Carlos Sánchez, best known as Juan Valdez in the commercials for Colombian coffee.
(Hattip on this to my beloved and indulgent sister-in-law.)
Obit watch: January 10, 2019.
January 10th, 2019Tweet of the day.
January 8th, 2019This is a menu from the (now closed) Roebling Tea Room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is the only time I have WANTED a waiter to explain the menu to me; instead he stood there sneeringly and pretended “Anchovies that have been sitting by a fire for raw beef” made perfect sense. pic.twitter.com/MvjTRFjFMh
— Jennifer Vega (@Star_Anise_H) January 7, 2019
Mostly for this followup:
3 hours later, I'm still thinking about this and how I can't believe it's not from Achewood https://t.co/hv7TNavLOw
— Lauren O'Neal (@laureneoneal) January 8, 2019
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#52 in a series)
January 8th, 2019I don’t mean to seem lazy, but I can’t put it much better than Reason‘s “Hit and Run” did:
Chicago Alderman and Notorious Nanny-Stater Ed Burke Charged in Federal Corruption Scheme
I know: a corrupt Chicago alderman? Who’d thunk it? From the Tribune:
A federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday charged Burke with attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to try to steer business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a fast-food restaurant in his ward. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison on conviction.
The complaint also alleged Burke asked one of the company’s executives in December 2017 to attend an upcoming political fundraiser for “another politician.” Sources identified the politician as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for Chicago mayor.
I missed this story, but there was an FBI raid on Burke’s office a few weeks ago:
This is amusing: I can’t tell if Burke was a member of Crooked Mayors Against Self-Defense (or if he was even eligable, being an alderman) but he was a big time gun grabber:
Of course, innocent until proven guilty, yadda yadda, but: they caught him on the wire. I’m looking forward to Alderman Burke going to prison for a long, long time.
Obit watch: January 8, 2019.
January 8th, 2019Rosenda Monteros, prominent Mexican actress.
She was perhaps most famous in the US as Petra, Chico’s romantic interest in the 1960 version of “The Magnificent Seven”.
Interesting side note from the obit:
“The Magnificent Seven” was shot in Mexico, where a government censor kept a close eye on the production to make sure that Mexicans were depicted positively. Mr. Sturges told The New York Times in 1960 that the censor was “an autocrat” who operated “on the theory that anything debatable should be stricken out.”
Mr. Sturges took note of one major change to the script: Instead of setting out to hire American fighters from the start, the farmers at first tried to buy guns for themselves.
City Council updates.
January 7th, 2019The new council members get sworn in later today.
However, the city hasn’t updated the contact information yet. For example, the page for District 1 has Natasha Harper-Madison’s name on it, with “Biographical information coming soon”, but the email form still says “Send email to Ora Houston”.
Point being, I’m not ignoring that the contact information pages need to be updated: I’m just waiting on the city of Austin, and Travis County, and Congress, to get their acts together.
I’m cold, and there are wolves after me.
January 7th, 2019Tom Thibodeau fired as coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He was 97-107 overall (I’m not clear on how long he was coach). The team is 19-21 this season, and had just beaten the Lakers when Thibodeau was called in and fired.
Obit watch: January 7, 2019.
January 7th, 2019Brian Garfield, noted author.
He was probably best known for Death Wish and the movies based on it, but he was prolific in both the mystery/suspense and western genres. (He was also a past president of both the Western Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America.)
Mr. Garfield was rarely involved in the film adaptations of his books, deliberately extricating himself from a process he found distasteful even though it meant giving up control. (His 1975 novel “Hopscotch,” which won an Edgar Award, was an exception: He adapted it into a comedy starring Walter Matthau in 1980.)
“I’m not really patient enough to put up with that, and I learned that the credit ‘associate producer’ means you’re the only person who’s willing to associate with the producer,” he said in an interview with the website PopMatters in 2008.
I’ve heard that “Hopscotch” is a swell movie: I haven’t seen it yet, but it is on our list.
Obit watch: January 5, 2019.
January 5th, 2019Ringo Lam, noted Hong Kong film director.
I need to rewatch “City on Fire” (and watch “School on Fire” and “Prison on Fire“). I saw it once, back when there was a theater on Riverside Drive that showed Hong Kong movies at midnight. But as I recall, when they showed “City on Fire” they somehow got the reels out of order…
Doug Johnson, longtime Houston weatherman for KPRC. Tribute from KPRC, which includes the chicken. When I was growing up in Houston, my family’s news and weather came from Ron Stone and Doug Johnson. I never met the man, but he sure seemed like (and was, by all accounts I’ve heard) a good guy.
Obit watch: January 4, 2019.
January 4th, 2019Herb Kelleher, legendary co-founder of Southwest Airlines. NYT. Dallas Morning News.
As much as I complain about Southwest (“your cattle car in the sky”), I have to admit: they aren’t any worse than any other airline (“United Breaks Guitars”) and are frequently cheaper.
And:
By paying his employees well, avoiding layoffs and instilling a spirit of fun in the company’s culture, Mr. Kelleher also set a tone for Southwest that translated into customer loyalty.
“You have to treat your employees like customers,” he told Fortune magazine in 2001. “When you treat them right, then they will treat your outside customers right. That has been a powerful competitive weapon for us.”
What sounded like a business cliché translated into tremendous cost savings for Southwest. Its employee productivity levels were far higher than those of the competition, and even as salaries rose, the company managed to keep fares low and profits high. The company was a perennial choice for Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” list.
…
There’s another story I (kind of) remember about Southwest testing a new route near Thanksgiving. When passengers got off the plane, they were offered either a frozen turkey…or a bottle of Wild Turkey.
They don’t make them like that any more.
Obit watch: January 3, 2019.
January 3rd, 2019For the historical records:
Daryl Dragon, the “Captain” in “Captain and Tennille”.
Bob “Super Dave Osborne” Einstein.
Gene Okerlund, wrestling guy.
Bloody Monday!
December 31st, 2018It’s that time of year, folks. You know the drill.
Non-NFL: “multiple reports” say Steve Alford is out as UCLA basketball coach. I don’t see anything about this in the LAT, but there’s supposed to be a press conference this afternoon.
Marvin Lewis fired as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals after 16 seasons.
He was 131-122-3 overall and 0-7 in playoff games.
Adam Gase fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
Vance Joseph out as head coach of the Denver Broncos. He was 11-21 overall, and 6-10 this season.
That’s all I have for now. I’m going to be running around most of the day, but I will try to update if and when I can.
Edited to add: Steve Wilks out as Arizona Cardinals head coach after one season and a 3-13 record.
Edited to add 2: The Atlanta Falcons fired offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel, and special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong. But they kept Dan Quinn on as head coach.
Firings watch.
December 30th, 2018Major Applewhite out as head coach of the University of Houston.
He was 15-11 over “two plus” seasons, and Houston lost 70-14 in the Armed Forces Bowl (they played Army).
Keep an eye on this space for possible updates. Tomorrow is the traditional day for NFL firings, but given recent trends we could see some this afternoon or tonight.
Edited to add: told you so. Todd Bowles out as head coach of the New York Jets.
Edited to add 2: Horshack is devastated. Dirk Koetter out in Tampa Bay after three seasons. 19-29 overall, and 5-11 the last two seasons.
Obit watch: December 29, 2018.
December 29th, 2018For the record: NYT obit for Richard Overton.
Obit watch: December 28, 2018.
December 28th, 2018Richard Overton, local veteran and WWII hero, has passed. He was 112.
Obit watch: December 26, 2018.
December 26th, 2018Sister Wendy Beckett, nun, art historian and critic, and BBC television personality.
By 1997, as she marked 50 years as a nun, the Oxford-educated Sister Wendy had made three television series, the most successful BBC arts programs since “Civilisation,” the art historian Kenneth Clark’s landmark 1969 documentaries. She had also written 15 books on art and religion, and was a celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic, featured in articles and mobbed by fans.
…
For all her success, she remained a nun with commitments to prayer, solitude (when possible) and vows of poverty. She assigned all her earnings to a Carmelite order that had sheltered her for decades, and she attended Mass daily, even when traveling.
Technically, not an obit, but: the NYT summary of obits for 2018. (Even though we have close to a week left in the year.)
Spoiler: the five most read obits this year, according to the paper of record, were those for: Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain, Tyrone Gayle (“a 30-year-old press secretary to Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, and a former spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign”), John McCain, and…Zombie Boy.