by John Walters
Starting Five
Smart enough not to grow a mustache.
1. Anagram: Handsome –> Don Shame
Allow me to take up the defense of Don Draper. When Johnny Mathis tells him, “You don’t have any character; you’re just handsome,” I thought, Well, he’s half-right. Don has his flaws –one very serious one– but time and again in this episode he’s doing the right thing. He’s actually very zen.
As my TV-viewing host and friend, Chris C (THANKS!). noted, it was the Beautiful People episode of Mad Men. Lots of Don, Joan and Betty. Also, wondering if Matt Weiner will really kill off his son in Vietnam. We’ll likely never learn.
Great close last night. “Now we just have to find a place for you,” Don hears as the camera fades out and he stands in the hallway looking into his empty future.
2. Harmonic Emergence
Segal (top, middle) dazzled the crowd of 2,800 on hand
Attended the International Championships of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCAs) at the Beacon Theater on Saturday. The winners, for the fourth time: the SoCal Vocals from USC –although a shout-out to Baylor’s VirtuOSO troop, whose rendition of Uptown Funk was the night’s biggest crowd-pleaser.
The SoCal Vocals shrewdly showcased a beautiful, vibrant brunette female vocalist whose name I believe is Nikki Segal. She had a terrific voice and an even more captivating stage presence. Bigger things ahead for this one.
3. Mad Matrimony
Everyone favorite (or least favorite) Wall Street pundit, the perpetually frenetic Jim Cramer, gets married (even though some of his buddies reportedly warned, “Don’t buy! Don’t buy!”). Cramer, 60, wed 49 year-old Lisa Detwiler, 49, of the Corcoran Group, a real-estate firm. It is the second marriage for both, so they’re diversifying.
4. “That’s a Really Big ‘Shoe”
Only 7 schools of 125 or so averaged as much attendance last season as the Buckeyes got for their spring scrimmage. THE OSU did lead the nation in attendance last season.
Nearly 100,000 braved idyllic April weather in Columbus on Saturday afternoon to watch defending national college football champion Ohio State face…Ohio State. The Scarlet & Gray Spring Game. Announced attendance inside Ohio Stadium, alias The ‘shoe: 99,391 at $5 per person (mostly). That’s a school record. And that was with Braxton Miller, Ezekiel Elliott and others not even suiting up.
There’s nothing the hell to do in Ohio.
5. No Safe Harbor
A typical refugee vessel. There is no Lido deck. The all-night buffet is you.
An estimated 700 Libyan migrants drown in the Mediterranean when their ship capsizes. Not to be confused with the 12 Christians who were thrown overboard and drowned last week by their fellow fleeing Muslim passengers. We have a lot less to complain about than most of the world (not that it stops us from doing so).
Music 101
Hands Across the Sea
I did not mean to hurt you/You took me by surprise/There is still a chance if we just close our eyes
There were more successful New Wave bands than Modern English, but there was no one who was both Newer and Wavier: their look, their sound, their band name and their big hit (Melt With You, the signature song of the era) all embodied the period. You may think of them as a one-hit wonder, but I always thought this tune, which feels a littl Thompson Twins-ish, deserved more love. A much-belated shout-out to the acoustic guitarist I came across in Jacksonville in 1995 playing this tune at a beach bar. I haven’t forgotten, dude.
Remote Patrol
Game 2: Pelicans at Warriors
TNT 10:30 p.m.
Curry & Kerr. Is there a Currier? A Kerriest?
Golden State is 40-2 at Oracle Arena this season. Good luck, Anthony Davis (35 points in Game 1)
So, not a whisper about any/all of the NBA’s playoff Game Ones NOR about the “seismic” NFL news that Tebow is getting another shot in the NFL by the Eagles? You just being your contrarian self or spend the weekend in Hotel California? Oh, Take it Easy.
Anyhoo, still no headband. I’m in mourning. Ok, ok, sure, get OVER it, let it go, let it go, let it gooooooo! But I can’t. What if YOU used something for your work for 15 or more straight years & then suddenly stopped? No more puns or witty/spot-on headlines or item headers? Why, your readers would think you’d been replaced by an evil, no-talent pod-person or were suffering from a brain tumor or some other physical malady. I just can’t understand it & NO one in the media seems to ask. I HATE not understanding something! Plus, LeBron looks sweeter with the headband. I want my Sweet Pea back!
I do have another theory in addition to the midlife crisis one – he’s going thru some kind of hair regeneration PROCESS & the headband causes problems/irritation. Sounds like a reason to me.
Hey, speaking of the playoffs, did you see “your” Perfect Pitch girls in the playoff promo?
I missed Mad Men & didn’t catch up on Vikings yet either. Also, when I mentioned last week I’d never seen Game of Thrones, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to! I can’t afford HBO. And in case you’re wondering about my stock money, well, I do NOT spend any of it. Yep, when you’re in your late 40s & economic Armageddon causes your 401k & Roth/IRA all to oh-my-god drop (on paper) by 51% & you SUDDENLY realize that sooprize, sooPRIZE, retirement is NO longer “40 years away”, well, you need to grab the bull & anything else you can get your hands on, by the, er, horns & “let it ride!”, so to speak.
One thing I did see last week was on PBS Frontline – a documentary shot by the Allied troops at the end of WWII called ‘Memory of the Camps’. Apparently, PBS showed it once before 20 years ago but I did not see or even hear about it then. A little disclosure – I’ve been extremely interested in WWII & the Holocaust since I was very young & have seen probably every English-speaking movie, TV movie or miniseries about the time period/subject & have a couple shelves of books I’ve read/collected for the past 30 years. So, I have some knowledge & seen documentary clips many, many times before. But this footage was much more intense as there was just SO much of it. I didn’t even know about the show until I clicked past the channel as it was starting & was unable to move from the sofa until it ended. I did however have to close my eyes for seconds at a time or just look away throughout as it was overwhelming. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do. Very powerful. There is no final summation so the viewers are just left with their own thoughts. Mine included that it wasn’t just a visual indictment of Nazi Germany & Germans of that era but of humanity as a whole & despite protestations over the past 60 years that “such a thing could never happen again”, I believe it can & will as long as the US/THEM mentality is allowed to take root & flourish. Would be interested to know your thoughts if you watch it.