The Daily Tannenbaum

I’m back from vacation now, and I’d love to give you all a little slide show, but alas, no pictures were taken. (I can hear that collective sigh of relief, you know!) Before or in case I don’t to a vacation recap, let me first thank you all for throwing in your two cents to the Great Sedaka Debate, and give a little recap of what we learned and why.

As I mentioned, the question came about during a viscous game of Taboo, a game that requires teammates to guess a topic on a card without using certain words. One of the funny side effects of the game is that you often see deep into a person’s psyche after hearing what pops into their head and spurts out their mouth. In the game we played on the night in question, I was teamed with Penelope and The Grey Boy was giving clues to Dude the Girl. The word that came up for him was “Heartthrob.” And, as you can guess, the first thing he said was “Neil Sedaka.” Let me reiterate that as close as all of us are to hitting 30 years old, we’re all way to young to be alive during the time that Neil Sedaka was in any way dreamy.

(To be fair, the second thing he said before the timer ran out was “Nick Carter” although that is incriminating in an entirely different way.)

I think that like many of the commenters, the rest of us had heard of Neil Sedaka, but it was not until we were able to access the internet again that we could really put our finger on who exactly he was. So naturally, because we are such good friends, we mercilessly spend the rest of the days making fun of The Grey Boy. By the time I got to posting on the internet, I started to feel a mite bit guilty, but thanks for the vindication anyway. I started to worry that I was in the minority after I got a message in Michigan from The Grey Boy who thought the results were skewing in his direction, but what can I say, the facts don’t lie.

Here are the results of the highly scientific study. As in any Gallup poll, there is a 2-4% margin of error, but feel free to see in it what you want:

(A) I love I love I love my little Calendar Girl! I do hope to see him in concert next time I go to Vegas. What a heartthrob. (3 votes)
Tinetastic (but only because he was revived for 90210 purposes.)
Merez (I don’t recognize your handle, and I fear I’ve offended you on your first comment.)
Gloria (I fear I’ve also offended you, new commenter, but you would make The Grey Boy proud.)

B) Wasn’t he popular when I was a kid? He used to be a heartthrob, but I’ve moved on to Neil Diamond. (5 votes)
Jennifer M. (who is knowledgeable beyond her years in many subjects.)
The Dutchess of Kickball (knows Mr. Sedaka as a contemporary of our parents.)
Lizgwiz (thinks Sedaka an odd choice of heartthrob.)
Sarah (also knowledgeable beyond her years, and of good taste)
RDL (who doesn’t go for the Neil Diamond, either.)

C) I am younger than 75 years old and therefore not familiar with Neil Sedaka. (7 votes)
-R- (but recognizes the name.)
Anaka (will Google and learn.)
Nancypearlwannabe (a normal young person.)
Stefanie (we’re just going to put you as “C” for argument’s sake.)
Jamie &/or John (we couldn’t name any songs without Wikipedia, either.)
Brando (I felt the same way, until I learned that I knew more than I know.)
Jill O. (Welcome! I’m glad I didn’t offend you!)

Doesn’t really fall into any answer category:
Shane (I think that you would agree that when you think heartthrob, you don’t think Sedaka, unless you’re gay.)
Bossy (you’d be suprized how many beautiful places in this country are without any significant WiFi access. Or, it could just be my ancient iBook.)