Archive for March 16th, 2021

Art (Acevedo), damn it! watch. (#AF of a series)

Tuesday, March 16th, 2021

I’m a little behind on this, but I have to note it here anyway: after a little more than four years on the job, Art Acevedo is leaving as chief of the Houston PD…

…to take over as chief of the Miami PD.

(“The Tom Brady of police chiefs”? Fark that.)

My personal feeling? He decided to leave town before he got run out on a rail behind the narcotics scandal. But that’s just my opinion: I could be wrong.

More interesting question that someone asked me last night: could Flint Ironstag Brian Manley be headed to Houston?

Well, it is close to home, and it is a larger department, and he does have a proven track record, and it seems Houston is slightly more reasonable (and less hostile to the police) than the current Austin city council. But: 30 years in at APD, 97+% of his salary in retirement…what incentive does he have to take another police job in the current environment?

Other than the challenge, I guess.

Edited to add 3/17: Ha!

Farewell to Art Acevedo, the LeBron James of performative self-promotion

Posted in Cops, Law | 4 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 350

Tuesday, March 16th, 2021

I got dragged into a meeting that took a lot longer than I expected. Which means I’m starting my lunch a lot later than I expected. Which means I’m queuing up this post a lot later than I expected. Which means a handful of random today.

First off, you know I had to include this, even if it does draw a little too much on random gun crankery: Lena Miculek shoots her mom’s “Space Gun”. Which is actually a custom Remington XP-100 chambered in 6mm BR.

Bonus: here’s something for Lawrence, and for other “Simpsons” fans: “Worker and Parasite” exists. No, really. And I’m not talking about this:

This is something called “The Millionaire”, an animated Soviet propaganda cartoon.

What the Hell was that?

Bonus #2: “Inside The F1 Medical Car”. This is fairly recent, and also fairly short.

Bonus #3: I’m not a real big car guy, but I found this video weirdly compelling. I think there’s actually something compelling in general (well, at least for me, but it seems like I hear this from other folks, too) about watching people do teardowns. In this case, the presenter is tearing down a Corvette LS7 engine that is totally locked up: it won’t even turn. But why?

Bonus #4: “C’est un Nagra. C’est suisse, et tres, tres precis.”

Posted in Cars, Guns, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 16, 2021.

Tuesday, March 16th, 2021

Yaphet Kotto.

Man, what a career. “Alien”, “Live and Let Die”, “Raid on Entebbe” (he was Idi Amin), and tons of TV work. Including the good “Hawaii 5-0″…

…and “Mannix” (“Death in a Minor Key”, season 2, episode 18. He plays a jazz musician who is dating Peggy, and gets arrested and extradited to a Southern town. Mannix goes down to help him out. We watched this episode recently, and while I haven’t seen all of “Mannix”, I think I’d put this one in the top ten. Without going into spoilers, it goes in some surprising directions.)

…and, of course, one of my favorite roles: Lt. Al Giardello on “Homicide: Life on the Street”. (He also crossed over to “Law and Order”. And he made an unaccredited appearance on “The Wire” as a different character.)

Thing I did not know: that there were two TV movies based on Edna Buchanan’s true crime books (affiliate link), in which he apparently has a starring role.

I hear good things about “Badge of the Assassin”, a TV movie that you can find (for the moment) on the ‘Tube, in which he co-stars with Jimmy Woods.

Edited to add: NYT obit, which was not up when I originally posted.

Posted in 1970s, Mannix, Movies, Obits, TV | 2 Comments »