New Year’s Eve 1917

[“Sober Celebration for War New Year: Drinking Parties of the Past Give Way to Seriously Patriotic Watch Meetings. Town Will Close at 1 A.M. Entertainments for Soldiers And Sailors — Churches and Y.M.C.A. Bid for Men in Service.” The New York Times, December 31, 1917.]

In 1917, as in 1916, Mayor John P. Mitchel was a party pooper, with closing time in New York City just an hour past midnight. The high and low temperatures for December 31, 1917, as recorded in Central Park: 6°, -7°. Really, who wants to be going to and coming from scenes of revelry in that kind of weather?

On December 31, 2017, another cold day, there are many factors that might drive one to “more sober considerations.” Or to less sober ones.

[Temperatures from the National Centers for Environmental Information.]

Good advice from Ray Suarez

Here’s another fine episode of the podcast In Contrast : “Representing” in Broadcasting, with host Ilan Stavans interviewing the journalist Ray Suarez. I especially like what Suarez says about the choices he’s made in his work:

“I always thought, ‘Look, at the end of the day, I have to own myself, and I have to think I’m okay with me. And how much do I have to give away, how much do I have to transform in order to play this game as the game is being presented to me?’ And I always tried to square that circle by saying, ‘All right, who do I want to be at the end of the day: promoted and a jerk, or owning myself and owning the way I want to be in the world and maybe missing out on that promotion?’”

And on refusing to play office politics:

“I never wanted to play that game, and I never wanted to be that guy. And whether that hurt me or helped me, I don’t know. But when I look at it all, there are things that don’t add up to me. But I’ll never know what the answer is, and I don’t want to make myself crazy.”

On Twitter, Ray Suarez identifies himself as a “job-seeker.” He’d make an excellent replacement for a recently disgraced PBS host, don’t you think?

[The things that don’t add up would likely include the trajectory of Suarez’s work at the PBS NewsHour. The transcription is mine.]

BBC in Pidgin

The New York Times reports on the BBC in Pidgin. You can read BBC News in Pidgin here. My favorite headline: “Why Apple dey say sorry” [Why Apple is saying sorry]. You can also listen to the BBC Pidgin Minute and watch Bill Gates with Pidgin subtitles.

[The Times notes that seventy-five million people are believed to speak Pidgin, “either as their primary or secondary tongue.”]

From the Saturday Stumper

A clue from today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, 42-Down, five letters: “Keeps from littering.” No spoilers; the answer is in the comments.

Today’s puzzle, by Brad Wilber, is a tough one. Finishing a Saturday Stumper is always cause for minor self-congratulation.

Close the door

I heard the original radio version, by Tony Schwartz, in a recent episode of 99% Invisible. Everyone should watch and listen to this minute-long PSA — and pass it on.

[Prompted by this news story.]

*

January 2, 2018: A comment from Anton Schwartz, Tony Schwartz’s son, notes that Alan Bleviss, whose voice is heard on this PSA, died on December 30.

Nature v. nurture

[Zippy, December 29, 2017.]

Zippy wants to know: why is Mr. The Toad always so angry? Because he had Popeye wallpaper in his childhood bedroom.

Venn reading
All OCA Nancy posts : Nancy and Zippy posts : Zippy posts (Pinboard)

“What else could I talk about”

K.’s landlady Gardena was on three occasions a partner to the Castle official Klamm. Not four or more times, just three. It’s all she can talk about:


Franz Kafka, The Castle, trans. Mark Harman (New York: Schocken, 1998).

Related reading
All OCA Kafka posts (Pinboard)

Rose Marie (1923–2017)

From the New York Times obituary:

Baby Rose Marie belted her songs (some of them with very grown-up lyrics) in a mature, bluesy voice, and many listeners did not believe she was a child. To prove that she was indeed a young girl and not a petite adult, NBC organized a national tour for her. She sang at RKO movie theaters across the country, trying to dodge child labor laws as she went.

You can watch Rose Marie channel Helen Kane in the 1929 short Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder, at YouTube.

*

Warner Bros. Entertainment has had the 1929 short removed from YouTube. But here are two gatherings of Rose Marie’s 78s, 1929–1938, courtesy of the Internet Archive: one and two. Baby Rose Marie singing with Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra: who knew!

Metaphors, mixed

From the news, about the weather:

“We’ll bottom out, and then we’ll start to turn a corner.”

So as to see more of the bottom?

Related reading
All OCA metaphor posts (Pinboard)

[Merriam-Webster’s definition of bottom out: “to reach a lowest or worst point usually before beginning to rise or improve.” The reporter meant of course that temperatures will begin to rise.]

“The Lives They Lived”

From The New York Times: “The Lives They Lived,” a 2017 retrospective. With photographs of John Ashbery’s collage desk, Chuck Berry’s guitar case, and other objects.