Hoosiers Ate My Brain

Spike-a-delic 06 -- This Friday!

2006-09-26T12:40:00.000-04:00

On Friday, make plans to attend iMOCA's Spike-a-delic '06. A fundraiser for Indy's only contemporary art museum, the format this year involves three teams of artists creating found object art on site with objects the audience brings them. A jury will select a juried award and the crowd will select an audience favorite.

How will it work? You bring an object with you (or pick one out from the objects on site) and give it to one of the artist teams. They'll incorporate it into the work they're creating at the event that night. There will be a silent auction plus wine/beer, a tequila ice sculpture fountain, and food from Ruth's Keystone Cafe and Sushi on the Rocks.

The artists?

Jeff Martin: Jeff is a well known local artist and former owner of the J. Martin Gallery. Martin creates sculptures and installations and has exhibited in Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Atlanta. He's a frequent presenter at IMA and the Herron School and active with IDADA and Primary Colours.

Brian Presnell, Joel Pinkerton, and Cory Robinson: This team features local artist Brian Presnell who many folks saw for the first time at his iMOCA solo show "I'm Brian Presnell." Presnell will be working with Joel Pinkerton, a Louisville, KY artist who frequently works with found objects.

Eric Wallentine: Eric is an Indiana artist who works primarily with natural materials and is probably best known for his terraria -- glass box works with small natural microcosms inside.

It will, of course, be wonderful to see what these artists create from found objects -- and how they do it, but it will be made even better in knowing that you are supporting contemporary art in the city. In addition to the main events, a silent auction includes some pretty cool art experiences:

* Ticket package for Miami design week including Scope, NADA, and Art Basel along with a guided tour of NADA, VIP passes to Art Basel, and a few other special invites and a Basel catalogue.

* A New York art trip including airfare and two guided tours of Chelsea galleries -- with lunch natch.

* A Chicago art trip including a private west loop gallery tour with gallery owner Tom Robertello, passes to the MCA, and hotel.

* Several guided tours of exhibitions and galleries in Indianapolis with local artists and curators will be available letting buyers get a chance to really meet and learn from local experts in art.

* Emily Kennerk tour -- Artist Emily Kennerk will personally tour her exhibit next year at the IMA with the buyer of this package and also provide a signed print.

Plus a number of other very cool art experiences including 3-hours of studio time with portrait artist Constance Edwards.

The jury will include Steve Campbell, Deputy Mayor for the City of Indianapolis, Cathleen Nevin, Attorney at Katz & Korin PC, and Mark Ruschman, owner of the Mark Ruschman Art Gallery and preside of IDADA. And the crowd will also choose their favorite for the evening!

It looks to be a fun evening and I hope to see many of you there!

Spike-a-delic '06, a fundraiser for iMOCA
Friday, September 29, 6:30 -10:00 p.m.
@ the Van Riper Gallery at the Stutz
Tickets: $55 non-member, $45 members, $25 students
RSVP to 634-6622

Day of Miscellany

2006-09-24T12:02:00.000-04:00

I'm a half of a pot of coffee into my Sunday morning and working my way through a mountain of small bits that have collected on my desk in the past few days. In true fashion, I'm passing the miscellany on down to you, gentle readers. (I know it's been quiet around here lately but fall deadlines are upon us.)

Photographs by Mpozi Tolbert at iMOCA: Friday, saw a great number of familiar faces at the Mpozi Tolbert opening at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. Make time to see this exhibit which is up through the end of October. Tolbert, who died unexpectedly almost three months ago, had a knack for capturing the whole story in one shot. These images show you the lives, attitudes, and drama of people by dramatically showing us their faces, their body movements, gestures, and eyes. A well-selected group of photographs.

Carson/Dickerson and Center Township: My political friends have commented lately that I've been oddly silent on the IN-7 race with Carson and Dickerson. Frankly, it's because just when I get over being physically disgusted by Julia Carson, she pulls another tacky move like her smear of Dickerson last week. You can believe what you want about Dickerson and his past issues. Frankly, it was 15 years ago and I'm inclined to cut the man some slack. But let the guide of your vote be one overwhelming issue -- who will serve us best in the US Congress?

Carson is an embarrassment to the State of Indiana. Her ultra-liberal views are not representative of the city of Indianapolis and the district she serves. She has not shown a strong ability to serve in the US House of Representatives. She is in extremely ill health, and already has a serious attendance problem. Her sole ability to accomplish anything with her office has recently appeared to be an ability to hold together a complex network of local officials deeply entrenched in Carson-centric entitlement jobs and programs. Very little in this campaign has been about her national views or work for Indiana in the House. She could have ended this Carson center bar fiasco with one word and hasn't. (Everyone she knows is involved from her chief-of-staffs wife to her primary and literal "support".) The GOP isn't innocent of blame in this either. They could have supported Dickerson in this campaign. And Dickerson should be making more of this Carson debacle than he is. The seat is a national office and we should send someone who could at least rise to the occasion. I'm ready to send Eric Dickerson to Washington to give him a chance.

Best Coverage Out There: Once again, I'm extremely impressed with the job Advance Indiana has been doing on coverage of not only the Carson center bar issue but also the problems with the coroner's office and the Carson/Dickerson campaign. It all begs the question of why hasn't the Star been able to come close to equally covering these stories? Star editors will complain that it takes time to track down the facts and get sources on the record, and that's absolutely true. But the wide gaps in the depth of coverage suggest that the assignments aren't being pushed to begin with. If simple bloggers are able to get more factual information in less time than reporters, (Advance Indiana, like most of the rest of us, has a day job) what does that say about the priorities being set for reporters?

Morton Marcus on Blogs and Journalism: And speaking of blogs doing a better job than reporters, Morton Marcus asks why there isn't a blog on journalism in Indianapolis. In his column this week in the IBJ, he asks where is it that serious news junkies can comment on coverage of the news. I think Mr. Marcus hasn't been paying attention to a lot of the blogs doing this very thing. Read the comments section in any number of active Indiana blogs and you'll find readers wondering where the Star is on several major stories today (and often thanking bloggers for coverage that traditional news outlets aren't providing.)

RIP -- Texas Governor Ann Richards

2006-09-14T09:59:00.000-04:00

I'm sad to note the passing of an icon in American politics and one of the most visible women in government in her time -- former Texas Governor Ann Richards. I didn't always see eye-to-eye with her politically, but I've loved her ever since college. It was the time when I found myself actually following in my parents footsteps, watching every second of coverage of both political conventions. Richards made quite an impression as she spoke about George W. Bush and his frequent gaffes. "Poor George. Born with a silver foot in his mouth." Her wonderfully drippy Texas accent was perfect for sarcasm. She could take what could be a very nasty comment and say it with a smile on her face for a great laugh -- and more importantly, a great impact on her listeners. That was before she was immortalized on the famous (infamous) Texas Monthly cover riding a motorcycle in full gubernatorial leathers. (It was photoshopped. See last year's post for more.)

She served one term as Texas governor before falling to newcomer George W. Bush (and his Texas election machine of Karen Hughes and Karl Rove.) She had been battling cancer for a the past few years and died yesterday. She was 73.

Dave O'Brien and BMV Bingo

2006-09-12T09:12:00.000-04:00

It's not usually a good day when radio personalities make the off-air news, but in this case, it's just fine. One of my favorite people in town, Dave O'Brien, is making news waves with his late vehicle registration by playing BMV Bingo on his popular morning show. Dave -- half of the on-air duo Wank and O'Brien -- does mornings on Emmis' Hank FM. (He and partner Ed Wank helmed the popular 93.1 before moving over to anchor the re-vamped Emmis station last year.) In an interview with Indychannel, O'Brien makes it very clear that he sent in his vehicle registration renewal the day he received it in June. The registration expired July 31. And to date, still no registration -- hence BMV Bingo. What does it take to get on easy-going Dave's bad side?

...O'Brien said he was seriously upset by an interview that BMV Commissioner Joel Silverman did with 6News on Aug. 2. During that interview, Silverman said that motorists customers [sic] with July 31 registration renewal deadlines should have made their transactions on time despite the computer mess.

"The thing that I have the problem with the BMV the most about was when Joel Silverman said that people who had not received their registration yet were probably at fault for not sending it in enough time," O'Brien said. "And, again, I sent mine in the day I got it."

Listeners call in choosing the day he'll get his registration in the mail. Winner gets a spa gift certificate.

Day of Miscellany -- Bosma and Body Cavity Searches

2006-09-08T08:57:00.000-04:00

Other than type up another rant about Bosma wasting everyone's time and money with his "no-Jesus-in-the-Statehouse" lawsuit, I thought I'd share with you a few of the gems that struck my fancy this morning. OK, some of them struck my funny bone. And having a blog post strike your funny bone is a lot better than whacking it on the nightstand like I usually do. Brian Bosma and full body cavity searches? Nope -- not a single mention here about the new Statehouse security.

Bosma Argues Case at US Court of Appeals: Oh, let's just get it out of the way. Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma's lawsuit opened yesterday in Chicago at the US Court of Appeals. Bosma is convinced this suit may go all the way to the Supremes. What he conveniently keeps forgetting to mention -- as he promotes this as fighting for prayer in the Indiana house -- is that he already has a ruling allowing him to pray all he wants. He just has to keep it non-sectarian and back off the Jesus praising (along with the hand clapping, holy roller Gospel performances.) Oh, and by the way, he wants you to know that he spent $67,000 of taxpayer money on this lawsuit. He's going to pay it back, promise! Just as soon as he gets enough to people to donate the money. Riiiiiggght. From the Star.

Playing the Race Card: Tim Goodman over at the Bastard Machine has an excellent post on the upcoming season of Survivor where teams will be split by race (instead of age or sex as they've been split in previous seasons.) Goodman, who is the television critic at the San Francisco Chronicle, reminds us that Mark Burnett knows exactly what he's doing and that ultimately, no matter how you divide tribes, if you get it right, the Survivor format works.

If I absolutely must get involved in this moldy fracas, let's remember a couple of the elements at play here. 1) The idea [is] old. 2) Cynicism alert - "Survivor" wasn't very exciting last season. I've watched every single episode since the franchise - which essentially opened the door for the reality TV revolution - first aired. Last season was boring. I even vowed never to watch it again. To move on. So when I heard there was going to be a "race war" on "Survivor," I smiled knowingly. A timely play, Mr. Burnett. Well done. Next year: "Survivor: Everybody's Nude."

What Else Do They Keep In There? And you knew it. The minute you saw this article this morning, you knew I wouldn't be able to resist a link. Bottom line: There are just too many good headlines for this. Four inmates in an El Salvador prison were busted for hiding cell phones *in* their bodies -- along with batteries, chargers, and memory chips. The x-rays are the best part. Don't tell the Indiana speaker's office. Bosma might want to get involved in the new statehouse security system next. (There's a bad lobbyist joke in here but I'm not going there.)

Housekeeping

2006-09-04T10:37:00.000-04:00

You'll notice a few posts have been removed by the "administrator". I'm not censoring anyone, just cleaning up a recent round of spam that seems to have slipped past the capchas on the posting page. Just wanted to let everyone know I didn't nuke any comments that weren't specifically related to penis enhancement. (If I had a penis, maybe I'd be more concerned.)

Julia's Health: The Elephant in the Room

2006-09-04T09:34:00.000-04:00

What is up with Julia Carson's health? Is it as bad as it appears? While she is campaigning, she appears to be frail and having difficulty breathing. Somehow, it seems to have become an off-limits topic. When did it become taboo for a candidate to tout the literal unfitness of his oppenent?

If she's sick, if she can't serve, if she's having trouble traveling, or fulfilling her duties, she should withdraw her candidacy. And if she's still able to serve, but not likely to fulfill her term or duties, we as voters shouldn't feel bad about not returning her to DC. I'd love to see some information coming out to voters about the actual situation since I don't think many know how truly ill she is -- or appears to be -- unless they've seen her in person. Dickerson needs to get tough with this race and asking honest questions about her fitness should be one way to do it.

New Ideas for the Carson Center

2006-09-03T21:10:00.000-04:00

The Star has an update today on the status of Polin Park and the zoning variance for the bar township cronies want to put in the Julia Carson Government Center. Gary Welsh over at Advance Indiana also has an update -- or rather, what the Star reporter missed. Carson herself finally has come out against serving booze in the building and thinks the project will be rejected by the Metropolitan Development Commission. "There's just been too much drama about all this."

From the Star: Ayers [David Ayers, Carl Drummer's new publicist] said he did not know what would become of the space if the zoning variance is not granted.

Since this is, you know, the Julia Carson government center, and, of course, given the neighborhood, and, presumably, some kind of mission to serve the population or constituents of the area, let's give them some ideas on how to use that extra 2000 sq feet now that it won't be a bar. Don't forget the nifty deck area.

Day Care Center
Afterschool Program
Teen Support to Prevent Dropouts
Sports/Teen Center
Counseling Services to Prevent Gun Violence
Job Training and Placement Services
Tutoring Programs and Reading Services
Parenting Classes
Financial Services Training
Business Planning/Mentoring

I'm sure we can help them come up with all kinds of ideas! Of course, none of these will nearly as fun for those currently involved as a restaurant/bar, but let's look at this like a business. Restaurants are some of the highest risk businesses to start (but everyone wants one). Plus, bonus, when you run a job conseling center, it's a lot safer for you to just get in your car and drive home.

Last night, I slept so well...

2006-08-30T08:10:00.000-04:00

Last night, I slept so well. It was one of the first truly cool nights we've had and I put the down comforter back on the bed. All suggled into the soft thickness with coolness all around my face. Mmmm. "Sleepin' weather," what my father would call it. Fall is truly in the air.

It's Official: I Am Old (Go Principal Mayerik!)

2006-08-28T17:38:00.000-04:00

These kids today! I never thought it would come to this but it's official. I am an old fuddy-duddy. A killer of fun. An unsupportive spectator in the fashion arena of teen cool. Why? Because I obviously don't get it. I don't get the baggy pants. (Aren't those so out of style?) I don't get the long t-shirts. (Dude, in LA, that's a dress and girls wear it with no bra.) I don't get the crop tops and belly button rings (OK, I do understand those but not on a 13-year-old) nor can I conceive what would posses a parent to let their high-schooler out of the house for school in a cleavage barring top. But then, I don't have kids.

Enter my new hero who apparently doesn't get it either. Meet Principal Theresa Mayerik of Morton High School in Hammond, Indiana who suspended 128 students for dress code violations, 10% of the school's student body -- on the first day of school! Go Principal Mayerik! I'm an old fuddy duddy who says "Right on!" The school board and a large number of parents said "Right on," too. Kids were suspended for one day and the suspension will be dropped from their record in 12 weeks if there are no further violations.

Maybe parents today have to pick their battles. Maybe it's gnashing of teeth over cell phone minutes versus clothes. I'd probably let my kid wear a Daisy Duke skirt and stilettos to school if it would get her off the phone. On the other hand, nothing could make me OK those ridiculous baggy pants.

Blogs Signing Off

2006-08-27T18:53:00.000-04:00

So long to Buffalo Wings and Vodka: There are a variety of ways to get through law school. With this blog, we got great writing, humor, and a perspective on how many illegal chemicals are really involved. Good thing he's passed the bar. So long, Wings and Vodka. We'll miss you.

Sunday Roundup

2006-08-27T08:23:00.000-04:00

Sundays have become round up days around here which is just as well. The cattle have to be brought in sometime.

Revamp Indiana Week in Review? Over at Advance Indiana, there's a spirited discussion brewing around whether or not Jim Shella and this team at Indiana Week in Review need to updated. I like the show, but have to agree the same faces are getting tired. Even though I love Mike McDaniels, he could be replaced for someone who projects a little less of the "party boss" image. Ann Delaney stars as the Dem we all love to hate and there is a revolving cast of guest starts each week. (But please, no Matt Tully.)

Drink more! Hoosierplew notes that Indiana lags behind in one more area. According to the latest Forbes report, Indianapolis is the 30th drunken city in the US. You won't run into to me at Drinking Liberally -- it's not really my thing. (The liberal thing not the drinking thing.)

Still Fighting the Good Fight -- D-7: RiShawn Biddle is doing some of my favorite writing right now on the Black political issues in the city with a backdrop of the Dickerson/Carson election. It's no secret that I want Carson out. I voted for Dickerson in the primary and will vote for him again in the fall, but I'm afraid it's not going to do any good. Her loyal base is so culturally entrenched, I don't think anything will shake her loose. No matter how good Dickerson is, he's not Julia who has been taking the black representation to Congress for a long time. No matter that she's kooky, ill, ineffective, often absent, often incoherent, and a part of today's problem -- the black political machine in Indiana.

Sign me: Irked in Indy

2006-08-19T16:30:00.000-04:00

I do very little serious reporting over at Feed Me/Drink Me, but Ruth Holladay's blame of one hearing officer for our lack of a Whole Foods store set me off. Blaming one hearing officer for the entire Whole Foods saga -- and our lack of commitment from their corporate headquarters -- isn't fair. It's the worst kind of singling out -- that of a political opponent -- by twisting the situation to fit a clever angle. I also take great offense to her "poor Indy" attitude that we, as a city, just can't catch a break because we're all just a bunch of incompetents.

Bits and Pieces -- Mark Karr and the Penis-Pumping Judge

2006-08-18T19:13:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the round-up but it's all I've got for you -- too many little bits and pieces running around to track anything down. I'm in the middle to three huge editing projects and it's hard for me to write on my own when I'm writing for other people. Ahhh, problems, problems. Did I mention what feels like a two-day hangover? Another Shiner Bock, some sleep, and my week will finally be over -- just in time to travel next week.

He Didn't Do It: As much as I'd love to believe Karr is the guy who killed JonBenet Ramsey, I'm not buying it. The Ramseys had never even heard of him until a few months ago. It's not even clear he was in Boulder at the time of the killing, and it is becoming clear that he may have a thing for high-profile child murders. Time and the DNA evidence will tell, but sadly, I don't think this case is solved yet. From the AP wire story:

"They either have a miss or a match on the DNA," former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman said. "If it's a miss, the prosecution has serious problems. If it's a match, then it's game, set and match for this case. Couple the DNA with the kooky confession and it's enough for most people to convict."

"The bottom line is that they now have a confession and until and unless they can corroborate that confession with either physical evidence or strong circumstantial evidence, that's all they have," said Scott Robinson, a Denver attorney who has followed the case from the beginning.

Um, Yeah, Because It's All Hollywood's Fault: Al Sharpton slams filmmakers and record companies for making movies and music that make "gangsterism" cool. It's all their fault black youth aren't becoming leaders and contributing to society. Uh-huh. You just keep thinking that, Rev. Al. Eventually all that sand will clog up your sinuses. It happens when you keep your head buried down there that long.

Oklahoma Judge Pumps His Last -- and Goes to Prision: And last but not least, in a little Oklahoma news, the penis-pumping judge from Bristow, Oklahoma -- the one sentenced to four indecent exposure counts for using a penis pump under his robe during trials on an almost daily basis -- will go to prison for four years. I can't imagine what life for a judge -- and a sexual offending judge -- will be like in the Oklahoma state clink. I'll never think of Bristow the same again. From the Daily Oklahoman.

Hostage: The Jill Carroll Story

2006-08-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

Reporter Jill Carroll was kidnapped by Sunni Muslim insurgents in Iraq on June 7, 2006. She was held captive for 82 days. Carroll -- one of the only kidnapping victims to survive -- is now writing about her experiences for the Christian Science Monitor. In a 10-installment article (along with detailed backgrounds and introduction) Carroll describes first hand the life of the insurgency, it's families, women, children, captors, and her terror, fear, and sometimes hatred of the people who took her. It's a surprisingly candid view of the inside of a terrorist cell -- and she holds no punches, gives no sympathy to their plight. Installment 4 of Hostage: The Jill Carroll Story is up today.

Arrest in JonBenet Ramsey Case

2006-08-16T17:06:00.000-04:00

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that an arrest has been made in the JonBenet Ramsey case in Thailand. Boulder officials are traveling to Thailand now to present evidence to Thai authorities on an unnamed person arrested in on an unrelated sex charge. Who says cold cases never heat up again? No word yet on suspect's identification or relationship to the Ramsey's. For years, many authorities and not a few experts have believed that Jon and Patsy Ramsey -- the parents -- had something to do with her death. Patsy Ramsey died in June.

Update: Text of the statement released by John Ramsey:

"I want to have only very limited comment on today's arrest because I feel it is extremely important to not only let the justice system operate to its conclusion in an orderly manner, but also to avoid feeding the type of media speculation that my wife and I were subjected to for so many years.

"I do want to say, however, that the investigation of the individual arrested today in connection with JonBenet's death was discussed with Patsy and me by the Boulder district attorney's office prior to Patsy's death in June. So Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today's development almost 10 years after our daughter's murder. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude for the efforts of Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy and the members of her investigative team."

A-B-C: Anyone But Carson

2006-08-14T16:29:00.000-04:00

Eric Dickerson is finally making a little noise over in the IN-07 race against Democrat incumbant Julia Carson. Dickerson can often been seen on neighborhood streets in his self-funded RV. In fact, the Marian County GOP has made it clear they won't be supporting him financially saying his race isn't a "key race". With $300,000 in the bank, Carson is surprisingly well funded. Dickerson has only raised about $33,000 as of the last financial disclosure.

But it may be time for Carson to start working for this seat. Considering the lack of local/state GOP support for the last three challengers, the fact that anyone is willing to take her on is a testament to how much this district wants change.

Meanwhile, Dickerson gained some attention this week by questioning a new restaurant that will be serving alcohol inside the Carson Government Center on Fall Creek Parkway. While making it clear he suspected Carson had no involvement, he questioned decisions made by Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer who awarded the space with no outside input.

Several bloggers have had write-ups on this particular flap lately, but none better than RiShawn Biddle's today. Biddle nails the problems exactly from failed local and township leadership to what should be great disappointment in Julia Carson.

Around the Blog World Today

2006-08-13T08:52:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, a lazy Sunday morning catching up with my weekly reading. Even with a pot of freshly ground French roast (direct from France courtesy of a friend), it's much easier than starting any real work I have to do. It's also a great way to share some of the terrific writing and political coverage happening in Indiana today. The state blog scene just gets better and better.

** New Orleans. A Year Later: Over at Cerulean Blue, LawGeekGirl has a beautiful post on her first trip to New Orleans since last year's hurricane. She gives her impression of the recovery with the outside eyes of a former resident. Her post is also a good look at the realities of travel to NOLA right now.

**Not Your Father's Indiana: And thank God for that. Old news but a great column from Abdul-Hakim Shabazz at the Howey Political Report on the progress Gov. Daniels has made in the past 18 months. He's preaching to the choir on this one, but I love it when people with a bigger platform than mine say it.

** RiShawn Biddle on Crime: Good for RiShawn Biddle (editorial writer for the IndyStar) for his recent posts on the crime situation. He's one of the only newspros keeping the issues related to crime front and center and he's doing a good job of it. This week's Expresso featured several posts including one on the realities of downtown life (scroll up from comments for the post).

**Playing Politics with Crime: On the crime-related political posturing front, both Biddle at the Star and Cam Carter at the Howey Political Report have good overviews on recent behind-the-scene politics at the county and city level. We all have to remember the crime situation is just as political as cultural, which is irksome for those of us who see the results of the city-county council's ignorance on the evening news. One can never underestimate the power of party politics and, in this case, politics driven by the Kennedy/Brizzi race.

**I Choose Indy! If you haven't had a chance to visit (and post) at I Choose Indy, now is a great time to do it. As recently noted in the IBJ, I Choose Indy! is asking for local business and industry leaders to post on why they chose to move to or remain in Indianapolis.

**It's the Parents, Stupid: I'm the first to call other writers on gross overgeneralizations, but I like much of what Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is doing over at Indiana Barrister. He, too, is doing some great writing on Indy's recent crime problems and the underlying issues. In this case, parental accountability.

Black Clerics Call for $25 Million

2006-08-12T12:18:00.000-04:00

The IndyStar has an interesting piece this morning on two different approaches to the crime problem from within the black community. Approach 1) Ask for the mayor to help lead a public-private funding drive to do something about crime. Approach 2) Work within the black community to solve its own problems. At the heart of it, both approaches seem sound, but what's disturbing is the "all-or-nothing" tone by leaders of both.

In a meeting on Friday, black clerical leaders asked Mayor Bart Peterson for $25 million in social programs to help address some of the issues attributable to violent crime. The tone of the quotes in the newspaper article makes these leaders sound very entitled. They all seem to be focused on what black Hoosiers in Indianapolis should have versus what the city is spending on other projects. However, as the star reported: "Not every black leader thinks the city should get involved." Other black religious leaders have different ideas.

Earlier Friday afternoon, Muhammad Siddeeq, a black Muslim leader with the Nur-Allah Islamic Center, said the black community should address the problem itself.
"We just had the big Black Expo in this city. If we can call (thousands) of African-Americans from around the country to come to Indianapolis, why can't we devote the same effort to the reality of our crisis?" he asked.

Both sides may be missing what really needs to happen which is implement both plans. Why can't the black community address the problem lead by high profile organizations, fundraisers, and individuals? Why can't there be a strong initiative lead by churches and black community organizations doing something other than asking the city for a $25 million handout? (I realize that's an incredibly overgeneralized way to put it, but frankly, that's exactly what it looks like.) Where is the financial and social leadership on this issue from community members supporting their own programs and pushing for education and cultural changes?

Council to Discuss Unsafe Crowds

2006-08-09T21:01:00.000-04:00

Police officer and city council woman Sherron Franklin has asked for a public hearing to address the issue of the large crowds of unsupervised roving teens and young people in downtown Indianapolis. She's been very fair in her criticism and examination of the problem so far. Unfortunately, Indiana Black Expo, sponsor of Summer Celebration, one of events Franklin cites as a problem, is already on the defensive. Franklin cited the two biggest events causing problems -- Black Expo and Circle City Classic.

IBE president Joyce Rodgers was quick to say the crowds weren't the fault of her or her organization. Well, no, they're not. But the fact remains that someone was shot during this year's Black Expo in one of those very same roving crowds.

This week and weekend, the city is hosting one of its largest convention events, GenCon, a gaming convention. For the rest of the week, 100,000 people are expected to play, shop, game, and tour the city. I'm fairly sure we won't see giant roving crowds of people downtown this week even though a large portion of attendees is young (although you will see quite a few Chewbaccas and guys in storm trooper outfits.) I'm also fairly confident no one attending or associated with GenCon will be shot. IBE and Rogers need to -- for once -- be proactive and take a positive stance on the violent crime issue instead of hiding behind their classic defensive stance. Change will begin to occur from within the community when black groups step up to the plate and hold their own community accountable.

From IndyChannel.com:

Franklin said community leaders, police and representatives of IBE will meet Aug. 30 in the City-County Building's public assembly room to discuss solutions. The meeting will be open to the public and will start at 6 p.m.
"Part of the solution that I will be suggesting will be to make the parents more accountable for their underage children, enforcing the city's curfew law, increasing traffic restrictions, and increasing enforcement of other city violations," Franklin said.

91 for the Year: We've Got a Problem

2006-08-09T07:34:00.000-04:00

To those of us who live on the northside of downtown, the violent crime wave is old news. The bodies have been piling up all summer. Indianapolis has been well ahead of last year's murder count since April with seemingly no notice. The media, the mayor and the IPD seem to be the last to know. Only in the last week has the prosecutor even jumped on the bandwagon. Up until now, he's been releasing criminals early while not pushing for more jail space. (Becuase, you know, from Brizzi's perspective, locking them up is the only solution, but that's a whole other rant.).

Those of us who live downtown, the near northside, old northside, and points east live within a few blocks of questionable neighborhoods on all sides. This summer -- for the entire summer -- roving bands of teenagers and young men in their late 20s have taken over streets on bicycles, spilled over sidewalks into crowded traffic or just made it difficult to get through intersections like 30th and College. Cars that barely run straddle lanes or stop in mid-street so their occupants can chat with people outside. There's never any traffic enforcement and up until a week or two ago (when someone was shot at a Starbucks at 30th and Fall Creek Parkway) little to no police presence. In the past few months, there's certainly not been police presence relative to the crime spike over last year's statistics. Contrary to what the media would tell you, this crime wave isn't new. It's been going on all year, seemingly ignored. It's finally just escalated enough to get attention.

Whether Peterson and Brizzie offer real solutions that will work or whether they turn it into a polical blame game, at least people are talking. My questions? Where is the IPD in all this? Why haven't they taken the leadership on this issue? And last night, I was disgusted as I turned to the evening news to see the lead story -- penguins from the Indianapolis Zoo were injurerd in an truck accident in Texas. Who the fuck cares?! (I forgot the news editing rule: Cute animals trump murder every time. People will actually donate money for penguin recovery but not spend a dime on neighborhood cleanup.) Murders have occurred blocks from my home and from the homes of my friends. A man on his bicycle, men and women in their cars, a young man in an alley. And I'm not hearing any real talking about the elephant in the room -- the root cause of the violence.

** NPR has been featuring a "Portrait on Poverty" series on Africa. What about a "Portrait on Poverty" series on the United States. Why can't we focus on fixing poverty and education here at home which will help keep all of us safer. Hope will trump violence. June's killings occurred because the shooters believed there was money in the house, that the people who lived there had something they didn't, something they wanted. Their solution? Take it.

** Indiana has to acknowledge that it has an issue with race. We have to acknowledge that a large population of young, black men drop out of school, fail to get or keep minimum wage jobs, and resort to violence. They have no hope of education or a future, not to mention their ability to support their children.

** What's gentrification got to do with it? Potentially much. Fall Creek Place's three (and soon to be four) phases have pushed out tremendous numbers of people who were used to a certain security and community in a large, low-income neighborhood. I think gentrification has been great for the city, but you can't just ignore the larger issues. As a large part of the Near Northside and Fall Creek Place have become havens for young couples, first time home buyers, empty nesters, renovators, and new condo dwellers, these communities see what's been "taken" from them symbolized by new residents with more money, nicer cars, and new homes. There's no boundary for the violence and it's spilled over into these new neighborhoods ringed with old community nightclubs and housing.

** Can we blame the heat? It's possible. There is some truth to the idea that the extreme heat may be causing a bit of a summer meltdown. However, it's more likely attibutable to more people spending more time out of doors in the evening when it cools off. Poor people don't have air conditioning.

** Paging Melina Kennedy. I'd say if she doesn't make a strong appearance in the next couple of weeks, Melina Kennedy's race may be over well before election day. Carl Brizzi is a smart political animal and will make every solution an advantage for him in November. If Kennedy want's to play up his failings, she'd better get some news time on it. They won't be there for long.

** No one's talking about the real problem. No one. The Star today has a decent piece on the disproportionate number of young, black men involved with the crime wave. They also have comments and advice from several sources such as Steve Campbell and Frank Anderson. But encouraging the African Amerian community to police itself and fix the problem doesn't mean it's going to happen. Everyone is standing around saying "this is what needs to happen" but very few are actually willing to step up to the plate.

** More taxes? More police? More hours? More jail? The city solution is to throw more police at the problem. It's certainly a start, but it wasn't without a warning that it would cost us. (The Star even ran a story over the weekend on the large cost overruns in overtime IPD has accumulated so far this year. ) More policing is part of the answer. Better policing is the other.

** Want to know more? For a refreshing take on race in America and what it will take to move forward, read John McWhorter's Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America (Gotham, 2005). He's a smart, black college professor who is one of the first to say he doesn't get some elements of today's racial movements and give all Americans -- black and white -- a road map for moving forward.

Boy Du Jour

2006-08-07T20:20:00.000-04:00

Brizzi's war on crime must be working. When a guy didn't call, I've often commented that he'd better be dead ... or in jail. And this week so far, the only man to call me is the inmate from the Marion County Jail who won't stop collect calling my mobile phone! (Sean? John? Son?)

This evening, I got home and there's actually a message on my land line (my office line) from a case worker/clerk for someone who is *not me* or related to me in any way. The plot thickens. When my mother used to say "don't worry, boys will call you", I'm not sure this is what she meant.

Update: He's now been trying to call me collect three times a day for three days. I've tried every way I know to say "wrong number". I want him to stop -- even though, well, no other men are calling me right now. Oh, what am I saying? Dude, stop calling me!

Artists, Be Creative!

2006-07-31T14:33:00.000-04:00

Today, over at On The Cusp, Christopher announces the Call for Artists for the 2nd Annual Spike-a-delic, a fundraiser for iMOCA (the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art). Teams of artists will incorporate found objects the crowd brings into their pieces on the night of the event. There will be awards including five cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon (unofficial beer of the art world) for the audience favorite. As chair of the event, I'm sponsoring the beer. Anyone know where I can find 5 cases of PBR? I'm willing to road trip for it.

Catching Up with HAMB

2006-07-28T09:57:00.000-04:00

Long summer. Too hot. Very busy. Work taking over. Still training. No time. Need sleep. More coffee. More water. These days it's all about needs. Soon, I'll be back at it every day. In the meantime, here's something to hold you over.

11:00 a.m. Air Raid is back! It seems that once the World Cup was over, Jim found that blogging helped exercise his writing muscles instead of sapping his creative energy. I like to think of it as a great warm up exercise to keep the brain engaged. I'm glad he's back! Friday 11:00 a.m air raids weren't the same without him.

Lance Bass is out! I only mention this because a friend of mine is the literary agent for his partner's book. Confused? Not as confused as many of his fans.

Triathlon fever. OK, not fever. Maybe just a hot flash. My first triathlon was fine but the crowds and logistics were a bit of a freakshow. 4000 competitors, all women, and 10,000+ people with spectators, families, and friends. It was, in a word? Nuts. But, you know, I'm doing it again, so what do I know.

Hot hot hot RCA finals. Sun, booze slushees, great seats, hot (and I do mean *hot*, as in sweaty) attractive men dueling it out on the hard court. What's not to love? We tried to pay one of the girls $10 to yell "Blake is a hottie!" during a quiet moment, but she wouldn't do it.

Not again. Tour de France officials are saying today that winner, American Floyd Landis, may have failed a drug test during the race, testing positive for abnormally high levels of testosterone. No word yet on sanctions. In the meantime, Landis appears to have pulled out of some high profile events and may be undergoing treatment for his injured hip. Note that many of the riders caught up in the pre-tour bust have been cleared (not Ulrich, though). Of course, there hasn't been much press on that. The cycling world waits to see how Landis B sample tests.

Former Indy Star Columnist Ruth Holladay starts her own blog. She inaugurates it by blasting the newspaper for disabling 911 calling from the newsroom which she believes contributed to photographer Mpozi Tolbert's death. Look for the same ranting, slightly mis-informed edgy columns you knew her for in the Star, only without a strong editorial hand to ensure she gets her facts straight.

On the Central Library Fiasco: Speaking of the Star, if you haven't yet read their in-depth investigative piece on the Central Library project, do. It's a nice piece of reporting and should be required reading as a cautionary tale for anyone serving on a board or committee. Some have tried to play it up as a political issue, but the real lesson here is the failure in oversight. The people on this board weren't (and aren't) construction experts or engineers. I wouldn't presume to tell my general contractor how to build my house, and here we have an entire library board who decided they could manage a $100 million construction project. Sadly, their mistakes will be affect funding for a large number of unrelated library programs over the next few years.

And last but not least, Danica Patrick moves to Andretti Green Racing: I wonder if this will make it harder for her to get on David Letterman's show?

A Bucketful of Pointers

2006-07-06T20:35:00.000-04:00

Summer vacation has kicked in. Actually, I've been slammed with work and even with the holiday, the blogging vacation has kicked in. In lieu of anything actually, you know, original, I give you a blog full of pointers today!

*This weekend, I will be in Chicago, doing this crazy thing. Go, me! Go Danskin!

*Congratulations to Jason at Four Square 266 -- he finally finished the nursery. And their baby promptly showed up! Welcome to the planet, Jacob Daniel.

*In the no-shit-Sherlock department, finally, someone realizes crime is up in Indianapolis. Yes, it is. Now will someone please do something about it? From Abdul Hakim-Shabazz at Indiana Barrister.

*Indianapolis Star photographer Mpozi Tolbert collapsed and died in the newsroom last week. No word yet on the cause. Post comments at On the Cusp.

Gomez Today!

2006-07-02T09:56:00.000-04:00

We may get caught in the rain, but I'll be at the Gomez show this afternoon at the White River State Park Lawn.

Sad, Shocked,and Angry: RIP Phil Smith

2006-06-27T08:17:00.000-04:00

Some of you know I've been on the WeLL for a long time. The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link was one of the first online communities and is still one of the most significant. Started by futurist Stewart Brand in 1985, it quickly became an online conclave of writers, thinkers, technology geeks, and, yes, Dead heads. Over the years, the community has remained a spirited, tight, loyal place that many from the outside find hard to penetrate. It's still a daily part of hundreds of lives and I have friends across the country -- many I've met face-to-face -- that make me feel part of their families, activities, hobbies and trials. On the WeLL, we discuss issues, argue politics, and offer thoughtful (and sometimes silly) discourse on every topic under the sun. It's an amazing place for research and to access some of the top doers and thinkers in almost every hobby or interest. I've been honored to host the Sailing conference with my sailing mentor and SF Bay sailor Paul Kamen for many years.

Over the years, the WeLL has become famous for a number of Internet concepts: You Own Your Own Words which means no one has the right to repost or use anything you may have written on the WeLL; on the WeLL, no one is anonymous, you have to give an actual name to login; and in one of the WeLL's shining moments, the parenting conference was nationally recognized as magazine editor Phil Catalfo chronicled his son, Gabe's battle with leukemia. If I didn't know these people before, I shared their heartbreak, and knew them afterwards.

Yesterday, in the worst of tragedy, fellow WeLL member Philip Butler Smith was killed on a 45-day cross country bicycle trip from Seattle to Washington DC. It was day four of the trip. Phil was a sailor, a cyclist, and father extraordinaire and had filled us all in on the trip. (He was planning to blog from the road.) The trip was part of Adventure Cycling's 30th Anniversary taking 30 or so cyclists across the US. Phil was struck by a car on an open and wide stretch of road outside Davenport, Washington. He was on the 5-foot wide shoulder riding a recumbent bicycle when a woman (apparently unimpaired) struck him. He died at the scene.

I'm angry because yet another responsible, experienced cyclist has been killed in the most useless of situations. Bike trips are a great way to spend a long vacation -- I have friends who have biked through Ireland, Italy, France, and all sections of Indiana, the Midwest, and the West. Organized trips are generally considered pretty safe. We don't know much about what happened, but in an apparently wide open stretch of road, it's a mystery to me how the front end of this woman's car could have come in contact with Phil and his bicycle. It's tragic and unbelievable and makes me unspeakably pissed off. Yes, open road cycling can be dangerous (as can any sport) but an organized group of cyclists should be able to share a wide, safe, open road with cars and still not take their lives in their own hands. There's so much we don't know -- how far was he separated from the group, whether they had a car escort with them, how well was his bike marked, or whether it was a factor that he was on a recumbent bike. However, at the end of the day, none of these are a cause of this senseless tragedy. It makes me pissed off to even be driving a car. I'm furious, sad, shocked, and angry.

Please, when you see cyclists, pay attention. When you see cyclists, slow down. Have some respect, and be smart. Give them some room, and prevent your own tragedy. RIP Philip Butler Smith.

More from Washington news.

The Movie Meme

2006-06-18T10:43:00.000-04:00

Final Update! And this round in closed. Thanks for playing, everyone! Two no one guessed -- #4 was High Society (the movie musical version of the The Philadelipha Story and Grace Kelly's last film also starring Bing Crosby, a young Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong.) #5 was Proof of Life with Russell Crowe as a ransom/rescue specialist and based on the Vanity Fair story Adventures in the Ransom Trade.

X-tra Rant didn't tag anyone specifically, but this meme was pretty cool so I thought I'd take up the gauntlet. Here's how it works:

A. Pick 11 of your favorite movies.
B. Then pick one of your favorite quotes from each movie.
C. Post the quotes on your blog.
D. Have commenters guess what the movie is.
E. Either strike out the quote once it has been correctly identified or place the guesser’s user name directly after the quote.
F. Extra points for knowing the actor or character’s name.

Movie 1: The Godfather (Anonymous),
"I don't want my brother coming out of that toilet with just his dick in his hands, alright?" Sonny Corleone (James Caan)

Movie 2: The Big Easy (torporific)
"New Orleans is a marvelous place for coincidence."

Movie 3: Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Jason266)
"That's all John, sweetheart."

Movie 4: High Society
"There's a dark horse in this here race and my boy's running a slow third."
or
"You'll find it under Harvard Classics. Just give Darwin a little nudge. "

Movie 5: Proof of Life
"You and me, we open our own shop. I run New York, you run London. We meet in the Caymans once a month to visit our money!"

Movie 6: Star Wars (original, now called Episode IV) (Anonymous)
"It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home!" Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)

Movie 7: It's a Wonderful Life (Kevin)
"Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!" George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart)

Movie 8: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Curmudgeon)
After a girl drives off leaving him stranded: "This never happened to the other fella." James Bond (George Lazenby)

Movie 9: Goldfinger (Curmudgeon)
"My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs! " James Bond (Sean Connery)

Movie 10: True Lies (Joanne gets the movie and Brian D. gets the speaker)
Explaining their screw up to their boss: "It's a scale really, with a perfect mission at one end and a total pooch screw at the other, and we're right about in the middle." (Faisil, the tech guy)
or
"The guy is a used car salesman! This just keeps getting better and better!....I'm sorry, Harry, I know this is hard for you. But you gotta admit if this was me you'd be laughing your ass off!" Albert Gibson (Tom Arnold)

Movie 11 (also a million great quotes from this movie:) Pulp Fiction (Joanne)
"So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass."

"Hey, you, Flock of Seagulls." (Jules)

"Check out the big brain on Brett!" (Jules)

"Garçon means boy." (Waitress)

"Sorry baby but I had to crash that Honda." (Bruce Willis, the boxer)

Oh, I could go on for hours. Go forth and guess. With this meme, I thee tag: Erudite Redneck, Jason at Foursquare 266, Nick at Torpor Indy, Brian at Confessions of an Exhausted Mind, and, hmmm, Lemming.

Danskin Danskin Everywhere

2006-06-09T10:43:00.000-04:00

I've been a little distracted lately. Besides being crazed with work and regular life, I found myself agreeing to do the Danskin Triathlon in Chicago, July 9 (known to all my friends these days as "this nutty triathlon".) It's a sprint distance tri -- 750m swim (.5 mile)/20k bike (12.4 miles)/5k run (3.1 miles). When I started 4.5 weeks ago, any one of those activities in a day was a good workout. But all three? In one morning? I do a fair amount of biking in the summers, and knew I could finish 5K of walking/jogging, but the swimming was a bit of an unknown. I hadn't been in a pool to actually, you know, *swim* since junior high. But I did some research, put together a training plan, and now that I'm out there, I'm feeling much more confident. The run is slow -- a jog for me, the biking is under control, and the swim? The first day I swam at the IUPUI natatorium, I thought the lifeguard was going to make me get out of the pool. I didn't think I'd make it past the halfway mark of a 50-meter length. Eventually all those swimming lessons from summers past kicked in and now, I'm getting through my 750 meters like a champ -- a crawling/backstroking/ huffing/puffing champ. The event is scored beginning to end including transitions between swimming, biking and running. My goal is to finish in 3 hours or less.

But this week, I started to get nervous -- OK, *scared*. The logistics seem overwhelming. Saturday features mandatory registrations, events, bike racking, car parking, body marking, and more. What if I find out something at the last minute that changes all my preparation and planning? Sunday -- event day -- begins around 4:00 a.m. I'm petrified that I'll forget something, or miss a shuttle bus, or be in the wrong place, or screw up in some way before I even *start* the event. I'm trying to cure this fear with research, race reports, books, and good preparation. I'm practicing my transitions (ever tried to put on bike shorts when you're wet from the pool?) and planning to head to Chicago next weekend to check out the course. Working out helps -- at least I know I can control that part. (This week I've done 2 swims, 2 5K runs, 2 bike rides (one 12 m, and one long, 20-25 miles), 3 yoga classes, 1 massage, 2 sessions of weight training, and a pedicure. Pedicures count as motivation.)

The good news? I'm four weeks out and feeling good. Heart rates are in target ranges, I've had no injuries, and I've built a lot of strength. (You boys should never discount yoga. It can kick your ass.) I also have begun to experience what all girls know to be true -- your boobs are the first to go as you lose bodyfat. The bad news? No one has yet agreed to be waiting for me on the finish line with a pitcher of margaritas and a funnel. But I hold out hope. This is what I *really* need a training buddy for.

Give Those Bikers a Break!

2006-06-07T23:10:00.000-04:00

Hey, kids, looks like the annual summer ritual of cars hitting bicyclists has started already. IPD reports an unidentified man was hit and killed riding his bike overnight on the southside. Now, I drive a car, too, and know how easy it would be to miss someone on a bike (or even walking) at night. I'm guessing he had no lights. Plus, it was 2:00 a.m. And why is he unidentified? Because he had no ID.

If you ride a bike, make sure you're very smart about it. Sure, it's a driver's responsibility not to hit you, but you can be just as *not dead* by making smart riding decisions.

* At night, make sure you have lights on your bike. Headlamps if you ride at night are hugely necessary, and I even recommend one of those flashing lights for your seat post pointing and flashing behind you. You can get small kits that easily come on and off for night and day use.
* Make sure you ride smart. Obey traffic laws and all that, but try to avoid streets that are very narrow with heavy traffic. Adjust your routes accordingly. I've been known to ride on an unused sidewalk or two if the street (or drivers) were a little scary. Don't be too right and dead anyway.
* Make sure you wear a helmet. Yes. They look dorky. Yes, you look like a big, adult goober. However, you will be alive if a car hits you. And don't discount operator error. The worst bike accident I've had as an adult was due to a "braking error" and luckily, I was wearing a helmet, or it would have been my head cracked and not the plastic.
* Don't wear headphones. I've been known to listen to NPR from time to time on the Monon trail, but even with only one ear bud in, it's a significant distraction. You must know what's going on around you and you can't do that with headphones on a bike -- especially on a city street.
* Stay to the side of the road. Yes, I know what they say in driver's ed, but a bicycle can't really handle a lane on its own. Stay to the side, let cars pass, and look out for car doors opening as you pass. BTW, bike lanes in Indy are pretty useless regardless of how city officials tout the city as bicycle friendly. It's kind of pointless to have them downtown if they let cars *park* in them.
* Don't ride impaired. This may seem like a no-brainer, but um, don't ride your bike drunk. At two in the morning.
* Always carry your ID when you ride. If you don't carry your ID and are hit by a car, the hospital staff will have a really hard time figuring out who you are (not to mention whether or not you have health insurance.) If you're in an accident, you'll need it for the police. And a mobile phone is helpful, just in case. (I carry my driver's license, keys, $5 in cash, and a mobile phone in a small plastic ziplock bag in a tiny case just under my seat post every time I ride.)

I'm all for placing blame on car drivers when necessary, but as bikers, we have a responsibility too. Be a safe rider and smart rider, especially if you ride at night. Hopefully, this will the only bicycle fatality we see all summer.

Mugshot of the Day

2006-06-06T11:55:00.000-04:00

Somebody looks grouchy! Because if you have to have a mugshot, you should at least have a snarly look on your face. Plus, his name is "Snook".

Going to Hell in a Handbasket

2006-06-06T07:35:00.000-04:00

Maybe it's just my morning mood, or maybe it's the dreaded 06/06/06 date but what the H-E-Doublehockeysticks is going on around Indianapolis? At what point is someone going to start asking questions about the IPD, their ability to fight (and even prevent crime), and Brizzi's tactics as crime-fighting-overlord in the city. To wit:

Another shooting on the Eastside -- This time with four people in the home (including one child), three adults are shot, one seriously injured during a ... wait for it ... robbery on the east side. Only a mile from the house where *7 people* were shot in killed in a robbery last week, here you have the same MO, only this time no one died. I can see why a criminal would think a home invasion would be so lucrative because it obviously worked so well the last time!

"But, they shot first!": Stuart and Turner, the two suspects in last week's mass killing, are finally starting to talk. And what we've learned so far? Well Stuart says one of the victims drew a gun and was about to shoot Turner, so Stuart shot first. Turner took care of the rest. Proving once again that we really are still all in first grade.

And in another head scratcher: An IPD officer is arrested for DWI for a second time in a year and still on the force. Last time, after an off-duty security job in Broad Ripple, this guy got in his car and drove away under the watchful eyes of his fellow officers who promptly arrested him. This time, he was caught weaving down Keystone -- having just come from Broad Ripple. After the last incident, he was suspended for 45 days and sent to treatment. Now, I'm all about second chances, but why is no one asking the obvious question: How is this guy still an IPD officer?

What's Your Best Feature?

2006-06-01T08:28:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard yet about the .5 mm Project from local photographer Keith Clark, you will. Clark, an architect by day, started the project in February with a mission to find and photograph 100 people and their favorite body parts. So far, he's shot arms, legs, eyes, bellies, backs, shoulders, feet, and more. ("It's funny," he says. "I can't believe I haven't had a guy say his penis is his favorite body part yet.") The photos are fun, beautiful, and ultimately, a very telling exploring self-image by focusing on what people like about themselves, instead of what they dislike.

Look for mentions of Keith's project in a June issue of InTake (he photographed several of the editors and writers) and the July Indianapolis Monthly. He's had one gallery approach him about a show and I think a launch party would be a real hoot. But for Keith, it's about the art, the exploration and the people. He's photographed 60-70 subjects so far and looking to finish in the next couple of months. If you're interested in participating, contact Keith Clark though his "subjects" page.

And yes, those are my legs. My favorite body part.

I'm Baaa-aaaaack!

2006-05-30T22:46:00.000-04:00

I'm proud to report that Oklahoma is just the same -- hot, dry, dusty, and home. Not much of a wheat crop this year. They've had an awful drought and we grazed ours out earlier in the summer. Spent the rest of the long weekend of working in the yard, hiding from the heat, eating home-cooked Panhandle food, and visiting with family. Even with four flights and 10 hours of driving to get out to the homestead, it's worth it. (Enjoyed the audio version of Anne Garrels' Naked in Baghdad while I was on the road. It's a terrific account of the NPR correspondent's time broadcasting out of Baghdad during the invasion.)

Home is always just that -- settling into a routine that was mine for 18 years and still feels familiar when I slip it back on. For the first few hours I'm back in Oklahoma, I always feel like the city mouse in the country, but then I get home and it all just feels comfortable again. The routine becomes mine again, church on Sundays with lunch out afterwards, cutting fresh flowers to take to the cemetery for "Decoration Day," visiting aunts and uncles who like to keep up.

Yesterday, we went out to the cemetery early to help put flags on veterans' graves and clean and decorate family plots. We puttered in the shed (rehabbing an old 10-speed road bike), ran to Wal-Mart for tire inflater, deferred fixing the broken valve stem, had lunch, took a nap, then pruned hedges, and sat outside with the new barn kittens playing in the back yard.

But, as usual, I come back to my own home with a fresh mind ready to tackle big projects. It feels good to be at my old home, but good to be at my own "new" home, too. Tomorrow, it's back to work -- calls, email, lunch meetings, manuscripts, proposals, deals, contracts, and conference calls. In the meantime, it's late and I'm off to rub antiseptic ointment over all my bug bites, thorn scratches, and splinters from home.

It's a Media Frenzy!

2006-05-25T11:03:00.000-04:00

Three people in the past week have quizzed me -- ok, *grilled me* -- on what I'm reading. As a book editor, I always think it's interesting to hear what people are digging into, or putting down, or finally getting to, but for some reason, I find it oddly uncomfortable when I get asked about it. Contrary to popular opinion, some editors don't read that much for fun. I read almost no fiction (primarily because most of it's just so awful.) Plus, I think books are pretty personal. Half the time, I'm reading something embarrassingly bad. So, for those of you who are interested (and apparently you're out there which mystifies me, but to each his own voyeuristic freakshow), here's my current media list:

Books: Just finished Freakonomics. Loved it. Everyone is telling me to read The World is Flat, but I looked at it in the bookstore and it looked too deep. As a rule, I don't read books that take the fun out of learning. I'm currently reading The 911 Commission Report, Triathlons for Women (by Sally Edwards), The Complete Book of Triathlons (also by Sally Edwards), and an unpublished manuscript that I have to finish by the weekend.

Over the holiday weekend as I'm traveling, I hope to read The Twentieth Wife (sort of an Indian Memoirs of a Geisha), Tony Bordain's new book The Nasty Bits, and another manuscript. I'll do a bookswap with my dad when I get home and end up re-reading the most recent Harry Potter book. (I read a lot when I'm gone.)

Audio: In the car (10 hours of driving), this weekend, I'll be listening to Naked in Baghdad (NPR correspondent Anne Garrels' book on her time in Baghdad during the Iraq war) and The Devil in the White City (by Erik Larson). Yes, I know I'm the last person in America who hasn't read this book.

Music: What's on my playlist these days? Why, inspirational post-workout tunes, of course! Teddy Geiger's Love is a Marathon (ain't that the truth), Confidence (also by Teddy Geiger), and Mick Jagger's God Gave Me Everything I Want. (Hey, baby, you put Lenny Kravitz on guitar behind The Old Rugged Cross and I'd love it.)

Blogs: OK, what blogs I'm reading is something I'm comfortable with. I share pointers every day! Welcome to Jeffrey and Carole's new addition, Revelin Newton McManus. Cool name, kid! Good thing Jeffrey didn't follow through and blog the whole thing from the delivery room. Over at IndyNess, I'm loving reading all about Vanessa and Mel's quest to be their own baby mamas down to every last excrutiating detail about ovulation and insemination. At IndyScribe, Jennifer Bortel posts some pics of the mini Marathon, focusing especially on the weird music groups along the way.

Food: What? What? You want to know what I'm eating? Right this second? OK, I give up. Total yogurt with honey from Trader Joe's. There! Is that enough for you? Sickos.

Rove Indictment: The Story that Wasn't

2006-05-22T12:57:00.000-04:00

More from today's Washington Post on the big blog story that never happened -- the Rove indictment. The day of the highly blogged big meeting?

Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's lawyer, says he spent most of the day on May 12 taking his cat to the veterinarian and having a technician fix his computer at home.

He was stunned, therefore, when journalists started calling to ask about an online report that he had spent half the day at his law office, negotiating with Patrick Fitzgerald -- and that the special prosecutor had secretly obtained an indictment of Rove.

Sadly, at the root of it all is yet another "journalist" who could have potentially fabricated sources in this story and others. Blogger or not, this sort of thing gives all of us who worked hard to earn journalism degrees a bad name. It's not a blog-related phenomenon as those at the NY Times can tell you. There's no question that good bloggers are bird-dogging good stories for the mainstream media now on a regular basis. But an alleged bad apple just puts a rotten shine on the whole system.

The Anonymous Lawyer Revealed!

2006-05-19T23:03:00.000-04:00

I'm in DC at a publishing show and among the literally 1000s of books, what was the single coolest title I saw today? The bound galleys (advanced reading copy) for Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman. Coming this fall from Heny Holt we get the story of a hiring partner at a fictitious LA law firm and his personal and professional battles -- as well as a whole lot of ways to torture associates and "summers'. Based on the Anonymous Lawyer blog it's not clear what came first -- the book or the blog. Either way, it's pretty damn funny. I'm halfway through the book now -- first person to email me gets it. Or really just gets a huge pile of extra work to do over the weekend.

Duck and Cover: God Punishes Seattle

2006-05-18T10:14:00.000-04:00

Is anyone still listening to Pat Robertson? How did anyone ever think he was credible enough to run for President? Oh, wait, it was back when we had a Republican party that actually cared what we moderates had to say and the right-wingers had to run their own candidate. But I digress...

Robertson is chock full of wacky predictions these days, his latest straight from the big man himself. From "The 700 Club" via WFTV in Florida : (Are you kidding? Do you think *I* watch "The 700 Club"?)

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8. He added specifics in Wednesday's show. "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest," he said.

I can't decide if he needs to move to this claptrap from CBN to The Psychic Network or join the guys from Ghost Hunters on SciFi. On the other hand, if he's got a direct link to God, I wonder if he could find out something useful, like what kind of season the Colts are going to have this year.

Make sure you check back in this space in case there actually *is* a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest. What could God possibly have against Seattle? It seems like in Robertson's world anything bad that happens is punishment for sin, so I'm trying to think what God has against all those coffee drinkers and grunge rockers. Wouldn't Hollywood be a better target? (Although, he might want to warn Kirk Cameron who's doing the Left Behind films.) What about that bastion of decadence, that Babylon by the Sea, San Francisco? Wouldn't it be a great tsunami target? (I mean, as long as we're killing sinners, all those foodies should be up for grabs, right?) Maybe it's an indictment of alcohol -- maybe everything will be spared but the vineyards. Or maybe, just maybe, Bill Gates really did sell his soul. Puts a whole new spin on the Microsoft "evil empire", doesn't it?

Here and There and Back Again

2006-05-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

I'm traveling this week and weekend so this may be all you get until next week. (Then I'm out again but may be able to share some dispatches from the hinterlands.) In the meantime, here are a few tidbits that have been accumulating.

Are you red or are you blue? Sadly, 11:00 a.m. Air Raid calls it quits leaving the rest of us to deal with the actual 11:00 Friday air raids on our own. I understand first hand the difficulties in balancing blogging, work, and life as well as blogging and writing. It's a personal struggle each of us has to solve in our own way -- and productively. Here's to hoping he can figure it out or he appears in a blog in another form. How else will I get my footie fix?

Speaking of Done ... Buffalo Wings and Vodka has a significant announcement. That's done with law school, folks. It's the shortest posts that say the most.

Beating a Dead Horse, Pt II: Doug Masson blogged on Bosma's prayer appeal last week and I meant to link since he rails on it better than I would have. Bosma is milking this prayer appeal for all it's worth. And in the "I Think I'm Going to Throw Up" category, Mike Delph used way to much valuable editorial page space in last Sunday's Star describing his "Contract with Indiana" which, of course, includes restoring hand-raising, praise-Jesus loving sectarian prayer to the statehouse. "Senators should invite members of the faith-based community in their districts to open our sessions in prayer." Wow, Mike, do you think they could invite Jewish, Wiccan, Islamic, and even, gasp, Episcopalian clergy? There's never a gay priest around when you need one.

And in the News that Wasn't News Category: I thought Karl Rove was supposed to be indicted and resign last Monday? Hmmm. Maybe the blog world got it wrong this time. In the blog world it's always a new day (and no one knows you're a dog -- old Internet joke.)

On Why Franklin Lost

2006-05-11T16:04:00.000-04:00

Tully reports his column tomorrow will be on the upcoming Congressional race between Julia Carson and Erik Dickerson and why Ron Franklin lost the primary. I won't come as any surprise to anyone that the Marion County GOP screwed the pooch on this one. From Political Junkie:

Franklin said political advisors assured him Dickerson was no real threat, that he didn't need to spend money on TV or radio advertising in the days leading up to the primary. That's hard to believe, as even pontificating pundits around town knew Dickerson was a formidable candidate. And Dickerson's campaign was plenty visible, with advertising and a Mitch Daniels-like RV rolling through town.

The comments section over at Tully's blog promises to be a real hoot over the next few days. There's no question that there's plenty of blame to go around. The Marion County GOP for being arrogant enough to think they could win and Franklin for being stupid enough to believe them.

Newsflash: Nutjob Still a Nutjob

2006-05-11T12:50:00.000-04:00

Matt Tully interviews Senate-candidate Greg Walker in yesterday's Indy Star. Walker still comes off as an idiot. I really think people need to rethink voting for someone who says their first priority is going to be concentrating on anti-abortion legislation. Regardless of how you personally feel about the issue, don't you want a candidate who's first priority will be working on legislation that actually might make a useful difference in your daily life? (That means you, yes you, rural Indiana old white guy.) Plus, there's the whole flogging thing. Loon.

A Day of Pros and Cons

2006-05-11T12:26:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure there's such a thing as a "bad day". Sure, there are days when the stars just fall out of alignment and every single thing is off track, but for the most part, days are a system of pros and cons. For every large disaster or tiny mishap, there's a fantastic discovery or just something you think is funny. If you're in tune, it all balances out. For example, today:

Cons: Hungover, rainy-windy-cold, morning meeting stood me up

Pros: GOMEZ is part of the White River State Park series this summer and will be here July 2! I found the folders I wanted at Staples. (Gomez is a treat live -- they did one hell of show here at Birdy's a couple of summers ago.)

Plus, a great Brezsnyscope for this week (courtesy of Free Will Astrology):

You now have the power to raise a million dollars for charity. For that matter, you could launch an organization that would last a hundred years, make an invigorating connection with a resourceful ally, or talk a depressed person out of suicide. On the other hand, it's also conceivable that you could tally the highest score on the Berzerk video game or engage in spectacular drunken stunts that earn you a spot on the local TV news. In other words, Cancerian, there's a high potential for you doing something very big, whether it's smart and great or dumb and useless. Choose wisely how you want this cosmic tendency to manifest.

Fast Day at the Track

2006-05-10T17:29:00.000-04:00

I only get to the track when I have a VIP Suite pass firmly in hand. Today was lovely -- not crowded, fast times, no waits for shuttles, and enjoyable with lots of track food and beer. And I was already on my way out when it started raining.

2006-05-07T08:57:00.000-04:00

As if I need one more crazy thing in my life, I'm doing the Danskin Triathalon in Chicago in July. Eiyiyi! It's a long story that involves more than just a personal desire to succeed, but I finally just committed and will be starting a 9 week training program tomorrow for a July 9 competition date. As I was sitting have multiple beers with friends yesterday who ran the mini, I could only think how crazy I was to begin training just about the time that they're all getting ready for the summer off-season. I like being fit and working out, but it seriously cuts into my drinking time. I'm celebrating the start of training season by taking a long warm up bike ride today. After I hydrate this hangover. And finish coffee. And breakfast. And a nap. I feel like I already need a cocktail.

In other news around the bloggy world today:

I didn't go home this year for the Guymon Rodeo like I usually do. I'm making the trek on Memorial Day weekend instead. TEditor gives us a little taste of home.
Tim Goodman breaks down the latest doings on Survivor. (Yes, I admit it, I'm a Survivor junkie.)

2006-05-04T08:47:00.000-04:00

Lawgeekgurl over at Cerulean Blue has a solid take on the Garton defeat and what it means to Indiana. It's a sad state of affairs when the economic development and progress for this state we all work on is made to sit in the back seat of the religous car driven by a right-wing nutjob. I disagree with her about the governor, but in terms of the legislator, I think she's spot on. She writes:

The whackjob religious extremists have made startling inroads in the legislature. There were always what we called the "God Squadders" who cared more about what you were doing in your bedroom than the state's economic health, job creation, public health, or any of the other myriad problems facing Indiana. But in the last five years or so, it's become downright scary. Moderates have given way to extremists. Reasoned debate (to the extent that there was any - it's the legislature, after all) has given way to hyperbolic, incendiary rhetoric. What the hell is it that someone like Larry Borst could be knocked off in the primary by an unknown nutjob whose sole platform was anti-abortion, anti-abortion and more anti-abortion? What kind of place is it where an institution like Bob Garton, President Pro Tem of the Senate for 36 years can get booted in the primary by someone with no legislative experience whose positions are: home schooling, anti-abortion, and a gun in every pot. He says things like "Revisionist judges should not secularize religious expression in Indiana" for crying out loud. That doesn't even make sense, for God's sake!

More from her (along with an excellent post on Stephen Colbert's skewering of the President.

We Live in Interesting Times

2006-05-03T12:46:00.000-04:00

In what was ultimately no surprise, Erik Dickerson wins the Republican primary for Congressional District 7. Julia Carson (Tully reports) presented her Congressional ID to vote which isn't a valid ID since it has no expiration date. The inspector let her vote anyway. How's that for a technicality? It will be interesting to see how the GOP embraces him now.

And in an upset that almost everyone missed, Sen Pro Tem John Garton was upset in his primary race by a guy who thinks public flogging is OK with him. I know there were a lot of politics happening in that race, but that whole thing is just weird.

And, by the way, the Chinese have absolutely no idea what we're talking about with the "ancient curse" of "May he live in interesting times."

Readers Respond!

2006-05-02T14:36:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo, the email I've gotten! I love how my blog readers care less that I called Ron Franklin the GOP's bitch and are more focused on the fact that I find Mike McDaniel oddly attractive. OK, let me clarify things. I like what Mike McDaniel has to say -- we think very much alike -- but I'm really more a Jim Shella kind of girl. (I'm not so much with the facial hair, but hey, at least he *has* hair.)

So, hey, Jim, if you're not doing anything Friday night... Hey, it could have been worse. I could have been oddly attracted to Matthew Tullly. Now *that* would have been weird.

Jim Shella's Blog
Matthew Tully's Blog

Primary Day in District 7

2006-05-01T09:02:00.000-04:00

With all the Kiser craziness over at Bilerico plus general Kiser chat, I haven't weighed in yet on the Republican primary side. And since the Indy Star was so helpful as to provide a voter's guide in yesterday's edition (NOT!), I'm having to do my own research for tomorrow's primary. The biggest focus? The Congressional GOP primary for District 7.

My pick? I'm voting for Erik Dickerson. (Half of my very serious Marion County GOP pals just felt cold shivers down their spines.) Hey, you've got to give the scrappy Dickerson credit. Some would say he was purposefully left out of the slating process while others wail he missed the deadline (by only 2 hours.) Me? I can't imagine who thought Ron Franklin would be a good idea. With the multiple arrest record, the drugs, the failed city-county council term, I just can't see him as Congressional material. Dickerson, OTOH, is the only one with the money and drive to make Julia work for this election. (And yes, Julia will win the primary. I would be incredibly surprised -- delighted, but surprised-- if Kiser won.)

I have a closet crush on Mike McDaniel and usually love what he has to say, but on last Friday's Indiana Week in Review, I found it laughable listening to him try to spout the party line jusifying why they slated Franklin. Reasons ranged from worry that Dickerson would spend too much money too early and make Julia gear up the war council (sure, and what benefit is there to spending no money and not effectively running against her) to the concern that Julia would drop out of the race over the summer with health problems. The Marion County GOP is naive if they think Julia won't seamlessly transition her heir apparent into her role as candidate. This woman isn't stupid; she's got a backup plan. McDaniel's explanations did nothing but help finalize for me who I wanted to vote for: the scrappy outsider who seems to be gaining traction driving around in an RV spending loads of his own money and thumbing his nose at the stuffy and out-of-touch party. He wants this primary, he's spent money on it, and he knows the issues. I haven't even seen a *yard sign* for Ron Franklin down here in the heart of Julia's district. (Pssst, Ron, if the GOP is going to make you their bitch, you should at least get paid well for it.)

At the end of the day, I agree with Kris Kiser's philosophy of running on fresh ideas and making a change instead of just running against Carson. Julia needs to end her Congressional career this fall and we need to bring someone to Congress from central Indiana that can serve with some credibility and dignity. I'm not sure the GOP can get it done this year, but if they can, Dickerson is the best shot.

Ned and Stacey Now on DVD!

2006-04-30T11:58:00.000-04:00

Intake has their results of a 5-minute phoner with actor Thomas Hayden Church. While I never liked Wings, I love love loved his follow up sitcom Ned and Stacey (1995-1997). Starring Church as a commitment-phobe ad exec and Debra Messing as the woman with whom he shared a fake marriage, the show folded after two seasons but not after it launched Messing's Will and Grace career as well as Greg Germann's Ally McBeal gig. (German played Stacey's dimwitted brother-in-law, a co-worker to Church's Ned.) I was thrilled to see Church surface again in Sideways. Look for him in the upcoming animated feature Over the Hedge (at the Indianapolis International Film Festival), as well as Charlotte's Web and Spider-Man 3.

BTW, Ned and Stacey is now available on DVD! (I may have to indulge.)

Today's Game: Real Headline or The Onion?

2006-04-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

We live in a world where we can wake up, look at the headlines and wonder what paper we're reading -- the New York Times or The Onion? So, here's a little guessing game for you today: The New York Times or The Onion?

Fox News Pundit Tony Snow Named White House Press Secretary. Fox news commentator Tony Snow named to replace Scott McClellan. NYTimes? or The Onion?

Rock Star Mick Jagger to star in new ABC Sitcom, Let's Rob Mick Jagger. Letterman writer sells sitcom to ABC about thieves who get to know a celebrity. And they really wanted Jeff Goldblume. NYTimes? or The Onion?

Critics Blast Bush for Not Praying Hard Enough. President of a conservative Christian group, The Family Research Council, says the problem is that Bush isn't praying often enough or effectively. NYTimes? or The Onion?

Environmentalists Lobby for Nukes: Christine Whitman and the co-founder of Greenpeace have been hired by the nuclear energy industry to lead a PR campaign touting the benefits of nuclear energy. NYTimes? or The Onion?

And last, but not least, as if the world wasn't weird enough already, Friday, I saw Eric Dickerson driving the district in a giant RV.

It's The Journey, Not the Destination

2006-04-25T08:36:00.000-04:00

And speaking of "Satisfaction", it appears that the Japanese aren't getting any, sexual satisfaction, that is. In an international study released by sociologists at the University of Chicago, men and women surveyed reported being sexually satisfied at the highest levels in Austria, Spain, Canada, Belgium, and the US. Men and women reporting the lowest levels in Thailand, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Japan. (Reported by the AP over the weekend.)

In Austria, 71% reported being happy or satisfied with their sex lives. In the US, that number dropped to 64.2%. But in Japan? Only 25.7% of respondents said they were sexually satisfied!

The University of Chicago folks think the rankings have to do with gender equality and the fact that people in more developed countries are better educated about sex and have a more satisfying sex life. Sure, but last I checked, Japan wasn't exactly an undeveloped country. And, at 25%, not even the *men* in Japan are sexually satisfied.

I don't think it's nearly that complicated. Maybe men in Japan need some assistance and it will be the next big market for ED drugs. (Surprise, surprise, Pfizer funded the study.) Maybe women just need to say to their partners something zen-like: "Listen, honey, it's about the journey, not the destination." Maybe they need better beds in Japan. I mean, who wants to do the horizontal mambo on a bamboo mat or lumpy futon.

I think the Japanese should do a study of their own. They should send a team of sexual researchers over to Austria and Spain to find out what Europeans know that they don't. Maybe it's the tapas or all that snow. The research team can help document best practices and bring them home again. I mean, they have snow in Japan -- and they have sushi, sort of like Japanese tapas, right? Maybe they all need to just relax, pour a couple of glasses of sake, get some scented candles, some of that warming gel, a sex-toy or two, and start improving their sex ranking. Hmmm, maybe this is about education afer all. I see a booming new market for college graduates in Japan. Forget teaching English, I want to teach *satisfaction*.

Rolling Stones 1; George Bush 0

2006-04-24T16:37:00.000-04:00

I have had a thing for Mick Jagger ever since the 2001 Kevin MacDonald documentary Being Mick. I loved the behind-the-scenes look at this mellow dad and slightly old English guy hanging out with his kids, writing music, and still hobnobbing with his pals.. (He was working on his solo album Goddess in the Doorway.) The guy is just not the "larger than life" rock star we're used to in his onstage, lip-flapping, Satisfaction-screeching splendor. He seems to be a well-adjusted celebrity who seems to know how to deal with everything that comes with being a musician, plus he lives the life of a pretty ordinary English rich guy. Which is why I love him for this latest news.

The Sun is reporting that Jagger is refusing to give up his hotel suite in Vienna to US President George Bush. Bush will be in town for a summit and Jagger will be there for a Rolling Stones concert. Jagger reserved the room first which doesn't mean the White House hasn't tried to get him to move so the President and his staff can have the entire hotel floor. (The Stones have most of it now.) Being President just doesn't command all the perks it used to, especially when you've lost so much respect in Europe (not to mention here at home.) What I love about Jagger is that this has nothing at all do with being a rock star (other than that it enables him to afford the suite) and everything to do with the fact that he really dislikes Bush. Sorry, George.

The Oklahoma-Bigfoot Connection?

2006-04-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

You all know my current obsession with all things Travel Channel, and imagine my irritation with Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns was pre-empted for Bigfootville, a documentary on the search for the ubiquitous bigfoot. But this one was all about sightings in Eastern Oklahoma! Who knew! Ada, Oklahoma and all up and down the river bottoms and wooded areas of the southeastern part of the state are apparently hotbeds for sightings of the large, hairy, and apparently smelly creature. I'm sure the Erudite Redneck will be all over this one since this part of the state is his home territory. It's all new to me. These big things would starve out in my part of the state.

My New Favorite Blog

2006-04-18T06:06:00.000-04:00

SF Chron television critic Tim Goodman has started his own blog, Tim Goodman, The Bastard Machine. (As someone on the WeLL said, as if 5 columns a week wasn't enough.) Lots of posts on the Sopranos, way too many on 24, and lots of yummy tidbits about shows I like.

This week's info? Love Monkey is back on TV briefly. Starting today, VH1 will show the unaired episodes.

Police Chase 12-year-old Driver

2006-04-17T17:26:00.000-04:00

I have so many questions.

Why was a 12-year-old out at 4:30 a.m.?
How/why did he run from police...for 10 miles?
Nine-minutes to go 10 miles? That's better than 60 mph, right?
This happened in Carmel?

Oh, and...WHY WAS HE DRIVING A CAR?!!! I'm dying to know the whole story on this one. From Indychannel.com:

CARMEL, Ind. -- A 12-year-old boy was in critical condition Monday after leading officers on 10-mile car chase, police said. The pursuit ended Sunday morning in Carmel, a northern Indianapolis suburb, when the boy hit a tree, police said. A helicopter flew him to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Westfield police said.

A Westfield officer at 4:07 a.m. spotted a car traveling erratically near U.S. 31 and 216th Street, about 20 miles north of downtown Indianapolis, police said. The boy refused to pull over, leading Westfield officers and Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies on a nine-minute chase. He lost control of the car near 136th Street and U.S. 31 -- about 10 miles south of where police spotted him -- and struck the tree.

Monday Tidbits from Around the Bloggy World

2006-04-17T08:48:00.000-04:00

"... and that readiness is very clear in Indianapolis." On the Cusp has an interview with Maxwell Anderson, the new director of the IMA.

CHOMP -- Whatalent: The Erudite Redneck has broken his Lenten fast and documented every CHOMP of that first greasy burger.

Always Look on the Bright Side! Foursquare 266 reports the national touring company for Spamalot will hit Indianapolis as part of the Broadway Series at the Murat next season. NI! NI!

Surprise Surprise! Maybe we're on to something with this Daylight Savings Time thing after all. Retail stores see jump in sales. Newsflash -- people actually get something done after work! From the IndyStar.

What the Hell Happened Last Night?!

2006-04-15T09:33:00.000-04:00

What the hell did you people do to The Powers That Be to make them unleash that un-holy round of hell storms on us last night -- for the 2nd week in a row? Here I am, lounging on the couch reading a really bad novel when I hear *THONK* *CRASH* *THONK*. Golfballs are raining from the sky. The big ones which are 2-2.5 inches across are hitting the sidewalk and shattering. Car windows are breaking. The really huge ones are ricocheting between the buildings hitting windows -- that's the loud *THONK* I'm hearing. The noise on the roof is pretty disconcerting. I retreat from the windows to the main stairs in my apartment deciding upstairs isn't such a great place to be either.

It was over in 10 minutes. I settle in to a geeky night watching Derek Accorah channel olde English shopkeepers and murderers (this week's Ghost Towns set a record for possessions!), and damned if halfway through Most Haunted (about the time the "astral" is table tipping and turning a television on and off) the sirens go off again and the hail starts in again.

I'd chalk it up to the holy history of Good Friday, but I'm sure it has more to do with the State Supreme Court upholding the Voter ID Bill.

Update: And I just hung up with the insurance company.

a) My poor car looks like someone took a baseball bat to it. The hood is especially dented up with big chunks of paint missing.

b) The building next door which still has all the old fashioned, large, paned windows is a hodgepodge of broken glass. (I can't imagine huge hail stones crashing in and skipping across the floor.) Our 95-year-old windows were replaced last summer with full modern storm windows and we had no breakage (although it wasn't for lack of the hail trying.)

c) There are lots of cars with plastic over broken windows all up and down Meridian between 32nd and south.

d) My insurance company (USAA) has so many car claims they gave me an appointment with the adjustor on Monday and said "look for the tent outside."

Full Dan Brown Verdict

2006-04-13T16:36:00.000-04:00

For all you law geeks out there who haven't already seen this, Publishing News has a full PDF of the Dan Brown verdict. Scroll to the end of the article.

Peonies, Indiana's Favorite, um, Flower.

2006-04-12T20:40:00.000-04:00

Childish, yes, but it it made me laugh. Sent by a friend in Zionsville. He says the actual sign was up for about two hours before they, um, discovered their mistake. BTW, they still do have peonies. Fresh cut. $7.99. (There's a Passover joke in there somewhere, but I'm just not going there.)

Capel to Replace Sampson?

2006-04-11T07:25:00.000-04:00

Some of us care less about Kelvin Sampson going to IU than who will replace him at the University of Oklahoma. The official position at Hoosiers Ate My Brain? Our two favorite teams are Oklahoma State and whoever's playing the hated OU Sooners.

Just like other papers, the Daily Oklahoman uses the "breaking news" emails for really important news:

Report: Capel to be named OU hoops coach

ESPN.com is reporting that Virginia Commonwealth coach Jeff Capel will be named the next men's basketball coach at the University of Oklahoma.

The Met's Don Pasquale

2006-04-05T17:14:00.000-04:00

Moving into obscurity here, I just have to vent about the elitist bullshit of a review in today's Wall Street Journal where Heidi Waleson reviews the performance earlier this week of Don Pasquale at The Metropolitan Opera. She notes that the tenor singing the lead actually bowed out before the last act due to "allergies" and speculates it was because he was being upstaged by the lead soprano Anna Netrebko singing Norina. Whether or not Mr. Florez, the tenor, was so irked by Netrebko's supposed on-stage antics that he bowed out mid performance, is unknown. But, Ms. Waleson's main indictment of "hot soprano" Netrebko's performance? "Regrettably, the opening night audience loved this 'Don Pasquale'".

Well, God forbid an audience should enjoy an opera performance that Ms. Waleson herself didn't like! She seems to feel that the opera world's praise of Ms. Netrebko is somehow less deserved because the singer has "made a few questionable choices, such as an absurd DVD of opera-aria music videos released last year." Look, like it or not, opera is one of the only performing arts in the US right now with growing audiences. And it's not because companies and audiences are embracing the elitist attitudes that opera is only for the "cuhl-tured" with money. What Ms. Waleson may not have considered is that there may have been first time opera goers in the audience that night patronizing the Met because of that "regrettable" DVD of aria music videos. Ms. Waleson would have us believe that you must be a musical snob who loathes overacting and looks down upon fun in order to be *worthy* of opera -- and that this Don Pasquale was sub-par because if it. Ptui. Good for the audience who applauded the low-brow Netrebko. I hope they keep coming back -- if for no other reason than to annoy Ms. Waleson.

Catching up...Again

2006-04-05T15:31:00.000-04:00

Once again, I'm behind. At least my breaks in blogging are shorter. I have a million blog posts... in my head. Here's what's going on in my world:

Yoga: Good stretches, relaxing breathing, lots of incense.

Sun: The time has changed. More sun! Yea! Plus, bonus: It stopped raining.

Technology: Hello, new computer! Hello, XP Pro! Hello, cool, huge flat screen monitor. (My business partner who pulled all my old data off a 6-year-old Gateway hard drive says "'braingirl's' Computer Ate My Brain".)

Surveillance: My apartment building is putting up new video surveillance cameras in the courtyards and grassy areas. Well, you say, you must feel lucky they're looking after your security. Well, I'd say, I would, except the reason they're putting them up is to catch the *pet owners who won't scoop after their dogs poop!*

Ahhh, I love this time of year when it just starts getting warm and the best afternoons are those spent with all the windows open in the house.

What is with the DST Freakshow?

2006-03-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

I have never seen a festival of idiocy like I've seen in the Indiana media about the upcoming shift to Daylight Saving Time this weekend. Today, the big news? That *bars* are upset they will lose an hour of business at between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. on Saturday night. The economic impact for this bar hour snafu across all of central Indiana? $250,000. That means, say, across 500 establishments in central Indiana, we're talking about potential loss of a whopping $500 in loss each. Of course, no one takes into account that the vast majority of establishments serving alcohol (because this data did come from an alcohol distributor's association) close at or well before 2:00 a.m.

Every doom-and-gloomer in the state is on the radio (or blogging, Doug Masson!) about the hassle, cost, and potential disaster associated with springing clocks ahead. Who doesn't know how to reset the *%*! time? Factory workers on a.m. radio yesterday lamented about mistakes from those suffering from losing that hour of sleep. (Hello? It's on a Sunday morning.) People try to figure out how to reset their Outlook. (Isn't it amazing how there's already a way to do this?) Others simply worry because no one is telling them what to do.

OK, here's what you do. Just set your clock ahead one hour when you go to bed on Saturday night. Voila! You've sprung ahead (for the springtime, get it?) Nothing earth shattering. Every other state in the country does it (practically). I know change is difficult for the average stubborn Hoosier, but try it. It's fun! (I can only imagine the pissing and moaning we're going to hear for the next month as it's dark again in the morning.)

In a normal year, news from The Final Four would be drowning out this controversy. As it is, I think the local paper has run more scare stories on the time change than this, you know, little basketball tournament we happen to be hosting. Maybe it will drown out all the negative reaction to the new IU basketball coach. Come on people, let's not all prove the world right about Hoosiers hicks by showing we're too stupid and scared to to figure out Daylight Saving Time.

My New Boyfriend is a Tow Truck Driver...

2006-03-28T08:12:00.000-05:00

(or why being single can be a pain in the ass.)

About a month ago I had a little episode involving lost car keys, my car and a tow truck driver. I love my Ford dealership. They always say "don't worry...we'll take care of everything." If only I'd always known that all could be made right with the world by writing a big fat check. Well, I know now.

So, last night, after a meeting downtown, I went to get in my car, and couldn't get the key into the ignition lock. Literally, the key wouldn't go in. It was as if I was in a bad Twilight Zone episode with a car that *looked* just like mine right down to the stale Starbucks cup and old art exhibit catalog in the backseat.

This morning, the solution? Why, get it to the dealership, of course. Not a problem thanks to my new boyfriend who drives the tow truck. Why, I've spent more quality time with him in the last month than the last two men I've dated. On our long, slow drives to Brownsburg, we've talked about life and shared our secrets. We haven't slept together yet, but if the towing bill gets any higher, I might be willing to discuss it.

What I want to know is why I'm suddenly having bad key-karma? Have I spent too many years thwarting the efforts of my keys to go missing? Have I alienated the key gods by using my automatic lock/unlock too much? Is it just my time of the month -- you know, *Key* MS (hahahaha). Who knows. I just know that this whole relationship with my new boyfriend the tow truck driver has to stop. I never broke up with someone before by getting a new car. Maybe it's time to try it.

On The Cusp...New Director for IMA?

2006-03-26T08:37:00.000-05:00

At least two months ago, iMOCA Curator Christopher West filled me in on his new arts blog -- On The Cusp -- some critical thoughts and perspective concerning the arts in Indianapolis. As a group blog, Christopher, local artist Scott Grow, and other guest bloggers can share the latest on exhibits, organizations, and general local arts happenings. It's substantive stuff. Great work, guys!

Seeing Christopher this week during the installation of the wonderfully fun I Am Brian Presnell show and Friday at the incredibly (and wonderfully) crowded opening reminded me I was woefully late in adding his information here. So I've added On the Cusp and will continue to add arts related blogs as they turn up. I'm so happy and proud of the work iMOCA continues to bring in and it's in large part due to Christopher West. (And it sounds like several local bloggers attended the show -- cool!)

In the meantime, On the Cusp is reporting the rumor that consultant and former Whitney director Maxwell Anderson will be the new executive director of the IMA. It's been a long search and considering how many large museums in the US have top positions open right now, apparently a fruitful one. iMOCA is also looking for an executive director also and hoping for as productive a result.

Update: And it's official. WFYI reported it this morning that Anderson is the new IMA director.

Those Damn Brits and their Hauntings

2006-03-24T07:57:00.000-05:00

My latest guilty pleasure involves the Travel Channel, my couch, and half of Britain's resident ghosts. Thanks to mediums like Derek Acorah, I'm officially obsessed with the latest British exports -- Most Haunted and Derek Acorah's Ghost Town. Those wacky British are exporting some of the best stuff since Colin Firth took off his shirt and dove into the lake naked.

This little ghost problem started last Halloween when a British team of mediums broadcast a live show where they spent the darkest part of night tramping around London's East End looking for historical haunts and spirits. Due to the time change, it was on live here earlier in the evening and after watching mediums "contact" spirits, move tables, see orbs and hear odd noises, I was hooked. Each week on Most Haunted, a team spends 24 hours in a supposedly haunted locale (usually a castle or an inn) and with a historian and mediums listening to bumps in the night. Creepy!!!

In Ghost Town, the Ghost Truck (a large production truck) and team, lead by medium Derek Acorah, arrives in a different British city and townsfolk submit their hauntings while the team roams around town and tries to shed some light on heavy footsteps, odd smells, cold spots, and other paranormal activity. Derek usually gets possessed and spends a lot of time talking to his spirit guide "Sam". Shows are on Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. and in a more practical way, Saturday mornings at 10:00. (I haven't had this much fun with guilty pleasure Saturday morning TV since Nash Bridges went of the air.)

Nick Hornby at Butler

2006-03-21T08:19:00.000-05:00

If you missed author Nick Hornby reading last night at Butler's Atherton Union, you missed a treat. Hearing one of his best short stories, Nipple Jesus, read out loud in that great accent with the tones and inflections just as they were meant to be was wonderful. He answered questions for neatly an hour after reading addressing everything from his writing process to movie adaptations of his work. My favorite Hornby? Fever Pitch. His new book is out now -- A Long Way Down.

So, What's Been Going On Around Here?

2006-03-20T08:42:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't exactly given you guys a lot of comment fodder. The last post I made was something guy talking about his girl's middle of the line boob job. So here are a few things I can tell you about the past month.

Jumping the Shark: My blog slide started when Cheney shot the guy hunting. The Bush administration has jumped the shark. Fonzie is old, Chachi should be out of the house already, and Richie is eager to start his moving directing career.

Fires in the Panhandle: The fires in the Texas Panhandle have been truly horrific. Thousands of head of cattle trapped in fenced pastures when cowboys couldn't cut wire to let them move. Worse, millions of acres of grassland burned at a time in the spring when the grazing grass is most needed. In a part of the country that gets 15-18 inches of rain a year, no rain has been a very big problem. Mix that with the huge winds that blow constantly in that part of the world, and it's problem. The picture aren't that dramatic -- no 50 foot walls of flame, but a sad part of prairie living to be sure.

Lafayette, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; and New York, New York: Business calls and I pack a briefcase. The report? Lafayette (nondescript), Chicago (cold), and New York (busy with pointy toed shoes.)

Number of comments overheard about boob jobs? None, sadly.

Back from Hiatus!

2006-03-20T08:30:00.000-05:00

Am back from my hiatus. I have no explanation for my absence other than the fact that sometimes one has to take a break from blogging to figure out things like:

1) Why can't you open a garbage back with one hand (while the other hand is full of disintegrating veggies from the fridge.)

2) Why does the Wall Street Journal small like a wet dog?

3) How does a Szechuan peppercorn make your tongue go numb?

But it's the first day of spring! I'm climbing out of this funky funk caused soley by the weather and this time of year. Life is good!

Overheard in Indy

2006-02-15T08:05:00.000-05:00

Guy on cell phone in front of a downtown restaurant:

"Felicia? She hot! Girl got sixty-five-hunnerd dollar boobs!"

Decorator's Show Home Moves to Hilbert Mansion

2006-02-04T12:18:00.000-05:00

I laughed out loud when I pulled up the front page of today's Indy Star! St. Margaret's Guild has signed an agreement to open Le Chateau for a massive tour and include 47 design areas and 17 landscaping areas. It's the perfect solution, or maybe the perfect irony. (If we had an Indiana- focused Onion, it would already have been a headline.) The Decorator's Show House has found a home that will welcome its opulent decorative craziness, draw thousands of looky-lous (excuse me, I mean, attendees), and bring real estate attention to a show home possibly even more over-the-top and controversial than the event itself. Not only have they pulled this year's event out of the fire, but they're going to make it hard to top next year. I predict the most successful event ever! And, one bonus? The owners have already moved out.

The Violent Femmes -- Ahh, Memories

2006-01-27T10:32:00.000-05:00

The Violent Femmes, Sunday, March 12, The Vogue, Indianapolis, Tickets go on sale 1/27.

I have such mixed feelings about going to this show. I mean, I'd love to see the Femmes again live (maybe before they die, ha ha), but you know, I'm not 19 anymore. I'd love to go to a great live show, but then again, I'm afraid most attendees would be like me -- 38 year olds trying to recapture their youth. I'd love to see Gordon and the guys belt it out, but then again, the last time I saw them perform it was on The Today Show, and they looked like a bunch of suburban All-American dads. I could just close my eyes, ignore that they're wearing khakis and polo shirts and imagine a day when we lived and died by Add it Up, Gone Daddy Gone, and Country Death Song. But you know, I've tried to avoid putting myself in situations where the phrase "just close your eyes and it won't be so bad" applies.

The Four Meme

2006-01-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

Tagged by Jason at Foursquare No. 266. Hmmm.

Four jobs you've had in your life: (only four? I never realized I'd had so many jobs!) convenience store clerk, newspaper reporter, public relations account executive, book editor

Four movies you could watch over and over: Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, Sabrina (with Harrison Ford, shut up!), any James Bond movie, any Lord of the Rings movie

Four television shows you love: Veronica Mars, Love Monkey, Survivor, and the original Las Vegas CSI

Four places you have lived: Guymon, Oklahoma; Stillwater, Oklahoma; San Francisco, California; Indianapolis, Indiana.

Four places you have been on vacation: Washington, DC., London, NYC, Guymon, OK.

Four places you'd rather be right now: the bank, depositing a big check; the beach, reflecting on how well we did this year; Hawaii, just because I love Hawaii; skiing (just have had a hankering to go skiing lately)

Four websites you visit every day: Google/gmail; Indychannel.com; Indianapolis Star, Bloglines

Four bloggers to tag: Erudite Redneck, TEditor, Corndog, (I only have time for three -- and you're excused if you've already done this one.)

The Great Indianapolis Flood

2006-01-26T10:10:00.000-05:00

The article on yesterday's disaster ermergency management seminar just made me laugh this morning. It's great that our city is drilling itself for upcoming disaster scenarios. It just made me chuckle that the most realistic, worst disaster they could think of (in light of Katrina) was a failure of the dam at Geist Resevoir. I guess if you live up the lake, you'd have a little more backyard property (although you'd have to move your boat docks out.)

Otherwise, downriver, right into the heart of downtown, they figure the water could cause some problems -- like massive flooding. Interesting. Highly unlikely, I think, but interesting.

Indiana Tool Road

2006-01-26T09:53:00.000-05:00

See, I did it again. I mean "toll road" but it has to be a Freudian slip. My take on this whole Major Moves initiative as a non-native Hoosier? Fix the damn road! Having just "enjoyed" the Indiana Tool Road to Chicago and back yesterday, all I can say is: If Indiana can't fix it, then bring in someone who can. Geeze, the D-position seems to be "Well, we can't do anything about it, but, uh, uh, we don't want anyone outside to do anything about it either!" Will the contract go out of state allowing the dreaded "out-of-state control" of our infrastructure? Most likely. But it will put lots of in-state people to work. And, frankly, if we can't do it, let's get someone in who can instead of just suffering. I swear, this entire state is a population of farmers who go down to the implement dealer to look at a new combine, kick the tires, then go home and figure they can nurse the old one through a couple more seasons. We disagree on this one -- and DST, but Masson's blog still has the best coverage in town.

Firefly -- Maybe a Season 2?

2006-01-22T18:35:00.000-05:00

Updated post: Monday, 1/23, 9:00 a.m.

Browncoats all over the 'verse are (not) flocking over to the new Firefly Season 2 site. The site, (which at first appeared to be registered by Universal) appears to be investigating demand for a pay-per-episode season two of Firefly. The 12-episode show from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon had an original run on Fox 3 years ago. Fox cancelled the show after changing nights and reshuffling the order of the episodes. Eventually, they only aired 8 of the original 12. It was a short season, but long enough to be discovered by a small but loyal band of fans. Those few fans spread making the Firefly Season 1 DVD the most popular TV series DVD ever. Meanwhile, Whedon garnered support in Hollywood, reassembled the original cast, and made last fall's movie, Serenity.

Unlike what we first reported, this isn't a push by a studio to re-light the fire. It appears to be a push by someone -- or a production company -- who may want to try to liscense the rights to the show. Firefly's return to regular season television still seems incredibly unlikely. What could happen? Who knows -- maybe a direct to DVD series. Or another movie. Or possibly, a made-for-television movie. And maybe, it might be pay-per-download episodes, which would be OK with me, too. For this show anyway. It's *that* good. On the other hand, this is a loyal fan base. This show could not exist without Joss Whedon involved. Thanks to those who commented so quickly with a Bubble, the movie released this weekend by entertainment mavericks Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner and their 2929 Productions. Cuban and Wagner own the Landmark Theater chain and also are big proponents of simultaneous theater, DVD, and cable releases of film. This, of course, scares the shit out of the rest of Hollywood. Bubble is the first film they've tried and the first in their six-film partnership with Soderbergh. However, it was also heavily boycotted by other theater chains who distribute traditional films. Personally, if I had a nice home theater system and wanted to skip out on talking patrons and crowds, I'd be first in line for a new DVD. Theaters have to realize that they're a dying breed.

Check out the site, but be aware of who you're giving your information to first. And go see Bubble -- or buy the DVD. It will be showing Indianapolis at the Landmark Theater at the Fashion Mall.

Random Miscellany and a Giant Fish in the Sky

2006-01-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

Fish in the Sky: IndyScribe has kindly done the sleuthing and figured out what the heck that new sculpture on College by the Arts Center is.

The Dreaded Pink Menace: Yesterday, another parking ticket, this time over on Senate. Yes, I actually do feed the meters. Somehow, the Indianapolis meter people have an uncanny way of finding me within 10 minutes of my meter running out. The fine has gone up from $15 if you pay in 7 days and $20 if you don't to $20 if you pay in 7 days and $50 if you don't! Since when did parking tickets get so expensive?!! How is it I go for 7 years with only two, and I've had at least three in past three months. What gives?

Sex Sells! I should blog about sex more often. Hits were through the roof on Wednesday. We reached an all time high.

Bottom Line? Your Chances for Sex are Going Down

2006-01-17T20:03:00.000-05:00

For some reason there are a lot of sex studies in the news lately. The bottom line? There are a lot of things out there conspiring against you to keep you from having sex (and I'm not just talking about the girl you can't get a date with. I'm talking about after you're, say, married, and it's supposed to be a sure thing.) If you're on the pill, watching TV, or over 50, you're screwed. Or, actually, you're not screwed. Plus, Italians? They're not having much more sex than you are.

First, an Italian sex study shows couples with a TV in the bedroom only have sex half as much as couples without the boob tube in the boudoir.

"If there's no television in the bedroom, the frequency (of sexual intercourse) doubles," said Serenella Salomoni whose team of psychologists questioned 523 Italian couples to see what effect television had on their sex lives.
On average, Italians who live without TV in the bedroom have sex twice a week, or eight times a month. This drops to an average of four times a month for those with a TV, the study found.
For the over-50s the effect is even more marked, with the average of seven couplings a month falling to just 1.5 times. The study found certain programmes are far more likely to impede passion than others. Violent films will put a stop to sexual relations for half of all couples, while reality shows stem passion for a third of couples.

And then, there's this from a recent American study. Researchers publishing in the Journal of Sexual Medicine report the results of a seven year study and find oral contraceptives (birth control pills) can reduce a woman's sex drive.

Dr. Susan Lasch, an obstetrician-gynecologist at University Hospitals in Cleveland, said the pill can latch onto some of the free-roaming sex hormones in a woman's body, limiting the chance of sparking a sex drive.
But the study doesn't say how to stay on the pill and avoid this problem, reported WEWS-TV in Cleveland.

In typical fashion, they don't note any way to fix this problem -- except to say "[you're] stuck. You know you could always try different pills and see which one may be better for you." Gee, thanks. We singletons think the grass is always greener but who knows? I think I need to start testing more of these theories myself. Maybe some field research is in order.

Bosma -- Oozing Black Goo for Indiana

2006-01-16T17:17:00.000-05:00

As we long suspected, Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma is in league with something evil. The Star reports on completion of a $25,000 renovation of the speaker's office to clean up and renovate oozing, black goo. Hey, we all saw Ghostbusters, we know what ectoplasm looks like. I suspect this little rewallpapering and painting project isn't going to clear this up. If he keeps up his attitude for the rest of session, I'm pretty sure the Blob-like goo will be back.

Only in Indy

2006-01-16T09:02:00.000-05:00

The Indy Star offers a useful article for fans on how to combat the psychological effects of the Colts loss. Some very nice psychologists want to help you if you are depressed or cried during the game. From the Star:

The disbelief that follows a bitter defeat is one of several stages of grief Colts fans may experience this week, Carr said. He said loyal fans may be shocked, deny that the team was capable of losing, be angry with the players and question coaching decisions before finally accepting that the season's over.

While I'm sure Vandy is going to need psychological advice more than I am, it was a devastating loss, and it's nice to know someone cares. Only in Indianapolis.

A Day of Heartbreak

2006-01-16T02:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, two sad, sad things on television. First, I don't always watch the Sunday morning news shows. I like to keep my blood pressure down (and my television always wonders what it's done wrong with I yell at it.). But yesterday I was sucked in. Meet the Press with Tim Russert featured an MLK special with a couple of very smart, savvy guests including author Taylor Branch and education researcher Dr. John McWhorter. And then there was Marion Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund. I realize her career has involved focusing on the success stories with black children, but she clearly doesn't live in the same world I live in. She certainly doesn't live in the same neighborhood.

While McWhorter was discussing the serious cultural changes that need to come in order to secure the future of many of today's young black men, he also brought up the 69% single parent birth rate by young black women in at least one of today's major cities (Chicago.) Edelman seemed oblivious only reiterating the same tired message of oppression -- instead of a fresh one of change. I'm so tired out-of-touch leaders -- regardless of race or issue -- who stridently reiterate the failures of the system without offering any solutions.

We certainly need activists like Edelman in the world who are willing to devote their lives to changing and improving others, and there's no doubt the CDF has helped millions of children. But when challenged about some real issues facing today's black youth, she could only cite the "thousands getting their college degrees." Well, that's nice, but you should come down to my neighborhood and meet some of those thousands who aren't. I think even Dr. King would agree that change comes from both within and without and any movement benefits from confronting real challenges to its success. But Edleman's message was tired and dated, a litany of complaints instead of a plan for improvement. Most sadly, she came across as out-of-touch.

I salute the important work being done by the leaders in the black community today. Luckily, most of them are aware of the seriousness of the day-to-day issues, unlike Edelman.

And then there was the heartbreaking end to the Colt's season. After a fall of really making plays happen, they just couldn't do it yesterday. I'm truly a little heartbroken.

An Interesting Day in Indiana

2006-01-13T08:20:00.000-05:00

5:05 a.m. Ka-Booom! Whoosh! I love the way it rains here. A huge burst of rainfall is always preceded by an enormous thunderclap, as if some giant up there thinks it's cosmically hilarious to startle us all out of our third story dormer bedrooms with a giant BOOM! which somehow causes all the water in a 10-square-mile area to fall from the sky. Plus, you know, thunderstorms in January are kinda odd.

State GOP Chair Steps Down: I'm sure there's a story behind the story here, but Inside Indiana Business is reporting this a.m. that Jim Kittle is stepping down as chair of the state Republican party. The Governor and Kittle are expected to name a new chair at a news conference this afternoon.

There's A New Blog in Town: 11 a.m. Air Raid provides the pointer to one of the newest Indiana blogs, Foursquare No. 266, based in Irvington (and welcome to their Little Bean.)

Deer Barges Into Video Store, Stops in Drama Section: Once again I realize I'm a little in love with the guy who writes the headlines at Indychannel.com. I mean, what could the deer want? Was he in the mood for Al Pachino? Or Meryl Streep? Maybe deer in Evansville are more sensitive than, say, in Carmel, where I'm sure he would have stopped in the Action section. Evansville police says the young deer was last seen headed south "leaping over cars". Hmmmm.

It's Weirder in Florida: And just so we know Indiana isn't alone, in Florida, a family is suing Benihana's (of fast-chopping chef and flying food fame) for wrongful death. They're claiming that the 43-year-old man had to duck a flying shrimp. Which caused a painful neck injury. Which meant he had to have surgery. And he died from complications of the surgery, possibly an infection. The family wants $10 million. The chain says "Hey, we have flying food. It's what we're known for."

Lou Rawls and the Les McCann Trio

2006-01-13T06:56:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, as I slid onto my favorite bar stool at Ruth's Chris downtown, I mentioned to my dinner companion and also the piano player that Lou Rawls had died. The main bar piano man, Ken, at Ruth's is a font of jazz knowledge. He said his first taste of Lou Rawls had been an amazing album of him with the Les McCann trio. He graciously didn't recall the year, but encouraged us to seek this one out.

Well, plate o' shrimp as they say in my world. In Tuesday's WSJ, there's a great article on Lou Rawls' recordings including his first album - with the Les McCann Trio. The original is from 1962 on Capitol but was reissued on CD as "Stormy Monday" in 2000 by Blue Note. Look for "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water" and "Willow Weep for Me," two standards that some say mark some of Rawls' earliest, best work.

James Bond's Car for Sale

2006-01-12T06:46:00.000-05:00

In Goldfinger, Bond wants to know where his trusty Bentley is. A young Q tells a skeptical James Bond he has a new car: An Aston Martin DB5, complete with the all the goodies a super-spy would want: rotating number plate, machine gun, bulletproof screen in the back, an oil-slick defense mechanism, and best of all? "Whatever you do, don't press that red button." Why? It's a passenger side ejector seat.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reports on two major car auctions in Scottsdale next week. One featuring some pretty cool concept cars from the Harley Earl design studio (1954 was a big year for these cars apparently) and the other selling the really high end classics. The star of the show and perhaps the biggest sale? One of three remaining Aston Martin DB5 coupes custom built for the film Thunderball. From WSJ:

"The car is in perfect shape, still has all the 007 gadgetry including the revolving number plates, front machine guns (inoperable), a rear bullet-proof screen, an oil-slick sprayer and a passenger-seat ejector used with effect by Sean Connery in the film. "

Estimates are the car will sell for "somewhere between $1.5 million and $2.5 million."

Day of Miscellany

2006-01-11T08:57:00.000-05:00

What's Up at the State House? Attorney (and fellow WeLL denizen) Doug Masson is doing a great job recapping bills as they're scheduled and move through committee. So far it's pretty good news. Looks like intelligent design is DOA in Indiana this session. Thanks, Doug for the great work! (As he notes, he doesn't get paid for this and I'm amazed and impressed by the time these bloggers, especially the law bloggers, put in to keep the rest of us up-to-date.)

How to Keep Up? I've been using bloglines now for a couple of months and like it. It's a website instead of a software aggregator which is both good and bad, but it makes it easy to add and remove blogs you want to track. And it provides a good way to work through all the blogs you want to keep up with by seeing their new posts day-to-day.

How's This for Miscellany? My big non-work related goal today? To take my favorite wool overcoat to the tailor for a new lining. (The old one is shabby and really starting to get embarrassing. I'm supposed to be a bootstrapping entrepreneur but a tacky, unraveling business coat is starting to get pretty ridiculous.) Plus, I need to take two pairs of shoes to Kimmel's for repair. Oh, and drop off the dry cleaning. This, of course, means I'll have to venture north of 38th St which is getting increasingly hard for me as I become an entrenched downtowner. I may even have to go all the way to ... don't swoon... Fishers!

Hello, Moto!

2006-01-11T08:03:00.000-05:00

It's geek love. My new phone? A Motorola RAZR Vc3. I'm pretty impressed with the video -- wow, I mean, I understand now why they sell TV for phones. The price of my plan actually went down (can you believe it?) so, of course, I made up for it by subscribing to VCast, Verizon's video subscription service. But in the meantime, I'm just playing with the contact-specific ringtones and speakerphone. And the Bluetooth. And the pretty moving video camera.

My favorite feature so far? The voice recognition that calls, texts, looks up and emails contacts without you having to pre-program or pre-record them. So, you just say "Call Kim Cell" if that's how you have the contact listed and up it comes. Pretty cool since I used to have to scroll down a list of 100 contacts while driving. Also, it has changed the contact listing to be more similar to a PDA -- so can consolidate multiple numbers for each person in one listing. If you look them up by voice, it asks you which number you want.

Plus, the RAZR just plain looks cool. (Hey, I warned you, it was geeeeeeky love.)

Where Am I?

2006-01-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

Sorry no posts for a week. I've been slammed with, well, work stuff, and you know, life stuff, and, okay, more work stuff. I'm editing a book and when I'm this deep into a project, it always seems I have all kinds of words for the author and no words for myself.

And, it's not like with the legislature back in session there aren't enough "hoosiers ate my brain" moments. I can hardly wait to be back!

The Hoosiers Ate My Brain Best Posts of 2005

2006-01-02T02:14:00.000-05:00

Last year about this time, I took a wonderfully long vacation and gave some thought to things I seriously wanted to do more of in 2005. One of those was writing. As an editor, it's awfully easy to fall into the trap of editing others' words and creating none of your own. And for me, I really just wanted to exercise my writing muscles. Some posts have been better than others -- and lately, I feel I've suffered from a lack of self-editing, in addition to my usual typo-ed glory. My posts feel long and rambly to me which is partly a function of time and brain-drain. I just don't have the time to tweak things the way I used to. That said, instead of a boring "best of" list, I thought I'd share some of the posts I felt were the highlights of Hoosiers Ate My Brain this year (creating my own form of boring "best of" list). Thanks for hanging out in my space in 2005 and here's to more fun to come!

February: The hardest thing about starting a blog is naming it! Once I decided what to call it, the rest was simple. February brought us the beginning of the Daylight Savings Time debate, a long discourse on Frito Chili Pie (and the spinning off of my food blog, Feed Me/Drink Me), and my neighbor, the violinist. Plus, the healing power of a kiss.

March: Terri Shiavo dominated the news, the Editor-in-Chief of Playgirl outed herself as a hot, dirty Republican, and Webster's New World added "D'oh" to the dictionary (spawning a long discourse on The Simpsons and one of the most searched for posts on the site).

April: I commented on libraries (and Indianapolis' in particular) entering the modern age, Mark and Lisa moved to Australia, and spring started to show itself.

May: I headed home for a visit to the Oklahoma Panhandle and the rodeo, the Michael Jackson case *finally* went to the jury (even I got bored with it) and an Indy judge ruled a couple couldn't share their pagan religion with their child.

June: June began with an interesting post where I slammed the ICLU for supporting the ban on prayer in the statehouse. Well, now we know the facts and how that's all played out -- and I've reversed my opinion, not surprisingly. And June ended with a post on big weather -- both literal and figurative (another of the most searched for posts on the site.)

July: In July, most of my writing was becoming off-blog in the form of business plans, budgets and business strategies, but I still found time to blog about summer in Oklahoma and the Erudite Redneck tagged me with a book meme .

August: In August, things started spinning out of control. A man locked his testicles in a padlock, the NCAA began forcing teams to change their names, and I found out that I really am Boss Hogg. Plus, in another very popular post in searches, the LA Times released transcripts of Marilyn Monroe's stash of audio tapes.

By mid-August I had completely surrendered to blogger's block, travel, work, and guilt. I didn't post again until October.

October: I felt my writing suffered after the break, but looking back now, there's some good stuff in October. My favorite posts: Evansville engineering students get, uh, distracted by art, a study shows women would rather sleep than have sex, Pat Miller introduces her ridiculous reproductive rights legislation, and sadly, local cyclist Sharon Wollam is killed while riding on the Monon Trail when she crashed in an intersection and was hit by a car.

November: Indiana's own Brokeback Mountain, why blogs don't suck, and dressing the house for Christmas. (I'm hearing it's been the most passed around post of the year.)

December: My favorites for December included a post on an upcoming episode of The Simpsons, The Forbes 15 Richest Fictional Characters, and possibly my favorite post of the year: The guy at Meijer.

Thanks for hanging out and listening to my opinions. Blogs are just that, a way to share opinions and unique perspectives on life. And I hope to keep providing just that. As a writer, it's a challenge, but one I think I'm up for. Thanks for all your comments and page views in 2005.

Decorators' Showcase Impasse

2005-12-31T12:41:00.000-05:00

I get so tired of Democrats in Indiana slagging Gov. Daniels every time he takes a decisive stand instead of letting himself get run over. The latest kerfuffle (written up over at Liberal Indiana and reported in the Star on Thursday) has been around the use of the Governor's mansion for the 2006 Decorators' Show House, an annual fundraiser for Wishard sponsored by St. Margaret's Hospital Guild. At issue is the governor's (and Residence Commission's) requirement for use of the mansion: that the decorators respect the tradition of the historic home and their designs reflect it. Considering that every paint swatch and piece of art of the last renovation (during O'Bannon's term) was overseen by the Commission and state archaeologists from the DNR (yes, we have a few), I was surprised at the venue choice initially for these very reasons. This week, organizers announced they couldn't work with the approvals needed, that was getting too "complicated", and cancelled the event scheduled for April 21-May 14, 2006.

For those not familiar with the event, the committee chooses a large home, usually on Meridian St. or nearby and asks the owners to move out and give the decorators full control. The decorators create dream rooms and thousands of people shuffle through making "gee whiz" comments engaging in this weird form of Indiana voyeurism, the home tour. Sometimes the creations are wonderful and but in the past few years, they've been increasingly over the top. Some are just plain weird. So, when the Guild asked to use the Governor's mansion as their next target, Daniels agreed but with the caveat. Apparently the event was cancelled when the Residence Commission didn't go for many of the "unique" designs. The commission asked that it be "about the house" not the designers' individuality. The committee felt there wasn't enough time to ask designers to rework designs and pulled the plug.

If it's true that the decorators weren't willing to work under what those horribly restrictive conditions, then the event committee and fundraiser participants have lost sight of the event's true mission. I'd also wonder why they weren't realistic about these issues earlier? Anyone who's been to the event in recent years could have seen this coming. So why didn't the committee have a backup? Why didn't they foresee potential problems in using a public space and plan ahead for design approvals? Oh, wait. You mean, this is a fundraiser that decorators use to compete with each other on and use as a business showcase?!

This is no Daniels debacle. It's one created by the committee and local decorators. St. Margaret's Hospital Guild has no one to blame but themselves for not being out in front of this. Do I sound like I'm being harsh? Yes, I do, but I have run large fundraising events with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake (including most recently two years co-chairing a $200,000 annual charity auction gala in Indianapolis), and I'm truly surprised that they weren't realistic about the use of this space. What decorator in town doesn't have to work around client demands or simple client boundaries? *That* is the challenge of being a great decorator. In a world of 48-hour home makeovers, it's hard to believe that these local decorators weren't willing to re-do and re-submit less radical designs to the Residence Commission.

Sadly, organizers have cancelled the event instead of asking decorators to rally for true charity instead of their own personal gain. But, of course, it's easier to cancel. Maybe the Guild should mount a fundraising campaign with the State Dem Party laying the blame at the feet of the Governor and use that money to fill the $250,000 budgetary void for Wishard this year.

An Indiana News Day

2005-12-29T08:56:00.000-05:00

If I were a news editor in Indiana, there would be days I just couldn't resist making fun. This would be one of those days. I'm horrible and mean to make light of others' misfortunes, so some day, I'm sure my karmic retribution means I'll be one of those people who slips, falls, and drowns in a vat of beer on a brewery tour. That, or I have a secret love-connection with the night editor at Indychannel.com:

And Pick Up Some Glade, too: Two trucks collide on I-65 causing a liquid soap spill that closes the interstate. One person injured, but clean.

Sorry, Honey! In Gary, an auxiliary police officer shot at a charging pit bull and accidentally shot her fiance in the leg instead. She has been suspended for "retraining".

Girl Injured in Fork Incident: An Indianapolis 11-year-old is in the hospital after her 10-year old brother accidentally stuck her in the head with a flying barbecue fork. Ouch. Poor kids. The sister is in critical condition at Methodist.

House Speaker Stung in Judicial Shocker: In the "you didn't have to be a political operative to see this one coming" department, Federal judge David Hamilton says "no" to House Speaker Bosma's request he change his mind banning Jesus from House prayers. Bosma branded an idiot for asking.

What I'm Reading Right Now

2005-12-28T21:18:00.000-05:00

Traveling means reading, usually a lot of reading. (I always overpack books worrying that I'll get bored while trapped on the airplane.) When traveling home to see my dad, it also means The Book Swap! We mostly share the same tastes in books although he reads more political and military biographies than I do and I read a few more novels. Each time I see my dad, I bring the latest books I've read along and he swaps me the ones he's finished. If it's something I want to re-read, I hungrily wait for the next swap since we both read on deadline.

He recently told me that he has a ritual to reading the books we swap. He puts them in a stack in random order and always starts the next book on the top of the stack. Sometimes he pulls a book out of the stack to start with that he wants to read first, but otherwise, he reads whatever pops up next. This system would probably never work for me, but he checks random books out of the library, too, so he has a better tolerance for hits and misses.

In the stack I just picked up: The Fall of Baghdad (by Jon Lee Anderson), Great Tales from English History (part of Robert Lacey's popular UK series), Mark Svengold's Big Weather, 21 (the final book from Patrick O'Brian), Election 2004 (from the Newsweek reporters), a really terrible Tom Clancy book, and The Dante Club. (I sometimes feel guilty passing on books like The Dante Club because, you know, he *is* 86-years-old and I hate for him to waste time on something that he might not like, but he said he finally slogged through.)

The batch I took to swap included Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (he's read all the Harry Potter books), Cowboy Lingo (a wonderful Ramon Adams book), Mr. Timothy (another Dante Club knockoff), and Earthquake (Simon Winchester's latest.) I gave him permission to skip all the boring seismic history sections. Plus, I warned him about Winchester's huge gaff toward the end where he claims Kansas is bordered by Texas and Missouri.

In the meantime, fear of fears happened! I ran reading material. Rummaging through the airport gift store rack on the way home, I found Amy Tan's newest, Saving Fish From Drowning. I'm quite engrossed in her delicious tale of murder, spirits, and tacky American tourists who get what's coming to them on a trip to China and Burma/Myanmar. I think my dad will like this one.

Seeing Munich

2005-12-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

I sometimes joke that I feel like I have absolutely nothing in common with my sister's family. And while that may be true, I have to appreciate that my entire family is at least well-educated. After the ritual over-eating engaged in my most families on Christmas Day (along with the ritual present opening), we decided to go to a movie. Even though we have a wide age and socio-economic range, there was no discussion of The Ringer or Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Ultimately, we narrowed it down to Munich and Walk the Line (with a random vote or two for The Chronicles of Narnia). In the end, we decided to see Munich.

I'm going to digress here and note how much I love, sociologically, the process in which 7 people with decidedly different tastes decide which movie to see. To start, there has to be an unwritten law of respect among each others' choices. And also an unwritten rule that each person gets one true veto -- "I just don't want to see xxx." But no one person can veto each film, and of course, each person has to have a range of films that they'd be willing to see.

My sister lived in Hollywood for a number of years and has experience in the film industry. She's actively involved in the Oklahoma Indie film scene, so she's a shoo-in for anything that might be an Oscar or award film. Everyone also recognized that our 86-year-old father isn't going to be in for something really off-the-wall, like the revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch (which happens to be one of my niece's favorite films.) My nephews (26 and 22 respectively) are smart enough to know that no one is going to be up for The Ringer (a comedy about rigging the Special Olympics), and certainly I'm not silly enough to suggest that two grown, male, college graduates are going to enjoy, say, Sarah Jessica Parker in The Family Stone. (I'm not even sure *I'm* going to enjoy SJP in that movie.) We all agreed that King Kong was just three-hours of our lives we weren't going to get back.

Memoirs of a Geisha was in the running, but vetoed by at least one of the boys. My sister wanted to see The Chronicles of Narnia, but I used my veto on that one. We all said "no" to Syriana. No one wanted to think that hard on Christmas Day -- although most of us plan to see it (especially my recently graduated -- and commissioned -- nephew). The Producers was briefly mentioned but I think my father may have nixed that one. So, Walk the Line or Munich it was. We let my father decide and while we all figured he'd go for Johnny Cash, he opted for fighting terrorists and the 1972 Olympic hostage situation instead.

Afterward, we all agreed that it's a film you have to process before discussing, but at the very least, I've concluded that Munich should be required viewing for American citizens. The secret battle fought by Israel in the 1970s against the PLO and PLO-sponsored splinter groups (like Black September) parallels so many of the issues we face with terrorism and national security today. And no matter how you look at it, the moral and real implications are the same. What will it take to achieve true peace? I'm not sure anyone has an answer to that. They didn't in 1972 and we certainly don't know in 2005, but Munich reminds us that we each control what we are personally willing to do to achieve it. While I'm not sure it's an Oscar winner (personally, I still liked Capote better), I think Spielberg raises some interesting issues -- and not just from a one-sided perspective. The meaning for today's world is important. Plus, Geoffrey Rush is a lock for Best Supporting Actor based on his role as an Israeli case-officer.

Home from the Holidays

2005-12-27T09:18:00.000-05:00

I am back and blogging again! Based on the number of folks who slowed down their posts last week, I don't feel bad for taking a little hiatus. I suspect this week will be a bit busier: lots of year end round ups and bored people stuck at home on vacation. But not me! I'm back from a short trip and working on a book all week. Most all of my friends are out of town, and I don't have a single appointment until Saturday! The week is full of possibilities!

Here are a few things still on my end of year "to-do" list:

*Brokeback Mountain. Unfortunately, not showing here yet. It wasn't showing in Oklahoma City either (no big surprise there), and I may have to defer this film until mid-January when it debuts at the newly re-opened Key Cinemas in Beech Grove. (Key Cinemas is back open as an art house for those of you who haven't heard after their brief change in format. Look for them to keep carrying edgy art films not available anywhere else including the new Landmark Art Cinema at the Fashion Mall. If I recall the article I read last week correctly, Brokeback Mountain may open at Key Cinemas before it plays at Landmark.)

*Exhibit of the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art (ends Jan 29) This exhibit has received rave reviews from across the country and puts together some of the best contemporary artists working today with the common thread of Native American backgrounds and themes. (Plus, I've heard great things about the Sky City Cafe.)

*Lord of the Rings exhibition at the Indiana State Museum (ends Jan 3) I really just want to see all the geekily popular Lord of the Rings props in detail. Plus, I think it's been a great experiment at getting literally thousands of new people to the State Museum. The board took a risk on this one but I think they did the right thing!

*Memoirs of a Geisha: This one is showing in town and I'll pop out to see it this week. I loved the book and have heard the mixed reviews, but still want to take a look. Plus, I'm trying to get through most of the potential Oscar films.

*International Arts and Crafts at the IMA (ends Jan 22) I must be the only person in town who hasn't seen this exhibition, but I just haven't attended any events at the IMA for a while. But I do want to get out to see this exhibition as well as the recently re-opened contemporary galleries. I'm also kind of curious to eat at Puck's (see Feed Me/Drink Me for more.)

Why It's a Slow Blog Week

2005-12-19T16:51:00.000-05:00

My horoscope from yesterday: Cancer (June 22-July 22): A concerted effort to increase your cash flow will pay off nicely. Throw yourself wholeheartedly into a lucrative or moneymaking assignment.

John Spencer, RIP

2005-12-17T06:32:00.000-05:00

So sad, but today's news is reporting that actor John Spencer has died of a heart attack at age 58. He was most recently known for his Emmy-winning role on The West Wing. He played Chief of Staff (and recent Vice Presidential candidate) Leo McGarry. Ironically, his character on the show suffered a heart attack last season. He was a frequent movie actor and some of us from the 80s remember him as Tommy, the street-smart lawyer from LA Law.

Movies in Theaters -- Bah Humbug!

2005-12-15T20:38:00.000-05:00

What is it with people who talk through movies?! Maybe I've just had bad movie karma, but three of the last four movies I've seen in a theater have been ruined by chatty people who seem to be oblivious to the fact that their need to keep each other posted about the plot, characters, or dialog disturbs everyone else. (Additionally, one was interrupted by a fire alarm that required an evacuation of the theater.) There's a lot to be said for watching a movie in your own living room so you can either chat at will -- or enjoy it in peace!

Last September, Todd Wagner spoke at a luncheon for the Indiana Venture Idol Competition, the day before the Indiana Venture Conference. Wagner, who sold Broadcast.com with co-founder Mark Cuban for $8 billion, has been in Hollywood where he is involved in both 2929 Productions and the Landmark art theater chain (which just opened in Indianapolis.) Wagner and Cuban are pretty controversial in Hollywood since they're not only learning the business as outsiders, but trying to make the traditional studios think in some new media ways.

One trail they want to blaze? Simultaneous release of feature films in theaters along with the DVD, VHS, and digital versions. Frankly, with the growth of reasonably priced plasma, high-def and big screen televisions along with surround sound, home theater systems, and all manner of digital playback, I'd rather see a movie at home. Dare I say it? Size doesn't matter! Well, screen size, that is. I'd rather have an intimate experience with the film in a smaller format, than endure talking, poor quality, interruptions, and cavernous (or too tiny) theaters that are too hot, too cold, or uncomfortable along with parking, crowds, and slow moving ticket lines.

Studios are, of course, worried that releasing a DVD and theater version at the same time will hurt already slumping box office sales as well as DVD revenue. But, as a customer, if I already avoid theaters unless it's a film I really want to see, it's going to be worth it to me to see the film sooner. I know I can't be the only consumer who feels this way. For many, a $20 DVD is still cheaper than two tickets, travel time, snacks, and parking. For that price you can watch it once and still be ahead.

And just in case you're curious? Here are the last four films I've seen:

Pride and Prejudice, Castleton Arts on a Saturday afternoon. Packed theater (very small) and two older ladies next to me who talked loudly through the entire film discussing characters, plot points, and reminding each other of who was who.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Glendale on a Monday evening. Wallet stolen out of my handbag during the film by the kids sitting behind me.

Walk the Line, Circle Center, weekday evening, 8 people in the theater, 2 of whom laughed and snickered through the entire movie. Fire alarm went off forcing evacuation of the theater about 5 minutes from the end of the movie (right over the marriage proposal.)

Capote, Landmark, weekday evening, 7 people in the theater, two of whom sat in my row and gave each other a running commentary. "Where's Truman? What did they mean? Is that Kansas City? Who's that woman?" (Although nothing could disrupt Philip Seymore Hoffman's fantastic performance.)

Bosma, Give It a Rest!

2005-12-14T13:37:00.000-05:00

Fresh on the heals of Matthew Tully's column on the disorganized mess that is the Marion County GOP, House Speaker Brian Bosma is still gnashing his teeth about the recent judge's ruling banning prayer in the Indian Statehouse. News outlets are reporting that Bosma has called in the Attorney General to file motions to change the ruling and put/or put it on hold. Brian! Give it a rest!

Look, if you guys hadn't been pushing the limits of a house prayer by having a hand-waving, hallalujah-yelling, 15-minute Gospel invocation, you wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. I'm all for an invocation, but as state legislators, you of *all* people need to be respectful of other people's beliefs. Christian right-wing tunnel vision is what got you in this mess to begin with. Plus, let's just say if my workday started with a mandatory gospel hand clapping sermon that got louder and more rowdy each time, I'd be upset, too. I consider myself a good believer and a Republican, but I was offended (and embarrassed) just listening to the sound byte of the "invocation" in question. I would have walked out of that session right along with the others. It was completely inappropriate in the statehouse.

And you know what more inappropriate? The hoops you're jumping through to get this decision overturned. You pushed it. Take your lumps for it. Let's move on. The state has more important business to get to.

Pointers! Get 'cher cold pointers here!

2005-12-11T19:22:00.000-05:00

Busy, busy these days with a short attention span...ooooh, shiny.

Indianapolis On My Mind: NFL.com stations blogger Adam Schefter in Indy until the Colts lose (if they loose -- woo-hoo!) (With an assist from TorporIndy.)

Too many cocktails? Too much party food? The Erudite Redneck shares the "real" hazards of holiday party-going.

Have an eyesore in your neighborhood? Send all your best holiday decoration pics to IndyScribe for their holiday photo contest.

Twelve Days of a Hoosier Christmas: The IndyStar editorial board gifts us with their holiday card featuring Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The Forbes Fictional 15

2005-12-07T12:51:00.000-05:00

Forbes has released the top 15 richest fictional characters. I would have pegged Lara Croft as richer than the Howells (I mean, look at that house she has versus the Howell cruise on the SS Minnow.) And I was surprised Monty Burns doesn't fall higher on that list -- but, you know who can compete with Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor. (You know, Lex just doesn't show it, he has a Warren Buffett kind of humility except when he's out, you know, trying to destroy the world.) JR Ewing dropped off the list while Lucius Malfow debuted (as the other only non-billionaire on the list which must irritate him.) Willy Wonka was worth less than I thought -- all that R&D is *expensive*. And Santa, well, hey, that's quite an opperation he has up there.

Check out Forbes for the entire list and profiles as well as info on age, location, and net worth.

The List:

1. Santa Claus
2. Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks
3. Richie Rich
4. Lex Luthor
5. C. Montgomery Burns
6. Scrooge McDuck
7. Jed Clampett
8. Bruce Wayne
9. Thurston Howell III
10. Willy Wonka
11. Arthur Bach
12. Ebenezer Scrooge
13. Lara Croft
14. Cruella De Vil
15. Lucius Malfoy

"Aaah, my suit!" Wolfe and writers on Simpsons!

2005-12-06T09:05:00.000-05:00

TOM WOLFE is screaming. He screams softly, this Southern gentleman, his trademark white suit unwrinkled, his spats unwavering even as a giant granite boulder hurtles down upon him. It looks to be the end of the pioneering New Journalism author of "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.""Aaaaaaaahh! Wait, no, that wasn't good, let me start over."

"How did you scream last time a boulder was hurtling toward you?" asks Carolyn Omine, executive producer of "The Simpsons.""Why don't you try, 'Aaaaahhhh, my suit!' " suggests a rail-thin, nerdy-looking writer, from the front of the Fox recording studio.

The LA Times gives us a preview of an upcoming Simpsons with Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, Michael Chabon and Jonathan Frantzen voicing themselves and "parodying highfalutin literary culture." The animators will capture Wolfe in signature white suit and "bug-eyed glory." And more wonderfully, how a Simpson's spot is today's height of fame. (Chabon's father touts how he knew his son would win a Putlizer but he had no idea he would ever be so accomplished to appear on the long running animated show.) And best of all, we get to see our literary icons feeling just as silly as anyone else as they try to voice animation.

Franzen: "Gaa! Dajjjmit! Ach! Rrrr!
Writer: "How about, 'Nooo! My prescription-less glasses, the ones I wear to look smart!' "
Franzen: "My trademark glasses!"
Omine (Producer): "Let's continue with Jonathan, because you have to whack Michael with a chair. Some more pain sounds, please."

Writer: "How about saying, 'You fight like Anne Rice!' "

Eventually, it's time to encounter that same runaway granite chunk that flattened Tom Wolfe. Franzen's scream has a hint of falsetto; Chabon writhes as he lets out an anguished moan.

Franzen and Chabon fight! Wolfe is flattened! Gore Vidal lives! (D'oh did I give away the ending?!) I can hardly wait!