Tom Storer

I also got the right field treatment. My brother characterized me as standing there saying "I don't care a row of buttons whether it's fair or foul, nature alone is beautiful."

You're just being literal-minded. Psychologically, it's gory stuff.

My nephew, age 12ish, plays hockey, and scored in a game not too long ago. My brother was so excited jumping up and down cheering that he fell over his seat backwards in a hilarious pratfall.

I don't much care about either. This was always a sore point with my teammates in gym class sports... They felt I should be far more concerned with winning! My older brother is fiercely competitive in games and sports. As a child, if his team lost the baseball game he would weep with rage and be impossible to live with. Later he moved to chess and from there to backgammon. He made a living for a while as a backgammon hustler but has mostly given up tournament play in favor of deep, ponderous study of the game. Anyway, once I suggested he take up role-playing games--I don't like those either but I thought they could only be more fun than backgammon. He looked at me like I was crazy and patiently explained as if to a child that he played in order to win, not to dream up fantasies.

I have never played any organized sports at all. I was talking to a friend recently who runs in marathons and things, and he was talking about the fraternity of runners and also their fierce competitiveness. I said I have no competitive spirit whatsoever and he didn't believe me. But it's true, I have no desire to compete or to win out over others. I have pride, but that's not quite the same thing. I think it's my lack of competitive desire that explains my complete lack of interest in organized sports. What time do you go to sleep?

Wow, I don't even know what those are.

Wow, I don't even know what those are.

I got Sinatra's Complete Capitol Singles Collection. Thanks for the tip!

Had a similar situation with Watkins Glen. I was eleven when Woodstock happened, but fifteen for Watkins Glen. I asked my father's permission to go off with a bunch of friends for it - purely a formality in mind - and was rather offended when he laughed in my face. So now here I am at age 50 and I've never attended a huge rock festival! Not that that strikes me as a terrible loss at this point.

Count me as another Carrothers fan. I saw him play his duo with Bill Stewart in support of their album, it was great. He moved to New York from his home state of Minnesota, decided he hated the rat race and missed snowmobiling through the woods in winter, so he moved back, and for years had no piano--he would go to his mother's house to practice.

Love that butterfly chair! We had a couple just like that when I was a little kid in the 60's. I wonder if you can still get them.

I've used up my monthly total, so I have to wait a couple of weeks. It wouldn't make any sense at all for this to be a North America-only deal, but I've had it happen often enough that something I want is not available for European subscribers that I'm biting my nails.

The bassist for a popular New Orleans/Chicago style "trad" band used to post over at that other message board. Can't think of the names right now. Anyway, this was a knowledgeable guy whose point of view as I understood it was that (with exceptions, clearly) bebop marked the end of lyricism in jazz. He felt that the harmonic complexity of bop led to widespread "running of the changes" that was (is) less creative and interesting, while simultaneously longer-winded, than shorter, simpler solos built on melodies and personal sound. He was a big Charlie Parker fan, too, so he wasn't just being a moldy fig, but he felt that for every great bop player there were a thousand dull copycats. I think he has a point, although greatly exaggerated. There are times when bop doesn't do it for me and I want something quirkier, whether pre-bop or post-bop. EDIT: what the hell? I'm being stalked!

Mmm. Freddie Mercury before Van Morrison? Robert Plant before Johnny Cash? Bono before Joni Mitchell? Bono before anybody? Kurt Cobain before Toots Hibbert? Rod Stewart at all? Hard to take seriously.

Ouch.

I saw Garrett maybe ten years ago or more, with Reginald Veal and Tain Watts, and it was like Jim described, "people/groove music and deeply intense saxophone." They were grooving very hard and there was no faking (not that I could tell, anyway). Loved it. This would have been pre-"Happy People," I think. Subsequent records have not lived up to that night.

I just saw it and enjoyed it as I do most Bond films, as light entertainment. Sometimes I see 'em, sometimes I don't. All the car chase, boat chase, and, this time, plane chase sequences benefit from improved technology. I confess I was slightly disappointed by the outrunning-the-ball-of-flame scene: in every Bond film I can remember there's a scene in which there's a huge explosion, and Bond literally outruns the expanding ball of flame from the explosion--racing flatfooted down a corridor or passway, looking over his shoulder repeatedly as it gains on him slightly, and then leaping into a car or boat and gunning off in the nick of time as the building finally explodes for good. This time we saw what's-his-name, the bad guy, partially outrunning a ball of flame as the hotel in the desert obligingly explodes section by section at the end, but not for long. I hate the idea that balls of flame might lose their magical slowness in Bond films.

They made Togo into an island?? Must have been quite a feat of engineering.

Thanks for your review, Alexander. I have little knowledge of the comic book universe and have not heard the term "reboot" applied to them but I can guess what it means: basically starting over with different premises, rendering the history of a continuing character/story irrelevant to the new version (but retaining enough for it to be recognizable). Is that right? I think the reason for "rebooting" is to be able to get out of situations that have been done to death for years and years and open up new possibilities for character and story development. It's a commercial necessity. The reason it can work is that older fans drop off anyway and newer fans aren't as committed to the older version.

There's a guy over on that other message board who is a pro square dance caller in... California, I think. SquaredancecallingSteve, he calls himself. He puts together dances using a wide variety of music, from jazz to hiphop to blues to whatever else he can find. It sounds fascinating.

Commemorative coins are not something that have any interest for me. But if you're upset because some dodo might think they'll make a mint by buying hundreds and selling them later because they're "collectable," well, hell... are you suggesting giving a sucker an even break?

Damn right I do! What's even better is that it was my idea. I knew she would love it. It was a birthday present. Two years of Thursday night sessions of "le rock" etc. etc. in a drafty gymnasium full of people of widely varying age and agility. (There was one old man, very elegantly dressed, who was a superb tango dancer. He came to the classes for company and would thrill all the women by expertly tangoing them around the room.) We're thinking we'll take it up again next year sometime. It's great exercise!

Fart jokes! Nothing like 'em!

I can't say I danced the Madison with true conviction. No Olympus for me.

It doesn't get anywhere near as cold in Paris in January as it does in Manhattan (at least not usually--all it takes is to make a declaration like that for there to be a record-breaking cold spell). It can be pretty gray and dreary, though--maybe not great for picture-taking unless you like moody gray cityscapes (but then it can be sunny too, and nowhere is prettier than Paris in the sun). Museums are open; streets are not unwalkable in winter; and awesome food is available throughout the year. The only reason to wait for April would be warmer weather, leaves on trees, and more tourists.