Wild World of Sports

I was going to write a light-hearted recap of some of the best sports has to offer for the week, but when I learned of the deaths of two coaching greats, I knew this post would begin with a much somber tone.

RIP Skip Prosser

On Thursday, after completing a jog, Skip Prosser, basketball coach of the Wake Forest Demon Decons, was found slumped against his desk and was unresponsive to CPR. Wake Forest has grown to be one of the most recognizable college basketball teams in the country, the firery-haired coach on the sidelines was the main reason why. Prosser coached at Wake Forest two dynamic players close to a decade apart in Tim Duncan (arguably the best player in the NBA) as well as Chris Paul (arguably the best young point guard), and in the process elevated the Demon Deacons to their first ever No. 1 ranking. He is the only coach to take three seperate schools to the NCAA tournament his first year as coach, as his teams made the postseason in 18 of 21 years of coaching.

TP’ing for Skip – Students pay homage to their coach in the Quad

But most of all as I watched him the last several years he seemed like a good guy who players liked to play for. His coaching roots were in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he coached the high school team to a state championship in 1982 and five regional championships. Although he would go on to be the winningest coach in Xavier history, and succeed in securing Loyola’s only NCAA tournament berth, he has remarked that he would be just as content with his career had he remained as a coach back in West Virginia at Central Catholic High. For the upcoming basketball season he had a top five recruiting class coming in, and the future for Wake Forest looked especially bight. I am sure the tradition will continue, but it pains me to see such a great man and coach leave so early.

RIP Bill Walsh

We lost another great coach in Bill Walsh, architect of the 49′ers dynasty and arguably the greatest offensive football mind the NFL has ever seen. Bill Walsh, 75, had been battling with leukemia before passing away Monday afternoon. One cannot overstate the importance this man had to the game of football. He had a rocky start coaching in the NFL, almost deciding at one point to quit being a coach for a front office job, but would return and lead the 49′ers to three Super Bowl wins in only 10 years of coaching. He had an eye for talent, drafting Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott, and acquiring Steve Young, a hometown hero of mine who was given his opportunity thanks to Walsh’s belief in his potential. He was a man who believed football was a mental game, that was won with preparation in the film room and confidence in teammates, and he put his players in positions to succeed. The elements of the West Coast offense he designed is used by all NFL teams today. In fact, looking at the coaching tree below, it is easy too see why he his influence has permeated the lead long after he has left it:

(click to enlarge) 

He was more than a great coach though, he helped shape the league to what it is today. He was one of the loudest voices for diversifying the coaching ranks, starting a minority fellowship program to speed the development of black coaches by bringing them to training camps. It is perhaps only fitting that the last Super Bowl he watched pitted for the first time two African-American coaches against each other, one a former player of his in Dungy and the other a product of his coaching lineage. Steve Young remarked today that no man has done more for the game in the past 25 years, and there is little doubt that he will long be remembered.

In other sad (and shocking) football related news, it appears as if officials are considering the possibility that Pat Tillman was murdered by his own comrades less than 10 yards away, and did not die from enemy fire (as the Army orignally claimed) or from friendly fire (as the subsequent investigation initially concluded). Pat Tillman gained instant notariety and respect when he left the Arizona Cardinals at the peak of his NFL career to go be an Army Ranger in Afgahnistan and Iraq following 9/11, only to be killed and then have his death be lied over and manipulated as a recruiting stunt by the Army. Although his mother was able to reveal a coverup at the highest levels of government regarding his death, the chance that his death was deliberate at the hands of his own men provides even more detail that casts an undeserved shadow over his sacrifice. Read the article here.

Now on to the good stuff.

Let me first say it has been a rough week for sports – Mike Vick is indicted, the leaders of the Tour de France have been removed for doping (and the winner accused), the contoversy over Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record continues to unfold, and the NBA is dealing with a betting scandal of massive proportions.

So here is a bright story to kick things off: the Iraqi soccer team was victorious in its biggest tournament, the Asian Cup. This is a country who could use the distraction and any sort of unity, and one can only hope that this success will be sign of better things to come.

In Hoya world, Roy Hibbert struggled to get his game on at the Pan American games, no thanks to Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, who shot an abysmal 8 for 37 (4-19 from 3), along with eight assists and 15 turnovers. It will be interesting to see if Roy Hibbert will benefit form his experience with international play, but it is disheartening to see USA not even win a single game. Article here.

Jeff Green, meanwhile, continued to show promise over the Summer League. See articles here and here.

Switching to American football, check out this article on the image of an NFL franchise, which takes a look at the the beleagured Atlanta Falcons and what a good role model should be.

In other football breaking news, it looks like Reggie Bush really likes grilles on his cars – check out his customized Mercedes ride:

And guess who also likes to pimp his ride?

If Barry Bonds were a dog, this is what he would look like:

(Article here)

Check out this trick football play…those kids know what they are doing:

Don’t believe it? One team once won their state championship on the same play:

Finally, here are some quality video clips, showing that other side of sports:

-Gymnastics

-Diving

-Golf 1

-Golf 2

-Tour De France

-Dunk gone bad

-Athletes can’t act

-Chuck Norris impression

-Umpires don’t care about rape

-Biking stunt

-Sick soccer save

-Cheap soccer goal

Healthy Eating

No Subway for me today, not after Thursday’s fiasco. I headed to JuiceZone, which serves health-concious smoothies and wraps.

“Hi, can I help you?”

“Yes, could I have the Buffulo Brown Burrito?”

“Sure. Everything on it?”

“Yes, that would be fine.”

“And would you like white or wheat?”

“Uh…white.”

“Ok…”

“Wait. Don’t you have other options? I normally get the sundried tomato…”

“Uh, yeah. I guess we do.”

“Ok, could I get that then?”

“Well, you know, we have other ones, but they are kind of old and moldy and I can’t really ensure they are any good…” the attendant says as if he merely supplying a personal reccommendation.

“What?”

Wait, why again is he telling me this? Is it because the tortillas are always this suspect or he somehow merely feels bad that I have gone this long without noticing?

“Would you like to change from white then?”

Not if you put it that way.

I give an incredulous look.

“No. That’s…that’s quite all right. I think I’m good.”

I go ahead and buy a drink and return to pick up my burrito.

“Burrito? Thank you, sir.”

I go and sit down, unwrap the burrito.

Hmmm…sure enough, it’s sun dried tomato. Yum, my favorite.

Modernism at the Corcoran

During my parent’s visit to DC several weeks ago they had a chance to check out the Modernism exibit at the Corcoran Gallery, and were so impressed they reccommended I go as well.  I had been finding my weekends so busy I had had to put it off, but the exhibit’s last day is July 29 so I finally made sure my Sunday afternoon was open for some culture.

I had an idea of what the Modernist movement entailed before I stepped into the Corcoran, but they did a magnificent job laying out its evolution as well as individual nations and artists contributions.  Since Modernism is such a broad movement though, here is a summary to capture the general motivation:

Modernism is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. The term covers many political, cultural and artistic movements rooted in the changes in Western society at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. Broadly, modernism describes a series of reforming cultural movements in art and architecture, music, literature and the applied arts which emerged in the three decades before 1914. But Modernism encouraged the re-examination of every aspect of existence, from commerce to philosophy, with the goal of finding that which was “holding back” progress, and replacing it with new, progressive and therefore better, ways of reaching the same end. In essence, the modernist movement argued that the new realities of the industrial and mechanized age were permanent and imminent, and that people should adapt their world view to accept that the new equaled the good, the true and the beautiful. Modern (quantum and relativistic) physics, modern (analytical and continental) philosophy and modern number theory in mathematics are, however, also said to date from this period. Embracing change and the present, modernism encompasses the works of thinkers who rebelled against nineteenth century academic and historicist traditions, believing the “traditional” forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated; they directly confronted the new economic, social and political aspects of an emerging fully industrialized world. Some people divide the 20th Century into movements designated Modernism and Postmodernism, whereas others see them as two aspects of the same movement. (Wikipedia)

Bauhaus credo

For those that perhaps deem themselves unfamiliar with Modernism, popular examples include the VW Bug, the World War II propaganda posters, A Brave New World, Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, and much of the furniture we use today (especially IKEA).

                                         Monument To The Third International

For me, as I walked through the exhibit, it was astounding how much of the designs were ahead of their time, and truly spurred the advancements following World War II.  The heyday of Modernism was from the beginning of World War I to World War II, and many of the contributors attempted to create amid what was a dire period of endless chaos hope for a more organized and “functional” future. 

 The chair below is an example of the lasting quality of the designs introduced by Modernism.  Growing up (until my parents replaced them) these were the chairs we had in our living room, and they were wonderfully simple, comfortable, and served their purpose well.

Here is another example: the Tatra T87 Saloon, a Czech produced car that traveled up to 100 mph.  This car was created in 1937, but clearly has challenged the conventiona; boundaries of speed and styling for its time.

   

For more on the exhibit, see this feature by Slate. 

The Corcoran has another permanent gallery on display, although a lot smaller in size than the Mordernism exhibit.  Most interesting to me was a replica of Hiriam Power’s The Greek Slave, which has been called America’s most famous and dinest controbution to sculpture. 

Here is an image:

As the first prominent nude statue of a woman in the U.S. it attracted controversy, but Power was careful to stress the pure nature of the figure.  Furthermore, created in the midst of the debate over slavery, many saw it as a symbolic parrallel to the plight of the African-Americans, further cementing its influence on public discourse.  Read more about the statue here.

 The next exhibit arriving at the Corcoran Museum will be the photographer Ansel Adams.

Roosh V

I did not make it to yesterday’s bloggers happy hour at The Science Club, but would have liked to perhaps meet blogger Roosh V (formerly DC Bachelor), who is one of mine (and DC’s) favorite and prolific bloggers.  He will be parting for travels in South America, but luckily there are plenty more blogs to pick up the slack.  It seems like others have been inspired to make note of their ponderings and ventures after coming across his blog, and I am no exception.  Thankfully, he leaves us with his book, Bang, as well.

For those unfamiliar, here is a sampling of posts:

- 5 Washington Dc Bars for Men

- Solutions for Girls

- The Flag Metric

- American Culture

- How to Get Your Finances in Order

- Coffeeshop Couple

- Spain Lessons

- My Rules of Life

- Don’t Take A Blowup Doll to the Beach

- Having Fun

- Testing Women

- What’s Wrong With You

- Cum-dumpsters

- 9 Rules of Opening a Hot DC Nightclub

- How To Get Free Drinks At Starbucks

- Why You Get Punped and Dumped

The Simpsons

The Simpsons movie is hitting theaters this weekend, and promises to be one the biggest draws of the summer. Even though the episodes of the past decade have dropped off in quality (with writers such as Conan leaving and the passing of Phil Hartman), the series has more than held his own against the likes of Family Guy. I don’t expect the movie to top the series, but it should be, and by all accounts that I have heard, as good as the episodes and a worthy inclusion.

Even more entertaining is watching the marketing campaign for the movie, which includes converting 7-Eleven stores into Kwik-E-Marts. Here is the closest one to DC, in Bladensburg, Maryland:

 

The stores sell items seen in the episodes, such as Buzz Cola:

Some owners have taken issue to this, arguing that Apu is a racist caricature. However, they also report that the promotion campaign has more than doubled sales for the month, so I doubt anyone is complaining too loudly. Here is the CNN report:

Many are using the moment to discuss their favorite Simpsons moments. I haven’t watched the vast majority of episodes (my parents made me change the channel each time it was on – the American cultural references were too much for them to handle I think, but my history teacher insisted anything worth knowing can be found on the Simpsons) but it does seem to me that the Simpsons does best when it is able to satire the core elements of the American lifestyle and history. This is why I place Rosebud high on my list of best episodes.

Here are three other worthy looks:

-101 Greatest Simpsons Quotes
-The best Simpson lines of all time
-Best Simpsons satires

Some have drawn the parallel of sports figures as Simpsons characters.

My favorite character is Sideshow Bob, probably because he looks like Anderson Verjao of the Cleveland Caveliers.

Here is a clip from the classic ‘Cape Feare’, in which Bart narrowly avoids his demise at the hands of the ever gentlemanly muderer by having him recant the score of the HMS Pinafore (which I, too, have had to sing before)…

 For a cool map of Springfield, click here.

Eat Fresh

 Stupid Subway.

 ”Yes, sir, what would you like?” the man at the counter askes me.

“Footlong Italian Herb and Cheese…”

“Yes,” grabbing the bread.

“With roast beef and turkey.”

Cuts it open. Hands over bread to next Subway girl.

She puts about five slices of roast beef on the bread. Looks up.

“Cheese?”

“Yes, but I also need turkey.”

“Turkey?” Proceeds to give the man a damning look on her left, starts taking roast beef off.

“No, roast beef and turkey. Both.”

The man gives me a stare.

“A club. Without ham,” I explain.

“Oh.” Takes a slice of roast beef off, add four slices of turkey.

Slides it over to next Subway girl.

“Lettuce?”

“I wanted cheese.”

Gives previous Subway girl on her left a damning look, slides it back.

“He wants cheese.”

She puts cheese on, and as she does so I remind her I want it toasted.

She doesn’t hear me, slides it back to the Subway girl.

“Lettuce?” she asks me again.

“I wanted that toasted.”

Shoots girl to her left another damning look, slides the sandwich back.

“He wants its toasted.”

She slides it to the first guy.

“He wants it toasted.”

He gives her a look, and puts it in the toaster. After a minute, takes it out, slides it to girl on his right, who slides it to the second girl on her right.

“Lettuce?” she asks me for a third time.

“Yes please. Also, tomato, green peppers, onion, cucumber…”

Puts topping on sandwich.

“Anything else?”

“Yes, could I get a bit of ranch and chipotle?”

Applies ranch, begins cutting sandwich in half.

“Sorry…a bit of chipotle as well?”

“Ok.” Squirts some chipotle.

“And some black pepper sprinkled on top?” as she begins to fold up the sandwich.

Shoots me a look, reaches for green peppers.

“No, we already had green peppers. Just a little bit of black pepper.” I point to it on the sill and make a jerking motion with my hand.

Good, done. That was easy.

Slides it over to cashier guy.

“Value meal?” he asks.

“No, I’m set. Thanks.”

Hand over my credit card. Notice the sign says no signature required, but seriously contemplating checking the receipt.

Slides me my sandwich.

I walk over to find a table. Open up my sandwich, and see that it is wheat.

“What the?” Screw it, I’m too hungry.

Open the sandwich, to discover there is ham inside. Not my sandwich, the guy handed me the wrong one.

Get up, walk back to Subway. Another guy is there, sees me with a sandwich in hand, and tells me that was his. I offer it to him, but he dismisses it, telling me they are making him another one from scratch.

“Good luck,” I tell him. I mean it.

They still have my sandwich and give it to me. I walk back to the table and sit down. A few bites into my sandwich, a lady walks by, and gets my attention.

“Oh, do you know where Subway is?”

Groaning, I point her in the right direction. Hey, it was a good lunch once I got around to actually eating it…

Eavesdropping

Some favorites from Overhead In New York:

Chick: She’s gonna have to run here… It closes at eight.

Meathead: Oh, but that bitch can run! I saw her running for birth control one time, and she fucking ran faster than me.

–Kimmel Cafeteria, NYU

Conductor: Please sit up.

Bag lady lying across several seats, staring at lights: Why won’t everyone leave me alone? [Begins loud, incoherent screaming.]

Conductor, backing away slowly: Okay, never mind.

Bag lady, to passenger: So, I tied him up. I gave him a Viagra, and I rode him for seven hours. And that’s why I look like this.

–A train

Black guy: Yeah, Superman — he hangs out around 42nd Street. He might go uptown every once in a while, but you never see his ass in Brooklyn. That’s ridiculous — Superman can not be killed by bullets, and he still won’t come to Brooklyn.

Black lady: You’re right. What about Batman?

Black guy: Oh, he probably has to come through Brooklyn — you know, that brother lives out on Long Island.

Black lady: He probably comes through Brooklyn, but you know he’s not getting out of that Batmobile.

Black guy: I’m sure he’s damn careful when he stops, too. Those are some ballin’ rims he’s got on that whip. If he ever parked, them shits would definitely get stolen!

–3 train

Party girl, looking at police on horses: I want to take a horse to the Upper East Side!

Jock: You’re going to the Upper East Side? Want to share a cab?

Party girl: Sure.

Jock: Want to fuck?

Party girl: Sure.

–21st & 6th

Chick #1: You know how people will, like, tell their parents a bunch of really horrible lies to make whatever they need to tell them seem not as bad?

Chick #2: Yeah…

Chick #1: I think that’s what I’m gonna do.

Chick #2: What’s worse than getting pregnant, dropping out of school, and moving to Jersey?

–3 train

Barista: Sir, you can pay for the juice over there.

Middle-aged Brit: But I bought it.

Barista: No you didn’t.

Middle-aged Brit: Yes, I did — at another place.

Barista: Yeah, oookay [rolls eyes].

Middle-aged Brit: I really did.

Barista: Yeah, oookay.

Middle-aged Brit: What the fuck is your problem?

Barista: Well, you just stole juice, and you’re being an ass, so you can leave now.

Middle-aged Brit: Excuse–

Old lady Brit: –Alexander, just stop talking! He could shoot you!

–Starbucks, Fashion District

Teacher: Does anyone know what ‘condemned’ means? Okay, let me give you an example: The Jews condemned Jesus. [Everyone looks at only Jewish student in class, who then glares at the teacher.] Oh, I’m so sorry!

–Notre Dame Academy, Staten Island

Ghetto chick: … And then I got caught on a gun charge because my boyfriend pistol-whipped me when I was pregnant and I took the gun and chased him down the street with it. And you know that drug bust in far Rockaway last year? That shit was me! Haha… And my lawyer got me five years probation and now jail time — he took care of me, ya know? And he was a Jew… You know them Jews — all into they money and shit.

–E train

Man, about freestyling partner: He was like the Mexican version of 50 Cent, ‘cept his name was 537 pesos, and he don’t need no gun — all he gots is his burrito and a hot dog.

–D train, from Coney Island

Man on cell: I don’t know! He just called me up and said that I owe him 50 grand and that he’s coming to kill me… Yeah, I told him I have no idea what he’s talking about, but he said he’s coming to kill me anyway.

–77th & Broadway

British mum to eight-year-old son: Bobby, stop looking at the bloody NASDAQ.

–Outside Toys ‘R’ Us

Dad to baby in stroller: Did you know that the price of copper is becoming irrelevant?!

–31st & Ditmars, Astoria

Fan to Beyoncé: Yo, Beyoncé, baby — they is childrens starvin’ in Bolivia! Why don’t you give ‘em some o’ dat be-hin’?!

–Outside MTV studios

Hobo #1: Hey, that cell phone you sold me — that’s a crackhead cell phone! I want my money back! You sold me a crackhead phone!

Hobo #2: What do you expect? I’m a crackhead.

–Madison Square Park

20-ish man: So, I used to use the laundry on Driggs, but that place is dirty. Two weeks ago I started coming here–

30-ish woman: –I don’t give a shit. I just wanna have sex with you before I gotta get the kids and my husband comes home.

20-ish man: Okay.

–Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Girl #1: Anyhow, I kept telling him no, but he did. Then this morning I realized that I was raped.

Girl #2: Oh my god…

Girl #1: Yeah, but it was the best sex I ever had. But I didn’t want it.

–B train

30-ish investment banker on cell: She had so much makeup on her face she looked like she had just blown 20 clowns.

–44th & Park

Black guy: Here, this is for you, man, ’cause you look like Jesus.

Homeless guy: I thought Jesus was black!

Black guy, coming back: For that, my man, you get a dollar.

–55th & Broadway

Old guy browsing power tools: What about a bomb?

Buddy: A bomb? … We already talked about that.

–Home Depot, 23rd St

Yuppie lady boasting about son: He graduated summa cum laude from Villanova!

Cashier: Vee-la-no-va? Is that in New York?

Yuppie lady: No, it’s in–

Cashier, interrupting: –Yeah, then I don’t care.

–Clothing store, 54th & 5th

Boy pushing friend toward bathroom: Hurry! Empty your gizzard!

Girl: You mean my uterus?

–Brooklyn Tech High School

Lady: Sir, this woman is very pregnant. Please give her your seat.

Fat man: Yeah, well, I’m very fat, and that’s basically the same thing.

–4 train

Biotech #1: Jersey girls ain’t trash — trash gets picked up!

Biotech #2: Hahaha!

NJ girl passerby, defensively: I get picked up!

–Penn Station

Six-year-old girl to mom: … And the entire neighborhood was staring at us!

Four-year-old sister: Even God! And he was still alive!

–Joralemon St & Garden Pl, Brooklyn Heights

Male business student: Hey! Why the long face?

Female business student on crutches: Oh, just everything lately.

Male business student: Oh. Well, see ya later!

–115th & Amsterdam

Teen #1: Can I have a piece of gum? My mouth tastes weird.

Teen #2: Dude, you can’t eat Jesus and expect it to taste good.

–Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Chick #1: Thanks, bitch.

Chick #2: I’m obsessed with you!

Chick #1: A restraining order couldn’t stop my love.

–Canal St, Chinatown

Woman: You won’t take a fifty? Why won’t you take a fifty? This is outrageous! You don’t have a checker pen? You just check it with a checker pen! You need to get a checker pen. Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening!

Counter chick: It’s company policy, we can’t take fifties. Nothing bigger than a twenty. But this drink is on the house.

Woman: I don’t want it on the house! I want to pay!

Counter chick: Don’t worry about it. It’s on the house. You don’t have to pay.

Woman: Well, this is the craziest thing I ever heard! You won’t let me pay! This is my husband’s fault! He owns a nightclub and he won’t give me a credit card. All he gives me is cash from the till! All I have is fifties and hundreds! I have a whole purse full of them! And you won’t let me pay! I feel like I’m homeless or something! Oh my god, this is so embarrassing.

–Jamba Juice, 5th & 23rd

Mom: Honey, you better behave while you stay at Daddy’s house this weekend.

Five-year-old boy: If he doesn’t buy me a new toy, I’m going to slice his sausage open!

–Canal St

Girl #1: Ewww! That doughnut looks like it’s covered in cum.

Girl #2: Mmm… If cum tasted like this I would give head everyday… I wish I tasted like this.

Girl #1: Word.

–Park Slope

Desperate wannabe bridezilla: Let me ask you a question — if you’re at a wedding and the bride throws the bouquet directly to you instead of to the whole crowd, does it still count?

Friend: I don’t think any of it really counts.

Passerby: Way to kill the mood.

–Elevator, 11th & University

Girl: Why don’t you just make a list of all the girls you want to fuck and their qualities for me, so I can take notes?

Boy: … Like, bullet points, or can I use full sentences?

–Brooklyn-bound L train

Weird girl: Did you bring the scepter?

Weird boy: No, I forgot.

Weird girl: That’s the second time!

Weird boy: I know, I’m sorry! I got the Tetris theme song stuck in my head again!

–D train

Asian girl, after falling down: Ouch! My knee!

Suit: That is the hottest thing I’ve seen all week.

–45th & 3rd

Little girl: Mommy, can I have ice cream?

Mom: No! Not until you finish your McDonald’s. Then you can have that ice cream.

–Atlantic Center

Debating YouTube Style

Last night’s Democratic debates were done via YouTube – individuals could submit questions which would then be aired via video to the candidates.  I thought the format was interesting, but mostcandidates gave their typical answers. Hillary was polished and never answered a question directly, Edwards tried to be charming, Gravel did a lot of finger wagging, Obama spoke how we need to unite as an American people, Richardson spoke to his base, Biden at least was direct and very senatorial, and Kucinich was, well, Kucinich. Anderson Cooper moderated.

Here are some highlights:

On Change: 

 SEN. HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I think the Democrats are united, as Davis said, and we are united for change. We cannot take another four or eight years of Republican leadership that has been so disastrous for our country.

The issue is: Which of us is ready to lead on day one? I have 35 years of being an instrument and agent of change, before I was ever a public official. And during the time that I’ve been privileged to serve as first lady and now as senator, I’ve worked to bring people together, to find common ground where we can, and then to stand our ground where we can’t.

COOPER: Senator Obama, you were involved in that question as well.

OBAMA: Look, I don’t think this is just a Republican problem. I think this is a problem that spans the parties. And we don’t just need a change in political parties in Washington. We’ve got to have a change in attitudes of those who are representing the people, America. And part of the reason I don’t take PAC money, I don’t take federal lobbyists’ money is because we’ve got to get the national interests up front as opposed to the special interests.

And that is something that I’ve got a track record doing, and I think that is what the American people are looking for in this election — people of both parties as well as independents.

——————————————————————————————

On Education:

COOPER: Our next question comes from South Carolina.

QUESTION: Hey, I’m Mike Green from Lexington, South Carolina. And I was wanting to ask all the nominees whether they would send their kids to public school or private school.(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: The question is public school or private school. We know, Senator Clinton, you sent your daughter to private school.  Senator Edwards, Obama and Biden also send your kids to private school.

Is that correct?

CLINTON: No.

COOPER: No?

CLINTON: No, it’s not correct.

COOPER: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

EDWARDS: I’ve had four children, and all of them have gone to public school. I’ve got two kids…(APPLAUSE)

… who are actually here with me in Charleston tonight, two kids, Emma Claire and Jack, just finished the third grade in public school in North Carolina, and Jack just finished the first grade in public school in North Carolina.

COOPER: Senator Clinton?

CLINTON: And Chelsea went to public schools, kindergarten through eighth grade, until we moved to Washington. And then I was advised, and it was, unfortunately, good advice, that if she were to go to a public school, the press would never leave her alone, because it’s a public school. So I had to make a very difficult decision.

COOPER: Senator Obama?

CLINTON: But we were very pleased she was in public schools in Little Rock.

COOPER: Senator Obama?

OBAMA: My kids have gone to the University of Chicago Lab School, a private school, because I taught there, and it was five minutes from our house. So it was the best option for our kids.

But the fact is that there are some terrific public schools in Chicago that they could be going to. The problem is, is that we don’t have good schools, public schools, for all kids.

A U.S. senator can get his kid into a terrific public school. That’s not the question. The question is whether or not ordinary parents, who can’t work the system, are able to get their kids into a decent school, and that’s what I need to fight for and will fight for as president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: I want to ask this question of everyone.Senator Biden?

BIDEN: My kids did go to private schools, because right after I got elected, my wife and daughter were killed. I had two sons who survived. My sister was the head of the history department. She was helping me raise my children at Wilmington Friends School.

BIDEN: When it came time to go to high school when they had come through their difficulties — I’m a practicing Catholic — it was very important to me they go to a Catholic school, and they went to a Catholic school.

My kids would not have gone to that school were it not for the fact that my wife and daughter were killed and my two children were under the care of my sister who drove them to school every morning.

COOPER: Congressman Kucinich?

KUCINICH: My daughter, Jackie, went to the Columbus public schools and got a great education. And I want to make sure that that commitment that sent her to public school is a commitment that will cause all American children to be able to go to great public schools.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Senator Gravel?

GRAVEL: My children went to public school and private school, and I’m recommend that we need a little bit of competition in our system of education. Right now, we have 30 percent of our children do not graduate from high school. That is abominable, and that is the problem of both parties.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Senator Dodd?

DODD: My daughter goes to the public school as a pre-school — kindergarten.

——————————————————————————————

On the Environment:

COOPER: So let me just ask a question to everyone on this stage. And I know we said we wouldn’t do a lot of show of hands. This is probably the only one we’ll do tonight.

COOPER: How many people here a private jet or a chartered jet to get here tonight?You’re not sure?

(LAUGHTER)

RICHARDSON: Yesterday.

COOPER: Yesterday, OK.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: Senator Gravel, what was that? You took the train?

GRAVEL: I took the train…

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: OK.

GRAVEL: And maybe one of these will give me a ride someday.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

——————————————————————————————

 On being a liberal:

Senator Gravel, are you a liberal?

FORMER SEN. MIKE GRAVEL: I wouldn’t use either word (OFF-MIKE) Zach asked about change. You’re not going to see any change when these people get elected.We were asked about — that we’re united.

We’re not united. I’m not united on many of their views. And I want to take on Barack Obama for a minute, who said he doesn’t take money from lobbyists. Well, he has 134 bundlers. Now, what does he think that is?

And, besides that, he has received money from a Robert Wolf, the head of the USB (sic) bank in the United States, who raised $195,000 — from this bank — wait a second — who has lobbyists in Washington…

COOPER: Your time is up.

GRAVEL: … and it’s a foreign-owned bank.

COOPER: Senator Obama, I’m going to have to let you respond.

OBAMA: Absolutely.

Well, the fact is I don’t take PAC money and I don’t take lobbyists’ money.

And the bundlers — the reason you know who is raising money for me, Mike, is because I have pushed through a law this past session to disclose that.

And that’s the kind of leadership that I’ve shown in the Senate. That’s the kind of leadership that I showed when I was a state legislator. And that’s the kind of leadership that I’ll show as president of the United States.

GRAVEL: Wait a minute… (APPLAUSE)

—————————————————————————————–

On gender and race:

QUESTION: Hello. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am a student at K.U., from Coffeyville, Kansas.This question is meant for Senator Obama and Senator Clinton.

Whenever I read an editorial about one of you, the author never fails to mention the issue of race or gender, respectively. Either one is not authentically black enough, or the other is not satisfactorily feminine.

How will you address these critics and their charges if one or both of you should end up on the Democratic ticket in ‘08?

COOPER: Senator Obama, how do you address those who say you’re not authentically black enough?(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Well…

COOPER: Not my question; Jordan’s question.

OBAMA: You know, when I’m catching a cab in Manhattan — in the past, I think I’ve given my credentials.(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

But let me go to the broader issue here. And that is that race permeates our society. It is still a critical problem.

But I do believe in the core decency of the American people, and I think they want to get beyond some of our racial divisions.

Unfortunately, we’ve had a White House that hasn’t invested in the kinds of steps that have to be done to overcome the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in this country.

And as president of the United States, my commitment on issues like education, my commitment on issues like health care is to close the disparities and the gaps, because that’s what’s really going to solve the race problem in this country.

If people feel like they’ve got a fair shake, if children feel as if the fact that they have a different surname or they’ve got a different skin color is not going to impede their dreams, then I am absolutely confident that we’re going to be able to move forward on the challenges that we face as a country.

(APPLAUSE)

——————————————————————————————

On religion as a moral guide:

QUESTION: I’m Reverend Reggie Longcrier. I’m the pastor of Exodus Mission and Outreach Church in Hickory, North Carolina.Senator Edwards said his opposition to gay marriage is influenced by his Southern Baptist background. Most Americans agree it was wrong and unconstitutional to use religion to justify slavery, segregation, and denying women the right to vote.

So why is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay American their full and equal rights?

(APPLAUSE)

EDWARDS: I think Reverend Longcrier asks a very important question, which is whether fundamentally — whether it’s right for any of our faith beliefs to be imposed on the American people when we’re president of the United States. I do not believe that’s right.I feel enormous personal conflict about this issue. I want to end discrimination. I want to do some of the things that I just heard Bill Richardson talking about — standing up for equal rights, substantive rights, civil unions, the thing that Chris Dodd just talked about. But I think that’s something everybody on this stage will commit themselves to as president of the United States.

But I personally have been on a journey on this issue. I feel enormous conflict about it. As I think a lot of people know, Elizabeth spoke — my wife Elizabeth spoke out a few weeks ago, and she actually supports gay marriage. I do not. But this is a very, very difficult issue for me. And I recognize and have enormous respect for people who have a different view of it.

COOPER: I should also point out that the reverend is actually in the audience tonight. Where is he? Right over here.Reverend, do you feel he answered your question?

(APPLAUSE)

QUESTION: This question was just a catalyst that promoted some other things that wrapped around that particular question, especially when it comes to fair housing practices. Also…COOPER: Do you think he answered the question, though?

QUESTION: Not like I would like to have heard it…(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: What did you not hear?

QUESTION: I didn’t quite get — some people were moving around, and I didn’t quite get all of his answer. I just heard…

COOPER: All right, there’s 30 seconds more. Why is it OK to quite religious beliefs when talking about why you don’t support something? That’s essentially what’s his question.

EDWARDS: It’s not. I mean, I’ve been asked a personal question which is, I think, what Reverend Longcrier is raising, and that personal question is, do I believe and do I personally support gay marriage?

The honest answer to that is I don’t. But I think it is absolutely wrong, as president of the United States, for me to have used that faith basis as a basis for denying anybody their rights, and I will not do that when I’m president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

 —————————————————————————————–

On Sudan:

QUESTION: I’m Gabriel. And I’m Connie, from a refugee camp near Darfur.Before you answer this question, imagine yourself the parent of one of these children.

What action do you commit to that will get these children back home to a safe Darfur and not letting it be yet another empty promise?

COOPER: Governor Richardson, what are you going to do? Would you commit American troops?

RICHARDSON: I was at that refugee camp. And there was a refugee, a woman who came up to me. She’d been raped, her husband had been killed and she said, “When is America going to start helping?”

This is what I would do: It’s diplomacy. It’s getting U.N. peacekeeping troops and not African Union troops. It’s getting China to pressure Sudan. It’s getting the European Union to be part of economic sanctions in Sudan. It’s called leadership.

A no-fly zone, I believe, would be an option. But we have to be concerned about humanitarian workers being hurt by planes, being shot.

The answer here is caring about Africa. The answer here is not just thinking of our strategic interests as a country, as oil and Europe and the Middle East. It should be Africa, Asia and Latin America, doing something about poverty, about AIDS, about refugees, about those that have been left behind. That’s how we restore American leadership in this country.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: You say U.N. troops. Does that mean American troops?

RICHARDSON: United Nations peacekeeping troops, and that would primarily be Muslim troops. We need a permanent U.N. peacekeeping force, stationed somewhere.

If we get U.N. peacekeeping troops authorized for Darfur, there’s some already there, it’ll take six months for them to get there. Genocide is continuing there; 200,000 have died; close to 2 million refugees in that region.

America needs to respond with diplomacy, with diplomatic leadership.

COOPER: Senator Biden, in the past, you’ve talked about NATO troops. What about American troops?

BIDEN: Absolutely, positively. Look, I’m so tired of this. Let’s get right to it. I heard the same arguments after I came back from meeting with Milosevic: We can’t act; we can’t send troops there.

Where we can, America must. Why Darfur? Because we can.

We should now. Those kids will be dead by the time the diplomacy is over.

(APPLAUSE)

I’m not joking. I’ve been to that camp. I walked through that camp.

You know what happened when I landed?

When I landed and the dust settled, a young African aid worker came up to me and he looked at me and he said, “Thank you. Thank you, America, for coming.”

You don’t understand — they don’t understand. They think we can save them.

And guess what? We can. Twenty-five hundred American troops — if we do not get the 21,000 U.N. troops in there — can stop the genocide now. I have called for a no-fly zone. Everybody agreed, but you need troops on the ground.

COOPER: Senator Biden, how do we pull out now? That was the question.

BIDEN: Anderson, you’ve been there. You know we can’t just pull out now. Let’s get something straight. It’s time to start to tell the truth. The truth of the matter is: If we started today, it would take one year, one year to get 160,000 troops physically out of Iraq, logistically.

That’s number one.

Number two, you cannot pull out of Iraq without the follow-on that’s been projected here, unless you have a political solution. I’m the only one that’s offered a political solution.

And it literally means separate the parties; give them jurisdiction in their own areas; have a decentralized government, a federal system. No central government will work.

And, thirdly, the fact of the matter is, the very thing everybody’s quoting is the very legislation I wrote in January. It said: Begin to draw down combat troops now; get the majority of the combat troops out by March of ‘08.

There’s not one person in here that can say we’re going to eliminate all troops…

COOPER: OK, time.

BIDEN: … unless you’re going to eliminate every physical person who’s an American in Iraq.

COOPER: Time.

BIDEN: Tell the truth for a change.

(APPLAUSE)

——————————————————————————————

On Iraq:

QUESTION: Thank you for taking my question. The 2006 election gave the Democrats in office a mandate to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Since that time, 800 of our military service members have died there.As the mother of an American soldier deploying to Iraq for a second time, I would like to know if the perception is true that the Democrats are putting politics before conscience.

How many more soldiers must die while these political games continue in our government?

Is the reason why we are still in Iraq and seemingly will be for some time due to the Democrats’ fear that blame for the loss of the war will be placed on them by the Republican spin machine?

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Senator Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, I want to thank her and her son for their service and their sacrifice. When we send a soldier or Marine to combat in Iraq, we really are sending a family.

And since the election of 2006, the Democrats have tried repeatedly to win Republican support with a simple proposition that we need to set a timeline to begin bringing our troops home now.

I happen to agree that there is no military solution, and the Iraqis refuse to pursue the political solutions. In fact, I asked the Pentagon a simple question: Have you prepared for withdrawing our troops? In response, I got a letter accusing me of being unpatriotic; that I shouldn’t be asking questions.

Well, one of the problems is that there are a lot of questions that we’re asking but we’re not getting answers from the Bush administration.

COOPER: Time.

CLINTON: And it’s time for the Republicans to join us in standing up to the president to bring our troops home.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Congressman Kucinich, the Democrats have been in power for seven months. Nothing has changed in Iraq.

KUCINICH: If you’re not going to answer the question, I’m going to answer the mother that troop — question.

The answer to your question, ma’am, is: Yes, it is politics. The Democrats have failed the American people. When we took over in January, the American people didn’t expect us to give them a Democratic version of the war. They expected us to act quickly to end the war.

And here’s how we can do it. It doesn’t take legislation. That’s a phony excuse to say that you don’t have the votes. We appropriated $97 billion a month ago. We should tell President Bush, no more funds for the war, use that money to bring the troops home, use it to bring the troops home.

(APPLAUSE)

And, Anderson, right, now if people want to send that message to Congress…

COOPER: OK. Senator…

KUCINICH: … they can text “Peace,” 73223.

—————————————————————————————–

On registration for the draft:

QUESTION: My name is Tony Fuller from Wilson, Ohio, and I was wondering if the candidates feel women should register for the draft when they turn 18. Why or why not? 

COOPER: Should women register for selective service when they turn 18 like men do currently?

Senator Dodd?

DODD: Well, yes, I think they should, in a sense. I’m opposed to a draft, but I think if you’re going to have registration, it ought to be across lines so you don’t just ask one gender to do the — have the responsibility. So in my view that would be the fair thing to do.I happen to believe, by the way, Anderson, and taking the question here a bit further, and it’s a good question that Tony has raised, I’m an advocate of universal nation service, not by mandating it, but one of the things I’m missing in our country is the shared experience.

I served in the National Guard, I served in the reserves, I served in the Peace Corps in Latin America back in the ’60s here. I want to see every American given the opportunity to serve their country in some way.

I think we need to do more of that in the United States today. Elections ought to be more than just about a series of issues, but the shared experiences of service.

(APPLAUSE)

It’s so important that every American have that opportunity. It’s something I strongly advocate and would advocate as president.

COOPER: Senator Clinton, do you think women should register for Selective Service? 

CLINTON: I do. I don’t support a draft. I think our all- volunteer military has performed superbly. But we’ve had women die in Iraq. We’ve had combat deaths of women in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I do think that women should register. I doubt very much that we’ll ever have to go back to a draft. But I think it is fair to call upon every young American.

And I agree completely with Chris. We’ve got to look for more ways for universal national service. I’ve introduced legislation for a public service academy that would be patterned on great institutions like The Citadel and our military academies. Because we’ve got to get young people back into public service.

And the other night we had a provision in our bill that we passed to have people who go into public service have their student loans deferred and even forgiven.

We need to do more to support public service.

COOPER: Senator Obama, should women register for Selective Service?

OBAMA: You know, a while back we had a celebration in the Capitol for the Tuskegee Airmen, and it was extraordinarily powerful because it reminded us, there was a time when African-Americans weren’t allowed to serve in combat.

And yet, when they did, not only did they perform brilliantly, but what also happened is they helped to change America, and they helped to underscore that we’re equal.

And I think that if women are registered for service — not necessarily in combat roles, and I don’t agree with the draft — I think it will help to send a message to my two daughters that they’ve got obligations to this great country as well as boys do.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Senator Edwards?

EDWARDS: Anyone who has any question about whether women can serve this country honorably in the military should meet Sally Bardon (ph), who’s sitting with my wife Elizabeth down there. She flew fighter jets, F-16s, into the first 15 minutes of the war in Iraq. Flew over Baghdad.

(APPLAUSE)

She put her life at risk, at the very beginning of the war. Anybody who has any questions about whether women can serve courageously and honorably, need to meet women like Sally Bardon (ph).

COOPER: Senator Gravel?

GRAVEL: Well, of course I want to take credit and admit that I’m the guy that filibustered for five months, all by myself, in the Senate to end the draft in the United States of America.

And I’m very proud of that because George Bush does not have the boots on the ground to invade Iran.

COOPER: Thank you. Do you think — should women register?

GRAVEL: Of course women should be going — go into the draft if we’re going to have a draft. They should register also. What’s the difference?

COOPER: OK. Thank you for your answer.(LAUGHTER)

—————————————————————————————–

On nuclear powers:

QUESTION: In 1982, Anwar Sadat traveled to Israel, a trip that resulted in a peace agreement that has lasted ever since.In the spirit of that type of bold leadership, would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?

COOPER: I should also point out that Stephen is in the crowd tonight.Senator Obama?

OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration — is ridiculous.(APPLAUSE)

Now, Ronald Reagan and Democratic presidents like JFK constantly spoke to Soviet Union at a time when Ronald Reagan called them an evil empire. And the reason is because they understood that we may not trust them and they may pose an extraordinary danger to this country, but we had the obligation to find areas where we can potentially move forward.

And I think that it is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them. We’ve been talking about Iraq — one of the first things that I would do in terms of moving a diplomatic effort in the region forward is to send a signal that we need to talk to Iran and Syria because they’re going to have responsibilities if Iraq collapses.

They have been acting irresponsibly up until this point. But if we tell them that we are not going to be a permanent occupying force, we are in a position to say that they are going to have to carry some weight, in terms of stabilizing the region.

COOPER: I just want to check in with Stephen if he believes he got an answer to his question.

QUESTION: I seem to have a microphone in my hand. Well, I’d be interested in knowing what Hillary has to say to that question.

COOPER: Senator Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I will promise a very vigorous diplomatic effort because I think it is not that you promise a meeting at that high a level before you know what the intentions are.

I don’t want to be used for propaganda purposes. I don’t want to make a situation even worse. But I certainly agree that we need to get back to diplomacy, which has been turned into a bad word by this administration.

And I will purse very vigorous diplomacy.

And I will use a lot of high-level presidential envoys to test the waters, to feel the way. But certainly, we’re not going to just have our president meet with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and, you know, the president of North Korea, Iran and Syria until we know better what the way forward would be.

(APPLAUSE)

—————————————————————————————-

On gun control:

QUESTION: Good evening, America. My name is Jered Townsend from Clio, Michigan.To all the candidates, tell me your position on gun control, as myself and other Americans really want to know if our babies are safe.

This is my baby, purchased under the 1994 gun ban. Please tell me your views.

Thank you.

BIDEN: I’ll tell you what, if that is his baby, he needs help.

(APPLAUSE)

I think he just made an admission against self-interest. I don’t know that he is mentally qualified to own that gun. I’m being serious. Look, just like me, we go around talking about people who own guns. I am the guy who originally wrote the assault weapons ban, that became law, and then we got defeated and then Dianne Feinstein went to town on it and did a great job.

BIDEN: Look, we should be working with law enforcement, right now, to make sure that we protect people against people who don’t — are not capable of knowing what to do with a gun because they’re either mentally imbalanced and/or because they have a criminal record, and…

COOPER: Time.

BIDEN: Anyway…

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: We got one more question. Before…

BIDEN: … I hope he doesn’t come looking for me.

(LAUGHTER)

——————————————————————————————

On each other:

QUESTION: My name is Jason Koop, and I am from Colorado Springs, Colorado. And my question is for all of the candidates, and it is intended to lighten up the mood a little bit.

I would like for each of you to look at the candidate to your left and tell the audience one thing you like and one thing you dislike about that particular candidate. And remember, be honest.

COOPER: Senator Gravel?

GRAVEL: I turn to my left and I like Chris Dodd. I knew his dad, I served with his dad.

I do have a difference of opinion with respect to where the money’s coming from.

GRAVEL: I’ve advocated, people, follow the money if you want to find out what’s going to happen after any one of these individuals are elected. Follow the money, because it’s politics as usual is what you’re seeing.

COOPER: Senator Dodd?

DODD: I like John Edwards. I love his wife Elizabeth and his family, and I think we’ve had enough of negative in politics. I have nothing negative to say about the gentleman.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: You’re not going to answer the question. All right. Senator Edwards?

EDWARDS: I admire what Senator Clinton has done for America, what her husband did for America.

I’m not sure about that coat.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: Senator Clinton?

CLINTON: Yes, John, it’s a good thing we’re ending soon.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, I think that Chris Dodd has it absolutely right. I mean, I admire and like very much Barack, as I do with all of the candidates here. And I think that what you’ve seen tonight is how ready the Democrats are to lead.

CLINTON: We are ready to lead the change that America so desperately needs.

COOPER: All right. I’ll take that as you’re not going to answer.

Senator Obama?

OBAMA: I actually like Hillary’s jacket. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. And I like the fact that Bill Richardson has devoted his life to public service, because that, I think, is the highest of callings.

(APPLAUSE)

I don’t like the fact that he either likes the Yankees or the Red Sox, but doesn’t apparently like the White Sox. And we’re having a tough time this year.

COOPER: Governor Richardson?

RICHARDSON: You know, let me just say, I love all of the candidates here.

RICHARDSON: In fact, I think they would all do great in the White House as my vice president.

(LAUGHTER)

Let me say something about Joe Biden.

(APPLAUSE)

Joe Biden — you know, the only negative thing about Joe. We disagree on Iraq very strongly, on Darfur. But this man has devoted his whole life to public service. He’s been a distinguished chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He’s had great contributions in civil rights, in issues relating to gun control, in Supreme Court nominees. He will make an excellent secretary of state for me.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: Senator Biden?

BIDEN: I don’t like a damn thing about him. I — no, I’m only kidding. Only kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

Dennis and I have been friends for 25 years. I think this is a ridiculous exercise.

(LAUGHTER)

Dennis, the thing I like best about you is your wife.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: Congressman Kucinich, talk about Senator Gravel.

KUCINICH: Wait a minute. He talked about my wife.

COOPER: Well…

(LAUGHTER)

KUCINICH: You notice what CNN did. They didn’t put anybody to the left of me. Think about it.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: I’m not sure it would be possible to find anybody.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

KUCINICH: And you know what? And you know — and I’m glad I get a chance to debate you to my left, because there’s no one more mainstream on the war and on health care and on trade than I am, Anderson.

Now, about Senator Gravel: Didn’t he show great courage during the Vietnam War, when he exposed what was going on with the Pentagon Papers. Really courageous American. I’m proud that he’s up here.

Thank you, Senator Gravel.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: All right. We’ll leave it at that.

A Humble Weekend Home

It looks like A-Rod may be tipping his hand with the Yankees.  I honestly would be surprised if he stayed in New York, but according to a recent New York Post article he has been inquiring about an estate in Greenwich worth in excess of $25 million.  Would he really need a home in the suburbs of New York if he is moving out West?  This could be an investment decision as well, but I remain skeptical of this possibility. 

Here is an excerpt:

The Lake Carrington Estate is a sprawling 9-acre lakefront property dominated by a Georgian-style stone mansion spanning 35,000 square feet.

Inside are seven bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, nine fire places, a 45-foot-long indoor lap pool, a basketball court, a 20,000-bottle wine cellar and a 20-seat home theater. Outside are three other buildings, including a fishing and ice-skating hut. 

And it would cost Rodriguez, who now lives on Park Avenue, an extra $5 million to finish the mansion’s interior, which for now is just framed out.

Rodriguez’s interest in the property comes as the Yankees have indicated they want to negotiate a new contract to avoid letting A-Rod become a free agent in November, when he can exercise an opt-out clause on the remaining three years of his existing contract.
A new contract could keep the all-star third baseman in pinstripes for the remainder of his career – and pay him more than $30 million annually.

Although the Bombers brass is anxious to cut that deal soon, Rodriguez has said he will not negotiate before the end of the current baseball season.

But in addition to the Greenwich mansion, Rodriguez, 31, also has checked out a Manhattan townhouse for possible purchase, indicating he expects such a deal with the Yankees to happen. It also suggests that he plans on staying together with his wife, Cynthia, despite revelations in late May that he was traveling across the continent with a busty, blond stripper named Joslyn Noel Morse.

This is what the estate, Lake Carrington, looks like:

Antares is the fastest growing real estate development company in the US, recently having completed a $233 million dollar deal in Greenwich, the largest in its history.  I went to school with the owner’s son (like his dad, also a talented lacrosse player), but this was as the firm was relatively new, and before they gained recognition for their development of The Delamar on the waterfront.  Here is an article on how they were able to grow the company.

Friends in High and Low Places

I seem to be attracting a lot of random Facebook friends these days. A couple of days ago I saw that one of my Facebook friends added photos. I had a vague recollection of accepting a Facebook friend request a long time ok from this girl, who I was pretty sure I did not know, but as this was in the nasence of social networking I thought I might as well add her. She seemed harmless enough anyway, going to a Midwest school and occasionally sending out Biblical newsletters, listing Jesus Christ as an interest and passages as favorite quotes. In fact, I’m pretty sure this is the only friend I do not know – trust me, the last thing I want Facebook to become is MySpace. But she did look cute, so yeah, she was added.

Anyway, the point is when I curiously clicked on the photo update this was what came up:

Yes, that is Paris Hilton (looking quite drunk may I add). The caption reads “At Area Night Club… with Paris! We were dancing by her table and she actually got up and danced in the middle of us for a bit!”

Furthermore, I found this photo of her and Nick Lachey and Vanessa Milano:

So, moral of story here is, it seems like the girl with a Bible-verse-a-day widget enjoys partying it up in LA…interesting indeed. I’m not a deeply religious man but if she can get me into these clubs I’ll swear by anything…

Sunday I got another random Facebook friend request from the girl below:

I couldn’t think whether I kenw this person or not, since the pic was pretty standard (I mean girls with dyed blonde hair all look similar at some point anyway) so I checked out her profile. Her interests were pretty nondescript – Angels and Demons as favorite book, horseback riding as a hobby, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away…” as a quote…So I clicked on the web site listed on her profile.

Yeah, pictures of her naked. Pretty sure that I did not know this person. Neither, I would think, the thirty people who accepted her as a friend that day. Still confused why and how I was chosen to be her friend..a bit more alarmed than flattered I must admit.

Finally, today I recieved a request from a girl in Germany, who claims she is moving to the US and wants someone to chat with. I was guessing this is spam, but it actually seems like she is telling the truth and moving to the DC area….but still. Why me? and who the hell does that? I don’t mind making my profile public (I really have little content of interest to anyone on there) but if I continue to attract such strange friend offers, I may have to reconsider…

Tripleheader

I wasn’t quite up for going out Friday night, so I was just relaxing flipping through channels on TV when I came across Insomnia on AMC. I was immediately drawn in, and thus began an entertaining, if unproductive, night in which I managed to sit through three straight “American Movie Classics”. I am not normally the type to watch that much films, but all three were good enough (and I was lazy enough) to keep my ass on my couch for the night.

Insomnia stars Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank, and is based off of a Norweigian film by the same name. In it, Pacino’s character, an LA dectective, is sent beyond the Artic Circle to help out with a murder investiation while an Internal Affairs investigation probes whether he planted evidence in cases which he covered. While in Alaska, he accidentally shoots his partner, the same one who was providing information to the investigation. Realizing how this would look, Pacino’s character must at the same time solve the murder he was assigned to as well as cover his own tracks. He struggles to sleep (hence the insomnia), both because of the long Artic summer day as well as because of the feelings of guilt that gradually envelop him.

As I was watching I was reminded of The Prestige and Batman Begins, which have a clear focus on human emotions (obsession and fear) and sure enough, the movie is directed by Christopher Nolan (who also did Momento). (Georgetown trivia – Chris Nolan’s brother (‘99) wrote Momento, and named the title character Johnny G. after our hardass screenwriting professor, John Glavin.) Pacino does a masterful job conveying his character’s fragile state, and Robin Williams turns in a strong performance as well.

Trailer here:

What better way to follow an Al Pacino movie than with a De Niro movie – A Bronx Tale, his directorial debut, was up next. I had definitely heard of this movie, just never seen it, and it was fun to see De Niro play a role in which he is on the opposite side of the mafia. The story, which follows a kid growing up in the Bronx in the sixties, used to be a one man show by Chazz Palminteri (from The Usual Suspects), which De Niro saw and tried to buy the rights to. Chazz, who based the tale on his youth in the Bronx, insisted he be given the role of Sonny, the mafia lead, which De Niro then backed.

Even more interesting, however, I found was the lead role of Calogero, played by Francis Capra (age 9) and Lillo Brancato (age 17). First off, this is a picture of Franciz Capra from his Bronx Tale days and present day:

A little different, no?

 Lillo Brancato, who plays the teenage version of Cangelo in the film, earned the role under fortuitous circumstances. He was hanging out with his friend on Jones Beach when a talent scout was looking for someone to play De Niro’s son in the movie, and was struck by the similarity of Lillo to him. Lillo even did an impression of De Niro for the scout from Taxi Driver.

Although he achieved instant stardom through this starring role, and had a moderately successful career since, his life took some dramatic turns as he became a drug addict and, on December 2005, he was involved in the shooting death of an off duty policeman in New York City. He is currently serving time after being convicted of second degree murder, insisting that once he is released he would like to make a film based on his own life. Talk about life imitating art.

For an excellent look into the journey of Lillo Brancato, read this New york Magazine article, I highly recommend it.

Trailer here:

The final film of the night was Dead Calm, featuring Billy Zane and Nicole Kidman. This is a thriller that takes place on the seas off of the Australian Barrier Reef. Nicole Kidman’s character and her husband enjoy a vacation on their yacht after the death of their infant son, when a young man (played by Billy Zane) deserts his nearby sinking boat and comes on board, insisting that everyone on his boat had died of food poisoning. Suspicious, her husband goes to investigate, only to have the man take his boat (with Kidman still on board) and leave him stranded. The husband discovers the mutilated bodies of the crew, his suspicions confirmed, and must try to repair the ship and rescue his wife before she meets a similar end. Kidman, meanwhile, must do everything to stay alive and stall the boat long enough to have her husband reach her.

I actually really enjoyed this movie..whether it was watching Nicole Kidman in one of her earlier roles, Billy Zane pulling off the part of the handsome but wild-eyed psycho perfectly,the Hitchcock-esque pacing, or how the tension develops as the entire film essentially revolves around three characters drifting in the open water, with no margin for error.

I had recognized Billy Zane, but forgot where I had saw him before…he was Cal Hockley in Titanic, as well as was in Zoolander as himself. However, he looks different in this movie, as he now suffers from premature hair loss (but, as Wikipedia puts it, it has not “dimished from his career”). In fact, in Titanic he was wearing a wig.

Here is a before and after photo:

Trailer here:

So all in all a long evening, but it felt gratifying to catch up with some good movies I probably should see at some point. Now if I can only get someone to see Transformers with me…

Free Reading

Preppy is back…

Vote on the nation’s most annoying Liberal Arts colleges…

Who to blame for our sense of entitlement…

The business of making money…

Hotter Fans – Yankees or Red Sox…

The degradation of ESPN…

A life recruited at 17, dead at 18…

Welcome back, Kotter…

Why Facebook shouldn’t sell out…

The Left’s Inequality Obsession…

What happens when you opt out of swim class…

Why you should think twice before joining a Fight Club…

Sexual persuasion revealed…

How trying to recreate the Playboy mansion can get you into trouble…

Late Night Shots

I attended a triple birthday party this Saturday in Georgetown, at Blue Gin no less. Considering I spend more weekends in Adams Morgan than anywhere else for purely practical reasons, I knew this would be a slightly different crowd than my typical weekend exploit. Sure, I used to spend the majority of my student days hitting up the local scene, but this was different. First off, Blue Gin (formerly Champs) is one of the very few places in the area that that thinks of itself as a club, with a regular cover and dress code. Secondly, the school which the birthday girls hailed from already has a reputation of being ultra preppy. But its good to get back to my roots once in a while, I figure, so I put on the polo shirt (albeit unpopped) and headed out to make my appearence.

It turns out that they had basically the upstairs to themselves, and, while still relatively early, had a decent amount of people already there. And yes, it was pretty much the crowd I thought it would be. I found the birthday girl, wished her a happy birthday, chatted with a few mutual friends, and headed over to the bar to get my $6 beer. I was shortly introduced to another member of the birthday party, who I made small talk with (what’s your name, who do you know here, etc…).  He was shorter than me, with an Oxford shirt and mixed drink in his hand, and also a few years out of school.

We are scarcely into our conversation when his eyes light up, and he suddenly asks me, “Do you like Asians?”

“Huh?” I ask

I follow his eyes towards three Asian girls making their way to the bar.

“Uh, I guess…I mean, I’ve never had anything agianst Asians.”

Interested, he turns to me. “Have you ever hooked up with an Asian before?”

Not sure where this was heading, I responded “Uh…”

“Oh, I love Asians. You got to hook up with them. I’m telling you, there nothing fucking like it.”

I quickly nodded in agreement, taking a swig of my beer, as if this was a foreseen conclusion by me. But then when he found out I went to Georgetown, he immediately asks about a girl he knows there.

“Do you know her?”

“Sounds familiar, not sure though.”

“Was on the lacrosse team … “

“Oh, um…”

“Total slut.” he interjects.

“Really?” I ask, more incredulous of the point raised by him in the context of our conversation than the fact that this girls is (allegedly – but I’ll give it to her) a whore.

“Definitely. You have no idea. You been to Third’s?”

Third Edition is where most of the lacrosse team ends up (especially Wednesday nights)…

“Yeah…”

“She did two guys. In the bathroom there…plus probably most of the guy’s team.” he says with glee.

“Well, that’s good to know…I’ll keep that in mind?” I had no idea how to respond to this.

The thing was, this was normal banter for this guy, and he did not hesitate to engage me in this shortly after introducing ourselves. I may make comments like this to my close friends, or occasionally joking around, but what if that girl was my friend? The thing is, if she has friends like this guy, she probably hangs around people like this all the time.

Then I found out that there is a place especially made for these people so they can find each other and socialize: Late Night Shots.

Late Night Shots is a “closed social network which allows you to explore your city’s social landscape and bar scene” as the web site describes it.  Essentially, it is invitation only, allows people to arrange their social lives around specific bars, and create a network.  There are other similar organizations like this, to be sure, such as the formal Capital Club, limited to a 100 members, or the informal crowd that gathers at Smith Point.

As Rock Creek Rambler puts it:

The site in itself is actually kind of a cool idea.  Bars are arranged by neighborhood and list nightly drink specials.  People associate themselves with the bars at which they are “regulars” so you can kinda get an idea of the scene at each bar.  The problem is: the people.  I mean, it’s like a tractor trailer hauling duffeldouches jacknifed on the highway after colliding with a chartered bus for Hootie and the Blowfish, leaving the highway strewn with a bloody mangled mess of dead Hootie and used douche bags.  Hmmm… too macabre?

Aye, the people.  Therein lies the rub.  These people, or douches as we are apparently referring to them, were the inspiration for this week’s “must read” City Paper feature, “Members Only“.

The author, Angel Valdez, allows readers to gain some insight into the group by attending its functions and asking provoking questions of its members,  reporting on her observtions, and perusing its forums.  While the first people she speaks to claim to think little of the group, it becomes clear that most seem to take Late Night Shots seriously or are actively involved, and the idea of status is the pervading element in keeping interest strong, and racist and sexist overtones are the norm.

The three guys sitting at the bar at Town Hall in Georgetown swear it’s a true story: A friend of theirs called a buddy in the middle of a sexual conquest, placing his cell phone out of view. When the voice mail picked up, it recorded him asking his lady, “You like that Republican cock?”…At first, the sordid tales of preppy hookups just make me laugh. Then the bearded one in the middle busts out with this: “Do you like anal sex?” I squint. I’m confused. “Do you do anal?” he repeats, head bobbing with excitement.

The sense of entitlement and snobbery becomes clear when the author approaches a set of African-American twins at a LNS charity event:

I’m standing near a station serving only Red Bull with vodka when I meet Otis Ofori, 24, who, along with his twin brother, Curtis, is another star of LNS. I ask him what it is like to be a black man among such a uniformly white crowd. (I recently found a profile on the site for one Tyrone Biggums, who lists his skills as “Suckin dick for crack and drinkin red bawls!”) Ofori leans forward, reaches for my waist, and pulls me close. He says he knows people talk behind his back, but he doesn’t care. He’s rich, and that’s all that matters. “My brother and I, we do all right,” he says. “Guys with money can do whatever they want.” He grabs me again and says, “You’re kind of cute.”

She writes about the forums:

Code words like “turbo” and “turbette” help posters maintain the site’s exclusivity. The lingo ranges from abstruse to obvious. In addition to “takedowns” and “going to poundtown” or “PT” (getting laid), there’s “big timing” (snubbing someone, often a member of the opposite sex, at a bar), “smoke” (an attractive LNS member), and “RBV” (a Red Bull with vodka, the preferred drink of many LNSers).

Indeed, topics worth discussing include:

Lying about Greek affiliation
Posted By: very concerned on 10-19-2006 11:20 am
At age 29 if you’re dating a chick, how big of a problem is it if you’re digging through her desk and you find out that she was lying about what sorority she was in. This happened to a friend of mine.

RE: what are acceptable handouts from parents
Posted By: taxman on 10-25-2006 6:23 pm
Someone should receive absolutely no more than 30 k/yr and car payments from parents. If you’re above that, you really have problems. Girls may be entitled to a bit more than that with shopping and everything, but I feel like 30k is pretty reasonable.

LNS Forum Photo

The forums had been monitored for the past year by Wonkette, who shared
this exchange:

Breakage

Posted By: Plan B on 11-29-2006 10:00 am Report as shockingly offensive

Last night, after a few too many glasses of wine at Milano, I dropped my date off at her apartment. She asked me up for a drink. I was not into it, but Tuesday night takedowns only happen ever so often so I proceeded. She made me wear a condom because she was not on the pill for some reason. Deed done, I went into the bathroom to dispose of said condom and discovered it had long since broken. In a panic, I went back into her room, chatted for a few minutes and then departed gracefully. She also mentioned she was glad we slept together because she was getting her period in a few days. I failed to mention whatsoever that I may have impregnated her. Do I have to say something or just leave it be and hope she won’t get pregnant? Maybe she knew? I never want to see or talk to her again. She was a boring conversationalist and the sex was bad.

RE: Breakage

Posted By: oh god on 11-29-2006 12:00 pm Report as shockingly offensive

wait, plan b? im kind of freaking out. were you at a table in the front room of milano with me at milano and did we stop at the cvs in gtown before going back to my place to buy durex ultra thin strong>condoms? i tried calling but you wont pick up

RE: Breakage

Posted By: Plan B on 11-29-2006 12:16 pm Report as shockingly offensive

oh god: I probably should have searched for your profile on here first. That’s us. Check your gmail and tell me what you want to do. Sorry.

RE: Breakage

Posted By: oh god on 11-29-2006 1:16 pm Report as shockingly offensive

this is unbelievable. how could you not tell me? i could have taken plan b this morning instead of having to run all the way to cvs sobbing.

Hilarious.  Commentary ensued:

BY JOSETTE 12/01/06 03:56 AM

The brutality of this exchange brought tears to my eyes. Tears of AWESOME.

BY KJC9 12/01/06 01:21 AM

I’m not sure if Hallmark makes a card for this situation….but they should.

BY SHADOWFAX 12/01/06 11:24 AM

Peejay, you’re right… actually not that bad. I had a condom pop off mid thrust and it got lost inside the girl’s ( insert Britney Spears most recent photo incident slang) and couldn’t be located even with about 10 minutes of thorough searching… Of course, had to explain that one to her right away or she would have wondered where the Trojan came from a couple of hours later… and of course we never had the forum encounter to discuss it… wait… Ashley???? Is that you???? Who the hell were you out at Milano with????? Slut.

 

Want these people as friends?  Join Late Night Shots! 

The article sparked an immediate reaction from the LNS crowd, who countered that the article portrays them in an unfair light, that interviews were inaccurate, and that she revealed the full names of those she spoke to.  The “hipsters” lashed back immediately as well.

Here is some sample commentary:

 —————————————————————————————-

Comment: By: MGR Jul. 12, 2007, at 2:29 pm

At the end of the day, they hate because they are jealous. Jealous of our priviledge, jealous of our economic success, jealous of our fun. I hate to say it but they hate us for the same reasons the terrorists do. Perhaps that’s why they all want us to withdraw from Iraq and hand victory to al Qaeda on a silver platter? Ok, I better stop before I go off on a major tangent/rant here.

Comment: By: Coldbliss Jul. 12, 2007, at 4:20 pm                                                         

The problem with the LNS people is that they exclude themselves from the rest of Washington, DC society. It’s not that they are shutting people out; they are isolating themselves and this is detrimental social behavior–anti-social behavior even. I think if the LNS members would expand social networks to include minorities, middle-class people, homosexuals, and people who have liberal political views, they would become more sensitive, thoughtful human beings. The comments from LNS members to this article re-affirms my thinking. Coming from a prominent family and making a high-income living doesn’t make you an ass hole…shutting yourself away from society and spouting racist, homophobic, sexist, and class-based hate makes you one. This is something LNS people will have to come to grips with.

Comment: By: Note to LNSers: Jul. 12, 2007, at 3:25 pm

Hipsters enjoy…

There is a reason this embarrassing paper is free and staffs Angela vanslut. Let them have their forum of use posts and we will go back to our forum. Enjoy your crummy Indie music and making minimum wage. When I need your opinion or critique on privilege, I will be sure to give you a ring (and opinion) while I am renting a car and you are filling up my tank. Both of which you did a terrible job of doing. Hipsters its no wonder you cannot not find a job. Keep writing about us and we will be sure not give damn whether you live or die. That is the thing about your purported privilege. While you are busy writing about us, we are busy running the world and making money so you have something to write. LNS end scene.

Comment: By: Pimp C Jul. 12, 2007, at 5:47 pm

 I love LNS but Inigo Montoya, that has got to be the wordiest, dumbest comment I’ve ever read.  I knew the article was made up when she claimed that some guy told her she was cute. I mean, come on:  http://www.myspace.com/angelavaldez

Comment: By: Jack Hoff Jul. 13, 2007, at 10:44 pm

I own loafers and a red polo shirt and I like anal sex. How do I join this LNS?

Comment: By: We Drink Bitter Jul. 13, 2007, at 0:48 am

Holy shit, the comments section is like finding out, after dad gives you the keys to the yacht that he left you 105 pairs of 2007 boat shoes inside. And, worst of all, I just moved to Honolulu and you ridiculous haoles are actually making me MISS DC. I always thought it ironic that these kids always had coke that was so much lower-quality than the stuff east of 18th st NW. Good luck, dummies, though God knows you’ll never need it.

p.s. the terrorist comment was the best of all.

Comment: By: Cranky Media Guy Jul. 13, 2007, at 3:26 am

Bottom line: you’re a bunch of cowards, desperately frightened of the parts of the world which aren’t entirely populated by smug preppie Caucasoids exactly like yourselves. You’d shit the leather seats in the Beamer your folks bought you for managing to graduate from prep school if you ever took the wrong exit and found yourself in Southeast D.C. I hear those black men have HUGE cocks and can steal any women you might have. Be afraid, be VERY afraid!  You HAVE to drink at every opportunity because your world is hollower than a basketball. In twenty years, you’re be as big an alcoholic as your Mummy. Keep telling yourselves you’re somehow, inexplicably, intrinsically superior to the people you see on the street. Keep killing those brain cells with your trendy drink; it’ll keep you from contemplating the incredibly mediocrity you really are.

Comment: By: welcome to the world Jul. 13, 2007, at 10:12 am

“while you are busy writing about us, we are busy running the world and making money so you have something to write.”

oh, honey. You aren’t running my world. you aren’t even IN my world. I know the LNS 22 year olds love to feel they have some sort of actual importance beyond their adorable little website, but it’s just not true. Kissing ass every day on the Hill and puking up Smith Point’s offerings every night does not a world leader make ye.

Comment: By: Goatse Jul. 13, 2007, at 4:19 pm

This article is garbage. What about the positives that LNS brings to our community? Not once did it delve into the snuff porn charity auctions, the turbo grope-a-thon, or the homeless person nickel dance.

You act like the members of LNS are criminals, when they are simply doing the same things the majority of you people do every time you go out. Is it such a crime to sleep with a girl when she’s passed out cold? And if she’s out cold, is it such a crime to strangle her a little bit?

If we were wearing hipster outfits instead of Lacoste polo shirts, would we really be any different?

Comment: By: Jame Gumb Jul. 13, 2007, at 5:26 pm

Is it too late to perform abortions when the child is in his mid-to-late 20s?

Comment: By: Feeling Bad for Courtney Jul. 13, 2007, at 6:10 pm

Oh, dear deluded Courtney. Many, many people have money, good looks, nice houses, nice clothes, etc. and do not act like assholes. You choose to associate with a group that is elitist, sexist and offensive. I guess you missed the whole point of the article.

Do you really enjoy hanging out with men who think you and other females are nothing more than a piece of meat to use for their own sexual gratification, especially when the females are vulnerable and drunk? Oh, yeah, they have a lot of responsibility to handle. As a female, I embarrassed that any woman would defend such disgusting behavior. Respect yourself more.

Comment: By: Dooder Jul. 14, 2007, at 6:14 pm

As background, I graduated from one of the “top” Ivy League schools, aka HYP. Therefore, I went to school with tons of people who are richer than God, and surely richer than almost any of these Smith Point country club types who went to Georgetown or wherever the hell they go. Let’s be honest about a couple of things here.

1. Jack Ellis is right. Dumb dudes from Landon from middle-tier private colleges may have rich dads, but they’re certainly not “significant,” except in the sense that they may have finished close to the top of the country club tennis championships a few times. Bottom line — it’s tough to be significant without being smart.

2. I know plenty of rich republicans. Many (i.e., a vastly disproportionate number) of them turned out to be closeted homosexuals. While I don’t think this is “news,” I’m somewhat surprised that it wasn’t mentioned in the article. If dressing-up in pants with pictures of sailboats isn’t at least somewhat of a giveaway, you must be smoking something.

3. Let me say a word about the kids from my college who went to schools like Landon and Georgetown Prep. Besides the closeted gays, most of these dudes were beer-chugging lacrosse players (or were wannabes who had quit the lacrosse team). Actually, I’d say that most of these were nice people–cocky and dumb, maybe, but fun and personable, too. I found the St. Albans people to be smarter, for whatever reason. In any case, no one thought of these laxers as “important,” especially in comparison with the super-rich New Yorkers (and maybe some Californians), unless they thought that a dull country club life in Maryland funded by an inheritance was somehow extremely desirable. As I said before, you can’t be significant without being smart (unless you’re W, and your dad was beyond significant).

Comment: By: regina Jul. 15, 2007, at 3:58 am

let me tell you what happens when these lns guys hit 40 or so..

a very good friend of mine was a hyper-sucessful real estate broker for a big commercial firm in DC. came from old money. daddy went to harvard but despite that. buddy boy couldn’t get in. couldn’t even make it to georgetown, so his great shame was to graduate from GW. this weighed heavily on his social cred. (boo hoo, right? but to this guy, it MATTERED)

he partied. A LOT. he was a big guy. could outeat, outdrink and outsnort anybody in g’town. made “friends” (i.e. drinking/fuck/drug buddies) and spent his 20s and 30s kind of aimlessly drifting from job to job, all lucrative, but none engaging enough to keep him clean and interested in anything more than the party scene. finally, he met a great girl (not a size 4, but beautiful by most sane people’s standards), who convinced him to give the smith point scene a rest. he went into rehab on the company dime and made a go of a drug and alcohol-free life for a few years. we were all proud.

this guy loved to travel, and it was during a trip abroad that the old party lifestyle began to rear its head. before you could say “red bull and vodka” the game was back on, full force. he started drinking, snorting, then smoking, then shooting coke, all from the confines of his posh waterfront condo. it wasn’t long before the faithful girlfriend caught on and moved out, pleading with him to get help. he was in and out of rehab, bought a bunch of cars and real estate, partied with a variety of strippers, escorts and drug dealers as well as his old g’town cronies for longer than you think his heart or bank account could sustain it.

when he finally decided to get help, he figured he’d have one more go before he went into the seclusion of rehab. that was his last party. he overdosed in his bathroom with a tourniquet around one arm and wasn’t found for 2 days. glamorous, huh? total rockstar young republican way to go out- straight outta a bret easton ellis novel, but the guy was 41.

at his funeral, i wanted someone to stand up and say that there was some quality others had missed- that he did volunteer work, that he read books to the blind, that he had a soft spot for small animals. because he did- all of those things were true. but the only things anyone (and it was a group pf coworkers and old pals that chose to speak) had to say was how he liked to “have a good time” to party down at the club, that he had many expensive posessions, that he was a savvy businessman.

while all of these things were valid, they seemed very cold comfort. he, like all of us, was a complex human being, with much more to offer than the fact that he was skilled at acquiring wealth. in life, he had blustery, cocky way of speaking, so much so that it put many people off. but he was generous, gregarious, and charming too. its clear that he needed to feel important– that all his goods and self-medication were part of an elaborate system to stave off the fact that he wasn’t really, in the grand scheme of things, more significant than anyone else. that he had failed many many times, perhaps more than he succeeded. he hadn’t lived up to the old man. he didn’t find the fountain of youth. and the hangovers never got any prettier.

a wasted life is always a tragedy. money (or the sustained illusion thereof) is a very poor substitute for things that really matter, kids. and alcoholics don’t tend to age well.

Comment: By: BILL Jul. 16, 2007, at 11:18 am

FINALLY an article that exposes you elitist pricks for who & what you really are: shallow, spoiled, undereducated yet overly confident brats. i have many friends in LNS, and not all of them are douchebags; but there are several things they all have in common: lack of social skills, a desire to ‘belong’, and sincere case of insecurity. ALL members of LNS are pathetic & should be pittied. these are people who’s passtime is DRINKING? lol you losers. try doing something productive with your lives instead of ‘HEY DUDE LETS GET DRUNK, DO COKE, AND SEE IF WE CAN BE REALLY OBNOXIOUS’. just a bunch of leftover frat & sorority members who want to feel like they’re important or have a social life. if drinking with someone is the only thing you have in common: check your priorities. LNS may work well in other cities, but DC is so full of you assholes, you give LNS a bad name. and in response to a comment earlier about someone who was mentioned in the article getting fired over their coverage: GOOD. just like a dog: it shits on the carpet, you rub its face in it, & MAGICALLY it doesnt shit on the rug anymore. the guy’s boss probably did him AAAAAAAAAAND his company a favor.

——————————————————————————————

One blog’s commenters further noted: 

“There is nothing academically or even financially distinguishing about the LNS crowd. Their sense of superiority seems to come from the fact that they have achieved positions that were competitive within their own circumscribed social milleu (eg, they managed to join a fraternity at their mediocre college and managed to get a political staff position with their local Congressman). As a consequence, they believe they are part of a vaunted, superior station in life. Hipsters seem to be more than well aware of the fact that there are lots of other people who make more money than them and came from more elite families than they did. The LNS crowd is stunningly clueless about this reality… yet it sort of explains LNS– lacking any outlets in which they could be exclusive, they needed to create their own.”

My view after reading the article can be summarized as such:

1) This may have been the second most interesting thing I read all year – the first being the comments, which are priceless, and can be found in their entirety here.  No where are the divisions in DC as evident as in the rants of the “hispters” vs. “LNSers”.

2) As a piece of journalism, Angela Valdez seemed to cross the lines in several incidences.  Some claimed she was drunk, some say she baited members and then misquoted or invented conversations, effectively slandering them.  Furthermore, releasing full names of those involved was unncessary, and did in fact prompt one member to lose his job (not funny) and another to “have to speak with his parents” (hilarious).

3) Much of the forums and attitudes evidenced are exaggerated on purpose, much of it is real as well.  I see it all the time in DC, and I know that even is sarcasm lies a hint of truth, and some of these LNSers really are, in fact, pompous jerks who care little for anyone but themselves.  Go ahead, go to Georgetown, they are not hard to find.  The fact that someone complained that they had to answer to their parents for their own actions at the age of 25 leads me to believe that attitudes and actions portrayed at LNS are largely reflective of the group.

4) Being rich doesn’t make you an asshole.  Being an asshole  makes you an asshole.  I feel like every Maryland kid I ran into during school only owned preppy clothes, but I saw that as a regional attire.  I have been surrounded by those with “old money” like LNSers claim to be, whether it be growing up in Greenwich or attending Georgetown.  Plenty of these people are just like you and me, and don’t feel the need to shove it in others faces.  They have had the unique opportunity to learn what class is, to achieve the best education this country has to offer, and realize what a gift that they have been given that is not to be taken for granted. 

Too bad most of these LNSers do not fall in this category.  First off, they seem to be only in the club to social climb, which shouldn’t be necessary if they already were what they claim to be.  Instead of broadening their horizons, as true blue bloods might do, they insist on hanging out with themselves, and pity those who can’t make the cut.  Secondly, instead of focusing on why the article portrays them in a bad light, they seem to mock the crowd of outsiders, and add further fuel to the flames – “you are just jealous of us”, “we run the world you don’t” etc.

They also set themselves up for this one, besides responding inappropriately.  Their forum banter is consistently offensive, and has been monitored by blogs for a while now. 

See their forum comments  below following a Take Back the Night event, regarding sexual assault: 

~Did anyone else have a bunch of girls with candles hold one these outdoor parties in their honor during college? I’m pretty sure they wanted to take back the night I blacked out and took them down in my frat love den. Grrrr.

~A better solution would be to promote going to AA – then these silly take back the night vigils wouldn’t occur and inconvenience everyone

~I’m a woman, and I certainly don’t think sexual violence and rape is funny. But the feminazis holding the candles are just jokes.

Ignorant, offensive, and inexcusable.

5)  As my last point insinuated, these are, as others pointed out, mostly kids who went to good but not great colleges with some money trying to get ahead.  Good for them, I have no problem with that.  Network all you want, I commend you.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a set of friends that I know I can rely should I ever need connections or offer me means to access what otherwise would be difficult for me.  That is smart.  But putting your reputation, the thing that counts the most, on the line by engaging in bawdry talk and inappropriate conduct just to “fit in” is as low as you can go.  Which leads me to believe that those regularly involved are not worthwhile people, and those that join specifically to meet these type of people, well….I am gald you are at least in one place and I know where to find you.

6) Speaking of which, we now know how such people continue to exist.  Despite guys bragging how easy it is to bag girls using the site, and speaking exclusively in derogatory terms about the females, they still come in droves, not caring and thinking they’ll “make it” and be “part of the scene”.  As long as these type of people continue to procreate, the asshole meets dumb gene lives on.

7) The aftermath of this should be interesting.  I know there was talk of suing the writer, and many LNSers are now denying their membership in the group.  All in all, the article served the purpose it was supposed to – get a rise out of those reading it, good or bad.  There is little denying that it helped the City Paper short term (pending any actions taken) and inspired revealing discussions of the dynamics at play.

I’ll leave you with one blogster’s comments:

The point is that the guy who said:

He says he knows people talk behind his back, but he doesn’t care. He’s rich, and that’s all that matters. “My brother and I, we do all right,” he says. “Guys with money can do whatever they want.” He grabs me again and says, “You’re kind of cute.” Is absolutely right. My parents are immigrants, they put a huge amount of work getting to where they are right now…

I wish I could feel that sense of entitlement, the knowledge that I could get away with almost anything, the ability to be a complete and total asshole and still get laid, and in the end I would still be part of the elite telling everyone else what to do and how to live their lives, while being completely insulated from the real world…So unlike everyone else, who whines about how Republicans are hypocrites, how they are such good old boy alpha-males, racists, homophobes, rich, entitled, and shallow people that brazenly and uncouthly hit on girls they don’t know in bars; I salute you!  I honestly wish I could be you and will be dedicating my life to getting into the Social Register (and hopefully marrying someone who is in it or as equally ambitious as I am to get listed .) If I have a daughter she will have a cotillion. The rest of you can be content to be turned in indentured servants sinking deeper into debt, having your sons sent off to fight in Iraq, pay your taxes, be mistreated and abused by a government controlled by business and lobbying interests. 

Ratatouille

Wednesday night I watched with several friends of mine the film Ratatouille, the newest Disney/Pixar film. It was kind of odd going to a 9:30 weekday showing (one in which no kids really would attend – way past their bedtime) but perfect for us 20 year olds. Disney movies are supposed to be universally enjoyable, so I have little qualms about seeing a “kids movie”, but I really was excited to see this film because of the computer graphics, and I was not disappointed.

The film began with an animated short, starring an alien who is taking his flying saucer driving lessons, which was really well done. Pixar grew out of the animated shorts Job’s company first produced, and I think it is great that they stay to their roots by having a short before their feature releases. In fact, the very first short, “Luxo Jr.,” focused on the white lamp that we now see jumping on the “I” on the Pixar icon – I still remember my brother, who worked for Pixar’s sister company, showing me the tape of this when it was first made.

The movie itself tells the story of Remy, a rat with a penchant for cooking, who is seperated from his family, ends up in Paris, and assists a young boy to become a master chef at a French restuarant. The depiction of the food is fantastic, and I was practically growing hungry just watching. The sewage scene, in which Remy is tumbling in water, looks as if it could be live film, and one can clearly see the evolution since Finding Nemo. Even more interesting was the depiction of the Rats themselves, who aren’t as Disney-fyed as one would expect. Remy (who insists he not walk on the feet he eats with) is the only one who does not crawl on all fours, and while he and his brother look endearing, the rest of the clan look like, well…rats. You know animation has done its job when all the rats scatter across the kitchen floor, the audience, including me, gives a shudder, accepting the realness of the scene unfolding before us.

I thought the film was good from a plot standpoint, but it did seem at times one dimensional. Most of the interaction is between the boy and Remy, and there is only so far this can go before it becomes predictable and a bit trite. There are three miniplots, which weren’t quite the complement with each other they could have been. I also found it interesting that much of the humor (such as that revolving around cuisine) is meant for adults, and in fact I felt kids would not find this movie as funny or as relevant as Finding Nemo or Toy Story. And if the movie is not as funny, I would expect it to have explored the relationships of its characters a bit more.

I do agree that the moral overtones (even if overdone) seperate this film from the pervious ones.LIBERTAS writes in its review:

But nothing nothing impressed me more in this film than the lack of moral authority given to the animals. Too many animal-driven animated films suffer from what should be called Watership Down Syndrome where humans are considered the source of all evil, and the animals perfect stewards of the earth. I can’t even express how sick I am of that theme. Film after film treats us humans as though were some kind of genetic mistake of nature who don’t even belong here. But Remy loves us. He even says so. He calls us amazing and inventive. And one of the great arcs of the story is how both the humans and the rats overcome their mutual revulsion. Yes, a film where it’s not just us humans who must be taught tolerance. How refreshing is that?

Ratatouille also was for me an argument for Christian paternalistic ethic, as its “anyone can be be a great cook” mantra clearly echoes the sentiment that with hard work anyone can acheive success, even a lowly rat and a boy with janitorial duties. I actually thought this was a bit odd, since the boy gets ahead by cheating (he manipulates the rat , or vice versa the rat manipulates him) to make it seem like he has skill. When the health inspector comes, they have to tie him up to ensure the success of their venue. The food critic loses his credibility over the fiasco that ensues, but is redeemed by “investing in a small business” – the boy opens another restuarant when Gasteau’s is shut down. I dunno, maybe the real lesson is to be clever, and use those around you to succeed.

The Amatuer Gourmet offers its take on the film:

The key moment in “Ratatouille” is not the creation of the title dish, a layered circle of sliced zucchini, eggplant, and tomato perfectly rendered by Pixar’s animators and lovingly sauced by Remy, the film’s protagonist. It’s not the climactic scene of judgment by the film’s primary antagonist, the food critic Anton Ego, voiced by a droll Peter O’Toole. It is, instead, the moment when the father rat, Django–voiced by Brian Dennehy–takes Remy to the surface to show him what humans do to rats. Remy looks up and sees a giant store window filled with rat traps and, more horrifically, his dead brethren strung up with cold, calculated indifference. Taken along with the scene where Remy, in a sewer, overhears a woman complaining about “filthy vermin” the movie becomes–at least for me–a powerful metaphor for the 20th century Jew’s attempt at assimilation…

Fear of the Christian world is a very real experience for many Jews the same way that fear of the human world is a very real experience for the rats in “Ratatouille.” To me, that moment where Django shows Remy the shop window is the equivalent of Hebrew school teachers showing young Jews slides of concentration camps, reminding them that there’s no safety anywhere, that the Jews are incredibly vulnerable. What Remy must overcome in the movie is not so much the challenge of the kitchen–using Linguini (his human friend) like a puppet, impressing the corrupt head chef–but, instead, the seemingly unreconcilable worlds of humans and rats. The movie chronicles Remy’s attempt to assimilate.

Remy loves the human world. In one of the earliest scenes in the movie, he tries to convince his brother, Emile, that humans, while they have their faults, are pretty wonderful. “Look what they do with food,” he cheers. He bemoans the fact that his fellow rats eat trash. “There’s a reason they call it trash,” he quips.

The rats eat trash in “Ratatouille” because they have to eat trash. Liken that to the historical position of the Jews in post-Christianized Europe where, because handling money was considered impure, they were forced to become bankers and money-lenders. Consequently, Jews developed a deadly reputation for being money-obsessed: a reputation that Hitler used to justify their “extermination.” (Is it a coincidence that the scurrying rats in “Ratatouille” look a lot like those in Hitler’s propaganda films? And, for that matter, why does Django have a hooked nose?) Remy’s disgust at his family’s trash-eating ways is almost Philip Rothian in how he resents the cultural fate he’s been dealt. If humans think of rats as trash-eaters and rats continue to eat trash, there’ll never be any escape. To quote Roth in Portnoy’s Complaint (pg 76): “Do me a favor, my people, and stick your suffering heritage up your suffering ass–I happen also to be a human being!”

But Remy, unlike Roth, is not a human being. He’s a rat. And the movie’s way of dealing with that fact is, in my opinion, decidedly dark. At the end the rat world and the human world are not reconciled. Anton Ego knows Linguini’s secret but keeps it to himself, choosing to benefit from the genius rat (eating at his restaurant every day) without giving him the glory he deserves. And Remy’s fellow rats, while happily noshing on Remy’s food, are doing so in what I took to be the restaurant’s attic. The attic! Sure those rats look happy, but they’re still in hiding. And hiding in an attic has undeniable resonance for 20th century Jews.

The story of “Ratatouille,” then, is a story of exploitation. Django exploits Remy for his poison-sniffing abilities; Linguini exploits Remy for his arm-controlling kitchen skills; and, in the end, the world exploits Remy for his food, a set-up that he finds enjoyable but probably not ideal. He’ll never reach the career heights of his mentor, Gusteau: he’ll never write a bestselling cookbook (unless he ghost-writes it), he’ll never star in his own cooking show. He’ll never dine at other fine dining establishments to study the food; he’ll never get to hang out with other chefs and shoptalk over a beer. He’ll stay where he is and do what he does and he’ll be grateful that he got as far as he did. Is that a happy ending? The audience seemed to think so. Everyone left the theater with smiles on their faces. But for Jews worldwide, many of whom hide out in kitchens of their own–doing their jobs and then returning home to their Jewish friends and families, barely interacting with the Christian world–it is a very revealing portrait. We’re not entirely trapped, we’re not entirely free. We walk the tightrope and try to forget the fear of our elders, a fear that makes it impossible to fully step forward.

In my opinion, the plight of Remy and his family could in fact be likened to the gypsies even more than the Jews, but both historically faced their fair share of tribulations in France. The film in general clearly addresses the issue of being an outsider and assimilation extensively, and the parallel described above is one interpretation.

I was going to look forward to my Ratatouille Happy Meal toy, but just to prove that Disney is willing to embrace its adult audience, it is producing Ratatouille wine to help with marketing efforts…

Michael Vick

 Mike Vick loves dogs.  No, really, he does. 

Until  they lose money for him.  Then it gets ugly.

 There is something about Hampton Roads…

Continuing the rich heritage of misfits, Michael Vick was indicted yesterday by the Feds on three dog fighting charges.  Unlike the Duke case, with a renegade prosecuter, those indicted have a 95 % conviction rate by the Feds.  Not looking good. 

 According to news reports:

 In the summer of 2002, Vick and the others performed testing sessions on the dogs at the Smithfield property, and Peace, Phillips or Taylor sometimes killed those that didn’t perform well. In April 2007, all four participated in a test followed by the killing of eight dogs, one by slamming its body into the ground, according to the indictment.

Various members of Bad Newz Kennels participated in dog fights in other parts of Virginia and several other states, according to the indictment.

Vick and other defendants face as much as five years in prison and fines of as much as $250,000 for the interstate commerce part of the charge, and one year in prison and $100,000 fines on the dog-fighting charge, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Vick might also face penalties from the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell in April suspended Tennessee Titans defensive back Pacman Jones for the entire 2007 season after Jones was arrested five times in about two years on charges that included public intoxication and felony coercion involving a fight in a Las Vegas strip club that left an employee paralyzed.

Read the full indictment here.

Here is one humorous look at the dire straits of Michael Vick:

Lyrics

I been wond’rin’ all about me
Ever since I seen you there.
On the cliffs of your wildcat charms I’m riding,
I know I’m ’round you but I don’t know where.
You have slayed me, you have made me,
I got to laugh halfways off my heels.
I got to know, babe, will I be touching you
So I can tell if I’m really real.

Screen on the Green

Ever since having the pleasure of watching Rocky last year, I was sold on Screen on the Green down on the National Mall. There is something uniquely gratifying being able to picnic on the grass with a view of the Capitol, and while sipping red wine from a Nalgene, watch some (overtly racist) 1950’s Looney Tunes short and then a full feature on on an outdoor screen. Not to mention my favorite part, standing up and doing the ridiculous dance everyone does as the introductory music for the film is playing. The DC community tends to remain diseperate (save for all the kickball and softball going on) and its cool to see the (white 25-year old) community bonding for those few hours.

This Monday kicked off the summer series, which includes Casablanca, All The King’s Men,and The Thing. But today was Annie Hall, probably the classic Woody Allen Movie. Filled with one liners (ex. “My grammy never gave gifts. She was too busy getting raped by Cossacks”), it follows Alvey and his exploits with Annie (and several other women), to whom he interestingly enough never says “I love you” in the entire film (although he does say, “Love is not a strong enough word to describe how I feel”). It does lag at times (the California scenes could have been shortened) but all in all it is entertaining.

Anyway, I forgot that Paul Simon had a cameo and Christopher Walken played Annie’s brother. I am a big Walken fan – his mannerisms and way with words can make anyone laugh (at him? with him?) – but in Annie Hall he has the awkward role down perfectly. Woody Allen’s character is called into his room at night and the following exchange takes place:

Duane: Can I confess something? I tell you this as an artist,I think you’ll understand. Sometimes when I’m driving… on the road at night… I see two headlights coming toward me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion. The sound of shattering glass. The… flames rising out of the flowing gasoline…

Alvy Singer: Right. Well, I have to – I have to go now, Duane, because I… I’m due back on the planet Earth.

He later suffers through Duane at the steering wheel, a look of impending doom etched on his face the entire ride. Classic.

Anyway, thought I would provide some Walken highights, DC style:

Backing It Up

Ah…remember that wonderful pic of NBA-bound Oden, clearly enjoying his high school years?  Wonder what his on year of college was like…

Says Oden: “I wasn’t drunk … She was just backing it up really good.”

Then again, maybe he just wanted to ‘Be Like Mike’?

 

Well, anyway, he had a chance to address it in this interview by Miss Gossip.

National Pastimes

Now he is in uniform…

Now he isn’t. 

                     

It appears as if Beckham is all but ready to join the LA Galaxy and make his debut in the MLS (jersey above – a bit close to Real Madrid’s, no?).  The next set of pictures are from W Magazine, where readers can see Beckham and his wife, Posh Spice, in all their full glory, and wish they too could bend it like Beckham.  If you haven’t read it yet, here is a great article from the LA Times examining Beckham’s working class roots.  DC United plays LA Galaxy August 9th, a game which I really wish I had bought tickets to…

DC United, meanwhile, started the season out cold, then got hot, and now just lost to Harrisburg. I don’t even know where that is, but this team certainly isn’t meeting expectations.  Meanwhile Adu and company have been having some more success…

Here is a preview of what has transpired in the first half of the MLS season:  The good, the bad, and the ugly of the MLS.

On DC United:

DC UNITED – DC is the Jekyll and Hyde of MLS, occasionally playing unbeatable, skillfull soccer before losing inexplicably to Real Salt Lake. I considered dropping them into the “ugly” category, but the strength of their roster and their recent string of good play has them occasionally running with the big dogs. Like Houston, DC started poorly, losing every April match before going 6-1-2 in May and June. United seem to be finding their form in spite of first-year head coach Tom Soehn’s tinkering and mistakes (TYH’s take on Soehn). A large part of their recent success has been the better midfield play of Fred and Christian Gomez, and fellow South American Luciano Emilio has finally begun to find the form that he showed in preseason in the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup.

Keys to victory: Even with a much improved offense, DC’s defense is terrible. There has been some improvement with the addition of national team veteran Greg Vanney, but having to trade Facundo Erpen (who hasn’t played as well as last year) made an already thin defense thinner. The pundits say that teams have figured out DC’s defense, but if you watch the goals they allow, it appears more like a lack of communication among the backline. DC need Bobby Boswell and Vanney to provide some stability if they are going to reclaim past glory.

Players to watch: Luciano Emilo, Nicholas Addlery, Bobby Boswell

TYH’s Cracked Crystal Ball: Soehn will be replaced by Ray Hudson following their first-round loss to Dallas. Then, they will all have a big laugh at his first press conference before firing Hudson and hiring a real coach. 

Meanwhile, these past two days, have been the slowest day in sports (Tour de France does not count), mostly due to the Baseball All-Star Break.  So here is another review of what lies ahead:

Second half AL preview

Second half NL preview

And in honor of the slow day in sports, let’s review our district’s place in sports:  Ranking the states: Washington DC

Gridiron

Not so far removed from Friday Night Lights…football in the south, it really is a whole other world: 

Reading Fodder…

Some amusing/interesting articles and links from this week:

Proof that hope is never lost…

Facebook’s popularity only increasing…

Why Facebook should not sell…

The Summer of Drugs…

Ten Best Geeky Dance Videos…

50 Things Your 18-Year Old Girlfriend Should Know…

Why Mr. Rogers was a bad influence…

Generation Y: Selfless or Just Self-Absorbed?…

A Letter to Optimus Prime From His GEICO Auto Insurance Agent…

How to pass time during a murder trial…

When your boss want to friend you on Facebook…

The Social Awkwardness of Online Snubbing…

And for good measure:

Big Buns

Today for lunch I ventured into a place I had never gone before: Big Buns Gourmet Grill. Hidden in the courtyard of an office complex, it just opened about two weeks ago, and is the only one of its kind (so far). Combining the elements of Potbellys and Chipotle, the establishment lets you custom build four items: a angus beef burger, marinated chicken, mahi mahi, or portobello mushroom. You can get any thing with a bun or as bowl (a salad). Options include toppings, sauces, and cheese, as well as shakes, and fries (including sweet potato fries!).

I had passed the venue a week earlier, and checked out the website. It was pretty well laid out in simple format, but best of all had a theme song, which kicks ass. Listen to the song, and tell me you would turn down Big Buns. It sounded like the owner himself sang the song, so I half exepected to see him serving me the food. Alas, he did not seem to be there.

The line was out the door when I arrived, but I decided to wait it out. I ordered a burger (with a bun), bacon, chedder cheese, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and a coke. The cashier handed me a number with a stand, and I sat at a table waiting for for my food. The food took a little under 5 minutes to arrive, and checked out the scene inside. I noticed all the girls bringing food over wore shirts that said “I like Big Buns and I Cannot Lie” on the back. In addition, there were shirts available for sale – clearly even though the venue just opened they are trying to do some self marketing. Finally my food arrived, and I realized regrettably I had forgetten to order the fries, but I guess there is always next time.

Now to the burger. I had two sauces, the Chipotle Pesto Aioli and Ranch, and tried each of them separately on the burger. The Chipotle sauce was good, but left me wanting a bit more. The Angus beef was definitely quality, but overall, while the burger was good and satisfying, I really wondered what amde it unique. A Chipotle burrito has a very distinct flavor, as does Five Guys (even if that distinct flavor is one of grease). I probably could not tell the difference between this burger and that of Front Page nearby, which I guess is both a good and bad thing. I aim to try some of the other food options soon and try to see how they turn out. One can also get refills, and while I went up to refill my Coke, I noticed that they had syrups available. So I poured some Sprite in my cup and added some cherry syrup, which was good until someone pointed out I had basically just made Shirley Temple, at which point I clealry felt like a tool.

The other attraction apparently was this girl who sat at the table next to me. She was one of those universally good looking people that could do no wrong. She had dark hair, cut short, with dark eyes and a Meg Ryan complexion. About 5′9″ with a volleyball player’s build and lankiness, wearing white pants and a bright blue tube top. So I guess subtly attractive? She had a boyfriend, sitting with her, but everytime she got up to get a drink refill, sauce, or napkins, I swear every guy in the place looked up from their food, stopped their conversation, and turned their head following her every move. So, yes, sometimes it is all about the buns, afterall.

Kenner League

Every summer Georgetown hosts the Kenner League, a summer basketball league pitting local (and some non-local) college players against each other. More importantly, it is the first chance to see Georgetown’s underclassmen play before the start of the season, and monitor their progress. Last year I went and witnessed a much stronger Roy Hibbert, as well as saw the Dujaun Summers was much more ready to contribute than hyped frosh Vernon Macklin, who was still pretty raw (and in many ways, still is).

So Sunday I went for the first time this summer, and watched three games at McDonough Arena. I had been really excited to see Chris Wright, who I have heard as an incoming freshman is already on his way to a future NBA career. Unfortunately, he (along with Macklin) sat out his game, but I did see three of our guards play (Wallace, Sapp, and Crawford). Wallace clearly was pissed that his team was playing poorly, but as a great shooter with point guard experience did a good job of keeping his team in the game and ultimately led them to a win. Crawford and Sapp also looked solid, but hey, its summer league, and fould and sloppy plays can (often) abound.

I did find myself sitting next to Austin Freeman (Gtown’s other star frosh) and Chris Wright’s mothers, who were also there to watch the game. A few of us nearby spoke to them, and they seemed truly glad to see their sons playing close to home and together (they played at rival high schools DeMatha and St. Johns in DC). Chris Wright’s mom in particular seemed very friendly, and I can’t wait for future renditions of the “Jeff Green’s mom” cheer. Chris came up to her and talked for a bit, and I noticed that he definitely has a built body and frame that will serve him well in the tough Big East.

As I left the gym I passed by the turf field in the center of campus, and noticed that Georgetown Prep and few other teams were playing lacrosse. I couldn’t tell if it was the JV team, or summer league, but I stayed and watched for a bit, and was very impressed by the quality of play. The coach was relaly intense, and got into several of his players, and it struck me how much of a powerhouse in the sport Georgetown Prep really is. There were tons of kids on the field and roaming around, all with Georgetown Prep gear. What I found the best was that I was surrounded by mothers wearing pastels and driving beamers, when a couple of minutes earlier, in the gym, I was one of maybe a handful of Caucasians taking in the basketball game, whose audience was mostly DC locals from the neighborhoods the kids grew up in. Ah, the many worlds of Georgetown.

I passed by the construction site in the center of the unviersity as well, where the baseball field used to be, and a parking lot now stands. This is where the new business school addition is being built, and it looks, like it is well under way, with the steel beams already giving it some shape. Regrettably this will cut off the maginificant views from the student center to the fields below, but hopefully the building will serve the undergrads as well, and with only a hundred acres to work with, I suppose there was little else Georgetown could do.

For more Kenner League game updates, see the Hoyatalk boards.

The Kennedy Myth

 In the following Op-Ed by Joseph Epstein, the author accuses Kenendy and the image created of him by his staff as a reason for the demise of the Democratic Party.  As much as I agree that the Kennedy Legacy is exaggerated for later generations, hearing my parents talk about Kennedy and how he was viewed especially in Germany makes me believe that as much as he was a product of those around him, his charisma and presence still seemed to to instill an emotional connect (for better or worse) that remains both unique and in some respects unweakened.

In one of the vice-presidential debates during the 1988 campaign, Republican Dan Quayle attempted to fend off the argument that he was too young for the office of vice president by noting that he had served in Congress as long as John F. Kennedy when he had become president. This allowed his opponent, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, to reply: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy: I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” The riposte has since become famous; it is probably the only thing for which Bentsen is remembered. But when he said, “Senetor, you’re no Jack Kennedy,” I thought, “That;s all right.  Jack Kennedy wasn’t really Jack Kennedy, either, at least not the way he is presented to us today.”

As someone with a vivid memory of Kennedy’s brief and lackluster term as president, I have been amused over the following 44 years to watch the myth of the greatness of John F. Kennedy grow. Here was a president who initiated no impressive programs, was less than notably courageous in coming to the aid of civil-rights workers in the South, got the nation enmeshed in one of the most unpopular wars in our history (Vietnam), and brought it to the edge of nuclear war in a probably unnecessary war of nerves with Nikita Khrushchev over the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba. In short, John F. Kennedy was a president who, based on the decisions he made or didn’t have the courage to make while in office, deserves to go down as one of the resoundingly mediocre figures in American presidential history.

And so he would have done but for the one brilliant decision he did make – to surround himself with a staff of Harvard men and Cambridge intellectuals who continue to supply him with an unrelenting public relations build-up. A powerful PR man named Ben Sonnenberg used to say, apropos of his clients, that he made large pedestals for small men. Mr. Sonnenberg could have learned a thing or two from the Kennedy staff men. To invent a greater Camelot, alas, one has to sham a lot.

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., John Kenneth Galbraith, Richard Goodwin and Theodore Sorensen were among the circle around Kennedy – a president the British humorist Malcolm Muggeridge called “The Loved One” – who have kept pumping away at his already inflated reputation. Scheslinger, who started out in life as an historian and ended up as a courtier, worked most assiduously at this project, writing thick, overly dramatized books on both Jack and Bobby Kennedy, books with a very low truth quotient. But everyone pitched in. All had a stake, for the greater they could make John F. Kennedy seem, the more heightened would the drama of their own lives appear.

The Kennedy public-relations juggernut continues to roll.  Recent evidence of it is found in the July/August issue of Washington Monthly.  Its cover story, “The Speech I Wish The Winner Would Give,” was written by Mr. Sorenson, who is best known for the phrase, planted in his boss’s inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  He is  – only in America! – the country’s most famous ghostwriter; or, if you prefer, its msot noted politcal ventriloquist.

The speech Mr. Sorenson would write for the 2006 Democratic presidential nominee contains neither surprises in the realm of policy nor lilting turns of speech.  Instead, it would have the candidate essentiallu avow that he will do nothing George Bush has done.

The speech is, then, the usual canned goods, notable only for straining after the Kennedyesque tone; its final paragraph begins: “I’m told that John. F. Kennedy was fond of quoting Archimedes…”  Yet in its very insubstantiality it reminds one of how the Kennedy administration’s insignificant years in office and the decades-long public-relations campaign that followed it have skewered and ultimately helped wreck the Democratic Party.

John F. Kennedy & Co. took the party up-market, making it an Ivy league, and, later, a Hollywood operation.  After the Kenendy administration, the Democrats were no longer  the party of the little man (Harry Truman’s party), or the party of the underdog (FDR’s party), but that of the intellectual and cultural sahibs pretending to speak for the little man and the underdogs because it makes them feel virtuous to do so; they turn politics into an affair of snobbery, where politicians are judged on eloquence not substance.  One recalls how much of an outsider the Kennedy people made Lyndon Baines Johnson feel – LBJ, that vulgar texan who attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College.

Because of the regularity with which John. F. Kennedy’s name is invoked by his skillful PR flacks, the Democrats keep turning up rather anemic Kennedy imitators – Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, John Kerry (with only occasional genuine hustler like Bill Clinton popping up almost by accident) – to lead their presidential tickets.  But the criteria for president of the United States aren’t the same as those set by the deans of admission at harvard or Yale, Brown or Duke.  The happy snobbery of felling culturally superior and morally virtuous that is at the heart of the Kennedy myth shouldn’t be what politics is about.

DC Photos

flickr: mhoek, birgerstichelbaut, thepres

Sesame Street – Revisited

Sesame characters are not as innocent as they appear…

Also, is it just me, or did Snuffy and Big Bird experiment with one too many drugs in this sketch? The part on the disco floor is hilarious…

The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is always one of my favorite holidays. It is synonomyous with good food (and plenty of it), time with friends and family, no work or school, fireworks…and somehow patriotism is squeezed in there as well (even though, when you think about it, the holiday celebrates the Founders being patriotic to their ideals, rather than their country, but oh well).

Growing up my family would always drive down to our local park, where we would survey the landscape for that perfect spot to view the fireworks being set off on the other side of the field. My mom would compile a light feast for us, consisting of baquettes, assorted meats, brie, her curry chicken salad, a fruit salad, and lemonade. I could barely sit still, and would wander with my brother all over the park, trying to find friends, throw a football or frisbee around with someone, and gander at all the cool stuff the vendors were selling (the kind of stuff that you only saw once a year during this holiday). Kids I didn’t know would throw poppers at my feet, and I would silly string them back, laughing in good fun. I would come back to our picnic area every so often to let my parents know I was around, grab some more chips or lemonade, or bring my dad with me to the ice cream truck to get an ice cream, but mostly I enjoyed the whole cacophony and activity surrounding me. As night would settle in I would wander around trying to relocate my parents, stepping in my fair share of peoples picnics as I hurried to get back in time. Then the fireworks would let loose, and I could just lay on my back and enjoy every whistle, screech, boom, and flash. I had a friend who was scared of loud sounds (on our swim team, she had to dive of the starting block via whistle, rather than starting gun) and would usually cry throughout these 15 minutes, but her protests, like everything else, were lost in the madness of the fireworks.

In high school and college I moved beyond our park to BBQs, and even our boat. My dad would sail us out into the middle of Long Island Sound, straddled by CT and Long Island, with a view of the Manhattan skyline. We would grill sausages and hamburgers, and as soon as darkness set in, we were surrounded by scores of firework displays, from Manhattan to Rye to our town to hamlets on Long Island. This was a much more serene Fourth, with nothing but us, the stars, water, and the distant murmur and vibrant collage of colors the fireworks would give off.

This Fourth my college roommate had his girlfriend visting from Mexico, and while any Fourth in the nation’s capital may be considered an experience in itself, he insisted that he could not imagine the holiday celebrated properly without a BBQ, so I obliged and had a bunch of friends over. I cooked some hot dogs and hamburgers on the Weber, finally convincing everyone to leave the living room (apparently E’s Girls Next Door is captivating television), but ten minutes after chilling on our deck it started to rain. While I had to finish up the food in the rain, it was only a refreshing drizzle and a welcome reprieve from the smoke and heat of the grill. The hamburgers were delicious, and we had plenty of beer, chips, and fruit to go with it. In fact, my college roommate brought the new Miller beer with him, Chill, which is essentially beer, lime and salt. It was better than I thought it would be, which is to say it was still not that great (a bit too salty to chug, in any event).

The main attraction of the evening (even superseding the fireworks for some, apparently) was Taboo, which my brother bought but I had never played before. This easily occocupied the next two hours until we left for the fireworks, ample time to come to two conclusions:

1) I suck at Taboo. As my friend put it, for someone as intelligent as I am, and as competitive, I was definitely my team’s weakest link. It is probably because I am not that creative in making up clues, and it is hard to think when people are yelling guesses at you. It must run in the family, because my bro was not that impressive either.

2) They need to invent dirty Taboo for us, because I swear people used the most inappropriate slangs, innuendos, and other clues not even thought of by the makers of the game. Creativity comes in many forms…

3) Finally, I was alarmed by the associations some of my friends made. Its never a good sign when the word is “nag” and a teammate says “What girlfriends do” as a clue and the very first thing that come out of one of my girl friend’s mouth is “Cheat!” We’re bad people I suppose.

Our trip to Target yielded a bunch of Americana apparel for this festive occasion, so we headed out of my apt around 8:45 bedecked in American flag top hats, tiaras, kazoos, flags, and bandanas. We even had a “Happy Fourth of July” banner for the apt I wrapped around my body and wore out. Basically we looked like the Fourth of July threw up on us, or we were trying to stave off deportation. We made our way up 16th street towards Malcolm X Park, while taxis honked at us, we sang every patriotic song we knew, and rather drunkenly blew on our kazoos.

I had never watched from the park before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But we settled on a spot among the crowds near the edge facing downtown, and had a decent view over the rooftops towards the mall. Most kids climbed on their dad’s shoulder’s or climbed the statues, but some of my shorter friends were at a disadvantage (but made up for it with plenty of kazooing). The fireworks were pretty cool, and although we didn’t experience the explosive roar that we would have downtown, there were plenty of stray fireworks being set off on the periphery of the park to add excitement (to say the least). As we headed back after the grand finale a kid came up and asked us about our attire, clearly wishing that he too, could fulfill his Fourth of July experience. It was then that I realized that unlike my park back home, or the Mall, that there were no vendors about, and short of our antics, most adults looked like they happened to be on an evening stroll, and that the kids were bereft of glow sticks, flags, balloons, ice cream, all those things that excited me as a kid. We tried to offer the kid something, but he was hurried on by his dad…

In honor of the Fourth of July, here are the 10 Most Patriotic Moments in Sports History…

But not to be outdone, we can’t forget the great accomplishment of Joey Chestnut, who downed a new world record of 66 hot dogs at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, defeating defending six time champion Kobayashi, bringing the title back to America. Even the announcers claimed the audience was witnessing sports history, and says Joey:

“It’s about time this championship comes back to America on the Fourth of July,” says Joey. “If I had to eat another hot dog right now, I would.”

And what is more patriotic than that?

The face of a champion

Other gems from the announcing crew and particpants:

“If Chestnut wins, you can look up American Hero on Google tomorrow and find Abe Lincoln…Neal Armstrong,…Taylor Hicks and this guy.”

Patrick Bertoletti, of Chicago, downed 49 dogs for third place, and dedicated his game beforehand to Nicky Hilton, sister of Paris Hilton, who he feels is in the shadow of the elder heiress, just like he is in the shadow of Kobayashi.

The kid who held a sign up while being introduced saying “On the Seventh Day God Created Hartford” and on the opposite side, “Hermione Dies”.

Announcer notes that Kobayashi appears to have no gag reflex. No additonal comment needed.

And, believe it or not, betting was on full force for the event:

                       Contract                 BQty        Bid           Offer        AQty       Last         Vol           Chge

TradeHOTDOGS.CHESTNUT        58            62.0         80.0         3           62.0           142               0

TradeHOTDOGS.KOBAYASHI       3              15.0         35.0         12            35.0         130          +16.0

TradeHOTDOGS.FIELD                  0                -              5.0           69            5.0           31            0

                                                                     77.00        120.00                                                    

 For a minute by minute breakdown, see here.

Reading Fodder…

Some interesting/amusing articles I came across this week:

A good wife always knows her place…

If sitcom stars were NBA prospects: Senifeld VS. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air…

15-year olds are the New Al Queda…

Introducing the latest in Social Networking…

The continuing appeal of rat movies…

such as Ratatouille…

Iraqi youth face dire straits….

I am not on it yet, but the CEO Wealthmeter is cool…

RIP, Count von Bismarck

 He will be missed…

“Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies.”

That pretty much says it.  Article here.

Michael Eric Dyson Joins Georgetown Faculty

It appears as if Georgetown has (finally) made an interesting addition to their faculty.  Michael Eric Dyson, a scholar of black culture not afraid to speak his mind, is the first high profile African American to teach on campus since Bobby McFerrin.  For a school that doesn’t involve itself nearly enough with the black community surrounding it, this is a welcome addition.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Outspoken Scholar of Black Culture Joins Faculty

By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 4, 2007; Page B06

Michael Eric Dyson, an author and media commentator on African American culture, joins the Georgetown University faculty this summer, a hire the provost described as “a spontaneous combustion of an idea.”

Dyson does have an explosive quality — often shaking things up, as he did with a very public fight with Bill Cosby over poverty and the black underclass. And he wants to make a splash in Washington — even if he’s not yet sure what form that will take.

“We’re talking force of nature here,” said James J. O’Donnell, the provost. Dyson has a booming voice, a hug for strangers, an enormous network of connections. “He’s a source of energy and an attractor of energy,” O’Donnell said.

Georgetown, which has never been known for scholarship in black issues, lured Dyson from the University of Pennsylvania. (Before that, he had jumped around among the University of North Carolina, Brown University, Columbia University and elsewhere. “I want to sink some roots,” he said.)

He’ll be a “university professor,” a post that gives him free reign across academic departments, and he expects to work in English, theology, sociology, philosophy and African American studies.

It’s the kind of hire that gets the school attention; Dyson is often mentioned in the same breath as such star scholars as Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates Jr.

It’s also the kind that can irk some academics. Dyson is a pop-culture guy, not a researcher hidden in a library or a lab. He’s on the radio, he’s on TV, he’s on book tour, he’s talking about hip-hop and Cosby and Don Imus. His latest book has an introduction by Jay-Z and an afterward (sorry, “intro” and “outro”) by Nas.

And he’s endorsing Barack Obama this week to a crowd of thousands at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. He and his wife are involved with Obama’s and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaigns, respectively. With an election coming, it’s a great time to be in Washington, he said the day after he watched the Democratic candidates debate at Howard University.

He plans to “forge connections between the city and the university, with the black community, which perhaps felt alienated from Georgetown.”

O’Donnell said that, in the past, Georgetown has been “less engaged in the city’s life, on our hilltop in Northwest. We’ve turned that around in the last 30 to 40 years,” with many volunteers in public schools, legal clinics and other programs. “Sometimes reputation lags a little bit. We’d like to do even more.”

The city is “a laboratory of social ills that need to be addressed,” Dyson said, and he foresees opportunities to work in the schools, leverage the power of black churches in the area and strengthen the connections and visibility of existing Georgetown programs.

At Georgetown, O’Donnell said, Dyson will write, work with students and teach. “We expect him also to be a rainmaker for us in helping us develop programs” and attracting people to the school, O’Donnell said. He added that it was premature to say what the new programs might be.

“A lot of us are like, ‘Man! I wish we could have been juniors and seniors when this was announced,’ ” said William Godwin, who just graduated from Georgetown. When he got there, they didn’t have an African American studies program. Now there’s a minor. “To not even have a program, and to bring someone of that caliber, that speaks a lot about the university’s commitment to expanding the program,” Godwin said.

The Rev. Grainger Browning of Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, who knows Dyson by reputation, said he thought Dyson, who is a Baptist minister, would be a good bridge between Georgetown and churches and others in the community. “The black community primarily knows them for their basketball team — this will allow them to be on the radar for social issues.”

Jesus Phone

Interesting article on why the iPhone has so successfully marketed itself…with very little self-marketing to speak of.

The Jesus Phone

By PAUL KEDROSKY

The Apple iPhone is set to be released today at 6 p.m., and I feel like I already have one. Apple’s new “Jesus phone” — it combines Internet access, an iPod music player, and, oh yes, a phone — has been accompanied by a loud, relentless, and unavoidable drumbeat of hype.

According to one study, 58% of British and 64% of U.S. mobile phone users are aware of the iPhone, and 19 million Americans have expressed interest in buying one. That is remarkable stuff when you consider the iPhone’s $499 price, not to mention that even the most successful so-called smartphones are lucky to sell a million units.

Yikes! So, how has Apple done it? Some people argue it has cleverly drip-dripped product information to the market, tantalizing consumers and journalists alike, everyone hanging on to learn about the next nifty feature. A big, bright touch screen! A real Web browser! A finger-flickable interface! I gotta get one!

But this theory is wrong. Apple hasn’t steadily dripped product information. As a matter of fact, the iPhone that Steve Jobs described and demonstrated back in January, when he first announced the product, is pretty much the same as what is being launched today. I am hard-pressed to think of a single material feature in the product that wasn’t announced six months ago, right down to the nifty new way you can scroll through songs.

So if Apple hasn’t teased and tantalized its way to iPhone ubiquity, another theory goes, surely it has been the company’s massive, multibillion-dollar marketing campaign that has done the deed. The trouble is, there is no such multibillion-dollar Apple campaign. Apple simply announced the product, and then did nothing. It has only been in the last month that there have been some television advertisements, and those were merely product demonstrations set to music. Granted, it was nice music, but it was also just an iPhone being put through its paces, hardly the recipe for hype.

Some will say I’m missing the most important factor in Apple’s marketing campaign: master showman, and Apple founder and CEO, Steve Jobs. He has been the one driving the promotion using his personal persuasiveness and charm. Fine. Show me his recent iPhone-pumping appearances on CNBC. None. Or on CNN. None. He has been conspicuous in his almost complete media absence. It must be a fairly postmodern style of promotion that has Mr. Jobs playing master showman largely by being invisible.

So if there hasn’t really been much of an iPhone marketing campaign, at least in orthodox terms, and Apple demonstrably isn’t suffering for iPhone attention, is it the Apple addicts out there that are responsible for the hype? Apple does have some of the most ardent fans of any modern company, more similar to cult members than customers, but there simply aren’t enough of them to explain the iPhone’s cultural ubiquity.

If it’s not the marketing campaign, nor the cult of Apple, nor the showmanship of the charismatic Steve Jobs, then how has the iPhone succeeded in getting millions of people interested in buying something so expensive that hasn’t even been launched?

I’ll tell you. First, people hate their cell phones. Other than making phone calls — a downright dreary bit of business — using phones for Internet, entertainment and pretty much anything else has been abysmal. Cell phones are best characterized as crippled, paternalistic devices best suited for people who think straitjackets are comfortable evening wear. They have horrible Web browsers, crummy screens, and obscure-to-the point-of-opacity interfaces. (After all, some of the iPhone’s most hyped features, like maps, are on traditional cell phones as well. You just can’t find the feature.)

But in addition to hating their phones, people hate their cell phone carriers. Hate, hate, hate, hate. The major cellular providers — with their ham-handed “support” and fascist control of software that can run on phones directly — are right up there with the IRS in terms of inspiring your average mobile phone user’s disgust and loathing.

To such consumers, Apple’s iPhone seems like a cool drink of water. These people want to be liberated either from bad phones or from bad phone companies. They want to choose a device that does all the things they want to do — calling, being entertained, consuming information — not all the things their phone company thinks they should do (and then be charged $5 a month per feature for the privilege). They want phones that make it possible to do calls over wi-fi, to the point that cellular companies could potentially become irrelevant.

The massive upwelling of grassroots support for the iPhone shows that a revolution has been building for some time. Now it’s here. Cell phone carriers are going to have to respond by cutting the length of contracts and eliminating exclusivity, and most important, by finally being responsive to their market. If not, iPhones (or their successors) will finish them off.

Scooter Scoots Free

Bush has commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence, meaning he will no longer have to go to jail. Bush has not ruled out a full pardon however, which would also exonerate him of the probabtion and fine still remaining. Whatever one’s political views, this is not helping the president’s image, who some view as making Libby the fall guy for Cheney and Bush’s trangressions, while others see this as more proof that the elite and powerful are not held accountable for their actions. The President’s approval ratings already may make him the least popular president since Nixon to leave office, and this adds to the saga.  More than Bush, though, many feel Cheney deserves the heat.

Some blog takes on the issue:

 Why Bush Was Right To Spare Libby (Slate)

Splitting the Baby Gains Bush Little (Captain’s Quarters)

Lewis Libby Owes His Freedom to Our Corrupt Political Elite (Glenn Greenwald)

Incoherence (Washington Monthly)

Bush and Cheney Walk, Too (Salon)

A Weekend of Culture

I tend to get stressed out whenever my parents are in town to visit me, mostly because they complain that they never see me at home and I feel like I ahve to entertain them 24/7 when they do make the trip down.  It is a given when they visit they A) fret about me being single and ask why I “haven’t found a nice girl” B) try to clean up my apt, no matter how clean I make it before they arrive C) unload tons of Ikea stuff they bought on trip over D) take me shopping and make me delicious meals.  Usually I fail in getting us to stick to our agenda, but this weekend went really smoothly.

I met my parents after work at Circa At Dupont, a new restaurant that opened on the corner of Connecticut and Q.  The food was only ok, but it was nice to sit outside on the street and peoplewatch as I caught up with my parents…

I was supposed to go to a going away gathering for a friend that night, which happened to be on the rooftop of an apartment nearby off of Dupont Circle.  After sending my parents back to my apt I headed up there and met up with my friends, but they immediately demanded I invite my parents and ensured it would be okay.  So I brought them up to the roof to meet everyone, which actually was really great.  They were offered beer from the keg, immediately qualifying to my German parents that the beer would be, in fact, crap, but they were welcome to it anyway.  They obliged, and we ahd some beers as I took them around to meet everyone…probably the first (and last) time I have shared keg beer with my parents.  I played some flip cup, which they did not partake in, although I think they found the concept of beer and games amusing.  The rooftop also had spectacular 360 degree views of the city, which was really neat (DC seemed really small).  We headed out for Bar Pilar a bit later, without the parents…

Saturday we woke up early and headed to the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival on the Mall.  The festival takes place over two weeks and includes crafts, food, dance, and exhibits from one state, region, and country.  This year it is Virginia, the Mekong River, and Northern Ireland.  I didn’t think the festival would be that interesting, but we spent five hours wandering, and it was really cool.

Highlights included:

- Vietnamese women using a loom and creating traditional cloth, which looked painfully slow but the results were impressive and beautiful to look at.

- A collie, which would herd sheep around the mall at the command of an old guy, who would use  a whistle or just speak softly.  The dog would move like it was remote controlled, taking four steps left, right, crouching, rounding them up, etc.  I felt bad for the sheep, who had to go a hundred different directions during the demonstration, and probably were dizzy and wondered what the hell was going on.

- $35,000 rocking horses.  At least that is the going price for some of the exquisitely carved rocking horses on display.  One was commissioned by the Queen herself, and had the mane, saddle, and horseshoes of national winners.

- Live performances.  From Asian boys imitating dragons fighting to the beat of drums,

to a bluegrass band,

to gospel singers, to a blues duo, to line singing (a form of worship back in the day, when slaves could not read the bible, and they would sing back chanted lines by a leader).  I also learned some Irish dancing.

- Irish sports.  Most of the Northern Ireland exhibit wasn’t so much traditional as about present day, which included a field set off for sports.  I watched a demonstration of Gaelic football and hurling, which has to be one of the stranger sports out there.

- This truck:

- Cool craft activities, such as watching this woman from Senegal making pottery (apparently Virginia has its roots in Kent, England, and Senegal – seems like a reach, but oh well…)

 - Plus tons of random facts and activities.  Anything from the first Germans settled by Jamestown in 1608 to pelts to how to make sailing rope to claymation…

Anyway, my parents and I had a really good time, and I highly recommend going.

Saturday night we went out to Bistrot du Coin, which, despite it being quite loud, my parents really like, probably because of the hearty dishes.  My mom ordered the moules, I had a blanquette de veau, my dad some sausage dish, and my brother the boeuf bourgiognon.  Nothing is better than Belgium beer (one trip to Bruges taught me that much) and I had a really good Leffe Brune.  I always want to try the rabbitt, but my mom didn’t let me (…something about her pet rabbit being served for dinner when she was a kid?)

 Sunday we decided on my suggestion to do the Mount Veronon trail and bike down to Alexandria.  The weather was perfect, and I always forget how great the views are along the river.  We locked up our bikes at the waterfront and looked for a good place for lunch. 

My parents wanted to sit outside, but we settled for a restuarant specializing in fish dishes  – I don’t eat fish but the dishes looked tasty.  But the best thing was the schooners of beer they served (I got a Blue Moon):

Needless to say, the bike ride home was interesting:)

We followed a guide up the streets nearby and checked out the historic sites.  Probably most interesting was Christ Church, the church of General Robert E. Lee and George Washington.  Washington was the biggest whiskey manufacturer in the East, and would often travel between Mount Vernon and DC to the wharf to do business.  He attended this church regularly and even bought his own pew for permanent use.  During the Civil War churches were converted into hospitals and the graveyards into pastures for horse grazing, but out of respect to Washington this church survived such a dismantling.  Unfortuantely, most of its congregation was on the Confederate side, and when Alexandria was immediately occupied by the Union to preserve the railway depot, the families took many of the old church records and left.  Robert E. Lee was also confirmed here, and has a plaque exactly where he knelt.  Winston Churchill has visited, though he was placed in a seat with a column obstructing his view, which he was irate about (nevertheless he has a plaque at this seat as well).  Past sitting presidents also are said to visit the church, although when I asked about George W., the guide said “No, perhaps security is too much of a concern.” …I doubt that is the reason though. 

My ass hurt the next day and I was sunburnt, but my parents and I enjoyed the excursion.

Sunday night we whipped out the Weber grill I bought at Target a couple of weekends ago and gave it a dry run.  My dad and mom had given me a quick lesson on how to marinate a steak and cook it, and the results (if I may so so myself) were quite delicious.  The only issue was I forgot to get something to stir the charcoal with, so we had to use a candleholder, and apparently I didn’t have a tablecloth, so we used a sheet.  I had a couple of friends over on the back deck, and had a nice relaxing dinner…

NBA Draft A Success

 

As bitter as it was to part with such a talent as Jeff Green as a Georgetown fan, it was hard to not feel anything but pride on Thursday night.  Unsure of his status in the eyes of NBA scouts, thanks to an unreal level of young talent in the draft and his team-oriented  play, and stuck with a desire to earn his degree and perhaps a championship, Jeff finally chose to enter the draft after wowing in private workouts, and there is little doubt now that he made a great choice for him.  Initially thought to perhaps fall as far as 12th, he was selected 5th by the Seattle Sonics, who aquired his rights from the Boston Celtics via trading the face of their franchise, the 32 year old Ray Allen.  No Hoya has been drafted so high since Allen Iverson, the perennial All Star who left after one scintillating year on the Hilltop.  Jeff Green’s mom, who made it to every game and even had a student cheer created for her, burst into tears and hugged her son, perhaps in recognition of her son’s dreams realized..

 Jeff  Green Being Selected:

The Seattle  Sonics used the 2nd pick of the draft on the most potent scorer, freshman or otherwise, college had seen in several decades, Kevin Durant, a 6′10 forward who can shoot the three with ease, dribble like a guard, and finish over big men.  The pairing will give Seattle two of the best young talents in the league, but more importantly 30 year old GM Sam Presti managed to find potentially a Scottie Pippen to Durant’s Michael Jordan. 

Green seems already enamored to play with Durant, who he played with in high school in Maryland, but knows his role, even as a top five pick.
“I don’t need the spotlight,” said Green. “I don’t need it at all. I can go out and still play 40-plus minutes and do what I can to help my team to win. As long as my team wins…I may be the Big East Player of the Year, but that’s the National Player of the Year standing over there,” he said, pointing at Durant. “With the season that Kevin had, I understand. He’s very marketable and he deserves all the credit he gets.”
Summer league play begins July 15, look for Jeff Green to get plenty of run and be a contributor on a young Sonics team.  As  a consumate team player, a champion, an involved student, and one heck of a nice guy, the only thing missing from Jeff’s resume is a national championship, but it looks like an NBA championship may be in the work in Seattle…

*Green closes out his Georgetown career ranking 17th on Georgetown’s all-time scoring list with 1,339 points, a 13.1 per game average. He also stands 16th all-time in rebounding, grabbing 664 total, a 6.5 per game average (which is tied for 19th in rebounding average). Green also ranks 12th all-time in assists with 319, a 3.1 per game average.

Green became the 37th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career during the 2006-07 season. In scoring at least 1,000 points and grabbing 600 rebounds, he became one of only two players in Georgetown history to reach those figures, joining Reggie Williams (1983-87) in that elite group.

 Jeff Green Highlights:

The Washington Wizards, meanwhile, looked on the oppsoite coast for their NBA Draft pick, selecting USC’s Nick Young.  Although the team still needs an inside presence, especially with the certain departure of Brendan Haywood, the 6′7 shooting guard fulfills Gilbert Arenas’ wish for imemdiate scoring off the bench.  Consistently one of the highest scoring teams in the league, the team will only add to their firepower with the mature play that Young provides. 

 Long known for its quirky point guard (Gilbert takes showers at halftime with his jersey on, practices jumpers at 3am, and once held a press conference during the playoff to announce he was on the NBA Live 08 game cover), it seems like will find a good companion in Nick Young.  Sporting a mohawk and a bit of a prankster, Nick also hails from LA, like Gilbert, and is known for his antics, and even had his own documentary made.

For a warm Nick Young welcome, see this post by An Orange County Girl.

For more about Nick Young the player, see this Washington Post article.