Forgive me, for I have sinned. It's been 13 days since
I last blogged.
Another New York Star sighting: The ever-tan George
Hamilton walked into Starbucks on 6th Avenue near 8th Street
a couple of days ago. Denise was sitting, facing the door
when he walked in. She said something like "Hey! That's..."
and I looked up to see him right away. The guy still looks
good, and even though he constantly tans himself, his skin
doesn't look like it's turning to leather.
I like watching highly recognizable people in public places.
They all find ways to blend in as much as possible. Hamilton
wasn't out seeking attention, so he kept looking straight
at the cashier during most of his transaction. That way, you
could only see his profile, which is not nearly as recognizable
as his full-on mug.
Steve Buscemi has developed an almost patented way of slinking
around with a baseball hat. Geena Davis is so tall, she can't
help but be noticed, but when I saw her walking down Fifth
Avenue, she kept close to the buildings and slouched a bit.
None of these folks ever looks like they're inviting anyone
to notice them, but none of them have ever been nasty to me,
if I did notice them. I gave George the thumbs-up, and he
nodded and kept going. An old co-worker of mine loved to say
"It's tough to hit a moving target." I think Mr. Hamilton
understands that.
:::
Old friends
Some old friends of mine (Dave and Nan) recently sent me an
e-mail with some very good and interesting news. They've started
a family business together. It's called Tuscan
Gardens. Their specialty is creating beautiful Italian
gardens including pizza ovens, vineyards, and even bocce courts.
It had been a while since I heard from my friend Melinda,
too, though it doesn't seem as long as Dave and Nan. Melinda's
a writer -- I think she might be blogging soon. [Note to self
- Another reason to put up more frequent entries, Lou!]
:::
Every so often, I have the fantasy that I'll be able to go
more than a day, or even a few days, without connecting some
event or bit of information with September 11. No such luck
lately. I was on the subway last week, and heard a guy recounting
what that day was like for him. It was the same ritual so
many of us performed over and over several times a day for
the first few weeks afterward. The odd thing was how his recounting
of it was so full of details, as if it was fresh -- like it
happened yesterday.
Jimi Hendrix was fascinated with the visual, and probably
numerological relationship between 6 and 9. Weird thing: 6/11/02
was 9 months to the day after 9/11/01, and both fell on a
Tuesday. Eerie... makes me think that some day in the future,
people will have superstitions about Tuesday the 11th instead
of Friday the 13th.
:::
The Monolith Effect
In "2001: a Space Odyssey," Major stuff happened whenever
the monolith showed up. 2001 was such a year in the story.
Now in real life, President Knucklehead, er... Pubis... er
Bush... wants to make a mega monolith out of a bunch of government
agencies. It's probably not all a bad idea, but I'm holding
my breath.
Ol' George seemed like his speech-giving lessons are starting
to pay-off. He wasn't as wooden as he's been in the past.
Still, he didn't sound like the brightest bulb in the bunch:
Uh, G, "nuclear" is pronounced "new- clee - ur," not "new-
cue- lur"!
While we're on the subject of El Presidente's speechifyin'
I think he needs to do some more work on cooking up memorable
phrases, especially if he's going to keep comparing himself
to ethe likes of Harry Truman. I think he was going for something
like "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", but
he came up a bit short when he said "Freedom and fear are
at war and freedom is winning."
Back to the subject of the near-unpronounceable "nuclear:"
I intrigues me that we're hearing a lot of news about disarmament,
and discussions with Russia about decomissioning huge numbers
of nuclear warheads. At the same time, we're more worried
than ever about the threat of nuclear materials or materiel
falling into the wrong hands. So, it was extremely striking
to notice a report (I think it came out last week...) saying
that the government is going to start manufacturing new nuclear
triggers again. Hmmm... what good is a trigger without a bomb
to put it in?
"Fly the Hostile Skies" (or, "Somewhere Over Texas")...
Well-meaning people say the dumbest things all the time. Thanks
to the internet, there are even more places to find an abundance
of such hare-brained commentary! The thing that prompted me
to blog tonight was this quote that was running on the Netscape
News Page: Susiej1125723 wrote "I want all passengers armed.
In that way, they could shoot any terrorist at any time, in
any section, and not have to wait for the pilot, who is busy
at the controls."
Now, that's what we need - mile-high OK corrals. And, um,
just what does a terrorist look like? Doesn't anybody remember
what happened not that long ago to an African Immigrant named
Diallo at the hands of Police (who are supposed to be trained!)?
Then, too, there's the small matter of the need for special
bullets that won't pierce the skin of the plane... I can see
some well-meaning citizen sneaking his favorite Glock 9mm
or a .44 magnum on board. Yeah, I feel safer already!
"Start watching what you say"
You are a disgrace. You should lose your citizenship to
this great country.
- Hate mail
I haven't read a lot of the stuff on GWBush.com,
but the premise is pretty straightforward - highlight the
dumb stuff being said and done by El Presidodo. I figure it's
hitting some nerves, buecause they're getting some pretty
funny hate
mail. (Be sure to check out the foul-mouthed letters section!)
Thanks to Chris and Andrea for tipping me off to these guys!
I think this one is my favorite:
This web site is awesome!!!!!! Did you think this up yourself?
I guess their is still a way for you hippies to waste
your parents hard earned money in college.
[there certainly are lots of ways for students
to waste their parents' money...]
Are you maybe a little bitter that emperor Clinton "is"
out (Oh yeah and his sidekick Eddie Haskel is washed up
to. Hello Mrs. Cleaver I'd like to run for president and
manufacture votes in the state of Florida).
[Hmmm... Using quotation marks for emphasis - hate that!
Considering what's afoot in the current administration,
I wonder about who the real emperor is... I don't get the
comparison between Gore and Eddie Haskell... how convenient
to sidestep the issue of other "voting irregularities" that
day... Florida actually had to change some laws after that
craziness.]
Maybe Clinton "is" not out. I guess that depends on what
the definition of "is" is. What a joke. "A did nawt have
sexual relations that woman." Take a hike boso.
[Paragraph breaks added for clarity]
- An educated hate mail author
