Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

He’s making his big-screen debut. Do you recognize him? Do you think you recognize him? Leave your best guess in a comment. I’ll drop a hint if needed.

*

9:02 a.m.: That was fast. The mystery has been solved in the comments.

More mystery actors (Why not collect them all?)
? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ?

Booth (box) blight

“The newest phone boxes are sleek looking, Wi-Fi connected stands with touch screen maps and electronic signs that flash at passersby while also, privacy advocates say, harvesting data from their phones”: The New York Times reports on a telephone booth (box) blight in London.

A related post
Repurposing the British phone booth

Otis Rush (1935–2018)

“A richly emotive singer and a guitarist of great skill and imagination, Mr. Rush was in the vanguard of a small circle of late-1950s innovators, including Buddy Guy and Magic Sam, whose music, steeped in R&B, heralded a new era for Chicago blues”: from a New York Times obituary. NPR has an excellent extended feature on Rush’s music.

I think (too often) of what Skip James is reported to have said: “Most of the old heads are dying off. All the old musicianers and music philosophers are going: their time has come.”

Domestic comedy

“I want to try the Glenlivet and the Glenmorangie together to decide which to buy more of.”

“Glen or Glenda.”

Happy anniversary to my partner in domestic comedy, who thought of the movie title — snap, just like that. Happy anniversary, Elaine.

Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, is challenging. It begins on a baffling note: 1-Across, four letters, “Mississippi constituents.” It moves on to a couple of giveaways: 5-Across, three letters, “Roller coaster restraint”; 8-Across, six letters, “Leader of the Trojans.” And then it goes back to being difficult.

My favorite clue in today’s puzzle: 33-Across, fifteen letters, “Triple hedge.” When the answer fell into place, I smiled. In second place: 33-Down, eight letters, “Boom alternative.” When that answer fell into place, I smiled again. No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Kavanaugh loses the Jesuits

“For the good of the country and the future credibility of the Supreme Court in a world that is finally learning to take reports of harassment, assault and abuse seriously, it is time to find a nominee whose confirmation will not repudiate that lesson”: the Jesuit magazine America has rescinded its endorsement of Brett Kavanaugh.

“Do you think that Brett Kavanaugh is telling the truth?”

Watch and listen as two survivors of sexual assault, Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila, confront Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ). An excerpt:

Archila: Senator Flake, do you think that Brett Kavanaugh is telling the truth?

Aide: Thank you.

Archila: Do you think that he’s able to hold the pain of this country and repair it? That is the work of justice. The way that justice works is you recognize hurt, you take responsibility for it, and then you begin to repair it. You are allowing someone who is unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions, unwilling to hold the harm that he has done to one woman, actually three women, and repair it. You are allowing someone who is unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions —

Reporter: Do you want to respond?

Archila: — to sit in the highest court of the country and to have the role of repairing the harm that has been done in this country to many people.

Flake: Thank you.

I’m disgusted. I’ve admired Jeff Flake for some time, especially after listening to This American Life’s 2017 story and 2018 episode about him. Not anymore. As one of the women who confronted him says, “Saying ‘Thank you’ is not an answer.”

*

And now: “Senate Panel Approves Kavanaugh, but Flake Wants F.B.I. Investigation Before Final Vote” (The New York Times.

[I’ve made small corrections to the Times transcript. The protesters have been identified, and the Times has added their names to the story.]

Purees and spelling lessons

[Zippy, September 28, 2018.]

At first I smiled. Because Talia! (Purees.) And then I thought, “Shouldn’t that be liquify ?” No, it should not. Merriam-Webster calls liquify a variant. But Garner’s Modern English Usage says that “*liquify , which predominated till about 1750, is now considered a misspelling.” Garner gives the liquefy–liquify ratio as 8:1.

Comics are not just purees and spelling lessons. I also noticed the wet tray, bottom right. Realism!

Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard)

[The asterisk marks an inferior form.]

At the Department of Agriculture

An excerpt from Michael Lewis’s forthcoming book The Fifth Risk. Life at the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

Among other things, the department essentially maintained rural America, and also ensured that the American poor and the elderly did not starve. Much of its work was complicated and technical — and yet for the months between the election and the inauguration, Trump people never turned up to learn about it. Only on inauguration day did they flood into the building, but the people who showed up had no idea why they were there or what they were meant to do. Trump sent, among others, a long-haul truck driver, a telephone company clerk, a gas company meter reader, a country club cabana attendant, a Republican National Committee intern and the owner of a scented candle company. One of the CVs listed the new appointee’s only skill as “a pleasant demeanor.”

All these people had two things in common. They were Trump loyalists. And they knew nothing whatsoever about the job they suddenly found themselves in.

July 1

A compelling analysis by Philip Bump The Washington Post: “Kavanaugh is pressed on the key July 1 entry in his calendar. But only to a point.” Dammit, why couldn’t a senator have put these pieces together?

I suspect that even if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed, the story will be far from over. Someone, somewhere, will figure out the location of the house. Someone, somewhere, will figure out who was living there in 1982. Someone, somewhere, will remember something about what happened on July 1, 1982, or perhaps on some other day.