A Lychrel Number --- Being The Ricardos -- Covid-19 Update -- March 5, 2022

A reader sent me this:

I fact-checked this on the internet, and these dates are exactly correct. These are the "official" dates. 

Is "68" a Lychrel number?

•  68 + 86 = 154
• 154 + 451 = 605
• 605 +506 = 1111

Nope, and only three iterations. 

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The Movie Page

Updates

March 6, 2022: wow, wow, wow. I really missed it. I asked the question in the original post, why would Jeff Bezos spend so much money on a big-budget film (Being the Ricardos) and then, essentially, giving it away for free. There are two reasons:

• one: movies, as we know them, are going away. No more big cineplexes as the only game in town for big budget movies; it will be a hybrid; streaming and cineplexes. Jeff Bezos wants to be part of that future.
• two: imagine all the "free advertising" Amazon will get if Nicole Kidman wins the Oscar. She is nominated and that gives Amazon gravitas and lots of free advertising. Ya think? Next time Bezos comes to Hollywood he will get a huge reception. Can you imagine if he is in the audience when Nicole is on stage accepting the Oscar. This meant a lot to her.

Original

An Amazon Original. 

Being The Ricardos: 

"During one production week of "I Love Lucy" -- from Monday table read through Friday audience taping -- Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) face a series of personal and professional crises that threaten their show, their careers and their marriage, in writer-director Aaron Sorkin's behind-the-scenes drama.

It's worth a watch. I couldn't watch it as a singular activity but having it on in the background while blogging was perfect. I hear Nicole Kidman is up for an Oscar for this one. Must drive Tom Cruise nuts.

Nicole Kidman, much of the time, was a perfect Lucille Ball. If Kidman doesn't have an eating disorder, she must really watch her diet closely and maintain a rigorous physical training program to maintain that figure. Pretty amazing. And especially when folks say film "adds ten pounds."

Most interesting: Philip Morris was prominently featured in the movie but yet there was almost no smoking. In fact, I don't recall any smoking (there must have been some, I just missed it) but there were a few ash trays (something many millennials would not recognize these days), and the character playing the Philip Morris representative in the movie held a cigarette between his fingers, but I don't recall him ever taking a puff -- it was almost bizarre. 

[In contrast, both my wife and I were surprised how much smoking there is  in the old Perry Mason series. Paul Drake is at least a three-pack-a-day smoker; Perry Mason, more reserved, maybe a pack-a-day in some episodes. Surprisingly and refreshingly, Della Street is never seen smoking. But I digress.]

From 1951 to 1955, Philip Morris sponsored the CBS sitcom "I Love Lucy", with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz pitching the product often, and Philip Morris controlling the content of the program. In 1955, Philip Morris became an alternate sponsor with Procter & Gamble, eventually bowing out altogether by the end of that year.

Lucille Ball was a heavy smoker most of her life.

On April 18, 1989, Ball was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after experiencing chest pains. She was diagnosed with a dissecting aortic aneurysm and underwent surgery to repair her aorta and a successful seven-hour aortic valve replacement. [I spent some time training at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center many decades ago.]

Shortly after dawn on April 26, 1989, Ball awoke with severe back pain, then lost consciousness; she died at 5:47 am PDT at the age of 77. 

Doctors determined that Ball had succumbed to a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm not directly related to her surgery. A greater incidence of aortic aneurysm is seen in cigarette smokers and Ball had been a heavy smoker most of her life.

Which reminds me. Look at her age of death: 77.  Seventy-seven is relatively young these days for folks who have reached age 70. Remember the statistics in the early days of Covid? Those most likely to die were in their 90s. Much could be said. 

I don't recall Nicole Kidman ever holding a cigarette in the movie. [Re-watching the movie, she took a single puff early in the movie when all the characters were being introduced. A few other times, holding a cigarette, but that was about it.]

I didn't care for every episode of "I Love Lucy," but I bet I saw every episode. It played in re-runs at 10:00 a.m. Monday - Friday when I was in training, and that's exactly when we went on rounds. And every patient had their television tuned to those re-runs of "I Love Lucy." 

The movie: an Amazon Original. I have no idea why Jeff Bezos would pay big bucks for big-budget movie productions. I can't imagine anyone subscribing to Amazon Prime to watch these movies. There are a nice perk, but it made no difference in my decision to re-up for Amazon Prime even with its recent (and significant) subscription price increase. [Later. I just watched the movie again. I think I know why Jeff Bezos would do this.]

You know it's a good movie when you can watch it twice, back-to-back. 

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Covid-19

Speaking of Covid, the other day I mentioned that the US Covid-19 vaccination program was coming to an end based on daily figures released by the CDC.

Example: number of vaccinations given in the US on the following dates --

• Saturday, December 4, 2021: 1,974,857
• Saturday, today, March 5, 2022: 336,031
• Friday, last week, February 25, 2022: 169,162

Seasonal flu: the season is over, unless there's another unexpected surge; one of the mildest seasons in recent history; the lack of pediatric illness / death is absolutely mind-boggling. Obviously all the actions taken to minimize Covid in spreading among infants, toddlers, and elementary children had huge positive effect on seasonal flu among that demographic.