Nobody 873

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Nobody # 873

Nobody Asked Me But:

(With an apology to Ernest Thayer for messing with his classic, “Casey At The Bat”)

And now Bud Selig has the ball

And now he lets it zing

And not a ripple fans the breeze

At Frankie’s feeble swing

Ah, somewhere in this smog-filled place

Sweet Jamie feels regret

And somewhere Frankie’s lawyers

Get their billing vouchers set

And somewhere Frankie’s fleeing friends

Are overcome with doubt,

But there is much joy in Dodgertown

Frank McCourt has struck out

And now on with THE WEEK THAT WAS

Illegal’s started this fire, and I’m not a liar,

I have evidence says Senator McCain

No, it’s nowhere on paper

The proof of this caper

Is hidden right here in my brain

Georgia’s new law is not without flaw

Their attempt at an immigrant solution

Like ‘zona’s fiction

They claim jurisdiction

Can none read the Constitution

Bristol’s lament about that night in the tent

When the guy stole her sweet purity

Said, had he once or twice

Asked me real nice

I would have given it to him for free

Chris Wallace of Fox, was knocked out of his sox

When Jon Stewart he did debate

Stewart, the joker,

Showed up mediocre

As newsy, at best, second rate

What makes Jon great is not up for debate

What puts him on top of the game

He is the sleuth

Who proclaims the truth

That politics and jokes are the same

It’s Liechtenstein’s way to accept people gay

And allow them to marry their choice

But here in the States

As gay freedom awaits

The Far Right still speaks with loud voice

Palin’s so slick in this whitewashing flick

That it puts a fair mind out of sorts

Does this Bannon guy

Think the public will buy

A film of her life with no warts

Jon Huntsman showed class, the Pres won’t bash

The guy’s not a bottom feeder

Said the choice is not for

Who loves country more

But who will be better as leader

Japan’s new computer, a cool trouble-shooter

Its speed is faster than fast

When put to the test

Against China’s best

Shows the Sino one’s only half-fast

McCourt “The Bold,” says if Dodgers are sold

It will only be part of the plot

Give another the team

It won’t bother my scheme

I’m still King of the Parking Lot

Keith Olbermann’s back, and on the attack

No bad guys he wants going free

But if slightly less strident

When he waves his trident

More effective he might actually be

It’s retrospect, but what the heck

Sometimes hindsight is great

The U.S. plan

To get out of Afghan

Is about 7 or 8 years late

Thirty percent won’t pay the rent

On the White House for President B.

Most voters unhappy

Say everyone’s crappy

From the polling place they are ready to flee

EVERYTHING LAKERS

That Jim Buss is running the Lakers is stunning

He seems much less owner than clown

I’m telling you,

The guy has no clue

He is running the Lakers far down

He’d rather die than trade the big guy

Andrew’s his one claim to fame

Too bad his dad

Didn’t teach Jimmy lad

That winning’s the name of the game

Magic said “blow up,” Mitch Kupchek says “grow up”

Your comment the Lakers won’t hear

Yes, they played without grace

Even stunk up the place

But we hope they’ll be better next year

If the Lakers stand pat, stay right where they’re at

Then my affection’s a thing of the past

If Kup makes no trade

Then F is his grade

And I hope that they finish dead last

In five days we will have finished another half-year, which means it is time for me to list my best/favorite books to this point in 2011.

The best book I have read since January 1, is Tana French’s Irish novel, Faithful Place. When I reviewed it earlier, I called it the Irish Mystic River. I wrote then that this was high praise. It still is.

Second on my list is, interestingly enough, another Irish crime novel, the recently finished Collusion, by Stuart Neville. (Reviewed in Nobody 872.)

Third on my list is Ken Follett’s history epic, Fall of Giants. Giants, the first of a trilogy, is not a great book, but it is a greatly entertaining one.

Special mention goes to a book I finished last week, Sisters, by British debut author Rosamund Lupton. It is a gripping story about a sister who returns to England, determined to prove that her sister was murdered, rather than a suicide as the police and everyone else have proclaimed.

NPR recently conducted a poll on people’s all-time favorite mystery/thriller books. They ended with a top 100 list. Here are the top 10, with a few of my comments.

1. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

3. Kiss The Girls by James Patterson

4. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

5. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

6. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

7. The Shining by Stephen King

8. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

9. The Hunt For The Red October by Tom Clancy

10. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I think a legitimate case can be made for numbers 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10. I am not saying they belong this high or that I would put all of them here, but neither are they glaringly out of place. That category is reserved for Da Vinci, which, in my opinion, belongs more on a list of the worst bestsellers of all time. Kiss The Girls is probably the best of the Patterson books but that is not a badge of merit. October is a good book, but not this good. Dragon Tattoo is even better but not quite top 10. Or is it?

Next week, my top 10 - I know that all of you can hardly wait.

Pictures - the first is, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge from a different perspective. The second is a sign on a dressing room door in the Napa Valley town of Sr. Helena.