Dirty.

Hey, guys. This is where Alan and I were last night: The Dirty Show, Detroit’s annual erotic-art exhibition, although “erotic” isn’t the word that came to mind most often last night. “Dirty” did, though.

Photography is forbidden, but I saw so many people breaking the rule I dared to capture these dancers, and a bouncer shut me down after a single frame. So apologies for the pic, but you get the idea:

dirtyshow

We went to see the opening-night performer – John Waters. He did a version of “This Filthy World,” his one-man show, another aptly named entertainment, with the distinct advantage of being very funny.

Then I got a text about David Carr, and, well…

But we stayed out late, and I have a buttload of work to do now, so short shrift. I’ll tell you all about it on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Posted at 7:55 am in Detroit life |
 

75 responses to “Dirty.”

  1. alex said on February 13, 2015 at 8:05 am

    Girls in a cage. I vaguely recall a carnival display from the early ’70s that looked just like that picture, only the girls were herky-jerky mannequins writhing to whatever tune was playing on a jukebox, and the only thing obscene about it was the extremely poor articulation of their joints. I remember being struck by the low-techness of it all more than the seediness. And their panties probably weren’t quite as skinny.

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  2. Basset said on February 13, 2015 at 8:09 am

    My favorite John Waters line, from “Pink Flamingoes”:
    “There are two kind of people in the world. My kind of people, and assholes.”

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  3. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 13, 2015 at 8:18 am

    But after hearing Waters talk about his hitchhiking project across the country, there’s clearly not that many people who aren’t his kind of people. To his credit!

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  4. Peter said on February 13, 2015 at 9:28 am

    I’ll always remember John Water’s talking about the famous poop eating scene in Pink Flamingoes “It isn’t a crime – it isn’t even a sin. I looked it up!!”

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  5. alex said on February 13, 2015 at 9:59 am

    I remember a funny drag queen act:

    “I’m the sickest thing alive since Divine died.”

    “No, bitch, I’m the sickest thing alive since Divine died.”

    They both ended up smearing each other’s mouths with chocolate mousse. At least that’s what I think it was.

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  6. alex said on February 13, 2015 at 11:06 am

    So if Rand Paul never completed his undergraduate degree, how did he get admitted into medical school? Or did he lie to them too?

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  7. Deborah said on February 13, 2015 at 11:27 am

    Forgive me if someone has already linked to this. This is a video of the event that David Carr moderated just hours before his death. He coughs throughout and doesn’t look well, but he’s articulate and clear too. Plus it’s a fascinating event too about the documentary Citizen Four http://new.livestream.com/nytimes/events/3800646

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  8. Charlotte said on February 13, 2015 at 11:36 am

    I saw John Waters in Salt Lake City in the early 1990s — there’s always been a considerable gay community in SLC (where else are gay Mormons going to live?) but it’s a tough place to be a weird kid. God bless Waters — he stayed afterwards and talked to every single lonely weird kid in the place, and basically just kept telling them all they were fine as they were, and it would be okay. I’ve always loved him for it.

    The David Carr thing is a shock. I’m getting old enough that 58 seems really young.

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  9. Connie said on February 13, 2015 at 12:08 pm

    If you have taken all the prereqs and have excellent grades you can get into medical school after your junior year. My dad did it. He has a DDS from Michigan and entered there without a bachelors degree. His undergrad school still considers him an alumni, and some sixty years later he still buys season tickets for their basketball games.

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  10. Julie Robinson said on February 13, 2015 at 12:19 pm

    IU had the same plan for optometry students when I was there. I had a couple of friends who went through that way, which was especially great since they were paying out of state tuition.

    What really got me about David Carr’s death was his age, which equals mine. Too soon, too soon.

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  11. Connie said on February 13, 2015 at 12:23 pm

    Plus the Dirty Show includes the Dirty Needle nude tattoo show. http://boingboing.net/2015/02/12/dirty-needle-tattoo-art-show-o.html

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  12. Jolene said on February 13, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    There are lots of links to and about David Carr on the NYT web site, but, ICYMI, here is a link to several videos that he is in. Lots of the wit, charm, and self-deprecation that made people love him.

    It’s a funny business this idea of being attached to people who have no idea that you exist. I loved both Carr’s writing and his persona and genuinely feel that I have lost someone who meant a lot to me. Seems kind of silly, but there it is.

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  13. Jolene said on February 13, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    A lovely piece re Carr. Speaks to the idea that he mad everyone feel like a friend. Only a few paragraphs.

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  14. Dexter said on February 13, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    Jimmy Norton’s “My Filthy Valentine” is airing on Rawdog 99, XM Radio, at 3:00 Eastern today. I guess it’s just Norton doing what he does best, being just disgustingly filthy and dirty. I am no prude, but I can’t stand that mofo.
    I would swear that’s Pamela Adlon in that cage…no? Just look and compare.
    http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTc2OTgwOTI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTEyMTExNDE@._V1_SX214_CR0,0,214,317_AL_.jpg

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  15. Judybusy said on February 13, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    For years the anti-smoking announcement at the Magestic theater in Madison was this video by John Waters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnpofBtijF8

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  16. brian stouder said on February 13, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    Honestly and truly, I never discovered Mr Carr.

    But this sentence from Jolene’s link –

    There are hundreds and hundreds of people out there who believe that, secretly, they were David Carr’s favorite. And maybe we all were. He had the rare emotional capacity to make each of us his favorite, one by one by one.

    …encapsulates the vibe at good ol’ nn.c

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  17. Dexter said on February 13, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    For John Waters fans, here is an instant classic from “My Name is Earl”, the old cable series that is drop-dead funny stuff.
    Waters plays an undertaker who specializes in dramatic corpse poses.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaU5hnG8FaQ

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  18. MarkH said on February 13, 2015 at 4:48 pm

    David Carr was on CBS This Morning Wednesday weighing in on Brian Williams and Jon Stewart. He did not seem well, his speech hesitating and stilted. How could someone so eloquent border on inarticulate, I thought. Clearly something was going on then. See if you agree.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/media-critic-david-carr-on-nightly-news-anchor-brian-williams-suspension/

    Anyway, two big losses, Carr and Bob Simon, in 24 hours. RIP.

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  19. Dexter said on February 13, 2015 at 5:03 pm

    ? Carr always sounded like that.

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  20. adrianne said on February 13, 2015 at 5:18 pm

    This made me laugh, a pix from the Daily Free Press at Boston University’s April Fool’s edition (glad to see they still do this, we had a blast every year creating it): BU students praying for a chance to get into David Carr’s seminar class. http://jimromenesko.com/

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  21. ROGirl said on February 13, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    Agree with Dexter, D. Carr always sounds like that. They played some old Fresh Air interviews with him today. He went through some cancer treatments a while back, which he said didn’t affect his voice, but he spent some time at the Ground Zero site after 9/11 and he said his voice wasn’t the same after that.

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  22. Deborah said on February 13, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    Mark H, I agree with Dexter and ROGirl, he doesn’t sound hesitant to me, his voice may be a bit huskier than usual but he still seems sharp verbally. He does however, not look good, he looks gaunt and he’s leaning back in a awkward way. In the link I included in my comment earlier, he was sitting oddly in his chair while he was moderating, kind of slouching backwards. I haven’t seen enough videos of him to know if that was normal for him though. He certainly was busy before he died, if his life was that full all the time, it’s no wonder. I don’t know how people keep on the go like that, one event after another. I just don’t have that much energy, never did.

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  23. Jolene said on February 13, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    If you check out some of the videos I linked to @12 (this one, for instance, which is a sort of playful chat about techno-speak), you’ll see that Carr had a somewhat odd way of positioning himself all along. In something I read today, someone referred to him as looking like a stork, by which they were referring, I think, to his long thin neck. Other writers talked about his odd posture. Can’t remember exactly now what was said, but the idea was that he was, physically, a bit of an odd bird.

    I do think he looked tired in the CBS clip. He was said to spend a lot of the day meeting and talking with people, leaving his own writing until late at night. He’d have had to get up early to be on CBS, so the guy we saw was, at least, tired. Perhaps he just wore himself out.

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  24. Deborah said on February 13, 2015 at 8:53 pm

    Jolene, If you listen to these interviews with Carr on Fresh Air from 2008 and 2011, he says towards the end that he has had a very “medicalized” life, I can’t remember everything he said but he’s had Hodgkins Lymphoma, he’s had one kidney, half a pancreas and lots more. He said part of his posture was because of radiation for his cancer etc. http://www.npr.org/2015/02/13/386015153/david-carr-called-himself-part-pirate-part-thug-but-also-a-decent-person. But in the interviews he’s so articulate and seems like such a nice guy, even though he put himself through so much in his life. I’m with you on finding him a fascinating person, makes you wish you could have known him personally.

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  25. Dexter said on February 14, 2015 at 1:21 am

    Carr, in videos, looks strikingly like Colin Cowherd, so much so he could be Cowherd’s older brother or dad.
    Cowherd is a blowhard sports guy who has a sports show , mornings on one of the espn stations. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cRuWupUQXhU/hqdefault.jpg

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  26. Dexter said on February 14, 2015 at 1:52 am

    Any of you sports/entertainment aficionados see young Mo’Ne Davis (the girl who was the main attraction at the Little League World Series last summer) put that spin move on Kevin Hart in the Celebrities All-Star Game in NYC last night? http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12322708&ex_cid=espnfb

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  27. Sherri said on February 14, 2015 at 2:39 am

    The kid’s got game, Dexter. Sweet move. I’m looking forward to seeing her on the hardwood in a few years.

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  28. Dorothy said on February 14, 2015 at 5:01 am

    I’m with you on the age of David Carr, Charlotte and Julie. I’m 57 myself. My daughter learned yesterday of the death of a former colleague who was also 58, and it distressed her no end. He was one of the 30 or so let go at the paper last November, and she said when she hugged him goodbye, that was the only time she cried. He said “It’s going to be all right!” to reassure her. But she said he had never been in good health. The blessing of his death is that he died in his sleep, which I hope means he didn’t suffer too much.

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  29. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 14, 2015 at 7:39 am

    One of the NYTimes videos in their tributes to him includes a clip from the documentary “Page One” where he’s covering a partnership between the website Vice and CNN, and there’s this guy who seems like he’s stepped out of an SNL skit about new media, going on about how the Times sent a guy to Africa to cover surfing, while he was putting up a piece with CNN support on cannibalism because it’s, y’know, like “awesome” . . . and Carr holds up a hand and in very soft tones just eviscerates him. And then says “But go on.” You get a sense of the spine in that man.

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  30. brian stouder said on February 14, 2015 at 11:25 am

    A semi-non-sequitur –

    I’ve just begun reading Harold Holzer’s new book about Lincoln and the press, and he opens the book with a look at the rise (from nothing) of James Gordon Bennett and the penny press in New York City – and it has been quite interesting.

    I’ve had a sort of glancing familiarity with media personalities of those days (such as Horace Greeley and James Gordon Bennett and Henry Raymond), and this book fleshes them out a bit

    http://books.simonandschuster.com/Lincoln-and-the-Power-of-the-Press/Harold-Holzer/9781439192719

    I always enjoy reading history and being reminded that there’s nothing really new amongst humanity under the sun. Those ink-stained folks were making their way… just a few of them making enormous fortunes, while inventing their medium along the way, much as cable/satellite “all news” channels and internet websites do now.

    The gleeful attacks and outrageous biases of those days, associated with a very few pioneers who would print ‘outrageous’ stuff (if it would sell) looks altogether….familiar

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  31. MarkH said on February 14, 2015 at 11:52 am

    All, to be fair, I had never seen Carr on TV and can’t remember hearing him on radio, Fresh Air for example. And, inarticulate was too strong a word. Those of you more familiar with him, thanks for clarifying.

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  32. brian stouder said on February 14, 2015 at 12:18 pm

    MarkH, I’m with you. Carr was never on my radar, and if I ever saw him on tv before, it didn’t register

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  33. Connie said on February 14, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    Me neither for Carr. But since I never watch talking heads shows I’m not surprised. Nor do I read the NY Times.

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  34. Jolene said on February 14, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    It looks like Carr really did sort of wear out. In the various tributes to him, I came across this photo from just five years ago. It’s amazing how much younger and healthier he looks.

    Then, in another remembrance–this one by Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones–, I found this paragraph:

    Over the past few years, Carr has had a bit of a haunted look about him. He’d lost weight. His health problems seemed to be dogging him more. I think everyone who knew him well recognized, at least subconsciously, that Carr was not going to be on this earth long enough to need a rocking chair. But I think we also had some collective denial about his mortality. To use a cliché he wouldn’t approve of, Carr genuinely was a force of nature. I think maybe we assumed he could go on like that forever, pulling the all-nighters, smoking, drinking gallons of coffee, working like a fiend, and talking, talking and talking. But of course, he couldn’t.

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  35. Jolene said on February 14, 2015 at 1:22 pm

    Whoops! Didn’t get the HTML right above, not to mention the punctuation, but I guess it still makes sense.

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  36. Dexter said on February 14, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    Sherri…Mo’Ne has already declared she wants to play for the UConn Huskies, but of course UConn is not offering yet…Mo’Ne is an 8th grader!
    I heard Spike Lee say she is “100 times better at basketball than baseball…”, so watch out world!

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  37. Dexter said on February 14, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    I hope everyone is safe and happy this Valentine’s Day, 2015. It’s a bad travel day…we’re on Level 3, stay-home-or-get-a-ticket. I took a chance and took Pogo Labbie Dog to the park and I saw the cops stopping cars on three different streets…had to be checking them to see why they were violating the ordinance by driving…I just quietly got home quickly.
    These past years here at nn dot c. have been https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDN5rG3wLa4

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  38. Dexter said on February 14, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    https://www.facebook.com/WBNS10TV/photos/a.219787864368.166272.53828014368/10153202495034369/?type=1 I-70 today near Columbus is closed

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  39. Deborah said on February 14, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    Sorry to hear about such bleak weather in the midwest, it’s 59 in Santa Fe now, supposed to get up to 61 and tomorrow more of the same. A very unusual February here. Some of our plants are blooming, it will get cold again of course.

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  40. Dexter said on February 14, 2015 at 5:46 pm

    Bad wreck by Ashley, Indiana has closed I-69….

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  41. brian stouder said on February 14, 2015 at 6:07 pm

    Dex – our fine young 16 year old sophomore daughter does Winter Guard (flags)with Wayne High School, and they are at a competition right now at Anderson, Indiana (about 90 minutes down I-69 from here).

    After a nice little Valentine’s Day dinner at Logans, Pam and Chloe and I headed south (Grant opted to head back home) 0 and we were in somewhat appalling conditions. The sun was out, but the wind was up, and we drove into white-out conditions, and then back out of it, and then into it again

    We got maybe 20 miles south, and then traffic came to a dead halt – a dead halt on I-69.

    We spent maybe 40 minutes sitting and then creeping and then sitting (we were mostly sitting) – before I saw a turn-around coming, and when we finally got there, we took it and headed for home.

    Hopefully Shelby will have an uneventful trip home on the school bus. From the news reports I saw once we got back home, I think we’d still be sitting out on the highway, if we hadn’t scrubbed the mission.

    Here’s apparently what happened –

    http://www.21alive.com/nbc33/Multi-Vehicle-Pile-Up-Slows-I-69-Traffic-291955451.html?gallery=y&img=0&c=y

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  42. Jolene said on February 14, 2015 at 7:02 pm

    Glad you’re home safe, Brian. Hope Shelby gets there soon too. We’re getting a blast of snow too, but it’s only supposed to be an inch or two.

    Meanwhile, an autopsy has revealed that David Carr died of lung cancer. That fits with how he was looking and how he had lived. I wonder if he knew. There are no reports, so far at least, of him pursuing treatment, but it’s not likely treatment would have done much for him.

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  43. Dexter said on February 14, 2015 at 7:17 pm

    Jolene, I can’t link anything because I can’t remember where I read it (maybe The NY Post) , but Carr had undergone extensive treatments for cancer the past few years. Carr was a heavy cigarette smoker, so…well, we all know how that ends.

    Glad you are home, bri-bri. 🙂 We are all hoping your Shelby makes it home soon.

    Just think how many people you know who have died of cigarettes.
    Such major talents such as Bogart and Nat King Cole simply smoked themselves to death. Yes, and then think of how many friends and family members’ lives went up in smoke…it’s almost too much to deal with in my pea brain.

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  44. Jolene said on February 14, 2015 at 7:30 pm

    Dex, he had been treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system. Doesn’t appear that he had been treated for lung cancer. Certainly, none of the people who’ve written about him in the past few days have mentioned either a lung cancer or treatment.

    I’m sure you know from observation, if not from experience, how hard it can be for alcoholics and former drug addicts to give up smoking. Many feel that living without drugs and/or alcohol is already a strain and relish the minor buzz they get from nicotine.

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  45. Jolene said on February 14, 2015 at 8:05 pm

    Meant to say, “. . . a lung cancer diagnosis or treatment.”

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  46. Nancy P said on February 14, 2015 at 8:19 pm

    It was lung cancer, at least partly: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/us/times-columnist-david-carr-had-lung-cancer-autopsy-finds.html?_r=0

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  47. Connie said on February 14, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    Brian i had a friend posting on facebook this afternoon while stopped on I-69northbound near Muncie for more than an hour. He also described whiteout conditions.

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  48. Dexter said on February 15, 2015 at 12:50 am

    This link fits in with the thread topic. San Francisco certainly is an interesting locale…here’s some history as to why gays and curious straights have always loved The City.
    http://blog.sfgate.com/relationships/2015/02/09/sex-nudity-and-erotica-in-san-francisco/#photo-590486

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  49. Dexter said on February 15, 2015 at 3:54 am

    The reason Carr’s death stirred so many folks is because he was a fascinating character; his life could have been the stuff of a Nelson Algren novel if set a few decades back in time.
    I remember seeing his book being available back around 2008, but I never bought it. After reading this non-flattering review, I still think I ought to get the book and put it in my queue.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/books/review/Handy-t.html?pagewanted=1&contentCollection=Media&action=click&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article

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  50. Deborah said on February 15, 2015 at 4:44 am

    Dexter, I’ve thought about reading Carr’s book now too. I heard that it has suddenly jumped to #9 on the best sellers list. Must be a lot of other people with the same thought.

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  51. Jolene said on February 15, 2015 at 9:33 am

    In fact, the book is sold out at Amazon. The publisher is issuing 10,000 new copies. If you order from Amazon, they’ll take your order and send you a copy when it becomes available. Haven’t heard when that might be.

    There were, by the way two reviews of his book in the NYT. This one is more favorable.

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  52. Connie said on February 15, 2015 at 9:55 am

    VH1 is doing a Saturday Night Live retrospective til 6, I’ve been watching bits and of the 90s segment. I just saw Nirvana sing Teen Spirit.

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  53. alex said on February 15, 2015 at 11:19 am

    Dex, I was on I-69 yesterday morning and got off at the Ashley exit before the big wreck closed the highway. I got on at Waterloo and decided to get off immediately at the next exit as I was between two semis and the whiteouts were so bad that I couldn’t see them at times and was terrified at what might happen. And nut jobs going way too fast were whizzing by in the fast lane despite it all.

    We were on our way to Angola to pick up our new fireplace door/screen. In Angola, a whiteout occurred on the north side of town that was so bad it was as dark as night and we couldn’t see the traffic signals or anything. We managed to get to our destination, got our new fire screen, installed it yesterday afternoon and enjoyed a lovely fire all last evening, along with filet mignon and a rich homemade mushroom/brie soup, the latter of which is one of my latest new culinary discoveries and was my best effort of the three attempts so far. (As good as anything I’ve had in a fine restaurant — without adding any sodium or sugar!) Recipe here.

    The steaks were marinaded in some olive oil and rosemary, then seasoned with pepper and kosher salt for a nice crust. I usually do two to three minutes per side times two on the grill, but it was so cold that it took about four extra minutes per — and the insides came out beautifully rare, tender and juicy.

    We had hoped to patronize a Valentine’s Day special at one of our favorite haunts, but instead stayed home and it was the better alternative. This morning going to schmancy brunch at another favorite place.

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  54. Jolene said on February 15, 2015 at 11:48 am

    Alex, that soup sounds heavenly. Wish we were neighbors.

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  55. Charlotte said on February 15, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    So, Phil Levine who hailed from Detroit, although I knew him as a California poet has died. The NY Times leads with “Former US Poet Laureate who won the Pulitzer Prize”, while the San Francisco Chronicle not only leads with, but discusses in depth his dedication to the lives of working people. http://blog.sfgate.com/bookmarks/2015/02/15/former-poet-laureate-philip-levine-a-champion-of-the-working-class-dies-at-87/ Not surprised, but jeez oh pete NY Times. Way to to erase someone’s legacy.

    The David Carr thing — I wonder if he knew, and just decided to ride it out and work. He must have known he didn’t feel well, but he sort of seems like the kind of guy who’d want to die with his boots on, although on the other hand, from all I’ve read by writers across the age and success spectrum, he sounds like the kind of guy who’d worry about bumming everyone out by dropping dead on them. Myself, I’d rather just keel over than spend months in treatment, but I’m scarred by a childhood watching people not survive the brutal chemotherapies of the 1970s.

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  56. Deborah said on February 15, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    Charlotte, I hope I keel over and die suddenly, rather than prolonged suffering which I watched my mother do when I was 14 and she was 48. No thanks. My husband wants to die while drawing a building. Actually my preferred scenario is that I’m reasonably healthy, I have a nice glass of wine, go to bed and not wake up, hopefully a long time from now.

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  57. Jolene said on February 15, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    Here’s another review of Carr’s book, this one by Corby Kummer, who is himself a very good writer and editor.

    I’ve seen a couple tweets encouraging people to buy the book this weekend so as to drive it onto the NYT bestseller list, which, of course, would guarantee even more sales.

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  58. Dexter said on February 15, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    I always thought that if life dealt me such a bad hand that I felt I had to snuff it, I would fly to San Francisco and jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Not now, because I understand the state or city authorized “suicide-proofing” the bridge. Now, to be sure, I have never entertained suicide.
    My first day at the VA Health Care System orientation, they made a big deal about making sure we weren’t about to off ourselves, and gave us literature about suicide, ensuring us there was help available there at the VA if we felt enticed by the specter of suicide, as you all know every day vets are killing themselves in what we were told are record percentages.
    As to just hoping for a scenario of our own death that we would prefer, hell, I don’t know…but I think Nelson Rockefeller went out with a smile on his face, in flagrante delicto, one paper’s lede: “Nelson Rockefeller thought he was coming but he was going”

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    • nancy said on February 15, 2015 at 3:29 pm

      Dexter, don’t even joke about that. You can watch “The Bridge,” an excellent but unsettling look at the Golden Gate as a suicide magnet, online. I sat down one day to watch the first 10 minutes and stayed through the whole thing. Of course, I was depressed by the end.

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  59. Jolene said on February 15, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    Dexter, your comment sent me to Google in search of recent data on suicides among veterans vs. the rest of the population. As it turns out, there’s a new study by an NIMH researcher, whom I knew slightly during my days at RAND. Suicide among veterans is more common than among civilians, but the picture is quite complex. Most important, it’s not true that recent service in Iraq or Afghanistan is predictive of suicide. Suucide rates are higher among older vets than younger ones, and, among younger ones, they are higher among those who did not deploy. Check it out.

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  60. Deborah said on February 15, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    If I ever have to face severe debilitation, suicide would be preferred, but I’d do it with pills so as not to leave a mess for someone to have to face. Actually New Mexico is one of the few states that allows that.

    LB is roasting a french hen that I bought at the farmers market yesterday from a guy who claimed to be a distant cousin of Frank Lloyd Wright. It came up when he asked me where I live (lots of tourists visit there) when I told him part of the time in Chicago, he said he came from Spring Green, WI and was surprised that I had heard of it. When I explained that my husband is an architect and that we’ve been to Taliesin there he said that his great great grandfather and FLW’s grandmother were brother and sister, came over from Wales. So this will be known as the FLW bird.

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  61. Deborah said on February 15, 2015 at 5:40 pm

    The originator of Nutella has died. I went through a phase after visiting Italy when I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Then I OD’d on it and haven’t had it in ages. Makes me want to go out and get some.

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  62. brian stouder said on February 15, 2015 at 5:54 pm

    Deborah – my lovely wife goes for Nutella; I’m a Jif* man, myself.

    I figure my demise will take care of itself, without any help from me; and if I get to live very far into my 80’s, then I’ll be ahead of my dad’s side of the family, although only average compared to my mom’s side. But it is sobering to think that I graduated high school 35 years ago (it doesn;t seem THAT long ago!) – so that sometime in that same time frame going forward I’ll reach the exit ramp.

    The problem with the Golden Gate would be – you could live through your splash-landing, and then drown – which would be no fun. Plus – heights aren’t my thing (at all!)

    *had to look in the cupboard; I was ready to proclaim myself a Peter Pan man, for some reason. How do you suppose they ever worked out the rights to the name “Peter Pan”, between publishers and Disney and all the rest? Someone oughta come up with Darth Vader blackberry jam, or some such – and then one could have a Peter/Vader PB&J, yes?

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  63. brian stouder said on February 15, 2015 at 6:42 pm

    by the way, forgot to mention – that is a bizarre photo, indeed. At first I didn’t even see the second dancer.

    That cage has got to be breaking OSHA workplace safety rules. It looks like it could swing, presenting a hazard to others in the area…and is there a water bottle laying in there?

    Anyway, I think I’d sooner go to “Fifty Shades” and see (I am told) an empowered woman; or the caged serval at the Zoo, than to see caged women. Not sure how that floats a person’s boat, but whatever

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  64. Deborah said on February 15, 2015 at 6:43 pm

    Brian, I’m with you on the Jif. There are a couple of consumables that I require to have chemicals (and sugar) and peanut butter is one of them. I can’t stand the organic kind they have at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, way to sloppy. The other things that I require to contain chemicals are deodorant and some cleaning products. I used to require chemical laden toothpaste but I’ve lately taken a liking to a brand from Whole Foods called Dessert Essence Natural Tree Tree Oil, I like the anise flavor.Maybe eventually I will be able to forego the chemicals altogether, but alas, not yet.

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  65. Deborah said on February 15, 2015 at 6:51 pm

    And I will add that the FLW bird was very tasty. The meat had a lot more texture than the corporate raised stuff, which is pretty mushy. LB roasted the french hen (my first) stuffed with lemon and onion, and she used herbs de’provence and such for seasoning. She makes a mean gravy which we had smothered over the meat and mashed potatoes. We have a potato ricer which make fabulous, smooth mashed potatoes. Our green vegetables were haricot verts. Burp.

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  66. Deborah said on February 15, 2015 at 6:53 pm

    #64 way too sloppy, not way to sloppy

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  67. Dexter said on February 15, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    I am of the age that I knew more than several of the the names on The Wall in life. You know, we have to process the facts one at a time, and rationalize and mourn, and move on with life. No problems. Then another aspect occurred…I learned my #1 army buddy in Vietnam died at age 62 a couple years ago, and I never found out how or why, and then another guy from our unit over there died, and I had only recently found him on Facebook, found out what he had done after the war (worked in a US Navy yard near Seattle in a civilian role)…seemed happy, fishing, harvesting clams from the bay, attending all the Seahawks games as a season ticket holder. Then he stopped with the Facebook postings…apparently his little brother knew the password because he got on the page and posted that his brother David had committed suicide. Boom. Hit me like a rock to the chest, then I processed it, then moved on. The brother and I are now Facebook friends. No hint as to why the suicide. Four years have come and gone now. It’s a sad and beautiful world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp2IHaeflYo

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  68. Dexter said on February 15, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    Peter Pan Peanut Butter, cheap grape jelly, spread on two pieces of white enriched bread, slapped together, bottom crusts cut off with butter knife, pour a glass of cold cow…a perfect picker-upper at 4:30 PM when you know dinner is going to be delayed or just plain late. Any other time period of the day, peanut butter just doesn’t work for me.

    nance…I’ll watch that video later on tonight after the NBA All-Star extravaganza. I remember that when I was there, many years ago, there were so many damn jumpers the papers barely covered the story with a couple sentences, and buried it deep into the back pages.

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  69. Dexter said on February 15, 2015 at 8:05 pm

    Yeah, it is goddam miserably cold, but baseball will soon be here, the nice evenings, the great game brought to us in living color, and my favorite player is in a new city. The Panda left The City for Beantown. This picture will warm your heart.
    http://cdn1.bloguin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2014/11/pablo.jpg

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  70. Jolene said on February 15, 2015 at 11:34 pm

    Skippy Extra Crunchy, people. It is the only peanut butter.

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  71. Joe K said on February 15, 2015 at 11:37 pm

    Anyone else watch the sln 40yr show? 40 freaking years, I remeber watching the first one, please feed my fingertips to the Wolverines. Some of the performers looked good some not so much, Chevy Chase I think has dementia, Sir Paul looked good but was a bit rough on the voice, Jane Curtin and Bill Murrey did well, and believe it or not Mylie Syrus killed on 50 ways to leave your lover, like her or not the kid is talent. Anyway I think I’d give it a solid B
    Pilot Joe

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  72. alex said on February 15, 2015 at 11:46 pm

    I thought the SNL 40th anniversary show was about on a par with the show itself the last 35.

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  73. Deborah said on February 16, 2015 at 12:00 am

    Also in #64 that should be tree tea oil. As the notorious RBG said I don’t think I was 100% sober when I wrote that.

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  74. Dexter said on February 16, 2015 at 12:43 am

    I kept flipping between basketball and SNL…I got a kick out of “Wayne’s World”…Myers looks more and more like Dr. Evil, no?

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