Sign that the Apocalypse is Nigh

On my way to Summerstage in Central Park, I passed through Strawberry Fields. There was the usual throng of tourists, and I saw a man in his 40's with his teenage daughter admiring the makeshift shrine for John Lennon that's always there:

Dad: So all of this is for John Lennon.
Daughter: You mean John Legend.
Dad: No, John Lennon. He was in a band.
Daughter: I've never heard of him.

Our time is clearly coming to an end.

Picturing the Olympics

There is endless media coverage of the Olympics. I've been impressed by the exhaustiveness of NBC's site. The site is far more interesting than their wretched broadcast.

With so many sports and athletes to report on, the sheer size of the media themselves become part of the Olympics. None of them are documenting themselves more interesting than the The Toronto Star's Photographer's Blog, giving great stories about the drama and people involved in getting the great pictures that define the Olympics.

Richard Lautens, Steve Russell and Lucas Oleniuk sometimes turn the camera on themselves and take behind the scenes photos that give insight and a perspective that most of us take for granted.

Wordless Disappointment

View from under tarp
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

We've been an avid supporter of the Wordless Music Series , a mostly instrumental music series of concerts over the past couple of years. Usually, modern composers are billed with instrumental indie-rock or experimental acts.

Last Friday, the series moved to Lincoln Center for an outdoor concert, featuring vocal compositions by 13th Century composer Perotin, the first live performance of Manuel Gottsching's "E2-E4" from 1984. There was also scheduled to be the unveiling of Rhys Chatham's "A Crimson Grail, for 200 Electric Guitars (Outdoor Version)". 200 guitarists were going to line the sides of the audience and play this symphonic piece.

Unfortunately, it rained. A lot. The organizers shuffled the order of music and we heard E2-E4, which was absolutely amazing. The rains stopped during this performance, but everywhere was still wet and soggy.

Clearly, you can't have hundreds of people plugging into exposed amplifiers right after a torrential storm, so they canceled the performance.

It was a massive disappointment, as I think a lot of people came out to hear 200 guitars, but safety always comes first. Let's hope it gets rescheduled soon.

NBC & Scorpions on a Stick

With no cable, I'm confined to NBC's coverage of the Olympics, which I've been watching every night.

Is anyone else tired of seeing Bob Costas and other reporters going on 'food tours' of China only to show Scorpions (or any other 'weird food')on a Stick?

In this day and age, I thought we were beyond making fun of the food people from different cultures eat. Anyone hear of scrapple? Now that's hilarious!

Creepy 80's Sitcoms

I'm a big fan of the 80's sitcom. Life on TV was simpler back then, and it genuinely had bigger laughs. Occasionally, the writers would sneak in episodes that were challenging or pushed the envelope. Three's Company always pushed the homosexual front (in a round-a-bout way). The Cosby Show was also innovative on so many fronts: racism, sexism, dealing with dementia are all episodes I can think of. I also remember seeing a cast of many races in supportive roles.

Esquire had a list of some of the edgier moments from a few 80's sitcoms. I remember them all, including the uber-creepy Diff'rent Strokes episode.

A glaring omission is the Facts of Life episode dealing with drugs (anyone want to take a hit from a jellybean holder?).