Sunday, February 6, 2011

Nobody # 852

Nobody Asked Me But:

(The name of this photo is Pure Pleasure)

Let’s start with a story in which politeness rules. Last night we had dinner at Black Angus, which had sent a free coupon to celebrate Barbara’s birthday last month. Much to our surprise they brought my wife a free dessert. But when they tried to accompany it with a song, she said, “Please don’t.” So much to her relief, they didn’t.<<<

“Palin grills Obama about Egypt” – (says she can see Cairo from her Alaskan front porch).<<<

All right, I blew it! I should have written earlier about the 4-part, just-completed Downton Abby, a PBS Masterpiece Classic. If I had, perhaps you would have set your DVR to record one of the best television experiences in years. This modern “Upstairs Downstairs” was 360 minutes of fascination and delight. Under the British entail laws, Downton Abby is going to be inherited by the closest male relative, a cousin who, gasp, isn’t even an aristocrat. Just the opposite - he’s a lawyer. Meanwhile, below the staircase, the goings on are just as complicated and just as entertaining.

But all is not lost. You can buy a DVD of the series through PBS for $34.95. It will be money well spent.<<<

Perhaps Pantheism really is the way of the spiritual world and somewhere up there dwells the god of sync. How else can the following be explained? When I buy a book for my Kindle it also appears on my iMac and iPhone. No big deal. But here’s the strange part, where the god of sync comes in. I am reading the book on my Kindle. I stop and go to my iMac. As long as my Kindle 3g is turned on, the book opens up on my iMac at the exact place I left off on my Kindle. Same thing on my iPhone. If there is no synchronization god somewhere up in the clouds, then it’s magic. And I do not believe in magic.<<<

The Social Network v The King’s Speech – I thought that this week I would be a little different and actually see a film I was comparing to The Social Network as the year’s best. The King’s Speech was very good, Academy Award nomination good, but it is not as good as The Social Network. TKS is very Hollywood simple. It tells a little story, jazzed up a bit with warm fuzzies, and tells it very well. The acting is excellent, both Firth and Rush give AA-deserving performances, but I think Rush will lose out to Christian Bale. Helen Bonham Carter, freed from being the evil witch in Harry Potter, is also very good. But The Social Network is deeper, more complex and more ambiguous. If The King’s Speech beats it out for top honors, it will be one more in a long line of Hollywood injustices.<<<

Sometimes the short answer is the best one. The time was 1973, the place, St. Louis. The UCLA Bruins were trying to win their 7^th straight national basketball championship, their 9^th in 10 years. All-American center, Bill Walton was making every shot (21-22 for the game). In the huddle during a second-half time out, guard Greg Lee asked Coach Wooden, “Should we try something else, coach”? Wooden’s answer – “Why?”<<<

Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor, in a recent law school speech, said that she received some excellent advice from Justice Souter when she came to the court. He told her “The key to a pleasant life on the court is to realize that every justice is acting in good faith.”

Nice advice from a good man and a fine justice, but even Souter couldn’t assign good faith to the five Robes who completely politicized the court in Bush v Gore. As you recall, his reaction was both despairing and caustic.<<<

Not that he cares, but I am disappointed in Pat Haden. For a man who said he would make USC squeaky clean, he allowed the football team to crawl through a large NCAA loophole and recruit twice as many players as their sanctions seemingly would have permitted.<<<

An interesting CNN poll last week showed that Americans hate winter, but are evenly divided on their favorite among the other 3 seasons:

Fall 33%

Spring 32%

Summer 29%

Winter 6%

That is a tough vote for me too. I love summer – shorts and warm, but fall would beat it out by the smallest of margins. Spring is a strong third. And, yes, winter is far behind.<<<

According to Sporting News Daily there was an interesting basketball match-up last Wednesday. They wrote: “# 17 Syracuse will play # 6 Syracuse at 7pm EST.” They go on to say “Syracuse leads the series 50-34.” I should think so.<<<

One of my favorite books of recent years is When will There Be Good News?, by English writer Kate Atkinson. It is a crime story and very much more. Atkinson weaves a fascinating tapestry of characters and stories that turn out to be interconnected and lead to a satisfying conclusion. I mention this for two reasons. I am reading, on my Kindle of course, one of her earlier novels, One Good Turn, which is also quite wonderful. And she has a new book, Started Early, Took My Dog, that is coming out in March. If you are looking for a good read, I urge you to buy it and try it. (Or, if you have a Kindle, try it and buy it.)<<<

What Glen Beck is really thinking about Egypt: “Make no mistake about it. I believe in democracy just so long as they vote the Right way.”<<<

I like the old Roman calendar. 12 30 days months – then use the other 5 or 6 days as carnival time – perhaps an extended 4^th of July.<<<

Two notes from the Valley’s past:

July 2, 1920: Roy C. Seeley Co. shops for land to build an aircraft plant in the Valley. A second officer is added to the Van Nuys police force.

July 20, 1928: Irate golfers storm the Van Nuys police station after police arrest all 12 caddies at the Lakeside Country Club for shooting dice.<<<

NY Times report – “This winter’s bad weather slows job growth.”

Republican reaction – “We told you that Obamacare would have a disastrous effect on this great nation’s weather.<<<

PAC-10 note – If you can name a coach in the country who gets more out of his players than Mike Montgomery, please e-mail his name to me.

PAC-10 note # 2 – If you can name more immature fans in the country than Bruin basketball fans, please e-mail me. Their hatred of Steve Lavin is off the wall and off the charts. From all indications, Lavin is a good and decent man who got in over his head as UCLA coach and eventually was fired. Let it go!

PAC-10 note # 3 – In the matter of the Wildcats and Bruins: I have written that the Cats are made up of Williams and the 4 mediocres. That seems no longer the case. Now they seem to be Williams and a solid supporting cast. It is no accident that they lead the PAC.

As for the Bruins, if they can cut back on turnovers and get the ball to Smith more, they seem good enough to challenge the Cats.<<<