Balls in the Air

Monday, December 2, 2019

Let's begin with a cheerful note for the holiday season.  "Amazon Removes Holiday Ornaments With Images of Auschwitz After Criticism."

. . .

If your plans for 5770 a/k/a 2020 include buying your first home in the Holy Land, take a look at https://nyti.ms/37LCvms.  It identifies the neighborhoods that are most affordable in an overwhelmingly unaffordable market.  What passes for a bargain is a house in Riverdale, the un-Bronx part of the Bronx, for $225,000, with a median monthly cost of $1,625.

. . .

Did you know that the primary designer of the current New York City subway map, rode every mile of the system with his eyes closed to to get a feel for the curves and swerves?  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/02/nyregion/nyc-subway-map.html   I think that he was the guy not moving from the doorway during rush hour. 
. . .

I'm sorry, but I can't help being lured to "Best of" lists at year end.  Here is a suggested list of the best TV shows of 2019.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/arts/television/best-tv-shows.html?te=1&nl=watching&emc=edit_wg_20191202?campaign_id=20&instance_id=14215&segment_id=19226&user_id=1353d3a345e55ff509b5cbb17ed36984&regi_id=59975620191202

If you want samples, here is another list with embedded clips.  https://time.com/5736515/best-tv-shows-2019/
. . .

A new study illustrates that "inequality and economic growth now go hand in hand" in our country.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/upshot/wealth-poverty-divide-american-cities.html 

"[H]efty incomes [are going] to engineers, lawyers and innovators . . . [in] the largest metros in the country: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Houston, Washington."  This prosperity, however, has not been evenly distributed in the favored locations.  "In New York, the real wages for workers at the 10th percentile grew by about 15 percent between 1980 and 2015, according to the Fed researchers.  For the median worker, they grew by about 40 percent.  For workers at the 90th percentile, they nearly doubled."  It's good to be the king.

Tuesday, December, 3, 2019
I don't mind serving as a foot soldier in the War on Christmas, the subject of right-wing media paranoia, not for theological reasons, but because of the crass commercialism of the holiday.   Also, after the demise of J.S. Bach, it unleashed so much bad music on the world with the notable exception of Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town."  https://youtu.be/76WFkKp8Tjs

There is one aspect of Christmas that delights me year after year, although it may be peculiar to the streets of Manhattan.  As soon as Thanksgiving turkeys hit local dinner tables, flocks of hearty youth, upstate New Yorkers and Canadians, set up shop on our sidewalks selling Christmas trees.  They will remain for a month, sheltered by little wooden huts they construct next to their racks of trees.  

At least once a day, I pass one such enclave on Broadway between Palazzo di Gotthelf and the subway station, Trader Joe's, Fairway and points north.  My holiday pleasure, a small but genuine pleasure for a city boy, comes from walking down the center of the parallel rows of trees in order to smell the fresh-cut pines, firs and spruce.  It's far cheaper than buying a home in the Berkshires.

Wednesday,  December 4, 2019

I'm really trying to stay away from year-end "Best of" lists, but this list of best music of the year serves two purposes.  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2019-in-review/the-best-music-of-2019-and-the-best-music-of-the-decade?verso=true

It honors the alleged best works, but, for many of us, it is a reminder how out of touch we are with popular culture. 
. . .

This afternoon, I saw the Metropolitan Opera's production of "Akhnaten," Philip Glass's opera about ancient Egypt.  I didn't have to go to the opera house, because it was being shown in high definition in several local movie theaters.  I was drawn to it by my mad passion for "Glass Pieces," a Jerome Robbins ballet using Glass's music, in fact much of it from "Akhnaten." 

The insistent repetitive music is unlike anything you have probably heard in an opera house before, which you may consider a plus.  A unique and surprisingly effective aspect of the work is the extensive use of jugglers -- yes, jugglers.  It also has historical validity, according to the Juggling Information Service.  "The oldest known depiction of juggling was found in the Beni-Hassan tombs from the middle-kingdom of the ancient Egyptian civilization.  These women jugglers were found amongst acrobats and dancers in one of the crypt's wall paintings.  The drawing itself was made about 2000 years before the birth of Christ."

Thursday, December 5, 2019
The New York Times reports that a study "on over 110,000 people nationwide to date — suggest[s] that the thing voters most want to focus on right now is whether to impeach the president."   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/upshot/impeachment-biggest-issue-voters-poll.html

The article offers graphic illustrations of voter sentiment, which, for now, remains attentive to the impeachment controversy.  Claims to the contrary may be no more than wishful thinking by some partisans.  Of course, attentiveness and comprehension do not necessarily go hand in hand.

. . .

I was able to have lunch with Tom Terrific today at Hell's Chicken, 641 Tenth Avenue, a small, narrow joint, which features Korean food and fried chicken parts.   https://www.hellschickennyc.com/dinner 

We shared 8 wings and 6 drumsticks ($26), half of them cooked in a barbecue sauce and half in a spicy garlic sauce, unlike some places that serve their sauces on the side.  This makes for a very tasty, but sloppy meal.  Sauce on your hands, sauce on your chin, sauce under your fingernails.  The waiter supplied lots of napkins, but soap and water were necessary if I were to avoid sticking to anything I touched after leaving the restaurant. 

Friday, December 6, 2019

Stony Brook Steve sent me this animated illustration of the growth of the Holy Land.   https://youtu.be/f6U7YFPrz6Y

Talk about how mighty oaks from little acorns grow. 

. . .

I must wind down with an exaggerated case of good news/bad news.  As a beleaguered fan of the New York Mets baseball team, I am pleased with the pending sale by the Wilpon family of a majority interest in the team.  Having been badly stung by the fraudulent conduct of Bernie Madoff, the Wilpons often sat on the sidelines in the ever-rising high stakes market for ballplayers.  New deep pockets should help return the Mets to a major role in acquiring talent, although, as in other endeavors, money cannot substitute for judgment.  

Unfortunately, the prospective new owner is Steven A. Cohen, "a financier who is not unduly burdened by ethics and who sidestepped criminal indictment."   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/sports/baseball/mets-steven-cohen.html

As much as I might pretend, my team is really his team.  Their long-overdue return to glory will burnish his image.  He will be waving from a float in the parade up lower Broadway celebrating a World Series victory.  I won't be soaked by Champagne in the locker room after a championship game.  I won't even be allowed in the locker room.

Is it possible for the ACLU to buy a ball club?