People taking BarBri in New York got some sort of emailed, online fortune cookies to lift their spirits. California BarBri sent me a reminder to return my books which did not in any way lift my spirits. I felt left out, so I made my own Bar fortune, using the standard technique of adding “on the bar exam” to the end of a traditional fortune cookie fortune:
Sorry, that was not a particularly interesting video for anybody.
The town I grew up in was swindled (via the vagaries of bankruptcy law) out of one $322,000 firetruck. And they’re not happy:
from Irvington Village News <———@———-.com>
reply-to ———@———-.com
date Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 1:13 PM
subject Trustee Pat Ryan resigns from Village BoardAt a meeting of Irvington Board of Trustees held July 21, 2008, Trustee Pat Ryan resigned from the Board. Mayor Erin Malloy thanked Trustee Ryan for her service to the Village and for being a “terrific colleague and terrific running mate.” Trustee Ryan was first elected as Trustee in 2006 and in her second term after winning re-election in March 2008.
In announcing her resignation, Ms. Ryan cited that “there is a decision before the Board that is very complicated and very difficult — It is a decision that I believe I cannot support.” Ms. Ryan was concerned that the Board’s decision to seek recovery of the lost fire truck funds from a fidelity bond held by the Village on behalf of former Clerk/Treasurer Edward Ritter could have personal financial impacts on Mr. Ritter.
Mayor Malloy, it’s worth noting, was the coin-toss loser of the exciting mayoral election of 2005 that ended in an exact tie. She actually had one more vote, but after a lengthy court battle a sealed ballot cast by one of her supporters was thrown out. She won in 2007.
My home town’s politics are fantastic!
A fantastic story: A fashion designer who dislikes Obama because he think’s Obama is a Muslim sells a t-shirt that reads “Obama is my slave” to a grad student who thinks it’s a good idea to wear this t-shirt out and about in New York City. The grad student is, unsurprisingly, assaulted by a group of angry New York denizens, then sues the fashion designer.
I can’t figure out who I like least in this story, the xenophobic fashion designer, the foolishly short-sighted and litigious grad student, or the violent street people?
Who will be Staten Island’s next Congressman, Gary Francis, Sr., Republican, or Gary Francis, Jr., Libertarian? No word on any relation to the OTHER Gary Francis. Via Electoral-College and the Daily Irrelevant.
Either the New York Times headline writers and photo editors have lost their minds, or the Catholic church is in much worse trouble than I thought:
Thanks jbg.
BarBri is expensive: joining BarBri can cost over $3,000, just trying to snag the books on eBay can cost you over $700. Yesterday at lunchtime the books for this summer’s New York bar exam arrived at Georgetown and by 7:30pm they were already being put to effective use:
Yes, the box is full of books. Click to big-ify.
I know ONE door that’s going to be passing the bar.
An oil trader demonstrates the hand signals used on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange. I really like the signal for gasoline. Bonus points: the trader’s last name is Carbone. Via Reddit.
Irvington, NY is apparently being overrun by Orthodox Jews!
Last Elliot Spitzer thing, I swear. The Macon Music, a minor league baseball team, will be holding Elliot Spitzer Night and will feature the following promotions:
1. The Music have extended an invitation for former New York Governor Spitzer to be on hand and throw out the first pitch
2. The team will give away a New York Vacation including a one night stay at the MayFlower Hotel
3. Client #9 (or fan #9) will receive a free Music prize pack
4. Any fan with the name Eliot, Spitzer, or “Kristen” along with any fan from New York will receive $1 off admission
5. The Music will play Frank Sinatra music throughout the evening in honor of New York
6. Wire Taps will be placed throughout the ballpark this evening
7. ATMs will be available for cash withdrawals not to exceed $5,000 per hour
8. Any fan who has resigned their position will be given $1 off admission
9. The 871 fan will receive a gift certificate for the Macon Music Team store.
Someone should probably tell them that the Mayflower Hotel is in DC, not New York.
Nicholson Baker wrote two pieces for the New York Review of Books in 1993/1994, then took 14 years off, and then wrote a third piece. He also has an awesome caricature. I want to be him.
Corn Mo reprises his role as a werewolf Benjamin Franklin for Valentine’s Day. I wish I lived in New York.
After a lengthy knifemaker hiatus, the series returns with our sixth member of the 1981 Knifemakers Guild Directory: John (Mike) Bassney. John (Mike)’s picture looks something of a cross between John C. Reilly and Tom Selleck — in other words, like a totally awesome knifemaker. This is really our first knifemaker whose picture looks like someone I would want making my knife. He doesn’t look like a cowboy, or a family man, or a terror, he looks like the sort of guy who would take your knife order and just get right down to business. He’s even wearing what I presume to be a knifemaking apron. This guy would have gotten my business… if I would have ever ordered a custom made knife in 1981 in the greater Wisconsin region.
Something else great about John (Mike) — according to his bio, he went to SUNY Buffalo, graduated, and then moved to Wisconsin. Why is that great you ask? Well, I’m not sure, but I think this is our first confirmed college graduate knifemaker, which is something.
His motto is “I simply wish to make the best knife I can with the material available and at the same time work in line with the customer’s wishes.” That’s modern business-speak. He’s like a corporate executive. I love this guy.
John (Mike) Bassney today
Sadly John (Mike) Bassney is no longer a member of the Knifemakers Guild according to their member list. He was only a probationary member in 1981, so maybe he didn’t make the cut, or maybe he simply let his membership lapse. He might have lost interest in knifemaking altogether, it’s hard to know.
The Google record on Mr. Bassney is quite slim. John (Mike) Bassney turns up nothing that I didn’t write myself, John Bassney is likewise unhelpful.
Mike Bassney, though, does provide us with three hits. He apparently went to Painted Post High School in Painted Post, New York from 1958 to 1962. That would line up well with him graduating from SUNY Buffalo in 1968, so this is probably him. This guy thought he taught shop in Michigan during the 1970s (possible, since he ended up in Wisconsin by 1981). He still appears to live in Lodi, Wisconsin, and he has a job at a local Subway in Columbus, Wisconsin. He’s the host.
Knowing about his knife proclivities, I can surely say that this is one Subway I would never rob.
Previous knifemaker: Scott Barry
Next knifemaker: Pierce Franklin Beck, Jr.
Other 1981 Knifemaker’s Guild Directory Pages: first page, all pages, all pictures.
After a while, I can judge within a few seconds either way just how much laughter we can get. Sometimes, I’m dead wrong. In Silent Movie, there was a sequence that no one will ever see; it’s on the cutting room floor. The sequence is called “Lobsters in New York.” It starts with a shot of a neon sign that reads “Chez Lobster.” The camera drops down to restaurant doors and pulls back. The doors open, the camera goes inside, and we see greeting us a huge well-dressed lobster with claws and tails; around the camera come two other very well-dressed lobsters in evening clothes. The maitre d’ lobster leads them to a waiter lobster in a white jacket, who leads them to a table. They order, then follow the waiter lobster to a huge tank. In the tank, little people are swimming around. We thought this was hysterical. The lobsters choose some people, pick them up squirming around, and the sequence ends. Every time we saw this sequence, we were on the floor laughing. When we showed it to an audience… they did not laugh at all at “Lobsters in New York.” They stared at each other. Not one snicker. Finally we got some embarrassed sounds and yawns. We threw out the entire sequence as a result.
“My Movies: The Collision of Art and Money” by Mel Brooks, excerpted from The Movie Business Book by Jason Squire, ed. (1983).
Because jbg was hassling me about football team theme songs, here’s a collection of links to most NFL teams’ theme songs (or fight songs, if you’re old-timey):
Technically the Houston Oilers Theme Song ISN’T really the theme song for the Tennessee Titans, but it’s awesome. For the rest, I just scavenged around and grabbed what seemed right. Any changes can be recommended in the comments.
Links for the Chargers, the Patriots and the Redskins courtesy of jbg.
This NY Times story on Iraq War Vets discusses how they haven’t all re-adjusted to life at home:
Matthew knew he shouldn’t be taking his AK-47 to the 7-Eleven.
Yikes.
$4 drop fee plus $0.25 per 1/6th mile. This rate is comparatively high (see New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago). In fact the initial drop fee will be higher in DC than any other major urban area in the country. Metroblogging takes a look at the new rates and finds that most trips will be more expensive for passengers.
I’m not sure the protests are going to win much support among the general ridership with rates like these.
From Jews who hate Jews, to New Yorkers who hate noise: Henry Bean, the director of the fascinating The Believer about a Jewish neo-Nazi, has completed his second film, Noise, about a New Yorker (Tim Robbins) who can’t stand car alarms and dons vigilante gear to silence them. The story is based on the director’s own younger antics.
For someone who hates the consistently barking dog across the street from my house, this trailer makes me feel somewhat giddy.
A “slideshow” of unusual deaths. Most are dull, but some, like Tennessee Williams’s, are intriguing:
Playwright Tennessee Williams was using nose spray in his New York City hotel room in 1983, when the bottle cap accidentally fell into his mouth. He choked to death.
I was surprised to find that New York only ranks third in terms of annual public transportation metro ridership. I’m pretty sure that means not-buses.
Without following the above link, can you guess one and two?
Something that was striking when I moved to L.A. was that when first trying to get around, you immediately felt like you knew where you were going. After a few cross-town trips I realized that it was because I already knew all the street names. Pop culture somehow prepared me for the move. I’ve been thinking about this, and L.A. seems to top the world in terms of famous, name-recognizable streets. Here’s all that I can think of off the top of my head:
Los Angeles:
Santa Monica Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Palms Boulevard
Mulholland Drive
Vine Street
Melrose Avenue
Rodeo Drive
Venice Boulevard
Ventura BoulevardNew York:
Wall Street
Broadway
Canal Street
Park Avenue
42nd Street
Bleeker Street
Fifth Avenue
Madison AvenueBoston:
Newbury StreetNew Orleans:
Bourbon StreetChicago:
Lakeshore DrivePhiladelphia:
South StreetSan Francisco:
Castro Street
Haight Street
Lombard StreetParis:
Champs ElyseesLondon:
Abbey Road
Downing Street
Oxford Street
I’m sure Los Angeles does so well because every TV show and movie is filmed and written here, so the streets just show up a lot. It’s a weird phenomenon though, where you arrive in the city and already feel like you have a vague understanding of it.
Is it just because I’m an American that I can only think of a few famous foreign streets? Do Americans somehow value streets more than non-Americans do?
We need some more famous streets.
