Well, I was right about something for once.
Gonzaga 68, Seton Hall 52.
March 18th, 2016Obit watch: March 17, 2016.
March 17th, 2016Apparently, Barry Keenan was involved in a project to build a casino in downtown Austin? How did I miss that?
Police now give you no break…
March 16th, 2016I wanted to take note of this story, and the complete report from the Office of the Police Monitor.
Chief of Staff Manley, who is quoted extensively in the Statesman report, addressed our Citizen’s Police Academy class last week and spent about 30 minutes going over the report. I feel comfortable saying that pretty much everything he told us, as far as APD’s response to the report, made it into the Statesman‘s article. But I’m glad to get the OPM’s side, too.
(A representative from the OPM did address our CPA class, and I think the CPA deserves some credit for having him there. However, his presentation came the week before the OPM report was released.)
There are some things that Chief Manley said in his presentation that bother me a bit, but I’m having trouble articulating exactly why; this may be the subject of a longer post later, along with one I’m trying to write about “response to resistance”.
(As we all know, resistance is a) futile, and II) voltage/current.)
A couple of random notes: March 16, 2016.
March 16th, 2016How did I not have a “Lovecraft” category before now? Fixed.
What brought this to mind? Anther AP story, this one about the relationship between H.P. Lovecraft and Providence.
When I visited Swan Point on one of my trips, I was told Lovecraft’s grave was the most visited one in the cemetery. This struck me as interesting, because Sullivan Ballou, aka “the guy who wrote the letter from the Ken Burns series that everyone but me loves” is also buried in Swan Point. My recollection is that this was near the peak of “Civil War” mania, but I guess Lovecraftian horror beats banjos and sentiment at least five out of seven days of the week.
Tam has a very nice obit up for Todd Louis Green, noted pistol trainer, class act, and “Archer” fan.
I never got to take a class with him, and I wish I had: I think I would have enjoyed both learning from him, and finding out if he hates Bionic Barry as much as I do.
Imagine a rotting Elvis shopping for fresh fruit…
March 15th, 2016Today’s Statesman ran an AP article on the decline of Elvis mania in Las Vegas. I think this is the original.
…
…
I have no joke here, I just like saying “oversaturated by Elvis impersonators”.
First Liberace, now Elvis. Is there no sense of history in Vegas?
Memos from the sports desk.
March 14th, 2016Trent Johnson out as men’s basketball coach for Texas Christian University. Story with official announcement from the horribly designed Dallas Morning News site. ESPN.
Hattip on this to Lawrence. And speaking of Lawrence, once again I have taken Gonzaga against the field for $5 with Lawrence.
I know that Gonzaga struggled to get a tournament bid this year, but it seems like they are on a hot streak. I think they might at least be able to surprise Seton Hall…
I heartily endorse this event or product. (#13 in a series)
March 13th, 2016The Cotton Bureau is doing another run of HENCHMAN t-shirts.
You can also get HENCHWOMAN t-shirts as well.
And you can get them in youth sizes, and even in a onesie.
These shirts are brought to you by way of the Batman 66 Labels project, aka “my new favorite thing on the Internet ever“. How can you not buy a HENCHMAN t-shirt after seeing this?
GIANT LIGHTED LUCITE MAP OF GOTHAM CITY pic.twitter.com/rETD5qbAMb
— Batman 66 Labels (@BatLabels) March 13, 2016
Seriously, I own one of the shirts from the first run, and think it is a fine shirt. If you have children, you should purchase at least one for each of them. Orders are being taken through March 23rd.
(I’m not getting any kickback for this: I just really like my shirt, and Batman 66 Labels.)
Obit watch: March 13, 2016.
March 13th, 2016I actually didn’t find out Keith Emerson was dead until I sat down to dinner last night and started browsing while I waited for Lawrence. A/V Club. Lawrence. NYT.
Sunny Balzano, owner and bartender of Sunny’s Bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, died Thursday night. I mention this here, not because of Mr. Balzano’s prominence, but because this is a really, really good obituary for a neighborhood “character” (for want of a better word): it is the kind of thing that the paper of record, when it does it, does it well.
Obit watch: March 9, 2016.
March 9th, 2016I have to note this one: Kathryn Popper has passed away at the age of 100.
Ms. Popper had a very small, almost microscopic, role in “Citizen Kane
According to the NYT, she was the last surviving person to have appeared in the film: Jean Forward Baker, who dubbed Susan Alexander’s voice, is still alive.
I’m guessing this
Also among the dead: George Martin, noted record producer, perhaps most famous for his work producing an overrated mediocre band with a few toe-tappers.
Obit watch: March 7, 2016.
March 7th, 2016I know I keep using this excuse, but it really was a busy weekend. I spent a large chunk of Saturday babysitting children, away from a computer I could use. I may write some later on about how I spent my Sunday, but not right now; also, I wanted to let the Nancy Reagan obits sit for a day.
Catching up from the weekend and for the historical record: Pat Conroy. NYT. WP. A/V Club. Charleston Post and Courier.
I’ve read very little of Conroy’s work: The Prince of Tides
And I have to confess: I’m a sucker for crap like this
The past is another country.
March 4th, 2016They did things differently there.
The San Francisco Chronicle used to give out firearms as subscription premiums.
You could also get a Colt rifle plus a one-year subscription to the paper for $14.50. (“$15 of 1887 dollars would be worth: $362.50 in 2015.”)
Peter Hartlaub for the win:
(Hattip: Jimbo.)
Random notes: March 1, 2016.
March 1st, 2016The HouChron ran an article about the various official state weapons, tied to Tennessee naming the Barrett M82 as the official state rifle.
Problem is, as part of the continuing creeping BuzzFeedification of the HouChron, it was a shallow slideshow. So instead I’ll link to Wikipedia’s list. Thoughts:
- Pennsylvania, Indiana, and West Virginia have all named historic firearms. Hard to argue with those, especially the long rifle.
- Arizona has the Colt Single Action Army revolver, which is a fine gun, but doesn’t seem to be uniquely Arizonan, so to speak. I guess there’s that whole Wild West association…
- I guess if you’re going to pick a gun to represent native son John Moses Browning, the 1911 is a fine choice. For a pistol. Now how about the Winchester Model 1894 as the official state rifle, guys?
- And speaking of Winchesters, yes, it does fill me with indescribable delight down to the very bottom of my shriveled coal-black heart that Alaska’s state rifle is the pre-64 Model 70.
- Hey, whatever happened to that movement to make the Walker Colt the Texas state gun, anyway?
In other news, Lawrence’s review of “Hail, Caeser!” is up. I think he liked it more that I did, but I also don’t think we’re all that far apart on it. Elaborating on a couple of Lawrence’s points (some spoilers):
- I like Hobie’s character arc, too. He seems to be underplaying how smart he really is for much of the movie, but there’s a scene between him and Eddie Mannix that made me think, “Wow, Eddie’s going to leave the studio for Lockheed…and Hobie’s going to become the new fixer.” He could pull that off. But what I liked even more was the scenes between Alden Ehrenreich’s Hobie and Veronica Osorio’s Carlotta Valdez (basically Carmen Miranda with the serial numbers filed off). Those two actors are totally convincing as a couple that’s surprisingly good together. Lawrence talked about wanting to see the imaginary movies within the movie more than the actual movie itself: I agree. And I’d also love to see a movie about Hobie and Carlotta, and their rise from cowboy actor/Latin singer-dancer to deeply in love Hollywood power couple over a period of, say, 50 years.
- The Thora Thacker / Thessaly Thacker thing is a clever gag that just didn’t quite work for me. But there’s the gem of another good movie in there: identical twins who are bitter childhood rivals and become bitter adult rivals, both working the Hollywoood gossip industry…I’d watch that movie, too, especially if the Coen brothers directed it.
- Where did the police raid on the Communist house come from? Did Hobie call the cops before pulling Baird Whitlock out? Did he call Eddie, who called the cops? Did somebody on shore spot the Russian submarine and call the Coast Guard? Was there something I missed, or did a scene perhaps get cut?
Obit watch: March 1, 2016.
March 1st, 2016George Kennedy. NYT. A/V Club.
Yes, yes, Naked Gun. But also “Cool Hand Luke”.
And this thought isn’t original to me, though I don’t remember where I first encountered it: Joe Patroni had a rather interesting aviation career. He started out as a mechanic in “Airport“, and wound up pilot in command (?) of the Concorde nine years later. (I honestly don’t remember what he did in the other two “Airport” movies, but he was in them, and was the only actor to appear in all four.)
(Interestingly, Wikipedia says Kennedy was a pilot in real life.)
Edited to add: I intended to also mention (but ran out of time) Kennedy’s two police series:
- “Sarge”, which I’m a little young to remember; I think we were watching “Five-0” at the time, anyway. But “Sarge”, as the Wikipedia entry notes, was showing up on RTN for a while as part of “The Bold Ones” wheel. (This is odd, as “Sarge” was really more of an “Ironside” spinoff.)
- “The Blue Knight”, which should be closer to what I’m able to remember, but I don’t think I ever saw an episode of it. That’s odd, as it would have been right up my alley. I think it was right around this time that I read Wambaugh’s book
…
Well, crud.
February 26th, 2016When I was but a wee lad, one of my uncles came down to Houston for a visit and brought along a copy of SOF. I think he may have picked it up on at an airport newsstand to read on the flight, and since he was finished with it, he passed it along to me.
I devoured it like a fat man attacking an all-you-can-eat buffet, and spent a lot of time and effort after that seeking out the latest issues. I would buy copies from the newsstand in the shopping mall. Or I’d ride my moped over the back roads to the closest Walden Books, which had SOF in their magazine rack. Later on, SOF even managed to penetrate the suburban Houston grocery stores.
But at some point, after I went to college – I think around the time they eliminated the classified ads, too – SOF changed. I felt it was for the worse. They used to run practical articles on subjects of interest to a younger me (for example, the best places to shoot someone holding a gun to a hostage’s head, in order to insure instant incapacitation). The newer SOF seemed to be more interested in geopolitics, and less interested in the “how-to” side of things.
I eventually stopped purchasing it. I’d still glance at copies when I saw them, but I grew up, got a job that didn’t involve being a mercenary, and didn’t really need it in my life any longer.
The teenage boy left inside me will miss it, and might pick up a copy of the last print issue because nostalgia is a moron. The adult me isn’t terribly surprised, and shan’t mourn for too long.
Uncle quickie.
February 24th, 2016One more quick Leland “Uncle” Yee thought that I didn’t have time for in the previous entry:
Yes, folks, you read that correctly. Campaign finance reform is the only thing standing between you and your elected state senator smuggling guns to Islamic terrorists and rebel groups in the Philippines.