Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Picture Strip from Wisconsin

When Eddie and I were at the University of Wisconsin Business School pre-Homecoming shin-ding, they had a photo both.
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We had our picture taken in the booth.  Me with my cow hat and Eddie with a Badger hat (it was a prop, but they sell them in Madison).
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I think it is a cute little picture.

I Feel a Little Dumb


I woke up at 3AM feeling a little stupid this morning.
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I have let myself be suckered into election arguments that I should be smarter than.  We are having a huge debate around obscure and minor issues (in the big scheme of life).
Should we have the Defense Budget of the next 28 countries combined, or next 26 countries combined?
Should we have a 39% tax rate for millionaires or a 35% tax rate for millionaires?
Should we start taxing inheritances at $2Million, $5 Million or never?
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It's all a little bullshit.  Or Bread & Circuses - if you prefer.
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We aren't talking about Big Bank Bailouts...
... even though those "to big to fail" are bigger.
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We aren't talking about foreclosures
... even though cities are stagnating.
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We talking about little shit and getting crazy about it.  And I bought into it.
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Dang.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Ed's Frankenstorm project: Carrot Cake Wisconsin

Who Knows What He Would do as President

Seriously, Mittens is a pathological liar.  I know, my father was the same way.  He would say whatever to whomever to make them happy.
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In a GOP primary debate in June of last year, moderator John King asked Romney if he would let states take on the responsibilities of FEMA, which was “about to run out of money.” “Absolutely,” Romney replied. “And every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better… We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things,” he added.

And after Hurricane Sandy left millions suffering, the Romney campaign seems to have come around. “Gov. Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions. As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities, and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most.This includes help from the federal government and FEMA,” Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement to Politico’s Andrew Restuccia.
It’s worth noting that what Williams describes is basically exactly the way emergency management functions now, though he curiously left out any mention of local and municipal responders, who are really in the best position to affect aid. When locals get overwhelmed, they bring in state resources. When state resources get overwhelmed, they bring in federal resources. As FEMAexplains about the National Incident Management System (NIMS), the national standardized process that various tiers of government used to work together in emergencies:  “NIMS does not take command away from state and local authorities… The intention of the federal government in these situations is not to command the response but, rather, to support the affected local, tribal, and/or state governments.”

Hummm... That doesn't really work

So, everyone knows I like a little beefcake - and Abercrombie often serves it up in nice 6-pack vanilla.
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And, some people know that I like a little German as well.  (Yes Eddie is from good German stock).
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But you put the two together at the Munich Abercrombie store opening...  and you get something a little to .... well, let's say Aryan, for comfort.
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All in good fun?  Or plot for the 4th Reich?

So Far So Fine in Sandy (Tues AM)

I took Trevor out for a walk this morning.  Our part of the city is holding up well.  The Lincoln Tunnel is open (and the pictures of Battery Park / Brooklyn Tunnel flooding were freaky).  The street traffic is still really really light, but most things are closed for today.
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One funny thing, Papaya Dog stayed open (24/7) through the whole thing.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Trevor Waiting Out The Storm

Eddie  posted this on Facebook and I had to share.  Trevor is not worried about the storm or the wind.
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He chooses to sleep through Sandy.

The City Empties Ahead of Sandy

Here is a picture from our window.  The city is emptying ahead of Frankenstorm Sandy.  Yes kids, they are calling it a Frankenstorm.
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It is odd to see so little in the way of activity - the subways and buses stopped yesterday, the airports are closed, and the water is breaching Battery Park.
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Post First: Bury the Shit

So I am posting this because I cannot believe it.  Nicer things will cover most of this up later, but I have to share.
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We had a nice time in Wisconsin this week-end.  One of the starts to any week-end in Wisconsin is the walk around the State Capital for the Farmers Market.  It is a promenade around the block with fresh vegetables,  cheese curds and crafts.
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As we were walking (with Ed's Parents, Phil and Julie and their 5 year old Dora) a guy passes selling "Impeach Obama" buttons.  I turn to Phil and say - not loudly and not to the seller, "I think he is unclear on the whole concept of "Impeaching".  You can just vote him  out of office."
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And a nice Madison man about my age behind us says, "Or we can just lynch him."
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A Texas 1920s Lynching
Commemorative PostCard
Lynching, for those of you who don't know, was a common method in the late 1800s through about 1950 wherein a bunch of white people hung 1 or more African Americans (known at that time by the nickname we now don't use) from tree limbs, telephone poles, statues, whatever handy surface was provided to prevent them from getting uppity.
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I am amazed that people think this is an acceptable thing to say.
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Maybe not amazed, but saddened.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Leaving today to Madtown

So we are flying to a football game in Wisconsin today (yes, of course it is delayed). Coming home Sunday hoping to beat the Frankenstorm. I kid you not, that is what that are calling it.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Kind of Funny: Men of Nashville

I myself have never seen Nashville, although it is supposed to be good.  I thought this (from Culture Vulture) was very funny however...
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Your Guide to the Indistinguishable Men of Nashville

Nashville has plenty going for it: The music is legitimately good; Connie Britton is the world's best human; and even though the dialogue is a little clunky, the stories seem to work. Britton plays Rayna, a country-music legend whose star is fading, thanks in part to the rising fame of Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), who's trying to woo away Rayna's bandleader, Deacon. But the show does have one lingering problem: The male characters are extremely hard to tell apart. Everyone is too generically handsome and southern! So we've assembled this handy guide to which male character is which on Nashville.
Is he wearing a tie? Then that's Rayna's husband, Teddy (Eric Close). Teddy is the worst. He's squandered most of his family's money, and now he's tired of being in Rayna's shadow — even though it's pretty clear from these three episodes that every single person in Rayna's life is in her shadow.
Is he sad? Could be any of them.
Is he playing a guitar? Could be anyone.
Does he have scraggly facial hair? Inconclusive.
Is he being sexy around both Rayna and Juliette and/or sadly smirking? That's Deacon (Charles Esten). He's Rayna's bandleader and ex-lover, whom she ditched when she sent him to rehab a decade ago. While he was there, she married Teddy. Deacon still loves her, it seems, and if smoldering glances mean anything (and they do!), Rayna still loves him back. Tough tacos, then, that he's also sleeping with Juliette, and he might be the father of one of Rayna's daughters.
Is he making a bitchface? Then that's Avery (Jonathan Jackson), Scarlett's boyfriend. Scarlett is the young blonde who's not Juliette — and is instead some kind of second coming of country-music greatness. And Avery is hella jealous of her imminent success and her maybe-flirtatious relationship with her duet partner, Gunnar. Luckily, he managed to give her a good pep talk on last night's episode, otherwise we'd have to just straight-up hate him. Stop being so whiny, Avery.
Is he wearing a shirt that has snaps instead of buttons? Inconclusive.
Is he sighing dejectedly? Inconclusive.
Does he feel stymied? Inconclusive.
Is he the other guy? That's Gunnar (Sam Palladio). He and Scarlett represent artistic integrity and talent and adorableness.

As Arty Johnson would say "Very Interesting"

So I wrote the other day about the Republicans and their shit views on rape.  It might come as a surprise to some people.  And, if so, here's why....
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David Mamet has 2 big plays on Broadway

So this season has two big plays by David Mamet.
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The first is a revival of Glengarry Glen Ross with Al Pacino - as well as "some other guys" who aren't important enough to make the poster.
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The poster is so hip on Pacino, it doesn't even mention the "other guys" who include Bobby Cannavale or John C McGinley or, you know, the full title of the show.
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I think I'll pass on the full on WHO..AHH! Pacino experience.  Mamet isn't subtle and Pacino isn't subtle and together I can hear the previews from my apartment 3 blocks away.
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I don't know why it annoys me, it shouldn't - but it does.  I heard they were goign to put a picture of Pacino on the poster, but he head wouldn't fite.
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The second show is The Anarchist with Debra Winger and Patti Lupone.  I might have to see that.  Those are some good actors.  Mamet is directing this, and it should be really good.  It's Mamet, so no musical - but Patti Lupone is supposed to be great.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

This is about an amazing young man, not the hateful blond bitch

Hateful bitch Ann Coulter tweeted this after the last debate...
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Add caption

Then she said that the only people that would be offended are too retarded to understand it.  As usual with Ann Coulter, I ignored the comment - because she is a disgusting slime-ass of a bitch that uses hateful rhetoric to get people to talk about her, and I don't want to give her the bizarre orgasmic pleasure she gets wallowing in filth with others.
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This post is about an open letter to Ann Coulter.  A letter from Special Olympics Athlete John Franklin Stephens who, like my late aunt, has Down Syndrome.  It shows an open heart and a forgiving attitude that I can only aspire to.
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Dear Ann Coulter,
Mr. Stephens, a better man than I
(and clearly better than Coulter)
Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow.  So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?
I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow.  I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you.  In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.
I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.
Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.
Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.
After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me.  You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.
Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
Come join us someday at Special Olympics.  See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia

Just Say No


They Really Believe This Shit

What shocks me is NOT that he said this, but that he said right before it (watch the video at Washington Post if you want)  "...this is something every candidate faces...".  
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Nothing about what the actual WOMAN involved faces, or husbands of rape victims, or father's of victims, or young girls who might have been raped face.  No, this is a decision for politicians (usually male and usually on behalf of others).
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Do people, even those opposed to abortion really think that a bunch of politicians deserve to make the decisions about what a raped woman, daughter or wife must make?
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And it isn't just him.
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Richard Mourdock, Republican Senate Candidate from Indiana; "...even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
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Todd Akin, Republican Senate Candidate from Missouri: "...women's bodies have ways of shutting down so they don't get pregnant in cases of legitimate rape”.
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Joe Walsh, Republican House Candidate from Illinois, "...abortions are "absolutely" never necessary to save the lives of pregnant women.  With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance," Walsh said. "There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing." 
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Sharon Angle, 2010 Republican Senate Candidate from Nevada, ...that if a hypothetical teenager was raped and impregnated by her father, it was an opportunity to turn “a lemon situation into lemonade.”
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The Republican Platform, 2012, states that abortion should never be legal, including instances of rape, incest or health of the mother.  Furthermore, any contraception that prevents implantation on the uterine wall as well as in vitro-fertilization should be illegal.

I'm afraid the Mac Ipad Mini might have turned me into a Luddite

Time to confess.  I have an IPad.  NOT an IPad 2, NOR and IPad 3 - simply an IPad.  You know, before they had a number.
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Worse - an 8 MG IPad - without so much as a 3G connection (although 3G is soooo last decade).  And it works - and I am happy with my WiFi.
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Sure, I am not able to upload the latest and greatest OS - because my little old 8MG IPad doesn't have the space for it.  Nor can I play Machinarium - which I don't have the horsepower for (but I can play it on my MacBookAir should the desire arise).
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Even Worse - my IPad is perfectly acceptable.  I am not really dying for an upgrade.  My old hand-crank IPad works just fine - even though I know that bits are leaking out the back of it somewhere.
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So, the IPad mini comes out - and one of our house guests has a serious jones for it.  But it doesn't nothing for me.  I don't need the hand held device that I read in bed, on the plane and when commercials come on to be any smaller.
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Maybe it is my age and eyesight (I already hate having to drop the glasses on my face for TV and push them up for the screen) - but it just isn't something I need.  You know, exactly what I have now, only 25% smaller and 25% more expensive.
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And it suddenly occurs to me.  Luddite!
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PS - How many steroids did that model do anyway?  His neck muscles go right down to his upper arms!  Completely sloping shoulders - sure sign of steroids.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Here's A Headline I Can Get Behind

Story is here, but superfluous.

Salt Lake Utah Tribune Endorses... Obama!

I am a bit shocked.  The Salt Lake Tribune endorsed Obama.  Salt Lake Utah!
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Tribune endorsement: Too Many Mitts
Obama has earned another term
First Published Oct 19 2012 12:13 pm • Last Updated Oct 22 2012 10:31 am
Nowhere has Mitt Romney’s pursuit of the presidency been more warmly welcomed or closely followed than here in Utah. The Republican nominee’s political and religious pedigrees, his adeptly bipartisan governorship of a Democratic state, and his head for business and the bottom line all inspire admiration and hope in our largely Mormon, Republican, business-friendly state.
But it was Romney’s singular role in rescuing Utah’s organization of the 2002 Olympics from a cesspool of scandal, and his oversight of the most successful Winter Games on record, that make him the Beehive State’s favorite adopted son. After all, Romney managed to save the state from ignominy, turning the extravaganza into a showcase for the matchless landscapes, volunteerism and efficiency that told the world what is best and most beautiful about Utah and its people.
In short, this is the Mitt Romney we knew, or thought we knew, as one of us.
Sadly, it is not the only Romney, as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in his servile courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination, and now as the party’s shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: "Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?"
The evidence suggests no clear answer, or at least one that would survive Romney’s next speech or sound bite. Politicians routinely tailor their words to suit an audience. Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear.

Obama and Romney's Grandson

I like this picture.  Even though Romney's Son (Tagg) publicly told news people he wanted to take a swing at the President, the President was charming to the Grandson.
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I like the picture.
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Monday, October 22, 2012

I am surprised...

I find myself amazed that the terrorist attack on Benghazi Libya factors so much into the Presidential campaign.  It seems to me fairly simple.
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A terrorist group used a popular uprising as the perfect cover to launch a pre-planned attack on a consulate.  In the mist of a Middle East revolutionary environment, an uproar over a stupid-ass movie and a Presidential Campaign where the challenger will politicize anything - there was confusion and an inability to find out exactly what happened within the current 24 hour news cycle.  And so, in a land where "no comment" is defined as an apology, the administration said some contradictory things.
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Rather than present a untied front to the world, Mitt Romney and Fox News are proclaiming this as some giant LIE.  This attack supports Al Queda, by the fucking by, because the Al Queda line that "the USA always lies."
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That this - this pissant molehill of faked outrage - would turn the US election is asinine.  Not unbelievable mind you, but asinine.
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After all more than 40% of Republicans think the President is Muslim and wasn't born in the United States, so nothing surprises me.
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Well, that's not true, the fact that 43% of Americans don't believe in Evolution DOES surprise me.  Just a shade fewer than the 45% of Muslims that don't believe in Evolution.  On the other hand approximately 63% of Republicans don't believe in Evolution; so there Muslims - Republicans can reject more truths than you.  Muslims still have them beat on the 70something virgins thing - so you got that going.
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But I digress.  Let me just say this.  Apparently it is thought that this election might well turn on an actual attack on Americans in Bengazi - where in 2004 none of the election turned on the fact George W Bush MADE UP FACTS ABOUT WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION TO INVADE A COUNTRY.  Which, by the by, 63% of Republicans still believe, although 79% say they follow foreign affairs closely (2012 Darmouth Findings)
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Jefferson Wept.

It's not hard to change copy

I have worked with sending out product photos that can be used in many different places.  It is not rocket science.  You change a word here, a change sleeve lengths there ("there" in this case being anywhere in the middle east), maybe remove a reference.
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You would think Bose, extraordinary engineers, would know this as well.  Maybe not.  Today this add appeared in the New York Times in black and white.  You might not be able to see it clearly, but the add claims the top unit is in "Platinum White" and the bottom unit is in "Titanium Silver" when, in fact, they are they lovely "light grey" and "dark grey" of newsprint.
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Friday, October 19, 2012

I suppose I would too... if I could.


This needs very little explanation.  But, if you do need it, here is an example of Abercrombie models - flip flops not included.
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Apparently - It's Real


Woman Thinks Deer Crossings Are Crosswalks For Deer

Donna, a resident from Fargo, North Dakota, is appalled that the government would direct deer to cross in such high-traffic areas.
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My young nephew Sean (pictured to the left in Africa) is all grow'd up and playing in a band.  Here is the review from a local Minnesota Radio blog.
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It's available here
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Gloss
Here’s a brand new band in the community, and big thanks to the guys in Phantom Vibration for spreading the information around to get people on board. Gloss is what you would expect from the name: swirling guitar lines doused in dream pop inspired reverb. The song “Front Porch” really hearkens back to the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, an act we haven’t heard from in what will be two years at the start of 2013. So let’s let Gloss fill the void that Pains has left in their absence.
And Gloss succeeds in an impressive fashion. For a group just starting out, this five-piece is already getting written-up across the blogosphere, and they have a great support base between students at the UofM and Macalester, both schools which have been busting out some hot new bands at an alarming rate.
Stream: Gloss - "Front Porch"
Here is a link to the new single released today - Front Porch by Gloss:


The Sad Demise of the Bookstore

I understand it is cheaper to buy books online.  I understand that lots of people read books on their electronic devices and it is much easier for them.  Hell, I understand a lot of people don't read books at all.
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But, as much as I understand all this, I will miss the bookstore.  The wandering around, the smell, the slow speed of "browsing" that I can't get anywhere else.  While electronic reading is easy, fast and much more mobile than dragging books with you - it robs you of the ability to go into a bookstore and discover something.
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Tucked somewhere were the "staff pics" - where I was finally convinced to read "A Confederacy of Dunces".  There on a table of new non-fiction was were I saw "Steel, Guns & Germs" - and opened to read the blurb - and then read a fascinating story of human development.  Maybe you raced in to buy a magazine (which are now moving to electronic too) and you saw a copy of something you never knew - that's how I discovered Jack McDevitt, an author I loved now.  It's how I discovered John Varley with a signed first edition of Titan, which was being sold on sale, because he was brand new and had stopped by a store in Westwood.
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I get that times change and progress happens.  And bookstores are the brick and mortar equivalent to black and white TV shows of the 2010s - but I will miss the hell out of them.  AND, I applaud New York and New Yorkers who (like London) can still manage to support multiple stores.
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And "Fahrenheit 451" just won't be the same when it is "Fahrenheit 4,268" or what ever temperature a Kindle blows up at.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Things I learned in LA


 
So, I did learn a lot about what has changed and what hasn't changed in Los Angeles since I lived here.  It wasn't all sunshine and unicorns.
First, LA drivers STILL know how to drive better than anywhere else.  I was going down La Cienega at morning rush hour and the two right lanes were closed.  You know how people merged? Lane 1, Lane 2, Lane 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, etc. WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT THAT YOU IDIOTS BACK EAST?!
Second, there are no more bookstores in Los Angeles.  It is a sad sad thing.
Third, flip flops are SO OVER.  The cool kids all wear tennis shoes now (unfortunately with mis-matched socks, but whatevs).  I think New York and all those boys with hairy toes need to pick up on this trend toute - f'ing sweet.
Fourth, the 405 from Westwood to Irvine at noon is SWEET.  Ditto the 5 from Irvine back to West Hollywood at 9 PM!
Fifth, only in LA in October wil, the forecast say, "slightly cloudy at the beach tomorrow, high only into the 70s".  I miss it.
Finally, as noted in the picture, the LA sculpture garden has a new Serra Sculpture titled T.E.U.C.L.A.  It's right past the Rodain.

Last breakfast in LA before heading home, Kings Road Cafe

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The More You Think, The More You Worry....

The more I think about this election, the more I worry.  About the odd things.  I don't (particularly) worry that Romney might win.  If Romney wins, the debt explodes, rich people get a hell of a lot richer and we attack two more countries in the mid-east (Syria and Iran right away).  If Obama wins, the debt grows and we are in for a few more years of anemic "Republic Lite" which the Republicans will scream is socialism.
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No, I worry that any outcome is so close to 50-50 that we will never agree again.  And while I wish it weren't so, I think the election might just harden thoughts.  Particularly if we elect more and more strident partisans.
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A smart man (ERN) thinks that the answer is a break up of the country into two or four groups (the south & mountain plains and the rest or  the south, the northeast, the midwest and the west - depending).  I tended not to believe for a long time - it might be too hard to unravel the whole, you know UNITED States, thing.
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But Scotland just got a vote to devolve in 2014, Catalan is working on one.  If so, maybe that is the way we go - and maybe it would be for the best.  Culturally the south, Texas plus, West Coast, Northeast and Midwest are pretty different.
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George W. Bush blew it.  After 9/11 he should have called us together as a country - asked for sacrifice, and moved us forward.  He told us to shop and go to Disneyland.

Monday, October 15, 2012

We liked Argo

Saw Argo this week-end. Eddie and I like it a lot.
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Kind of an adult movie that wasn't boring.  I do want to know how much at the very end was real, but it was a lot of fun.  What's odd is that Jimmy Carter does NOT come out of it looking any better.  I mean, he is still just Jimmy.  As a nation we all over-reacted to Nixon.
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PS- Man!  We all had some bad hair days in the late 70s!

Ah.,. Back Home with the Proposition Ads....

While I do miss home, I don't miss the plethora of ads on the propositions.  California is a totally BLUE state, so there are no Romney / Obama ads, but just in the car from the airport to the hotel (about 5 minutes!) I have heard ads on Prop 30 and Prop 38 (competing school funding measures), Prop 39 (corporate taxes) but the big ones are all on Prop 37.
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If you listen to the "Pro" side, it is all about requiring genetically modified food to be labelled as such.  The "Anti" side says it is a "hidden food tax", will put "small farmers" out of business - it is somehow simultaneously unnecessary, uninformative AND deceiving.  But my favorite is the "paid for" at the end.  It lists, "Paid For by Californians against Bureaucracy, Local Farmers, Small Business cooperatives and the California Supermarket Association", then is a quick aside it says "major funding by Monsanto and Dupont".
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Ah... home.

Funniest SNL Bit in a long long time

I know that Saturday Night Live has started off a little rocky.  Let's face it, this isn't a funny election.  BUT, if you didn't watch the whole thing you missed this bit.  And it was HIGH LARIOUS!
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Islands. Yay!

 That, my friend, is a NorthShore with a Frozen Margarita.  Or, as we say in New York, a little bit of died and gone to Heaven.
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I am in LA today.  Back in New York on Friday.

TSA per-screening is heaven

I LOVE pre-screening

Passing without seeing: This was on a sidewalk I pass often

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Is It Wrong to Hope It Falls into the F'ing Ocean?

"Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes". (LINK for those of you with too much money and not enough sense).
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It is a beautiful resort on the shores of Palos Verdes.  To build it all they had to do was close MarineLand, then demolish a major sea wildlife rescue station.
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Although to be honest, the clsoing of Marineland was down via SeaWorld in San Diego - when they couldn't drive Marineland out of business they simply bought the park, you know "to operate it", shipped off Corky and Orky and closed the place.
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Then Marineland facility became a pre emanate wildlife rescue station.
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Terranea is also offerring lots for sale there - which of course they promised never to do when they closed the wildlife rescue station.  To get there you drive past Portuguese Bend. You will know where Portuguese Bend is because it is a brand new road.  Brand new every few months because since 1960 the entire slope and the houses have been sliding into the ocean at the rate of about a foot every few months - so the road is rebuilt 2 or 3 times a year.
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And stay!  Really enjoy the view.  You get it maybe after 3PM.  Otherwise, this lovely spot on the Pacific is pretty much eternally in fog.  Except in the middle of winter, when it is cold over the land and over the ocean.  Seriously.  Page through all their pictures and remember that this is a promontory and if there is any land in the distance, you are looking east.  There are no pictures that way where the sun is there - because it is always always always foggy in the day.  If you see just ocean you are looking west into beautiful sunsets.  If you see an island, you are looking south (that is Catalina), again the sun will never be in the left of the island because that means before noon..
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Maybe, since it is advertised as "L.A's Ocean Front Resort", you might want to go to LA - plan on an extra 45 minutes to an hour before you get to any freeway.  Once you drive from Palos Verdes
 - through Palos Verdes Estates,
   - through Rolling Hills Estates,
     - through Redondo Beach, through Torrance and
       - finally 1/2 way through Gardena,
         - you are at the 405 - which is just bumper to bumper until you get to
            - the Harbor / 111 freeway North and go through Watts / South Central into downtown LA.  Where it is only another 30 minutes to Hollywood.
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Of course Disneyland (where the kiddies will want to go) is the same route, only instead of going up the 111 to Downtown, you take the 405 to
 - the 111North
   - to the 91 West through
    -Compton,
     - North Long Beach,
      - Bellflower,
       - Cerritos (wave hello to my old High School, Gahr, right at the 91 / 605 intersection),
        - Cyprus,
         - pass into Orange County,
          - go West onto the 5 South in Buena Park (NEVER any traffic at that intersection) and get off at Harbor Blvd.
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But why do that when you can lay out in the fog and be haunted byt he ghosts of all the seals, sea lions and pelicans that are dead because your tacky-ass resort closed one of the few places where people took care of animals.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Ed Notes My British Accent Inspiration

He also notes (post picture) my take on the fact Entertainment Weekly has decided this was one of the worst accents of all time.
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Scot wudnt be agreein howeveh!!

Ed, Randy and I saw Lewis Black on Broadway the other day

On Wednesday Ed, Randy and I saw Lewis Black in his Broadway show.  We lucked out and had amazing seats (12 row center).  Lewis wasn't as political this time as he has been in some of his filmed stuff, which I actually appreciated.
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I am a little tired of the election.  You know, like I am a little tired of passing a kidney stone.
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He was hilarious (my review is here) and we laughed our asses off.  It was a fun time.
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Interesting side note.  ... While we were waiting in line for the show, we saw Jeff Zucker (the old CEO of NBC Universal).  So we say hi and all, and Jeff asks Ed what he is doing now.  Ed says what he does at US Tennis and Jeff says, "US Open Tickets!  Finally, you can do something to help me."
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It was funny and kind of set the stage for a really enjoyable evening.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

This Saturday's Open House New York Tour

This week-end we participated in a tour from Open House New York.  It was a tour of the old signs that are still visible in New York.
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In the olden days (say 1850 - 1930s), there weren't billboards or yellow pages.  So many of the signs were painted right on old buildings.  Because buildings were built next to each other, then pulled down and often the old advertising was later shown.
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Anyway, this was very interesting.  Here are some pictures here.
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Sign for Bazar Francais - kind of an old Bed, Bath & Beyond

The front of the same storefront

Mrs. Wever's Milliney Store.  It was here in the 1920s before moving uptown.

One of the oldest signs in the city, off 19th and 8th.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Romney Endorsement; Well it as good as any other reason

I love her!
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Scandalous! Fabulous Show Coming Up!!


A new Broadway show is coming up, Scandalous.  It is the story of Aimee Semple McPherson, an Evangelical leader of a church in Los Angeles.  If you read Wikipedia, you can read all about the late Aimee Semple.
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But for me, a born and bred Angelino, it is the stuff of legends.  The huge church (built in 1923) still stands in Echo Park.  Eddie and I have driven by it.  Rumor has it (although it doesn't say anything about this in Wikipedia) that at some point she had the seats wired so that at appropriate times the worshipers would get a little electrical jolt to "feel the power of God".
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She had multiple love affairs, marriages and staged a fake kidnapping (by "Mexicali Rose"!), all the while building a church from the ground up that has over 8 million members!  I mean she is LA all the way! 
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Yes, I have my tickets.
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Her church in Echo Park.

Postcard of the church from the 1930
Current view of the church with (I assume) new ficus trees.