Up in the air.

Monday, August 17th, 2009

No no no no no I don’t want to step out on the glass carbuncle on the Sears Tower observation deck. But be my guest, dear.

Posted at 2:45 pm in iPhone |

91 responses to “Up in the air.”

Danny said on August 17, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Kate the Fearless. I’d be standing back with you and Alan, Nance.

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coozledad said on August 17, 2009 at 3:13 pm
For some reason, I’m reminded of this.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6021785/Londoners-Through-a-Lens.html?image=3
Where is that child’s Guinness?

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Danny said on August 17, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Hey, how’d you guys get in there? I read that Chicago was now closed on Monday’s due to a budget crisis.

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Danny said on August 17, 2009 at 3:16 pm
That child looks like he could be in a Guinness Stout ad. He’s husky!

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coozledad said on August 17, 2009 at 3:25 pm
You’d think an infant that big could rip right through that chicken wire. Especially if he’s jonesing for a pint.

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Kirk said on August 17, 2009 at 4:10 pm
As I recall, the elevator in the CN Tower in Toronto has a partially glass floor. I walked on it, but my wife wouldn’t.

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Tori said on August 17, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I am impressed with Kate. I don’t think I could go out there without getting the vapors.

Danny – The city of Chicago is operating under “reduced services” today. However, the (insert name here) Tower is not operated by the city, if I have my facts right.

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brian stouder said on August 17, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Very cool! I can do heights when I’m behind glass – it’s the open-air/I could fall from here/someone could push me-type precipice that I really, truly don’t like.

As much rain as we have today, I’d have guessed you’d have seen rain “falling up” there today!

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Dexter said on August 17, 2009 at 5:09 pm
OK, Coozledad…not very often does this jaded old timer type LOL !

But…LOL !! WHERE do you get this stuff on-command like that! My gawd…that’s a keeper!

It’s nice Kate had fun there at Willis Tower. I am sure if I went there I would just turn into Peggy Lee singing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VscVP_Gt_s

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moe99 said on August 17, 2009 at 5:41 pm
The Pitino scandal just gets weirder and weirder:

http://www.crescent-news.com/news/article/4648840

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KLG said on August 17, 2009 at 7:09 pm
About that baby in the wire cage: To quote my late grandmother, “JesusGodinHeaven!”

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Rana said on August 17, 2009 at 7:10 pm
*shudder* I’m not too afraid of heights, but that thing would give me the whim-whams.

ETA: VERY amused by the baby in the cage. Don’t they sell those things for cats, now?

ETA.2: Yes. Yes they do:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15736

http://www.petdoors.com/petsafe_cat_veranda.htm?gclid=CJ_Lmd7oq5wCFRghDQodqlqn7w

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 17, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I believe that’s now the “Whatyoutalkin’bout” Tower.

Kate will gain more experience with contractors and builders and supply houses over the next few years, and she too will reach a point where it will be physically impossible to walk out there, trusting your life to a handful of bolts, temperature flexibility monitors, and the last maintenance check for stress fractures on the most recent replacement plexiglas panel.

Now i’m shaking just thinking about it.

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Dexter said on August 17, 2009 at 8:34 pm
We’re always taught what a trait loyalty is, when we all know the whole world is fierce, and the only ones who rise to the top of any venture are the ones with large egos , the people who are aggressive and who care nothing for the organization but to use it as a vehicle for self-improvement .
Rick Pitino left UK , took a spot with the Boston Celtics for a hundred million dollars and cleared out as soon as the check cleared and returned to the college game.
He went to Louisville. That was the biggest cheap shot at his former employer , UK, since Leo Durocher switched from the Brooklyn Dodgers to the NY Giants. No shame, “I do whatevah I want” attitude is what it was, and it’s legal but still, it stinks.
Who could possibly be surprised that Pitino got into trouble with women? It’s always about Rick, just as it is about all egotistic assholes like him.
Where can he get the most dough? He’s there, baby. Who will give him a huge horse ranch as part of his salary package? He’s there, too. Where can he go to get some high class booty on the side? Achtung, baby…you got it. Rick Pitino is there, too. Fucking prick. Ever work for a boss like that? By gawd, I did…several of them.

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basset said on August 17, 2009 at 8:36 pm
The glass-cylinder hotel in downtown Atlanta has a mostly-glass outside elevator; I rode it once with a woman who didn’t know what she was getting into until the elevator had started moving, 70-some-odd stories to go, and spent the whole ride facing the back wall with her eyes clamped shut, making little choking noises.

Similar deal with the 360-degree see-through underwater tunnel at the Newport Aquarium across the river from Cincinnati; some poor grandma walked about halfway down it right in front of us, looked down, realized where she was, and froze.

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Deborah said on August 17, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I’m back. Seems like a lot happened while I was gone. Sorry I missed the Chicago get together and so sorry to hear about spriggy.

What a great trip we had in Finland and Sweden, we flew back out of Madrid so stayed a couple of days there too. It seems like I’ve been gone a couple of months instead of a couple of weeks.

Still, I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

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Dexter said on August 17, 2009 at 9:05 pm
musical interlude
Diana Krall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9y1vGxPVAA&NR=1&feature=fvwp

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coozledad said on August 17, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Dexter: Even the company I worked for that was deeply Mafia connected never had any characters like Pitino. I think the big payoff for them was a guaranteed income for their offspring. They were relatively sedate people, for people who would kill you if you looked at them the wrong way, and appeared uncomfortable when the CFO visited and started discussing globalization. I left before I found out if they (stuffed him in a culvert pipe?) replaced him with someone with a different corporate philosophy.

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moe99 said on August 17, 2009 at 10:25 pm
C’dad, of course the mafia connected never wanted anyone like Pitino fouling their nests. Drew too much attention to the operations. Went to school with a guy whose dad was no. 2 in the Chicago mafia. Lots of stories to tell, but first, he was the only guy at school who drove a Lincoln Continental Mark IV and he drove it from his dorm to the food service because he thought the walk was too long for his meals.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 17, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Dittoing the Chicagoland upbringing, and observing that Mobbed-up kids were attitudinally and functionally impossible to tell from CEO kids. Entitlement mentality, anxiety about being revealed as not really belonging (and over the constantly looming possibility of losing one’s status with dad losing his job overnight), and a well indoctrinated laziness cooks down into a fairly unfortunate reduction not suitable for serving to the general public.

Plus, they really all did assume that we all thought exactly the way they did, and just hypocritically hid it better.

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MaryRC said on August 17, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Jeff — remember the story of Garry Hoy? He fell to his death from a 24-story window in the TD Centre in Toronto while attempting to demonstrate how safe the window was by hurling himself at it.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 17, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I was not aware of that story, but i am now (shudder).

It’s always the second time that gets you.

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Danny said on August 18, 2009 at 1:03 am
Holy crap. The guy did it twice!?!?

from wikipedia: For his comic death, Hoy was recognized with a Darwin Award[3] in 1996.

..and he was a lawyer..

This is better than any lawyer joke I ever heard. Apologies to del, mark and moe. Well, not you, moe… 🙂

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del said on August 18, 2009 at 1:40 am
The circumstances of one’s death should never overshadow one’s life.

Too bad about the drummer from Spinal Tap, though, isn’t it?

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 18, 2009 at 8:01 am
Apparently, he did it many times, but that day, he reared back and did it twice in a row. Which is when i think of “bolts i have tightened.”

I did tighten that bolt, didn’t i? Eh, you can crack the fitting by overtightening. Let’s go to lunch, ‘kay?

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Dorothy said on August 18, 2009 at 10:53 am
My knees got all Jello-y just looking at Kate standing there. Hope you’re having a nice time in Chi-town Nancy.

And welcome back, Deborah!

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moe99 said on August 18, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Bless your heart, Danny boy.

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joodyb said on August 18, 2009 at 1:24 pm
wow. it’s mini-nance! brave heart that she is.

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paddyo' said on August 18, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Here in the West, we have this . . .

http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/

I’ve never been, and have read all manner of complaints over the past coupla years about its being a ripoff, but it’s got that nothing-but-glass-beneath-your-feet feel that, no doubt, pushes the ‘nads up into some folks’ stomachs, if not their throats.

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brian stouder said on August 18, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Forget dizzying heights; I checked out that Grand Canyon sky-walk thing, and it made my head spin. First, they don’t allow cameras! Plus – between access to the ‘points of interest’ ($41/person) and access to the skywalk itself ~~($20/person)~~ ($30/person), if a family of 5 shows up, it’s going to be a major expense.

edit: major, MAJOR expense!

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paddyo' said on August 18, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Yes, Brian, as I was saying, all manner of complaints. I haven’t seen the attendance numbers, but given the 12-14 miles of washboard dirt road to and from SkyWalk and the unpleasant surprise for unprepared tourists (no cameras allowed, and a costlier admission than Disneyland or Disney World, no “Magic Kingdom” discount packages, either), you’ve got to wonder who’d go out there but the uninformed. I guess it’s a measure of the Grand Canyon’s reputation . . . or the gullibility of uninformed travelers . . .
Or, then again, maybe it’s one way to contribute to a tiny and otherwise-poverty-plagued Indian tribe’s livelihood . . .

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Dexter said on August 18, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Off topic…but I rode my bicycle exactly 90 minutes this noon and covered exactly 18 miles. 12 mph is kinda pathetic, but the headwind coming back really slowed my pace. Not too bad for an old man one month shy of 60.

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Danny said on August 18, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Good job, Dexter.

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Dorothy said on August 18, 2009 at 3:59 pm
You rode a bike today, Dex. I did not. ’nuff said.

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paddyo' said on August 18, 2009 at 4:24 pm
You have inflated tires. I’ve had an unrepaired front flat for three weeks. ‘Nuff more said . . .

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LAMary said on August 18, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Paddy-o, doesn’t the tribe that owns that Grand Canyon thing have any casinos?

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Dexter said on August 18, 2009 at 5:09 pm
paddyo’…that’s one of my ocd s—I get a flat and it drives me nuts until I fix it, and I have a half-garage full of old bikes with knarly rims that cut into tubes and flatten tires. Oh well.
For anyone thinking of Jens Voigt, badly injured in Le Tour de France, we get this from Phil Liggett’s Tweet: “Jens Voigt can ride again in a week.”

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Danny said on August 18, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Wow. And that was quite a face plant he did in the Tour. Did they ever find out the cause? Was it bike handling (e.g. inattention to a bump) or did something break on his bike like the handle bars?

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moe99 said on August 18, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Gerry Hoy has a minor counterpart here in Washington state. An attorney named Bruce B****, who specialized in securities laws, many years ago represented a company that was manufacturing ‘cowdominiums’ and the company was doing a public offering for which he would appear at the dog and pony shows around the Pacific NW. Cowdominiums were circular and had a cement floor that inclined to the center of the room where there was a big drain. All the effluent was hosed to the drain and then picked up and recycled and processed to be used as feed for the cattle once again, because cows are notoriously inefficient processors of their feed. Bruce was promoting the safety of the ‘feed’ that was processed by the cowdominium processors and the way he would do it was to bring a baggie of the feed and break a piece off and eat it during the presentation. Never was present for any of the sales but I still see him ambling about downtown Seattle from time to time.

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LAMary said on August 18, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Here in LA we had the notorious county director of agriculture who drank malathion to demonstrate the safety of spraying it on everyone and everything to fight off mediterranean fruit flies. I don’t remember his name, but his successor’s name was Issi Siddiqui. Back when I was expecting child number one, the state started spraying us again. It didn’t seem like a good thing to be around when I was pregnant and I was vocal about that, so I used to run into Mr. Siddiqui at meetings all the time. My fellow protesters used to refer to him as Is He a Dick-y.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 18, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Sorry for hit-and-run commenting, but it’s been that kind of day — parents of juvenile offenders are gonna be the death of me, but only in the “shoot me before i have to hear the indefensible defended with a straight face one more time” kind of dying. Wanted to toss this to y’all wolves, because i’d have to say that i could vote for what this guy proposes, even if it mean voting for a Democrat! (I kid, i kid, i often vote for Dems, at least on the state/local level.)

Anyhow, it has a long and sad prologue, but is worth going through to get to the practical finale — http://is.gd/2nmua — in The Atlantic’s new issue.

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brian stouder said on August 19, 2009 at 12:10 am
Julie R Alert!! Julie R Alert!! (and anyone else in Fort Wayne)

The good stuff is coming back, at IPFW’s beautiful Auer Performance Hall within the John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center.

http://www.omnibuslectures.org/

First up is Henry Winkler and Marlee Matlin on September 17. This is another ticketed (free) event, and should be interesting… and then what should be a BARN BURNER – James Galbraith on October 14, talking about “the predator state” about macro economics, the “free market”, and national politics.

Andrew Sullivan pops in November 10, for what should be a really interesting look at National Republican party and the tension between traditional conservative politics (which he’s for) and religious ideology (which he’s not for, in national politics)

Author Jamaica Kincaid shows up February 10, talking about poetry and prose. I know nothing about her, but I have found (on C-SPAN, usually) that authors I know nothing at all about tend to be fascinating.

March 25 Neil LaBute will visit – he’s the Fort Wayne fellow who made the film In the Company of Men. In addition to being a playwright, the blurb at the IPFW sight concludes thusly: “His most recent film, Death at a Funeral, is currently in post-production and will headline Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, and Tracy Morgan.” I’m thinking he will be interesting.

And then April 8, Christopher Buckley pops in. He’s a genuine treat – a very funny author, and a sharp raconteur. I recall laughing until my eyes watered, while watching Buckley on C-SPAn recently(!), when he told an exquisitely funny story about the time, when he was a speechwriter for then-Vice President George HW Bush, and he put the name “Thucydides” into a statement that the VP made to a quickly assembled, news-driven press conference (in response to some breaking event)….and the horrible moment when the Vice president came to that name and tripped over it horribly, and struggled mightily to say it, and all the while the young speechwriter stood in the back of the room sweating bullets, and then getting dressed down by an admiral! And of course, when Chris recalls his father, and his sometimes painfully awkward, youthful clashes with him.

I intend to attend every single one of these events, and indeed, I think I’m most looking forward to the Buckley one.

See ya there!!

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Jolene said on August 19, 2009 at 12:26 am
Sounds like a great series, Brian.

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coozledad said on August 19, 2009 at 12:30 am
Pretty good take:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdMp7C8T-ts

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basset said on August 19, 2009 at 12:36 am
“Thucydides?” Sure showed us what a clever boy he is, didn’t he?

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coozledad said on August 19, 2009 at 1:06 am
Asskicking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DtisBGB5A&feature=fvw

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Dexter said on August 19, 2009 at 1:12 am
Danny—it was dry and Voigt simply rode over a white painted line and skidded and crashed. That tiny slash of hardened slick paint did him in. He was unconscious for four minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-payruR2-k

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alex said on August 19, 2009 at 6:59 am
I see no one here seems to be in mourning for Robert Novak. As a former Sun-Times reader, I used to find myself so mad I could spit nails at his hystrionics and BS, which I’m sure were the template for today’s AM and cable lip-flappers.

The Omnibus lecture series sounds good this year, Brian. Didn’t make it to any lectures in the last year and regretted missing a few of them.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 19, 2009 at 7:54 am
To speed up your sense of being old — really, really old — http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2013.php

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beb said on August 19, 2009 at 7:54 am
When ones first response to the news of someone’s death is “good” it’s best not to blog about it, so I’ve kept quiet.

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coozledad said on August 19, 2009 at 8:06 am
More putdowns like this, please:
http://www.youtube.com/v/nYlZiWK2Iy8

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Julie Robinson said on August 19, 2009 at 8:34 am
Thanks, Brian, for the heads-up. I took the day off yesterday to celebrate (drumroll, please) our 30th wedding anniversary! Life is good.

Christopher Buckley writes a good fiction novel, but I confess I haven’t read much else by him. Politics are tiring me.

By the way, if you like Auer Hall, stop by for one of the musical performances. IPFW has a truly amazing music department and we’ve never been disappointed. And at $5 you can’t beat the price.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 19, 2009 at 8:43 am
Hearty congratulations (hoists coffee mug) — here’s to 30 more (drinks deeply).

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brian stouder said on August 19, 2009 at 8:45 am
Julie – we caught the Fort Wayne Philharmonic there last year, and it was so good that even our then-4 year old was enthralled.

Next week our local member of congress will hold a ‘townhall’ in that venue; I may just see if I can get in

edit: oh, and here’s joining Jeff’s toast to you and yours, Julie! (I have a funny ‘married’ story which occurred the other day, but we’ll skip that for now)

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coozledad said on August 19, 2009 at 9:17 am
Libertarians: As inept at business as they are at interpersonal relations!
http://openleft.com/diary/14684/whole-foods-under-financial-pressure

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 19, 2009 at 9:54 am
Beware of consistent conservatives — you never know what we’re capable of.

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Sue said on August 19, 2009 at 11:31 am
Back from Vacay. Glen Lake was beautiful as usual, souvenir shopping was disappointing. I’m taking it as an indication of the bad economy that there were such slim pickings for sweatshirts and Ts. Most of the places I went to, in several different towns, did not seem to have restocked for late-summer shoppers. On the plus side, I didn’t spend as much as I intended, so more money in my pocket.
My brother-in-law and I declared this a politics-free vacation and didn’t even buy a paper. Too bad; going into town mornings for the local and regional papers has always been a big part of our vacation. Now that I’m back, I find that I can’t watch the news; I can’t bring myself to listen to it. I got back just in time to see the trial balloon about no public option and … I just can’t watch anymore.
Local news: the Mayor of Milwaukee was badly beaten while trying to help a woman who was being attacked by her boyfriend. The mayor ended up hospitalized with a badly broken hand, lost teeth, facial and head cuts etc. (the guy used a pipe). Surgery was required for the hand. MMJeff will probably not be surprised to hear that the 20-year-old attacker’s family has stated that the mayor should have stayed out of “a domestic issue”, even though the “domestic issue” was playing out in the parking lot at State Fair Park; it wasn’t the attacker’s fault; and the attacker would not have been arrested if the victim was not the mayor. It happened when the mayor was leaving the State Fair, and since cream puffs are the unofficial food of the fair, there are already Tshirts floating around proclaiming “Our Mayor Ain’t No Cream Puff”.
Other local news: that quarterback guy has unretired again and is going to play for Minnesota. Those in the know were not surprised, just waiting for training camp to be over before the official announcement. It’s safe to say that Wisconsin seems to have gotten over Brett.

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paddyo' said on August 19, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Belated folo to LAMary’s question yesterday about Hualapai Tribe in AZ (the Grand Canyon “SkyWalk” people) having a casino?

Apparently once, yes, but now? It opened in 1994, but by the time SkyWalk debuted in 2007, a friend of mine at the LA Times wrote that the project came after the tribe’s “disappointing foray into casino gambling,” which I guess means if it ain’t closed already, it probably ain’t doing so hot.
Edit add: The Hualapai rez is about as remote as you can get, Indian casino-wise. The Nevada state line and all those big-time casinos are about as close to it as the Grand Canyon National Park communities are.

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MarkH said on August 19, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Don Hewitt, RIP:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090819/ap_on_en_tv/us_obit_hewitt

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 19, 2009 at 2:17 pm
(overheard at a secure, undisclosed location today)

“Dick! Dick Nixon! I told you that a little pancake would help, you stupid SOB — how are ya doin’?”

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Joe Kobiela said on August 19, 2009 at 3:02 pm
cooz @51,
She was a registered Democrat.
Pilot Joe

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coozledad said on August 19, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Lots of registered Democrats are idiots. Some of them register as Democrats so they can monkey with the primaries. She wasn’t there to discuss healthcare, she was there to let her freak flag fly and Barney did what public servants are supposed to do when some imbecile steps up and tries to hijack a public forum. He let her know she was a dumbass. The press is already treating her with inappropriate sympathy, despite the fact she was waving that Obama/ Hitler poster. Barney did her a great favor. It’s possible she has gone through her life without being alerted to the fact that she probably needs to be wearing a crash helmet. It’s like the assholes who were displaying guns at the town hall in Arizona-turns out they were casing federal buildings back in the day. These titties don’t need a public forum, they need to be institutionalized.

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ROgirl said on August 19, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Apparently she was a LaRouchie too.

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Sue said on August 19, 2009 at 3:45 pm
“Was” a LaRouchie? OMG, has Obama’s death panel got her already?

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brian stouder said on August 19, 2009 at 4:15 pm
These folks who literally show-up in public with their strap-ons need to be slapped down. We really, really don’t need our public political/civic milieu to devolve into an American Mogadishu, do we?

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moe99 said on August 19, 2009 at 4:24 pm
LaRouchies are idiots. Every last one of ’em. They’re on the sidewalks of Seattle this summer and I just give them a wide berth. Anyone who would believe the crap that little felon dishes out is no better than those that follow Limbaugh.

http://washingtonindependent.com/55581/the-larouche-cult-and-the-health-care-protests

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Dave K. said on August 19, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Cooz @ #62. Thank you, sir.

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Sue said on August 19, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Wait a sec – isn’t Barney Frank from Massachusetts? Where they’ve had a state plan for a few years and have been somewhat successful at it? These folks are terrified of a health care plan that, in essence, they already have? What am I missing?

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brian stouder said on August 19, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Moe – I couldn’t agree more, although I suppose that if LaRoushe/Beck/Limbaugh didn’t exist, they’d have to be invented by their minions. (and yes – I’m sure the same can be said for the irrational out-liers on the other side of the spectrum, and whoever they march behind)

By way of saying, I think that some number of millions of folks start out with their conclusions, and go looking for the arguments that support them; and there’s lots of money to be made by those who whisper (or shout) the sweet nothings that they seek. And at the end of the day, if folks like Limbaugh and LaRoush and Beck and Hannity actually believe the crap they spew, they’re STILL intellectual prostitutes….they’re just HAPPY hookers!

Otherwise, conservatives like Ted Olsen would be in the ascendant, and not in the footnotes.

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LAMary said on August 19, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Barney Frank may be in Massachusetts now, but he’s a good Jersey boy from a rough part of town. He gave that woman what she deserved.

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ROgirl said on August 19, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Even if the health care bill included every single provision the Republicans wanted, they would still vote against it. They’re just fanning the flames to whip up the LaRouchies and other assorted crazies and scare old people.

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LAMary said on August 19, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Hey, Dorothy, I just opened a resume here from a Kenyon College grad. I wish I had a position she was right for, but alas, no.

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moe99 said on August 19, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Hey, Nance, you can put ‘that’ squirrel in all your vacation pix:

http://www.lutralutra.co.uk/squirrelizer

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Judith said on August 19, 2009 at 9:16 pm
The Auer Performance Hall at IUPU Fort Wayne will be the scene of Rep. Mark Souder’s town hall about health care reform on August 28 at 7:00 p.m. I do hope there can be a good discussion, not the screaming we had from those against it at the Courthouse green last week. I also hope enough citizens will turn out who are willing to counter the anti-reform group with facts.

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Jean S said on August 19, 2009 at 9:35 pm
All hail the kid!! She’s much braver than the rest of us…

And does anyone have anything good to say about Indianapolis? My niece is moving there…from Portland. Generally, one moves from Indy TO Portland, not the other way around.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 19, 2009 at 9:47 pm
All blogging should pause until everyone sees “Julie & Julia.” That is all. {Gnaws on a stick of butter from the fridge.}

The stuff about “couldn’t stand the modern day parts/couldn’t wait until the movie got back to Streep & Tucci” — that’s part of the point: this isn’t the actual Julia Child anyhow, it’s an amalgam of the Julia of memoir, of television memories (including Dan Ackroyd’s Julia, cleverly inserted into the plot), and of the Julia we want her to be for us. The 40’s and 50’s scenes are both richer, lusher, and yet less real . . . which makes our enjoyment of the older scenes a bit suspect, as Eric hints to Julia.

The film needs those “current” scenes to make the frisson of the past setting click into place as constructed realities we all share with Julia — right down to an idealized/almost “Shakespeare and Company” and idyllic market streets. Doesn’t matter, it’s the Paris we want to remember that we never knew, from “The Red Balloon” to “Ratatouille.”

Just go see it. And plan on eating somewhere after. The heck with heart health, let the death panels take me. I want my beurre blanc.

(Oh, and i love Indianapolis. Broad Ripple in particular. Brother still lives there, other brother and sister in Bloomington. But Indy will always be a part of what i mean by home, even though i only actually lived there four years in seminary . . . but my in-laws are still there.)

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Catherine said on August 19, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Jeff, that sounds so great, but it’s more likely that I’ll see Bandslam this weekend. Oh well, at least it got a 66 on Metacritic.

DH wants to see District 9… all you BSG fans out there going to see it?

Anyone for Time Traveler’s Wife? Only got a 47 on Metacritic, and I thought the book was OK but not fabulous. Probably skippable.

Saw 500 Days of Summer a couple weeks ago. Enjoyable performances, and not predictable, but I felt like the ending kind of made a joke of the whole movie.

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MarkH said on August 19, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Not everyone is calling Mass. health care reform a success, sue:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundamerica/mass/

The big problem is they went after universal care while not really addressing the costs.

RE: Julie and Julia; Brush with Greatness, two degrees of seperation dept.: a couple from France have become very close friends of my wife and myself. Michel and Rose Marie retired here in 1992 from NYC, where Michel owned and operated a mid-town Manhattan restaurant called The Swan. French cuisine, of course. It was very well regarded and a frequest visitor over the years in the ’70s and 80’s was Julia Child. She was a fan of Michel’s place and they shared much about their respective cooking. They recommended to Debbie and I that we see the film as Meryl Streep very much captured Julia, as they remembered her. LA Mary, you must have been in New York about this time, is this a familiar restaurant to you?

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Connie said on August 19, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Julie, last, last year on the occasion of our 30th anniversaries, both Dorothy and I posted a link to our wedding pictures. Your turn.

Jean S, my 22 yr old daughter moved back to Indianapolis today, and would not surprise me if she ended up staying there. I have always thought of it as one of those generic clean big city USA places, a category in which I also place Columbus. I expect to go a conference in Portland next year and am looking to a return visit to Jake’s Grill and crab cakes eggs benedict for breakfast.

Sue, we do more beaching, rocking and hiking than shopping, we did come home with several Lake Michigan Unsalted t-shirts from Dune Wear in Ann Arbor. Did you cruise over to check out the bridge construction, and wave at the Land of Oz on your way?

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Dave K. said on August 20, 2009 at 2:15 am
Jean S, I agree with Jeff, Indy is great. My 30 yr, old daughter has lived there for about 3 years now, renting a house in Broad Ripple. (Some neighborhoods near downtown should probably be avoided, but overall a nice place to live and work). She tended bar at Average Joe’s while earning her master’s degree in International Relations at U of Indianapolis. She was hired by the USDA’s Indianapolis office in November. In fact, I kid her about getting her job the same day as President Obama. That was one of those special “fun days to be a dad”, seeing how happy and excited she was about the election and her new job.

Letterman hit a home run tonight in his monologue. He was talking about “Squeaky” Fromme being released from prison, and how she had committed terrible crimes as a member of the Manson Family. “There aren’t many jobs out there for an unstable, gun-totin’ woman”, Dave said, “unless she wants to run for governor of Alaska”. When the applause died down he added, “I really should apologize for that joke…sorry Squeaky”.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 20, 2009 at 7:36 am
Letterman was a bag boy at the Broad Ripple grocery store, his first paying job before becoming weather guy at (i think) WISH-TV, Channel 8.

Sadly, the health food store where Dan Quayle bought his pot is now closed; much of the funkiness of the area has been gentrified out. But there’s still duckpin bowling at Iaria’s Restaurant south of downtown off of Fountain Square.

I continue to be fascinated by how easily folks accept calling Palin stupid and crazy. Couldn’t be sexism, since it’s liberal folk calling her those two traditional marginalizing labels for women who won’t behave properly, so it just must be true. Fascinating.

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Jenny said on August 20, 2009 at 8:20 am
Hey kate, so how far up were you in that tower? How many floors below?
Don’t forget to bring home a rock for me. Please and thank you.

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Snarkworth said on August 20, 2009 at 9:02 am
I rarely post here, but occasionally, something makes me de-lurk. Jeff, you disappoint me — you who usually are an eloquent voice for reason and thoughtfulness. Your “Palin-critics-are sexists” argument doesn’t wash. Lots of men get called stupid (or more accurately, in Palin’s case, ignorant). And LOTS of men get called crazy. Just because the person acting ignorant and crazy is a woman, doesn’t make her critics sexist.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 20, 2009 at 9:22 am
But i said it must be true, didn’t i? 😉

I disappoint many. It’s my curse.

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Snarkworth said on August 20, 2009 at 9:30 am
I disappoint many. It’s my curse.

Well, don’t let it happen again!

I like this place because of the feet-on-the-ground Midwesternness of you all, plus the fact that there’s actual dialog between people who disagree passionately. It’s educational, and not at all easy to find these days.

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brian stouder said on August 20, 2009 at 9:44 am
Indy: I love the canal walk, along the White River, right in the middle of everything. And their (already wonderful) museum now has the lion’s-share of what WAS the Fort Wayne Lincoln Museum’s collection; and they have that lovely race track (and museum)…and lots of nice places to eat and interesting things to visit. Circle Center mall – which is inter-connected downtown department stores and specialty shops, right in the middle of everything, is a fun place to go and wander. Touring the Benjaman Harrison home is a surprisingly compelling way to spend a couple of hours; and their children’s museum is sublime….although I have to say, Fort Wayne’s Zoo is exponentially better than Indy’s.

A conversational question for Jeff would be – don’t you find former Governor Palin’s recent behavior a bit odd?

Specifically, casting away the job that she ran for and that the voters of Alaska gave her – for no readily understandable reason; and then specifically (and seriously) referring to “death panels” within health care reform legislation? I don’t feel the need to attack Governor Palin; I was put off by Letterman’s offensive trash-talk a few months ago. The thing is, simply pointing out the governor’s recent actions and statements is Pawlenty (so to speak) critical enough!

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LAMary said on August 20, 2009 at 10:51 am
MarkH, I was already in LA in 92, sorry. I had two brushes with Julia here. Once in Santa Barbara at a restaurant supply store, and the other in LA at luncheon, where I annoyed her by asking her to give her blessing to a group I was marginally involved with, all women in the food business. Julia did not approve of women’s groups. She actually had a listed phone number, by the way. You could just call her and ask how to uncurdle your Hollandaise or whatever.

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MarkH said on August 20, 2009 at 12:16 pm
RE: Palin. (Some of) you sure like to let others know where your goat is tied. This (mostly) center-right poster has no use for Palin, as I suspect the majority of my ilk, and really, most conservatives don’t as well. She makes news, she gets a lot of press, but truthfully folks, you waste an awful lot of bandwidth and blood pressure on someone who doesn’t matter, and is going nowhere.

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brian stouder said on August 20, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Mark – if folks lined up to defend the honor of Rev Wright hereabouts, you’d maybe have a point. What was remarkable about Jeff’s post was – and is – that he IS a reasonable fellow who simply seems incapable of resisting the urge to leap to the defense of that odd former governor of Alaska. That’s fair enough – but then to play with a word like “sexist” with regard to her is somewhat provocative….and, being provoked, some people here (including me) responded.

Not for nothing, but I recall when Secretary (then Senator) Clinton was running for office, we heard names like “hildebeast” and pontifications about how unpleasant it would be to watch her grow old and so on. I never was in her camp, and didn’t particularly like her, but a lot of the crap she took really WAS sexist….and btw – she never quit, and pressed the thing all the way to the end, and now shoulders heavy responsibility….and still we hear garbage about her from the right. (when her husband went to Korea, I recall a commentator saying something like “was this too important to send the girl in?” – since the SecState was in Africa)

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Jean S said on August 20, 2009 at 4:55 pm
thanks for Indy info, all… She’ll have challenges–she’s spent 14 of her 22 years in Southern Calif., and there will be some transitioning to do.

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LAMary said on August 21, 2009 at 11:15 am
I think the head birther loon, something Taitz, said Hillary had rushed to Africa because Obama’s real Kenyan birth certificate had been found and Hillary had to go in and hush things up.

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