Never have I heard such a drumbeat for a snow day without even a flake of snow on the ground.
Or snow even in the forecast!
Still, though, if you’re reading this and there’s eight feet of snow on the ground and I’m home from work…
I won’t be disappointed.
Dirty little life secret #782: Teachers love snow days way more than the kids do.
A front-page article in my local paper (that would be The Washington Post) Sunday exclaimed that a once-doubting “scientist” now believed in global warming. A Festivus miracle: he has seen the light.
I think one of the most useless phrases in 21st century politics (or English for that matter) is a “belief” in global warming. Can one “believe” in global warming? Has it now reached religious status? For some I suppose it has.
By definition I suppose we all believe certain things about the weather. I believe June is, on average, warmer than January. I believe snow is colder than rain. I believe Tuesday begins with the letter T and Wednesday begins with the letter W as long as we’re comparing one thing to the next.
What our friends mean, of course, when they say that one believes in global warming is that he or she promotes a public policy designed to lessen its effects. This is several steps removed from reading a thermometer.
I can look at a thermometer and measure temperatures from day to day, week to week, and decade to decade. Has the average temperature on Earth risen slightly in recent years? My friends who do these measurements tell me it has. Okay. Can I assume this trend will continue without abatement? Can I conclude with certainty that it has been the effect of man (aerosol cans and the like) that has caused this temperature rise? When temperatures rose in previous centuries was it the same effect? Did the last Ice Age end when cavemen began driving gas-guzzling cars?
Even if we were to draw a direct link from human activity to temperature change, would we assume that we could not reverse the change without curtailing our activities? Could no one figure out a way to satisfy both desires? The species who has brought us iPhones, iPads, and deep-fried Oreos? The only way for us to survive the next 50 years is to make our lives worse? Require by law that all of us make our lives worse? I can FaceTime with someone in Guam but I can’t buy the light bulb I want?
Let’s set aside “beliefs” of one thing or another when it comes to the weather. To use a much-maligned phrase, it is what it is. So let’s move to the real questions: 1.) Will continued temperature fluctuations adversely affect life on Earth? 2.) Has it been the activities of man that have caused or will cause this havoc? 3.) Will continued activities make our planet uninhabitable? 4.) Are we willing to reduce our lifestyles to reverse the trend? 5.) Are we willing to force our neighbors by government fiat to do likewise?
I believe these are much more difficult—and salient—questions.
Nah, heck with that. This is the four-day bender New Year’s!
Hangovers can wait.
Gotta love New Year’s Eve on a Saturday.
New Year’s Eve on a Saturday means not only does New Year’s Eve play out over two full days, but New Year’s Day does as well, since New Year’s is on a Sunday and most of the world is taking Monday off as well. So a one-second holiday becomes a four-day bender. Nice.
I vaguely remember such a New Year’s in 2005-2006. I left my house about 8 p.m. on December 31 and came home in March.
Yeah, that was a good one.
Probably won’t be quite as off the hook this year, but it’ll still be good.
It’ll still be good.
This is 2016, and to say a band has an album “out,” or even to refer to their having an “album” is a little silly. That being said, the septuagenarian rockers known as The Rolling Stones have two albums “out” currently, one studio (their first in more than a decade) and one “live.” One is worth your time.
Havana Moon, the Stones’ concert film and live recording of their first-ever performance in Cuba (from March of this year), is dynamite. No surprises here; you’ll recognize every song. For a band of lesser status I’d usually grumble about a “greatest hits” set, but this is The Rolling Stones. Their greatest hits are legendary. It’s the new stuff I’ve got no time for.
Exhibit A: the newly-released Blue & Lonesome. An album made entirely of old blues covers, it just doesn’t do it for me. not even a guest appearance from a certain Mr. Clapton can save this one. I’d say listen once. Quickly.
Sometimes it’s better just to rest on your laurels.
Whether you call it a “real” holiday or not, the first Kwanzaa was celebrated 50 years ago this week. Apparently 1966 was a big year for holidays… Kwanzaa, the TV yule log, the Grinch. (Legend goes that Festivus started in ’66 as well.)
So is Kwanzaa a real holiday? A made-up holiday? Let’s face it, all holidays are made up at some point, so yeah, Kwanzaa’s as real as any other in my book.
And if 50 years is our definition of a classic, a classic it is.
Happy Kwanzaa, everyone!
It was 50 years ago tomorrow that some genius at station WPIX had the brilliant idea to show, instead of regular programming on Christmas Eve, a continuous loop of a crackling fire accompanied by holiday music. This to accommodate apartment-dwelling New Yorkers who might not have real-life fireplaces of their own.
That opening was not sarcastic. It really was a genius idea and was an instant classic in New York, eventually spreading to other cities and now enjoyed everywhere as a Christmas institution. Yes, both Netflix and the “On Demand” feature on your TV offer several versions of the “yule log,” and I’m sure there are other providers out there doing the same. My favorite these days is the Netflix option that doesn’t even have music—just the crackling and pip-popping of a gentle fire.
Yup. Living in the future.
Merry Christmas, everyone, and to all a cool yule.
It’s not often that I tune in to watch something “live” on TV. An actual channel at a specific time on a particular day? Who the heck does that anymore?
Last night’s star-studded celebration of Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday on NBC was well worth the effort. Yes, there were some less-than-magical efforts from some less-than “stars” (who were some of those people?), but there were actual celebrities galore and the man himself to sing a few tunes as well. Mr. Bennett showed us why he is still the best in the business.
Some people who’ve been in show business a long time sort of outkick the coverage when it comes to fame in their later years and are all but forgotten when they’re gone. Tony Bennett shows no signs of going anywhere, and somehow stays relevant, every few years attracting a younger audience to keep his star power current. He’s not just a living legend; he’s a current star. Wow.
Bravo, Tony Bennett, and Happy Birthday (a few months late).
[As for our local football team… the less said the better.]
Never mind Electors and ice storms and last-minute holiday shopping. The most important thing this week happens tomorrow night, and it happens on NBC. Filmed months ago it has finally arrived: the Tony Bennett TV special celebrating his 90th birthday. ‘Bout time.
Yes, there will be songs from other artists on the show; this is what mute buttons are for. You’re going to see the man tomorrow night, 90 years young and doing it better than anyone in the business today. Sinatra himself said that about the man more than a half century ago.
Tonight: Redskins-Panthers. Tomorrow: Tony Bennett. Wednesday: a review of both. In the mean time, check out Tony’s just-released CD companion to his TV special, available now wherever music is streamed or sold.
Is music still sold?
Anyway, there are “guest” performers on the CD as well.
That’s what the skip button’s for.
This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere airing of one of the most beloved Christmas stories of all time: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Based on the Seuss book from nine years earlier, “The Grinch” is 30 minutes of poetic beauty and poetic justice. There is song, there is dance, there is pomp, there is circumstance. Good triumphs over evil and no one is harmed in the process.
The episode also contains one of my favorite lines from all of cinema, one that has entered my everyday lexicon…
What a great Grinchy trick!
Snide remarks aside, “Grinch” is beyond classic. It is unfortunate that it lives in a world with Charlie Brown, whose Christmas special preceded it by a year, but as Linus Van Pelt once said (about the Great Pumpkin): perhaps being number two, you try harder.
I have refused to see any of the remakes and reimaginings of the original Grinch for 34 years and will continue to do so until the day I die. Nothing can top the original. End of story. NBC has already aired the original this season, but look for additional airings in your local listings… for those of you who don’t own it on VHS!