Random notes: December 21, 2013.

December 21st, 2013

I’d never heard of Ned Vizzini until yesterday; this isn’t a shot at him, I just don’t read a lot of YA fiction. But this is just sad and awful.

The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).

The WP reviews “Chris Burden: Extreme Measures”, a retrospective of his work. I believe Mr. Burden and his work have come up here before, but for those who don’t remember…

In 1971, in a bare gallery space in Santa Ana, Calif., artist Chris Burden filmed himself being shot with a rifle. The bullet went through his left arm, causing more damage than expected. The moment after he was shot, the boyish young man with short-cropped hair staggered forward a few steps as if stunned by pain or shock, and was photographed later with blood dripping from the wound. In the previous few years, tens of thousands of men his age died in Vietnam, and the performance, titled simply “Shoot,” obviously had something to do with the political climate since 1968.

Unmentioned because it isn’t really relevant, but: Burden’s performance inspired one of Laurie Anderson’s early works, “It’s Not the Bullet That Kills You (It’s the Hole)”.

Posted in Art, Books, Clippings, Guns, Obits | Comments Closed

Better Red than…

December 19th, 2013

Darden Restaurants Inc. said it would separate itself from its Red Lobster business while halting expansion at Olive Garden and stopping acquisitions “for the foreseeable future.”

More:

Darden said the Red Lobster move may take the form of a tax-free spinoff to shareholders or an outright sale.

The last time I went to Red Lobster, it was kind of a disappointment. And the last two times I’ve gone to Olive Garden, I’ve walked out before even getting a drink. Maybe this is what Red Lobster needs.

Obligatory: the all-you-can-eat crab legs story.

Obligatory 2: make your own cheddar biscuits at home.

Posted in Bread, Clippings, Food | 3 Comments »

TMQ Watch: December 17, 2013.

December 19th, 2013

You know that comment we made yesterday, about “Start writing or stop talking about it” being pretty good writing advice?

This week’s TMQ after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apple, Cars, Clippings, Cycling, Geek, Guns, Mixology, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

Speak up, I can’t hear you.

December 18th, 2013

If you must know, I was looking up the “Ding Fries Are Done” meme when I stumbled across this entry at KnowYourMeme: The Family Guy Effect.

The Family Guy Effect is a postulated phenomenon asserting that when Internet memes are showcased on the animated television show Family Guy, the meme will see a brief burst in popularity, followed by an immediate sharp decline. Prior to being associated with Internet meme overexposure, the Family Guy effect was used to describe how a joke becomes less funny when repeated over time.

You. Don’t. Say.

Posted in Geek, TV | Comments Closed

Tickling my fancy.

December 18th, 2013

By the same token, Mr. Osin said, the flame had set people on fire only on three occasions, and never in a hazardous way. “It’s not dangerous,” Mr. Osin said. “It didn’t even damage the garments of the torchbearers.”

I don’t know why I find “the Olympic torch has only set people on fire three times” so funny, but I do. It reminds me of the line from the Spinal Tap commentary track about the pods working…maybe 70% of the time, but Marty DiBergi had to pick one night they didn’t work and make a big deal out of it…

Also tickling my funny bone:

The Olympic flame is not eternal, but is relit a few months before each Olympics, said Bill Mallon, a former president of the International Society of Olympic Historians. It originates in the temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, where it is ceremonially lit by “supposedly Greek virgin priestesses,” Mr. Mallon said, using the sun’s rays via a parabolic mirror.

“supposedly Greek virgin priestesses”? I’m not sure I want to think about that.

Posted in Clippings, Sports | Comments Closed

Wild, wildlife.

December 18th, 2013

Residents in Sunset Valley are being warned by city officials to keep their dogs away from the nature trails due to increased coyote activity in the area.

(For folks unfamiliar with Austin, Sunset Valley is an independent municipality located on the south side of town.)

Gee, if only there was some other solution to the problem of coyotes attacking dogs…

Posted in Clippings, Guns | 2 Comments »

More obits people sent me.

December 18th, 2013

Harold Camping. I’m really kind of curious what’s going to happen to Family Radio now; does it survive with a new leader? Do the stations get sold off? I think most of them are non-commercial licenses; is there another religious group that would want to buy them?

Janet Dailey, noted romance author.

“I kept saying to Bill that this is the kind of book I’d like to write,” she said once in an interview, adding, “He got tired of hearing that in a hurry.” He told her to start writing or stop talking about it. She said she modeled many of her male protagonists on her husband. He died in 2005.

You know, “Start writing or stop talking about it” is actually pretty good writing advice.

For the historical record: Ray Price. AV Club.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Music, Obits, Radio | Comments Closed

Julie Andrews!

December 18th, 2013

It is that time of year again.

Our friends at the Library of Congress have announced the most recent batch of 25 films that are being added to the National Film Registry.

Stuff you might have heard of:

  • “Forbidden Planet”
  • “Judgment at Nuremberg”
  • “The Magnificent Seven”
  • “Mary Poppins”. Gee, isn’t that interesting?
  • “Pulp Fiction”
  • “The Right Stuff”
  • “Roger and Me”
  • “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Pretty much all of these strike me as good choices, except “Roger and Me”. “Pulp Fiction”, I’m sure, will be divisive. More at the LAT link, including the stuff you probably haven’t heard of. On that list, I’m kind of intrigued by “Daughter of Dawn”, “King of Jazz”, and “Notes on the Port of St. Francis”.

Posted in Clippings, Movies | 3 Comments »

Obit watch: December 18, 2013.

December 18th, 2013

Ronnie Biggs, one of the conspirators in the Great Train Robbery and (briefly) vocalist for the Sex Pistols, has passed away at the age of 84.

I have the feeling that Biggs was often viewed as a loveable rogue. This is worth keeping in mind:

They beat the driver senseless with an iron bar; the man never fully recovered from his head injuries.

As is this:

Safe from deportation, Biggs began living large, his brazenness as much a source of head-shaking admiration in his native land as of anger over his continued cheating of justice, especially after the train driver beaten in the robbery, Jack Mills, died without ever being able to return to his job.

(According to Wikipedia, Mills died from leukemia in 1970, and one of the robbers who wasn’t Biggs confessed to the beating last year. There does appear to be some question about whether that confession was truthful.)

Edited to add: more from the paper of record. And in case you are asking yourself, “Don’t they have newspapers in England?”: they do, but I haven’t found one I trust that doesn’t have the Biggs obit behind a pay wall.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

We have a feeling that Prince Kropotkin would not approve.

December 17th, 2013

anarchy

(Wiki wandering led me to the article on the Big Boys:

Over the years the group played with five drummers in all; Steve Collier, Greg Murray, Fred Shultz, Rey Washam and Kevin Tubb who played only one show (the bands first) because Steve was sick.

Spinal Tap really was a documentary, and we just didn’t know it at the time.)

(Edited to add: Hurrah! The U2/Popmart/giant lemon story is immortalized online! What did I tell you? (Scroll down to “Rock and Roll Creation”.) By the way, I own and enthusiastically recommend This is Spinal Tap: Official Companion.)

Posted in Books, Music, Photography, Stupid | Comments Closed

Word to my mother.

December 17th, 2013

A pair of flamingos might be the last to leave Betfair Hollywood Park when the Inglewood racetrack finally closes Sunday.

Posted in Clippings, Horses | Comments Closed

Open the door, get on the floor, everybody kill the dinosaur.

December 17th, 2013

A prominent dinosaur “hobbyist” is claiming “’serious errors and irregularities’ in dinosaur research involving some of the world’s top paleontologists”.

[The hobbyist’s] article, published by the journal PLoS One, says Dr. Erickson’s papers contain major mistakes, including graphs that do not match the data and curves that do not match the reported equations. And [his] revised estimates put the maximum growth rate of Apatosaurus at about a tenth of what Dr. Erickson and his colleagues had reported.

Why is this interesting? Well, scientific disputes of this sort are a topic for coverage on this blog. After all, we do have “Retraction Watch” on our blog roll.

But there’s another good reason: the “hobbyist” in question is Microsoft millionaire, Modernist Cuisine author, and notorious patent troll Dr. Nathan P. Myhrvold.

Dr. Myhrvold said he contacted Dr. Erickson, asking for the original data. While Dr. Erickson answered some questions, he said the data was on a computer he had gotten rid of and later that he did not have time to answer more questions, Dr. Myhrvold said.

I’m not a big fan of Dr. Myhrvold, but that kind of answer…well…it stinks.

And now that I have it stuck in your head:

Posted in Clippings, Geek | Comments Closed

Eric Frank Russell, call your office, please.

December 16th, 2013

Colorado’s package of gun laws, enacted this year after mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., has been hailed as a victory by advocates of gun control. But if Sheriff Cooke and a majority of the other county sheriffs in Colorado offer any indication, the new laws — which mandate background checks for private gun transfers and outlaw magazines over 15 rounds — may prove nearly irrelevant across much of the state’s rural regions.
Some sheriffs, like Sheriff Cooke, are refusing to enforce the laws, saying that they are too vague and violate Second Amendment rights. Many more say that enforcement will be “a very low priority,” as several sheriffs put it. All but seven of the 62 elected sheriffs in Colorado signed on in May to a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the statutes.

Freedom – I Won’t!

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Politics | Comments Closed

New metaphor needed. Apply within.

December 16th, 2013

Last week, I asked the musical question:

Does LACSD make it a practice to hire and promote deputies who are dumber than a bag of hair?

Apparently, “dumber than a bag of hair” does not even begin to cover it.

Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeants accused of lying to federal investigators by threatening to arrest an FBI agent secretly recorded the confrontation outside the agent’s home, a federal prosecutor said in court Monday.

Yes. Not only did they try to intimidate an FBI agent, they recorded themselves doing it. And the prosecution has those recordings now.

(I did give some thought, for just a moment, to the idea that this might have been an ass-covering measure. But on second thought, that doesn’t make much sense; you want to cover your butt on something like this, you record the supervisor giving the illegal order. You don’t record yourself committing the crime.)

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 16, 2013.

December 16th, 2013

Man, yesterday was a rough day for actors and actresses. I decided to hold off until this morning on posting obits, figuring that would give the various papers of record some time to get their thoughts and acts together.

Peter O’Toole: NYT. LAT. Kenneth Turan appreciation. AV Club. Lawrence.

Noted actress Joan Fontaine also passed away yesterday. NYT. LAT. (ETA: AV Club.)

And finally, Tom Laughlin, of “Billy Jack” fame. LAT. (ETA: Also AV Club.)

Over the years, critics assailed Laughlin’s performances. Leonard Maltin called him “the only actor intense enough to risk a hernia from reading lines.” The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael called “The Trial of Billy Jack” extraordinary — that is, “the most extraordinary display of sanctimonious self-aggrandizement the screen has ever known.”

To be fair, Ms. Kael wrote that line long before Steven Seagal and “On Deadly Ground”.

Posted in Clippings, Movies, Obits | Comments Closed

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