philly

Santorum, Daily Show 11p

Don't forget: Tonight, Rick Sanitorium will be on The Daily Show. 11p. Re-airs at 1a and 8p Tuesday.

Maureen Dowd's Mom Passed Away

Maureen Dowd is probably my favorite political writer out there. She's been on book leave for a little while now and I've missed her twice-weekly columns on the Op-Ed page of the NY Times. I was so happy to see her name on the front page of the NY Times website with a link to an article slugged: "Maureen Dowd's Mom" and I clicked. The article was not of a political nature. It was not of how she and her mother waged ideological wars [Maureen is the lone Liberal in a family of Conservatives]. Rather, it was about her mother who always wanted to be a writer; she passed away Sunday morning.

Mom was not famous, but she was remarkable. Her library included Oscar Wilde, Civil War chronicles, Irish history and poetry books, as well as "Writing to the Point: Six Basic Steps," and the 1979 "Ever Since Adam and Eve: The Satisfactions of Housewifery and Motherhood in the Age of Do-Your-Own-Thing.'"

As her friend Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, eulogized her last week: "She was venerable without any of the fuss of venerability; worldly, but thoroughly incorruptible; hilarious, but ruthlessly in earnest; unexpected, but magnificently consistent; wicked, but good. She could be skeptical and sentimental in the very same moment. She set things right just by being in the midst of them."

When I told her I was thinking of writing a memoir, she dryly remarked, "Of whom?" And when reporters just starting out asked her for advice about journalism, she replied sagely: "Get on the front page a lot and use the word 'allegedly' a lot." The daughter of a manager of an Irish bar named Meenehan's, with a side entrance marked Ladies' Only, she grew up in a Washington that was still a small Southern village with horses and carriages. As a child she saw the last of the Civil War veterans marching in Memorial Day parades, and as the wife of a D.C. police inspector she made friends with her neighbor, Pop Seymour, the last person alive who saw Lincoln shot at Ford's Theater. (He was 5 and saw the president slump in his box.)

I felt sad all over as I read the tribute to her mother, a remarkable woman. You don't have to be famous to change the world. Little things helping individual people and little groups cause a ripple effect, good will spreading exponentially throughout. It seems like Mamma Dowd's good deeds had that effect.

I felt compelled to immediately write Maureen an email after reading the article. Take a read and if you feel like doing so, drop Maureen a note. I've never lost a loved one, but I think if I did, every bit of support would help.

Fourteen Plasma TVs

I just watched this NY Times multimedia slideshow [without volume, I'm at work sans speakers] about an architect and his wife who have outfitted their swanky NYC apartment with FOURTEEN plasma TVs. Fourteen. I didn't listen to the voiceover so I don't know for sure how much each cost. Let's assume that they got the absolute top of the line plasmas with all the goodies. I'd say they'd be in the neighborhood of $10,000 each. That's $140,000 for the TVs themselves. And then they have to set up the sound systems in the various rooms and get a custom remote control for it. Maybe another $60,000? So about $200,000 in all?

What the hell is the point of this? Good grief.

My 200th Photoblog Post

My 200^th post over on my photoblog. Taken from the front steps of my apartment building on 16^th St.

Kathleen Connally Interview

I had the pleasure of interviewing Kathleen Connally of A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania, one of my favoritist photobloggers out there. It's the first installment of Philly Future's Photblogger Fortnight series. I'll be interviewing photographers from the Philly area and sometiems beyond. Here's the first little bit of the interview, but you'll have to head on over to PF for the full interview.

I've had the pleasure of looking at Kathleen Connally's photos over at A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania for more than a year now. I even had the chance to meet her and shoot with her last month over at Eastern State Penitentary along with a few other of Philly's finest photobloggers. If I were to describe her work in a word, I couldn't. A phrase? Maybe, but I'd have to make one up: ambient ethereality. She agreed to be the first photoblogger to be profiled and placed in the spotlight here at Philly Future. So without further ado, I present the first edition of Philly Future's Photoblogger Fortnight.

Albert (Philly Future/PF): What got you started taking photos and when did taking photos take a more serious turn for you? Do you see yourself as a professional photographer down the line, photography being the sole source of your income?

Kathleen: I have been taking photos since I was seven when I received a Polaroid Land camera for Christmas. I've been photo-documenting my life ever since; there are tens of thousands of photos and slides in my archives, and digital files are running a close second now.

I'm not angling to become a professional photographer because I love photography too much. It seems as if professional photographers spend more time dealing with deadlines and egos rather than actual photography – and that worries me a bit. If I can find a way to do it on my terms, great – otherwise I'm not sure I'd want to mix the two!

PF: What camera did you start taking photos with? What camera do you use? What's the rest of your photo taking hardware setup?

Kathleen: My first camera was the Polaroid Land camera I mentioned above. But shortly thereafter, I managed to snag my dad's AGFA for slides and his Super 8 film camera to make movies of my friends and family.

I'm not much of a gear guy. My habit is to use only one or two cameras and lenses over a long period of time to get to know them and what they can do. Right now I'm primarily using a Nikon D100 and a Nikon F75 with a Tamron 17-35mm lens, a Nikkor 50 mm, and a Nikkor 70-300 mm.

That being said, I'm embarking on a mission to do some informal portrait work with an antique medium format camera and I'm very excited about it.

Read on!

Liberally Drinking Friends

Sure Drinking Liberally is a great place to go and be around some proud members of the reality based community, but what about when liberal drinkers gather outside the cozy confines of Tangier?

At last Tuesday's DL, Lady and I had the pleasure of meeting Danie, yet another liberal drinker. We talked for most of the night about politics, this and that and she ended up inviting us to a BBQ bash at her place. Lady is out of town for the week [partytime!] so I went with our buddies Pat and Jodie. And what an awesome apartment she has. A gigantic living space and windows everywhere! Jealous am I. She served us food and drinks and some more getting to know her conversation.

The foodie highlight of the night were homemade Chipwiches! Two chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream sandwiched in between. And then stuck in the freezer. Amazing! After all the years of my family owning a Carvel ice cream store back in NY, me making Flying Saucers, me buying Chipwiches and having cookies readily available to me, I had never thought of making my own. It was a dessert epiphany. I suggest you go out and make your own. Oooorrr, you can befriend Danie and maybe she'll make you some down the road. Mmmmm. Lady and I will have to make our own soon. Thank you Danie!

And that reminds me, we'll have two new reviews up on Messy and Picky in the near future. More nearer than the changeover to true blog format, but that's coming as well. Just you wait.

Big Pimpin

Just wanted to do a little big pimpin of myself, it is my blog afterall. That Atrios guy linked to my post on the new PW blogger. And he added my ass, well, my blog, to his Philly Bloggers blogroll. Kudos to Matt as well, another member of the Philly Future team.

Did it have anything to do with the fact that I've hand delivered Duncan's snail mail to him at Drinking Liberally? Perhaps. You be the judge.

NYT Lollapalooza Blog

I've seen the NY Times doing little things here and there in a bloggish format. But this is the first time I've seen it on the front page of their website. They've sent Jon Pareles, their chief pop music critic, to cover the event. I see me a pattern here.

Twenty Years

I've known one of my best friends now for tweny years. Crazy. Kindergarden, 1985. And earlier today, I learned something new about him. No, he's not a serial killer. No, he's not a super hero. It's something completely insignificant in the scheme of things, but something that he was doing in high school right under my nose. I had no idea. It was funny.

It's odd how you can know somone so well for so long and find out he's been holding out on this little secret for ten years. Hilarious. We had a good laugh.

Chris Bowers For Committeeperson, Ward 27, Division 23

I hopped over to MyDD.com just now checking in on what was up and I saw this post by Chris Bowers announcing that he may run for Committeeperson in his ward out in West Philly. I've been reading his words for the better part of a year now and I can't think of a better person to get involved on the other side of the fence as an elected official. His net/grassroots activism is inspiring and I've been following along as he's guided me/us through many different forms of participation. An excerpt:

My desire to run for local party office stems from several factors. For starters, the Philadelphia Democratic Party is one of the most extreme examples of Unreformed Democrats I have ever encountered. Secondly, I think being a local precinct captain, if it is done well, is perhaps the best example of pure democracy anywhere in the world. Talking to your neighbors about politics, helping them register to vote, and doing GOTV work in your own 'hood is really about as good as representative government can get. Third, I just straight up love that sort of work, which is one of the reasons why I liked being a union organizer. Fourth, I really don't think any party should be in the business of bossing primaries by having the central committee structure endorse a candidate without letting the party members decide for themselves. This sort of stuff happens all the time here in Philadelphia nad Pennsylvania, and I would like to help put an end to it.

All of these reasons aside, the number one reason why I have been thinking about running for commiteeperson is that even though I have lived and been registered to vote in Philadelphia's 27th ward for five consecutive years now (and a sixth year from 1997-1998), never once has a local commiteeperson come to talk with me. ACORN has stopped by. MoveOn contacted me several times during the 2004 campaign, twice coming to my door. I have voted in this ward six times now, and not a single time was someone from the Democratic PArty standing outside my precinct distributing information. I did meet a Republican doing it once.

Please read on here, especially if you're teetering on doing something similar where you live.