busker

Catch-Up

Back almost a week and skimmed the Sunday NY Times. Goodness, so much gone on since I've been away:

• Weather-wise, stay west, I guess. Blimey, it's rough back east.
• Iraqi elections
• Babs Boxer biffing the bizarrely-named 'Condoleezza' Rice (where do people conjure these names from?). Nothing will come of Eezza getting her ears boxed but it's fun to see her cornered with that thunder-brow look.

  It also sounds as if her employer's linguistic gauchery is catching: boxed into a corner over her scant regard for The Truth, Dolee's best defensive gurgle was "I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity." Careful, Eeezzers, that's almost a week's quota of syllables.

• Will Arkin's Power Geyser now out
• Tsunami latests
• TV-wise, Numb3rs looks good
• Nion. Wonder how many hits nion dot *com* is burdened with? Speaking of the latter, good to see I'm accompanied by the likes of:
  • Ed Asner
  • Mike Berg
  • Noam
  • Ry Cooder
  • Pete Coyote
  • Ellsberg
  • Ferlinghetti, no less
  • Ricke Lee Jones
  • Babs Kingsolver
  • Studs Terkel
  • Alice Walker
• Zhao Ziyang - a name to conjure with: I was in Hong Kong in '89 and watched the TVB coverage of the Tiananmen massacre, later joining the crowds in Victoria Park where gwei-los and 'yan' united if only for a while.
• The Man, Simon Winchester delivering his usual adept interview
• Weddings/Celebs: Full marks to Charles Evans (73) nuptialising the very tasty Bonnie Lynn Pfeifer (50).
• And just in, the sad passing of a legend, Johnny Carson: may the trouper Rest very much In Peace. A true son of Nebraska's oddly pronounced Norfolk ('Norfork', according to the locals; anything to be different these days.)

No doubt, more anon but this'll do for now.