Author: ssw15

Finally having winter this week in the northeast. Frigid, yes, but it’s winter, for gosh sake.  People got all atwitter over getting a dusting of snowflakes on Thursday.
Oh, and on Monday: I watched “The Queen.” Helen Mirren was great as Queen Elizabeth II. Heck, the whole cast was great: James Cromwell as a mean old Prince Philip; the guy playing Prime Minister Tony Blair didn’t come off as a caricature, and even Prince Charles came off as an okay guy. Anyway, highly recommended. Not a long movie, but it felt like such depth.  (unlike, say, other movies that run way too long as if the length makes up for the lack of quality).
If you wonder how our Senators and Congressmen live in D.C., the NY Times has this article which kind of ends any mystery to it: “Taking Power, Sharing Cereal,” on how roommates Senators Schumer and Durbin and Congressman Delahunt live in Congressman Miller’s Washington house (apparently, eating cereal is a big thing; cleaning isn’t; geez, sounds like an awful lot like how a lot of us lived in college, huh?):

Think MTV’s “Real World” with a slovenly cast of Democratic power brokers. While Washington may have more than its share of crash pads for policy-debating workaholics, few, if any, have sheltered a quorum as powerful as this one. About a quarter-mile southeast of the Capitol, the inelegantly decorated two-bedroom house has become an unlikely center of influence in Washington’s changing power grid. It is home to the second- and third-ranking senators in the new Democratic majority (Mr. Durbin, the majority whip, and Mr. Schumer, the vice chairman of the Democratic caucus) and the chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee (Mr. Miller).

Mr. Delahunt, a six-term congressman, is the least prominent of the four but perhaps the funniest. More to the point, he is the only one willing to sleep in the living room with a close-up view of Mr. Schumer slumbering a few feet away in his boxers.

Mr. Miller began taking in weary lawmakers in 1982, but this is the first time in 12 years that four members of a Democratic majority have lived here simultaneously. The four men were once host to a fund-raiser for Senator Barbara Boxer of California at their divey dwelling, raising $80,000. Given the prevailing attire in the place on many nights, guests were given pairs of custom-made “Barbara Boxer shorts.”

As a general rule, the abode is hardly fit for entertaining, or even for a health inspector. It is used for convenience: sleeping, ditching stuff, and fast-food consumption — the kinds of functions prized by vagabond politicians whose families are back in their home states and who generally spend only their working weekdays here.

“Everybody in the world says they’re going to do a television series based on us,” said Mr. Durbin, who was collapsed on the couch on a recent Monday night. Still in a tie, he sipped ice water from a massive Chicago Cubs cup while waiting for the Chinese food to arrive.

“But then they realize that the story of four middle-aged men, with no sex and violence, is not going to last two weeks,” he said. The prevailing topics of their discussions are grandchildren and Metamucil, he added.

“Hey, speak for yourself, Durbin,” Mr. Delahunt said, protesting the claim of no sex and violence.

“There is a lot of violence in here,” Mr. Schumer said.

In fact, the roommates have never resorted to violence, at least with one another. (Crickets are another story.) Their weapons are verbal, and often aimed at Mr. Schumer, who admits to a serious dereliction of roommate duties, like grocery shopping. He is also prone to a blatant disregard for conserving a most precious household resource, cereal.

“I love cereal,” Mr. Schumer said, digging into his second bowl of granola, going a long way toward depleting a box that Mr. Miller had just purchased. [….]

Thank goodness for my having multiple VCR’s – Thursday nights being near impossible with the irresistible tv – taped the musical Scrubs episode (with music by the Avenue Q people, playing on Gilbert and Sullivan and “Rent” and other styles) – cool! – and Smallville – the beginning of the Justice League – as Clark joins forces with Green Arrow, Flash (in his Impulse version), Cyborg, and Aquaman.  Green Arrow bestows Clark the codename of “Boy Scout” – which has been a nickname that I could have sworn, in the comics/cartoon versions, Batman/Bruce Wayne bestowed on Clark/Superman to needle Clark/Superman.  Have to catch up on Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy.  Arg, the networks just screw me up!

A salute to Martin Luther King, Jr. The hope that the world can continue to improve continues.

The man who will not retire: Bill Moyers may be coming back to tv with yet another weekly show. God love him, I’m glad he’ll do it. If you have it in you, and the world needs your voice, why not get back out there?

Saturday: went shopping at Staten Island Mall. Not nearly as fun a place as it used to be, but it’ll do. Bought books at Borders (I could have sworn I wasn’t going to buy anything this month, after the spending for Christmas that I did), so to redeem holiday rewards dollars. Some interesting reading to look forward to doing and good bargains.

And, of course, tonight is the premiere of “24.” Hmm, should be interesting.

In my internet surfing, I was reminded that it’s the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 20?! Yikes. But, it’s true – 1987. I checked though – the actual anniversary’s not until September, as opposed to, say, how the later spinoffs premiered (Deep Space 9 and Voyager both aired as January premieres).

Sooner or later, Hollywood’s going to have to figure out whether You Tube is “friend or foe,” as this NY Times article suggests. There are pros and cons, no doubt – but big bucks are also involved…

Slate’s “Jurisprudence” on an analysis and slide show of Justice William Brennan’s views and notes. Cool stuff.

I know; I’m old-fashioned: while still trying to get rid of more clutter, I listened to some CD’s, my belated Xmas presents. “Jersey Boys” Broadway show album – awesome! Now, if only I’ll ever see the show… Snow Patrol (I know the “Chasing Cars” song is a bit ubiquitous these days, but the album “Eyes Open” is overall pretty good), and The Fray (yes, their song “How To Save a Life” is also all over the place – both Snow Patrol and The Fray have to thank “Grey’s Anatomy” for putting their songs on the commercials and soundtracks; but The Fray’s album is also overall pretty good).

Food eaten: homemade fried wontons – yum. (Good – delicious! Bad – my weakness for fried foods will likely do me in one day); Dunkin Donuts’ munchkins. I believe that munchkins make you happy. Bit into the sugar coated ones, thinking it’d be either a jelly or a creme; turns out to be creme. Happy little surprise. The world sucks, at least if you watch the news, but you got to take the little joys in life.

January reading: Nelson DeMille’s Word of Honor. Bit long (like, hi, an editor can help you cut things out, you know); gets down to the nitty-gritty of how bad wars are bad (Vietnam War vet’s covering up of war crimes comes to haunt him real bad; feels very 1980’s because the book was written and published in the 1980’s). Good subway read.

NY Times’ Stuart Elliott reports on the trend of using penguins as advertising spokesanimals. Yeah, you know, ’cause penguins are so darn cute. I blame it entirely on “March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet.”
In honor of Iwao Takamoto’s passing, Slate republishes/re-posts its Appreciation for the Scooby-Doo thing. Apparently, in 2004, Chris Suellentrop said:

Here’s the easiest way to comprehend the longevity of Scooby-Doo: Casey Kasem has been doing the voice of Shaggy (Norville Rogers, if you insist on his given name) for longer than he hosted his weekly Top 40 radio show. He started voicing Shaggy in 1969, the year before American Top 40 debuted, and he’s still got the part, on television in the WB’s Saturday-morning cartoon, What’s New Scooby-Doo?, and in the direct-to-video movies the franchise keeps churning out. [….]

But beyond making comparisons to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, or citing the general appeal of talking dogs, or noting that Daphne is as sexualized as a kiddie cartoon character gets, it’s difficult to say exactly why the show has had such a long-standing appeal. It’s not as if the show’s animator, Iwao Takamoto—his other creations include the Great Gazoo of The Flintstones and Grape Ape—is an unheralded genius, a mystery-genre Tex Avery or Walt Disney. “I never got it,” complained Mitchell Kriegman, the creator of Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All, to the Boston Globe a few years back. “It’s got kind of a slacker appeal, a no-resistance story line.” Animators and children’s TV creators around the world must see Scooby and ask themselves: Why can’t my crappy show become iconic? [….]

TV snobs surely see Scooby‘s ineffable charms as another brick in the wall of American decline, the latest example of how we’re all slouching toward Toon Town. As if our children should all be watching The Sopranos. Maybe Scooby‘s appeal makes sense when you compare it to the rest of kids’ TV. The most ham-handed of children’s shows try to stuff a moral message down the audience’s throat. But the moral code of Scooby-Doo permeates the entire enterprise without you ever noticing it. The Washington Post‘s Hank Stuever concisely elucidated the “Scooby worldview” when the first live-action movie came out: “Kids should meddle, dogs are sweet, life is groovy, and if something scares you, you should confront it.” What needs to be explained about that?

“Ugly Betty” on Thursday night – very interesting episode.  Poor Daniel learns that Sophia was toying with him all along (Salma Hayek played the character’s less-kind side so well, that it was hard to really believe her at the end, when she tells Daniel that he wasn’t what she thought after all).  Poor Wilhelmina gives up her nicer side because love burned her.  And Betty – does she realize that she’s unemployed now?  I certainly hope next week’s episode will get us on the path of wrapping up the conspiracy storyline, which is no fun at all.

Wantedf to catch more of “The O.C.” as it pursues the road to its series finale, but – good grief – the time slot is up against “Grey’s Anatomy.”  Dr. Izzie – do you realize that you can use your $8 million inheritance to help others get medical treatment?  And, once again, Meredith’s family issues rear their ugly heads.

Now, you know that the man who invented the Ramen noodles really made a difference when even the Times has an Appreciation for Momofuku Ando. Honestly, how many of us would have survived college dorm life without a good old cup of Ramen? Actually, considering the extent of my cooking skill, Ramen noodles are probably all I’m really good for; dump in some veggies and I’d be good to go.

The passing of Iwao Takamoto, who created Scooby-Doo and directed the cartoon movie, “Charlotte’s Web.” Fascinating to learn that the cartoons I enjoyed as a kid were done by an American-born Asian-American. Interesting take on how Scooby-Doo came about:

But it was his creation of Scooby-Doo, the cowardly dog with an adventurous heart, that captivated audiences and endured for generations.

Takamoto said he created Scooby-Doo after talking with a Great Dane breeder and named him after Frank Sinatra’s final phrase in “Strangers in the Night.”

The breeder “showed me some pictures and talked about the important points of a Great Dane, like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such,” Takamoto said in a recent talk at Cartoon Network Studios.

“I decided to go the opposite and gave him a hump back, bowed legs, big chin and such. Even his color is wrong.”

Now the whole “Scooby-Dooby-Doo” makes perfect sense. I think.

Happy 2007! Merry 12th Day of Christmas! Best wishes to all!

Actually, if it were up to me, it’d be Christmas all year long. I love the lights and the feelings of peace and goodwill.

Meanwhile, the weather has made it far from Christmas-sy or New Year-ish. Is it me, or have El Nino and Global Warming joined forces to ruin winter in the Northeast? Ohmigod, doesn’t anyone realize that Al Gore might be right?…
PBS – Channel 13 here – re-airing Ken Burns’ Civil War. Episode One ended with this amazing reading of a letter of a Union soldier who died at Bull Run – his words of love to his wife, swearing to be with her again in the afterlife, and belief and pride in his country. It’s timeless stuff. The documentary still has a powerful effect – the feelings of war, loss, love, and politics remain. Great stuff as ever.

Tuesday night – season premiere of “Beauty and the Geek.” It’s an amusing reality show that either finds ways to transcend or perpetuate stereotypes. Can’t be sure which, but it’s a laugh to watch. The guys may be smart, but they find ways to be dumb. One’s a Trek fan who takes his Trek way too seriously (I don’t own a Starfleet uniform and I don’t identify myself as a “Trekker” – I prefer “Trekkie” because my fan-ness is that much lighter – those who do own the uniform and called themselves “Trekkers” – well, I think they are just way too much for even me). One plays a Star Wars band – but seems to function well enough as a person. One’s a Harvard guy who may turn out to be the cute one. The gals – well, one’s identified as a “sorority girl” – so, I’m assuming she’s in an actual college and not bimbo. Some of the beauties otherwise seem to be perpetuating “dumb blonde” thing, but we’ll see – the show’s a good watch and something of a “Social experiment” that “Survivor” couldn’t quite play up (well, as for “Survivor” – I still salute Korean-American lawyer Yul for winning with some integrity intact).

Thursday night – I was watching “Ugly Betty.” Great episode. As she leaves for a new magazine job, Betty reflects on her early days at “Mode” magazine, and how she met Henry, the guy from Accounting. I really am beginning to like this show – very well done.

And in other news in the tv front: the upcoming season premiere of “24” – Jack is Back – Jack Bauer returns to the States after several months of torture by the Chinese government (man, they don’t exactly make Asians look good in this, do they?); and, as usual, America is vulnerable (civil liberties? We don’t need no stinkin’ liberties! Umm – well, what’s Jack defending this country? Just our lives, I guess; we’ll figure out the legal ramifications – umm, later, huh). On a Trekker/Trekkie note: Alexander Siddig, Deep Space Nine’s own Dr. Bashir, may be playing a villain against Jack. Emphasis on the “may” – alleged terrorists on this show have a tendency to become not so Evil and I hope Siddig gets to play a more ambiguous character, since ever since after 9/11/01, he’s been playing these Arab characters who try to be gray.
Plus, Fox’s “The O.C.” will be cancelled. Aww. Too bad. It started strong. I’ve enjoyed the Christmakkuh episodes, and how Peter Gallagher played the amusing Jewish defense attorney from NY who married the California WASP (inspiring O.C. fans to become lawyers, I’m sure), and thinking, “Jeez, isn’t Donovan Tate a little young to play this alleged teenage character’s dad?” and wondering when will the O.C. protagonist Ryan ever stop brooding like an idiot. Ah, well. I’ll probably watch the series finale, in all likelihood, considering that I’ve probably only watching one scene this whole season, and only one episode last season. Disclosure: I lost interest when they pushed Donovan Tate off the show and made Mischa Barton’s teenage daughter character even more of a drunken idiot (why Ryan ever liked her Marissa character, I don’t know).
Slate has the “Explainer” of the Year (which year? 2006 or 2007?) – “Is soap ‘self-cleaning’ because it’s soap?” – i.e., how clean is that soap in the public bathroom? Answer:

It’s dirty, but that doesn’t make it a health hazard. Soap can indeed become contaminated with microorganisms, whether it’s in liquid or bar form. According to a series of tests conducted in the early 1980s, bars of soap are often covered with bacteria and carry a higher load than you’d find inside a liquid dispenser. But no one knows for sure whether this dirty soap will actually transfer its germs to your hands during a wash.

In fact, what little clinical evidence there is suggests that dirty soap isn’t so bad. A study from 1965 and another from 1988 used similar methodologies: Researchers coated bars of soap in the lab with E. coli and other nasty bacteria, and then gave them to test subjects for a vigorous hand-wash. Both teams found no transfer of contamination from the dirty soap. However, both studies were tainted by potential conflicts of interest: The first was conducted by Procter & Gamble, and the second came from the Dial Corp.

Still, there’s no good evidence to contradict these studies, and it’s likely that the bacteria on a dirty bar would just wash off when you rinsed your hands. In other words, you’d be cleaning the soap as you cleaned your hands. (Your hands would probably have been a lot dirtier than the soap to begin with.)

It’s not even clear that you need clean water to get the benefits of a hand-washing. Recent hand-hygiene studies in the developing world have found that washing with soap and water reduces infections even when the water supply might be contaminated. Dirty water, like dirty soap, might not make washing less effective.

Even under the best conditions, washing your hands can actually increase the number of microorganisms present on your hands, thanks to contaminated surfaces near the sink, splashes of contaminated water, or improperly dried hands. (In general, it’s safer to leave your hands unwashed than to leave them wet.) [….]
Still, washing with soap and water has been repeatedly shown to prevent the spread of illness, and may be helpful even when it increases your bacteria counts. That may be because two kinds of microbes live on the hands: residents and transients. (In fact, they can even protect your skin from more malicious microbes.) The transient variety are the ones that tend to cause colds or other infections—the ones you want to get rid of when you wash your hands. It’s possible that the increase in bacteria that can result from a hand-washing is composed of harmless residents, not dangerous transients.

According to the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand-washing remains a very important method of staving off infectious disease, and either bar soap or liquid soap should be used after a trip to the bathroom or before a meal. Local health agencies and inspectors are sometimes more wary of bar soap. They either ban it outright or suggest that the bar be placed on a draining rack to dry out between washings. (The gooey bars are more likely to harbor germs.) [internal hyperlinks removed; check the complete article to links to the research and other stuff]

Well, that’s good to know then. Now I feel better about glowering at an ugly bar of soap. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside on a warm and weird 12th Day of Christmas.

Xmas gifts included gift cards (always useful); DVD’s (of tv stuff I do watch – always a good good to give to a tv person); and some books (Al Gore’s book, the tie-in to the documentary – should be an interesting read).

December reading included:

“The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage” by ex-inspector general of the CIA Frederick Hitz, on the literary nature of books on spies and how the history of real spies is that much more crazy (or just plain more human in a dimwitted kind of way) than what LeCarre or Tom Clancy or even Ian Fleming may devise. An interesting read, consistent with my whole spy reading kick of late. The book kind of made me want to read more LeCarre, if nothing else; on the other hand, it also felt like the author was still dancing around the flaws of espionage (like, how can a democracy justify clandestine operations or acts of subterfuge that seem to undermine the very ideas of democracy, including – say – accountability?) – but, considering that the CIA had to clear the book – well, I was impressed by the candid tone and that someone with this Ivy-League-trained-lawyer/ex-spy bureaucrat’s credentials actually seems to enjoy reading spy fiction (of the LeCarre or Graham Greene variety, anyway; couldn’t tell if he cared for James Bond stuff at all).

“The Myth of Moral Justice: Why Our Legal System Fails to do What’s Right” by Thane Rosenbaum. A rather irritating read; he’s a law-and-literature professor at Fordham; he’s also a novelist. He writes very well, but he’s clearly bitter about having been a lawyer; having been through a bad experience with the legal system (bad divorce? Bad anything?); and so he goes on this tear over why can’t our legal system be “moral” (but doesn’t really define what is “moral” – maybe he means the Judeo-Christian Western culture sense of it?), with references to how the lawyers on tv or literature are so much more noble with their sense of justice and angst and devotion to “truth.” Rosenbaum didn’t exactly come up with solutions (no one’s saying the system’s perfect; morality is not the same as legality, as they taught us in law school; and I thought he’s a little nuts to suggest abolishing statutes of limitations), but I guess he’s trying to be provocative to get dialog in the legal profession. Oh, well. It’s a different kind of reading to have tried.
“The Hero With a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. Very good reading on comparative mythology. A classic book that inspired Bill Moyers to interview Campbell and produce the series “Power of Myth” (which I’m currently reading). Campbell focused a bit much of psychoanalysis as a way to analyze myths (too much for my taste, anyway, even if he did have a point that psychoanalysis can be insightful), but his storytelling was superb.
In time for the New Year: January is “Get Organized Month.” Interesting NY Times article by Penelope Green – messes may actually be ok. Considering that I’m a horrific clutter person, I find some sense of consolation in this. Quotes:

“[….]But contrarian voices can be heard in the wilderness. An anti-anticlutter movement is afoot, one that says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder. Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds (who reap higher salaries than those with neat “office landscapes”) and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and cooler than their tidier counterparts. It’s a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands.

“It’s chasing an illusion to think that any organization — be it a family unit or a corporation — can be completely rid of disorder on any consistent basis,” said Jerrold Pollak, a neuropsychologist at Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, N.H., whose work involves helping people tolerate the inherent disorder in their lives. “And if it could, should it be? Total organization is a futile attempt to deny and control the unpredictability of life. I live in a world of total clutter, advising on cases where you’d think from all the paper it’s the F.B.I. files on the Unabomber,” when, in fact, he said, it’s only “a person with a stiff neck.” [….]

Stop feeling bad, say the mess apologists. There are more urgent things to worry about. Irwin Kula is a rabbi based in Manhattan and author of “Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life,” which was published by Hyperion in September. “Order can be profane and life-diminishing,” he said the other day. “It’s a flippant remark, but if you’ve never had a messy kitchen, you’ve probably never had a home-cooked meal. Real life is very messy, but we need to have models about how that messiness works.” [….]

Last week David H. Freedman, another amiable mess analyst (and science journalist), stood bemused in front of the heathery tweed collapsible storage boxes with clear panels ($29.99) at the Container Store in Natick, Mass., and suggested that the main thing most people’s closets are brimming with is unused organizing equipment. “This is another wonderful trend,” Mr. Freedman said dryly, referring to the clear panels. “We’re going to lose the ability to put clutter away. Inside your storage box, you’d better be organized.”

Mr. Freedman is co-author, with Eric Abrahamson, of “A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder,” out in two weeks from Little, Brown & Company. The book is a meandering, engaging tour of beneficial mess and the systems and individuals reaping those benefits, like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose mess-for-success tips include never making a daily schedule.

As a corollary, the book’s authors examine the high cost of neatness — measured in shame, mostly, and family fights, as well as wasted dollars — and generally have a fine time tipping over orthodoxies and poking fun at clutter busters and their ilk, and at the self-help tips they live or die by. They wonder: Why is it better to pack more activities into one day? By whose standards are procrastinators less effective than their well-scheduled peers? Why should children have to do chores to earn back their possessions if they leave them on the floor, as many professional organizers suggest?

In their book Mr. Freedman and Mr. Abrahamson describe the properties of mess in loving terms. Mess has resonance, they write, which means it can vibrate beyond its own confines and connect to the larger world. It was the overall scumminess of Alexander Fleming’s laboratory that led to his discovery of penicillin, from a moldy bloom in a petri dish he had forgotten on his desk. [….]

According to a small survey that Mr. Freedman and Mr. Abrahamson conducted for their book — 160 adults representing a cross section of genders, races and incomes, Mr. Freedman said — of those who had split up with a partner, one in 12 had done so over a struggle involving one partner’s idea of mess. Happy partnerships turn out not necessarily to be those in which products from Staples figure largely. Mr. Freedman and his wife, for example, have been married for over two decades, and live in an offhandedly messy house with a violently messy basement — the latter area, where their three children hang out, decorated (though that’s not quite the right word) in a pre-1990s Tompkins Square Park lean-to style.

The room’s chaos is an example of one of Mr. Freedman and Mr. Abrahamson’s mess strategies, which is to create a mess-free DMZ (in this case, the basement stairs) and acknowledge areas of complementary mess. Cherish your mess management strategies, suggested Mr. Freedman, speaking approvingly of the pile builders and the under-the-bed stuffers; of those who let their messes wax and wane — the cyclers, he called them; and those who create satellite messes (in storage units off-site). “Most people don’t realize their own efficiency or effectiveness,” he said with a grin.

It’s also nice to remember, as Mr. Freedman pointed out, that almost anything looks pretty neat if it’s shuffled into a pile.

That’s right – no anti-biotics would have been discovered if the scientist hadn’t a slob!

And, last but not least: the passing of Gerald Ford. Interesting details on his life; people have this view of him as the not-so-bright man, but he did go to Yale Law for Pete’s sake. And, his historically not-so-smooth actions arguably took courage and ended up not having terrible consequences (pardoning Nixon may have helped the nation move on from the deceitful past – at least, I don’t hold it against Ford for doing it). Heck, apparently Ford’s telling NYC to “drop dead” as the Daily News always had it in the infamous headline ended up being a good move – Ford was apparently trying to tell NYC to get its fiscal act together before he would agree to give financial assistance, which may have led us out of the fiscal basement. Maybe Ford’s legacy may have something to teach a certain current administration? Well, as a student of American history, I’m always happy to keep learning anyway.  Time moves on, and it’s the time of year to reflect.

Belated, but not forgotten: the passing of Joe Barbera. Considering how much Saturday morning cartoons I used to watch… Well, salute to the Barbera of Hanna-Barbera.

The soon-to-be-closing of Murder Ink, a NYC mystery bookstore; the NY Times prints the observations of the owner, Jay Pearsall:

A customer who worked at Carmine’s once said it seemed that bookselling must be a lot like tending bar, without the vomit. It’s true that we work hard and fast, serving up recommendations for customers, who sometimes tell us their problems (like the older woman who informed us that the elastic in her underwear had lost its stretch).

But the game couldn’t go on forever. Over the last few years, it didn’t seem to me that there was much that I could do to control the closing of the stores, except to keep adding more flaming torches to the juggling act and await the inevitable crash and burn. It’s become a sad, familiar song on Broadway, and far beyond, that a small, independent store can no longer keep up with the rent. That is why we are closing our doors for good on New Year’s Eve.

Every now and then I comb our apartment shelves for books that I can add to the inventory at the stores. Recently, when I grabbed a copy of “The Plot Against America” by Philip Roth, I noticed one of my scribbled notes sticking out of it: “Every night, just before I leave the store, I take a seat on one of the rolling library stools and reflect on what a great place this is and how I won’t have it much longer.” There’s also written on the slip, in quotation marks (from the Roth book?): “One can only do so much to control one’s life.”

The soon-to-be-closing of La Rosita, on 108th and Broadway – had passed by it many times. Man, what is happening in NYC? Things closing, but what’s opening?

A Brooklyn Heights story, related to our alma mater law school.

I guess during the holidays, there’s much sadness and happiness, and thoughts abound.

And then there’s this: the Yule Log. Channel 11 aired a great documentary on how it came to be – a little Christmas card to New Yorkers everywhere.

I’ll post a little joy here:

Before he was Dr. House, he was just Hugh Laurie, British comedian, and they’re releasing DVD’s of his old show “A Bit of Fry and Laurie.” I liked the review NY Times’ Vincent Cosgrove made of the DVD – and it sounds like it’s a great DVD with a fun bonus of Laurie’s days in Cambridge with Emma Thompson and the others:

LONG before Hugh Laurie was captivating and galling American television viewers as the prickly Dr. Gregory House on Fox’s “House,” he was half of the acclaimed British sketch comedy team Fry and Laurie, along with his fellow Cambridge graduate Stephen Fry. (That’s right: Dr. House’s American accent is fake.) Their collaboration began more than 25 years ago, when both were members of the Cambridge Footlights troupe. They went on to team up on numerous TV shows in Britain, but for American audiences they were perhaps best known as Jeeves and Bertie Wooster on the “Jeeves and Wooster” series on “Masterpiece Theater.” [….]

Thankfully, there are recently released DVDs of the first two seasons of “A Bit of Fry and Laurie,” the duo’s inspired sketch comedy series, originally broadcast in 1989 and 1990 on BBC2.

Mr. Fry and Mr. Laurie wield words — real or nonsensical — with a precision Henry Higgins would admire. Skewering language, they also conjure a Lewis Carroll-like world. While there are moments of physical comedy, the pratfalls that produce the most laughs are verbal. Sample this prime example of Fry-Laurie gibberish: “Hold the newsreader’s nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers.” [….]

Lamenting TV censors, the two explain that in their next sketch — set in a courtroom — they must use made-up words to describe a crime. Portraying a police officer, Mr. Laurie declares that the defendant called him a “fusking cloff-prunker.” When the judge expresses ignorance of the term, a lawyer (Mr. Fry) defines it as “an illicit practice whereby one person frangulates another’s plimp, my lord. He or she gratifies the other party by smuctating them avially.” Eventually, the bailiff faints.

A bonus on the DVD of the second season is the “Footlights Revue,” first broadcast on BBC in 1982. The performers — including Emma Thompson — are so young that you can imagine them still clutching their diplomas. In one sketch, Mr. Fry, at his mellifluous best, reads from a letter relating his encounter with Count Dracula in Transylvania. Mr. Fry recalls that when the “mighty oaken door” of the castle opened, he beheld the ghastly sight of Dracula’s manservant: “Of all the hideously disfigured spectacles I have ever beheld, those perched on the end of the man’s nose remain forever pasted into the album of my memory.” It’s enough to make the count whirl in his coffin. The rest of us can just have a good laugh.

The most entertaining thing about the Times’ posting this review on-line – well, they put in this clip of Laurie’s singing this hilarious love song (“Mystery… You remain a mystery to me… Different Country. You and I live in a different country… Estuary. I live on a house boat on an estuary…. [You’ve been d]ead since 1973…So why do I still long for you…”). Oh, and trust me – Jeeves and Wooster – too funny. Laurie was great as the total English gentleman idiot Bertie Wooster. Umm, no offense meant of course; just that Bertie really was an idiot… or, as the article notes, Laurie was quite a hoot indeed.