STATUS UPDATE:

Still buzzing from last night's Nyquil. Who knew?

OBSERVATION:

With each move, I am forced to get rid of more and more stuff. Life will make a minimalist of me yet!

CONCEPT:

The reluctant minimalist.

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE...OR AT LEAST OBSERVATION:

With this Major Nidal Hasan tragedy, the scheduled execution of D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad and the just announced leukemia of my childhood hero Kareem Abdul--Jabbar (Although I first loved him as Lew Alcindor...or as my mother called him Lewal), it's been a pretty tough week, I imagine, for American Muslims.

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY: (Hat tip to T.S.)

There's more than one really famous Chuck D.

BADASS IDEA OF THE DAY:

A Band Called The Three Chuck Ds.

Chuck Dickens, Chuck Darwin and Chuck D.

That'd make you forget about Aerosmith in 2.2!

APT HOOPIC DESCRIPTION:

"They are a running team that does not always run, a perimeter-shooting team that has not shot well from anywhere and a team that stressed defense in the preseason but has showed little interest in the regular season."

--From Jonathan Abrams' article in the New York Times today about a certain New York basketball team.

RECURRENT THOUGHT:

Must have Nyquil. AMAZING!!!!

MEDIA(TED) EXPERIENCE:

Having "The real experience of Vietnam" being marketing to me in a late night infomercial.

Vietnam, the real documentary. Real never before seen mission footage. Vietnam: Not how you know it from the movies. But what it was REALLY like. Get "Vietnam An American History" 16 DVDS for the low low price of only $39.99 But THAT'S NOT ALL!! Act now and you'll get this that and the other thing. Vietnan. The real history. AND THAT'S NOT ALL....ACT NOW and you'll receive this that and the other thing.

Couldn't help but thinking about the radical disconnect between the raw immediacy of that lived historical experience and the peculiarly mediated means by which it was being marketed to me.

"Real history presented to you as never before" the voiceover claims...and it is a curiously--if inadvertently--accurate description.

What is the real? What is history in such a marketed, mediated consumable age? Etc. etc.

TEDDY VEGAS INTERACTIVE CHALLENGE:

Put together some at least marginally relevant promotional extras to be thrown into the Vietnam Doc to reward the consumer for "Acting Now."

LFAQ:

In 30 years, will the events of 9/11 be marketed in a similar manner?

HOOPS:

Steve Nash saying to the world "Reports of my decline and demise are greatly exaggerated" in the form of a 20 point, 20 assist effort as the Phoenix risers from the ashes improved their record to 7-1. Dude is having the same effect on Channing Frye as K-Hud is having on A-Rod. (And by purely Platonic means.)

DECLARATION:

Anna Karenina is a great book. To stop reading 100 pages from the end.

REVELATION/ADVERTORIAL

Nyquil is amazing. I took it for the first time ever last night. Immediately, a strangely euphoric feeling came over me. I was getting sleepy. Very sleepy. And I was getting less and less cough-y. In dreams I felt full of love and wonder and breathing felt like something new. (I meant that spiritually--not merely in the sense that my bronchial passages were opened up again and my alveoli were kicking ass and taking names.). It was amazing. I fear that I will be chasing that Nyquil dragon for the rest of my nights!

(Full disclosure the preceding will be paid for (if I can convince them) by the Nyquil corporation.)

RANDOM QUOTE:

"La nuit sera blanche et tres noire."

-Guillaume Apollinaire (in what was rumored to be his suicide note).

(Translation in which a lot is lost: The night will be sleepless and very dark. Or: This white night will be very black.)

FRAGMENT:

What was gradual and imperceptible in others was sudden and undeniable in him.

RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:

He has a specific variant of Irritable Bowel Syndrome that didn't affect his bowels.

OBSERVATION:

The subtext of all men pontificating about sports or finance or politics is "I like the smell of my farts."

LFAQ:

I just read that Major Hasan is now conscious and communicative after being taken off of his ventilator. What was his first thought after returning to consciousness: Where are my 40 virgins? or Oh FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!?

ODD EXPERIENCE:

A while ago I bought a huge photograph of a recently defaced publicly commissioned portrait of Saddam Hussein that was taken by an intrepid photojournalist days after the fall of Bagdad. The huge, framed Saddam portrait has been in my office ever since. (Half obscured by some other stuff rather than proudly and provocatively displayed on a (non-existent) wall.) Anyhow, we are in massive cleanup mode for an imminent office move/downsizing and so, on Friday, I schlepped this giant Saddam poster home. I realized I was getting some odd looks and, it was only mid-way through the bus ride that I realized that I had the portrait side facing away from me. I half-apologetically flipped it around--and then felt a bit better. Although, curiously, new people who'd gotten onto the bus after I'd turned the tyrant's face towards me, still gave me strange looks. :)

I though it'd be pretty cool to do a little video documentary of someone schlepping a huge portrait of Saddam around with him all day. This could of course be done --with varying degrees of risk to one's physical well-being--with huge iconic portraits of other hated figures (Hitler, Osama, Joe Lieberman etc.)

LFAQ:

As an indicator of psychological instability, is a man's neck tattoo more closely akin to a woman's lower back "tramp stamp" or a breast tattoo?

SNAPSHOT INTO THE SOUL OF RUDY GUILIANI OF THE DAY:

BFK: Bernard F-cking Kerik.

Just want to point out that on the day that Rudy Guiliani was celebrating the Yankees World Series victory, his right hand man and our one time nominee for the Head of Homeland Security, Bernard Freaking Kerik, was pleading guilty to all kinds of charges of fraud and tax evasion--and providing a nice reminder of the kind of creepy thug our self-reinvented "hero" former mayor really is. Below is an excerpt from the Times:

"Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik admitted in court Thursday that he lied to the White House while being considered for chief of Homeland Security.

Kerik, hailed as a hero after the 9/11 attack, also pleaded guilty to lying on tax returns, a loan application and a questionnaire he filled out when he was seeking a separate U.S. government position.

Under his plea bargain, which short-circuited as many as three federal trials, he was not required to plead guilty to the main corruption charges against him. Those charges will be dismissed.

In a low but firm voice, Kerik said "guilty" eight times as he admitted to eight felonies, including lying about paying taxes on his children's nanny, hiding income from the Internal Revenue Service and faking a charitable contribution.
Kerik acknowledged failing to declare on his returns book royalties, consultant fees and the use of a BMW."

SPORTS MEDIA COMMENT:

Why the Wall Street Journal Should not Report on Basketball:

In a rare basketball column, they listed the best starting fives ever thusly:

1. Jazz 1996-7 Stockton/Hornacek/Russell/Malone/Ostertag
2. Bulls 1995-6 Harper/Jordan/Poppen/Rodman/Longley
3. Buklls 1996-7: Harper/Jordan/Pippen/Rodman/Longley
4. Lakers 1984-5 D. Johnson/Scott/Worthy/Rambis/Abdul-Jabbar
5. Celtics 1986-7 M. Johnson/Ainge/Bird/McHale/Parrish

No. I am not interested in quibbling over the rankings (generated allegedly by some sophisticated statistical analysis of how many wins a given starting five produces...without reference to the team's bench production). But no one who knows ANYTHING about basketball confuses Dennis Johnson and Magic Johnson--let alone puts each in the jersey of his most hated rivals. And no copy editor or proofreader possibly sees that absurd confusion of the two legendary Johnsons and fails to 1) instantly correct it and 2) proceed to give the author endless shit about it. It's about the equivalent of swapping Hitler and Roosevelt in the WW2 leadership line-ups.

Despite its obvious conservative Republican political bias, The Wall Street Journal contains some fine writing. But it should restrict its forays into sports reporting to "sports" its writers and readers know something about: Golf, Cricket, Polo, Sailing etc.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

" Americans don’t hate rich people, but they do despise those who behave as if the rules don’t apply to them."

--Frank Rich in Op-Ed discussing the Bloomberg electoral backlash and the resentment of Goldman Sachs and other titans of Wall Street who are perceived to have benefitted handsomely from taxpayer money while the rest of America continues to hurt.

LFAQ:

Has anyone ever tweeted "Having Sex!" or "The plane is going down!"?

OBSERVATION:

Ambien. like someone forcing your eyelids shut even though you're not yet sleepy. It's sleep that comes from outside rather than from within.

INTERESTING THING I LEARNED:

That by a sheer happenstance of history, the tearing down of the Berlin wall took place on November 9--the same date as Crytsalnacht.

LFAQ:

Is it true that an empire begins to decline the moment it ends its draft?

MORE FRAGMENTS FOUND DURING CLEAN-UP (WITH SAME ASS-COVERING STIPULATION/CAVEAT AS I OFFERED UP LAST TIME).

He was a beat slow. And the was a conservative estimate.

Finding innovative new ways to thwart you with a smile.

The decor could be described as eclectic verging on entropic.

Mort and Todd. (A deadly duo).

New Category: Self-unemployed.

Random Single Sentence: Had a wonderful gift for artfully simulated concern.

Idea: Guy taking covert photos of inanimate objects. Like a member of the inanimate object papparazzi.

"I don't know what she said. I was too busy listening."

Life Stage Description: Somewhere between hip and hip replacement.

QUICK POST GAME COMMENT:

The Knicks' recent first quarter efforts constitute a crime against basketball. Down 19 last night against Cleveland, down 20 tonight against Milwaukee.

Here's a word for you. Mephitic. Look it up. You will find the 2009 Knicks.

Truly a shame.

No brains. No heart. No courage. Like Dorothy's crew in The Wizard of Oz minus the hoopic talent.

Arggg.

AS FOR HEALTH CARE:

Never in doubt! (Oh wait...I got it confused with the Knicks game.)

SOME SATURDAY SIFTINGS...

IDEA:

After all these recent shootings, how could anyone still oppose gun control? I am thinking of marketing bumper stickers that read:

"Anyone who opposes gun control should be shot."

Anyone want to put in an early order? Or try to dissuade me from producing these things because they don't help promote intelligent discourse on the matter? Part of me seriously thinks there's merit in not letting the right wing own (or at least completely dominate) the tactic of insultingly antagonistic expression.

What do we think?

HOOPIC MEDIA MOMENT OF THE DAY:

Charles Barkley has not only lost all his athleticism, he has apparently also lost his ability to say "athleticism."

He stumbled over the word for an agonizing 10 seconds ("Shaq no longer has the ath...ath....ath...what's that word?..." like an honorary male member of the Ellen James Society...until someone helped him out with the five syllable tongue twister. Wish I had it on video to show you.

FRAGMENTS UNCOVERED DURING A CLEANUP: (AKA ANALOG NAPKINS MADE DIGITAL).

(Apologies for any inadvertent repostings. Let said inadvertent redundancies be redemptively reconceived as entirely intentional selections for a partial retrospective:)

"If you want to reduce it by calling a a disco ball, fine, but I prefer to think of it as a cosmic event."

Staying connected and related to others is, ultimately, a strategy against becoming a stranger to yourself.

"Dude, where did I put my brain?"

"There he goes mis-using the word "you" again.!"

Idea: Stock exchange ETFs (or Spiders) for Artists and Literary figures. You call your broker and say "I want to buy an ETF (electronically traded fund) customized to track Vermeer, Breugel and Cezanne. And I'd like to short Dali, Braque and Warhol. And how do you like those Knicks?? I mean those Kandinskys? Nice, broker bro! Rock on!

Idea: Party Pirates. An appropriation of terrorist tactics for the purposes of enforced merriment. Schlepping kegs and boom boxes, these marauders in the name of mirth work the NYC harbors (or perhaps even the open seas)--taking over larger ships and forcing (or at least encouraging) captains and crews alike to dance and drink (but only O'Douls for the Captains). Gratuitous perhaps. But certain to be adopted at some point by a savvy forward thinking spirits or soft drink brand.

Soft-spoken, hard-hearted

"I do a little fiction writing on the side. Mostly on my time sheets."

Always the temptation to say: "I wish you had known me when I was alive."

"I so almost had that."

The complete air drumming recordings of Gregory Greenfield.

She found he was just another unavailable man, married to his money.

Juggled many balls, none of them his own.

Love means never having to say "I could have given you more Omega 3 oils."

Timelessness: The newest trend.

"Who do you have to f-ck in this town to get a gesundheit?"

Your future without you.

RANDOM QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"The positive is already accomplished. It is up to us to accomplish the negatiive."

-Kafka

GUEST LFAQ: (Hat tip J.M.)

At what point does young at heart become dirty old man?

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING:

I've had some coughing and congestion recently. So I found this Buckley's decongestant on my shelf. (Left over from the last ice age...discovered in the glacial moraine...). Anyhow, they say something in their ads like "Only something that tastes this awful could work so well." Well, I've got to say: at least the first part of that statement (I believe it is the subject rather than the predicate), is a rare instance of truth in advertising. Indeed, understatement in advertising. To say that stuff tastes awful is like saying Olivia Wilde is nice looking, Joe Morgan is dull or Roger Federer is good. Truly, hauntingly terrible. Just tastes of wrongness. But gustatory trauma notwithstanding, it seemed to help. So they nailed the predicate too!

Note: In the spirit of full disclosure and transparency: The preceding message has been paid for (or, is going to be paid for if I can find a way to convince them) by the Buckley's corporation.



ODD THING:

Among the many lovely things I was sent by friends and colleagues right after my father died about 2 1/2 years ago, was a care package from Zabars--to help with the shivah sitting and the like. Anyhow, half intentionally (in memorial tribute) and half out of simple inertia, I have kept the pound of coffee from that shivah package sitting unopened on my kitchen table. This morning, I discovered I was out of coffee and, too lazy to run out and get some at the corner, I decided to finally open this 2 1/2 year old bag of Zabar's special blend. It's strange to be sipping coffee that was probably ground on the day that my father died. It's also strange that it tastes about the same as coffee that was ground yesterday. (Is it possible that the whole freshness thing is overrated?).

Anyhow, sort of an odd experience. Perhaps it's time to start going through the countless effects of my father's that I have not had the courage to go through --the material traces of his life that still clutter my apartment and mini storage cell. The other day, I tried to go through some stuff, but when I reached a box of photos and letters that he'd kept from my childhood, it was simply too sad. I really wonder if I will ever be ready to sift through it all...and try to make what is indelibly marked by death and absence into a living part of my present life.

Not really sure how people do it.

But in the meantime, sipping the cup of gratitude and remembrance. And I've got to say: The coffee is good.

LFAQs:

How long until the wingnuts start turning this Hasan guy into a proxy for Obama? (He's Muslim too! He hates America too! But at least this guy was born in the U.S.A., so he's not quite as bad as Obama.)

Which would be more refreshing: Seeing an account guy with an iPhone or a creative guy with a Blackberry?

Would either even remotely approach the coolness of an account guy or a creative guy having NO smart phone???

How about no cell phone??? Omigod: Counter coolness coolness overload! My head just exploded!

ACTUAL HEADLINE:

Accused Gunman, Army Psychiatrist, in Stable Condition. (NYT).

Yup. Stable. That's the first word that comes to mind.

UNAUTHORIZED BUT ELOQUENTLY EXPRESSIVE REPOSTING OF AN ONLINE EXCHANGE:
(With apologies to un consulted interlocutors (A.G. et al) who may be experienceing the shock of recognition or, as I believe Emerson put it, the glory of discovering one's own words in all of their alienated (if un spell-checked) majesty.)

PERSON A:

Yankees President Randy Levine is quoted today has having said: "The Yankees won. The world is right again." A more obscene bit of triumphalism I haven't seen since GWB pranced around the deck of an aircraft carrier in his codpiece.


PERSON B:

One thing that (many) yankees fans don't seem to get is that if we took the full extension of their argument we wouldn't have a competitive sports league, but an annual charade-march-to-crowning-ceremony. sports leagues only work if the notion of one team "belonging" on top is false.

PERSON C:

Ah . . . the sounds of bitter Mets fans.

HOOPS:

Cavs-Bulls.

*Playing Big Z and Shaq together is an insult to the memory of the Twin Towers.

*For a stretch towards the end, Jokim Noah was--as he often is--both the manliest man and the prettiest girl on the court.

*There's still way too much of Lebron going 1 against 5. It's unaesthetic. And inauspicious for Cleveland fans (in terms of the likelihood of his continuing to play there.)

*You know, crazy at it sounds, the place that makes the most sense for Lebron to go next season is L.A. And I'm not talking about the Lakers. I'm talking about the Clippers. They have the cap room and the complement of talented players to make them a much more attractive option than, say, the Knicks or the Nets or Houston. Yes...it would mean having the two biggest stars in the game (or the world) in the same town...so it probably won't happen. But it's the place that actually makes the most sense for him on paper and in principle.

Spurs-Utah:

*Time to reassess the Spurs. Where I've upgraded my assessment of the Bulls and the Mavs since the pre-season, I'm slightly downgrading my appraisal of the Spurs. Why? Despite the promising off season acquisitions (Blair, Jefferson, McDyess), their front court is appreciably smaller than it was during any of their championship runs (no David Robinson, No Nazr Mohammed, No Rasho Nestorovic, not even a Kurt Thomas). On defense, Duncan isn't getting the help he is used to down low. Blair and McDyess may emerge as solid rebounders...but they won't match up well against teams with real front court size. (Lakers, Jazz, etc.). Still an elite team, but not looking like the true threat to the Lakers that I had hoped they'd be. At least not yet...

CONCEPTS OF THE DAY:

Too big to succeed.
Too small to fail.

CONFESSION OF THE DAY:

I got a little winded watching that Nike workout commercial.

RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:

For a recovered alcoholic, he really knew how to drink.

TOTALLY RANDOM IDEA OF THE DAY:

Recording "Wild Horses" as "Wild Turkeys." Something about someone soulfully singing "Wild, wild turkeys couldn't drag me away..." just makes me smile.

LESS RANDOM IDEA:

While they are having the big Yankee Pride Parade tomorrow someone should start a competing Mets Shame Parade nearby.

Come on, someone who has some free time tomorrow: Step up to the plate!

MOMENT OF EXCITEMENT FOLLOWED BY IMMEDIATE LETDOWN:

A yahoo headline read: "Lieberman to coach Mavs' D-League team"

I was, like, "Thank god, The sanctimonious bastard's finally gonna be somewhere where he can't do as much harm. (Although I never realized he was into hoops)." Of course, then I realized they were talking about Nancy, not Joe.

TRAGIC, TERRIBLE NEWS-RELATED OBSERVATION: IT"S ALWAYS THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING CRAZY.

A military mental health doctor facing deployment overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, setting off on a rampage that killed 11 other people and left 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and the violence was believed to be the worst mass shooting in history at a U.S. military base.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting

What ever happened to that saying: Psycho-Physician: Heal Thyself?

Freaking tragic.

P.S.

Wow. I just read the gunman (a muslim-American army psychiatrist who was facing deployment to Afghanistan) was educated at Virginia Tech. And I also just read that there's been a previous massacre in that Texas town (inauspiciously named Killeen.) In addition to being a less than proud moment for the mental health profession, it's like a weird deja vu/postman always rings twice thing for both the Virginia university and the Texas town.

But most of all: It's just freaking awful.

GO METS!! A FEW (OBLIGATORY) REFLECTIONS ON THE WORLD SERIES


STATUS UPDATE:

I decided to play basketball rather than watch baseball. (At least through the 5th inning).

A FEW REASONS I WAS NOT UNHAPPY THE YANKEES WON:

In a battle between Mariano's steely silent resolve and Jimmy Rollins' gum flapping trash talk, you gotta go with Mo.

A-Rod finally stopped being A-Fraud ---and I am not mean spirited enough to begrudge anyone a hard earned vanquishing of his demons and associated experience of success. That said, I still would have preferred that the curse of the A-Rod (as predicted by legendary retired prognosticator, D.W.) would have endured a bit longer. But hey: It's the glory. It's the story of love. I really think K-Hud and Matsui should have shared the World Series MVP.

It had been a reasonable long drought and --with 40 year old Mariano and the rest of the team's core no longer spring roosters--there was a faint redemptive whiff of mortality about the whole affair.

27 is a pretty cool number. Perfect cube and all. The number of moons Uranus has. The smallest positive integer requiring four syllables to name in English. And the average number of good shots I pass up per Wednesday night basketball game.

From a Mets fan's perspective, it was probably no worse than the Phillies winning.

It's not as if they bought it. :)

A FEW REASONS I COULD NOT QUITE FEEL HAPPY FOR THE YANKEES:

Guiliani.

Guiliani.

Guiliani.

Millions of other annnoyingly loud fans--with that aggressive, alpha dog, identification with the victor/oppressor edge audible in their voices and visible in their gestures.

The strangest phenomenon for me was a complete absence of interest in and passion about the whole affair. I simply didn't care. Indeed, I think it was the least invested I've ever felt in the outcome of a major team sport's final game (football) or series (baseball, basketball, and, yes, even hockey.) For a lifelong sports fan, it was an odd, unsettlingly ghostly experience. From this perspective of essential indifference, it was hard for me to imagine ever truly caring again about the outcome of a sports event or season (a strange premonition of enlightenment or maturity or death)...But then I got home and spent 20 minutes obsessively checking the NBA box scores. (Dirk, Carmelo and the Suns come back down to earth, and the Knicks' glorious (and virtually unprecedented) 1 game winning streak comes to an end.)

ONE MORE WORLD SERIES THOUGHT.

Andy Petitte is an excellent big game pitcher. But if I never see another intense, glowering close up of his eyes peeking out over his mitt, it will be too soon. A friend made an interesting observation: Petitte is a good looking guy...so long as he doesn't make any facial expression. Indeed, he is the rare human for whom any facial display of emotion (including a smile) is associated with a diminution of aesthetic appeal.

Ok, clearly I've run out of things to say about baseball.

Oh wait: One more ( a propos of Petitte and A-Rod). It's just so nice that the Yanks can finally put all that steroids stuff behind them. :)

LFAQ:

Is Manu the new Michael Vick or is PETA the new hysterical over-reactor to everything?

CONCEPT:

Ear Goggles.

Eye Muffs.

PROJECT: (Hat tip to Immanuel Kant)

The prolegomena to any future possibility.

OBSERVATION:

Agassi and Maravich. Parallel studies in overbearing fathers, joylessly exceptional careers, late in life religious/spiritual awakenings....although I don't think Maravich wore a wig.

RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:

He was appreciated far and wide for his studied absence of rigor.

POST-ELECTION QUICKIE:

ELECTION:

Wow, looks like lots of people had the same reaction to Bloomberg's ostentatious advertising assault that I did. In the immortal words of Bob Murphy: "That one went from a laugher to a seat squirmer." Our little imperial veep suffered some karmic blowback. May it humble him a bit and temper his sense of arrogant entitlement. On the other hand, the Corzine loss proves that money alone cannot buy an election.

Give Mayor Mike this: He is the only politician I know of whose electoral campaigns double as stimulus packages.

WIGGED OUT:

Tabloid-ready revelation #2 in Agassi's new tell-all book: That mullet he was wearing in the early to mid 90s was a wig. He blames the damn eyesore for costing him the 1990 French Open final against Andres Gomez...as he was inhibited in his actions and distracted in his thoughts by the fear of involuntary cranial exposure.

LFAQ:

How could anyone think that wearing that mullet is less humiliating than being bald?! (Maybe his judgement was impaired by the meth?).

Who spent more time worrying that his long-haired wig would fall off: Agassi or Michael Jackson?

Whose wig would fetch more today at auction?

Is A-non going to accuse this post of being Page Six? (Mea Culpa: He should).

INITIALIZATION OF THE DAY:

TFF: Tempus freaking fugit.

HOOPS:

Carmelo (35 PPG), Dirk (a 40 pt, 11 reb, 5 assist, 5 block, 2 steal monster effort last night--including a ridiculous 29 points in a 4th quarter comeback) and Chris Bosh (31 PPG, 15 RPG) have all served early notice that the NBA 2009-10 MVP race shouldn't be restricted to LBJ and Black Mamba. Of the three, I take Dirk and Carmelo's candidacy to enter the conversation more seriously than I do Bosh's. In last year's series versus the Lakers, Carmelo showed he was capable of playing intense and effective man defense (particularly on Kobe) --and he seems committed to continuing to show at least glimpses of that commitment in the new season. On the offensive end, he is clearly the most effective and efficient pure scorer in the league. Dirk looks aggressive and energized--just when we thought it was safe to declare him a fading superstar and fraudulent MVP. As a result of both Melo and Dirk's fortified will...the Mavs and Nuggets cannot be as easily discounted as I might have thought at the start of the season. They are both just behind the Lakers and Spurs in the west--with the Mavs slightly ahead of the Nuggets (and the Blazers) in my book.

LFAQ:

Deal or no deal moment: As a Knicks fan, you can guarantee that Damillo Gallinari will have career production identical to Peja Stojakovic's or you can take your chances. What do you decide?

MEDIA PHENOMENON OF THE DAY:

Charlie Rose's slightly pugnacious incredulity as British born Harvard Economist Niall Fergusson projected the decline and fall of America as a great economic power.

R.I.P C. L-S.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091103/ap_on_en_ot/eu_obit_france_levi_strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss. Seminal structuralist. Father of modern anthropology. One might have to go all the way back to Freud to think of a field of endeavor so fully identified with an individual theorist/practitioner. (Perhaps that's a bit of an overstatement...but no one else is coming immediately to mind. Even Einstein couldn't fully claim to have founded modern physics, even if his radical reinvention of it changed the course of the field and the world.) Anyhow, whether my praise is a bit hyperbolic or not, let's bid adieu to the author of "The Savage Mind", "Tristes Tropiques", "The Raw and The Cooked" (and countless other books that few of us have ever read.)

ELECTION DAY:

I received 7 pieces of political advertising in the mail yesterday. An inventory of my mailbox:


1) Oversized folded postcard. "Results. Not Politics." with an Al Gore endorsementr quote for Bloomberg. Sent by Mike Blloomberg NYC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Bloomberg for Mayor 2009.

2) Large folded brochure: "New Thomspson Pay-To-Play Scandal." Brought to my attention by Mayor Mike. Bloomberg for Mayor 2009.

3) Oversized postcard. "Mike Bloomberg: Fighting for Quality Affordable Housing." Mike Bloomberg NYC. A subdivision of Bloomberg for Mayor 2009.

4) Placemat-sized folded eyesore: "Mike Bloomberg NYC. Progress. Not Politics." Mike Bloomberg NYC.

5) Big Direct Mail pamphlet. "Bill Thomspson For Mayor? That'l Cost you." A message from fellow concerned citizen, Mike Bloomberg NYC. Bloomberg for Mayor 2009.

6) Brochure. "Mike Bloomberg. Strong Leadership in tough times and boom times."

7) Another big folded postcard of oaktag-like thickness. "The choice is clear this Tuesday. Vote Mike Bloomberg for Mayor."

Choice? Wait. There's some other guy running?

Have to say: I was perfectly happy to vote for Mayor Mike. Of course, I was aware that he had bought and paid for his position. And represented a sort of imperial mayorship. But I sort of like his energy and his relatively even-handed pragmatism. Sure he has his flaws, but I think he's done a few good things--particularly in the realms of education, energy and the environment. And he has evinced none of the meanness or thuggery that marked the Guiliani years.

Plus I like doing my Mike Bloomberg imitation. "Hey, we've got a problem here. It stinks. I'm not gonna lie to you. But we're gonna roll up our sleeves and try to solve it the best way we can. I'm not exactly sure how we're gonna do it, but we're gonna try to do what's fair and what makes sense. I'm short. I'm rich. And i like attractive tall women... Does anyone know any tall attractive women for me to date?"

Yes. I kinda like Mike.

But this shock and awe direct mail campaign on my mailbox kinda bummed me out. Ethically. Karmically. Environmentally. I am a registered Democrat and I never received a single piece of mail from Bill Thompson (is that the name of the alleged other candidate?). Poor guy couldn't afford the postage. As I looked at this veritable pile of printed material in front of me--this scattershot advertising effort, reflecting no single strategy or tonality (some high-minded and aspirational, some attack-oriented and intended to evoke fear)--random messages linked only by the fact that they all proudly displayed the Mike Bloomberg NYC logo-- it seemed like his motto should be:

Mike Bloomberg. Money. Not Politics.

or:

Mike Bloomberg. Strong Advertising Budgets in tough times and boom times.

or, at least:

Mike Bloomberg. Two trees per voter.


WORLD SERIES:

Is it possible that when it comes to A-Rod as hero and Jeter as hero, it's a zero sum game? It struck me on Sunday night that when A-Rod hit that go-ahead double off Lidge to score Damon, Jeter spontaneously leapt up in celebration, but then, instead of gesuring a fist pump to A-Rod on second, looked down at the ground in some awkward (and I felt perhaps revealing way). As if: LOVE winning! HATE that it was A-Rod who got the glory.

Anyhow, it struck me again last night when Jeter was up in the ninth with man on 1st and 2nd, no one out and the team down three. A classic Jeter's gonna come through situation,. But for some reason, he didn't look very confident in the box. As if the rise in A-Rod's confidence had somehow diminished his own. As if he was uncomfortable. Not with the pressure situation (THIS, he lives for) but with suddenly not being the clear and unquestioned leader of the team in the post season.

Maybe I'm making too much of this. Had my gut sense not been corroborated by his uncharacteristically hitting into a momentum killing double play, I would not have passed it off as a complete projection on my part. I actually really admire Jeter. And I don't want to be some idle, gossip-mongering hater here. But, I really couldn't help but wonder if this sudden emergence of A-Rod as a post-season monster has not been a bit disorienting for the Yankee captain.