Meeting of the Minds: Mendleson and Huntington

Hear Ye, Hear Ye,

Tomorrow, post-modern-existential-liberal-democracy-foundationalist
objective-aesthetic-hardliner-cheerful-agnostic-half-Jew David Weinberg will pick up the Godfather of Political Science, Samuel Huntington of Harvard University (obscure community college in northeast, home of 2nd rate.. or ranked.. public policy school) from the Hancock Syracuse International Airport. Hot shit moment in history. And don't you forget it.

Yahweh Responds to Persistant Bitchin'

Thank you all very much...

...yes, I have to say that my constant psychological
badgering of the great spirit in the sky has produced
what I reckon is one of the nicest Aprils in the
recent history of Central New York. Was kinda biblical..
was driving back from a wedding in Maryland and witnessed
how the tail end of this narsty typhoon flooded out
a lot of Cortland County. I don't know what the folks
in Cortland Co. did to incur God's wrath, but, well,
what can you say. Maybe we should ask Chris DiMarco...
But once that storm passed it has been sunny skies and
pleasant evera---single---day. Yesterday was Malibu, man,
70F by noontime. Weather is supposed to hold pattern
until Wed. Now, this isn't particularly conducive to
studying the nuances of administering the public, but we'll
assume the public is doing just fine grilling out and
tending to the garden. Speaking of, a flower from the
front yard is posted below. Aww shucks.

If you're noticing a pattern on this blog of discussing
only sports, weather, and politics, I think you're on to
something.



Ain't it purdy??

Caddyshackin'

Golf. Whoa buddy. Talk about living life to the fullest,
edge of your seat excitement. Twain hit the golf ball tee
on the head when he wrote the activity is a, "good walk
spoiled."

Well...............

OK, so I was kinda getting into that Woods/DiMarco showdown
on the back nine of the Masters. Not "getting into" like the
Nets Pistons game that went to Triple OT in last year's playoffs,
but fairly engulfed. I watched that shit for three hours.
I don't quite know what to write. I've trashed the sport on
more than one occasion and have said more than once that if I
ever get into it, please euthanize me. Maybe I should reconsider.

I guess a good competition is a good competition is a
good competition. Except for Olympic Gymnastics and Swimming.
But that's a separate screed. From what I'm gathering, those dudes
were golfing it up about as hardcore as is possible. The tension
on Woods' face was so palpable... guy looked like he was going
to heave at any moment. The two just kept going back and forth
in dramatic fashion.. long ass puts, crazy chip shots.. there was
a comedic element of once a guy established some breathing room,
he'd nearly knock the ball into Alabama on his next shot, but
somehow find a way to just bogie.

What I am skeptical of is how many more times in my life I will
see a solid golf showdown like that.. the overlords of the sport
are about as conservative and unimaginative as they come. Would
be awesome if we could now do a Woods/DiMarco rematch series on
the order of Frazier/Ali or Bowe/Holyfield. Imagine how riveting it
would be if Woods and DiMarco were duking it out in W/D III and
the guys were trash talking throughout, Woods caddie had a mild
heart attack, and some guy came crashing in on the 15th hold in a
parashoot. OK, yeah, maybe I'm injecting the sport with a pretty
heavy dose of mission drift, or something.

For what its worth, I have super-fond memories of playing miniature
golf with the fam. at Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, growing up, and
there was no greater feeling than hitting that sweet hole in one
under the windmill and around Abe Lincoln and down the three terrace
levels and have the ball hang on the cusp before dropping in (I
must have done this at least a dozen times)... if adult golf fans
derive the same level of vicarious pleasure from watching Tiger's
killer shot hang on edge and drop in on the 16th (?) hole, well,
good for them.

And keep your head up DiMarco. Your day will come. Maybe.


Degree for men and Old Spice have officially put us on notice that they have not signed Tiger to a $100 mil antiperspirant deal.

Why Monty Python's Holy Grail Doesn't Quite Make The Cut

To answer my cousin Matt Otto, re: why Holy Grail isn't
on my top-10 movies to watch when wasted at 2 am list...

Actually, my favorite Python movie is The Meaning of Life,
but my central (well, only, really) criticism of that film
holds for all the Python films: it could have done with some judicious
editing. The "every sperm is sacred" song is one of the
greatest moments in cinematic history. But there comes a point
in the film, around the time a pack of topless roller skating
women show up, where it just trails off into borderline entertaining
obscurity for what seems like an eternity. There are some episodes
of Flying Circus out there that are absolutely rock solid
and have me in stitches from start to finish (as well as a couple
Fawlty Towers episodes.. if you havn't seen The Germans, be sure
to check it out: http://www.fawltysite.net/episode06.htm)
but the Python films are just too spotty. Though I suppose, if my
passing out within the first 20 minutes on three separate attempted
late night LOTR viewings in Athens in late December was any guide,
I shouldn't get too worked up about the latter stages of The Meaning
of Life... Interesting gambit you've thrown at me there, Matt. I'll have
to stew on it a while and get back to you.

In the meantime, my wild and crazy late twenty something public
administration classmates just can't shut up about Napoleon
Dynamite, so I think I might go plug it through movies on demand
right now...



Good enough for a Broadway Musical, not quite good enough for my Top Ten List

Decorative changes afoot in the Weinberg/Acey household???

Nice damn day here in Syracuse. The sun is shining bright,
the temp is in the mid-40s (for confused readers from the southern
latitudes, this feels pretty comfy after a couple Jan/Feb weeks
of sub-zero readings..). Hopefully we're sticking to the hackneyed
script of March going out like a lamb. If yes, there may be some
interior decorating goin' down here at 612 South Beech in the near
future.

I vowed that the "Winter Holiday Season" (lets qualify this by saying
Jewish/Christian.. Ramadan/Pagan/Kwanzaa/Chinese New Year memorabilia
are difficult to find on the Central New York store shelves) decor
would not come down until we had two consecutive days when the mercury
hit 50F. Looks like this might finally happen this Wed/Thur. I'm
pathetically ecstatic at the thought of this actually happening.
Someone please remind me why I'm not living on the island of Molokai.

Audra and I invite your suggestions for the next (and perhaps last) thematic
look for our humble abode...


Are the 04' Holiday Decorations nearing the end of their run? Stay tuned...

Most Egregious Misidentification of Best Rock Band Album

As long as I'm back on the "objective aesthetics" train...

I am absolutely fucking confounded when someone suggests that
Revolver is the best Beatles album. I wouldn't be so befuddled or
miffed or whatever if I didn't hear it quite often, which I do.
Let me go out on a limb here: Revolver is a solid pop album chocked full of snappy pop hits. And good pop isn't to be discounted or written off; it certainly has a place in the lexicon. On the other hand... Abbey Road was not only the most powerful, inspiring, soulful, timeless, beautiful, sublime, and rocking album in the Beatles oeuvre, it is perhaps the best rock recording their ever was or ever will be. The Beatles are far from my favorite group, but my respect and awe for this triumphant masterpiece far exceed the best effort of other
titans of that era. As much as I dig Led Zeppelin's II or Physical Graffiti, love to shimmy down to the Stones Let It Bleed or Exile on Main Street, or crank up the volume to Floyd's Animals or The Wall, they just don't have the momentum, rapture, and gravitas of The Road... I think some of my buddies in high school and college had a firm grasp of this. They'd opine that, "Appetite for Destruction is my Abbey Road" or "The Black Album is my Abbey Road" .. read: so on a personal level this silly G n' R effort happens to be my personal fave, but I understand that
this must be referenced to the foundational best album ever.

I am a pretty peace loving, Quaker school attending, Ultimate Frisbee playing, laid back dude, but these jokers who push Revolver really push my buttons. I want to strangle them. I want em' shipped off to Siberia. I want to lock them in a recording studio with Lisa Loeb, John Tesh, and Kenny G. and force them to executive produce the trio's 10-disc box set.

So people, please stop the disrespect.

Amen.



It just doesn't get any better than this, folks.

Top 10 Best Movies To Watch Countless Times At 2 AM After A Night Of Debauching

This blog has existed for far too long without the
posting of a Top-10 list. Its time for that to change...
This list isn't to be confused with, strictly speaking,
a "ten best comedies of all time" as the movies here
have a 'built to last' requirement, i.e., you can and
have seen them at least 5 times and could cheerfully endure
them another 5 or 500 times; another requirement is that
the films capture or hit upon some timeless truths
or qualities or existential conditions of humankind in
a vague but not exacting Vonnegut/Twainian sense. Please
post your comments and/or top-10 list.

1. The Big Lebowski
2. The Life Aquatic
3. Best in Show
4. Diamonds are Forever (James Bond)
5. Office Space
6. Space Balls
7. Ghostbusters
8. Airplane
9. The Naked Gun
10. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

Honorable mention: Old School, Spys Like Us

David Rees is Hellafunny

Get Your War On is a fabulous political cartoon.
I read it and it makes me laugh out loud. Disclaimer:
it is not for the faint of heart, politically correct,
ideologically conservative, or opponents of the 1st
Amendment to the US Constitution.

I'm excited that my buddy Andrew Hollander is a friend
of a friend of Rees, and that we may hang in NYC sometime
soon. I salute your work, David. Keep it up.

Get You War On at:

http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war.html

Response to Ben and Note on Central New York

Re: Wolfowitz as Prince of Peace

OK, don't have the time today to sketch out an appropriately
lengthy response, save to say that I think attributing Mideast
Peace to anyone on the Bush team is like crediting Luc Longley
for the Bulls second Championship Run. It just ain't right.

Second: humans often make the mistake of settling in a region
to make use or take advantage of a temporary economic opportunity
and then forget to move on once that opportunity has gone the way
of the dinosaur, the passenger pigeon, the LA Raiders. I think
that has happened here. Salt mining and naval transport on the
Erie Canal was the reason for the season back in the 1800's, and
pre-Fordism industrial manufacturing the big breadwinner for a
while in the post-war era. Now, well..... its just tough to
justify the service based economy situating in these here parts.
I know this isn't a very 'nice' thing to write, but unless the cold
temps help one rock the ascetic lifestyle or you're REALLY into
skiing, well, man..... this weather is just a tough nut to crack.
We have a particularly nice blithe March day goin' on right now, with
windchills around -5F and lake effect snow. Population decline
is certainly happening, but we need a more targeted, stategic effort.
If a million blue blooded NY Democrats cruised on down to FL wouldn't
this tip electoral scales and ensure a more progressive, promising
future for America in the 21st Century?? Who knows. Maybe warm
winters turn one's brain and humanistic principles to mush. OK, that's
way too brusque and callous but I'm out of time, so it stands for
now.

10 4 from the bitter, cold, dispiriting northern Hinterlands.

If you want to make a Democracy Omelet, you have to Crack Some Eggs

Damn. Still riled up about this.

I wonder if David Brooks would have written a column back
in 1972 that would have gone a little something like this:

"It is unfortunate, perhaps, that our indiscriminate carpet
bombing of North Vietnam is killing thousands upon thousands
of innocent civilians, but the architects of this slaughter
(Nixon, Kissinger, Laird...) will be remembered fondly years
from now when we chronicle their actions in glowing biographies
as champions of keeping misguided foreign populations from
self-determining a form of government other than democracy."

But hell, were Vietnamese civilians who lived under a government
that opposed the forceful importation of American style democracy all
that innocent? Shouldn't we let Ward Churchill start writing
op-eds for The NY Times?

Ok, I'll stop. This guy really pushes my buttons sometimes.

David Brooks: Pompous, misguided, windbag.

First, check out this gem by David Brooks in today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/08/opinion/08brooks.html?hp

Wow. If conservative talk radio isn't lauding the springtime
thaw in NYT ideology today based on this column, well, the paper
just can't get a fair shake.

Is Brooks suggesting that its good policy to lie about the
need to invade a non-aggressive (formerly supported) country
and have 1,500 soldiers die on one's watch, if you succeed
in bringing democracy there? Strikes me that you've thrown
some of the 'good form of government' baby out with the
'means-of-getting-there' bathwater, here. Call me crazy.

Brooks ends his piece by noting that change is burbling
(burbling? like, don't you mean exurburling?) in Beirut,
suggesting, perhaps, that here, too, Wolfowitz has been
successful in encouraging the Lebanese people to abandon
tribalism and throw off the yoke of oppressive Syrian influence
and embrace a certain nationalistic pride founded in democracy.
In a 1st Amendment display in the publishing of disparate viewpoints
which borders on the surreal, the same paper runs a column
by a guy named Bob Herbert who suggested, recently, that the
US practice of sending suspected non-citizen terror suspects to Syria
to be tortured might be slightly undemocratic:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60812F93C590C768EDDAB0894DD404482&incamp=archive:search

The best thing about being the world's only Superpower is that you
can really have it both ways. I'm deeply saddened, naturally, that my
kids might have to cede this noble privilege to the Chinese.


Caution: do not let this man marry your daughter or guest lecture to your Intro. Government course

Happy Birthday, Big Aristotle

It just doesn't make any sense to say, "Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever,” or “LeBron James is the best basketball player today.” Basketball is (played at a high enough level.. ) perhaps the archetypal team sport. Equally important, it is a position sport.

To this extent, I’m a little surprised to be lauding the play of Big Diesel (turning 33 this Sunday) since his return from injury. Sure.. there’s a bit of a natural selection advantage having a guy who is 7’ 1” and 325, but I promise you the Sonics are not succeeding because of the play of the gigantic Jerome James, and the Syracuse Orange are not where they are this season due to the contributions of the towering Craig Forth.



Don't laugh: 5' 5" Earl from Eastern Michigan dropped 32 points against the T-Wolves AND the Pistons this season.


Not long ago, I hated Shaq and his three-time World Champion LA Lakers (thank you, Detroit, for derailing that train…). Shaq’s contribution was essentially on the offensive end, with 6 out of 10 scores of the ‘I’m going to lower my shoulder and send you to the floor, then turn and hit a lay-up or dunk’ variety. And its not hard to succeed when playing under a great coach, with one of the league’s top guard/forwards, a steady supporting cast, and for a big-market team that got all the calls. His contribution in Heat wins, lately, has been more defense and playmaking oriented. He’s been working the inside-out about as well as Hakeem did back in the mid-90s, making ‘put a fork in me’ players such as Eddie Jones look pretty good. Sure, Dwayne Wade is a phenom, and I can’t say enough good things about him (I’ll say one: one of the league’s best in rebounding his own miss: second chance points are key in this game), but Shaq is raising the level of play of an otherwise lackluster cast, led by a coach who essentially trys to keep everyone happy and runs the team on autopilot (exactly what Pat Riley is looking for at this point). Bill Russell type stuff. Lastly, his scoring appears to be much less of the bowl-em-over technique, much more of the finesse footwork, fade away or hook shot, I'm making an honest living in the paint type stuff. For the first time this year, I’m thinking the Heat could make some noise in the finals. But I’m still giving the edge to San Antonio at this point.

I guess what MJ had going for him is that, at the height of his dominance, there really wasn’t any weakness in his game. The same can’t be said of other marquis players in the league. Give Jason Kidd Mike Bibby’s jumpshot, and you can’t ask for a better guard. Give LeBron the boundless energy of a younger Michael Finley, and you can’t ask for a much better guard/forward. Give the 2004-2005 Shaq the foul shooting ability of Earl Boykins and look out league. A Shaq that shot 93% from the line could take the Syracuse Intramural B-League Public Administrators (recently buoyed in confidence by their convincing 35-21 win over rival Maxwell Mafia) deep into the playoffs…

March: In like Andrew Golota

Forget the lion. Lions strike above the belt.



I knew when the Mercury hit, like, almost 50F a couple
weeks ago here in Sunny Syracuse, and the thick carpet of snow
and ice began to melt away, it was surely a mirage. Mets fans will
experience the same phenomenon next month when Pedro and Carlos
send them off to a quick winning start. Eventually the heroin
addict will relapse, the injuries, errors, and mismanagement
will set in, and the boys from Flushing will sink into a mire
of mediocrity as deep and wide as Long Island Sound. But I
digress. We're talking about the weather.

So its March 1, and we got belted. A nice little Noreaster dropped
a fresh 9 inches of snow, and a deadbeat-dad gulfstream and Lake
Ontario promise highs in the 20s and more blasts of the white stuff
for the next several days. The Groundhog is sending obscene postcards
from Puerto Rico.

I could complain. I also could have joined my older brother for
graduate school down in Chapel Hill, NC. It has been known to snow
here on Mothers Day. I'm an idiot.

Basketball and daylight savings take me through these trying times
when I forget why I own a pair of Birkenstocks and seriously consider
relocating to somewhere like Austin, Texas or LA... Hoops gets you
into the forward thinking mentality. First, what should be a thrilling
Big East Tourney... then, the Big Dance... followed by the end of the
NBA season and beginning the playoffs, which deliver us into warm
and wonderful June. Somewhere along the way it gets lighter later, so
even if its toiletbowl disgusting outside, you can still see things
when you leave work at 6PM. How novel.

Another day I'll opine as to why Amendment XXVIII of the US Constitution should
ban falling back in late October. Let the kids go to school in the dark.
At any rate, I go on too long. Old man winter is settled in; we hope he
has the good nature to leave town by the time
the Eastern Conference Semis roll around.

"Redneck" probably isn't the Preferred Nomenclature

J.L. will likely get on my case for use of that particular
word in the Swank post. Uhh... so lets go with... I worked
with a guy who played an Uncultivated Rural American
in Boys Don't Cry. The blog is so amended.

Hilary Swank: Why?

How is it that this woman was annointed most
favored leading lady of Hollywood? Cate Blanchette,
to name but one acterss, is obviously a higher caliber
performer. Shouldn't Blanchette be getting the
female boxing protege role and Swank the elven queen
gig?

Strangely..... Ms. Swank was my strangest New York City
brush with fame (unless you rank sitting next to Kevin
Bacon and family on the uptown M3 bus as more bizarre).
I was checking out a friend's art exhibit on the Baroness Elsa
von Freytag-Loringhoven at her uptown Columbia U. studio,
and in the midst of hanging out in the stu-d, in walks Hilary,
who proceeds to have, perhaps, the longest and most engaged
conversation on the Baroness in recent human history with
my MFA friend... like, they were making a serious pitch to be
co-Presidents of the Baroness fan club or historical society.
Odd. I also happened to do progressive political organizing at
Hunter College with an actor who played one of the rednecks
who abused Swank's character in Boys Don't Cry. If you move
to NYC you'll discover, after a while, its a small world after all.

Who the hell is the Baroness? Great question. Here's a website:

http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/oisteanu/oisteanu5-20-02.asp

Medeski, Martin, and Wood

... a group I've been meaning to see in concert
for some time now. Finally checked them out
last Saturday night at The Egg Theater in Albany,
New York. This trio's live stuff is perhaps the
funkiest jazz that three white guys will ever perform.
I highly recommend them. They are tourning
though the end of May. Check out the tourin'
schedule at:

http://www.mmw.net/events.jsp

Fear and Loathing in Central New York

Really folks,

If you know David Weinberg, you know someone
very special. I'm not sure anyone has been more white
guys to more people. For many years, I thought I was
a pretty average looking (though handsome) European Mutt, maybe
with a little more of the Norwegian genes than my two
brothers (with older bro Micah getting a larger portion of the downtown Hebron bloodline, younger bro Seth cornering the market on
the Aragorn lineage)... nothing special. A plethora of white guy
comparisons has shattered that image. Let's
take a brief moment to run down the list of David-doppelgangers:

1) Toby McGuire (Jen saw T.M. filming Spiderman on the
Columbia University campus, and assures me that I am taller,
more slender, and cuter than the world's favorite D.W. look-alike)

2) David Hyde Pierce (thanks a lot, dad)

3) Campbell Scott (though Greg Woodell takes the cake here)

more confusingly and obscurely:

4) Christopher Walken (stems from what some people
perceive as a semi-permanent demeanor and look of mine... we won't
talk about that)

and when the hair's looking a little more 1982,

5) Beck

Time to add another name to the list...

this photo has appeared in many articles on Hunter Thompson
in the days following his death... more than one person has commented on the likeness of this photo to myself. What is particularly errie
is that I have a shot from college where I'm essentially striking
the same pose, wearing the same clothes, hair parted in the same
direction. Yikes.




David Weinberg or Hunter Thompson? We report, you decide.

Actually, I'm flattered. If this is a sign that I'm the Dalai Lama of
Gonzo Journalism, well, I'll do my very best to carry the torch.

Stay tuned...

RIP Hunter S. Thompson

A good friend has posted a fitting piece on his blog:

http://bentevelin.blogspot.com/

As much as it will pain me, I will toast
Old Crow Whiskey to the good Doctor tonight.
You will be missed.

Wead on Weed

OK,

Happened sooner than I expected, but its unofficially
NORML-week here on 'Get Out Of The Road' after
ex-George the Elder aide Doug Wead, aka the O'Reilly Grinch
who stole Clinton's Hair, went all Nixon on W. and recorded
a pre-ascention conversation with the man where
one could infer that our Comander n' Cheif might have
smoked up at some point during the 20th Century. In other
shocking news, water is wet.


Why'd ya do it, Doug?

So, what to write here? What's the spin? Not
too surprizing that this appeared in The NY Times, which
should officially rename Paul Krugman's op-ed column to,
"I hate W. with an Extreme Passion" and Bob Herbert's
to, "Yes, you are Living in a Police State." Call those limousine
liberals what you will.. Kerry lost by 3 million votes but
who else is going to break the semi-relevant story that makes
you giggle on a Sunday morning? Its not the Syracuse
Post Dispatch, I can tell you that.

Wait a minute.. semi-relevant? Bush also lets out on the
tape that Johnny Ashcroft would make for a "very good supreme
court pick." Yikes. Let me work on some jokes here and post
back later, but also state that, if our beloved lost-to-the-deceased-
Senator, gospel signing, breast covering, Patriot Act writing,
ex-Atty. Gen. takes over for the ailing William R..., well, Howard
Dean should just dissolve the Democratic Party and I am moving
to Vancouver. Strike that. Vancouver is too cold, and they lost
their NBA franchise (probably a good thing). I'm taking my
beloved fellow Earlham grad partner and moving to Alicante, Spain, baby! They've got sun, the Mediterranean Sea, and currently the 3rd
Place Team in the Spanish League:

http://www.eurobasket.com/ESPteam.asp?Team=2004

Actually... the more I think about it, the better this sounds. Serious
upgrade from cloudy-cold, Onondaga Lake, and an Orange team that
has forgotten how to box out and rebound... brush off the law books,
Croft... AQUI VENGO ALICANTE!!!

Gettin' Stoned and Gettin' Busted

Ok.. this is part post, part feeling out the technology.
Lets start with: posting a Picture of Uncle Spliff.


Uncle Spliff Head Shot

Fabulous. Now lets give you links to Uncle Spliffs
career stats and multiple ganja-related run-ins
with the law and the league...

Career stats:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=0287

Busted with the Pheonix Suns:

http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2001/0207/1067212.html

Busted with the Golden State Warriors:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1981699

Busted with the Detroit Pistons:

http://www.news-star.com/stories/071102/spo_23.shtml

And my personal favorite, this one involving paint guns,
busted with the Portland Trailblazers:

http://www.wweek.com/html/dudleyL_Frmrogue080697.html

Nets GM Rod Thorn should just get Cliff's NJ Nets incident out
of the way before the playoffs.. plant a quarter in his locker, or
somethin'. Can you imagine a totally baked out Nets coach Lawrence
Frank? I can, and I think it would look approximate like this...:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/coach?id=9

Ahh... so I'd love to elaborate on how Cliff really brings together
a quality, or, propensity, rather, of J.C. and S.W., but that would
probably draw an inaugural tongue lashing (and rightfully so)
from the below mentioned J.L. about something, "I really shouldn't
publish on the Internet." So I won't.