Something called The Wood has posted a group interview with the members of Sea Ray, NYC’s next hot band du jour. As I’ve mentioned before, I went to college with Greg and I-Huei from the band, and this interview is classic Greg.
He’s completely silent on band-related matters, until this question is posed to the group:
Who would win in a fight, Batman or The Green Lantern?
I-Huei: Peter Katis, who is helping us record some songs, could beat them both, at the same time, with his mind.
Jordan: You’d have to ask Greg.
Colin: The Green Lantern. You have to back an underdog now and again.
Greg: Really, now. The World’s Greatest Detective would take the Emerald Warrior, easy. His superior intellect would allow him to devise a plan to nullify the effects of GL’s power ring, which doesn’t work on anything that is yellow. I mean, shit, all Bats would really have to do is knock him out with a yellow Batarang. Duh.
(Greg is then silent for the remainder of the interview.)
30 September 2002 |
2 comments
Obligatory weekend wrapup: Hung out with old Toledo pal Iggy, who was in town for a couple days. Watched a couple movies: The Wild Bunch (lots of blood, that) and Easy Rider. The ending seemed a touch heavy-handed, but then again, Dennis Hopper seems hard-wired to be heavy-handed, bless him.
If you want to follow Captain America’s path in the movie, others have made it easy for you. May I suggest a stop in Morganza, Louisiana, site of the film’s first moment of brutality? I’m sure its real-life residents aren’t nearly as nasty as its cinematic ones.
Easy Rider trivia: Did you know the great Seymour Cassel was a camera tech on the film’s New Orleans scenes? Or that he did time for conspiracy to sell coke? (Wesandersonphiles know Cassel as Bert Fischer, Max’s dad in Rushmore.)
And, on Saturday, saw Luna at the Ridglea in Fort Worth. Seeing a Luna show is always risky, if only because bassist Britta Phillips could at any moment explode in a display of raw sexual energy. Geezumpete, she’s a looker. The ostensibly heterosexual woman standing next to me was just about ready to switch teams.
That said, what a tiny band! I’d be surprised if any of Britta, Dean, and the new keyboard player broke a buck-ten. Wee little people.
By the way, Lunaphiles, new EP coming out Oct. 8. So-so advance MP3 here.
30 September 2002 |
2 comments
I had a pretty good story on today’s front page, profiling Hambrick Middle School in Houston, perhaps the best middle school in the state.
29 September 2002 |
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If anyone doubts the power of the Daily Candy machine, I got 17,885 hits yesterday. Jesus H. Christ! (Coincidentally, I was also taunted 17,885 times for the picture they used, taken last month in a suburban Toledo bathroom.)
I also had 250+ people sign up for the CD Mix of the Month Club. I’m accepting all offers of CD burning assistance.
Now I suppose there’s some pressure to post something interesting here for a change so my new visitors stay interested. Am I up to the task? Will I fall flat on my face with one too many boring Malcolm Gladwell posts? Will I rally with more classic M&M vote fraud investigative journalism? Only time will tell.
27 September 2002 |
7 comments
A hearty welcome for the frighteningly large number of people finding this web site via Daily Candy. (To give you an idea how big the traffic flow is, the CD Mix of the Month Club has been the MSN Site of the Day twice — and as of 9 a.m. this morning, I’d already gotten more hits from Daily Candy than I ever did from MSN.)
Longtime crabwalk.com readers curious what I look like may also be interested in following that link.
26 September 2002 |
12 comments
Coming next month to Dallas: The National Peanut Tour, courtesy the National Peanut Board (“Your Guide to the World of Peanuts!”).
From the press release:
The main attraction of the traveling peanut festival is the 53-foot interactive peanut truck with a 32-foot peanut replica attached to the back…The interactive peanut festival includes a virtual reality of the life of a peanut named Buddy McNutty going through the process of turning into peanut butter…The festival includes an emcee and other “peanut ambassadors,” who offer contests and games about the facts and history of the peanut to keep the audience laughing and learning.
Poor Buddy McNutty.
24 September 2002 |
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Your manager is not the only one responsible for your appraisal. An appraisal is a two-way street. A good appraisal is the result of a partnership between you and your manager. It is a chance to make sure that you are aligned on your goals, job expectations and performance standards.
Example: How to receive feedback.
Janet: Sue, I overheard you yesterday talking to one of your internal customers and that attitude has got to stop.
Sue: Janet, I don’t know what you are talking about.
Janet: You were talking to Mary in credit and you really talked down to her.
Sue: Well, she is stupid.
STOP! How might Sue have responded?
Sue: Janet, help me understand. What did I say that was a problem?
Janet: I believe you told someone that you didn’t have time for them.
Sue: So, you felt that I didn’t treat her with respect?
Janet: Exactly. We just can’t treat our internal customers that way. Respect is one of our corporate values.
Sue: Janet, you know I guess you are right. I was just so frustrated with her for losing one of our checks. I will call and apologize and really try to watch how I talk to people. I didn’t mean to be rude.
24 September 2002 |
3 comments
Wouldn’t want you folks to think I was being less than attentive to my crabwalk obligations. Just got in last night from Nashville, where I got to learn far too much about federal education reform and got to see Anthony, my old high school bud. This is the second time in two years I’ve seen Anthony in Nashville, and each time his wife was “out of town.” You’re not fooling me, man — she’s fictional, I know it.
Also took advantage of having HBO in the hotel room to watch The Sopranos. I saw nothing to convince me to change my prior opinion: a perfectly good show, but not the television deity some would have us believe.
One other thing: my iPod may be the most perfectly designed consumer good since the egg. There’s no better way to generate instant jealousy at an airport.
Met with my Little Brother today for the first time in a few months. (We’re only supposed to meet during the school year.) He ended up not getting enough credits to be promoted to 10th grade, so he’s a freshman again. (Almost one in five Texas high school freshmen take more than a year to become sophomores.) I’m looking forward to hearing his latest theories on how Tupac’s really not dead and is waiting on a Caribbean island for his eventual return.
23 September 2002 |
4 comments
Can someone tell me why Google searches for Elisabeth Kieselstein-Cord have tripled my usual hit count today? Did she do something newsworthy? Geez, I mention her once in an appreciation of George Gurley two months ago and all of a sudden this is EK-C Central.
In any event, Google’s mistakenly pointing to this site’s main page instead of the archive page that actually mentions her. So Cordistas, here’s the page you’re looking for.
19 September 2002 |
1 comment
Here’s a site I finished building the other day.
19 September 2002 |
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This has the makings of a grand day. I just convinced my apartment building to give me $200 to go toward my car break-in repair fund. We had a rockin’ storm this morning, the sort of summer tempest I miss from my days in south Louisiana. I just found out I’ll get the vacation time I asked for at Christmas. If Airborne Express’ tracking system is correct, I have an iPod waiting for me at home. That’ll be just in time for my weekend jaunt to Nashville. And tonight I get to play Whirlyball, whatever the hell that is. A grand day, I tell you.
19 September 2002 |
4 comments
Dallas Observer readers (or, really, readers of any of its ilk) will be familiar with these hoary alt-weekly standbys.
18 September 2002 |
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If any of you have ever wondered about the appeal of working in a newsroom, this should settle it for you. You don’t get characters like that in insurance agencies, I tell you.
18 September 2002 |
1 comment
Terrorism in Early America. The history of that proto-al-Qaeda, the Barbary pirates.
Read closely for today’s vocabulary word, bastinado.
18 September 2002 |
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A shout-out to the DMN copy editor responsible for inserting the pot pun in the second headline to this wire story. Brought back so many sophomore year memories.
18 September 2002 |
2 comments
For those of you who wonder if I ever do any work, I’ve got two — count ‘em, two — stories in today’s paper. On the front page, a piece on rural schools switching to a four-day school week, and on the Metro front page, a piece on a test run of the state’s new standardized test.
Alas, on that second story, The Powers That Be ended up taking out the third paragraph of the faux-movie-promo lead: You’ll never look at a No. 2 pencil the same way again.
18 September 2002 |
1 comment
Tom has rightfully reprimanded me for not mentioning the 2-0 start of the New Orleans Saints. And this ain’t no soft 2-0 — an OT road win over hated Tampa Bay and a 35-20 win over Super Bowl contendahs Green Bay. (That victory was particularly sweet, since it meant Packerhead Kelly lost a bet and now owes me the CD of my choice.)
Perhaps best of all, the Saints have turned into a hella fun team — sort of like the pass-happy, big play bunch the Rams were a couple years ago. Deuce McAllister’s always breaking big runs (like a 50-yarder and a 62-yarder last week), the receivers are downfield burners, and Aaron Brooks is looking sharp. Not the old grind-it-out offense they ran last year.
They play a tough Bears team next week, but they could pull it out. Who day say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?
17 September 2002 |
No comments
My server’s fixed, or at least something approaching fixed. Let the banal crabwalk.com goodness return!
Here’s my cheese sandwich post of the day: Saw a bunch of movies over the weekend. American Graffiti (that Cindy Williams sure was a cutie), Lawrence of Arabia (a remarkable amount of gay subtext for a mainstream 1962 movie), A Streetcar Named Desire (apparently Marlon Brando was not fat at some point), and, last night on IMAX, Apollo 13.
17 September 2002 |
3 comments
To the fine young gentleman who smashed my car window, stole my CD player, then — as a coup de grace — randomly poured a bottle of Coke all over my back seat: thanks, asshole!
A special bonus thank you for prying open the (non-functioning) air conditioning vents. I wasn’t aware that either (a) air conditioning vents were so valuable on the black market or (b) the quickest way to the CD player was through the AC.
12 September 2002 |
3 comments
Just got this from Dena, who’s helping run the Freedom Run, a 9/11-themes 5K here in Dallas Thursday night:
“I have a sponsor for a corporate team that does not have any walkers/runners, so I am trying to find folks to participate FOR FREE. Do you know anyone who would be interested in walking or running a 5K? The perks of a corporate team: free t-shirt, can go to the media/volunteer/corporate team party tonight, and receive a coupon for a free drink and free appetizer from either On the Border or Key West Roadhouse (good from Thursday to Sunday). The only thing that I’d need to do would be get whomever to sign a waiver form.”
Email me or leave a comment ASAP if you’re interested.
10 September 2002 |
5 comments
Very interesting rebuttal of New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell.
I’m an avowed Gladwell fan, but the criticism here — that his “intellectual tap dance” oversimplifies and avoids contradictory evidence — isn’t easily dismissed. And while I haven’t had time to read it yet, the article being attacked — on “face reading” in criminal justice — does seem a bit off.
10 September 2002 |
1 comment
Yep, that’s my cousin. Way to uphold the family reputation, Elton.
(Side note: the article’s writer, Richard Burgess, is also sometime guitarist for the Red Stick Ramblers, mentioned here before.)
09 September 2002 |
1 comment
Fellow Metroplex enthusiasts of the rock and roll music: check the upcoming performance calendars of your favorite local establishments. Some great shows coming up in the next few weeks, including Spoon, Luna, Blackalicious, Sleater-Kinney, Wilco, Interpol, Doves, Girls Against Boys, and DJ Shadow.
If anyone’s interested in going to the Spoon show in Denton with me tomorrow night, let me know. What better way to ring in Sept. 11 than with the rock?
09 September 2002 |
6 comments
Hey, crabwalk.com readers! You may soon get to see my desk every single day on ESPN! The poobahs at the DMN are building a TV set all of five feet from my desk so ESPN can tape a daily talk show in our newsroom. No word yet on camera placement, but if the camera ever pans left, you might catch my ugly mug. I’m nationwide, damn it, nationwide!
09 September 2002 |
1 comment
Here’s my story from Sunday’s front page, on an inner city school in Dallas that’s produced some amazing results with poor kids. If you’re one of those people who claim we reporters only write about bad news, you may want to read this.
09 September 2002 |
1 comment
A truly great story about America’s dominant spelling bee clan. It’s the Royal Tenenbaums come to freakish life. (This one’s for you, Kelly.)
06 September 2002 |
1 comment
I loved this album as a kid. “On top of spaghetti….”
05 September 2002 |
2 comments
Molly (who you may remember) has written her first column of the school year, about her summer internship at my old newspaper and her yearnings to return to alma mater this fall.
While her editors still haven’t updated her column mug, which records a hairstyle from many moons ago, the piece does feature a few bits on her brother Danny, one of my favorite recurring characters in literature. He could become her Slats Grobnik.
“The Real World will eat you alive,” warned my 18-year-old brother, who spent this summer working three hours per week at the local video rental place and laboring on his autobiographical novel.
“My book is about destruction of the illusion of man’s natural rights,” he explained. “The main character realizes he can take whatever he wants — steal other guys’ women, whatever — as long as he has the power. That’s how the world works, Molly.”
If anyone knows a publisher who might be interested in Danny’s novel, please let him know. He has three months to get autographed hardback editions in the mail to college admissions officers.
05 September 2002 |
1 comment
On Sunday, I had a very short item in the paper. It was about the question that students found the toughest on this year’s TAAS, the state standardized test here in Texas. Here it is:
Rachel’s house is 12 miles due west of Highway Exit 16B. Keitha’s house is due north of the same exit. The two houses are 13 miles apart. How much farther does Rachel live from Exit 16B than Keitha does?
Your choices: 11 miles, 10 miles, 7 miles, 5 miles, or none of the above.
The correct answer is in the story linked above. (Try the problem yourself before proceeding.) But, as I’ve mentioned before, there’s a downside to publishing a sample math question in the paper: everyone thinks they can do high school math. Unfortunately, lots of them can’t.
And if their rusty math skills produce an answer different from what you publish, they write you nasty emails calling you an idiot.
I got more than a dozen emails from people complaining I’d screwed up the answer. A sampling of their comments (names omitted to protect the mathematically challenged):
- The Pythagorean Theorem states that, “the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two opposite sides”. Either your writer, Joshua Benton, or Pythagoras is wrong.
- I’ll bet you get a lot of mail on this one. TAAS is bad enough without this. You should certainly run a correction in the same place.
- This must be about the 200th message on this subject you’ve already received this morning, since it is already 8:49 AM. Nevertheless, I am pointing out to Mr. Benton that the reason so many sophomores got that Hypotenuse Theory question on the TAAS “wrong” was because the TAAS folks — AND Mr. Benton — were not crediting them with the correct answer. Please sharpen your pencil and try again.
- I was explaining three weeks ago to my 7th grade son about test taking and what to look for. This morning at the breakfast table, I showed him this simple 5, 12, 13 triangle. I worked out the equation for him, but alas, your answer was wrong. Just, umm, pointing out the correct answer, which is 5.
- The story was wrong and it is someone at the DMN who should be repeating a grade.
My favorites were the ones who were apologetic about pointing out my “error,” but felt their immense mathematical skill obligated them to educate poor incompetents like me.
- As a CPA, one-time math major and a math nut since being taught arithmetic as a “game” at age 4, let me be among the first to point out that the TAAS people failed their jobs…The reason so many students picked 5 is because 5 is the correct answer! Not to investigate WHY the most-missed answer was missed is dereliction of duty (aka laziness!).
- I’m not a math teacher, but I do have a Gifted and Talented class out in East Texas, and last week’s lesson in critical thinking would not allow me to pass this up.
- Sorry, I’m an engineer, and the mathematics are second nature to me.
Today we had a follow-up story.
04 September 2002 |
11 comments
Back in Dallas, with a Chanda Rubin update. Sadly, as I’d feared, Venus proved to be her undoing in the fourth round. But Chanda put up a hell of a fight, losing 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Chanda even had two break points at 5-5 in the third, but her endurance just wasn’t there to pull it out — not surprising, since she’s coming off major surgery. Says the AP:
But the 14th-seeded Rubin, who’s had two operations on her left knee since January 2001 and appeared to be gasping for air after longer rallies, finally succumbed to Williams’ constant pressure.
Rubin sent a forehand wide on the first break point, then put another forehand into the net to close a 17-stroke rally. She threw her head back, sighed, and staggered along the baseline.
”I gave myself a chance in the match. As a competitor, you want to go out in every match and do that,” Rubin said. ”But it’s disappointing not to win it when the chances were there. You look up — you’re right there for the match.”
Of Rubin’s seven main draw losses in 2002, five came against players who have been ranked No. 1: the Williams sisters, Davenport, and Seles.
Earlier in the week, Pam Shriver said that since coming back to the tour in May, Chanda’s been the third best woman in the world. Too bad she keeps playing the top two. (Alas, Chanda’s done for the entire tourney: she and doubles partner de jour Natasha Zvereva lost in the third round to Hingis/Kournikova. Did I mention I have no nude photos of Anna Kournikova here? Really, I don’t.)
03 September 2002 |
2 comments
