From the NYT, a short documentary about Chris Burden and “Shoot”.
…it’s the hole.
May 21st, 2015New York City?!
May 19th, 2015The restaurant critic for the NYT reviews “New York’s first authentic Tex-Mex restaurant”:
Among the things Pete Wells apparently thinks Texans might like about “authentic” Tex-Mex:
- People shouting.
- Margaritas with “a slight chemical taste”.
- Warm drinks.
- Identical drinks served in two different sized glasses.
- Lukewarm queso.
- “At most restaurants, you are served what you ask for so routinely that your eyes glaze over with boredom. Javelina does not fall into the trap of dull predictability.”
And for the record…
May 18th, 2015Mike Redmond out as manager of the Miami Marlins.
155-207 in “just over” two seasons, 16-22 so far this season.
Random notes: May 18, 2015.
May 18th, 2015Lawrence has been on the Waco biker gang shootout like a fat man on a Chinese buffet. I’d encourage you to go here and here for coverage. (I was out and about with friends pretty much all day yesterday, which is why I’m running behind.)
A few random thoughts:
- Before yesterday, I couldn’t have named five biker gangs; my knowledge pretty much stopped with the Hells Angels, Bandidos, and Mongols (the latter because of their trademark battle). Not that I’m proud of my ignorance or anything, just saying.
- A lot of yesterday’s stories included some variation on “Twin Peaks corporate office was unavailable for comment”. Of course; it was a Sunday. But I figure there’s got to be a 24/7 emergency number for franchise owners to call…
“Thank you for calling the Twin Peaks hotline. If you have an emergency, press 1.”
“Thank you. If your restaurant is on fire, press 1. If your restaurant is flooding, press 2. If there is a shootout between rival biker gangs going on, press 3. If someone is committing an act of regicide, press 4.”
“You have selected regicide. If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered, press one.“ - Speaking of Twin Peaks corporate, Lawrence quotes: “Twin Peaks corporate “is ‘seriously considering revoking’ the Waco location’s franchise agreement.” Gee, you don’t say. (As I was writing this post, the Statesman reported that the franchise has, indeed, been yanked.)
- “”We are horrified by the criminal, violent acts that occurred outside of our Waco restaurant today.” Shocked, shocked we are to find out that biker gangs used our restaurant as a meeting place. (I know it is early and I’m relying on news media coverage, but it seems pretty well established at this point that this was a biker hangout, and that the management knew it.)
- Not only did they shoot up Twin Peaks, they walked the check at Denny’s and were rude to the Hooters girls. “They come in here all the time. I’ll keep waiting on them because that is my job. But this whole thing is just so crazy. And it’s also disrespectful, because of lot of those girls at Twin Peaks used to work here.”
- Seriously, I feel bad for the Twin Peaks and Don Carlos staff, who are probably going to lose at least several days of pay (if not their jobs) over this. Twin Peaks had their liquor license yanked temporarily, though the reports I’ve read say they can reopen as a restaurant “as soon as police allow it to be opened”.
Obit watch: Garo Yepremian, legendary Miami Dolphins kicker.
A while back, I linked to a NYT story about the Clif Bar people ending their sponsorships of certain athletes because of their discomfort with the risk involved. One of those athletes, Dean Potter, was quoted in the article.
Dean Potter was killed in a BASE jumping accident over the weekend.
Penn Jillette on the closing of the Riveria. The Riveria was actually the first place I ever stayed in Vegas.
Finally, and on a lighter note, the NYT ran an interview with Don Rickles. The news peg is that the complete “CPO Sharkey” is being released on DVD Tuesday. I had actually completely forgotten the existence of “CPO Sharkey” (though I’m sure I watched it) until the paper of record reminded me. Man, it is hard getting old.
Edited to add: Well. Well well well. Well.
Quel fromage! I wonder what they’re going to replace it with. Maybe a Bikinis? Or perhaps a Bombshells? Wait, wait, I know: perhaps someplace good? Or at least not degrading to women?
Notes from the legal beat: May 15, 2015.
May 15th, 2015Latest update from the Philadelphia PD (previously on WCD):
…
In totallly unrelated news, the WP has an interesting article on PappyGate.
Can’t get no antidote for blues…
May 15th, 2015Obit watch: May 14, 2015.
May 14th, 2015This seems to have been horribly buried in the Statesman, but noted Texas fiddler Johnny Gimble passed away over the weekend.
…
I can’t embed it, but here’s a great version of “Take Me Back To Tulsa” with George Jones and Mr. Gimble.
And I can embed this: a profile of Mr. Gimble produced by a Waco TV station.
Riffing.
May 13th, 2015
Obit watch: May 11, 2015.
May 11th, 2015Conceptual artist Chris Burden.
(Edited to add 5/12: NYT.)
I’ve touched on Mr. Burden and his work before, particularly the notorious “Shoot”. This is one work I was not aware of:
Z is for acquittal.
May 8th, 2015I’ve briefly touched on the whole Zetas/money laundering/horse training affair.
Latest news from the Statesman (sadly, paywalled, but there’s enough there to get the gist): Eusavio Huitron, one of the individuals previously convicted, has had his conviction reversed by the 5th Circuit.
I can’t find any other links, so I’m not clear on why his conviction was overturned. If I do turn something up, I’ll add an update here.
Not going to go there. Wouldn’t be prudent.
May 8th, 2015What prompts this? Today’s LAT:
Why the police shouldn’t use Glocks
I hate to be a wimp about this, but I don’t have either the time or the need to stress test my cerebral arteries this morning. I’m hoping that someone smarter than I am, like Tam, will take on this dreck: if not, maybe I’ll give it a shot at lunch.
The 4-Hour Suicide Watch.
May 7th, 2015My brother is a big fan of Tim “The 4-Hour Workweek” Ferriss. I haven’t read any of the Ferriss books: nothing personal, just haven’t gotten to them yet.
But this was linked from the Y Combinator Hacker News twitter, and deserves some linky love:
Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide
Some pull quotes:
Left unfixed, you’ll have more dead kids on your hands, guaranteed.
This, too.
Obit watch: May 6, 2015.
May 6th, 2015Former Speaker of the House and noted author (“Reflections of a Public Man”) Jim Wright.
Ironic or not?
May 6th, 2015“Ironic or not?” is a game I used to play with one of my cow orkers at Four Letter Computer Corporation.
During the Great Bobblehead Scandal of 2012, I bought a John Wilkes Booth bobblehead.
I had it on my desk at work until this morning, when I accidentally knocked it onto the floor and…
Yes, Booth broke his ankles. Much like the actual John Wilkes Booth did when he got his foot tangled in the bunting while leaping out of the presidential box at Ford’s Theater.
(Or maybe he broke his leg. Or maybe he didn’t break anything at all in the leap, but his horse injured him later. I’m a little dubious about that story; the evidence for that seems to be “he didn’t run like he had a broken leg”. Well, maybe, but given that he’d just killed the president and was fleeing the scene, adrenaline may have done a great job of hiding a broken leg.)
What really kind of totes my goat is that Booth fell maybe three feet (if that) onto a carpeted office floor. Note to self: don’t buy stuff from “The Bobblehead LLC”.
Ironic or not? Before you answer…