Have you seen me?

May 25th, 2010

No, not Kyle.

Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar, which appears to be gone with the wind. (Sorry.)

Continuing our regular “Crimewatch” community service feature, here’s what to look out for:

Oscar

Little metal guy, on a stand, about yeah high. If you see something that resembles this, please contact The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Edited to add: Lawrence has pointed out that Ms. McDaniel’s Oscar is actually a plaque, not a statue, as the supporting actor and actress didn’t get statues in 1943. In my hurry to make a cheap joke, I overlooked that minor detail. My apologies; unfortunately, I am unable to find a photo of the plaque anywhere online.

Posted in Clippings, Movies | Comments Closed

A long strange trip.

May 25th, 2010

I also wanted to link to this post over at Houston’s Clear Thinkers about the strange history of Landry’s Restaurants, Inc., and their stock.

I realize I may be one of only about three people in the world (excluding Tilman Fertitta and Landry’s stockholders) who find this interesting. But then again, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

Posted in Clippings, Food | Comments Closed

Ring-ers.

May 25th, 2010

The LAT has an interesting comparison of various recordings of the Ring cycle. (The article is slugged May 16th, but I did not see it on the LAT web site until it hit the front page today.)

One reason I find this article noteworthy is that it was written by Ethan Mordden, noted Broadway historian (among other accomplishments).

Posted in Clippings, Music, Wagner | Comments Closed

Chapter 11 watch.

May 24th, 2010

For everyone who picked the Dallas Mavericks in the “next to file for Chapter 11” pool, you were…half right.

Texas Rangers Baseball Partners filed for bankruptcy Monday in hopes that it will pave the way for the sale of the team to the investment group led by Chuck Greenberg and team president Nolan Ryan.

You may be asking yourself, “Gee, I wonder who the Texas Rangers owe money to?”

The 21-page filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Worth, included a list of unsecured creditors headed by Alex Rodriguez, who’s owed $24.9 million in deferred compensation six years since he was traded away from the team.

Other players on the list include Kevin Millwood ($12.9 million), Michael Young ($3.9 million) and Vicente Padilla ($1.7 million).

(Hattip: Lawrence.)

Posted in Clippings, Loser | 2 Comments »

True crime.

May 24th, 2010

Bill Crider, one of nature’s noblemen, points us to this list of “The 25 Best True Crime Books” from the Forensic Colleges blog.

Blogging about other people’s lists seems to me to be non-productive (de gustibus non disputatum and all that), but I’m making an exception here because this seems to be a pretty solid list. I’ve read 9 out of the 25 listed, and mostly agree with those choices.

Of course, I have a few quibbles:

  • I wouldn’t have put both Mark Bowden books on the list, though he is a heck of a good writer. Finders Keepers would be my pick for the list: Doctor Dealer is only a so-so book (and a very early Bowden).
  • I confess that I have not read Killer Clown, but it will have to be one heck of a book to beat Buried Dreams on the Gacy front.
  • The Amanda Knox case is fascinating and troubling, but it seems a bit early to be putting Angel Face on a best list. I have something of the same quibble about The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher.
  • I’ve read Crime and Science – The New Frontier in Criminology, and it seems odd to pick that over Thorwald’s much more famous Century of the Detective. To be fair, though, I’ve only read the latter book in the Reader’s Digest Condensed Edition. I’ve been trying to find a cheap used copy without much luck.
  • Blood and Money is actually a 1976 book, though it appears to have been reissued in 2001. (I read that for the first time last year; it is a swell book that belongs on the list.)
  • The Onion Field, dammit!

Posted in Books, Law | 1 Comment »

Cavalier disregard.

May 24th, 2010

The Cleveland Cavaliers have fired head coach Mike Brown, the 2009 NBA coach of the year, after five seasons.

Brown’s regular season record was 272-138, a .663 winning percentage that was the best in team history. Brown also set a team record for playoff wins, finishing 42-29.

Posted in Clippings, Firings | Comments Closed

Astros update.

May 24th, 2010

15-29, .341 winning percentage, on track to win 55.242 games.

Posted in Loser | Comments Closed

One of the last of the good guys.

May 24th, 2010

This has been covered elsewhere, but I would be remiss if I did not note the passing of Martin Gardner: author, polymath, long-time “Mathematical Games” columnist for Scientific American, and founding member of CSICOP.

NYT obit.

LAT obit.

WP obit.

Scientific American tribute.

I regret that Gardner died before I got a chance to shake his hand and say “Thank you.” But 95 years is a pretty good run, and his mind stayed sharp until the end (he has a new article in the latest Skeptical Inquirer).

I hope, wherever he is, he’s found a solution to all the mysteries he ever wondered about, and that he’s hoisting a pint with Lewis Carroll and G.K. Chesterton.

Edited to add: CSICOP tribute, which was not up this morning. A nice tribute from Derek Lowe, and from the comments we learn of this item, the existence of which fills our heart with joy.

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch.

May 21st, 2010

I wanted to call out this LAT obit for comedian Carla Zilbersmith because:

  1. It made me laugh.
  2. I hate baseball, too.
  3. It includes a “Citizen Kane” reference.

Posted in Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

“Man, how exciting!”

May 21st, 2010

Big-time heists like the Paris job occupy a special place in the public imagination. They aren’t like ordinary crimes, which are dreary and depressing. Novels, movies and TV shows have trained us to believe a good caper is thrilling, even admirable. We think we know the vocabulary and visual terrain, from the dashing perp (Cary Grant in Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” is your go-to guy here) to the shocked-and-outraged victim to the feckless investigators.

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Posted in Art, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Random notes: May 20, 2010.

May 20th, 2010

For various reasons, I haven’t been able to work up a lot of excitement about “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day.” If that’s your cup of tea, let me point you over to Lawrence’s coverage at the Battleswarm blog.

I did want to link back to this thread over at Alan’s blog. Not so much because I posted in it, but because:

  • the photos are pretty neat.
  • Jim Supica debunks a common myth that I’ve heard (and read) elsewhere about the Dirty Harry .44 Magnums.

Posted in Art, Guns, Politics | Comments Closed

There’s something about an art theft…

May 20th, 2010

…that I find simply irresistible. Call it the hopeless romantic in me. Or perhaps it is the youthful memories of all those movies and TV shows where the “bad” guys engaged in incredibly complicated high-tech schemes to steal diamonds or art or priceless artifacts from heavily guarded museums. (Of course, these days, art thefts involve less high-tech electronics and rappelling from the ceiling, and more  brute force and ignorance. But that’s another rant.)

I’ve been tempted from time to time to purchase a bunch of prints of stolen artworks, put them in frames, and decorate my home with them.

Anyway:

A thief stole five paintings possibly worth hundreds of millions of euros, including major works by Picasso and Matisse, in a brazen overnight heist at a Paris modern art museum, police and prosecutors said Thursday.

In the interest of being a good citizen (think of this as sort of a “Crimewatch” thing), here’s links to images of the stolen works. Links open in a new window.

“Le pigeon aux petits-pois”, by Pablo Picasso.

“La Pastorale”, Henri Matisse.

”L’olivier pres de l’Estaque”, by Georges Braque.

“La femme a l’eventail”, by Amedeo Modigliani.

I believe this is “Nature-mort aux chandeliers”, by Fernand Leger. But I’m not 100% sure; the articles I’ve seen refer to the painting as “Still Life with Chandeliers” (plural), while this is “Still Life with a Chandelier.”

While I was working on this post, I see that the LAT put up a similar slide show; the Leger is missing from theirs.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Law | 1 Comment »

Wow.

May 20th, 2010

In order by “Squeee!” factor:

  1. Dennis Lehane has a new book coming in November.
  2. The new book is a Kenzie and Gennaro novel. Lehane hasn’t written one of those since 1999.
  3. The new book is a sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone.

(Hattip to The Rap Sheet.)

Posted in Books | 2 Comments »

Obit watch.

May 20th, 2010

Arakawa, of the team Arakawa and Gins, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 73.

I’ve previously linked to discussions and commentary about Arakawa and Gins. Briefly, they were conceptual artists who became obsessed with the idea that they could use architecture to stop or reverse the aging process.

Their most recent work, a house on Long Island, had a steeply sloped floor that threatened to send visitors hurtling into its kitchen. Called Bioscleave House (Lifespan Extending Villa), it featured more than three dozen paint colors; level changes meant to induce the sensation of being in two places at once; windows that seemed too high or too low; oddly angled light switches and outlets; and an absence of doors that would have permitted occupants even a modicum of privacy.

All of it was meant, the couple explained, to lead its users into a perpetually “tentative” relationship with their surroundings, and thereby keep them young.

Posted in Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

Question for the masses.

May 19th, 2010

By way of the FARK Showbiz tab:

How does an obscure Vegas magician get 54 MILLION dollars in debt?

I can sort of understand the $6+ million he owns to the Miracle Mile Shops; it sounds like he may have been four-walling the venue, but I wonder why they would have let him get that deep in the hole.

Harder for me to understand are the mobile home dealer he owes $5 million, and “businessman Steven Tebo in Boulder, Colo., and a company he is associated with, owed $30 million.” I’m guessing this is the Tebo in question, though he appears to spell his first name Stephen.

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

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