Category: Everything Else

It was another “be at work at 4:30 AM” day so I’m too tired to think much right now. Per Pandagon, here’s the 10 random songs that my iTunes gave forth on Shuffle:

Baubles, Bangles, and Beads – Kismet (Original Broadway Cast)
All Night Long – Lionel Richie & The Commodores
And Suddenly There Was With The Angel – Handel (Messiah)
With This Love – Peter Gabriel (Passion Music for The Last Temptation Of Christ)
Take Me to the River – Talking Heads
Virtual Reality – Rusted Root
Poems, Prayers And Promises – John Denver
Too Early For The Sky – Johnny Clegg & Savuka
Take Another Piece Of My Heart – Faith Hill
In The Still Of The Night – Neville Brothers (Red Hot + Blue, A Tribute To Cole Porter)

I do actually listen to stuff written after 1995, but random chance didn’t pull any of it into this list.

Maybe it seems trivial in the face of the ongoing mega-disaster in Southeast Asia (I’m waiting for the death toll to pass 100,000 – it’s pushing 80,000 so far), but actor Jerry Orbach has also died.

In performances that spanned half a century, the Bronx-born Mr. Orbach came to embody two beloved New York archetypes: the musical matinee idol, to which he gave a refreshingly modern spin with his rugged and idiosyncratic persona, and the shrewd, irascible cop, a role he honed to a razor’s edge as Detective Lennie Briscoe on “Law & Order.”

Orbach was a star in the original casts of Chicago, Promises Promises, and The Fantasticks, and appeared in productions of The Threepenny Opera, Carnival, and the Gower Champion production of 42nd Street, among many other stage credits.

Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of seeing Orbach perform live, although I’ve certainly seen plenty of episodes of Law and Order.

At least 2004 is almost over. Maybe we’ll get a rest from bad news for at least part of 2005. Although somehow, I doubt it.

About 6 weeks or so ago I talked about how abortion is scarecely available in a lot of America these days. Here’s a CNN piece to back that up: a look into the only abortion clinic in Mississippi and more.

Hat tip to Larry (yes I still do read your blog) for the link.

It’s looking like Yushchenko won the latest Ukraine elections. Good. At least democracy works some of the time.

The Moderate Voice has a great roundup of blogger reporting and photos of the disaster in Southeast Asia.

Massive egotist that I am, my initial reactions on the subject were relief that my sister had left Thailand before it happened, and wondering what would happen to Scott & I if a tsunami hit here. We live 2 blocks from the ocean.

At any rate, it’s horrible. I wish there was more one could do when nature is this savage, but other than trying to comfort the living and bury the dead, there’s not a lot.

I admire the guy. And I’m pleased to see him get the cover of Newsweek.

What’s interesting, though, is the close proximity of this cover story to the Time “Person of the Year” annointing of Bush. One wonders if there’s a connection, or perhaps even a subtle choosing of sides.

Unlikely of course, but still interesting to speculate about.