Take Two: Catching up on conversation

The winner of the "name the talent" contest

As you can see in the photo with this column, the performer in our contest last week entertains regularly at Bimini's Beach Club on South Collier Boulevard in Marco.

Photo by CHRIS CURLE, Marco Eagle

Beth Melville, of the twosome Chris & Beth, performs at Bimini's Beach Club on South Collier Blvd.

She is Beth, of the dynamic duo Chris & Beth, a.k.a. Beth Melville, a.k.a. Beth Thompson, a.k.a. Beth Thompson-Melville. She plays most Thursdays through Saturdays at Bimini's, where she and Chris Melville enjoy a loyal following.

The first reader to e-mail me with the correct answer after seeing the item in this space last week was islander Tom Hecht.

He wins dinner for two at Bimini's, compliments of the club's managing partner, Jamie Sweeney. Congrats to Mr. Hecht and thanks as well to the many other readers who sent in answers — some correct, some not, but all a little late.

We may do more of these "guess the person, place, etc." in the near future, so please check us out every week here in the Marco Islander.

How are you? "I'm so glad you asked."

It's a veritable verity that in many gatherings here on Marco Island and elsewhere in Southwest Florida, one should never say to another person, "How are you?" unless the asker can spare 20 minutes to listen to the answer from the askee.

So some seniors I've heard about have an unwritten but clearly understood "five-minute" rule on chatting about one's health at social events. Here's how it works, at least some of the time:

At a cocktail party, for example, people can use the first five minutes or so to catch up on who has developed or recovered from what illnesses, ailments, aches, syndromes and such.

Then, the conversations must turn to other things — world events, sporting news, praise for the party dip being served, grandchildren, golf scores, nature versus nurture, all that.

Health chat also can be reduced, I hear, by stipulating ahead of time that everybody's doctor is "the best in his/her field."

Cheesy journalism on WINK radio

At 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 19, a local news reader on WINK AM1270 reporting that the filing deadline had passed for candidates to run in the party primaries in Florida's U.S. Senate race.

Referring to the Republican primary, the news reader, Heather Braham, began the report with "Like it or not." She went on to say nobody had filed to challenge Katherine Harris for the GOP nomination.

I know Harris worries about many Republicans who fear she cannot beat incumbent Bill Nelson. I know Nelson is way ahead in poll match-ups with Harris.

But that's no reason for a "reporter" to add the gratuitous phrase, "Like it or not." It's like saying, "Here's what I think" before reading the story. It adds a hint of snottiness and a lip curl to Harris' standing. Besides, I'll bet a lot of Democrats do like it a lot and maybe some anti-Harris Republicans as well.

If Braham continues to insert her bias into the newscast, she may make it to the big time, where there's a lot of that going around already.

This just in: Highlights from the wacky world of mass media

At 10:50 p.m. Sunday, May 21, the weather person on Fox 4 News at 10, Liza Fernandez, gave viewers this startling forecast:

"We'll have some nice sea breezes, especially in the coastal areas."

Who wrote or said this?

"Last night, my wife and I were sitting in the living room talking. The idea of a living will came up and I said to her, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If I ever come to that just pull the plug.'

"She got up, unplugged the TV and then threw out my beer."

I have no idea who said that. It came to me (and perhaps to you, too) on the Internet, and I just think it's funny.