Month: December 2005

Oldies but goodies

At Slate, Fred Kaplan lists the best new jazz albums of 2005, but first he lists the three truly best jazz albums released this year.

The three best jazz albums of 2005 were recorded 40 to 60 years ago….

It’s a mere, if wondrous, coincidence that those three recordings of yore were all discovered this year. And they are discoveries; nobody had even known they existed. Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker, New York, Town Hall, June 22, 1945 (Uptown Jazz), recorded shortly after the two fathers of be-bop formed their quintet with Max Roach on drums, is as electrifying as anything they would set down ever again. Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (Blue Note), made in November 1957 shortly before that group broke up, finds Monk playing his most archly elegant piano and Coltrane his most relaxed yet searching tenor sax. John Coltrane’s One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note (Impulse!), recorded in the spring of 1965, in a Manhattan club that Trane used as a sort of workshop, captures his great quartet streaking on the knife-edge between structure and freedom.

All three easily rank among the best jazz albums of all time.

Software decodes Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile

It’s official: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was 83 per cent happy, 9 per cent disgusted, 6 per cent fearful and 2 per cent angry.

Nicu Sebe at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands tested emotion-recognition software on the famous enigmatic smile. His algorithm, developed with researchers at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, examines key facial features such as the curvature of the lips and crinkles around the eyes, then scores each face with respect to six basic emotions.

New Scientist Technology

Some things are just better left unanalyzed.

The Federales

GOLD HAT: We are Federales . . . You know, the mounted police.

DOBBS: If you’re the police, where are your badges?

GOLD HAT: [puzzled pause] “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! [angry] I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The thinking at the White House, as noted at Whiskey Bar.

The Year of Magical Thinking

NewMexiKen recommends Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking without reservation. Every thinking person should read this book about the sudden death of Didion’s husband and the serious illness of their adult daughter (who died after the book was published). While, of course, sad, the book is not depressing, and it is about the best discussion of death and dying — and grief — that one can imagine.

I’m about to cancel my subscription

… to The New York Times, just on general principles.

The New York Times first debated publishing a story about secret eavesdropping on Americans as early as last fall, before the 2004 presidential election.

But the newspaper held the story for more than a year and only revealed the secret wiretaps last Friday, when it became apparent a book by one of its reporters was about to break the news, according to journalists familiar with the paper’s internal discussions.

Los Angeles Times

Before the election in other words, The Times decided their judgment was better than that of American voters.

I’d like to thank the members of the Academy

Oops, wrong award.

NewMexiKen actually would like to thank Jess at Life…or something like it for naming NewMexiKen the Best New Mexico Blog among the 2005 /2006 LOSLI Blog Awards (The Golden Thongs).

As long-time readers know, NewMexiKen is always second-guessing the merit of doing this blog. When I’m away — for example, visiting The Sweeties — I particularly realize what a fulltime job I’ve made blogging into. I find it difficult to make even a few entries without many hours at the computer. Then I ask, what’s the point of such an effort? Does anyone care? (Rhetorical questions, folks; answers neither required nor desired.)

So, for me, winning Jess’s award is especially pleasing. Thanks for the encouragement Jess, and congratulations to you for such a fine effort compiling the awards.

And congratulations to all the other winners, too. Be sure to take a look at Jess’s winners, where you will find, I’m certain, many, many worthwhile websites.

Louisiana Territory

The French colors were lowered and the American flag raised in New Orleans on this date in 1803, signifying the transfer of sovereignty of Louisiana from France to the United States. Arguably the transfer was one of the two or three most defining moments in American history.

As ultimately defined, Louisiana Territory included most of the U.S. west of the Mississippi River, east of the Rocky Mountains, except for Texas and New Mexico; that is, parts or all of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.

The Gift of the Magi

by O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), 1906.

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And
sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two
at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and
the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent
imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.
Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven
cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

Continue reading The Gift of the Magi

A Christmas Carol

… was first published on this date in 1843.

Scrooge. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.

Grandpa missed the show

Part of my plan for being in Virginia this past week was to catch Mack, now five, in his pre-kindergarten Christmas pageant. He had a major role, that of the Bethlehem innkeeper. Alas, best laid plans— last Thursday’s performance was postponed when school that day was cancelled due to snow. (Don’t get me started on the Washington area and weather cancellations.)

Anyway, the performance was rescheduled for this evening about the time I was arriving home 1,900 miles away.

“We have so much to do. The inn is full. We had to turn people away.”

Remember those lines. The next generation’s Brando got his start tonight, even without Grandpa there to watch.

Fly the friendly skies

NewMexiKen would like to say a few nice things about United Airlines. When my flight out of Albuquerque last week was delayed by weather — a first, in nearly 100 flights out of here I can’t remember a weather delay before — United booked me on a later connection automatically and left a voicemail on my cell phone to give me the details. As it was, I made my original flight, but even so, how nice that the arrangements were made on their initiative rather than me having to stand in some line making a change.

Today on the trip home, I arrived in Denver with a long scheduled layover before my connection to ABQ. I walked up to customer service and they put me on an flight already boarding — my luggage and I arrived home 2-1/2 hours early.

It’s nice to have an airline care and make an effort and I appreciated the good work by United on both ends of the round-trip.

New Jersey

… ratified the Constitution and became the third state on this date in 1787.

Named after the English Channel Island of Jersey.

Nickname: Garden State.
Capital: Trenton.
Motto: “Liberty and prosperity.”

Total area: 8,721 sq. mi. (47th), including 1,304 sq. mi. inland water.
Population: 8,590,300 (9th) (2002 estimate).

New Jersey

Animal: Horse.
Bird: Eastern goldfinch.
Flower: Violet.
Insect: Honeybee.
Memorial tree: Dogwood.
Tree: Red oak.

Caffeine

Recently I quit caffeine. My doctor seems to think that 17 Diet Cokes per day is too much. In case you ever consider getting off caffeine yourself, let me explain the process. You begin by sitting motionlessly in a desk chair. Then you just keep doing that forever because life has no meaning.

Scott Adams

When I was a child

When I was a child, I tell my offspring, my brother and I often would receive just one present at Christmastime, typically an individual crayon. It wouldn’t even be a full crayon, but merely a stub. Still, we’d be grateful and would pretend that “brown” was our favorite of the 64 Crayola colors. We would talk about how great this crayon would be if only we could afford paper.

Joel Achenbach

Oh, that Constitution

The president’s emphatic defense yesterday of warrantless eavesdropping on U.S. citizens and residents marked the third time in as many months that the White House has been obliged to defend a departure from previous restraints on domestic surveillance. In each case, the Bush administration concealed the program’s dimensions or existence from the public and from most members of Congress.

Report in Sunday’s Washington Post

It was on this date

… in 1865 that the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was officially adopted.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Just 140 years ago.

Aviators

Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully made the first four sustained flights of a heavier-than-air machine under the complete control of the pilot at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on this date 102 years ago.

The most prominent man attempting to build an airplane at the time was the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Samuel Langley. He had been studying aeronautics since 1886, and by 1899 he had a large endowment from the U.S. War Department and an entire staff of workers building his design.

One of the problems with Langley’s design, however, was that his plane lacked an ability to steer. He made two test flights in the fall of 1903, and in both cases his plane went straight up and then crashed straight back down. His test flights were covered by all the major newspapers of the day, and such disastrous failure made it seem that motor-powered flight might never be achieved.

The Wright Brothers, by contrast, had believed from the start that steering and balance were the most important aspects of flight. They ran a bicycle shop, so they understood the importance of balance, and they designed their plane to be steered by the pilot shifting his own weight. They began testing gliders with their steering system in 1900, and it was almost as an afterthought that they decided to add an engine.

The Writer’s Almanac, which has more.

It’s the birthday

… of Don Hewitt. The producer of 60 Minutes is 83.

… of Patty Duke. The Oscar-winning actress is 59.

Oscar nominee, for Days of Wine and Roses, Lee Remick was born on this date in 1935. Miss Remick died in 1991.

Congressional Medal of Honor winner Jimmy Doolittle was born on this date in 1896. Doolittle led the daring bombing raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Sixteen B-25s from the U.S.S. Hornet did little damage, but the attack on the Japanese homeland was a major public relations and morale-boosting effort for U.S. forces.

It’s also the birthday of Veronica, official daughter-in-law of NewMexiKen, mother of one of The Sweeties, attorney-at-law, and source of many suggestions and comments for NewMexiKen. Happy Birthday, Veronica.

Alabama

… was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state on this date in 1819.

Capital: Montgomery.
Nickname: Yellowhammer State, Heart of Dixie.
Motto: “We dare defend our rights.”

Total area: 52,419 sq. mi. (30th), including 1,675 sq. mi. inland water.
Population: 4,486,508 (23rd) (2002 estimate).

Bird: Yellowhammer.
Dance: Square dance.
Game bird: Wild turkey.
Fish: Tarpon.
Fossil: Basilosaurus oetoides.
Mineral: Hematite.
Nut: Pecan.
Song: “Alabama.”
Stone: Marble.
Tree: Southern (longleaf) pine.