30 manhole covers have gone missing in NYC. Authorities assume they are being sold as scrap metal. Some weigh as much as 300 pounds, which would yield $30. Given what some potholes will do to a car, imagine what driving over an open manhole will do. This is not a good trend.
According to a report on the Mother Nature Network, vegetarians have a 39% greater risk of colorectal cancer than meat eaters. This falls into the category of "It's always something." The overall cancer rate of vegetarians is lower, however. The report suggests people become Flexitarians, that is, eat meat occasionally. I pretty much fall into this category. I don't eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. I prefer soup, pasta and cereal. I have pizza, two slices, once a week, ditto hot dog buns from the Chinese bakery. I had a yen for a small cup of ice cream this morning at the supermarket - and passed. The last time I had trail mix, a month ago, my hemorrhoids were howling. Getting older is not fun.
Mother Nature cooperated with the floating bookshop today. An older gentleman got me off to an immediate good start, purchasing four DVDs, a great deal. Amongst them were an Errol Flynn set of five that included Objective Burma (1945), and Reunion in France, released on Christmas Day in 1942, starring John Wayne and Joan Crawford, a film I did not know, rated 6.1 out of ten at IMDb. Even the 84-year-old veteran,...
Last night I watched another of the music videotapes I made, this one from the mid '90's. What variety. even Ed Sullivan might have been envious. Three of the songs were from a Gary Moore concert done in a small venue or studio. He does a great duet with BB King and, of course, the monumental Still Get the Blues For You, on which he reaches into the depths of his soul and delivers a passion that can only be matched, not surpassed. Every time I hear it I get misty and think: Wow, he really loved that girl. I wonder if she returned the feeling. Also on the tape were two disparate performances from Neil Young, creating mayhem with the young guys of Pearl Jam on Rockin' in the Free World, and doing haunting acoustic solo work on War of Man. He is a fascinating artist. I captured Blind Melon doing the wacky No Rain on SNL, on which lead guitarist Roger Stevens plays wonderfully. Vocalist Shannon Hood died of a cocaine overdose in 1995. That track was followed by Concrete Blonde doing the beautiful Mexican Moon on Letterman. It is tighter and even better than the album version, and the clip is available on youtube. Robert Plant, Bon Jovi, Pete Townsend, George Thoroughgood, Joe Cocker, Santana, Iggy Pop, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, in a comeback attempt with his great back up band The Attractions, and Sonic Youth, whose abstract song seemed to baffle the Letterman audience, are also on...
When an author titles a book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000) he'd better deliver. Dave Eggers did so. I just finished his critically acclaimed memoir depicting the tragedies he endured while in his mid 20's, and the responsibility they engendered. Most of the narrative takes place within his mind. The reader sees the good, bad and ugly. He captures the quiet desperation Thoreau so aptly described, although in Eggers' case it seems very loud. His brain is hyperactive. Although his experiences and tastes are so different than mine, I felt a kinship, although his worst thoughts are not nearly as base as mine have been, and his IQ is probably much higher than mine. He captures the tortured soul trying to make sense of life and death. At time it is a bit tedious, over-written, but it works itself back to points of interest that are poignant, justifying the title. And there is considerable humor to help the reader through the overall despair, just as there is in real life. Thoreau's full quote is: "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them." Eggers will not be taking the song into the afterlife. He lets it all hang out. On a scale of five, I rate AHWOSG three-and-a-half.
I am leery of online banking, fearful of identity theft or the loss of my savings. In today's New York Post, financial columnist John Crudele wrote of a recent scary experience. While...
My reaction when I saw that another Planet of the Apes films had been issued was skepticism, derision. When I noted the positive reviews for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I was still not convinced. I reluctantly added it to my Netflix list. I'm glad I did. Despite its outrageous storyline and the one-dimensional portrayal of many of the human characters, the film was riveting and exciting. It is not at all like its early predecessors in the series. I did not see the most recent remake of the original. The plot is fresh.The original was fun, but silly and unconvincing. Rise... is deadly serious, and the cast and crew really sell it. James Franco must be given credit for starring in a movie where he must have known he would play second banana to monkeys. John Lithgow and Brian Cox lend their usual solid support. But the real star is the remarkable Andy Serkis, the man behind the chimp, Caesar, whose stare, the smoldering rage behind it, is frightening. Serkis also portrayed Gollum in the Lord of the Rings series and King Kong, and he made an uncredited appearance on my favorite TV show, MI5, during season three. The folks at IMDb rated Rise... 7.7 out of ten. On a scale of five, I rate it four. Kudos to director Rupert Wyatt in only his second stint at the helm, and screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The production crew constituted an army and did a wonderful job....
My favorite part of the NFL draft is seeing which player is selected last, dubbed Mr. Irrelevant by the press. This year there were 253 picks, and the honor of last man standing went to Chandler Harnish, a QB out of Northern Illinois. He should not fret. Two recent Mr. I's have done well in pro ball. David Vobora has played four years for two different teams, mostly as a member of special teams, and Ryan Succop has been the Chiefs' field goal kicker, making an impressive 81% of his attempts. I guess I relate to them so well because I'm close to being the Mr. Irrelevant of writers.
I reached a milestone of sorts today. I've always been intrigued by stats. Each year I eagerly awaited for my buddy Bags to finish reading his copy of Bill James' late, lamented Baseball Abstract. I was and am still a believer in Sabermetrics, although it is not perfect, of course. I would record my personal softball statistics, although there were times I wished I hadn't, so embarrassing were they. I'd record those of the teams I managed too. I keep close track of book sales, both in overall dollar value and the number of copies sold of my own books. Carmine, a gregarious senior citizen, happened by the floating book shop for the first time in a while today. He was thrilled that I had a new book available, and bought Killing. It was the 600th copy of my four books that...
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