Handbill Handout

What, you were expecting Carl Palladino?  That guy's nuts!  Go Jimmy !

We lost one of the great unsung heroes of America in the 20th century last week. So unsung in fact that he doesn’t even merit a Wikipedia entry which here in 21st century America indicates that you are a true nobody. Hell, I didn’t even know who he was until I read his obituary. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you fictitious regular readers out there that I am a dedicated reader of the New York Times obituaries. Not that I read them all start to finish of course; but I generally read the first few paragraphs of most of them to see why each person merited inclusion in this most lofty of American obituary sections. What I’ve found of course is that there isn’t a fixed criterion for this particular hall of fame. In fact I’ve read entire obituaries without figuring out why the hell the person was there. In any event, sometimes it pays off with a satori, a glimpse of reality, a full expression of the truth of our lives today. The obituary I’m about to talk about is one such revel...

You gotta love the Facebook parodies

I am on a downtown-bound R train in rush hour when a black gentleman boards at 42nd street. He is carrying a plastic cup of beer. It's exactly the sort of plastic cup of beer you buy at ballgames, probably a 16 ouncer. I have no earthly idea where he got such a thing anywhere near the 42nd street subway station nor how he was walking around with it without being hassled by the cops but I have learned not to ask questions or dwell on such matters. Just go with the flow. This is New York, after all, and maybe it's a good sign. I've always thought the open container enforcement in this town was ridiculous. If you're not creating a disturbance or endangering others who cares what's in that container in your hand? Hell, a hot cup of coffee or tea is more immediately dangerous to you and those around you but that's perfectly legal. Anyway this guy gets on the train and sits down. He puts the beer between his feet on the floor. And he begins to opine. "Yeah, fuck ...

Coach Ray posted an interesting (albeit brief) piece on the Great Chimpanzee Cartoon Controversy making an analogy to the caricatures of Dubya. The point is well taken, though there is a certain amount of racial baggage associated with portraying a black person in a simian fashion. I posted a comment over there but then on further reflection I realized we both missed the point. The point is the NY Post and Al Sharpton need each other. Badly. The Post needs to create controversy to survive. It is certainly not known for serious journalism. What it is known for is sensationalism and populism, and the fact that many folks who are seemingly anti-populist are running to the paper’s defense is ironic, isn’t it? Well, if you’re going to stake your claim on that turf, you’d better have content providers who are willing to create controversy but even more importantly you need a constituency that will respond to said controversial content. Enter Reverend Al. The Post provides the controver...

As my bus eased through the gray morning I was struck by the amount of abandoned commercial real estate we passed. A bakery, a few bagel shops, car dealerships and a corner grocery store that were all in business a few months ago were all closed. The grocery store had been razed, its parking lot dug up leaving a muddy lot in its place. It worries me. It worries me because I have my suspicions about what will happen next if businesses do not fill these storefronts. The structures begin to rot and sag, vandals break in to party and eventually either fires are set or human scum use the structures as bases of operation for petty crimes, muggings or even more serious offenses like kidnapping and rape. Or maybe I’m just paranoid. Or maybe the book I’m reading about the crime and porn-ridden world of Times Square in the 1970s and early 1980s is skewing my judgment. I do think there’s a real possibility that the Great Depression II can return New York to that “Fun City” era of crime and c...

Coach Ray is always saying "Follow the money". Well, now we can all follow the money... with music!

So said the ticker on the outside of the News Corporation building as I crossed Sixth Avenue. “That sums it up, doesn ’t it?” I thought as I angled toward my place of work. Since today's Big Event is in Washington I hope that referred to the capacity of the devices as well as the volume. Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen. Today is our quadrennial celebration of our American self. The day when we Americans congratulate ourselves on the non-violent change of executive power. Why, it’s been almost half a century since the last time we switched leaders via someone having a cap busted in their head! Hey, maybe that’s a sign they should put outside of Washington: “(Blank) days since our last violent transfer of power.” Kinda like those (blank) days since the last accident signs they used to have in factories to encourage safety. So yes, today is a big deal. For the first time in anyone’s life, the chief executive of a nation originally founded to guarantee the freedoms of white m...

Just saw this item in a sports business trade newsletter: "Golf Digest has released its ranking of the Top 15 golfing presidents with President-elect Barack Obama occupying the 8 th spot, between Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. The top-five golfing presidents, as determined by their handicap index, were John Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Franklin Roosevelt and George H.W. Bush (Golf Digest)." That's a terrible joke to make about FDR. Golf Digest, shame on you.

Please consider this . Phillies fans should pay close attention to the second spot in particular.

There is a certain cynical part of my brain that says the recent defections of conservative columnists and Colin Powell to the Obama camp is based on the realization that the country is screwed for at least the next few years. The strategy? "Let's put the other party in charge so whatever happens next is hung on their neck and we can breeze back in as saviors four years hence." Never mind the positive revenue impact on the conservative press which will have a ratings/circulation/web site viewing windfall as like-minded folk gather to fulminate at the perceived horrors of a Democratic administration. Note that this has nothing to do with my own political inclinations (or stock holdings, such as they are) but rather my opinion of how humans behave when power is at stake or when a contest is underway. The World Series will get underway Wednesday in Tampa in front of what could be an interesting crowd. Most Rays fans were, in all likelihood, Yankees fans until about a month a...

I walked into the elevator lobby and a sound not entirely unlike thunder or maybe a hundred bowling balls falling out of a closet boomed over my head. I looked over at the office services guy who was waiting for the elevator and said “What the hell was that?” “Financial firm upstairs. They’re gone. Taking all their stuff out today. Wheeling it out in those big hampers.” So it continues. I walked across Times Square and looked up at the Lehman Brothers building and saw that the video of waterfalls and sunsets and other stuff that is kind of like the stuff that they put on airline television screens during boarding interspersed with the Lehman logo and whatever their slogan was gone. In its place was a static, bright blue plain screen with the Barclays logo. I looked at the reflection on the building across the street and wondered how the people who worked there felt about the constant, static blue light burning at them all day instead of the old video. At my corner there’s a card store...

Go here and see what your name would be if you were Sarah Palin's offspring. Feel free to post'em in the comments. Fun for the whole family! I'm Mole Valdez Palin, thank you very much.

Thai politics, actually. Seems that the prime minster of Thailand has finally stepped down after weeks of protests and a takeover of his compound. Supposedly none of those things forced him out. What did him in? Paid guest appearances on a cooking show that he used to host prior to becoming prime minister. It seems that in Thailand it's a constitutional violation to do such a thing when you're the PM. Now I wonder how long it'll be before some TV or radio host comes up with "Boy, don't you wish we had a rule like that in the US and (insert name of hated political office-holder) had been a guest judge on Iron Chef?" Man I could make some dough punching up material for those guys. Back to ex-PM Sundaravej : What recipes did he demo? Or was he just a taster? What food did in a political career? Maybe someone will post clips on somewhere out there on the vast interwebs . Maybe I'll be motivated to go searching for them. Or maybe not. Screw it, onc...

Today’s story is about America’s favorite reality show: the Presidential election. I have been chastised by a regular reader of this site for not engaging in political discussion so I’ve decided to put my cards on the table, lay it all on the line and throw my hands in the air like I just don’t care and let my freak flag fly. Here are my carefully considered thoughts on the candidates: Barack Obama: It’s nice to see the Democrats honoring the long legacy of the Kennedy clan by nominating an Irishman for the Oval Office. Having him accept the nomination on a stage lifted from Leonard’s of Great Neck was also inspiring, though I was disappointed that he didn’t come up out of the floor with lasers flashing and techno music thumping to introduce “Invesco Field at Mile High’s World Famous Viennese Hour Dessert Bar” while ladling out flaming bowls of Baked Alaska. Although the content of the speech was not particularly memorable, Barry Obama (as his friends know him – his evil right-wing ene...