Color Blind?

Saturday, June 20, 2026

How time flies. In 1984, I saw La Cage Aux Folles on Broadway. It opened in 1983 and ran four years. Tonight, I saw a revival of it as part of the Encores! series which is devoted to old musical shows. I have subscribed to Encores! for 32 years, starting in its second year. Typical works predated WWII, a fertile period for Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Rodgers & Hart, Jerome Kern, among others. For me and much of the audience, those old shows were only known by reputation, if at all. However, now, with the passage of time, I qualify as an old timer. I saw the original as well as the revival. Of course, Mick Jagger will be 83 next Friday.

Sunday, June 21, 2026

I have been retired for about 10 years now after working at the New York State Supreme Court (actually the lowest court in the state not the highest) for 14 years. I was thoroughly satisfied with this job which involved researching and writing about legal matters. However, if you have followed this slog, you know that I am particularly attracted to research of a certain character — the best pizza, the best restaurants, the best bagels. Now we have a worldwide listing of allegedly the best hamburgers. 

https://www.timeout.com/news/the-best-burger-places-on-the-planet-have-been-ranked-heres-the-top-30-061826

While I have no regrets about my ultimate career choice, I would have been happy tracking down the best tiramisu or the best French fries.

Monday, June 22, 2026

I just learned that Honda and Sony had a joint venture to develop a new automobile. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/business/afeela-automakers-spinoffs-brands.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

They spent hundreds of millions of dollars and were close to releasing it to the public when they cancelled the project. It seemed like such a surprising failure for these two industrial giants. The changing shape of the market seemed to be at fault. 

I believe that, had they gone to market, disaster awaited them if they kept the proposed car’s name — Afeela. For those of us who have had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, it sounds like a Hebrew word, but that wouldn’t save it. To the ordinary ear, it sounds squishy. “I have a new Afeela.” “Let’s take my Afeela.” “How do you like my Afeela?”

According to clutch.co, there are 53,870 agencies or companies in the branding business, not counting Grandpa Alan. At least, I could have told them to pick another name. An obvious possibility would have been Shonda, although that might have drawn opposition from Shonda Rhimes, the very successful television executive, and chuckles from those with a passing knowledge of Yiddish where shonda means shame.

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Paul Hecht, Thespian Emeritus, shares this brilliant cartoon.

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

A popular Iranian singer has been sentenced to 74 lashes for appearing without a hijab.

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/iran-singer-artists-sentenced-to-74-lashes-each-over-concert

Fortunately, she had previously dropped Hava Nagila from her repertoire.

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Kim Sykes made a lovely dinner for us, branzino, roasted potatoes, cherry tomato salad. Since we took a taxicab back and forth, I could drink the refreshing Sauvignon blanc. Of course, Kim and Terrific Tom live on the 43rd floor, facing west over the Hudson River. Bread and water would have pleased us under those circumstances.

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Reviewing last night’s local election results, I repeat my challenge to the emerging progressive forces: Fight Republicans.

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Michael Ratner and I spent an interesting evening together. We drove (I’ll explain later) to Taste Good Malaysian Cuisine, 82-18 45th Avenue, Elmhurst. This seemingly obscure joint was recommended by Eater.com, a very reliable source. It’s small, eight tables. The walls are covered with colorful pictures of the food from its large menu.

Malaysian cuisine is inherently pan-Asian and fun to choose from. We had Roti Canai, the floppy Indian crepe with curried dipping sauce ($4.25); Malaysian satay beef, six skewers of grilled beef with peanut dipping sauce ($10); Mee Siam, angel hair noodles stir fried with prawns, egg, chicken, chiles and coconut milk ($12, a real bargain); Hainanese chicken, half a poached chicken ($18). If it were convenient, I would eat here weekly.

We continued on to Citi Field to see our favorite baseball team, for the first time this season, play the Chicago Cubs. And that’s why we drove. The Mets-Willets Point station on the #7 line is reached by a very tall, very steep staircase which is too much of a challenge for these alte kockers. With my handicap parking placard, we drove close to the gate on level ground.

I can’t entirely lament what followed, the Mets losing 10-5. They played a strange game; the Mets hit four home runs while making six errors, a parlay with the longest odds imaginable.

Friday, June 26, 2026

After President Trump read Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion upholding the reversal of protection for Haitian refugees which concluded that Mr. Trump’s many statements about Haitians were not “overtly racial,” and that it was unlikely that race had been a motivating factor in the administration’s decision to end the protections, he supposedly asked some dinner companions, "Is that schmuck deaf and blind?"