Month: July 2002

In tonight’s Braggart Watch: I’m somewhat proud to report that my partner Dena and I kicked a little ass tonight, winning the inaugural Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Trivia Bowl. Pitted against the finest young legal minds of the Metroplex, Dena and I somehow came out on top. (In answer to your obvious thought — “Wait, I didn’t know Josh was a lawyer!” — yeah, I’m not. I was brought in as a ringer.) We finished the season with five straight wins, then went 3-0 to win tonight’s playoffs.
It was fun bringing all the old quiz bowl reflexes out of storage. The most fun, as it did in high school, came in beating the team that took things waaaay too seriously — the one that actually held pre-match practices, the one that clearly had their firm’s reputation and their entire self-worth on the line. I am accepting all Trivial Pursuit challenges.
In unrelated news, I was told tonight that I looked like a cross between Bono and Patrick Swayze. Hmm. I’m not feeling particularly flattered. Those who know me are free to comment on the comparison.

All right-thinking people should be listening to the sun-baked cinematic sounds of Tucson’s Calexico. Such great stuff; I’d heard a little by them, but it took a few inclusions on CDMOM discs to get me hooked. Here’s a review of their latest EP.
Several webcast concerts available here. I recommend the audio from Morning Becomes Eclectic and the video from this Paris show.

If you’re going to pull a B&E, at least get your money’s worth: Green Bay Packers fullback Najeh Davenport was arrested Monday, accused of breaking into a university dormitory and defecating in a woman’s closet.
According to police, Davenport crept into a dorm room at Barry University around 6 a.m. on April 1. A woman sleeping in the room, Mary McCarthy, told police she was startled by a strange sound and saw Davenport squatting in her closet. Davenport then allegedly defecated in a laundry basket, McCarthy told detectives.

Sammy Sosa hit seven 500-foot home runs last night at the All-Star Home Run Derby, if you believe the newspapers. Luckily, you and I know better.

Finally — really, finally; I’ve been posting too much today — two more entries from the Embarrassing Early Josh files. I had lunch with an old teacher Saturday. She taught me from second to fifth grade, and she dug out an old class newsletter from 1983, in which we students had to write little poems or one-paragraph essays. Here are my two poems:
Computers
Black and colorful
Goto 100, Run, Print, Gosub
Take over the world
Robots
Commentary: The author was learning BASIC on a then-cutting-edge TRS-80 — hence the programming lingo in line 3. The inherent contradiction of “black and colorful” evokes the classic semiotic phrase “colorless green ideas ideas sleep furiously” (itself hijacked for the sidebar of salmon’s site). The sudden evocation of robots taking over the world brings us to Yeatsian territory. In all, a stirring early work.
We’ve had 40 presidents,
And they’ve all been great
But some were like Taft,
They ate, and ate, and ate!!!!
Washington wasn’t the first
president, believe it or not.
The first president of the
colonies was: John Hancock!!!!
Commentary: Clearly the author is trying to attract attention through his liberal use of exclamation points — perhaps more exclamation points than he has used in the 19 years since. The reference to William Howard Taft could be construed as a prediction that the author would end up attending Taft’s alma mater, or that he would, in 1998, cover the Ohio gubernatorial campaign of Taft’s grandson Bob. Alternately, it could be a prediction that the author would some day weigh 340 pounds. One hopes not. The blanket support for all presidents would not last long — roughly six years, until he got a subscription to The Nation. The author is also in error in line 8: it was John Hanson, not not the floridly-signing John Hancock who deserved the rightful title. But the poem loses none of its power because of the error.

Who convinced R. Kelly — soon-to-be-convicted child pornographer, acknowledged lover of barely post-pubescent girls — to name his new song “Heaven, I Need A Hug“? (“From a Hot 12-Year-Old,” he did not add.)

FYI, 3WK is now broadcasting in stereo after many months of focusing on low-bandwith mono connections. It’s a nice little slice of adventurous indie rock to get you through your work day.

A great link from Chuck, on the controversy surrounding the firing of a waiter at Galatoire’s, one of the classic old New Orleans Creole restaurants. It’s a fascinating story, and not just for those of us interested in the hidebound traditions of the city, with all their attendant benefits and drawbacks. Definitely worth a read. (There’s even a web site devoted to the waiter’s cause.)

It’s time again for crabwalk.com-as-focus-group. I’m meeting with the Texas Living staff tomorrow to discuss how to get more young readers interested in the section.
Among the questions we’re looking for answers to: What sorts of stories do young people want to read? What’s appealing about the section now? What sorts of topics and themes are young readers interested in? Any syndicated columns or features that would be good additions? Any good ways to get young voices in the paper?
I’d love to hear any ideas you guys have. (FYI, when they say young people, they pretty much mean 16-25 or so. I guess I’m not a young person any more. Sigh. By the way, I calculated on the drive back to Dallas last night that, as of Saturday, my 20s are now two-thirds over. Prepare the hearse.)

Best spelling bee video ever.