Archive for March, 2016

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Obit watch: March 30, 2016.

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016

Lester C. Thurow, noted economist.

Mr. Thurow was often prone to sweeping declarations about the economy, using metaphors and easily digestible analyses to convey his point. That made him a target of criticism from other economists, notably Paul Krugman, who is now a New York Times columnist, who argued that much of what he said was overly simplistic.

You know, when Paul Krugman is attacking you, you’ve probably done something right…

I was one year old when “The Patty Duke Show” went off the air. My mother says she can still sing the theme song (but won’t).

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the 1962 “Miracle Worker”: I want to say that we saw the 1979 version in school (with Half-Pint as Hellen and Patty Duke as Anne Sullivan) but that could be a memory implanted by aliens. In any case, if I did see it, I don’t remember it well.

The two things that I associate most with Patty Duke were her “Night Gallery” episode (which I’ve touched on before) and “Thanks for the Honeymoon” from the good “Hawaii 5-0”. (She was also in an episode of the bad “Hawaii 5-0”.) As I noted, I thought she was kind of strident and one note in both of those, but I also think those may have been directorial choices.

Reading over the obits, there was a lot I never know, like the fact that she was married to John “Gomez” Astin. It sounds like she went through a great deal of hardship and pain, but emerged on the other side a stronger and better person, who found some relative peace late in life.

NYT. LAT. WP.

And this is a nice essay from Kenneth Turan, LAT film critic and co-author of Call Me Anna.

Posted in 1970s, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

What is the name of this play?

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016

No, seriously. What is the name of this play?

Posted in Clippings, Media, Theatre | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 28, 2016.

Monday, March 28th, 2016

Mother Mary Angelica, founder of the Eternal Word Television Network.

Jim Harrison. I feel kind of bad about saying this, but: I bought a copy of The Raw and the Cooked, mostly because it gets a lot of praise from various food writers that I like. I’ve tried to read it, and found that it’s about 50% really good food and outdoor writing…and about 50% pretentious twaddle.

Posted in Books, Food, Obits, Religion, TV | Comments Closed

Awful damn lot of dust in the air this morning…

Friday, March 25th, 2016

Depression lied to my sister, told her that she was worthless. A burden. Unlovable. Undeserving of life. I imagine these lies were like a kind of permanent white noise in her life — a running narration of how unworthy she was. After years of the lies and the torment, my sister believed that depression told her the truth. In the notes she left for my parents and me, Aletha wrote, “don’t feel sad, I’m not worth it.”
She was so wrong. Depression lies. I have to tell the truth.

The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 25, 2016.

Friday, March 25th, 2016

Garry Shandling. NYT. A/V Club.LAT.

Earl Hamner Jr. I knew he was responsible for “The Waltons”, but I wasn’t aware that he also did “Falcon Crest”, and I don’t think I knew he’d written “Twilight Zone” episodes.

He also wrote the 1968 TV adaptation of “Heidi,” which infuriated football fans when NBC began airing the children’s classic by cutting off the final one minute and 15 seconds of a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game in which the Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final 75 seconds.

Did you think I was going to pass up a chance to work in a Heidi Bowl reference?

Posted in 1970s, Books, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Interesting times (part 2).

Thursday, March 24th, 2016

Great and good friend of the blog RoadRich is taking the CPA class with me. Actually, the whole thing was his idea, so now you know who to blame for the blog posts.

And as far as blaming people for blog posts, he also sent a thoughtful reply to the use of force post. I liked it enough that I asked him for permission to use it here, which he granted. What follows after the jump are his comments, with a few personal asides edited out.

(more…)

Posted in Austin, Cops, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Obit followup.

Thursday, March 24th, 2016

Lawrence forwarded an obit for Rob Ford from National Review.

I think it’s worth reading, though I may be showing my bias here.

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Politics | Comments Closed

Interesting times (part 1).

Thursday, March 24th, 2016

Earlier this week, I wrote about the Austin Police Department, use of force policies, and the officer who was fired for shooting a naked unarmed 17-year old male.

I have two followups to that.

Austin has an organization called the Office of the Police Monitor. This is an organization independent of the APD; the basic idea is that they serve as a civilian oversight organization for the police. They’re the ones who issued that report on stops and searches I touched on a while back.

Part of what they do is monitor Internal Affairs investigations, and make recommendations as they see fit. You might correctly guess that they were involved in the shooting investigation.

The Stateman published a story late yesterday afternoon about one of the OPM’s recommendations as a result of this incident: they want a trainer at the police academy reassigned.

Yes, a trainer. Why? I’m going to put a break here because this is running long…

(more…)

Posted in Austin, Cops, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 24, 2016.

Thursday, March 24th, 2016

Ken “The White Shadow” Howard. A/V Club.

I had completely forgotten he was Jordan’s father in “Crossing Jordan”, and didn’t know that gig only lasted two seasons. Then again, I checked out of “Crossing Jordan” after the first season: my fondness for Jill Hennessy couldn’t overcome the stupidity of the show.

Joe Garagiola. I think everyone of my age remembers him from television, but I’m too young to remember his baseball career, such as it was:

“Senator, how can you tamper with a .250 hitter?” Garagiola said.

And that wasn’t intended as a cheap shot: he was amazingly self-deprecating.

“Each year I don’t play, I get better,” he once observed. “The first year on the banquet trail, I was a former ballplayer, the second year I was great, the third year one of baseball’s stars, and just last year I was introduced as one of baseball’s immortals. The older I get, the more I realize that the worst break I had was playing.”

Posted in 1970s, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Random notes: March 23, 2016.

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016

Let’s play a little game: fill in the blank in this headline. (No fair peeking.)

New York Police Increase Patrols Around 20 Clubs to Combat [Blank] Violence

Did you say “gun”? Bzzzzzt! Sorry. Understandable, but wrong. We were looking for “knife”. “Knife”.

Police officials said on Tuesday that they would increase enforcement around 20 bars and clubs in New York City with a disproportionate share of the stabbings and slashings that have resulted in a surge in knife violence this year.

I just like pointing out the use of “knife violence” here.

And speaking of things I just want to point out:

The plan called for establishing a site where people could legally shoot heroin — something that does not exist anywhere in the United States.

“There’s never been a paper bag for drugs…until now.”

Sourdough starter!

Some people name their starters: William Butler Yeast, Herman, Sarah, Sky Pilot, Ms. Tippity, Eleanor, Roxanne.

I have to admit, “William Butler Yeast” is clever.

The latest additions to the National Recording Registry came out today.

A few random notes:

  • You can find the W.H. Stepp version of “Bonaparte’s Retreat” on YouTube if you want to compare and contrast to Copland.
  • I rather like the note on Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, putting it into the context of 1938.
  • I want to hear those two “Destination Freedom” episodes. I haven’t had a chance to go looking for them yet.
  • Dixie McCall for the win!
  • Yeah, I can accept both versions of “Mack the Knife”. You know who did a really good version of that song? Sting, believe it or not, with Dominc Muldowney on the Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill album, which does not appear to be available digitally.
  • As everyone knows, I am not a basketball fan, but I do acknowledge the significance of Wilt Chamberlain.
  • Damn, “Mama Tried” is a great song.
  • I have to agree Carlin belongs on this list, if for no other reason than the legal significance of the “Seven Dirty Words” routine.
  • “I Will Survive” is a good song, but I prefer the Cake version. (I also prefer girls with a short skirt and a long jacket.)
  • One of my coworkers and I have been joking back and forth about how metal I am. This is how metal I am: I’ve never heard “Master of Puppets”. Perhaps I need to fix that.

Posted in Bread, Cops, Food, Knives, Law, Music, NYPD | 1 Comment »

More obit watch.

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016

Rob Ford, controversial former mayor of Toronto.

I think there are a lot of jokes that people will be making in the coming days, but this actually kind of saddens me. 46 is too young for anyone to die. And he had his share of problems – whether they were his own or invented by Gawker – but I hope he finds the peace in death that seemingly eluded him in life.

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Politics | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 22, 2016.

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016

There’s a nice tribute in today’s WP to Bob Ebeling, who died on Monday. You may not recognize the name:

In the days before the space shuttle Challenger burned up in mid-air, killing all seven astronauts on board, Ebeling and four other engineers had pleaded with NASA to delay the launch. They had concerns about whether the rubber o-rings on the shuttle’s booster rockets would seal properly in the frigid winter weather. Ebeling even authored an alarmed memo detailing the problems with the rings. Its subject line read, bluntly, “Help!”

For the historical record: Andrew S. Grove.

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Obits | Comments Closed

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