Get well

Scott Hamilton to Be Treated for Tumor (washingtonpost.com)

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 2 -- Former world champion figure skater Scott Hamilton will undergo high-tech radiation therapy for a noncancerous brain tumor, his publicist said Thursday.

As I was watching superannuated Olympic stars skate yesterday on "Ice Wars," I missed the voice of one my favorite skaters of all time, Scott Hamilton. Hamilton has been a frequent commenter on ice exhibitions. With his infectious sense of fun and modest self-effacement, despite being one of the greatest athletes ever to lace up skates, he has always been my particular favorite. It was with genuine sorrow that I learned that, despite having survived a bout with testicular cancer several years ago, Hamilton is now facing treatment for a benign brain tumor. Count me among the millions wishing him a speedy recovery.

Trivia

Q. Who was Nina Simone's pianist?

A. Nina Simone.

Nina

The Nina Simone Web - Mississippi Goddam

You don't have to live next to me

Just give me my equality

Everybody knows about Mississippi

Everybody knows about Alabama

Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

I have been listening to Nina Simone. She seems appropriate right about now. The old stuff is the best; I'm not too big on synthesizers. I just remind myself, "My Baby Just Cares for Me."

False Note?

The New York Times > Arts > Music > The Rap Against Rockism

Rockism isn't unrelated to older, more familiar prejudices - that's part of why it's so powerful, and so worth arguing about. The pop star, the disco diva, the lip-syncher, the "awesomely bad" hit maker: could it really be a coincidence that rockist complaints often pit straight white men against the rest of the world? Like the anti-disco backlash of 25 years ago, the current rockist consensus seems to reflect not just an idea of how music should be made but also an idea about who should be making it.

The Times' contention that a critique of singers who cannot sing or write songs has been coopted by a shrill minority with a racial agenda is a sad commentary on popular culture. Certainly, popular music is notorious for putting a white face on other people's musical traditions. However, is there not enough genuine talent across the board to disprove easily any assertion that the only people who can really sing are straight white males? Although the search for "authenticity" in popular music may be a chimera, surely this does not mean that we should fail to distinguish talent from its lack?

The Washington Post has an overview of the smoke and mirrors that surround the production of modern popular music. The Post points out that Simpson's performance should have come as no surprise; electronic enhancement has been around for years and is pervasive in the industry. Simpson just had the misfortune to get caught in a very public and embarrassing way.

Rockism defined.

A Little Bit of History

Old Warrior Again Underway (washingtonpost.com)

The Constellation, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of its launch this year, was venturing out of Baltimore's harbor for the first time since her arrival there in 1955. Yet the old sloop of war was a fettered beauty. The gorgeous double-wheeled, teak-and-mahogany helm was lashed with the crown spoke pointing straight up, and the rudder amidships. The capstan bars were stowed. And the mizzenmast, mainmast and foremast were missing the canvas the ship was built to carry.

I toured the Constellation when I was about 10 years old, and it was one of the great thrills of my young life. I loved sailing ships growing up: I read C.S. Forester and I built models. The Constellation — often confused with one the first ships built for U.S. Navy in 1797 bearing the same name — was in fact the last ship powered entirely by sail built for the U.S. Navy just before the Civil War, according to the Post article. Of course, the Post should be read with a grain of salt; even I know that a square-rigged ship is not a sloop.

A Diva Triumphs Over Adversity

Denyce Graves, After the Low Notes (washingtonpost.com)

Far from the stage lights, this is the Denyce Graves the public never sees, a 40-year-old woman who has been battling four years of depression, turbulence and upheaval, all scrupulously kept out of the public eye. In 2000, when she began to undergo a series of debilitating physical and emotional crises, her vocal cords -- the ones that made her world famous -- began bleeding.

I have been a big fan of Denyce Graves ever since I first saw her on Sesame Street, of all places. I found it heartwarming to read about a woman who is not only blessed with a beautiful voice but also a strong character.

What's cooking?


This slightly unorthodox cookbook is based on the premise that to please the woman in your life, you should figure out what kind of women she is and cook her what she wants. Naturally, the book is ready to offer its assistance in figuring her out; hence the quiz above (which concludes that if I were a girl, I would be "Academic Girl"). The fact that the quiz is aimed at women, although the book is ostensibly aimed at men, suggests that there may be a lot of men receiving this book as a gift with a hint.

Orcs Are People, Too

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Unused Audio Commentary By Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky, Recorded Summer 2002, for The Fellowship of the Ring Platinum Series Extended Edition DVD, Part One

I heard a selection on the radio today from this imagined commentary by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky on the Lord of the Rings. Although not everyone agrees, I found the conceit of the Orcs as oppressed farmers brutalized by the militaristic regimes of Gondor and Rohan quite funny.

Requiescat in Pacem

Christopher Reeve, Another Kind Of Superhero (washingtonpost.com)

The two warring images will be linked forever, each denying -- and completing -- the other: Christopher Reeve, built and beautiful in his Superman suit, roaring invincibly into the stratosphere. And Christopher Reeve, strained and drawn, hooked to a ventilator and living another motionless day in his wheelchair. The cartoon hero had suffered a horrible fall and emerged as a real-life hero.

Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! (Hamlet, 5.2.349)

Art and Morals

The latest issue of Poetry Magazine is largely devoted to a single (disturbing) poem by Frank Bidart, most of which is about sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. Cellini, while a gifted sculptor, was apparently a monstrous human being, guilty of at least one murder. Once again a refutation of the idea that art is dependent upon morals.

Background on Macbeth (with reservations)

Enjoying Macbeth has quite a bit of useful information about the historical background of the play, but is marred by gratuitous remarks about "white Broncos" and "radical Afrocentrist" historians and about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. (I don't deny that the author has a right to his opinions, but I find some of his remarks and quotations neither to my taste nor germane to discussion of the play.)

All Hail, Macbeth!

Gayle and I went to see a very good production of Macbeth this afternoon at the Shakespeare Theatre. The play gave rise to several observations:


  1. The play shows clearly that the question is not whether you will die, but how. Very few people have a chance to make a "good death," most are butchered when they least expect it.

  2. Even if the play was written for a Scottish king, it is clear that it was written by an English playwright. Who else would pen a drama in which the rightful Scottish king is restored to power by the English army?

  3. Of course, the play is all about getting even, not just revenge by individuals, but also the attempt to bring the state back into equilibrium.

  4. Women are always judged more harshly than men.

  5. In an unusual decision, the play did not show the murdered Banquo at the feast to which he returns after being murdered by MacBeth. The effect is to emphasize Macbeth's madness rather than the supernatural element in the play.

  6. Macbeth seals his pact with the devil by exchanging blood with the weird sisters. (The actors who plays the weird sisters double as servants at the feast.)

  7. The murder of Lady MacDuff and the children takes place on stage, and is particularly horrifying and pitiful.

  8. Ted van Griethuysen (who also plays Duncan) gives a bravura performance as the porter, whose shadow, thrown in relief against the wall, looms over him in dumbshow as he clowns on his way to answer the door.

  9. Patrick Page is a cunning and diabolical Macbeth, Andrew Long a solid MacDuff, and Kelly McGillis, as Lady MacBeth, is Kelly McGillis.

  10. The set, which consisted mainly of a metal frame with patterned screens and a few trees, was everything a Shakespearian set should be, spare and minimal, yet flexible and evocative.

Breaking the News

Foreign Reporters A World Apart In the Campaign (washingtonpost.com)

One Democratic campaign official ranks the foreign press "about on a par with lice" on his list of concerns. The official would not allow his name to be used, for fear his comment would reflect poorly on him.

Gee, I wonder why the rest of the world has a low opinion of us. Equally striking is the observation that during the last month of a campaign, the print media in general is treated just as badly as the foreign press is the rest of the time. Television is all that matters.

Around the House

The New York Times > Washington > Survey Confirms It: Women Outjuggle Men

It may fall into the category of Things You Knew but Could Never Prove, but a new survey by the Department of Labor shows that the average working woman spends about twice as much time as the average working man on household chores and the care of children.

The average working woman also gets about an hour's less sleep each night than the average stay-at-home mom. And men spend more time than women both at their jobs and on leisure and sports.

Clearly, men need to be more helpful around the house. (Progress is relative, however: a male friend of mine in Morocco once expressed astonishment that American men did any housework at all.)

The story goes on to mention that we spend more than half our leisure time watching TV. My aspiration is zero TV, but even it weren't, half my leisure time watching the tube would be way too much.