When asked if his Senate appointment was the result of a secret pay-to-play deal between him and the beleaguered Poe-and-Presley-quoting governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris replied:
"I have no money."
He blew it all on granite
Friday, January 9, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Quips and Quotations (Happy Hour Edition)
He who wakes up with a rooster...is a sex maniac!
I got a lot of sun on my vacation. I found a bar with a hole in the roof.
I've got seven kids. The three words you hear most around my house are "Hello", "Goodby" and "I'm pregnant"
You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
--Dean Martin
I got a lot of sun on my vacation. I found a bar with a hole in the roof.
I've got seven kids. The three words you hear most around my house are "Hello", "Goodby" and "I'm pregnant"
You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
--Dean Martin
In Memoriam: Edd Cartier 1914-2008
Science fiction illustrator
"I put a bit of humor into what I drew. I was even told at times that I put too much humor into drawing science fiction. It's a serious thing. When I started out doing science fiction, it was all kind of a weird thing."
(Weird thing, indeed. Why I am I giving this guy an "In Memoriam"? In the last couple of years I've become interested in what's now called the "Golden Age of Illustration," roughly from the turn of the last century into the 1960s. As printing techniques improved, and magazines proliferated, there was a great demand for artists to illustrate stories, covers, and, lest we forget, advertisements. So what we're basically talking about here is commercial art. The most famous of these commercial artists was Norman Rockwell, but there were hundreds of others toiling, drawing, and painting away in obscurity. This was work-for-hire rather than art-for-art's-sake. That didn't make these guys any less creative. Or, if it did, you can't tell. No more is this true than with the gloriously goofy sci-fi art of the era, of which Cartier was a master. Just Google Edd Cartier, or science-fiction art, click on any sight that features art work, and you'll wonder if these guys weren't tutored by Timothy Leary. As more and more artists, sci-fi or otherwise, from that Golden Age pass on, expect to see their names pop up here from time to time--KJ)
"I put a bit of humor into what I drew. I was even told at times that I put too much humor into drawing science fiction. It's a serious thing. When I started out doing science fiction, it was all kind of a weird thing."
(Weird thing, indeed. Why I am I giving this guy an "In Memoriam"? In the last couple of years I've become interested in what's now called the "Golden Age of Illustration," roughly from the turn of the last century into the 1960s. As printing techniques improved, and magazines proliferated, there was a great demand for artists to illustrate stories, covers, and, lest we forget, advertisements. So what we're basically talking about here is commercial art. The most famous of these commercial artists was Norman Rockwell, but there were hundreds of others toiling, drawing, and painting away in obscurity. This was work-for-hire rather than art-for-art's-sake. That didn't make these guys any less creative. Or, if it did, you can't tell. No more is this true than with the gloriously goofy sci-fi art of the era, of which Cartier was a master. Just Google Edd Cartier, or science-fiction art, click on any sight that features art work, and you'll wonder if these guys weren't tutored by Timothy Leary. As more and more artists, sci-fi or otherwise, from that Golden Age pass on, expect to see their names pop up here from time to time--KJ)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Bad Medicine
(Another Cleveland-related post. The out-of-town readers ain't gonna like this...)
Forest City Enterprises is just a little unhappy at our County Commissioners. And when Forest City is upset, the Plain Dealer editorial board is downright apoplectic.
Relations between FCE and CC weren't always thus. Used to be if Ratner, Miller and co. bought a piece of land PCB cheap, the county would ensure they got a decent return on their investment (google "Forest City" and "Quincy Avenue". The article I unsuccessfully tried to link is on the PD's own cleveland.com.)
Now, those same three folks (actually, two of them have been replaced since the above deal went down, but they're still commissioners) have just granted the Kennedys--I mean, Merchandise Mart--a month extension on a final decision as to where to build the medical mart/convention center. It was supposed to be adjacent to the FCE-owned Tower City, which has been losing tenants lately. Now there's word that they may want to build a smaller convention center on the site of the present convention center, which, you may recall, is already small, which is why, the wise men tell us, we need a new convention center in the first place!
Anyway, the editorial in the Sunday Plain Dealer took the commissioners to task for not cracking the whip on the Kennedys (who may, you know, have other, you know, political fish to fry.) I don't particularly want to defend the commissioners, especially since one of them could be arrested any day (oddly enough, the sole survivor of the Quincy Avenue deal), but Peter Lawson Jones (named in the editorial, along with Tim Hagen) was skeptical about this whole thing from the very beginning.
Not the PD . They endorsed both the mart, and the undemocratic way the mart was brought about (closed meetings; a tax citizens weren't allowed to vote on.)
And they're STILL endorsing both the Mart, and, apparently, an undemocratic way of bringing it about. Read the last line of that editorial (italics mine):
"Cleveland needs the medical mart--much more than it needs an elected board of commissioners."
Maybe even more than it needs a daily newspaper.
Forest City Enterprises is just a little unhappy at our County Commissioners. And when Forest City is upset, the Plain Dealer editorial board is downright apoplectic.
Relations between FCE and CC weren't always thus. Used to be if Ratner, Miller and co. bought a piece of land PCB cheap, the county would ensure they got a decent return on their investment (google "Forest City" and "Quincy Avenue". The article I unsuccessfully tried to link is on the PD's own cleveland.com.)
Now, those same three folks (actually, two of them have been replaced since the above deal went down, but they're still commissioners) have just granted the Kennedys--I mean, Merchandise Mart--a month extension on a final decision as to where to build the medical mart/convention center. It was supposed to be adjacent to the FCE-owned Tower City, which has been losing tenants lately. Now there's word that they may want to build a smaller convention center on the site of the present convention center, which, you may recall, is already small, which is why, the wise men tell us, we need a new convention center in the first place!
Anyway, the editorial in the Sunday Plain Dealer took the commissioners to task for not cracking the whip on the Kennedys (who may, you know, have other, you know, political fish to fry.) I don't particularly want to defend the commissioners, especially since one of them could be arrested any day (oddly enough, the sole survivor of the Quincy Avenue deal), but Peter Lawson Jones (named in the editorial, along with Tim Hagen) was skeptical about this whole thing from the very beginning.
Not the PD . They endorsed both the mart, and the undemocratic way the mart was brought about (closed meetings; a tax citizens weren't allowed to vote on.)
And they're STILL endorsing both the Mart, and, apparently, an undemocratic way of bringing it about. Read the last line of that editorial (italics mine):
"Cleveland needs the medical mart--much more than it needs an elected board of commissioners."
Maybe even more than it needs a daily newspaper.
Recommended Reading Revisited
In my last Recommended Reading I said I couldn't believe the last Dick Feagler column, which initially ran in the Sunday Plain Dealer, would be a waste of time. Well, was it? That dependson whether youhad a difficulttime reading itwith allthe wordssmooshedtogether.
The PD printed a more readable version in yesterday's paper. Try reading that, or, seeing as you're sitting in front of a computer, anyway ...
The PD printed a more readable version in yesterday's paper. Try reading that, or, seeing as you're sitting in front of a computer, anyway ...
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Recommended Reading
To those of you living in or around Cleveland, Dick Feagler's final column will be tomorrow in the Plain Dealer. I obviously haven't read it yet, but I can't believe it will be a waste of your time. Or your old-timer's time.
Incidentally, I've already said my goodbyes to Feagler.
Incidentally, I've already said my goodbyes to Feagler.
Friday, January 2, 2009
New Years TV
Watched Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve with Ryan Seacrest the other night. I didn't see the whole thing, so don't expect some in-depth analysis. Rather, think of it as me...shooting off my mouth.
People like to make fun of Seacrest, but I've always thought he was OK on American Idol. It's been the biggest thing on prime-time for a number of years now, yet he seems not to take it all too seriously, knowing that it's just a combination of two earlier shows, Star Search and The Gong Show, Simon Cowell being the gong. So why did Seacrest seem to me a little awestruck that he was following in the footsteps of Dick Clark and Guy Lombardo? The guy needs to relax. Next year he should have Paula Abdul there. That girl knows how to party. She could drop in on Times Square on that big ball.
In an earlier post, I confessed to being out of touch with the current music scene. Well, I have to partially recant my confession. I actually recognized a few of the songs performed on the show, if not the names of the people actually performing them. Contrast this with my parents, and other kids parents, back in the 1970s. Then, they seemed to recognize such names as Elton John, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. They just didn't know what the hell they sang. Just variations of the Beatles, as far as they were concerned. As far as I'm concerned, what I heard New Year's Eve were just variations of the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. People much younger than me, already on their third iPod, and who know vinyl only as the type of upholstery you definitely don't want in your car on a hot, summer day, assure me that what I heard wasn't disco. That's good. At his age John Travolta might fracture his ass in 17 different places imitating the kind of dance moves I saw Wednesday night.
Fergie was there. Now, that's one name I recognize. I see she's no longer a redhead. I wonder if Prince Andrew and the rest of Buckingham Palace knows she's appeared on American TV in a sexy mini dress? I know she's divorced, but she's still the Duchess of something or other.
Finally, there's Dick Clark. Due to a stroke, he slurs his words almost as much as Paula Abdul. You can finally tell he's had plastic surgery. I say "finally" because when I was growing up he was often referred to as "the world's oldest teenager" due to his seeming immunity to the aging process. Actually, he was pushing 50 and looked 10, maybe 15 years younger. Quite an achievement, to be sure, but I doubt if he was carded much. Now he's pushing 80, so, if he hadn't had his stroke, he'd probably look 65. Again an achievement, and I can just imagine some aging baby boomer watching him on TV and saying "Jeez! He looks the same as he did in '62! He really is the world's oldest teenager!"
Speaking of the world's oldest teenager, wasn't that Bill Clinton in Times Square?
People like to make fun of Seacrest, but I've always thought he was OK on American Idol. It's been the biggest thing on prime-time for a number of years now, yet he seems not to take it all too seriously, knowing that it's just a combination of two earlier shows, Star Search and The Gong Show, Simon Cowell being the gong. So why did Seacrest seem to me a little awestruck that he was following in the footsteps of Dick Clark and Guy Lombardo? The guy needs to relax. Next year he should have Paula Abdul there. That girl knows how to party. She could drop in on Times Square on that big ball.
In an earlier post, I confessed to being out of touch with the current music scene. Well, I have to partially recant my confession. I actually recognized a few of the songs performed on the show, if not the names of the people actually performing them. Contrast this with my parents, and other kids parents, back in the 1970s. Then, they seemed to recognize such names as Elton John, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. They just didn't know what the hell they sang. Just variations of the Beatles, as far as they were concerned. As far as I'm concerned, what I heard New Year's Eve were just variations of the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. People much younger than me, already on their third iPod, and who know vinyl only as the type of upholstery you definitely don't want in your car on a hot, summer day, assure me that what I heard wasn't disco. That's good. At his age John Travolta might fracture his ass in 17 different places imitating the kind of dance moves I saw Wednesday night.
Fergie was there. Now, that's one name I recognize. I see she's no longer a redhead. I wonder if Prince Andrew and the rest of Buckingham Palace knows she's appeared on American TV in a sexy mini dress? I know she's divorced, but she's still the Duchess of something or other.
Finally, there's Dick Clark. Due to a stroke, he slurs his words almost as much as Paula Abdul. You can finally tell he's had plastic surgery. I say "finally" because when I was growing up he was often referred to as "the world's oldest teenager" due to his seeming immunity to the aging process. Actually, he was pushing 50 and looked 10, maybe 15 years younger. Quite an achievement, to be sure, but I doubt if he was carded much. Now he's pushing 80, so, if he hadn't had his stroke, he'd probably look 65. Again an achievement, and I can just imagine some aging baby boomer watching him on TV and saying "Jeez! He looks the same as he did in '62! He really is the world's oldest teenager!"
Speaking of the world's oldest teenager, wasn't that Bill Clinton in Times Square?
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