At the poetry tournament

Indeed, it was a tournament, not a slam. The contestants were seated at tables. Someone was interviewing Martha Raye. Frank O’Hara walked around taking photographs. “It’s America,” he said. “There are prizes.”

Related reading
All OCA dream posts (Pinboard)

[A source, as Elaine figured out: an episode of Father Knows Best in which Kathy enters an essay contest and gets to meet Greer Garson. Another: a reference to Frank O’Hara in an article about Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.]

NPR, sheesh

The “Democratic memo” didn’t drop. The House Intelligence Committee released it.

Movies and records drop. But as Elaine said at breakfast, “This isn’t show business.”

Things that should drop: hints, balloons, a line, the other shoe. Pins, as long as you can hear them. The mic, though I hate that spelling. I’m out.

Related reading
All OCA sheesh posts (Pinboard)
Ambiguous drop (Dropping a threat)

From the Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, took me about twice as long as usual to solve. But solve it I did. A particularly clever clue, 58-Across, seven letters: “They’re handled with salsa.” No spoilers; the answer is in the comments.

Surprising to see the clue for 39-Down, seven letters: “John Waters film gimmick inspired by Smell-O-Vision.” But that one’s a giveaway.

Gregor Z.

[Zippy, February 24, 2018.]

I know what he means.

Venn reading
Kafka posts : Kafka and Zippy posts : Zippy posts (Pinboard)

Zippy, Spivey, and Tormé

[Zippy, February 23, 2018.]

Griffy has accused Zippy of conjuring up “this seventies guy.” The seventies guy has asked Zippy to pray with him and “wash th’ 1980s away.” Zippy suspects that the guy may be a televangelist.

Zippy is on the right track: the seventies guy looks like a brown-haired incarnation of Gary Spivey, a self-described psychic, medium, and spiritual healer. Spivey appeared in three 2004 Zippy strips: this one, this one, and this one, each time sporting his signature helmet-like white wig.

Mel Tormé too has played a small role in the Zippy world. A 2016 strip namechecks Tormé. Two 1995 strips — this one and this one — have something to do with him. Alas, both strips are offline. It’s the second 1995 strip that might explain why Griffy considers Mel Tormé Spivey’s “diametric opposite.” The strip’s title: “Mel Is Good.” Mel Tormé was a genuine showman, with genuine talent. Bill Griffith must like his work.

As did my dad. We played this recording at his memorial.

Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard) : Mel Tormé and the NYT crossword : Mel Tormé on the vagaries of performance

[You can read Zippy daily at Comics Kingdom. “The Velvet Fog”: Tormé’s Homeric epithet.]

Comic books and Post headlines

In case you missed it: Dunning K. Trump’s picture of a safe school includes his chief of staff John Kelly as a gun-toting history teacher. “He’s a four-star Marine. He’s a tough cookie,” says Trump:

“So if he’s a teacher and if other friends of his from the Marines, if they’re teaching, or other people like that, I want them to have a gun. But more importantly, almost more importantly, nobody is going to attack that school, because they know General Kelly is the history teacher. He’s teaching about how we win wars, okay? And he’s got a concealed weapon. But they’re gonna know he’s got a concealed weapon, because we tell them that the bullets are going to be flying in the other direction.”

Trump’s masculinist dream is partly the stuff of a comic book (everyday fellow with secret powers, including perfect aim), partly the stuff of a New York Post headline (Retired General Takes Down Sicko).

If you don’t believe my transcription, watch here.

Bela sardines

[Click for a bigger catch.]

I bought them for the beautiful can and didn’t realize how good they would be. Bela sardines are meaty, so to speak, and intensely flavorful. They are probably the best sardines I’ve ever had. Too bad Bela doesn’t offer a skinless and boneless variety. Until it does, I will have to be a tough guy and have more of these, skin and bones and all.

Related reading
All OCA sardine posts (Pinboard)

[It is never the wrong time of day to think about sardines.]

Calling BS

Last night, at CNN’s Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said that eighteen-year-olds should not have rifles, and that bump stocks and automatic rifles “should be outlawed forever.” And then:

“And anybody who says different, I don’t know about other people, but Emma and I, we’re calling BS on that.”

Sheriff Israel was invoking Emma González’s refrain “We call BS.” I expect to hear those words with increasing frequency in the fight for gun control.

Listening

President Donald Trump holds notes during a White House listening session with students and parents affected by school shootings. (AP Photo by Carolyn Kaster) pic.twitter.com/Z0lZbSVaoF

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) February 21, 2018

No 5. reads “I hear you.” Pathetic. One of the president’s suggestions: bring back mental institutions. Another: more guns, concealed on teachers, janitors, and administrators.

But kudos to Samuel Zeif, who spoke about the madness of selling “a weapon of war” as a retail product. And to Mark Barden, who spoke about the madness of arming teachers. “Madness” is my word, not theirs. But it’s madness.

I noticed that the only D.C. people present were from charter schools. Score one for Ms. DeVos. And why so much praising of the president for the direction in which he’s taking the country? (Taking is right.) Someone needs to find out how the participants for this listening session were selected.

Zippy and Kafka

[Zippy, February 21, 2018.]

And:

You can withdraw from the sufferings of the world — that possibility is open to you and accords with your nature — but perhaps that withdrawal is the only suffering you might be able to avoid.

Franz Kafka, Aphorisms, trans. Willa and Edwin Muir (New York: Schocken, 2015).

Venn reading
All OCA Kafka posts : Kafka and Zippy posts : Zippy posts

[You can read Zippy daily at Comics Kingdom.]