I have to be honest: I’ve been through so many snow-teases that I tend to ignore them. Now I’m looking at a radar image that shows snow falling all over the Mitten, but not here. Maybe it’s coming this way, maybe it isn’t. I’m going to bed and saying the hell with it.
Friday morning
And as suspected, we had about two inches overnight. Two. And there’s a snow day, in a district that was notorious for years for one thing — no snow days, ever. So here we are, the snow needs a-blowin’, and what do I have? A lot of good links.
Dave Kindred on the last days of Muhammed Ali, not in the sense that he’s on his way out (although he could be), but on the last days of all great boxers. I will say this: There’s something about boxing that inspires great sportswriting. It’s a dying sport, although it may well prevail, simply by flying below a certain radar. I hear a lot these days about football, that it’ll be gone in a generation because of the head-injury issue. You don’t hear that about boxing, perhaps because there are fewer people involved, and fighters are frequently bottom-of-the-barrel types who don’t practice their sports under the auspices of a college or university. Frank DeFord, the Sports Illustrated sage, famously washed his hands of boxing a while back, although I’m sure he’d be proud to have an essay this good published under his byline. Your good read for the day.
Everybody posted that Funny or Die parody of the “God made a farmer” ad, but just in case you missed it, you can find it here.
Gene Weingarten on how the internet is changing writing. My favorite:
3. The Rise of the Sillyble, or extraneous syllable. In pre-Internet days we saw this with the pointless tacking on of “ir” to “regardless,” creating a brand-new word meaning, uh, “regardless.” The Web has accelerated this process. “Preventative” has just about overtaken “preventive,” to mean “preventive.” “Orientate” is moving up on “orient” to mean “orient.” There is work yet to be done, though: The Web reveals that “ironical” has just begun its assault on the summit of Mount Ironic. We wish it Godspeed.
Thanks, Charlotte, for finding this, because I might have missed it: The guy who lives in the old Packard plant.
I wanted to send someone a clip from “Babe: Pig in the City,” a favorite from Kate’s young years. I couldn’t find it — it’s the one where the pink poodle says her humans had cast her aside for someone younger and prettier — but I did find this AVClub essay about the film. I remember at the time of its release, how badly it flopped, and how one critic observed, wryly, “You don’t hear the word ‘dark’ used often in discussing children’s films.” And yet, it is so wonderful, in so many ways. I just loved it.
Finally, while I don’t approve of the legal strategy of suing a hosting company over objectionable internet content, I’m glad someone is taking some kind of action against the purveyors of so-called revenge porn. It beats a bullet, anyway.
Off to fire up that blower. Have a good weekend, all.
beb said on February 8, 2013 at 9:11 am
I just became a crime statistic. No injuries but now I’ve got to cancel all my cards. At least I suppressed the urge to wrestle for the gun.
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coozledad said on February 8, 2013 at 9:16 am
Do you get the feeling Fat-Yu Chan is about to become a much wealthier man than he already is? That’s prime space for the indolent sons and daughters of the super-rich to go fake being artists.
The Dan River plant just north of us presents similar opportunities.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 9:28 am
beb, you got robbed at gunpoint? That really sucks… sorry to hear that.
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Nancy said on February 8, 2013 at 9:37 am
I’m still traumatized by the starving kitten and drowning bull terrier in “Babe: Pig in the City.” It’s worse than “Old Yeller.” My child will never see it! (Shudder.)
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nancy said on February 8, 2013 at 9:43 am
I knew you’d weigh in on this one. But because I like funny voices, the starving kitten is one of my favorite characters. In fact, sometimes I will speak in the voice of that very kitten and say, “A couple-a jelly beans doesn’t even hit the bottom.”
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nancy said on February 8, 2013 at 9:43 am
Beb! Robbed at gunpoint in a snowstorm? That sucks. Where and when?
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 9:45 am
Preventative and orientate were setting my teeth on edge long before the internet. If anybody that isn’t doing some sort of George Clooney Soggy Bottom Boys impersonation says ironical in my presence, I’m cutting back immediately to listening to every third word out of that mouth. Now, people typing “loose” for “lose” and “looser” for “loser”? That’s all on the internet. And “methinks” did not need a resurrection in modern English, especially when it becomes “me thinks”. Godawmighty, that’s grating. But the “loosers” that can’t spell “lose” represent Broken English incarnate, and not in a good way.
That Best ever with the periods thing? I always took that to be a written valley girlism. And the obfuscatory jargon? I have been calling that Architect-speak my entire adult working life (no offense intended to anyone). When an architect is asked to state what s/he thinks, affirmatively, s/he will invariably “suspect”. Drives me crazy. It’s as if they teach it in architecture school, retaining plausible deniability for when something goes to shit. “Less people” is a sure sign of tin-ear ignorance. And the day “infer” is accepted as a synonym for “imply”, I’m retiring from the agora.
Guys that posted embarrasing pics of exes on a website? Those women should have made sure to get photos of the pindicks undoubtedly behind the scurrilous attacks. As David Niven famously said of the Oscar streaker: “just exhibiting his shortcomings”. Surely there is a statute under which those peckerwoods can be prosecuted, especially if they published identifying information. And the website and its host should have no legal way to avoid giving full aid and information to law enforcement.
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Nancy said on February 8, 2013 at 9:48 am
The horror! The horror!
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Pam said on February 8, 2013 at 9:54 am
There’s one other source for the type of changing grammar Weingarten speaks of – newscasters! In Columbus I recently saw a billboard with the word “preventative” on it, as in preventive medicine. Amazing! Doesn’t anyone smart edit these things? My reigning pet peeve is the word “got” instead of have, or using them together instead of dropping the got part, as in “we’ve got”. Would anyone say “we have got”? I don’t think so.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 9:55 am
Propspero, how about the other day when you mentioned that Gunter Grass blamed his forbears [sic]? That was tragic and so unexpected that I wondered if someone had hi-jacked your account.
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Peter said on February 8, 2013 at 9:57 am
Beb – I am so sorry to hear what happened.
Prospero, I’m an architect, and I don’t know of the “suspect” item, but otherwise it’s all true.
When I was in school I kept a list of words I found in Progressive Architecture that I didn’t understand. It went over two pages – and there were words that weren’t in the OED.
There are many reasons why some architects like to pile on the words. You’d like to tell them to let their work speak for themselves, but truth be told, there’s so much compromising and changing that by the time the project finally gets built you need to talk the building up to hide the shortcomings.
I tell you, the older I get, the more I appreciate Ed Wood.
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Peter said on February 8, 2013 at 9:59 am
Oh, and to pile on, my favorite term that grates my teeth is “square footage” ARRRGH – what’s wrong with “area”? It’s shorter and has fewer syllables.
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Dorothy said on February 8, 2013 at 10:00 am
Yes, yes, YES Pam! I hear “less” instead of “fewer” all the time on the local news. You’d think the anchors would know the correct usage even if it’s some wet-behind-the-ears intern writing the copy or holding up the cue cards. Sets my teeth on edge.
Oh beb, I’m glad you weren’t hurt. I hope you’re not too terribly traumatized. Chime in once you’re done cancelling all your cards. (Hate to say it but this is a good reminder for all of us to keep track of what we carry in our wallets, in case we’re robbed.)
My nephew’s sled hockey team is headed to Fort Wayne this morning for a weekend of games. I’m not sure where they’re playing. I wish them well! We’re going to a Project Yellow Ribbon event in Dayton on Sunday to learn everything the Army wants to tell us about deployment.
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brian stouder said on February 8, 2013 at 10:16 am
Beb – glad to hear that you’re OK; life is short, and stuff is replaceable.
Regarding Nancy’s link about “revenge porn”, I found this especially bothersome, regarding the liability of GoDaddy or other internet “hosts”:
“That’s just a complete non-starter,” said Patrick Luff, visiting assistant professor of law at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. The Communications Decency Act of 1996 clearly protects Web-hosting companies such as Go Daddy from liability for the content of their customers’ websites, Luff said. “The people hosting the website are not responsible for what’s on the website,” he said.
Why should this be acceptable? Why should “the people hosting the website” be considered “not responsible for what’s on the website”?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this human social/legal mechanism whereby a group of people (a corporation, if you will) can foster all sorts of bad stuff, and serenely waltz away from any responsibility for what’s actually happening to real people, is a genuine root of evil.
In fact, I’d say it’s the mass-transit system for evil.
People should be responsible, including internet “hosts”.
If that means such companies cannot be nearly as large as they are, so be it.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 10:20 am
The name of the guy that owns that Packard Plant building, the cheapskate that doesn’t pay his care-taker and requires him to pay utility charges, reminded me of this immortal line from the gloriously twisted What’s Up Tiger Lily?
“It’s Wing Fool, you fat! I mean Wing Fat, you fool!”
Beb: Awful way to start the day. Wise decision not to go for the gun.
What exactly is the message for the revenge porn douchebags? I used to be lucky enough that this woman let me take pictures of her naked. But I was so inadequate in the sack and such a dick out of it, she won’t have anything to do with me anymore. Now I’m a sorry POS trying to take revenge on the internet. Is that it?
Pam@8: A few years ago, NYC paid a bundle to a sloganeering company to come up with “You gotta have Arts.” John Houseman was not amused by the pop lyrics reference. Kingsfield said the correct usage and grammar should be “You must have the Arts.”
Just a missing “e” by typo, Danny. Forebears is a perfectly good word for ancestors or forefathers. Hardly tragic.
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Charlotte said on February 8, 2013 at 10:30 am
One of my pet peeves is misspellings of barbed wire — it’s a descriptive term, the wire is barbed. It is not “bob wire” or “barb wire.” Also “mix tape” sets my teeth on edge. It’s a mixed tape of different songs. Grrr.
Beb — glad you’re okay. Sounds terrifying.
My big news is that my sweetie, who is replacing some doors for rich 2nd homeowners is salvaging the very nice original doors and is …. going to build me a greenhouse/sunporch!!!!! I could hardly sleep for planning all night. One of my biggest dreams for this place. I’m already planning the Meyer lemon tree in a pot. And someplace sunny and out of the wind to sit on a nice February day. And and and and and ….
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Dorothy said on February 8, 2013 at 10:37 am
We’ll need to see pictures, Charlotte! Sounds delightful and exciting.
In Fort Wayne the teams are playing at the Lutheran Sports Health Center. My nephew’s team the Sitting Bulls, plays at 9:30 AM. Cheer in that general direction for me, please, all you Fort Wayners!
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 10:47 am
Charlotte @ 15: Barb Wire is a nearly memorable high spot on Pam Anderson’s resume:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115624/?ref_=sr_1
And mint for tea and juleps. Meyer lemon recipes:
http://pinterest.com/arcticgarden/meyer-lemon-recipes/
We had all-day crepuscule yesterday, with thunder and lightning. Today is bright as a new coin, calm and nearly warm. Bicycle weather. Crepuscular is an excellent word, as are lots of weather words like boreal and austral.
Sitting Bulls. Made my day.
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brian stouder said on February 8, 2013 at 10:48 am
Dorothy – will do!
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Jolene said on February 8, 2013 at 10:59 am
Some of the errors that drive us nuts in writing are undetectable–or nearly so–in speech. For instance, a careful speaker may differentiate between “you’re” and “your”, but, in most instances, we wouldn’t hear whether the speaker is saying the right word. Since a lot of the text on the Internet is, essentially, speech that’s been written down, which is not quite the same as writing, we see errors that exist in speech, but that we don’t really hear.
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 11:04 am
Oh my God, Beb that must have been terrifying, I can’t imagine how that must have felt. You did the right thing, it sounds like.
I am guilty of almost all of the word usage transgressions listed here. I actually until today thought the correct word was “preventative”. I can’t remember if I’ve ever had to write it anywhere, hopefully not.
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MichaelG said on February 8, 2013 at 11:12 am
I’m glad you’re all right, beb. What a crappy thing.
I agree that ‘orientate’ and ‘preventative’ are old sins. There are lots of other ones. How about ‘drownded’ or ‘real a tor’? ‘Beg the question used to mean ‘avoid the question’ now it’s gone 180 degrees. How about using ‘that’ to refer to a person rather than ‘who’? You know, ‘The person that went to the store.’ Also ‘and’ instead of ‘an’. As in ‘He peeled and orange’.
I’m getting very tired of the cold weather around here. 30s and 50s. Brrrr. At least we do see the sun and it isn’t windy. Yes, I’m a sissy.
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alex said on February 8, 2013 at 11:15 am
The first time I ever heard “orientate,” it was being used by a new-age quack who was trying to solicit chumps to pay him to balance their chakras.
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Sherri said on February 8, 2013 at 11:21 am
Glad you’re not injured, beb.
Pam @8, when I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania license plates carried the phrase “You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania.”
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one noticing the “less”/”more” thing; I’ve been seeing it in some many places that should have been edited that I thought I was losing my mind.
Has anybody else noticed the increasing use of “shined” instead of “shone”?
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 11:28 am
beb, this might make you feel not so alone. My buddy and I got ripped off for $300 this week for two counterfeit tickets to The Who concert on Teusday night. It was a last minute purchase off of craiglist (which I never do, but my friend does.. apparently). My friend made the arrangements and since he had a late work meeting, I met the “seller” about two hours before the show at a mall. The ticks seemed real and even came with a real-looking StubHub! invoice.
Craigslist, StubHub!, mall security and the SDPD are now involved. The $150 apiece that we are out is only a small part of this. Our main motivation is to keep this fellow from doing this again… and he will because he has a very nice machine and software setup for counterfeiting. Little weasel.
We were obviously bummed when we got to the concert, but after all the effort we had made, there was no way we were missing it, so we shelled out and additional $130 each for a set of real tickets.
Thankfully, even though the concert was almost totally full, these were still very good seats. And, yes, it was still worth it. Daltrey and Townsend, what can I say. We’ll not see their like again soon.
Another topic: A co-worker of mine who is in his late fifties still does desert racing on dirt bikes. This is a friend of his riding along an thin, icy mountain ridge in Colorado. Gives me the cold sweats just watching it.
http://screen.yahoo.com/motorcycle-ridge-riding-084000429.html
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adrianne said on February 8, 2013 at 11:28 am
And now for something completely different: Mark Binelli on New York Times op-ed page about the bizarre machinations over Belle Isle in the big D!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/opinion/detroit-sinks-with-belle-isle.html?hp&_r=0
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 11:34 am
It’s funny how every four years the world gets a small, swam/swum grammar lesson from former Olympic athletes turned commentators.
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Dexter said on February 8, 2013 at 11:46 am
beb, Wow. Damn. 🙁
I suppose you have to be over 60 to remember Jim Murray. He was a sportswriter for the LA Times, syndicated world-wide, always referred to as the greatest sportswriter in history. He slowly went blind, and it didn’t slow him down a step. He knew everybody who made the news regularly, movie stars, presidents, and the odd thing was when I read his syndicated columns as a kid, I thought Joe Falls of The Freep was a better sportswriter. Jerome Holtzman of Chicago, too…but then again, those never dated Marilyn…
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/index.php?topic=45896.35;wap2
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Jenine said on February 8, 2013 at 11:46 am
I *love* the Texas/Oklahoma pronunciation “bob wahr”. Nearly as good is the regional pronunciation of the word “iron”.
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Dave said on February 8, 2013 at 11:49 am
Danny. No. Thank. You. My poor, small mind does not grasp why anyone would want to do that.
Beb, glad you’re ok. Glad you had the willpower to resist. Scum!
We have got to take control of this situation, Pam. Sounds ok to me but see the small mind part above.
Oh, newscasters. Anyone in Fort Wayne who ever listens to the latest WOWO news director would cringe with nearly every broadcast. I suppose WOWO is like many other radio stations that have declined with the times.
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Dexter said on February 8, 2013 at 11:51 am
Murray’s most famous Indiana-related line (oft stolen and plagiarized) : “Ladies and gentlemen, we will soon be landing in Indianapolis; set your watches back twenty years.”
If I am wrong in writing Jim Murray invented that joke, let me know…since I first read it many years ago, I have seen it used in relation to many different places, anywhere the author deems backwards.
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Dexter said on February 8, 2013 at 11:58 am
Dave: When I started meeting people on message boards, just before blogging took off, a guy in New York City told us that as a kid, when rock and roll kids listened to the big 50,000 watt blow torch stations, he and his friends would listen to WOWO more than any other station. Imagine that.
I now live about 48 miles from “The World-Famous Fire Escape” of WOWO and after the sun goes down, I can barely tune it in…too weak signal.
I only know this because at times I wanted to check on the Colts broadcast…NO WAY am I going to listen to those assholes like Levin, Limbaugh, and Hannity. What kind of moron can listen to Mark Levin? Sheesh.
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Jolene said on February 8, 2013 at 12:01 pm
Another “speech into print” error that annoys me is seeing “tow the line” for “toe the line”. People use the expression w/o thinking about what it means. It’s about getting close to a line, not about pulling one.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 12:05 pm
“Chomp at the bit” is now considered acceptable, but I still prefer “champ.”
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annie said on February 8, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Languages evolve and word meanings change — often for the better. I see no problem with giving the English plural ending to Latin words (auditoriums, formulas). We do not speak Latin. Listen to a four-year-old say swimmed or foots. Doesn’t that make more sense? Maybe words like that will change too. The bad changes are those which make things less clear.
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Dave said on February 8, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Dexter, I grew up in Central Ohio and I used to listen to WOWO at night. I thought it must be a really cool place, circa 1965, to have a radio station like this. Of course, I had no idea it would become my longtime home and how silly the imagination of a young teenager.
I was also listening to WCFL and WLS out of Chicago, KYW, which became WKYC in Cleveland, 1100 on the dial, I think, CKLW was just out of range to my home east of Columbus most of the time, and Cousin Brucie and WABC in NYC.
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Julie Robinson said on February 8, 2013 at 12:40 pm
Pull in the reigns. Ack! Sherri, I remember shining/shone from English class too but I think the usage has officially changed. Does anyone have an AP stylebook? Or style book, as google wants me to write?
Beb, my heart was in my throat when I read that. I’m so glad you’re not injured and I hope you can feel the virtual hug we’re all sending right now.
Dorothy, I hope your nephew enjoys his time here. The rink he’s at is only a couple of years old and is quickly becoming a magnet for youth tournaments, which of course help the local economy, and also my dear hubby’s job at our local tourism office.
Charlotte, lucky you. A greenhouse/sunroom has long been on my dream house list. In my dreams it also includes a lap pool.
BTW, barbed wire was invented in my hometown of DeKalb, Illinois, and the grand home of one its inventors is now a museum: http://ellwoodhouse.org/.
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Connie said on February 8, 2013 at 12:45 pm
The “speech into print” error that bugs me the most is Wallah! I believe they mean Voila! I’ve seen it numerous times.
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LAMary said on February 8, 2013 at 1:32 pm
When my youngest was 5 or 6 years old he used to say “la la!” instead of Voila! I thought it was adorable.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Annie @34: Agreed about English plural forms for some Latin words. Data, though is plural, and trying to make it work with a singular verb form sounds stupid. If you want to use the singular verb, just say “information”, because most likely datum isn’t going to fit. If anything, the misuse of plural verbs with “media” is more egregious. “The media is” sounds dumb as Shrub, no matter who says it. Wallah? Excruciating. Alcoholic Synonymous. That V, in Fronch, is still a V, it’s not German, although most modern Latin scholars believe the Romans pronounced V as we do W. They also think that Cs all had hard pronunciations, except in the case of double Cs, in which the second was sibilant (as flaccid, which is not flassid in English, but flaksid.) I have no idea how they figure this out.
The “tow/toe the line” bit, I always thought, makes sense either way, with “tow” evoking a mental image of a mule trudging down the path next to the Olde Erie Canal, and “toe” referring to volunteering for dangerous duty.
A boss of mine years back had his hair cut every two weeks at a salon called Crown of Glory. Made me snicker every time I heard him make a reservation.
Chomp vs. champ may result from differences in regional pronunciation. I just saw a photo of a homemade sign in Massachusetts that says “Wicked Stawm comin’!”
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 2:10 pm
My family did this weird plural mistake with the word “clothes”, as in a load of laundry. The first time my husband heard me say when referring to the dryer buzzing, “the clothes is done” he about died. We all said it that way and I still slip from time to time. The month of February has an R after the B, I know that and I write it that way but I say Feb-u-ary, unless I think about it hard before I say it.
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Basset said on February 8, 2013 at 2:25 pm
WOWO comes in just fine here in Nashville but why bother? I do have a button on my car radio set to WBBM in Chicago, went to IU with one of their reporters and I need to get my all-news-radio fix from somewhere, you’d think a city this size would have it but no.
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Scout said on February 8, 2013 at 2:28 pm
Connie @ 12:45: I know, right? That always cracks me up too.
The other one people commonly screw up is using “for all intensive purposes” meaning “for all intents and purposes”. Not that something couldn’t be for an intensive pupose, I suppose, but that is not what the mis-user is usually going for.
I also see a whole lot of their, they’re, there mistakes, especially amongst the young ‘uns.
One more odd thing about our crazy language is stuff like the word triple. I often see it misspelled with two p’s; I can understand it, after all, it does rhyme with nipple and ripple!
beb – scarrrrrrre-eey. I’m glad you came out of that with just the inconvenience of having to cancel cards.
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Scout said on February 8, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Oh, just thought of this. In the town of Lebanon, PA people commonly will say they are getting their hairs cut. When we moved there in the 70’s, I just thought that was the funniest thing. When I would mention it, the answer would always be, well, you have more than one, don’t you? That is the only place I have ever lived or visited that that particular plural was used.
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Jolene said on February 8, 2013 at 2:44 pm
Pros, your interpretations of “toe/tow the line” are idiosyncratic. The idiomatic uses of “toe the line” have to do with following rules and sticking to principles. “Tow the line” is simply an error.
On another topic, I was touched by this NYT piece re the efforts of a congressman who was paralyzed by a gunshot to make the results of gun violence real in the minds of his colleagues.
If you haven’t yet called your representatives to tell them views on the president’s proposals (key points: assault weapons ban, reduced magazine capacity, and universal background check), next Wednesday, after the State of the Union speech, would be a good time to do so. Of course, any other time–the sooner, the better–would be fine too.
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JWfromNJ said on February 8, 2013 at 2:45 pm
My wife – a Ft. Wayne native – now sounds like an East Coaster but she clings to this one affectation that I heard many Ft. wayne folks use – she says “acrost,” like I walked “acrost,” the road, but she is convinced she is saying across and I’m a dick, so that theory also has merit.
Beb – glad you resisted. Not sure I would have displayed as much common sense.
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Julie Robinson said on February 8, 2013 at 2:52 pm
Deborah, did your family worsh those clothes? I hear that around here.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Jolene,
I know it’s supposed to be “toe” but I’ve never seen an opinion on the term I’d consider definitive. It’s not in Mencken’s The American Language, nor in Ted Bernstein’s The Careful Writer (I don’t think, someone has stolen my copy). All I meant is that I give the “towers” the benefit of the doubt, especially when so many of the “toers” explain by discussing starting lines, which explanation makes no sense whatever. The line referred to, I figure is a spot where military personnel are expected to present in rank for inspection, and strict (blind) adherence to rules, regulations and political litmus tests is what is expected.
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Dorothy said on February 8, 2013 at 2:57 pm
Scout when I was growing up, if someone in the family said “I’m going to get a haircut”, he would reply “Aren’t you getting them ALL cut?!” Our whole family has so many weird, quirky expressions I could not list them all if I tried. Dad, when speaking of his own haircut, would announce “I’m going to get my ears lowered!”
Mary – I loved “la la!” I’m going to borrow that. Our Josh said “Scoobee” for “excuse me”. Our daughter read rather widely and she didn’t always come to us when she wasn’t sure how to pronounce something. Once we were driving down the road and she happily spotted a “GAZ-a-bow”. She had never heard it said “ga-ZEE-bow.” We always call it Gaz-a-bow now. I always wonder if people listening think we’re ignorant hicks but I don’t really care. We feel like we have our own secret vocabulary.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 2:58 pm
I was taken aback the first time I heard “the clothes need washed”, or, more likely, worshed.
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Dorothy said on February 8, 2013 at 2:58 pm
oops – bad edit. I meant to say my dad would reply to the haircut statement. Sorry!
And by the way, has anyone ever informed Carole King she was wrong about “You’ve Got a Friend”?
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 3:05 pm
My ex and I employed a wonderful au pair when my daughter was little, who used the term “beats me all to heck”. We were mystified when Emily started to say “beats me on the neck”, until one of us heard Elizabeth utter the former. I have heard gazebo slaughtered by people that should obviously know better in Architectural meetings. And some hilarious versions of clerestory (as a four-syllable word).
When I was young, the word lapel caused me trouble. it just looked like a long A in an accented syllable to me, and if I were reading it aloud, I’d invariably pronounce it that way. By the rules, Lay’pull makes more sense with the single P.
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nancy said on February 8, 2013 at 3:07 pm
The proper Buckeye/Hoosier expression is: Them clothes needs warshed.
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alex said on February 8, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Another Hoosierism is the use of the word “come” in the past tense. E.g., “He come in here actin’ all uppity like he owned the place or somethin’.”
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MaryRC said on February 8, 2013 at 3:27 pm
Sherri, I hear “shined” a lot when I think the proper usage should have been “shone”. To me “shined” is used only in the sense of “polished”, e.g. “He shined his shoes” and “shone” is used everywhere else: “She shone a light” or “She shone in her chosen profession”. I can’t find anything to back this up, the use of “shined” just sounds wrong to me.
beb, sorry to hear what happened to you and I hope you’re OK. It happened to me once (knife, not gun) and I’m still mad.
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Julie Robinson said on February 8, 2013 at 3:30 pm
We don’t need no dang archietecks. Spoken by several farmers at our old church when discussing a proposed expansion.
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Judybusy said on February 8, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Beb, glad you are OK and unhurt.
Charlotte, how wonderful that sunroom will be for you! In these northern climes, having a room like that are just good for the soul.
I was able to get out for a sun-drenched ski today. I saw a very pretty young doe and later, a coyote out on the Mississippi river. Those without sunrooms must make do….I had a very nice conversation with a guy out on the trails, just talking about the beauty and dogs and the beauty….
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Dorothy said on February 8, 2013 at 3:33 pm
Speaking of “shined” or “shone”, I’m really peeved that I missed this last Friday. We try not to miss the jazz concerts on campus but had to be elsewhere that night. Sounded like a helluva memorable evening:
http://www.kenyoncollegian.com/arts/despite-blackout-jazz-ensemble-plays-on-and-plays-well-1.2985065#.URVhc9fufTo
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beb said on February 8, 2013 at 3:38 pm
Thanks everyone for your sympathy. I was at a Burger King on Mack and Connor, which is across the corner from the Chrysler North Jefferson plant. It’s a mostly industrial area a few miles south of where Nancy lives. (Me, too, but I live in Detroit and she lives in the Pointes.) It was around 7:30 in the morning and I had stopped on a whim for a hot breakfast. As I was waiting at the speaker-phone to order a man came up from behind me and stuck a gun through the open window. He took my wallet, then demanded all my money (as if I had money elsewhere. So I gave him my pocket change. Then he demanded my computer but I said it was just a briefcase. And since the center was already unzipped, held it open for him to see that it was just junk. He took it anyway, walked away. I called 911, was transferred to the Detroit desk, and cops pulled in within two minutes. I did not expect to see so many of them (three cars at one point) or to arrive that fast. They took my information and followed the tracks a couple blocks to where he got into a car. Since then I’ve been to the bank to cancel my cards and to the Secretary of State office for a temp driver’s license. I happened to hold on to my old, expired license and that was all they needed to issue me a new license. And now I’m home trying to feel like nothing’s happened. Oddly while I was being robbed I felt mostly irritated because he was taking my stuff and not nearly so much frightened that someone was jamming a gun against my shoulder. The fright has been building up since.
Charlotte: As much as I realized that it is “barbed wire” I can’t recall ever hearing anyone calling it anything but “barb wire.”
Danny: First, sorry about the counterfeit tickets. I told the police are able to catch that scalper. And glad you got to see the concert. The Who had a lot of great songs.
Second:I’ve always heard it as “chomping at the bit” which made sense because that’s what horses do when you stick a bridle (with a bit) into their mouth. Champ at the bit doesn’t make sense to me, perhaps because, to me, champ was always an abbreviation of champion.
The odd word thing that gets me is ‘drug’ for ‘dragged.’ As in “We drug the car out of the ditch.” I tend to use it a lot and don’t know where I picked it up or whether its an irregular verb like see/saw or just a region mispronounciation, like “warsh” for wash.
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Sherri said on February 8, 2013 at 3:40 pm
A Virginia mother is upset that her high school senior son read “Beloved” in his AP English Lit class, so she wants “policies that give parents more control over what their children read in class.” Does she also want control over what he reads in college?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/fairfax-county-parent-wants-beloved-banned-from-school-system/2013/02/07/99521330-6bd1-11e2-ada0-5ca5fa7ebe79_story.html
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MichaelG said on February 8, 2013 at 3:44 pm
Years ago when my daughter was a little kid there was a TV commercial for Reno tourism. The ad featured a group singing a jingle that ended with ‘Reno, Reno’. For some time after that S. persisted in calling the place ‘Reno Reno’.
Breathe and breath. So and so fell into the water and couldn’t breath.
Also clothe and cloth. She took off her cloths.
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MichaelG said on February 8, 2013 at 3:44 pm
As in ‘Are we going to Reno Reno?’
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nancy said on February 8, 2013 at 3:47 pm
I think the lesson we can all draw from Beb’s ordeal is that it’s dangerous to eat fast food.
Seriously, glad you’re OK. It’s a nuisance, but as you know, the after-stress can be powerful and unpredictable.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 4:04 pm
Okay what Dorothy said about Carol King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” reminded me of a grammatical pet peeve I’ve had for years and years with the Kansa song, “Point of No Return.”
I heard the men saying something
The captains tell they pay you well
And they say they need sailing men to
Show the way and leave today
Was it you that said, “How long, how long?”
no, NO, NO!!! “Was it you who said…”
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 4:06 pm
I’m glad I finally got that off of my chest. It was on my “to do” list right after correcting Nancy about Panda Bears a few years ago. Whew….
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Little Bird said on February 8, 2013 at 4:30 pm
I once received a letter from a then boyfriend that included the phrase “for all intensive purposes”. Yeah, I didn’t stay with him long.
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 4:52 pm
Beb, wow. Did you get a good look at the guy? Amazing how that spur of the moment trip turned out. Good to hear that the cops came fast. I would be suffering from PTSD if it happened to me. Since my purse was stolen a couple of years ago from the back of my chair at a restaurant on Michigan Ave, I just use a purse as a decoy. I keep my phone, cash and my cards in my pockets. If someone steals my purse again all they’ll get is a hairbrush, a pack of gum and whatnot. But if someone used a gun I’d be handing over everything in my pockets too.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 5:11 pm
I’m guessing that the manhunt for the former LA cop has reached nationwide news status by now. Scary that it is in Big Ber this weekend. They are getting a lot of snow about now and a lot of folks are going to be trekking there to ski and play. Soon this could get even uglier…
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 5:11 pm
umm..Big Bear
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ROGirl said on February 8, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Little Bird, that’s hilarious. I remember a kid from Indiana saying “warsh,” and that just sounded ignorant to me. It’s wash. When I saw the word “rendezvous” and then found out it wasn’t pronounced “rendezzvoozz” it blew my mind. And when someone told me that the Pontiac model Grand Prix was pronounced “Pree” and not “Pricks” it mystified me. I ax you.
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Andrea said on February 8, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Hi Danny @24, and anyone else who buys tickets off Craigslist: we had our debit/credit card number (not the card itself) stolen about 18 months ago and the thieves mostly bought online tickets with it, to places like Great America and Medieval Times. We contacted those places, where the person responsible for detecting fraud told me that it is a really common scam. Thieves buy the tickets with your number, and print them out on their home computer. The theft is detected and the tickets’ bar code is invalidated. Thief sells them on Craigslist to some unsuspecting third party, who then tries to redeem the tickets which have been voided already. The ultimate victim in this story is the Craigslist purchaser, as the bank/credit card company will make the other victim whole. And of course, all of us are also victims, because we pay higher fees as banks/credit card companies build in this fraud into the cost of doing business.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 5:56 pm
ROGirl@69:
Just lie down on your chase lounge with some orderves until the vapors pass.
Little Bird@65: I had a very good friend in Grad School that asked me to look over a paper for him and he had used that phrase. I explained it to him over a few beers at happy hour.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 5:59 pm
Andrea, thanks so much. That is good information, but from the information we have so far, the tickets we bought were not invalid due to a fraudulent purchase. They were invalid because they were actual counterfeit tickets with the perforations and everything.. but the bar codes were not correct. There was only a very slight difference in the paper thickness and all of the printing and fonts were correct except for one very minor difference where the counterfeits had a promotional blurb that read $1 donation to the “TEENAGE CANCER TRUST” and the real tickets read that the $1 donation was to the “TEEN CANCER TRUST.”
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beb said on February 8, 2013 at 6:06 pm
deborah@66: All I ever saw was the hand with the gun and even I couldn’t be sure of the color of coat, the color of the shirt sleeve, let alone height or age. I’m not be nature a very observant person and it was some what embarrassing that about all I could recall was that he was black, male and slender.
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 6:18 pm
The pronunciation of wash as warsh was not something my family said but my dad did say poosh instead of push and feesh for fish. He grew up on a farm in southwestern Iowa, don’t know if that is common. I first noticed people saying warsh when I lived in St. Louis. A friend of mine there used to have to stop herself from saying Warshington University when she was referring to Washington University in St. Louis. She was a sophisticated lady but she grew up in Collinsville, IL and that’s the way she had always heard it.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 6:48 pm
That whack murderer cop is one of the well-trained good guys with guns the NRA wants guarding grammar schools, right? Little Bird’s plaintive tale of love shot to shit by grammar brings up what might be the most interesting aspect of this discussion. When someone you love habitually get’s something flat wrong, what the hell do you do?
If I’m the one making the error, I want to be told immediately.
Just had some new dress shirts delivered via UPS from LLBean. Bean people have figured out how to fold and package the shirts without using straight pins. I say this is a glorious achievement.
I have been held up at gunpoint, on an abandoned MBTA right-of-way in Dorchester MA. I could identify the kid with the gun to this day, but I did feel detached from the actuality at the time. I was carrying two six-packs of import Red Stripe and had about $800 on me, but in a variety of pockets. The gun didn’t show up until I was pummeling the original accoster on the ground. I did recognize the gun pointed at me as a Tec-9, probably from having watched New Jack City. I don’t recall being scared. Couldn’t say why. Scared shitless and shaking afterward, for hours. I wear a ring that my dad’s parents brought here from Norway, gold with three large garnets. The kid with the gun demanded the ring and I told him it hadn’t come over that knuckle in 10 years. He suggested he’d cut off my finger. I told him start sawing and I’d kill him before he got the ring. In the end, they let me go for 8 bucks from one pocket and 6 brewskis. The biggest one of these hoodlums wasn’t 5-9, a buck40. Back then, without the gun, I could have done serious damage. I had been enjoying a nice summer evening watching park league baseball, and these ahole thugs had fucked that up. I’m sure my idiotic bravado came from my knowledge of how much cash I had on me, and unwillingness to give it up. I probably owed it for tuition at the time. Very strange occurrence. Happy you are OK Beb.
I was also shot once, breaking up a fight where it looked like some squirrelly little sumbitch was being victimized. Guy I thought I was saving put a .22 round through my calf. Asshole. Turns out Hubba had built himself a stone turret with a 50 cal in the woods., and had already shot at somebody that evening.Patched up by my dad’s peds practice partner and he never said a word. Once had a maniac in the Back Bay swing a machete directly at my forehead (is that spelled right Danny?), but the blade intersected with a doorpost before it reached my skull. Why? God only knows. Guy was named Fenway Dick and he was raging insane Vietvet. When he swung the machete the second time, he nearly amputated his own foot. My bud Stew and I were tripping like warriors when this all happened. We only went there in the first place because my ol’ college roomie was known to roll his own and he owed me about $20. We were looking for smokes. Fenway Dick’s dog was a fierce German Shephard named Palladin, because, as Dick said, baddest name I could think of.
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ROGirl said on February 8, 2013 at 6:53 pm
A girl from a family from Rochester, NY who lived across the street insisted that leg should be pronounced “laig” and egg was “aig.” I don’t know if that was a New York thing, but I never changed my pronunciation.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 7:00 pm
ROGirl: In Litttle Rock, it was hee-yill and hi-ouse. My parents were transplants for NYC (well my mom was from way, way upstate) and they found this like braying to the ears of ‘Enry ‘iggins. I think regional speech is marvelous. Like my old friend Regis used to say (he drove a Porssche with no license or registration. It’s about a buck two eighty. I believe he has never been caught to this day.
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 7:01 pm
nn.c friend Hank on another blog I read http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/02/07/171391830/the-americans-when-youre-rooting-for-the-bad-guy
I love it when these things cross pollinate.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 7:04 pm
When someone you love habitually get’s something flat wrong, what the hell do you do?
Prospero, that question is easily answered by another… Do you want to be right or do you want to be married?
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 7:07 pm
“love shot to shit by grammar” priceless by Prospero. I want to be told immediately too.
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 7:12 pm
Hahaha! Just noticed this.
Patched up by my dad’s peds practice partner and he never said a word. Once had a maniac in the Back Bay swing a machete directly at my forehead (is that spelled right Danny?)
No, you misspelled butthead. You must be used to Qwerty layout, but using Dvorak because you are way off.
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Jolene said on February 8, 2013 at 7:17 pm
A former colleague taught a course called The Grammar of Standard Written English. That title reflects the linguist’s non-prescriptive stance, i.e., all forms of English have a grammar and, since we can’t discern through God’s eyes which is correct, we only claim that we are teaching a version that, through time and use, has become the standard. For a fairly substantial outlay, you can find out what the students in this course are taught.
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 7:18 pm
Don’t quite get that shit Danny? Look dumbass, give me a break. If you bring my dad into this, you can kiss my ass. In the long run, I am smarter than you are. Who the hell cares?
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 7:19 pm
I am of course kidding with you, Prospero. But we could arrange bringing your mom into this… all in good fun.
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 7:23 pm
You folks in the Northeast be careful. Had shitty weather today in Chicago but nothing like what is predicted up there. I hate February.
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MarkH said on February 8, 2013 at 7:33 pm
Deborah – those pronunciations stretch from all of Indiana to southeatern Ohio, maybe even up to Parma, in my experience. Letterman used to make fun of his Hossier bretheren by talking like that. Just remember, a person who sells seafood right out of the water ‘pooshes fraysh feesh’.
When I worked at the Lancaster, OH radio station in the 70s we had fun at election time with all the candidates coming in and recording spots with their accents and mispronounciations. There was one state representative named Don Maddux who made sure in EVERY spot to let his constituents know he was their “oh-FEEESH-uhl” state representative!
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MarkH said on February 8, 2013 at 7:35 pm
“HOOSIER!” Sheesh, edit, please…
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Sherri said on February 8, 2013 at 7:48 pm
Ms. Upton repeats as the SI Swimsuit cover girl: http://extramustard.si.com/2013/02/08/kate-upton-2013-swimsuit-cove/?sct=hp_t2_a2&eref=sihp
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Danny said on February 8, 2013 at 7:55 pm
Man, she has a great personality.
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Deborah said on February 8, 2013 at 8:03 pm
There’s no doubt about it she sells magazines.
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Little Bird said on February 8, 2013 at 9:19 pm
I make my fair share of grammar crimes, it’s true, but more than once has poor grammar been the death of a relationship for me.
“I’s just callin to see how you was”
Without a hint of irony.
Broke up before we hung up.
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MichaelG said on February 8, 2013 at 10:57 pm
Danny @ 63, see my comment @ 21.
OK, so who is Kate Upton? She surfaced a year or so with pix of her being posted on the net or being published somewhere or something. But what has she done or said that makes her a – well – whatever she is. Maybe some kind of new species of celebrity. I mean, has she done anything other than have her picture passed around? I think Nance tabbed her pretty well a week or two ago. She has a nice torso, a cute face and the rest is OK. Not in goddess territory. Want a goddess? Check out Monica Bellucci who is old enough to be Upton’s mother.
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Dexter said on February 8, 2013 at 11:27 pm
MichaelG, Kate Upton is managed by director Terry Richardson, who makes sure she stays in front of any camera nearby.
She has a frantic schedule, movies, TV, always doing photo shoots. She is a fixture on “Page Six” type layouts; she is very popular, and she can even play a nun, as she did on The Three Stooges movie, which was a real hoot. As a young girl, she was quite the horsewoman, anyone interested in all that can read her Wikipedia page.
If anyone can’t see her beauty or is just tired of her, may I suggest watching the Carl’s Jr. girl on the YouTube commercial? This girl is beautiful and about the same age as Ms. Upton. No ogling for me; the girl is almost TWO generations younger than me. Truthfully, I admire beauty in maturity these days.
http://media.salon.com/2010/08/patricia_clarkson_the_sultriest_character_actress.jpg
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Prospero said on February 8, 2013 at 11:33 pm
Kate Upton has some gigunda jugs and a very pretty face. For some reason, people hold that against her.
what is wrong with people? I never saw the deal about big boobs in the first place. I aways thought realistic teats were more attractive
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 9, 2013 at 12:03 am
Beb, my best to you, and don’t feel silly about only feeling fear and anxiety afterwards, and more in days on past the event – you’re more normal than you’d probably like to be!
I hate being drawn on, but I really hate the feeling I get in an odd evocative moment a couple days later; weirdly, the last time this happened to me, I was thinking in that odd, detached, third-tier down thought sort of way, “dang, I’m gonna really dislike the reaction I’m going to feel in a few days.” And realizing later I said, three or four times, “it’s all good, bro’, it’s all good, here ya go, here ya go.” Lame!
I only learned who Bar Rafaeli and Kate Upton were last week, and find that while I may have missed on the EE degree at Purdue, I learned enough to know you check the load by eye and by addition on your breakers. It’s not even the complicated part of EE, Superdome guys! Love the FB meme of Clark Griswold as “Superbowl Lighting Engineer.”
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brian stouder said on February 9, 2013 at 12:03 am
Nancy’s memorable summation of Ms Upton is that she has “a pair of aces”, but missed out on the royal flush!
(This still has me chuckling)
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ROGirl said on February 9, 2013 at 4:07 am
I dated someone from Springfield, Missouri. When we were in his car and he was waiting for traffic before making a left turn he would say, “I shoulda wayent.” It drove me nuts, and I still think of it when I’m driving. He also said “supposingly” for “supposedly.”
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Danny said on February 9, 2013 at 11:06 am
Jeff, regarding the SB blackout; it was a total momentum-changer. I think the younger Harbaugh should count his blessings because if it wasn’t for the delay, it might have been a blowout.
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Prospero said on February 9, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Broke up before we hung up.
Write the song keedo.
total momentum-changer
Gave Ray Lewis time to consider his crimes against humanity? That guy is a dick.
And common law is just fine by us, in Yiddische-speak.
My favorite headline ever:
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2013/01/jan_brewer_releases_steaming_p.php
Goober-nor Brewski. What a gaping ahole.
Making fun of an apparently nice, nice-looking and successful young woman like Kate Upton because she has large breasts that jiggle nicely, like a bowlful of jell-o seems catty to me. For all anybody knows, she might be conversant in physics or string theory, or she might know what the numbers meant on Lost. Give the babe a break.
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Danny said on February 9, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Who tickets, then and now…
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gearsmith/WhoTickets_ThenampNow_zps0b294474.jpg
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MichaelG said on February 9, 2013 at 2:58 pm
I agree with your taste in more mature women, Dexter. I mean what must a youngster like Kate Upton see when she looks at an old man like me. That’s why I encouraged folks to check out Monica Bellucci. Just google her and look at images.
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Deborah said on February 9, 2013 at 5:42 pm
We just went down to the south side to a place called Optimo hats, my husband’s valentine gift is a hat that he’s been pining for. It’s black of course, pork pie with a 2 1/2″ flat brim. The top is flat too (think Walter White). It’s being custom made, it’s going to be really cool. The place is a real throwback, was fun to go and see all the hat making equipment. At first I was afraid it was going to be in a really bad neighborhood and I’d end up being a crime statistic like Beb, but it wasn’t bad at all, a very lively urban neighborhood actually.
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beb said on February 9, 2013 at 7:07 pm
Jeff (TMMO) is right that I’m feeling rocky today then yesterday when it happened.
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MarkH said on February 9, 2013 at 7:48 pm
beb, hang in there, you’ll get through it. Talk to someone if you have to. My sister went through an identical ordeal six years ago heading to work in DC. Same time of day, too, 7:30 AM. No sooner did she get out of her car than a gun was in her back. Perp was very soft-spoken, promised not to hurt her as long as he got her purse and car keys. He did, of course. Cops were great, little they could do then. Until the robber was stupid enough to take the stolen car around my sister’s home neighborhood on the Maryland eastern shore three days later. Apprehended after a short chase. Sister was on the mend within a week. Thoughts and prayers to you.
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Deborah said on February 9, 2013 at 7:57 pm
Beb, feeling for you, I have nothing to relate to because I’ve never had a gun pointed at me, thank God. I have had my place broken into years ago when I lived in Dallas. I felt so violated then and it wasn’t anything near as scary as what you went through. I was out of town so my physical wellbeing wasn’t threatened at all. Can’t even imagine what that would feel like. Hang in there, as Mark H said, if you need to talk to someone do it, even if it is virtually to us. We’re here for you,
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Deborah said on February 9, 2013 at 9:48 pm
When we went to the Opera in NY last weekend my husband bought a DVD of the opera we saw, The Elixor of Love, only the version performed 20 years ago with Pavoratti and Kathleen Battle. I usually hate watching opera on DVD because I’m all about the in-person visual spectacle of opera, but wow there is no comparison to Pavoratti.
I’m so glad the storm was this weekend rather than last weekend, even though I wish there had been no terrible storm at all.
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Linda said on February 10, 2013 at 7:22 am
Prospero:
I think the thing some people have about Upton is that she is not a bone. Seriously.
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Prospero said on February 10, 2013 at 11:36 am
Porkpie Hat music, for Heisenberg and Deborah’s husband:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU_RxWXijz0
A great Mingus combo, with Gerry Mulligan on sax.
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Dexter said on February 10, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Some more real porkpie hat mood maker music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvGXYLGssec
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Dexter said on February 10, 2013 at 12:34 pm
and in English, the whole film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhOzbxXsvIM
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MichaelG said on February 10, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Linda, I have to confess my ignorance. What does ‘she is not a bone’ mean?
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Dave said on February 10, 2013 at 12:58 pm
Michael, just guessing here, she’s not ultra-thin on the point of looking starved.
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Danny said on February 10, 2013 at 1:02 pm
The first time I saw Monica Bellucci, she was playing the character of Persephone in The Matrix and I was absolutely transfixed. Then I saw her portrayal of Mary Magdalene in The Passion of the Christ. Even sober and unadorned, it was obvious that she was a rare, phenomenal beauty.
I would put her almost on par with Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn… and the reason I say “almost” is that for me there is somewhat of a difference between a beauty that exudes sexuality (and in Ms. Bellucci’s case, she probably can’t help it) and a beauty that informs or transcends the human ideal, like Kelly or Hepburn.
Of course, it could be that Ms. Bellucci is somewhat of a victim of our more modern and less discreet times, but I would still have trouble imagining Kelly or Hepburn deigning to adorn the cover of Maxim, even if they lived in these times.
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Danny said on February 10, 2013 at 1:05 pm
I guess the shorter version is: Faces can launch a thousand ships… boobies can’t.
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Prospero said on February 10, 2013 at 2:02 pm
That is one my favorite movies ever Dexter. When I was a kid, there was a place in Bloomfield Hills where my parents took us for breakfast after Sunday Mass. Round Midnight was on the jukebox and I played it repeatedly.
Another fine jazz movie is Clint Eastwood’s Bird with Forrest Whitaker playing Charlie Parker, in an amazing performance. That guy is a brilliant actor.
There is an enjoyable Monica Bellucci movie called Malena on Netflix streaming. Sort of an Amarcord knockoff, but quite worthwhile and Bellucci is very good in it. It’s got all the ingredients that make for good Italian movies.
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Prospero said on February 10, 2013 at 2:12 pm
Here’s a relatively straight-ahead version of Round Midnight by Wes Montgomery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOm17yw__6U
Subtly soulful, astonishing technique.
There is also an amazing sax solo version by Michael Brecker on YouTube. I’m sure the version I heard first was a Monk combo.
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Prospero said on February 10, 2013 at 3:07 pm
Bemusing sports story:
http://tracking.si.com/2013/02/06/doug-flutie-diamondbacks-mlb-nfl-knuckleball/?sct=obnetwork
I’ve seen Dougie play baseball, at SS, and he’s good, but he’s almost as old as I am.
Of course, there is always Flutie to Phelan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ykWbu2Gl0
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MarkH said on February 10, 2013 at 3:33 pm
So, Charlotte — according to CBS Sunday Morning, you have a new neighbor in John Mayer? Even though they revealed only that he lived “on the Yellowstone River in western Montana”, I recognized Paradise Valley immediately. They talked of his reclusiveness since vocal chord surgery, but I will assume he’s been seen at the Murray Hotel.
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Prospero said on February 10, 2013 at 5:32 pm
How did John Mayer damage his vocal chords. Gettin’ funky on Your Body is a Wonderland? Gag.
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basset said on February 10, 2013 at 6:09 pm
Danny, I remember paying $8.50 to see the Rolling Stones in Bloomington in the summer of 1975 and thinking that was really high… I was probably making a dollar-sixty an hour at the time.
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beb said on February 10, 2013 at 6:54 pm
If you are in need of a late night pick-me-up, read the comments on this:
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2013/01/29/first-they-came-for-the-cheese-and-i-said-nothing-for-i-was-lactose-intolerant/
What a delightful outpouring of puns.
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MichaelG said on February 10, 2013 at 8:09 pm
Audrey Hepburn was beautiful but she was a bit too waifish for my taste. I sort of disagree about Grace Kelly. I mean she was a supremely beautiful woman but for my money she seemed every bit as sexual as Monica Bellucci. Different style, maybe not as earthy, but it was there. And, from what I’ve heard, she was happy to enjoy her sexuality.
Also the point I wanted to make about Monica was that she is so lovely in her maturity. She’s pushing fifty with a very short stick.
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Deborah said on February 10, 2013 at 10:20 pm
Dexter, we watched the pork pie hat movie tonight, fabulous music. Thanks for the link.
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