We’re down to Washington (0-7) as the last team that has a chance to go 0-82.
Not much else going on. Sorry.
Archive for November, 2012
NBA loser update.
Thursday, November 15th, 2012Quote of the day: special “nothing to do with Guy Fieri” edition
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012You’ve got questions. We’ve got cats. And Twitter.
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012I honestly did not know, when I wrote this morning’s “Random Notes”, that the Guy Fieri review was blowing up the Internet. (My link was, however, up before FARK’s.) Even if I had, I probably would have linked it, if only for future reference.
So. Anyway. Questions. So many questions.
Is it legitimate to write a restaurant review composed entirely of questions? (Except for the “Thanks” at the end.)
(I’d say, “Hey, it is a writerly device. If his editor didn’t have problems with it, neither do it. I wouldn’t do it too often, though.”)
While the New York Times was busy trashing Guy Fieri’s restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen was donating half of all sales to the Red Cross.
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) November 14, 2012
So if you give money to charity, that somehow exempts your restaurant from criticism of the food and service? I’ll keep that in mind for the restaurant I never open.
Next the New York Times will send Anna Wintour to review Old Navy. She’s going to have so many questions! That’ll show ’em.
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) November 14, 2012
So the fact that a restaurant is in Times Square and caters to the tourist trade should exempt it from criticism? So the NYT should, instead, be reviewing the latest vegan joint in NoHo, or whatever the trendy neighborhood in NYC is these days?
(Edited to add: I wonder if Steve Krakauer feels it was beneath the NYT to review a steakhouse located in a strip club?)
I love the “most of whom have never heard of…the New York Times”. I bet if you asked 100 random people on the street, in any city in the United States, to name a newspaper, the vast majority (I’d go over 90%) would name the NYT.
And, from EaterNY, “The Worst Lines of Guy Fieri’s NYT Review, With Cats“. This just tickles my funny bone; I can’t explain why.
Random notes: November 14, 2012.
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012I kind of like Guy Fieri. But I’d note this review whether it was of a Guy Fieri restaurant, or some other random place in NYC. Not since Ninja can I recall a review this vicious in the NYT.
(Also, Jacques Pépin wants you to steam your turkey. I thought that was an Albany expression.)
Jessica Tata: guilty of felony murder.
Why is it so hard to get Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army?
In other words, something that’s not easily solved by posting videos on the Internet.
Karolina Obrycka, the bartender who got the crap beat out of her by a Chicago police officer in 2007, has been awarded $850,000 in damages against both Anthony Abate, the cop who beat her, and the city itself.
Can we have Federal supervision of the Chicago PD now? (Also: LAT coverage.)
Go ahead and tickle me, Elmo.
Tuesday, November 13th, 2012In the interest of fairness: various news outlets are reporting that the man who accused Kevin Clash of engaging in underage sex with him has recanted that accusation.
Lawrence sent me a link to coverage from WTOP. The NYPost also has the story.
I don’t feel I have anything to apologize for in my previous coverage. But I wish this scene from “Absence of Malice” was online.
TMQ Watch: November 13, 2012.
Tuesday, November 13th, 2012Unleash the kraken 1972 Miami Dolphins auto-text! Plus, we all live in a nuclear submarine, TMQ has a new book out, and more, in this week’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback! After the jump…
Oh, no. Not again.
Monday, November 12th, 2012Sampler platter.
Monday, November 12th, 2012Think of this as sort of like a fruit basket, without the fruit. Or the basket.
This is a headline as it currently appears on the LAT website:
Here is the actual story. Some things that are worth noting:
- Dr. Gyaami is 71. He graduated from dental school in 1983, according to the article. So he was 42 years old when he graduated. I can’t throw stones at anyone for going back to school and following their dream, but:
- Dr. Gyaami didn’t pay back his loans. “When late notices started to arrive, Gyaami ignored them. ‘There was nothing I could do about it,’ he said. ‘I was behind with my business.'”
- He ignored notices that he was being sued by the Justice Department. At that time, he owed $195,000 on a $50,000 loan.
- “He continued to discard the collection notices. He said he couldn’t afford to pay. By June 2010, the $195,000 debt had jumped to $522,214.”
- “Since 2008, Gyaami has fallen behind about $120,000 in federal taxes and pays $6,000 a month to the Internal Revenue Service on top of the $3,000 to the Justice Department.”
- Dr. Gyaami works as a dentist in the state prison system. “As an experienced dentist, Gyaami is among the highest-paid state employees in California, making about $275,000 per year.”
- “One year ago they took a two-week cruise in the Caribbean that cost about $4,000, said Gyaami, who called it the most luxurious vacation they had ever taken.”
- “They live in a 4,000-square-foot home in Vacaville, which Elizabeth purchased new in 2001 for $429,500, according to property records. In 2010, she took efforts to make the home more difficult for creditors to seize by transferring its deed to a corporation she started, Eternal Enterprise Corp.”
There are so many things I could say about this next story, but (with one exception) I am going to avoid saying them:
The one exception (and this isn’t snark, just a statement of fact): this was the same thing that destroyed Jeff “Frugal Gourmet” Smith’s career.
Detroit and Washington still have a shot at going 0-82 this NBA season (0-7 and 0-5 respectively).
Yet another election result that amuses us: Cynthia Brim was re-elected to her seat as a judge in the Cook County Circuit Court. Why does this amuse us?
Because Judge Brim is batshit crazy. Really. As in, “can’t be prosecuted because she was legally insane at the time” crazy. Even better:
63.5 percent of the vote, folks. (Hattip on this to Overlawyered.)
This next story pushes a couple of my better hidden hot buttons. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is located in San Francisco; the church is “the oldest black pulpit in the city”. Bethel’s previous minister, who had been there for twenty years, left to take over the First AME church. First AME is kind of a big deal among AME churches: “It became a regular stop for Democratic political candidates over the years, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore and President Obama.” First AME’s minister, Rev. John J. Hunter, was transferred over to Bethel AME.
And why doesn’t Bethel AME want Hunter? Are they just upset at losing their pastor and throwing a temper tantrum?
More:
The LAT also alludes to, but does not detail, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Hunter during his tenure at First AME. Sounds like something more than a tantrum, doesn’t it?
Saturday night at the movies.
Sunday, November 11th, 2012Last night, after the SDC, we got together for movies at the home of (friends who shall remain nameless unless they want to out themselves in comments). Thanks for hosting, (friends who shall remain nameless unless they want to out themselves in comments).
We’re still sort of in the Halloween creepy/scary zone, or at least we felt that way, so we kicked things off with something short: the 1941 version of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart“. I thought this dragged just a little bit (which is odd for a 20- minute movie) but there was a lot of effective creepy stuff going on here. In particular, I liked the way they played with sound to heighten the atmosphere of paranoia and dread. I think Richard Corliss has a good point when he suggests this may have been the first movie influenced by “Citizen Kane”.
(“Tell-Tale Heart” is also significant as the first film directed by Jules Dassin, who went on to direct “Rififi”, “Topkapi”, and “Never on Sunday”, among other films.)
So we figured, after that, we’d watch another early “horror” film: “London After Midnight”. How could we miss? A legendary “lost” film, directed by the great Tod Browning, with Lon Chaney?
Yeah. Well. About that. We figured someone had dug up a print somewhere. Ha ha, no. It turns out that Turner Classic Movies got Rick Schmidlin (who has also worked on restoring “Greed” and “Touch of Evil”) to do a “reconstruction” of the “film”, which basically involves panning over publicity stills from the movie with inserted dialog cards. Apparently, someone liked this, as Schmidlin won a “Rondo Award” for his work (according to Wikipedia). As far as we were concerned, after about five minutes of watching this, punctuated with such comments as “What the f–k?”, “What is this s–t?”, and (my favorite) “Why would anyone do this?”, we shut it off and decided to watch something else.
We settled on “Take Shelter“, a movie I’d heard about in theatrical release but never got around to watching. In general, I like it (though I think it could have been made 10 to 15 minutes tighter, and that would have made it more effective). I could look at Jessica Chastain all day; Michael Shannon’s performance doesn’t have a lot of nuances, but he’s not really playing a nuanced guy. I think he pulled off the lead role very well.
After the jump, I’m going to talk about some things that may be spoilers.
What can Brown do for you?
Friday, November 9th, 2012Apparently, coaching the Lakers is not one of those things.
The team is 1-4 so far this season. (And, BTW, Washington and Detroit still have a shot at going 0-82.)
Here. Have some more crap.
Thursday, November 8th, 2012A/V Club obit for Elliott Carter.
NYT obits for Darrell Royal and influential former wine columnist Frank J. Prial.
Another election result that amuses me:
The referendum failed, 53% – 47%.
And another one: voters in San Francisco actually rejected a proposal “that would have taken the first steps toward draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and drastically revamped the way much of the Bay Area gets its water.”
From the Department of Wow: University of Houston cornerback D.J. Hayden is in the hospital. His condition is listed as “critical but stable” according to the HouChron. What happened?
This Statesman “story” is…just…odd.
Edited to add: A little more information on D.J. Hayden and his injury:
More from Dr. Lowe: “This injury has never been seen or reported in association with a football injury and is more associated with high-speed motor vehicle.” Huh? There’s a photo caption: “…a freak injury normally associated with high-speed motorcycle wrecks.”
Dr. Lowe also apparently said that this kind of injury has a “95 percent fatality rate”. I have no problem believing that.
What next?
Thursday, November 8th, 2012Or, what I would do if I was put in charge of the Republican party (and “resign immediately” wasn’t an option):
- Complete abolition of the TSA, eight o’clock, day one.
- No more foreign adventures. Pull our troops out of everywhere, including Korea and Europe. We need to stop being the world’s policeman.
- Write off Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry. Those people aren’t going to vote Republican anyway.
What do I mean by “write off”? Simple: announce that the Republican party plans to work for the repeal of the DMCA, opposes any legislation similar to SOPA/PIPA, and plans to roll back copyright to life + 25 years (50 years for “work for hire”). That’s to start with. I’d also suggest ending criminal penalties for copyright violation, the abolition of patents on computer software, and the explicit legalization of software designed to circumvent access controls (even though I think that is covered in the repeal of DMCA). It probably won’t be enough to get Cory Doctrow to vote Republican, but a tech-friendly platform might sway many younger voters. Especially if you stop trying to control people. To be more specific: - Come out for drug legalization. Not just pot, but all drugs. Stop trying to control what adults put in their bodies. Stop denying painkillers to people in chronic pain. “Oh, but THE CHILDREN!” Bullshit. You can legalize pot and X for adults only, like we do with booze.
- Be the party of justice. Ending the drug war is a good start in that direction. There’s not a whole lot that can be done with this at a national level. But, at a local level, I’d love to see Republican district attorneys stating that their primary concern is making sure that justice is done, not pumping up stats. I’d be delighted if they started aggressive reviews of convictions, and tightened up procedures in crime labs. It would be awesome if Republican mayors and council people made it clear they wouldn’t tolerate police abuses, and followed through on that with firings.
- STFU about abortion and contraception. The battle about sex is over. You lost. Deal with it.
- Ditto gay marriage.
- Stop prosecuting porn producers.
- Embrace gun owners. That means, at a minimum, working for repeal of the Hughes Amendment, as well as a promise not to pursue a ban on normal capacity magazines and modern sporting rifles. I’d go a step further and add removing silencers from NFA 1934 and nationwide concealed carry to the list.
- Stop running idiots as candidates.
- Back off on immigration. Let’s make it easier for good people from other countries to become US citizens. I want those people to move here and open Chinese and Japanese and Korean and Vietnamese and Thai and Afghan and Nepalese and Russian restaurants. (I could do with fewer TexMex joints, but that’s just me.)
So looking over this list, what I’d do is…turn the Republican party into the Libertarian Party. That’s a recipe for success. Then again, if the LP can’t get traction in a two-party system, maybe subverting one of the parties isn’t such a bad idea…
I started writing this yesterday, but decided to wait until this morning to hit the big “publish” button. Oddly enough, it appears I’m not the only person thinking this way.
A few election results that amuse me.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012- The condoms for porno measure in LA County passed.
- The cities of El Monte and Richmond (in California) were considering ballot measures to tax “sugary drinks.” Those measures failed overwhelmingly.
- Colorado and Washington state have legalized marijuana. I’m looking forward to the first armed standoff between the DEA and the state police.
- Going back to Cali, voters also rejected an initiative that would have required labeling “genetically engineered foods”.
- I can’t find a link, but California voters also rejected abolition of the death penalty. They did, however, approve relaxing the “three strikes” law.
- Mike Anderson is the new Harris County DA, which makes Murray Newman happy.
- Ted…Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz! (Hattip.)
Edited to add: Left out one significant result:
(Hattip: Sebastian.)
You know…
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012…if i was going to fire a coach, this would be a good day to do it.
Just saying.
Obit watch: special “No, that’s God” edition.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012Darrell K Royal, former football coach for the University of Texas.
More:
(Subject line reference: the old joke about a football game in heaven, with the punchline “No, that’s God. He just thinks he’s Darrell Royal.” (Also told about Tom Landry and many other prominent figures).)
Losers.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012I’ve been trying to avoid thinking, talking, or writing about the election for now. I have other things on my mind, and I want to let my thoughts settle. So nothing Romney or Obama related. Just NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:
Detroit Pistons
Washington Wizards
Unbridled optimism.
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012Well, not really. But one of the things I’ve seen in the past few days that has given me some hope for civilization is Theremin World, your source for everything theremin related.
(I actually kind of want the Moog Music Etherwave Plus. But:
- I have no detectable musical talent. This has been confirmed by precisely calibrated instruments placed in orbit by NASA.
- I have limited space, so I’m not sure where I’d put it.
- I’m sure the people who live next to and above me would enjoy hearing me practice.
- $499 is a good Smith and Wesson. Or a sizable chunk of one, depending. (My local gunshop has some nice Model 10s that came in as police trade-in guns, complete with heavy barrel, for just over $400. It also has a 29-2 with an 8 3/8″ barrel for just over $800 that I’ve fallen in love with.))
TMQ watch: November 6, 2012.
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012And even more losers.
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:
Detroit Pistons
Washington Wizards
Denver Nuggets
In other news:
I still think Andy Reid and Michael Vick are out, and I don’t think the team is going to wait for the end of the season.
Odd juxapositions.
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012Obit watch: Elliott Carter, noted contemporary American composer and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music.
In other news: remember 2 Live Crew? Remember Luther Campbell? Have you ever wondered what he’s up to these days? Answer: coaching high school football.
I kind of wanted to snark on this story, but it actually turns out to be a story of a man trying to redeem himself, help kids, and make his little corner of the world better.
Please to remember…
Monday, November 5th, 2012….the Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and plot.
I see no reason
why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day, everybody!
My great and good friend Chris sent along the following, which seems fitting:
The pompitous of losing.
Monday, November 5th, 2012Be careful what you ask for. You may just get it.
UK’s athletic director announced on Sunday that Joker Phillips would be leaving at the end of the season.
Phillips has a 12-23 record over “nearly three seasons”, and lost 18 of his last 24 games, including eight in a row this season. The team is 1-9 this season.
More losers.
Monday, November 5th, 2012NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:
Detroit Pistons
Washington Wizards
Denver Nuggets
Sacramento Kings
Continuing the NBA loser update…
Saturday, November 3rd, 2012Still inspired by Lawrence, NBA teams that have a chance to go 0-82:
Toronto Raptors
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Detroit Pistons
Washington Wizards
Atlanta Hawks
Denver Nuggets
Los Angeles Lakers
Sacramento Kings
Ch-ch-change, change of fools…
Friday, November 2nd, 2012Every election, I tell myself I should go vote early, just so I can get it out of the way, rather than rushing to my precinct after work and trying to beat the crowd.
After waiting in line for an hour during the primaries, and what with being fed the f–k up with this election cycle, I decided this year I’d make the big push and actually go do it. I was out with a friend on Saturday when we accidentally found one of the early voting places, and there was no line.
(We were actually visiting a Sears store. I haven’t been in a Sears since…well, I can’t remember how long, but I think it was before the K-Mart merger. They haven’t changed. At all. And I have no desire to go back.)
But, even though my friend generously offered to wait for me (he’d already voted early), I didn’t feel like asking him to do that. So I skipped early voting until yesterday, the next-to-the-last day I could do it.
It didn’t take an hour. It was only 26 minutes from getting in line to exiting the polling place. The line was out the door and almost into the parking lot of the Shrine Temple that was hosting early voting; fortunately, since it was an early voting site, they had more than the usual number of machines, so things actually went relatively fast. But it seemed like an awfully high turnout, and looking at the count on the door, it looked like the turnout was pretty high on other days as well. I’m not sure what this means, or doesn’t mean, for the election. I just find it interesting that so many people are so motivated to vote early. (Let us hope that they are not also voting often.)
(Speaking of the Shrine Temple: when I was young, I saw the Shriners as being vaguely comic figures. Now that I’m older, I find that I have a lot more respect for the organization and the work it does.)
Anyway, I’m done until Tuesday and pizza with Lawrence. No, I won’t tell you how I voted; it isn’t any of your GD business, thank you very much.
(Ha. On a totally unrelated note, Groupon just sent me an offer for an “introductory beekeeping class”. I wonder if the apartment management would let me keep hives on the balcony? And I wonder how well things would work if I kept the beehives on one side of the balcony, and a chicken coop on the other side? How much space do beehives need?)
(My paternal grandfather kept bees as a hobby. He also sold Christmas trees.)
(“Wicker Man” reference goes here.)
(“Russian Origami” shirt by Linoge. “I Voted Early” sticker by Travis County. Camera by Canon.)
(Edited to add 11/3: The Statesman is reporting that Travis County early voting numbers were down this year. The HouChron is reporting that, at some polling places in Harris County, people were still in line three hours after the official 7 PM close. Interesting.)