Starting Five

1. Young Men And Fire

In today’s edition of The Arizona Republic, profiles of all 19 firefighters who perished Sunday while battling the Yarnell Hill Fire in central Arizona. The men ranged in age from 21 year-old Grant McKee to 43 year-old Eric Marsh and leave behind 12 children.

““Probably most catastrophes end this way without an ending, the dead not even knowing how they died…,those who loved them forever questioning “this unnecessary death,” and the rest of us tiring of this inconsolable catastrophe and turning to the next one.”  –Norman MacLean, Young Men and Fire

MacLean, whose life story you know if you’ve seen or read “A River Runs Through It”, wrote Young Men and Fire, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992. It is a non-fiction account of the Mann Gulch Fire outside of Helena, Mont., that claimed 13 lives in 1949.

The details of how the 19 members of Prescott’s Granite Mountain Hotshots crew died are still trickling in, but they appear to have been between two ridges when the winds shifted and the fire changed directions, trapping the. This according to The Arizona Republic.

2. Debunk Beds: “A Proper Fisking” by Drew Magary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes it takes a truly poorly written column to produce a masterpiece of irritability and refutation such as the one that Deadspin’s Drew Magary produced yesterday in answer to Ashley Fox’s “No Clean Break From Aaron Hernandez” column on ESPN.com. Now, I should inform you that Fox (ne’ Ashley McGeachy, a former reporter at Sports Illustrated) is (was?) a friend of mine, but so what? Magary’s absolutely right, and hopefully Fox read this “fisking” –an actual term that was born in the blogosphere era that refers to a point-by-point debunking of lies and/or idiocies, originating from the essays of Robert Fisk — and takes it to heart. Or has her brand been tarnished?

(Note: I thought that “fisking” referred to wishfully waving an airborne object to go toward the right, but apparently that is a secondary or even tertiary definition)

3. Wimble-done

Serena Williams falls victim to the dreaded Rolling Stone profile curse, as the No. 1 Ladies’ seed at Wimbledon loses in three sets to No. 23 seed Sabine Lisicki in the Round of 16. Only one of the top five Ladies’ seeds, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, has survived to the quarterfinals.

4. Snowden Update

So, WikiLeaks reports that it has submitted asylum requests to 19 more countries for Eric Snowden. This reminds me of the time in 1995 when I submitted three Soul Asylum requests to 100.3 FM: 1) “Without A Trace” 2) “Black Gold” and 3) “Stand Up and Be Strong”. (So many good bands from this era: Soul Asylum, Stone Temple Pilots, Gin Blossoms, Live, Foo Fighters, etc., who were soon to be crushed under the wave of boy bands and Matchbox 20; good rock wouldn’t return until Jack White started chopping riffs in Detroit five years later).

Back to Snowden. A major advocate of his –besides yours truly — happens to be actor John Cusack. Check out his Twitter feed (@johncusack).

By the way, all the NSA and the feds seem to be good at lately is being pissed that their little spy ring has been sussed out. Gentlemen, we’re here to help. We want to help you capture Edward Snowden. So here’s the plan: you get a CIA agent to fly into Moscow posing as a movie producer — or, you get a movie producer to fly into Moscow posing as a CIA agent….let’s not get lost in the minutiae. You tell Putin that you’re scouting locations for “The Terminal 2” starring Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey. Why Jim Carrey is in it, I’m not sure, but he’s a superb talent in desperate need of a hit. Anyway, once inside the airport you find Snowden and return him to the States.

Afterward, Ashley Fox writes a column about how Snowden has tarnished Booz Allen-Hamilton’s brand. Or the NSA’s brand. Or Elton Brand.

5. Flori-Duh

“Beaten, Stripped, Robbed on First Date”

“Can I see you again?”

You may think it’s funny that a man endured such a miserable first date. Or that, losing only $200 and his dignity, he reported it to the POE-lice. What I find funnier –this is where reading down to the 10th graf pays dividends — is that he wore a gray tank top and Dickie shorts on his first date. He kind of deserved what he got, no?

Reserves

David Chase’s eulogy for James Gandolfini, complete with a nod to Journey. David, if you were ever going to reveal the interpretation of the final episode of “The Sopranos”, this was your chance.

 

Things I Don’t Care About Update: Where Dwight Howard lands, Paula Deen and the George Zimmerman trial.

Mount Marathon Race

We are two days away from the running of this long-time July 4th tradition from Seward, Alaska, in which intrepid runners clamber up Mount Marathon and then descend wildly out of control down it. Last year Michael Lemaitre, a first-timer who was 65, disappeared during the race. His body has still never been found. So, if you’re looking to escape a bad marriage…

***

A belated Happy Canada Day to our reader(s) north of the border. The Blue Jays won, so all is right with the provinces.

***

Missed Opportunity: In yesterday’s Yasiel Puig item (not a daily feature….yet), I failed to note that Angelenos are more than familiar with the term “June Gloom.” And yet, because of the advent of Puig, they experienced a June Swoon. Got that, Markazi? June Swoon.

***

Vamp Ire

 

It’s nice to see that Rob Sheffield feels exactly the same way about “True Blood” that I do. It had so much potential. Outstanding debut season, insightful sociological metaphors. The second season was solid, too, peaking with the sacrifice of Godric. After that, it almost immediately became camp and just lost me. It became Melrose Place meets Swamp People, and that’s a lot less entertaining than it sounds.