imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Saturday, December 25, 2004
WHEN IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME IN TEXAS
When it's Christmas time in Texas
It's a very special time for me
In Texas we'll go swingin' 'round the Christmas tree
Dancin' to a Christmas melody
When it's Christmas time in Texas
It might look just like a summer day
There may not be snow in San Antonio
But it's a Texas Christmas to me
(Artist: George Strait)
Ha! While I sit here in Upstate NY with a sunny-green Christmas (blech!), our buddy LoanCat, who lives in the tip of Texas, took this picture out her front door! Even Brownsville, Texas, which is just south of her, got snow.
What was YOUR weather?
Friday, December 24, 2004
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Thursday, December 23, 2004
ROUNDUP
Cody, Wyoming: This Christmas light display (above), dubbed "Leroy, The Redneck Reindeer," won Jack and Diane Martin of 19th Street the best residential Christmas display in the Holiday Light Contest. (photos by ROB DENSMORE)
8 Poor baby, Denise “I didn’t buy my ex's pardon from Slick” Rich no longer has to charter a yacht. How bourgeois!
8 From MTV (natch) it’s Daddy’s little hottie! Especially needed: hot girls ages 19-25 that are fun, fit, outgoing, and their dads (any age) that are fun, strong-minded and/or have strong personalities. This is a great way for dads and daughters to bond and share a really cool experience together.
8 Annnnnnd she’s OFF! Let’s just get this out of the way now: She’s running.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has a re-election campaign in front of her in 2006, but as far as many around her are concerned, the train has already departed for a destination two years farther out—the Presidency.
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Despite the impression that she has moved to the right, Mrs. Clinton has yet to make any major departures from the Democratic Party mainstream, and while she’s picked eclectic subjects and shown a talent for working across party lines, she’s hardly a conservative. Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal group, for example, gave Mrs. Clinton a 95 percent rating last year, chiding her only for her vote in favor of an appropriation for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Gun Owners of America recently bestowed on her its prized (well, in some circles) "F-minus" rating.
8 CAPTION CONTEST!
Yes indeedy. The Man has a caption contest going on that picture, and he’ll post the results on December 27th, so don’t dawdle over that egg nog too long.
8 You should have a high speed ISP to access this LIVE Times Square video cam. Great viewing, and don't forget to turn up the sound.
8 Let’s wrap this up with a bit of holiday cheer, via Rush's website, Paul Shanklin and the guys singing: Walking ‘Round In Women’s Underwear
LONG LIVE REX!
Remember Rex Reed? Honest to God, I thought he was dead. I used to watch him on TV give rather flamboyant film reviews. Daaah-ling, they were such FABulous performances, to-simply-die for! Well, lo and behold I stumbled across his latest reviews in the NY Observer. The difference now is that I’m actually paying attention to his reviews.
Rex reviews:
A Love Song For Bobby Long
John Travolta, making a sincere bid for critical attention as a serious actor, should be applauded for his courage and lack of inhibition. Reading Carson McCullers paperbacks and quoting everyone from George Sand to Molière while swishing through the house with a terminal hangover in a red paisley dressing gown, his white hair stuffed into a cowboy hat, his gut hanging out of his underwear and his fat, hairy feet overlapping the sides of his dirty sandals, he’s Truman Capote with the vapors. What some call flamboyant bravery others dismiss as too much ham for the salad. But conjuring memories of my own student days in the bayou belt, I recall English professors on Southern campuses who were the spitting image of everything Mr. Travolta says and does in this film.
Beyond The Sea
Kevin Spacey’s cheesy Bobby Darin biopic, is like a lounge revue on a second-class cruise ship. You might watch it if you were in the middle of the Atlantic on a Tuesday night with nothing else to do, but you sure don’t want to pay money to do it. The Bobby Darin story is nothing new, and in Mr. Spacey’s direction of it—as well as in his portrayal of the finger-popping heel—the vu is numbingly déjà. He stands in the spotlight in the middle of the Coconut Grove, like Jeannette MacDonald in the ruins of San Francisco, and … sings! Using a TV special about his life as a format for nostalgia, Darin/Spacey says, "Memories are like moonbeams—we do with them what we want." It’s a signal that the movie you are about to see is going to be a mess.
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Buy the record and enjoy the music. The rest of Beyond the Sea can only be endured with your eyes closed.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
ROUNDUP
8 From my idol, A Kitty Litter-ary Moment :).
8 Paris Hilton has clodhoppers.
8 A new book on Hillary, “and it won't be pretty, sources say. … [R]eaders should expect chapters on Hillary's disgraced Rose Law Firm partner Web Hubbell, the Vince Foster suicide, and her mysterious association with skunk-haired Svengali Susan Thomases.”
8 THIS JUST IN FROM TEXAS: A scientist from Texas A&M University has invented a bra that keeps women's breasts from jiggling and prevents the nipples from pushing through the fabric when cold weather sets in. At a news conference announcing the invention, the scientist was taken outside by a large group of cowboys who kicked the shit out of him.
(Thanks, C.O.)
THE PRINCE & THE POTTER
JK Rowling names July for Harry and prince
[Y]esterday brought the news that the sixth instalment of JK Rowling’s hugely popular series - titled Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - will be published on 16 July next year.
It seems certain that the opening chapter of this penultimate story in the series will contain major revelations - Rowling has been thinking about the plot for some 13 years - and could challenge records for the fastest ever sales set by previous books.
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However, fans can be reassured that the schoolboy wizard is safe. Earlier this year Rowling said Harry will definitely survive to the seventh and final book. The writer, who has houses in Perthshire, Edinburgh and London, revealed on her website on Monday that she had finished the book, but it was hidden behind a "secret door" and could only be discovered after answering several questions contained in presents beneath a Christmas tree.
For all you muggles out there.
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
PUTIN'S BIG BLUNDER
By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin's brazen scheme to rebuild the old Soviet Empire by annexing Ukraine has backfired. The backlash is brewing throughout the former Soviet republics that Russia calls its "near abroad."
In trying to win the electoral contest in Ukraine for his pro-Russian puppet and then seeking to steal an election, Putin sacrificed valuable political capital and credibility in the region. That his allies in the KGB and the Russian Mafia likely sought to poison pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko when they couldn't defeat him just compounds the blunder.
The overreaching by this would-be czar is most reminiscent of the 1991 Moscow coup attempt by hardline communists. They sought to oust Mikhail Gorbachev and turn the clock back — but instead triggered the liberation of Russia, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the victory of Boris Yeltsin.
‘TIS THE SEASON
Lighten up, it's Christmas
By Jonah Goldberg
Maybe it’s my upbringing. When my parents got married, my father insisted the kids be raised Jewish. For the record, Mom’s Episcopalian. And, also for the record, you can spare the e-mails about how that means I’m not Jewish because Jewishness is matrilineal (from the mom’s side).
This didn’t stop me from getting Bar Mitzvah presents (ah, the early ’80s, so many electronic calculators!). And it doesn’t stop me from getting piles of anti-Semitic e-mail, either. Anyway, Momma G said, Fine, we can raise the kids Jewish, but we have to celebrate Christmas.
And so we did. In fact, my parents clipped a headline from a newspaper and taped it to a cardboard Christmas tree ornament they still use every year. It says: “Santa Knows We’re Jewish.”
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Anyway, I guess it’s because of this background — plus my supposedly troglodytic rightwingness — that I just cannot get worked-up about the supposed non-inclusiveness of Christmastime. I don’t know a single Jew, Muslim or atheist who’d be even remotely likely to switch teams simply by seeing a Christmas tree. I don’t know a single Jew, Muslim or atheist who’d be even remotely likely to switch teams simply by seeing a Christmas tree. Santa Claus is not going around like the priests in “The Exorcist,” waving his bell like holy water, shouting, “The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!”
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Tolerance must be a two-way street. If minorities want the majority to be tolerant of them, minorities in turn need to tolerate at least some of the norms of the majority.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
MEATHEAD
You'd think Georgie'd be happy with drop-dead gorgeous looks and talent, but AFlyOnTheWall claims this blog is Clooney’s looniness. Calling ProfShade!
TO SEE IF REINDEER REALLY KNOW HOW TO FLY
RJ, who’s pictured in the right hand column under the “I support Bush” message (which should make him cringe), sends his holiday greetings:
The Aerodynamics of Reindeer
Does an ant drown when struck by a single raindrop?
Monday, December 20, 2004
BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE!
I awoke to frost on all the windows and ice on a few. The frost stayed outdoors while the ice was on the inside. It was -8* with a wind chill of -14*. Welcome to Varykino. What do you do on such a chilly day? Why you go to Keuka Lake where it’s even colder. Never pass up that chance for frostbite because y’never know when you’ll ever get the chance again. Tomorrow we’ll be thrust into a veritable heat wave with the mercury pushing into the 30s.
That “steam” rising off the water means that Keuka Lake was warmer than the air.
Little H and Nurse G braving the elements just so I can capture the moment. Hammondsport is very quaint and charming town; its ambiance reminds me of Peyton Place. Then it was off to do a bit of shopping, no doubt with the Pope’s blessing, and a bite to eat.
And speaking of cold, our warm hearted blogging buddy, Mrs. Falkner’s Cabana Boy, is finding nothing but a freeze in cyber-mating.
Being single. . .
. . .and 35, I've had a couple of friends urge me to sign up for one of the online dating services, which I've always resisted -- and it turns out, for good reason.
DIOXIN AT THE DACHA?
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A Dinner in Ukraine Made for Agatha Christie
That much is known. But the most popular theory - that Mr. Yushchenko was poisoned at the dacha - contains flaws, strong enough that even his own supporters raise questions about it. And as investigators seek deeper insight into the case, they say a chief obstacle has been Mr. Yushchenko himself, who has used the poisoning almost as a theme in his campaign, but has not fully cooperated with the authorities, even as the trail of his would-be assassin grows cold.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
NOT YOUR AVERAGE BIBLIOPHILE
John Dunning inspired me to collect books. I don’t have a huge collection … 5 or 6 is not huge … or even a memorable one. It’s more like a hodge-podge, really. One of the first was Andrew Klavan’s “True Crime.” I bought it because Crown Publishing Group was offering a full refund if you could prove you had purchased it on either July 14th or July 15th of 1995. I kept the quarter-page ad announcing the refund and tucked it into the book, along with the receipt of my refund dated October 25, 1995. The book was an okay read. Clint Eastwood starred in the okay movie years later.
“A Civil Action” was probably my next addition. Back in January of 1996, the Wall Street Journal had a piece about the book entitled “Epilogue: Random House Revives a ’95 Flop.” Random House felt that Harr’s book, based on a true story, was one the public should like. However, even though it had sold a 57,000 copies, they had hoped to sell 200,00. They determined that the original book jacket was the problem. They thought customers were mistaking it to be a legal text book, so they decided to republish with a new glitzy Grisham-like jacket. I read that and immediately dashed out and bought the book in its original jacket, and I tucked the WSJ article inside. Years later John Travolta starred in the motion picture. I couldn’t finish either book or movie.
In a bit mention in the NY Post, dated 7-14-96, I read the following:
In the get-them-while-they’re-hot department, HarpersCollins has a certified collector’s item on its hands with its new novel entitled “The Bestseller” by Olivia Goldsmith. Turns out that the powers that be over at The New York Times had such serious objections on Goldsmith’s page turner, which is a fictionalized take on the current state of the publishing business, that Harper has had to quickly redesign the jacket art to fend off a major lawsuit. The 50,000-copy first printing of the novel, however, featuring the original illustration of a bogus NYT bestseller list with Goldsmith’s book prominently in the number one slot, has already been shipped to bookstores all around the country. Meanwhile, all future printings of the book will still show the fake NYT list on the cover, but with the name of Goldsmith’s book hidden from view by a woman’s hand.
I rushed out immediately … literally … to buy a copy with the coveted cover. That was the summer I had offered to chauffer Nurse G to and from her organic chemistry course. At that time it was the only time her college offered the course. It was a daily 3-hour-long session, so I sat in a shaded area of the parking lot and read the book. I enjoyed the book, and the fact that it was about getting published, which is one of my goals, made it even more interesting.
When Goldsmith died unexpectedly (1-16-04), I decided to buy a few more copies of the book in its original jacket. I have a total of three plus an “uncorrected proof” copy.
I took one look at the NY Post’s front page on August 28, 2002, and knew I had to immediately order “The Honored Society” by Michael Gambino. “SCAMBINO: Bogus mobster in $500,000 book sting” sold me. Turns out that the book and its author were bogus. The guy’s real name was Michael Pellegrino, not Gambino, the supposed grandson of the infamous Carlo Gambino. I saved the pages from the Post and tucked them into the book. I never read it.
Interesting aside: The NY Post’s delicious gossip column Page Six was on the back of the book scam article. Page Six reported that day (8-28-2002) that “Judith Regan (was sighted) celebrating her birthday with former police commish Bernard Kerik and 20 others at Patsy’s.”
I bought John Flood’s “Bag Men” because I read a good review of it in the WSJ: It’s New Year’s Day 1965 at the start of John Flood’s terrific debut novel, “Bag Men.” I tucked the review into the book. I think it was a good read. Other than a second Flood novel, “Big If,” which was nominated for a 2002 National Book Award for Fiction, I can’t find any other books by him. Since he didn’t rock the world as John Flood, author, he might have returned to his original identity as Mark Costello, lawyer (Yale ’88) who was at one time a federal prosecutor.
I have a copy of “Primary Colors” by that lying, Clinton suck-up, Joe Klein (a.k.a. Anonymous). I found both book and Travolta movie boring and could not finish either. Why I hang on to the book is anyone’s guess.
And that concludes the tour of my book collection. As I said, I’m not your average bibliophile. What’s in YOUR “collection”?
