THE PROTO-TWITTER
“The public mood is kept in a constant state of excitement by what are called telegrams. They are short and spicy and can easily be inserted into country newspapers.” –President James Buchanan, December 1860
AND YET ANOTHER!
On Wednesday, number seven, this time featuring a little snow, topped by nasty ice and freezing rain. This froze into an impenetrable ice cap. You can barely move the stuff, and what little you can move has no place to go. We need three of four days of meltage, just to give us some space!
ANOTHER STORM
Tuesday brought about four inches. Our seventh storm since Boxing Day, although small beer, at least for this season.
“DIRECTORY TO THE SERAGLIOS”
In the Times yesterday, Alison Leigh Cowan has a piece aboutThe Gentleman’s Directory, an 1870 Guide to Manhattan brothels that is currently among the holdings of The New York Historical Society. Listing 150 establishments, and delivering “insight into the character and doings of people whose deeds are carefully screened from public view,” the palm-sized book …
ANOTHER BIG SNOW
The sixth big snow of the season fell last night and this morning. We got about ten inches. The big problem now is to find a place to put it. We’ve had snow on the ground since the December 26th, and the snow berms lining the driveway and sidewalks are too high for the dogs …
JOHNNY STORM, RIP
The Human Torch, aka Johnny Storm, the young hothead of The Fantastic Four, is dead, killed in a battle against a horde of insectoid minions released by the super-villain Annihilus. His death comes in issue Number 587, which appears fifty years after the superheroic team’s debut. There will not be an issue Number 588.
RAMBLING WITH LEVON
On Saturday night, Ginny and I and our friends Cathy, Tim, Greg, Susan, Jo and Dave took a limo (!) up to Woodstock to see the legendary Levon Helm perform at his studio/home. In this warm, intimate atmosphere (the audience couldn’t have numbered more than 200), Helm and his wonderful band (among the players: Larry …
TRIUMPHANT `FIGHTER’
Rocky, Raging Bull, Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby: I’m not so crazy about boxing, but I love boxing movies, David O. Russell‘s The Fighter is one of the best, because, like the other great ones, it’s less about the pugilism than it is about the people. The fighter of the title is the promising but …
“COMIN’ SOUTH TO HUNT SOME SKUNK”
I don’t know who these dear folks are, except to say, these are my fellow Americans. Found on Jeff Wells‘ hollywood-elsewhere.com site.
DEATH OF A BOOKSTORE
A sign left by a distraught reader on the windows of the just-closed Lincoln Center branch of Barnes & Noble in Manhattan.