Monthly Archives: July 2005

Carton caption contest: Holding out for a hero

The contest has the potential to bring out a non-major-league-sports form of regional pride, and there have already been some good moments in local-caption-writer-makes-good. From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Congratulating cleverness: Rachel Kirkwood of Lexington, you’re so clever. Her caption is a finalist in a New Yorker magazine cartoon caption contest. To vote, check out www.newyorker.com/captioncontest, contest No. 9. Deadline is Sunday.

As you know, Kirkwood’s caption—”What’s more important, youthful hair or F.D.A. approval?”—is also my pick. May the best Kentuckian win. Vote now before you leave work. Just because we lost the 2004 election doesn’t mean we have to lose again every week till the end of time. Feel the democracy. It helps.

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Real live left talk radio

is, this minute, WNYC. Brian Lehrer is taking it all the way with freedom of speech, defense of civil rights, intelligent provocation of guests and callers, and personal ethics. The topic in this summer dialogue series: whether homosexuality can be “cured.” Electric.

Montana’s first-ever poet laureate

is Sandra Alcosser, who’s published poems in The New Yorker and studied with the sorely missed Richard Hugo. Alcosser says: “The real work…is to uncover the state’s poetic legacy—the writing about landscapes, species, tribes and immigrant populations. To celebrate and honor the work that has come before, as well as the writing of contemporary poets…. Poetry expands the imagination of a culture. It suggests ways for society to become more humane and our world more liveable.” The Ravalli Republic’s full story.

Books by Sandra Alcosser [Amazon]
“Michael’s Wine” [Alcosser, Academy of American Poets website]
“Skiing by Moonlight” [Alcosser, Ploughshares]
Interview with Sandra Alcosser [Poetry Daily]

Ring My Bell


A 1994 Shouts & Murmurs by Andy Borowitz gets a barking new life as a Toronto Fringe Festival play. From the festival guide:

PAVLOV’S BROTHER

by Mark Ellis and Denis McGrath
directed by Liza Balkan

Before Pavlov went to the dogs, there was another: his brother. Pavlov has theories. But Nikolai’s the one with the saliva. Experiments ensue. This hilarious, true(ish) story plumbs one of the 20th century’s greatest scientific triumphs; the experiments that launched a thousand psych textbooks. ‘Pavlov’s Brother’ is a black comedy about bolshevism, anti-vivisectionists and gastric juices. From the Nobel Prize to the Russian Revolution, this is one story of sibling rivalry and obsession that will condition you to laugh on cue, and leave you drooling for more.

Based on a story [of the same name] in the New Yorker, from one of the writers of Top Gun! The Musical, Writer/Actor Mark Ellis, and Director Liza Balkan.

Cast: Mark Ellis and Paul Fauteux

The all-seeing Eye says:

Ivan Pavlov, so the story goes, briefly let the dogs out to conduct his mouth-watering experiments on his alcoholic little brother Nicolai. Steeped in historical colour, the show is modest in its plot progression, concentrating on Pavlov’s subtle cruelties towards his bro. Paul Fauteux succeeds in the meatier role of Nicolai, challenging with a pissed-off smile and rolling naturally in his drunkard scenes. Ellis plays Pavlov as a strictly business scientist and doesn’t hit the high notes in the more emotional scenes. A thoughtful drama that’s not quite as interesting as its premise suggests. RP [Ryan Porter]

From the comments:

“pavlov´s brother is the only show i´ve seen this fringe…that wasn´t either overpraised or overhyped. it´s hard to believe that anyone connected with top gun the musical did this show, cause it´s so very different. it’s serious and funny and heartbreaking and weird and i second the idea that i want to see where this show might go. one hour is probably not long enough to wrestle the themes in this show.” “a funny, thought-provoking piece. I think it channels much more than sibling rivalry into the story of these two brothers. Fauteux and Ellis are brilliantly matched as the achiever and slacker pair. Smart staging. The show manages to be touching and human while asking unsettling questions. I hope to see this one evolve into a full-length production.” “somewhat disturbing.” “i wouldn´t call it dark. touching in the end. some gross out stuff in the middle that was actually kind of funny. good acting and directing too. a great fringe show.”

And a mouthwatering morsel of Borowitz:

On the first two days of the experiment, Pavlov repeatedly presented croutons to Nikolai, rang a bell, and waited for his brother to drool on cue. Pavlov wrote in his journal, “My brother is an incredible pain in the ass, but his salivary reflexes are superb.” On the third day, however, the experiment took a sudden turn. When Pavlov rang the bell but refused to produce any croutons, Nikolai responded with a roundhouse punch to his brother’s nose, putting him in the hospital. His mother visited the injured scientist but showed little sympathy. “What were you thinking, ringing the bell but not feeding him anything?” she asked. “You know how cranky Nikolai gets when he’s hungry.” Go to the dogs.

W is for winning personality

And you give to me and I give to you...

MediaChannel reminds us of the early moments of the love that dare speak its name:

But Rove developed an increasingly close relationship with the president’s son George—a relationship that began on a spring day in 1973, when the elder Bush asked Rove to pick up his son at Washington’s Union Station to give the visiting Harvard Business School student the keys to the family car. By Rove’s own description, young Karl Rove was awed at first sight.

“He was exuding more charisma than any one individual should be allowed to have,” Rove told a writer for the New Yorker magazine in 2003.

Statements like this prompt curiosity about just how many interesting people Rove could have met at that point, to find Bush so soaked in charm. Would he say the same today? Perhaps he needs to see more movies?

Uproar Has Roots in Rove’s Vast Reach [MediaChannel]

NYC summer theme song

I haven’t been spending much time with They Might Be Giants lately, but I’m always happy to hear songs like this old Dial-a-Song. “It’s the feel-good sublet of the summer/The leaseholder left their cigars in the drawer/This place will hold us for one whole summer/Don’t use the stove, refrigerator, or door.”

Jonathans are illuminated: July, July

Domino Sugar factory, Williamsburg

When you’re making your list of Jonathans, seriously consider Jonathan Ames, who’s reading all over the place this month after his recent musicalish appearance at the Bowery Ballroom:

Tuesday, July 19, 7 PM: Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA

Friday, July 22, 7:30 PM: Skylight Books, 1818 North Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA (Los Feliz)

Friday, July 29, 7 PM: Barnes & Noble, Astor Place, New York City, NY

And there’s a Jonathan Lethem interview about Brooklyn writers, emotional ghosts, and a “stab at chick-lit” set in L.A. in the début issue of The Brooklynite, an unusually nicely designed local magazine:

The aim of The Brooklynite…is to trace the contours of this amorphous idea. Certainly, this is an exciting moment in the borough’s history, a time of great cultural ferment and tremendous demographic change. But it is also a critical moment: How will new development affect Brooklyn’s unique character? Will the borough’s most vulnerable share in the benefits of Brooklyn’s renaissance?

The magazine’s money is where its mouth is so far; there are interviews with and photos of four former Domino Sugar factory workers displaced by the continuing overhaul of the waterfront. And it’s free. Edited by Daniel Treiman, whom I met tonight at the Bowery Poetry Club at the last Karaoke + Poetry = Fun hosted by Daniel Nester for a while, since he’s moving upstate. As they say in His Girl Friday, “Nice little town, Albany. They’ve got a state capital there, you know.” Actually, I’m jealous—conceptually, it’s halfway to Scotland, and that’s something I can endorse.

Speaking of men and cartoons, I’m listening to a recording of Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia reading aloud Dick Tracy on the radio during a newspaper strike. I think Bloomberg should think about reviving this practice; it would do a lot for his numbers, I bet.

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Decaf skim frap, extra light

My old friend Charlie McAteer fills in a crucial gap in Scott McClellan’s recent remarks:

Q: Are we to believe the President didn’t know all this time that his closest advisor was a source of this leak?

MCCLELLAN: That’s an interesting question. I appreciate it. It’s a question that I will avoid at all cost. I’ll deftly talk around it, take up as much time as I can, and then get off stage, maybe go get a Frappuccino. Perhaps I’ll mention an investigation several times. People respect ongoing investigations. Can’t meddle in them, right? Investigation. Investigation. There, said it twice. Investigation. Bammo! Here’s some other stuff we practiced backstage. Loyalty. Nothing improper. President’s word. Frappuccino. Whoops, that one slipped out. Ongoing grand jury investigation. Ohh, nice finish Scott. Next question.

Press Batters McClellan on Rove/Plame Link [Editor and Publisher]

Best quote from the NYT story about the lawsuits against Dov Charney


…would have to be this:

Pat Honda, a customer service manager, said it is not unusual for Mr. Charney to be seen in his underwear in his office because he tries out products before they are introduced. “We’re a manufacturer,” she said. “We make underwear.”

On a related note, please tell me it’s not Charney’s finger in the mouth of the girl in one of the newer ads. Please?

His Way Meets a Highway Called Court [NYT]
Another Freaking American Apparel Item [Gawker]
Dov Charney, Jane Magazine and Google [Jewlicious]

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