Awesome.

I didn’t go to TEDxDetroit this year, after attending the one two years ago. It was, shall we say, a mixed bag. Upside: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Downside? Hard to say. Maybe the woman who’d opened a fitness studio where they did aerobics to Bollywood movie-soundtrack music. That’s it? That’s the “idea worth spreading?” You can do aerobics to the “Slumdog Millionaire” score? Ohhh-kay.

But in the end, I think it was this:

I guess everyone who owns a smartphone has a love/hate relationship with it, but this was an eye-opener for me. I couldn’t imagine speaking to an audience where two-thirds were staring down at a screen while I was supposedly the object of their attention. And it’s encouraged! You’re supposed to be tweeting it, the official hashtag is announced, and everyone’s tweets fly by on the screen behind the speaker. I guess this is how it’s done now, but it would make me nuts.

Anyway, two people I’ve interviewed recently were speaking at TED this year, and it was held Friday, so I dipped in and out of the live stream. The first person I heard was described as an “awesomeness expert” who would instruct attendees in “how to be awesome.” Everyone had some snarky detail added to their introduction; one, named Charlie, got a Charlie-bit-my-finger joke, delivered in a British accent. I couldn’t help but notice how many “social media experts” work for firms that appear to have been named by a child — Tiny Fish Partners, or Sleeping Dog Design. (No wonder “Mad Men” is such a hit. Adults! Wow!)

As it turned out, both guys I tuned in for were good, and both told large chunks of stories they told me, so there you have it: If you were reading Bridge, you knew all this stuff weeks ago.

And that was the weekend, although it also featured scallops, and that was very good. Pan-seared with lemon sauce, creamed spinach and oven-roasted potatoes, and “Sleepwalk With Me” afterward on the TV box. Roger gave it 3.5 stars, his readers, 3. I’m with the readers, but it was nice to see Lauren Ambrose again. The story is autobiographical, with the star, Mike Birbiglia, telling a story from his own life. Birbiglia is an average-guy shlump and Ambrose is a ginger-haired goddess, so it was strange to see him onscreen, falling out of love with a woman who so outclasses him in the looks department, but there you are. Hollywood has been asking us for years to swallow the idea that the hot young starlet of the moment wants to fuck, oh, Jack Nicholson, to use but one example out of zillions.

That’s one thing I loved about “About Schmidt,” one of Jack’s more recent films — for the first time since he hit 50, he was given a female partner his own age. She dies in the first 15 minutes, but while it lasted it was shocking.

So, bloggage:

In case you missed Basset posting this in the comments Friday, this is the Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee. Yeah, this guy:

And with the election just days away, he has not actually put that sign in a yard. Instead, it resides inside candidate Mark Clayton’s pickup. “VOTE FOR,” the sign says. The rest is hidden by the seats.

“Jesus did not have a campaign staff. And he had the most successful campaign in human history,” Clayton said recently, when asked if all this adds up to a winning run against incumbent Sen. Bob Corker (R). Jesus “didn’t even have pictures or a Web site.”

This may be America’s worst candidate.

Clayton, 36, is a part-time flooring installer, an indulger in conspiracy theories — and for Democrats here, the living personification of rock bottom. In a state that produced Democratic icons including Andrew Jackson and both Al Gores, the party has fallen so far that it can’t even run a good loser.

I’m late getting to this, but last week saw the death of Emanuel Steward, Detroit’s legendary boxing trainer. As I’ve mentioned here about a million times, I’m a latecoming boxing fan, and have come to appreciate “Manny’s” incisive commentary during many Saturday nights spent with HBO. Among his insights, according to the NYT: “You can’t feel quick in black shoes.”

Meanwhile, his sister says she has her “ass-kicking boots on,” and is stripping his gym of everything, including the ring, to “safeguard his legacy.” How leaving his fighters with no place to train does that, I’m not sure.

One more week until the election is upon us. Let’s see what it brings.

Posted at 12:21 am in Detroit life, Movies, Popculch |
 

70 responses to “Awesome.”

  1. Sherri said on October 29, 2012 at 12:59 am

    Speaking of social media and safeguarding legacies, the need for social media evidently doesn’t stop just because you’re dead: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2012/10/24/the-social-networking-lives-of-the-dead-celebrities/

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  2. Kevin said on October 29, 2012 at 1:52 am

    From the lineups at the local TED talks, I gather they run the gamut between well-meaning, silly social-media expert types to real scam artists.

    Just pulling the 501(c)3 paperwork and the 990s on them would be interesting.

    Me, I’d rather have root canal than listen to an “awesomeness expert.”

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  3. Dexter said on October 29, 2012 at 2:00 am

    A team led by a googly-eyed weirdo
    http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/c67.0.403.403/p403x403/379079_502435803114457_1732939130_n.jpg
    just crushes the local Detroit boys to death. As manager Leyland always says (every fucking interview)”it is what it is.” So the World Series is over in a flash, and the San Francisco lads can go back to The City and pursue a life of fingernail painting, skin massages in tanning parlors, coffee with the common folk in little shoppes, and rides all over town on those tiny electric scooters made popular years ago by Ally McBeal on the teevee.
    Yes, that’s quite a collection of athletes out there under the Bay Bridge. More power to ’em. I guess Uncle Mike’s $121,000,000 investment on a large fat ass first baseman didn’t pan out so purty good. Shit. Damn. Long time ’til April. And no hockey at all. But we do have cheap pizza.

    And I cannot imagine an eleven feet storm surge in New York Harbor Tuesday. Even now, the entire NYC transit system is shut down. New York hasn’t seen this sort of storm for years. It’s said it will make Irene look like an April shower.

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  4. Sherri said on October 29, 2012 at 2:10 am

    Tell Uncle Mike to tell his fellow NHL owners to get their heads out of the asses and end the lockout. It’s as stupid as the referee lockout, just not playing out on national television.

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  5. Deborah said on October 29, 2012 at 4:56 am

    I saw “Sleepwalk with Me” a couple of months ago at the Music Box theater in Chicago. I had heard Ira Glass discussing it on WBEZ and he was going to be at the theater to talk about the production. I was a day off though, he had been at the theater the day before we went. I thought the movie was so-so.

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  6. Linda said on October 29, 2012 at 6:03 am

    Sherri–And then, there are some extremely low information “fans” who are accusing the “overpaid” players of striking. Saw this in Facebook and wanted to kick something. Or someone.

    Re: audiences not paying attention. This is true at nearly any event where the audience has a laptop. At a presentation I regularly give, laptops are part of the setup, because we are doing a website demo while they follow. I know they are screwing around and reading email, etc., the rest of the presentation. You just block it out.

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  7. brian stouder said on October 29, 2012 at 7:59 am

    Linda – and indeed, one or two of them might be checking in on nn.c (and trading jibes with prospero about mechanical engineers versus structural engineers, no doubt)

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  8. Dorothy said on October 29, 2012 at 9:00 am

    I would be willing to go without speaking for a week (and anyone who knows me realizes what torture that would be) if we could eradicate the word awesome in all it’s variations from the face of the earth.

    Happy birthday, Julie! Travel safely tomorrow if you are cleared to fly. Minnie – we are booked at an apartment on Pacific Avenue for four nights for Thanksgiving in Virginia Beach. I’m assuming the building will be all right but I think it’s a first floor apartment. I am going to have to verify that it doesn’t get flooded this week! We got it for a very decent price – about $75/night.

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  9. Minnie said on October 29, 2012 at 9:15 am

    Dorothy, that’s an awesome price For an apartment at the beach. Should be dried out by the end of November. That’s usually a beautiful weekend for beach walking.

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  10. Dorothy said on October 29, 2012 at 9:20 am

    That’s what we’re hoping for Minnie. Mike can’t decide if he should bring his fishing equipment. I’m going to be in a cast or splint on my right hand (surgery next Tuesday) so I cannot fish. But I think he should take advantage of the location and bring his gear anyway. I can always sit and watch while reading a book! I’m practicing snapping pictures left handed with my Nikon. It’s not working out so great.

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  11. Bitter Scribe said on October 29, 2012 at 10:11 am

    I understand that age-appropriate love interests for middle-aged men in Hollywood films (especially when it’s not Meryl Streep) are rare enough to warrant notice. But I still didn’t like or understand “About Schmidt.” I never got the film’s attitude toward the title character–was it sympathizing with or mocking him? And that letters-to-an-African-child narrative device was too cute by half.

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  12. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 11:17 am

    Don’t know for a fact, but it seems as if Shirley MacLaine was at least as old as Nicholson when Terms of Endearment was made. Darryl van Horne was supposed to be a revolting old goat in Witches of Eastwick, and Cher and Susan Sarandon were no spring chickens when that was made. And Diane Keaton doesn’t look her age in Something’s Gotta Give, and she’s Nicholson’s contemporary. I’d say The Empty Chair Whisperer and Robert Redford have been better examples of this syndrome, and movie audiences have themselves to blame. Stay home in droves, produce tectonic movements under SoCal. In my opinion, guys like zach Galifinakis and Seth Rogen and Steve Carrell are more ridiculous as “romantic” leads, lacking as they are in looks, brains, charisma of any sort, and wit.

    Ann RMoney opens mouth, proves ignorance (and elitism). In Good Housekeeping. I guess there is no Underpaid Undocumented Housekeepers magazine. Wee Willy Windsocks plan for US education: charter schools with vouchers. Well, thats a GOPer perfecta wetdream. Privitization (what say Chris Christie, catch those criminals yet?) + welfare for rich people.

    It would be nice if native speakers of American English would realize that awesome and awe-inspiring are not synonymous. In proper usage, awesome is similar to daunting or frightening, not rad nor gnarly. Nauseous and nauseated and the misuse of the former drive me nuts. If you say I feel nauseous, you are saying you think you make other people likely to retch and vomit. And the word has no “sh” sound when properly pronounced. I know some dictionaries disagree, but this is a clear case of people using a word incorrectly long enough for the incorrect usage to become “acceptable”. That’s probably pedantic, but I don’t care a whit. It’s a medical term and shouldn’t be subject to dummification by the general populace.

    I remember in American History classes being taught that labor lockouts were made illegal in the USA as part of Teddy Roosevelt’s trustbusting campaign. Somehow Congress decided to make baseball immune to enforcement of Labor and anti-trust laws, but NFL, NBA and American NHL owners are breaking the law when they lock out their employees, those “overpaid players” didn’t use gats to get those contracts, and the lockout kings impose tremendous economic hardship on large numbers of people like stadium and concession workers when they pull lockouts for greed’s sake.

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  13. Charlotte said on October 29, 2012 at 11:39 am

    I don’t get TED just like I didn’t get the Bioneers before them — a friend had a thing at the local Bioneers a few years ago, and she got all pissed when I kept asking “But what do they *do*?” Seems like they’re just designed to make people *feel* all smug and progressive without having to actually DO anything. Makes me crazy.

    And I’m sorry about the Tigers — I was shocked, actually. I never expected the band of weirdos to beat them like that — but I was overjoyed. A real team, playing as a team, with guys like Lincecum not getting all bent out of shape about not starting but saying “what can I do to help?” Call me a sap, but I love that stuff.

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  14. nancy said on October 29, 2012 at 11:44 am

    There’s a lot of pouting today about Prince Fielder and that close play on Saturday — if he wasn’t so fat, he’d have been able to beat the throw, etc. I’m sure many are the same people who couldn’t say enough flattering things about him when he was signed. I confess, the first time I saw him, I wondered how anyone with that much extra flesh could do so, but when you see him hit, you realize that when you can send so many of them over the fence, you don’t really have to do anything but jog.

    One game last summer, one of my network tweeted, “Prince Fielder just hit one that killed a deer on Belle Isle.” When he’s on, that’s how far they go.

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  15. Bitter Scribe said on October 29, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    As far as I’m concerned, one of the great things about baseball is that it can be played by guys of all sizes and shapes, not just glandular freaks and muscleheads.

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  16. Sherri said on October 29, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    Nobody should be pouting about Prince Fielder’s running. Usually, the third base coach wouldn’t have sent the runner in that situation unless he were pretty fast, and even so, it took a very good play to get him out.

    This is baseball; in a short series, anything can happen. The team that looks like a lock on paper doesn’t always win. Besides, the Giants did win 94 games during the regular season.

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  17. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    From half inning to half inning, the entire field was tipping to right when the Tigers took the field to left when the Pand went out to third. Those two sure as hell look more like middle guards in a 3-4 than baseball players. Those guys are tubs o’ guts.

    TED always reminded me of the Gnomon Society in the hilarious Charles Portis novel Masters of Atlantis (which I recommend highly, his best I think). In fact, a TED parody novel is a good idea, and could produce a great screen treatment. William Boyd can write the book. Too bad Altman’s not around to skewer those self-appointed illuminati hipsters on film. The new age and hipper-than-thou aspects of TED are pretty nauseating.

    Here’s a good link for following the storm. Me, I’d rather go chase it with Helen Hunt.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/grid/sandy/?hpid=z3

    and another:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/liveblog/wp/2012/10/29/live-blog-hurricane-sandy-news/#liveblog-entry-2769

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  18. Julie Robinson said on October 29, 2012 at 12:55 pm

    Thanks, Dorothy. It looks like I should be okay for travel tomorrow unless my Chicago plane was supposed to come from the east coast earlier in the day. I think the airlines like to get their planes away from bad weather when they have advance warning, though. Pilot Joe, do you know?

    Yesterday I had a great reminder that for most of the country, the midwest is nothing but a flyover zone. I was chatting with people after church (where Sarah preached a great sermon, natch), and one guy in particular was very curious about Indiana. For starters he was sure it contained the Mississippi and was next to Iowa–sorry, Illinois. Then he asked about the climate, and when I told him we often had snow or ice in the winter, he equated that with Alaska. No, no, I said, but he kept repeating that we were just like Alaska.

    Now, to be honest it’s been many years since I studied geography and I might not be able to pinpoint the location of every state relative to others. But, it did put me in my place as a resident of that big part in the middle of the country.

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  19. Dave said on October 29, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    In a story related to us later by our son’s in-laws, when they first met, people in the DC suburbs (Virginia) where they’d lived their whole lives, wanted to know if the Indiana family their daughter was hooking up with were fat people. That’s what they knew about Indiana.

    I think I can find all the states but it’s always odd to me to go out west and meet people who’ve never been EAST of the Mississippi and think Indiana and Ohio may be somewhere east of Pennsylvania, possibly.

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  20. coozledad said on October 29, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Too much magic bus

    With apologies to Wilfred Owen

    2012

    Sandy breaks: and now the uberstorm, the Frankenstorm
    With weather channeled darkness, closes without pity.
    The foul hurricanado, centred at Atlantic city
    Is over all the width of Chris Christie whirled,
    Rending the sails of free enterprise.
    What a world.
    As Romney’s bus tires wail, Now begins
    his tour of care and feeding. .
    The grain of human feeling rots. Most hurl.

    For after Christie wiped his face of grease,
    And boarded through the big door in the back,
    His pants fell and cameras caught his crack
    A slow grand shot, most focused on his crease.
    But now, for us, wild Winter, and the need
    Of brain bleach and a place for eyes to bleed.

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  21. Kim said on October 29, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Dorothy, definitely have him bring the fishing gear! It is usually gorgeous here at T-giving, as you probably know.

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  22. nancy said on October 29, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    That sort of geographical ignorance is pretty common. A San Francisco friend of mine had a pal, an actress and musician of some minor repute, who kept getting his native state (Ohio) confused with the one where they grow potatoes (Idaho).

    Me, I notice weird stuff when I travel. When I went to Minnesota, I immediately felt like I was in the west. It had something to do with the clarity of the air and the angle of the light. Can’t explain it, but I just knew I was one step away from the wide open spaces. That’s also part of what I liked about “About Schmidt.” It was shot in Omaha, and there’s something about that low-ceiling winter sky that you can’t duplicate in California.

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  23. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    Flyover nation anthem.

    Julie, You should have told the guy: “No, but I can see Alaska from my porch. And sometimes, $Palins head comes floating into our airspace.”

    Those East Coast GOPer goober-nors might end up with some questions for Willard concerning the storm cleanup.

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  24. brian stouder said on October 29, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    Forget Frankenstorm/Sandy. No, really! Since I’m a glutton for punishment, I gave the 1 pm Fox News a whirl (pardon the hurricane pun), and, I shit you not, they gave the storm about 45 seconds at the top of their news, and then shifted directly into Benghazi-gate, where they PROUDLY stayed! I say “proudly” because their anchors and their White House correspondant gloated about how no other part of “the meeedia” – except for them – will look at the Benghazi story while the hurricane blows in; and they spent the next 5 minutes on the story.

    Serious question: is their working theory that the President of the United States committed treason, and/or negligence that is so completely off the rails that it is impeachable?

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  25. LAMary said on October 29, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    Julie, he was an idiot.

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  26. Bitter Scribe said on October 29, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    The worst domestic geo-ignorance I ever heard was from people who apparently don’t realize that New Mexico is not part of Mexico. Apparently, there’s more than a few of them.

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  27. Sherri said on October 29, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    One last thought on the Prince Fielder running play: “aggressive” running plays like that are generally not smart in playoff games. The idea behind them is to force the other team to make a mistake. Those kind of strategies work well against bad teams, but you don’t get to play bad teams in the playoffs, you only get to play good teams. It’s one thing if your scouting report says that this particular team struggle defensively, or that particular player can’t throw well, but the Giants were an excellent defensive team.

    It’s not the first time Gene Lamont’s been guilty of over-aggression from the third base coaches box. I remember watching the Pirates runners ending rallies on the basepaths back in the 1990 NLCS when Lamont was Leyland’s third base coach with the Pirates.

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  28. basset said on October 29, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    And turning to America’s external enemies for a moment…

    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/10/americas-enemies-love-hurricane-sandy/58472/

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  29. Joe K said on October 29, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    Julie@18,
    You should be ok. We flew Delta up from Orlando to Detroit this am and had no trouble, there were a lot of planes parked at dtw. The airlines will have moved most out of harms way, check with your airline to be sure, but as long as you are staying west of Pittsburgh down to Norfolk you should be ok.
    Pilot Joe

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  30. Peter said on October 29, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    Nancy, I would agree with you that Minnesota looks more west than Midwest, but for us it was when we drove out of Minnesota and into North Dakota. Boy, that’s one empty feeling….

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  31. Deborah said on October 29, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    So true Bitter Scribe so many people do not know New Mexico is a state. Even some “intelligent” people in Chicago look bewildered when I mention it. Hard to believe.

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  32. Scout said on October 29, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    I have family in PA and it has been difficult to get real news about the storm via the internet. My daughter has been keeping me updated via text though, and she reports the kids are off school today and tomorrow and both she and my s-i-l are home from work for the day so they can all hunker down together. So far they have power but the worst hasn’t hit them yet.

    Here’s another Rmoney endorsement. http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/10/28/zomney-2012/

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  33. Kaye said on October 29, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    Would like to hear from Jolene, 4thebirds and other Mid-Atlantic nn.c denizens. Hope they are warm and dry indoors.

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  34. Brandon said on October 29, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    Downside? Hard to say. Maybe the woman who’d opened a fitness studio where they did aerobics to Bollywood movie-soundtrack music. That’s it? That’s the “idea worth spreading?” You can do aerobics to the “Slumdog Millionaire” score? Ohhh-kay.

    There’s far more to Bollywood than Slumdog Millionaire, which isn’t actually a Bollywood movie but a British Indian film, defined by Wikipedia as those “[f]ilms created by the British Indian community, as well as British films starring a majority Indian origin cast and Indian films set in the United Kingdom.”

    Here’s an article on Bollywood aerobics.

    http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/dancers/bollywood-aerobics/

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  35. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 4:52 pm

    Mittloaf. Endorsement or infiltration? This will make dogs howl.

    I just read in a WaPo comment thread, some dumbass claiming that government regulation of the auto industry caused the Big Three’s problems, particularly CAFE standards. Right. Improving mileage performance made US automakers less competitive. Typical GOPer talking point to defend RMoney’s callousness towards Detroit re the bailout.

    Sherri: Sometimes it works, but unless you’re going for the Fear Factor at home, I don’t think Cecil’s giant baby boy is the guy to send. A time it really worked to run: The infamous ’77 NLCS game where the home plate ump called more than a dozen pitches in the strike zone by Bert Hooten balls and put LA in a whole. Dodgers secret weapon was 75 year old Vic Davalillo (no. 33 in your programs, no. 1 in your hearts, at least then), who ran wild on the basepaths and turned the Phillies into a juddering mass of exposed nerves–Dodgers in 4.

    I think Prince’s dad was a better hitter and a better 1B, and he was large too, at about 6-3, 280 or so, but his weight was distributed quite differently and he looked like an athlete. Cecil Fielder couldn’t run either, two SBs in 13 seasons. Prince and his daddy:

    http://siphotos.tumblr.com/post/16424835719/tigers-dh-cecil-fielder-poses-for-a-photo-with-his

    Newticles is claiming Willy Windsock will win in a blowout. By GOPer base logic, doesn’t the storm mean God is backing President Obama?

    Bollywood musicals are sidesplitting if you’re stoned to the gills.

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  36. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    A large number of webcam links for following the storm:

    http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/10/webcams-watch-hurricane-sandy-hits-east-coast/3729/

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  37. Jeff Borden said on October 29, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    Brian,

    Faux News has two missions that generally intersect: make a shitload of money for Rupert and further conservative issues as frequently as possible. Enough angry loons who prefer propaganda to information drive the ratings, though they are at the high end of the desirable demographics. And as a loyal right-wing operative his entire life, Roger Ailes makes damned sure only one point of view ever emanates from the enormous sewer system he constructed.

    What really fucking pisses me off –I got into this with a conservative at a Halloween party this Saturday– is all the sorrow and pity our conservative friends have for the four Americans killed in Benghazi and their absolutely fervent belief that President Obama is directly responsible. Yet they are unmoved by the deaths of more than 4,000 Americans, the wounding both physically and mentally of tens of thousands more and, of course, the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Iraqis thanks entirely to a ginned up war by the last president.

    These kinds of people need Faux News to make them feel good about themselves. Thousands of lives squandered in an illegal war that did nothing but strengthen and embolden Iran, no biggie if a GOPer did it. Four people killed in a flash attack demands enormous outrage because it happened with a Democrat in the Oval Office. That he is a black Democrat with an unusual name just amps up the bullshit.

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  38. Julie Robinson said on October 29, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    LAMary, I was trying to be charitable!

    Alaska Air from Seattle to Chicago is a go, and I was worried about American Chicago to Fort Wayne until my intelligent daughter reminded me that it’s a regional airline, American Eagle I think it’s called. The planes are small and probably don’t even go to the east coast.

    We took a drive up the Puget Sound to Bellingham, where we painted pottery and sipped tea. It’s unbelievably beautiful to this flyover zone girl.

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  39. Linda said on October 29, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    Nancy, the Idaho/Ohio mixup reminds me of something Cleveland Amory wrote, in which a Boston matron tells an Ohio newcomer, “Here, we pronounce it Iowa.”

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  40. Julie Robinson said on October 29, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    I forgot to say that when I travel I particularly look at the flowers and shrubs, not so much at trees because I just don’t know them as well. It’s been a pleasure to see what grows around here–huge holly bushes, rhododendrons that are tree-size, even azaleas blooming now. And every other plant seems to have berries, so the birds must be very happy. In fact, the sun is come out for the first time in days, so I’m taking the dog for a walk before the rain hits again.

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  41. Dexter said on October 29, 2012 at 5:55 pm

    Sherri, I have watched the play in question many times on different days, and thought about it , and in the end I do not fault Gene Lamont for sending Fielder. Gregor Blanco was having a career, magical World Series. The baseball caromed perfectly back to him, and he was so excited he missed the cutoff man but there was Scutaro right behind the cutoff man and the baseball went right to him, and he delivered a perfect throw to Posey. It had to be just perfect, because nowadays Posey is not allowed to block the plate since his horrific 2011 injury. Fielder did everything right, he just got thrown out, and again, as Leyland says…it is what it is-a good play that was erased by a superior team.
    One more baseball comment: I had to chuckle a little bit as I watched goofy young Hunter Pence juggle fly balls, getting the job done, but I have not seen a more awkward right fielder since I saw Claudell Washington playing when he was all gacked up on coke and couldn’t even come close to an easy fly ball. I laughed because Pence was playing in the area , right field, which honors Al Kaline, the Hall of Famer, who along with the late Roberto Clemente, personifies excellence nonpareil in right field play.

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  42. Joe K said on October 29, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    Julie,
    What time are you suppose to leave chi to go to fwa, American eagle has 2 flights in the evening one around 6 and one later I think 9ish, they have a habit of canceling the early flight and doubling up the passenger load on the later one. Those little reginal jets fly all over including the east coast. Fort Wayne gets 2 a day in from Dallas, non-stop.
    Fly safe.
    Pilot Joe

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  43. Joe K said on October 29, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    13,784 flights cancelled so far today,
    Pilot joe

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  44. Julie Robinson said on October 29, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    It’s at 3:50, Joe, and even if I had to wait it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I’m good at entertaining myself, and I’ve five books I didn’t get to read yet. I am surprised that they take the small planes such long distances; I would think they’d want to pile on more passengers.

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  45. Dexter said on October 29, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    A Bayshore Express Muni bus was torched, the loss was $700,000.
    This did not happen in Detroit. It appears alcohol and jubilation and devilment exists in the fair city of San Francisco, California.
    http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Fans-celebrate-36-arrests-70-fires-3990567.php

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  46. Sherri said on October 29, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    Dexter, Claudell Washington had nothing on Lonnie Smith. The only reason Lonnie Smith didn’t get hurt catching fly balls was because Lonnie had no idea where the ball was going to land. Of course, Lonnie was also a drug user.

    Despite the big deal being made over it, Scutaro did nothing unusual on that play. That’s where the second baseman is supposed to be in that situation. The third baseman covers third, the shortstop and second baseman line up as cutoff men, and the first baseman follows the batter if he heads to second.

    Now, Roberto Clemente, he wouldn’t have needed a cutoff man. What an arm.

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  47. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    Senior citizens against vote suppression.

    For all of the Teabanger idiots acting as if they’ve got something on the Administration and fulminating about lack of diplomatic security in Benghazi on 09/11/11, you might want to question Boehner and other House Teabangin’ GOPers. Now there is a “smoking gun”. As per SOP, the true GOPer interest was to create opportunities for crony contracting, i.e. giving the jobs and money for defending embassies to fellow traveller bigots and scrotess like Eric Prince and his infamous Blackwater/Xe thugs. Not surprisingly, no government in the the world over wants these psychopathic murderers and rapists in its country.

    Dexter. Right on about Al Kaline. The outfield with Kaline, Northrup and the incomparable Mickey Stanley in CF was easily the best defensive unit I ever saw until Yaz left the Sox and the outfield was Jim Ed Rice in left (better than Yaz, and I saw them both in person many times) Freddie Lynn in CF, and Dewey Evans by Pesky’s Pole. If Lynn had not crashed the wall making so many astounding plays, he was a sure HOFer, which is why I felt sick this season when Matt Kemp ran into the wall at top speed. Dwight Evans was a great RF and Rice played the wall and threw better than Yaz, though, in those days, nobody from Louise Day Hicks’ neighborhood was going to admit it. For the Tigers, I remember the brouhaha in 68 when Mayo Smith sat Ray Oyler, who couldn’t hit his way out of an oven bag, and moved Stanley to SS, with Northrup to CF. Smart move , skip. Northrup had the 3B to beat Gibson in Game 7, and Stanley didn’t hit but he hit bbetter than Oyler would have, and the move got Willie Horton into the lineup.

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  48. ROGirl said on October 29, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    The wind has been kicking up today and it broke off an enormous section of a tree, at least 20 feet long, into the street that runs into mine. When I was coming home from work I couldn’t drive around it, and had to turn around and reach my house from the next block over. They’re clearing it now. I was expecting the power to be out, but luckily that hasn’t happened. I raked my front lawn over the weekend and most of the leaves have been swirling and blowing around like crazy.

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  49. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    1968 was also the year Jim Northrup hit five grandslam HRs. What a season.

    Here’s a nice reminiscence about the ’68 Series:

    http://open.salon.com/blog/athomepilgrim/2009/06/16/a_few_more_thoughts_on_the_1968_world_series

    RMoney now has a mendacious sociopathic domestic policy advisor to equal Bork, Bolton and Abrams for pure misanthropy and loony ideas.

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  50. Deborah said on October 29, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Baking a big pan of lasagna right now, something set us off this morning wanting it, we can’t remember what. I haven’t made it in ages so hope it comes out OK.

    Today I got the pair of Minnetonka soft soled moccasins I ordered on-line for wearing inside on the cold tile floors. It’s amazing how fast the floors get dusty here. We bought 2 mats, a sisal one for outside and another one for inside next to the front door. That helps but still a lot of dust right after we vacuum or sweep.

    Entering my 4th week of retirement, hard to believe it is going by so fast. Every day I wake up with nothing to do and then I go to bed at night with all these things I meant to do but didn’t get done. Life is good.

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  51. Deborah said on October 29, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    Jolene, hoping to hear from you soon.

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  52. Jakash said on October 29, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Linda,
    Re: your Ohio / Iowa joke. Being from Ohio, but living in Chicago, it always deeply annoys me when people around here pretty much assume that Iowa and Ohio are two sides of the same coin. When, as is clear to all of you fine folks, I’m sure, Ohio is the vastly superior state… (Though, if it were to go for Romney, I might have to reconsider my heritage.)

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  53. Prospero said on October 29, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    I was born in Cincinnati. But that’s almost as much Kentucky as it is Ohio. All I remember is days at the zoo with my mom when I was very young.

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  54. Jolene said on October 29, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    Hi Everyone: Thanks for thinking of me. I’m fine. Tucked into my Alexandria apartment where the power is still on. We have been fortunate here, not losing power in past storms when others have. May be because it’s a relatively new complex w/ no big trees near the buildings. In any case, I hope it continues. Spending a lot of time by myself in the dark is not an appealing prospect.

    The forecasting has been very accurate. They promised the worst part of the storm would begin late in the day and, indeed, just as night fell, the wind picked up. High winds are expected to continue throughout the night. Everything has been shut down all day–schools, local, state, and federal government offices. Not sure how many businesses stayed open, but I did manage to get groceries delivered. Public transportation closed too, and all closures continuing through tomorrow.

    Am seeing reports on local news about trees falling and such. There are power outages in this area, and I suspect there’ll be more before morning. Mostly, though, I think the greatest damage will be farther north and closer to the coast.

    The Atlantic has a good collection of pictures, including some from the Caribbean that make clear how much worse bad storms are in places where the building codes are inadequate or nonexistent. Lot of detailed reporting on both WaPo and NYT web sites.

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  55. Jolene said on October 29, 2012 at 8:39 pm

    This business of not knowing which states are which boggles my mind. I still remember playing with a United States puzzle as a small child and learning the names and capitals of all the states in elementary school. I can still label all the states and think I could name almost all the capitals.

    In general, though, it’s a depressing business to get into figuring out what people don’t know–how many branches of government there are, how many justices are on the Supreme Court, and, honest to God, which country we fought to win our independence. Have seen survey results on all these issues, and they do not reveal a favorable portrait of our countrymen.

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  56. Jolene said on October 29, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    Whoops! Forgot to include the link to the photo gallery. Here it is: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-in-photos/100395/

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  57. Deborah said on October 29, 2012 at 8:54 pm

    Jolene, good to hear from you. Glad you’re safe.

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  58. Jolene said on October 29, 2012 at 8:55 pm

    Have you all seen this wind map? If not, check it out. Really intense, right now.

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  59. Dorothy said on October 29, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    Very good to see your name among the commenters, Jolene! And thanks for the link to the Atlantic pictures. Very sobering. We’re hunkered down with our animals and hot tea and listening to the increasingly loud wind outside here in the center of Ohio. I am trying not to think of what it must be like much closer to Sandy’s center. My daughter got home in Norfolk last night, but had to navigate Brambleton Avenue on the wrong side of the road. Anyone in the news business must be extremely busy tonight!

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  60. Deborah said on October 29, 2012 at 9:08 pm

    Little Bird and I are having a bit of a chuckle over the name of the hurricane. The woman who’s our landlord for this place in Santa Fe is Sandy. She’s a bit woo woo as she will even say about herself. We will forever now refer to our landlord as hurricane Sandy.

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  61. Kim said on October 29, 2012 at 9:28 pm

    Glad to hear it’s sound and fury elsewhere; this storm hasn’t been bad at all except for the full moon and super-high tides last night and today, plus the sideways rain.

    The best storm story I’ve read, which I hope will end well, is this tale from Dorothy’s daughter’s paper. The rescued crew member who’s in critical condition has an amazing connection to the ship. And the crew who did the rescuing – what courage.

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  62. Jolene said on October 29, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    The Atlantic has a sort of photoblog, updating frequently, re what is happening in Manhattan. Some amazing pix.

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  63. Jolene said on October 29, 2012 at 9:59 pm

    Damn! Forgot the link again. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/10/live-hurricane-sandy-updates/58454/

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  64. Kirk said on October 29, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    Bloomberg just said New York’s 911 center is getting 10,000 calls every half-hour, many, many of which shouldn’t be 911 calls.

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  65. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 29, 2012 at 11:50 pm

    May the oregano and basil be with you, Deborah.

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  66. Dexter said on October 30, 2012 at 1:41 am

    Jolene’s wind map shows us at 22 mph sustained but a more thorough search revealed gusts up to 38. It’s not safe to be out walking the dogs under all these trees but I can’t avoid ’em. Most of the weak trees went down last summer in the hellishly strong storms we had, the one that landed on my roof and caused all that damage.
    I read somewhere that Japanese people average six minutes per year of power-downtime. We were at about 2 hours as I recall, but Bryan, Ohio does a good job in keeping its power up. I would not be surprised to lose power for a while; this wind is really blowing stuff around.
    I have a friend on Staten Island and she lost power hours ago, and only has a cell phone and a flashlight for her and her cat. All her many Facebook pals are keeping her from having a freak-out panic attack. New York City … Snake Plissken’s time has finally come, only those trapped there remain on Manhattan Island, and now the subway has two lines that are flooded.

    The wind is absolutely howling outside. I had a new roof put on last summer; we’ll see how competent my roofer man was.
    And…now the wind has just stopped. What the hell?

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  67. Joe K said on October 30, 2012 at 2:28 am

    Whew, just got back, was suppose to do Dayton, Akron, Greensboro, but when I got to Akron the mechanics wouldn’t fly so I got to come home. Kinda bumpy, snow, rain, interesting night, very low pressure 28.95 in Akron, 29.75 in Auburn.
    Pilot Joe

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  68. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 30, 2012 at 6:15 am

    Dexter, it’s the eye! The eye!

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  69. basset said on October 30, 2012 at 6:49 am

    Another notable candidate here in Tennessee… a right-wing Congressman and medical doctor running for re-election, years ago was schtupping one of his patients and recorded himself telling her to go to Atlanta and get an abortion… or maybe he didn’t, you know the liberals can’t attack him on his spotless record so they are making all this up. doesn’t deny the recording, though.

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/oct/15/ethics-complaint-filed-against-us-rep-scott-desjar/?print=1

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  70. brian stouder said on October 30, 2012 at 9:00 am

    Basset – what a piece of…work!

    But he said he used stark language about traveling to Atlanta to get an abortion try to get the woman to acknowledge that she wasn’t pregnant.

    Ahhhh; now I see… Alrighty then!

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