Saturday, April 29, 2006

The math

I have this bad habit of comparing my age with that of famous people I admire, when they performed various feats. So for example, I just watched the intriguing but disappointing Woody Allen film Stardust Memories, and then I determined that he was 45 when it came out in 1980. That's ten years older than me, so by my perverse reasoning, I have ten years to produce something intriguing but disappointing. I'm on it!

Friday, April 28, 2006

On the boards

Tonight Madison Repertory Theatre opens its last play of the season, Arthur Miller's The Price. My preview is up on thedailypage.com.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Reading is fun

Hey Madisonians -- this Friday and Saturday come to Borders west (3750 University Ave.) for Literacy 24/7, a reading marathon for literacy. Beforehand be sure to collect pledges for this noble cause, and then you'll be all set to read, read, read.

I'll be kicking off the Isthmus newspaper hour by reading something or other out loud, I haven't decided what. More information on the event is here, and a schedule of readers is here.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Good word

"What is the deal with straight men and Jeff Tweedy? He's the one guy they feel comfortable gushing over. I know some straight men who would switch teams for him."


-- Rhett Miller
Steal this book

Jesus, another plagiarism scandal? Whatever happened to, um, not plagiarizing?
With a name like Harold's

University of Chicago students learn early that the perfect capper to a night of carousing -- or a night of reading Kant -- is a heaping helping of chicken from the Hyde Park outlet of Harold's Chicken Shack, the South Side institution. The bird is fried, plopped on pieces of white bread, drowned in sauce, wrapped in foil and shoved at you through a small hole in the plexiglass window behind which the cooks labor. Ambrosia! Or -- as some U of C undergrads have it -- gross!

So how delightful to read these paeans to Harold's in the Chicago Reader. (Note: That link is to a PDF file.) Takes me back. The author visited 35 Harold's outlets!

What are the junk food purveyors of choice from your school days?

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Flack

Dee Dee Myers, onetime spokeswoman for President Clinton, was a panelist today on "Meet the Press." I used to have a lil' crush on Dee Dee Myers.