Monthly Archives: September 2008

Please remember Galveston & Houston

With the listing Titanic of the banking industry looming large in the headlines, and the Dow plummeting 700 points, it is easy to concentrate our concern on Wall Street right now. (Personally, I have a problem with bailing out the very people whose footloose practices and limitless hubris got them into the mess they’re in right now, but that’s a post for another day.)

Remember, friends – there are real people suffering elsewhere, too, and not over losing their six-figure salaries. They’re suffering because the building they worked in has been washed away. Because they no longer have a place to live. Because the neighborhood they raised their children in is now gone.

I know there are folks going through hard times everywhere. But if you can, please spare a thought for the recovery effort in Texas, which has been summarily ignored by the press in favor of coverage of the screaming Beakers of Wall Street.

I spoke to #2 son last night (who shall now and forever be referred to by his new RtB code name, Lars), and he said that his new bride (who shall now and forever be referred to by her new RtB code name, Helen) told him on the phone yesterday that Galveston smells like thousands of refrigerators containing rotten food (which is very likely the case). She also observed hundreds of dead birds, and “pond muck” covering almost every surface. Here is a collection of pictures I found that someone took this past Sunday. In essence, people’s lives were simply wiped away and replaced with filth. They need help.

Therefore, I am going to give a gift at RedCross.org – if you are reading RtB today, and you haven’t given yet, would you consider it as well?

It’s as easy as clicking here and giving a small donation. $10, $15. Everything helps; you know it does. I’m going there now.

Birfday Boy

Yep – Jakey turned one, and boy did he party like a mad man. Mommy made him his own cake, and she’d made sure that he had never eaten cake before, so it was truly a first-time experience. Grammie Fink took some good photos. Behold….

First bite – not quite sure

Do I like this?

Yep. I like this.

I reeeeally like this. (Clicky)

All cleaned up and ready for presentses

It was great fun. Wish I hadn’t been fighting this stupid cold or sinus infection or whatever it is. But hey, at least the Browns won. Imagine that!

FO

True Confession

All right. I admit it.

I. Love. George. Will.

There, I said it. Squeaky-clean conservative nerd bird George Will: political pundit, analyst, columnist, baseball author and writer extraordinaire. He’s never without a quiet-but-witty comeback; never lost for a tidy statement that makes a whole mess of sense.

I don’t care about his politics. He can live in or flap whatever wing he wants – it matters not. I’ve read lots of his op-eds, and watched a bunch of his live interviews on various news programs. I think he’s brilliant.

Again, it’s not the subject matter that thrills. It’s the way he turns a phrase, be it in person or in writing. For instance, this little gem effortlessly rolled out of his face last night after the presidential debates:

Is the race now different than it was at 9 p.m. eastern time? The answer, I think, is no. This wasn’t a game changer. Both had their familiar personas. Barack Obama was the rather tweedy professor conducting a national seminar. John McCain was a rather hotter personality – the national scold.”

The national scold. I like that. And so what if he’s worn the same hair style since he was two years old? I wish he would ask me to lunch so I could just sit and listen to him talk over Cobb salad and white wine. That would make my day.

On an unrelated note, this made me laugh, and should give some fellow crusties a chuckle or two as well. Nothing personal…just some nice PhotoShop work. Heh.

Until tomorrow, my fiends…

Fink out.

PS – I hate Cobb salad. And white wine.

Photo credit: LA Times

Harry’s gone and grown up

Hard to imagine. Little Harry Potter on Broadway, in his birthday suit.

Daniel Radcliffe, in what critics are calling a fabulous breakout performance, is in New York for the winter, doing a run of Equus, the provocative play by Peter Shaffer, who also wrote the book for Amadeus.

From what I’ve read on the web this morning, the boy can really act. It’s clear why he might have chosen this role; it is just about as far away from his Harry character as he can get.

Considered a bit dated now, but still powerful, is the storyline of Equus, which centers around a teenage boy who develops a strange idol-worship fetish for horses. A lot of it is rooted in the psycho-sexual issues of Alan Strang (played by Radcliffe), which delves deep into the boy’s history with his mother.

Sent in to try and reach out to Alan is Dr. Dysart (played by Richard Griffiths, accomplished stage actor and Harry Potter costar). The result, from what I gather, is an amazing performance. It should put butts in the seats at the Broadhurst, if for no other reason than I’m betting there are lots of fans who would just pay to see the oddity of Radicliffe in the altogether (though I wouldn’t be one of them, thanks all the same).

Anyone for a quick weekender to Manhattan??

FO

Photo credits: the LA Times

BTTH III

I guess I’m in a head-kickin’ mood this week.

Since I began RtB, I’ve received 1,139 spam comments. Cool thing is, you will never see them. A dandy little piece of software called Akismet takes care of all of them for me. It’s the flippin Holy Grail of blog comment protection.

If you’ve ever seen comment spam, you know it’s vile. And stupid and dumb and full of poop. Here’s a sample of what Akismet caught yesterday. Click on the picture for a closer look:

All those URLs lead to nowhere. Email addresses, too. So….WHY post garbage like this? Needless to say, this bozo’s IP is blocked, and he/she gets a big ol’ boot to the head. Or should I say, bota a la cabeza, since the IP traces to Panama?

I’ll still fight the battle, though. They’re like cockroaches. They can survive anything, including IP blocking, because they’ll just go get another IP.

Yep. Hate me some spammers.