Ink Lake

Publisher's Clearing House, Sarah Palin, And Me

It’s with regret that I’m not renewing my subscription to the Observer. It used to be my favorite weekly read, but since the resignation of Peter Kaplan as editor, it’s really become a husk of a paper. Rex Reed as the remaining film critic? I’d prefer no film reviews at all.

I got an offer for the Columbia Journalism Review, which looks good, and I think I'll bite.

Though I let it lapse for a year as I tightened my belt, I’ve picked up my subscription to the Economist, again. Times are still tough, but do I want to be as informed as Sarah Palin about world affairs? You betcha.

The Natural

I don’t feel sorry for the GOP, but this wasn’t pretty. It must feel like the day been when Darryl Strawberry tried out for the high-school team, or when Minnesota Fats showed up to shoot a couple of rounds. It’s so different quantitatively, that it becomes something different qualitatively. I’ve felt like that in some ski workshops - I look at the instructor, and I think - we are doing two different things.

Afterward, House Minority Leader Boehner said, “Today was a good first step in having more of a  dialogue, and I hope it continues.” I wouldn’t hold my breath. The full beatdown Q&A can be found here.

Extra Words Are Redundant

When there’s an announcement on the train that there is a “smoke condition”, why don’t they just say  “smoke”?

Bunch Of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger

CORNISH, NH—In this big dramatic production that didn’t do anyone any good (and was pretty embarrassing, really, if you think about it), thousands upon thousands of phonies across the country mourned the death of author J.D. Salinger, who was 91 years old for crying out loud. “He had a real impact on the literary world and on millions of readers,” said hot-shot English professor David Clarke, who is just like the rest of them, and even works at one of those crumby schools that rich people send their kids to so they don’t have to look at them for four years. “There will never be another voice like his.” Which is exactly the lousy kind of goddamn thing that people say, because really it could mean lots of things, or nothing at all even, and it’s just a perfect example of why you should never tell anybody anything.

Courtesy of The Onion

WTF At WTC

Didn’t this station just re-open after five years? These stairs are brand-new (notice the absence of gum). Yet somehow, the stairs have managed to already “break”.

They lasted less than two months.

You Remember When You Were With The Beatles?

I conducted my first interview the other day. It was with Fran Leadon, the City College professor and architect, who the late Norval White picked to carry on his work with the landmark AIA Guide - the “bible” for New York architecture. He’s also a bluegrass musician, and that’s how I actually first came to know of him – as a member of the Brooklyn based Y’all Stars.

I’ll be posting the results of our chat, shortly. I’ve given lots of presentations and speeches, and don’t suffer from stage-fright, but this was a novel experience for me; having to think of questions beforehand, writing down the answers in a notebook.

I should mention that the fifth edition of the AIA Guide is available for pre-ordering on Amazon, and Professor Leadon is  playing with his band this Saturday at Freddy’s, a truly great bar in Prospect Heights.

State Of The Union Recap

I thought it was pretty good, though I’m not as gushing as Sullivan. Still, good, and a dose of inspiring, if not inspiration, was needed. In the end though, these speeches don’t matter much. As Guy Kawasaki says, “sales fixes everything” – and so it will be with the economy.

Yes, he is having to fix twenty things at once, and he follows, as Sullivan says, “the worst presidency in modern times”, but that’s why it’s a job.

Personally, I wanted to see him yell “Allah Akbar” and run to hug Joe Wilson. I bet he would have cr*pped his pants. I’m also disappointed that the President didn’t make mention that from this point, I’m to be known as “The Situation”.

Wonkette had some funny live-blogging, too:

9:07 — “Thank you, thank you,” Obama says. This arrogant son-of-a-bitch.

I think Joe Klein summed it up:

This was Obama at his best. He wasn't cuddly, but who cares? He was smart and he was funny--and he was drop-dead serious about the country. The speech should do him some good, but it’s not enough. Now he has to preside, in the true sense of the term.

More serious reactions here.

Overheard On The Bus

I was on the M14D bus over the weekend, and stood next to two just-graduated-from-college guys having a conversation, between Avenue A and 1^st Avenue.

Guy #1: lantern jaw, short black hair, plaid shirt.

Guy #2: wearing a pea-coat. Curly, brown receding hair. The stoner on your dorm floor. 

They were talking about their cases of tinnitus (chronic ear ringing)

Guy #1: It’s really bad if we have it at our age.

Guy #2: Well for some people it gets better.

Guy #1: When I take amphetamines, it goes away.

Guy #2: Meditation can help too. It really calms you down, though sometimes it just stops your heart.

I sent it to Overheard in New York, which collects stuff like this, but it can take a few weeks before submissions appear. It’s a funny site - here are two posts that I like.

Guy #1: Wow, they indicted five cops in that beating last year in Shenandoah.
Guy #2: Yeah, it was a hate crime.
Guy #1: The victim was gay?
Guy #2: No, dude, he was Mexican.
Guy #1: What? Since when is it a crime to be Mexican?
Guy #2, after pause: Everyone on this train thinks you are a fucking idiot, and I agree with them.

Cop: We had a guy down here eating a rat. I said, “You’re a gentleman in society.” He put the rat in his mouth.

--South Ferry Subway

Marshmallows And Lexapro

I saw Inglourious Basterds, and all I can say is  - wow!

I think it’s better overall than Kill Bill, and I'm glad I don’t direct films; seeing it would depress me. It's everything an American movie is supposed to be - pure entertainment, suspense, and movie-making prowess so strong, that like a marshmallow, you can smell it through the bag. The last American film I liked this much was No Country For Old Men.

I remember seeing Pulp Fiction, and screaming, gasping, laughing with everyone else in the theatre. It was like a ride on the Cyclone; a great shared experience. This is like that.

Roger Ebert describes the character Hans Landa, played by he-better-win-an-Oscar, Christoph Waltz,

for this scene, and his performance throughout the movie, that Christoph Waltz deserves an Oscar nomination to go with his best actor award from Cannes. He creates a character unlike any Nazi — indeed, anyone at all — I’ve seen in a movie: evil, sardonic, ironic, mannered, absurd.

He makes as great an entrance, and is as great a movie villain as Harry Lime or Anton Chigurh.

Doing The Same Stupid Sh*t, Isn't The Change I Hoped For

I’ll be writing more on politics shortly, but I just want to comment on the report that in his State of the Union speech, President Obama is going to propose to freeze the budget in a totally meaningless way. I hope it’s not true, as I really though Obama was an adult who was going to treat us as adults, too.

Bart Simpson: Well Dad, here’s my report card. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Homer Simpson: (incredulously) A plus?!? You don’t think much of me, do you boy?
Bart Simpson: (almost proudly) No sir!
Homer Simpson: You know a D turns into a B so easily. You just got greedy.