“Slightly blurred”
From Steven Millhauser’s Portrait of a Romantic.
Orange Crate Art
“The End of the English Major”
In The New Yorker, Nathan Heller writes about “The End of the English Major.”
Downtown
I drove to a conference in a city whose name began with A and found myself in a downtown square.
Recently updated
A mystery corner, now with a 1937 advertisement for Kane’s Food Shop and links to a color postcard and an advertisement for Tom’s Restaurant (the Seinfeld coffee shop).
“For good,” “forever”
The New York Times revises a headline.
NEAT?
I must carp: in today’s Los Angeles Times crossword, the answer for 13-A, four letters, “Old-Fashioned option” is NEAT. An Old-Fashioned is made with ice. It’s a cocktail made with ice.
Mystery corner
it’s the corner of Broadway and 112th Street, 2880 Broadway, Morningside Heights, Manhattan, long the home of Tom’s Restaurant, whose exterior served as Monk’s Café in Seinfeld.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“Teen leader of yore.”
Alex Katz, scared silly
If I were teaching a college writing class, I’d show this interview to my students.
Et in Hi and Lois ego
A dead squirrel in Hi and Lois.
Tomito
Tomito is a free Pomodoro app for Mac. It’s beautifully designed and highly flexible.
Cures for hiccups
t looks like clickbait, but it’s from The Atlantic.
Mooch as Nancy
In today’s Mutts.
I let a song get into my head
We were having a tuna casserole. I thought casserole — cream of mushroom soup — midwest — Minnesota — The Mary Tyler Moore Show. And that’s how I found myself singing “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”
A witness wardrobe
We were putting up a witness in an upcoming trial. It was just for a day or two. She was blind, and she needed a wardrobe for court.
“I can feel the heat closing in”
From The New York Times : “Jury in Georgia Trump Inquiry Recommended Multiple Indictments, Forewoman Says.”
An EXchange name sighting
From Crime and Punishment U.S.A.
The NetNewsWire perspective
Brent Simmons suggests fourteen things that users can do instead of giving him money, listed in no particular order. The first: “Write a blog instead of posting to Twitter or Facebook.”
Recently updated
TomatoBar has another sound, which was there all along.
Zweig and Davies, still in the works
Terence Davies’s adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novel The Post-Office Girl, announced in January 2021, will begin shooting this summer.
TomatoBar
A nicely designed Pomodoro app for the Mac menu bar.
Recently updated
Nick DeMaio and the Eldorado, now with a 1974 advertisement.
Unique Diner
Just down the avenue from O.B. Rude Drug Co., the Unique Diner.
Recently updated
Nick Demaio and the Eldorado: Now with a color photograph of the Bronx bar and the Third Avenue El.
How to improve writing (no. 107)
Follow the logic of chronology.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“Slimmed-down food department.”
Prisons
“Holding onto anger would really just be trading one prison for another”: Lamar Johnson, wrongfully convicted of murder, just released from prison after twenty-eight years, speaking on the PBS NewsHour tonight.
“Who’s Afraid of Black History?”
Henry Louis Gates Jr. draws a parallel between a supporter of the Lost Cause and Ron Desantis.
Games and books
Video games, all day. But we still have a library.
“A Pantomime Pen Talk”
Store-window automatons with fountain pens.