Month: September 2007

Things I Don’t Know

Today is my half birthday. That seems appropriate, in that I have some half-developed thoughts today:

1. I can’t tell if an operatic star is really good. The title of a Luciano Pavarotti obit Charisma, hype and that incredible voice – with a link to a performance – seems to be true in many performing arts, but in rock and roll, for instance, I’m versed enough in it that I can usually make an informed opinion about it. It’s even more true of Beverly Sills, who died earlier this year; maybe not the greatest opera soprano, but she popularized the genre. Couldn’t tell one way or the other by me.

2. I’m confounded by that guy from Idaho. Larry Craig gets arrested, pleads guilty. The story gets out, he resigns, he makes noises about reneging on his resignation.
Why are the Repubs SO willing to throw him to the wolves so quickly? The video of Democratic operative James Carville here, with the transcript here sort of encapsulates the thing for me:
What I found extraordinary about this is nobody came out and defended this guy. I mean, nobody said, “He’s a good man, done a bad thing.” “Here’s a decent guy who’s obviously been struggling with a problem.” “Here’s somebody who” —I mean, nobody. No Republican, no, no, no, no operative, no journalist. Nobody said, “Well, Larry Craig’s got nothing.” And I mean, they didn’t throw him under the bus, they hit him with the bus. I mean, he’s like, boom! Flattened him.
So, what, exactly, were the Republicans running from? What is the subtext?

I was interested to see that Larry Craig believed he was implicated in this 1982 Congressional page scandal.

So is this homophobia, hubris, hagiography, haiku, or what?

3. What the heck DID Jerry Lewis say in the waning hours of the MDA telethon? Given the fact that Jerry has apologized, I assume he used the word Isaiah Washington has been known to use. But honestly, I’ve watched the tape, and I wouldn’t know WHAT he said.

4. I’m afraid I may know the answer to this one:
Did the country REALLY need Mario Cuomo, the Hamlet on the Hudson who should have taken that Supreme Court job rather run unsuccessfully for a fourth term as governor of New York to remind us that according to the Constitution, Congress has the right to declare war? (Answer: probably.)

5. If I got one of these, Les Newsman would be proud, but would it alienate my co-workers?

6. I saw this license plate last night: THEREVS. Was it supposed to mean THE REVS (a pair of ministers) or THE REV S (a specific minister) or THERE VS (a “them versus us” scenario that I gave more credence to for good cause).
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Happy birthday this week to Cecily and Susan.

ROG

ROG

MOVIE REVIEWS: Knocked Up and The Simpsons Movie


Sometimes, after eight years of marriage, my wife can still surprise me. In late July, the movie Knocked Up was showing only twice a day at the Spectrum Theater, at 1:10 and 9:40 pm, and I figured we’d just have to write the film off. No, she said, why don’t we get a babysitter and see the 9:40 pm show? On a Tuesday, a school night. This from a woman who generally wants to be in bed by 9:40 pm.

I was recounting that story to one of my racquetball mates. He told me that he had gone into the theater, watched Knocked Up for ten minutes, then walked out, disgusted.

Well, yeah, it IS one of that type of movies. Yet at its core, Judd Apatow’s film is VERY traditional – talk about “do the right thing” – and very sweet. Seth Rogan, who I’ve been following since the late, lamented Freaks and Geeks TV show, plays stoner Ben Stone, who, on a one-night stand, impregnates TV anchor Alison Scott, played by Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl. Leslie Mann is Debbie, Alison’s sister, and Paul Rudd is Pete, Debbie’s somewhat beleaguered husband.

Ultimately, the drug-induced humor wore thin for me, but the relationship humor was often dead on. We laughed a lot, cringed a bit, but the funny stuff ultimately won out. My favorite line in the movie is when Alison says to her doctor, “But we have a birth plan!” which may not have the same effect if you haven’t been in a delivery room lately.

I was surprised what didn’t bother me: Heigl’s character bedding the nerdy guy here, just like Heigl’s Izzy Stevens slept with insecure George on Grey’s Anatomy.

Even more raucous than The 40-Year Old Virgin, which I liked a bit more, I’d recommend the film, but not to those easily grossed out.
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As for the Simpsons Movie, which I saw alone in mid-August at the Madison Theater (because my wife was out of town, and not interested anyway), it was what many people have already said; a pretty good extra long episode of the show. I did like Bart and Flanders’ relationship and Grandpa’s religious experience. I know a couple people who’ve worked for the EPA, so thought it rather funny that the agency could be so efficient. It was a knowing touch to make the current governor of California the President, since, constitutionally, he cannot be. But my favorite scene was Homer and Marge, alone save for those Disney animals; I laughed out loud.
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Note to Lefty: This is the real question:

ROG

ROG

Metablogging about Someone Else’s Metablogging

I read Thirteen Blog Clichés last month, and thought I’d discover how many sins I’m “guilty” of, and whether I care.

1. The Useless Calendar Widget – don’t have one. I do have a clock, mostly because I don’t trust my computer clock which tends to run faster and faster.

2. Random Images Arbitrarily Inserted In Text – never thought to do that, but hey, maybe I’ll start!

3. No Information on the Author – well, you got my name, my city, my hometown, my profession, and more. What else would you like to know?

4. Excess Flair – not likely to happen, not by my discipline, but from the fact that I’m too technologically deficient to add a lot of widgets.

5. The Giant Blogroll – Some of the author’s readers really fussed over this one. As someone else once recommended to me, my blog I do initially for me. I refer to those links. Some I read regularly, some I use as bookmarks (Major League Baseball, e.g.) Yes, I could RSS most of them, but then I’d miss that random nature of wanting to check out Lefty on Friday when he’s going to post his questions, e.g.

In fact, I added a couple new links yesterday, first-time bloggers, each of whom I’ve known for over a quarter century: Joe Fludd, an old FantaCo artist and customer, and CD, with whom I shared a boarding house, along with nine other people, in New Paltz in the mid 1970s.

Philosophically, it’s like how I sometimes would pull out my address book, leaf through it and realize I hadn’t checked in with someone for a while, and I would give him or her a call. (Some girlfriend of mine at the time complained about me doing that; she thought I should just know who I wanted to call, and call them. I thought her complaint was nonsensical.)

6. The Nebulous Tag Cloud – don’t even know HOW to do this. I’m/you’re safe.

7. Excessive Advertisements – I resisted having any ads at all. Think I’m OK. I’m utterly fascinated, BTW, what topic my ad (that I can’t mention) will read, based on the varied topics on my blog.

8. This Ain’t Your Diary – yes, it sorta is. But generally, I leave a lot out.

9. Sorry I Haven’t Written in a While – Well, since I haven’t missed a day yet, not applicable. But I agree with the general point.

10. Blogging About Blogging – the obvious irony of the author noting that one. Occasionally guilty. Like now.

And while I’m thinking about it, how does Technorati actually work? A story about a recent post that appeared in Journalista!, but not the initial referral that ADD made. Yet other ADD stories have shown up.

11. Mindless Link Propagation – never! Only MINDFUL Link Propagation. For instance, H.R. 811, expected to be voted on today, is bad legislation. There’s this link about kissing is a story from Australia quoting a UAlbany professor. How about a baseball league with only one team with a winning record? I hadn’t read about Turkey’s previous incursions into northern Iraq in the MSM. Someone asked me to pass along this Snopes story about a virus posing as a postcard.

12. Top (n) Lists – I like them. It’s one of my favorite features in Tosy’s page, e.g.

13. No Comments Allowed – I agree with this complaint, and I am open for comments. In fact, I would like to get more comments. More, MORE, MORE.
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Blogging Success Study.
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Oh, the “random picture” is of Ana Ivanovic, the tennis player who lost to Venus Williams at the U.S. Open this past weekend.
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My latest poll asked:
Do you know the source of the line, “Vote for me and I’ll set you free”?
19 of you said, “Of course!”
9 pf you said, “It sounds familiar but I can’t place it.”
4 of you said, “I have no clue.”
the answer is the song Ball of Confusion, originally made famous by the Temptations in 1970, and covered by Edwin Starr (1971), Undisputed Truth (1971), Love & Rockets (1986), and Duran Duran (1995). I’ve also heard the Neville Brothers perform it live a couple years ago.

ROG

ROG

TV REVIEW: The Bronx Is Burning


Because I’d finally caught up with almost everything else, over a two and a half week stretch recently, I managed to watch all eight segments of the ESPN miniseries The Bronx Is Burning, ostensibly about the New York Yankees’ 1977 World Series win, their first since 1962, despite the tension among Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, manager Billy Martin and outfielder Reggie Jackson. It was also about the .44-caliber killer known as Son of Sam, and the general decay of New York City.

I had a personal interest in this story, for I was living in Jamaica, Queens from May to September. I was hanging out partying late at night and was just a tad paranoid about Son of Sam, and I remember the screaming red-letter headlines on the New York Post when David Berkowitz was caught in August of 1977.

The production featured the actors in scenes, interspersed with footage of the era, both in the baseball scenes, and in the atmospheric segments about the blackout, the mayoral race between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo (I voted for Cuomo, BTW).

The good things about this production: John Turturro as the Billy Martin, and I say that not because Turturro graduated from my alma mater of New Paltz, but because he seemed to embody, rather than imitate, the fiery manager. Erik Jensen as Yankee captain and catcher Thurman Munson. Kevin Conway, who plays Yankees Prez and GM, Gabe Paul; he doesn’t really look like Paul, but his caught-in-the-middle performance rang true. The great background pieces at the end of each episode featuring Jackson, Steinbrenner, Yankees Chris Chambliss and Fran Healey, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, and Billy Martin’s son, Bill Jr. (Martin was killed in a one-car crash in Binghamton, NY – my hometown – on December 25, 1989.)

The so-so parts: Oliver Platt as Steinbrenner; he looked like Oliver Platt playing Steinbrenner. Joe Grifasi as Yogi Berra, who didn’t seem all that bright and was there to share Italian-American insults with Martin. Leonard Armond Robinson as Mickey Rivers, and whoever played Fran Healey were OK. The guys playing the cops in the Son of Sam investigation, featuring Dan Lauria (Wonder Years). The use of the real video, although seeing the cheesy ABC Sports logo was a hoot.

The not so hot parts: Daniel Sunjata as Reggie Jackson; it wasn’t just the look, it was the feel of the character. Most of the other supporting players, especially the women, were ciphers. The guy playing Lou Pinella looks nothing like him, while a press guy reminded me of Yankee pitcher Catfish Hunter. And most of all, the Son of Sam killings, which almost all involved a couple of Noo Yawkers babbling something to each other before they were shot by Berkowitz; they all felt the same.

So, it wasn’t great, it wasn’t awful. I’m glad I saw it because it was a good reminder of the era. If you rent the DVD, which will be out later this month, I have the sense that the extras will be more enjoyable than the core item.
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Here’s a weird TV thing: I was watching a rerun of Scrubs recently. The original episode aired on May 10, and was 40 minutes (more like 38). But when it was rerun in the last week or two, it was in the 30 minute slot. How did this work? Cuts. J.D. and Turk’s voice-over dialogue as they were driving away. Kelso’s dis of a woman his age or younger at a convention as too old. But mostly, the whole scene with J.D. and Turk at a lecture conducted by J.D.’s pregnant ex-girlfriend was broken in half in the original, with a “Busta move” piece of verbiage, but continuous in the repeat, sans “Busta move”. I wonder if both versions will show up on the DVD?

ROG

ROG

French military victories in the Arabian Gulf

You may recall that Google was, for a time, “fooled”, when typing in miserable failure, into linking to George W. Bush’s biography; now it links to the controversy over that Google bomb.

I have learned recently that the first site that loads on Google when you plug in the term French military victories is a faked Google page offering a “did you mean?” option. Searching for Arabian gulf gives you a site similar to the defused “cannot find weapons of mass destruction” fake IE error page. (Thanks, Amanda from Charleston.)
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Wonder Woman shows that fighting crime is not always easy.

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I went into a comic book store last week and actually bought two items: the Overstreet Price Guide (do people still call it the Overpriced Street Guide?), because my boss has started asking me about prices of old comics; and the magazine Alter Ego (July 2007), featuring a long interview with ’70s Marvel editor, and Alter Ego founder, Roy Thomas. His ascent to editor pretty much corresponded to the time I first started looking at comics again after a large gap when I had “outgrown” them; big-time nostalgia for me, I was surprised to discover.
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There’s a new reality show being developed and I know all about it.
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Numbers lie: I’m loving the Wall Street Journal blog, The Numbers Guy, which I write about here.
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My monthly plug about the Underground Railroad conference here.

Yeah, I’m repositioning my own pieces from my other blogs for this post. Hey, it’s Labor Day weekend; cut me some slack!
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Instead of watching Pedro Martinez’s pitching debut for his beloved Mets, what Fred Hembeck will be viewing (September 2). I’ll be alternating between the Mets and the U.S. Open (tennis), bumped from the local our CBS affiliate by what Fred is watching, but showing up on our CW affiliate.

ROG

ROG
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