Miscellaneous

The Scottie was fine, but I thought

Posted on February 17, 2010
The Scottie was fine, but I thought the Doberman showed the best, and I loved the Whippet. Actually, what I'd like to see next year would be for Ch Bohem C'est La Vie to come in from the cold and take the Westminster crown. Why not? The goofiest event in American sport deserves that kind of storybook ending...

Here's the thing that annoys me

Posted on February 16, 2010
Here's the thing that annoys me about Evan Bayh: he is consistently described as being 'moderate'. This is simply not true: Evan Bayh is conservative, and the fact that he caucused with the Democrats doesn't change that. Indeed, I'd say he is a reactionary, but maybe that's just pique...

We are flattered to find Outside

Posted on February 13, 2010
We are flattered to find Outside Counsel listed on the EDDix 50, and pleased with the blurb: "This is not one of the blogs we depend upon; but it is one of the ones we treat ourselves to." It's hard to be an essential blog (or blawg)but being a treat is a reasonable goal, and I'm glad we manage that.

I've been a fan of Nellie McKay

Posted on February 11, 2010
I've been a fan of Nellie McKay since I heard "David" on WFMU right after it was released. I went out that weekend and bought "Get Away From Me", and we caught her set at UB when she came through town. For Christmas LCA got "Normal As Blueberry Pie", McKay's tribute to Doris Day, and last night I finally got around to playing it...

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As it happens we just finished

Posted on February 10, 2010
As it happens we just finished watching the BBC adaptation of "The Nine Tailors" the other night. EGA, who is more than slightly an anglophile, had suggested that something in the Dorothy Sayers line would be just the thing, and it was exactly that. I am therefore sorry to report that Ian Carmichael, who inhabited the role of Lord Peter Wimsey with elan has gone to his reward...

Patti Smith used to work at Scribner's

Posted on February 09, 2010
Patti Smith used to work at Scribner's bookstore. What a great place that was. It became a Benetton, and now it's a Sephora, but when it was Scribner's it was a palace. Of course, back then there were a lot of bookstores in New York-- just about every district had its own cluster...

An exciting, well-played Super

Posted on February 08, 2010
An exciting, well-played Super Bowl. It looks like some commentators are trying to tag Peyton as having choked; I disagree. It looked to me as though the Saints figured out that the way to beat him was to keep him off the field. It also looked to me like everyone on the field for the Saints was laying it all out there-- I can't remember seeing more strong second efforts, usually good for an extra two yards or so, and sometimes a lot more...

It wouldn't be hard to put together

Posted on February 05, 2010
It wouldn't be hard to put together a great setlist for the Who's Super Bowl halftime show, but everybody knows that isn't what we are going to get. It'll be "Baba O'Reilly" and "Pinball Wizard" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "See Me, Feel Me", and probably "Squeeze Box"...

Back in the begining of January

Posted on February 05, 2010
Back in the begining of January EGA returned to Bloomington. Although she was transferring to another program her department at IU had told her that they would confer a Masters degree if she could satisfy the language requirement by passing a German language examination, but when she returned she was not upbeat...

I get the sense that the Saints

Posted on February 04, 2010
I get the sense that the Saints are sentimental favorites in the Super Bowl, but that people expect Indy to win. I'm not so sure: the Colts are really good, but it is going to be a New Orleans crowd, and the Saints defense may be good enough to keep them in the game...

They can nominate ten movies for

Posted on February 03, 2010
They can nominate ten movies for Best Motion Picture, but that doesn't mean that I'll have seen more than one. I do better with Animated Feature Films (3/5) and Actress in a Leading Role (2/5), but on the evidence I think it is safe to conclude that this was another year where I didn't get to the movies much...

I'm starting to see people carrying

Posted on February 02, 2010
I'm starting to see people carrying Kindles. I'm not sure why, but when I do I want to beat them up.I suppose I see the sense of an e-reader, or an iPad, for something like textbooks. Interactivity might be useful for that sort of thing. I stopped putting out paper versions of the materials I use in my Discovery class years ago-- it seemed wasteful to print stuff that was olny going to be used once, and it was expensive for the students to have to buy it...

To Mostly Other People Do The Killing

Posted on February 01, 2010
To Mostly Other People Do The Killing yesterday, at Bruce Eaton's Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz series at the Albright-Knox. Bruce had promised that we were in for something special and they were all that, a terrific blend of Ornette Coleman, traditional New Orleans jazz, hard bop, "In A Silent Way" era Miles and probably six or seven or a dozen other things that I could hear but not identify...

A.'s mother grew up on Buffalo's

Posted on January 31, 2010
A.'s mother grew up on Buffalo's East Side, and A. and her sister started out there too. They all went to Corpus Christi, and still feel a connection to the parish, one of the many Polish churches in that neighborhood. The East Side has become pretty significantly depopulated over the course of the last fifty or so years, and the people who live there now are more likely to seek spiritual fulfillment at a mosque or a Baptist church than at a Polish language Mass, but there is still a touch of Polonaise in the neighborhood...

I've been reading "A New Literary

Posted on January 29, 2010
I've been reading "A New Literary History of America" the anthology of essays edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, and finding it the perfect thing for picking up and dipping into, which is what I mostly do, or reading for a stretch, which I do when I get a chance...

Here is a story about of why the

Posted on January 28, 2010
Here is a story about of why the magical internet should never replace libraries, newspapers, and newspaper morgues. In the late 70's and early 80's I was a regular reader of the Village Voice. Back then it was a different publication than the boho pennysaver it has become...

So now we find out: Was J.D. Salinger

Posted on January 28, 2010
So now we find out: Was J.D. Salinger writing all that time? Is there something in that file cabinet as good as "Frany and Zooey" (which I think is his best) or "Catcher in the Rye"? Or was it all a hype? Did he retreat to Cornish, New Hampshire and just live out his days? That's always been my theory...

Jack Newfield on Dylan, 1967. "W.

Posted on January 27, 2010
Jack Newfield on Dylan, 1967. "W. H. Auden, Howard Nemerov, and Norman Podhoretz say they have never heard of Dylan. Critic and poet John Ciardi says Dylan knows nothing about poetry. Even Norman Mailer, existentialist fight manager and white hope of the over-30 generation, says, 'If Dylan is a poet, so is Cassius Clay...

Interesting backstories about "The

Posted on January 26, 2010
Interesting backstories about "The Last Waltz"-- including the answer to a question that has long puzzled me: Neil Diamond? Who invited him?It's always struck me as a less than fully realized film, and now I understand why.

Because I can't resist sticking

Posted on January 24, 2010
Because I can't resist sticking my oar in, when I read Don Esmonde's column in last Sunday's Buffalo News about relocating UB Law into the Statler building I dashed off an email to Esmonde explaining why this would be a terrible plan. He apparently still disagrees...

Mr. Plimpton's Revenge: A Tale

Posted on January 23, 2010
Mr. Plimpton's Revenge: A Tale Told on Google Maps. (Via Flutterby!)

Man, this was one of the best

Posted on January 22, 2010
Man, this was one of the best toys ever. (Via Topless Robot.)

Pazz & Jop hasn't really been the

Posted on January 21, 2010
Pazz & Jop hasn't really been the same since The Dean turned the franchise over, but it's still a worthwhile survey. Tine was I'd be familiar with all, or mostly all of the list; this year I've heard bits and pieces of about a dozen sides in the top 50, and really liked about half of those...

There is apparently no shortage

Posted on January 20, 2010
There is apparently no shortage of potential candidates for NY Attorney General if Andrew Cuomo decides to run for governor. Kathleen Rice, the current Nassau County DA (and an alum of the Brooklyn DA's office; former state insurance superintendent Eric R...

Rest in peace, Kate McGarrigle

Posted on January 19, 2010
Rest in peace, Kate McGarrigle

I bought a celery root the other

Posted on January 18, 2010
I bought a celery root the other day, a smallish one, about the size of my fist. Cubed and boiled it with potatoes in about a 1/3 ratio it was delicious, adding a tangy earthiness to the spuds. Funny how it goes with vegetables-- when I don't know how to work with something I am unfamiliar with I usually just take a pass...

We're all going to die, and when

Posted on January 16, 2010
We're all going to die, and when we do I hope each of us has an obit this good:John J. Meegan of Buffalo?known as Jack to hundreds of local runners?who ran the Boston Marathon 30 times, was a member of the Buffalo Softball Hall of Fame, and played competitive hockey most of his life, died after a run in Delaware Park on Thursday...

In court the other day to update

Posted on January 13, 2010
In court the other day to update the judge on the status of a settlement. The hang-up is getting the proposed Medicare Set-aside agreement approved. This is a pretty new thing in personal injury work, although in the Comp realm they've been dealing with it for nearly ten years...

In the pre-industrial era, horses

Posted on January 11, 2010
In the pre-industrial era, horses kept to the left so riders could draw their sword. Napoleon changed Europe to the rightThe US followed France. In Canada the rule varied by province until the 20's. (Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949, and its motorists drove on the left until 1947...

Is New Zealand Australia's Canada?

Posted on January 07, 2010
Is New Zealand Australia's Canada? Last night's movie was Blue State, about a San Francisco liberal in 2004 who vowed to move to Canada if Bush was re-elected. Anna Paquin co-stars, and was the executive producer, which makes her my favorite X-Man ever...

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