Miscellaneous

Interesting: California, Connecticut,

Posted on February 18, 2011
Interesting: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington, the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands are the only US jurisdictions which ban all drivers from using handheld cellphones. Except for Maryland, these are all laws are primary enforcement  laws -- the cops can cite a driver for using a handheld cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place...

Large black coffee, Old Fashioned

Posted on February 17, 2011
Large black coffee, Old Fashioned Plain. $2.50. Sometimes I'll mix it up and have a Boston Cream, or a French Cruller. Very rarely I'll get the Sour Cream Glaze. It's always $2.50 though. Two bills, two coins. Sometimes five dimes. Simple. Not a lot of fumbling; I can tell by putting my hands in my pockets that I have exact change...

A-Rod's contract with Texas was

Posted on February 16, 2011
A-Rod's contract with Texas was a total outlier at the time it was made, but the market caught up to it, as markets tend to, and now Albert Pujols is seriously underpaid. Joe Posnanski has some interesting thoughts about this-- first, he notes that the fact that the Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox are probably not in the mix is probably irrelevant...

Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman gave

Posted on February 15, 2011
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman gave his annual State of the Judiciary speech today. The part I like best is the announcement of a new court rule that would require the recusal of judges from the cases of attorneys or litigants from whom the judges have received large campaign contributions ($2,500 or more from individuals and at least $3,500 from firms or multiple parties) within the previous two years...

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We are at that place in the winter

Posted on February 13, 2011
We are at that place in the winter where we are past caring. The snow has hardened into ice, the sidewalks are more or less impossible to clear, the salt has crusted our shoes and the hems of our pants, and although the days are longer they are still grey...

I watched "Forest Gump" last night,

Posted on February 12, 2011
I watched "Forest Gump" last night, the first time I'd ever seen it. What an insulting mess. I suppose it is supposed to be some sort of a statement about the American journey and the American character-- it can't have just been about a sweet dimwit could it?It occurred to me that what they might have been trying for was a sort of Candide story, but Candide went from catastrophe to disaster to cataclysm and was continually rocked by each...

I can't say that I've ever been

Posted on February 11, 2011
I can't say that I've ever been a huge college hoops fan, but I like it when St. John's is good. The last time that happened they were still called the Redmen, I think, a name that they changed out of racial sensitivity. This year the Red Storm has been up (beating Duke) and down (losing to St...

Outside Counsel is glad to learn

Posted on February 09, 2011
Outside Counsel is glad to learn that President Obama has quit smoking. We hear it turns you orange.

With the Super Bowl now behind

Posted on February 09, 2011
With the Super Bowl now behind us, and along with it, the meta-commentary about the commercials aired during the Super Bowl, I find myself wondering 'What ever happened to Alka Seltzer?' Time was that Alka Seltzer ads were the best things on TV, an integral part of the national sense of humor...

Outside Counsel notes with regret

Posted on February 08, 2011
Outside Counsel notes with regret the death of Mary Cleere Haran, a cabaret singer of taste and distinction. 58 years old, hit by a car pulling out of driveway as she was riding her bicycle. Damn.

289 finishers at Mr. Ed's yesterday,

Posted on February 07, 2011
289 finishers at Mr. Ed's yesterday, although I saw numbers going well into the 300s. There was a one mile fun run too, so that may have skewed my estimate -- I thought there were about 400, but some of that may have been Middleport Mr. Ed's groupies...

Spree Arts editor Chris Schobert's

Posted on February 04, 2011
Spree Arts editor Chris Schobert's Oscar picks-- and mine-- are here.

Worst. Snowpocalypse. Ever.Seriously,

Posted on February 02, 2011
Worst. Snowpocalypse. Ever.Seriously, three inches? Where'd it all go? Did it all fall on Lakeshore Drive before it got here? we stocked up on red wine and filled the wood box, and were braced for the real deal, and this is what we get? Very disappointing.

In my mind this is still how New

Posted on February 01, 2011
In my mind this is still how New York looks. In my mind New York is usually a tropical city, like Calcutta. There's a whole page of these, photographs of New York's subways and surroundings, a few from 1977, most from 1979. I'd have lunch at that Brew Burger sometimes...

To the Charles Lloyd Quartet yesterday,

Posted on January 31, 2011
To the Charles Lloyd Quartet yesterday, the second event in this season's Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz series at the Albright-Knox. In his pre-show remarks producer Bruce Eaton talked a bit about the reputation the program has acquired over the years among jazz musicians: apparently the room and the audience are an inducement to artists like Lloyd, and why not? It is, to my way of thinking, a perfect way to pass a mid-winter afternoon, ensconced in a comfortable room, the last light of day filtered through the bare trees outside...

Best Beer Restaurants 2011. Buffalo's

Posted on January 28, 2011
Best Beer Restaurants 2011. Buffalo's got two of them. The other cities with more than one: D.C., Rome (the actual Rome in Italy, not the one near Utica), Philly, Brussels and Tampa. Something about this list seems odd to me. I'm sure the joints listed are great, but nothing in Manhattan? Or LA? No doubt Jerry's is great, but I think most Chicagoans would direct you to HopLeaf...

Off to the Apple tomorrow, something

Posted on January 27, 2011
Off to the Apple tomorrow, something I usually look forward to. This time I'm not so sure: it looks like a mess, and although I'll have a little time to poke around I'm not so sure that getting around is going to be all that easy. Most people in Buffalo would use this opportunity to talk about how well we deal with snow, but that's not completely true: what we do when our weather is like this is what Southerners do when their weather is intolerably hot...

Oh, and Happy Australia Day to

Posted on January 26, 2011
Oh, and Happy Australia Day to all!

Buffalo Spree editor and movie

Posted on January 26, 2011
Buffalo Spree editor and movie critic Christopher Schobert and I will be handicapping the Academy Awards this week and next at the Spree blog. Our thoughts on Best Actor are here.

Eight gout causing foods. They

Posted on January 26, 2011
Eight gout causing foods. They forgot oysters. Adding insult to injury, Health.com continues: "Feel like you?re left with nothing to eat? Not true, experts say. There are actually several types of foods that may help protect you against gout. These include low-fat dairy foods, complex carbohydrates, coffee, and fruits, especially citrus fruits...

There's a James Thurber story called

Posted on January 24, 2011
There's a James Thurber story called "The Greatest Man in the World" about an aviator who flew around the world. The press was anxious to lionize him, but Jack ("Pal") Smurch, "erstwhile mechanic's helper in a small garage in Westfield, Iowa" turns out to be a thug...

For the next two weeks I'm a Packers

Posted on January 23, 2011
For the next two weeks I'm a Packers fan.

Bears-Packers is so old school

Posted on January 22, 2011
Bears-Packers is so old school it's irresistible. Two classic NFL teams, traditional rivals, playing in weather, the way it is supposed to be done. I like the Packers in this one, mostly because Aaron Rodgers has had a season that suggests he is becoming one of the league's elite quarterbacks...

UB Council President Jeremy Jacobs

Posted on January 21, 2011
UB Council President Jeremy Jacobs sent around an email blast updating the UB President search status:"To date, the committee has reviewed the credentials of 69 candidates, representing a diverse national and international pool from a wide range of academic disciplines and professional experiences...

I'm glad this was captured for

Posted on January 21, 2011
I'm glad this was captured for posterity. It is, of course, the look-- almost a flinch-- that Emily gave me as the shaman intoned, "If there is anyone here who knows of any reason why these two should not be joined...."CLA turned to give me a cautioning glare as well.

The Western New York Running Hall

Posted on January 19, 2011
The Western New York Running Hall of Fame is a great idea-- although it would come as a surprise to many people from here and from other places Buffalo and its environs has a long history with the sport, and a large and active running community. I can't think of too many places where the sport is more accessible, actually...

I'm extremely pleased to have been

Posted on January 18, 2011
I'm extremely pleased to have been invited to participate in the CEPA Gallery's "Visions of Greater Buffalo" event this year. The idea is fun: CEPA invites people from the business, arts, non-profit, educational, political and community service areas to make photographs depicting the region, then mounts a show of the resulting images...

A few random thoughts.At this point

Posted on January 17, 2011
A few random thoughts.At this point I'd say you'd have to have a heart of stone to not be rooting for the Jets-- and I hate the Jets.Second Amendment advocates (or as I think of them, gun nuts) like to talk about how they need their sidearms for protection...

Darius G. Pridgen is a local shaman

Posted on January 15, 2011
Darius G. Pridgen is a local shaman who has been a very visible civic presence around here for quite a while. He was just elected to the Common Council in Buffalo, and I see by today's paper that he is working on a resolution that will call on the mayor and other city officials to scrutinize security in City Hall...

I didn't understand Facebook for

Posted on January 12, 2011
I didn't understand Facebook for a long time, but once I got a smartphone I started to get it. Facebook fascinates me because people in their 20's and younger- people who grew up with the internet-- use it as the internet. It isn't a site, it's a platform, and in some ways it goes beyond being either...

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