Comment Archives: Stories: Arts: Casual Observer
Re: “In memoriam: Andy Griffith, 1926-2012”
"The Andy Griffith Show" was a show that spoke to the importance of family, despite the fact that none of the families portrayed on the show were by any means ordinary. Whether it was confirmed bachelor Barney Fife or Andy's own unique family arrangement, all the show's disparate characters were involved in atypical families - Families that were defined and bound by the overall neurotic town of Mayberry. This simple fact makes "The Andy Griffith Show" groundbreaking for it's time, as it showed that the "nuclear family" could also be re-purposed as a "nuclear community"... Mayberry is a town that was once described by Andy as a "normal town bordered by a ring of insanity". It is a show that is imminently watchable, timeless in it's humor and humility, and as funny and chaotic as it was poignant and empathetic. What it was, Was Fantastic....
R.I.P. Andy Griffith. You and Don Knotts can now sit a spell and catch up.
Jeff "Scotch" Wallace
Drummer/Manager, Mumu Tutu
Re: “The first Durham Pun Championship thrills—and disgusts—the crowd”
Aye, c'est moi (John Morrison)
Re: “The first Durham Pun Championship thrills—and disgusts—the crowd”
Indeed, the photo's of John Morrison, the second-place finisher.
Re: “The first Durham Pun Championship thrills—and disgusts—the crowd”
That photo is not of Colby Bogie, fyi. I think that guys name was John. Check with Tom at the Regulator, he may know who that is.
Re: “Durham's The Book Exchange closes its doors”
Today, June 9th, 2011, I drove from Raleigh to Durham, for the express purpose of going to the Book Exchange. I was, as might be expected, really saddened that a piece of the past had been ripped away. I felt the same about the store as Ms. Ariail, the writer of the above article. I wonder also whatever happened to the enormous stock that the bookstore had. I cannot imagine any other bookstore around here even beginning to accommodate the quantity of books that the Book Exchange had. Nor probably would they even be interested in doing so, since times have changed so much. Or have they?
Re: “After Fukushima, a tour of the Shearon Harris nuclear power facility”
Thank you, Indyweek, for hazarding the propaganda machine of progress energy. We all appreciate they have not blown up or melted for 30 years... What is amazing, in light of Japan's F-word disaster is their entrenched demand that they are not liable, in future, to the same twists of fate that rules us all, Kiev, Fukushima and now Raleigh.
Hubris is a possible explanation for their blindness. That and a big case of not wanting to appear wrong, weak and lose face. No engineer wants to swallow 50 years of lies and admit endangering their fellows in the name of calling nuclear power what it obviously is... a failed idea. It's a perfect power solution for a perfect world. Ours, unfortunately, is a world of surprises, larger and less imagined than their precious plans have allowed.
No more proof of the need to end nuclear power may be given, however, than the reaction of the Japanese government. In their lies and cover-up, they have harmed their citizens. This is a country with a hot and burning memory of being dosed with radiation as children and still the corrupting power of the nuclear block has driven their politicians to abandon the safety of their people for money. The example I suggest is the recent report on radiation levels. Something as basic as what level of radiation was released and what areas have which current levels are slowly and painfully emerging months after the accident. Details that happened within hours of the plants shutting down are just now being pulled into the open, often forced there by non-profits... certainly not willingly by the government. I'll copy the info, below, but let me end by saying that if a government with this sensitivity to the damage that radiation can cause will take the shortcuts and promote a dead-end technology as has Japan, then a major producer of nuclear power, such as France or the US can only be expected to peddle even greater lies and obfuscations.
Tokyo (CNN) -- The amount of radiation released from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the immediate aftermath of Japan's earthquake and tsunami were twice the level that the country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety originally admitted, Japan's Emergency Response Center said.
NISA, which previously held that the amount of radiation initially leaked was as low as 370,000 terabecquerels, has revised its estimate to 770,000 terabecquerels. A terabecquerel is equal to one trillion becquerels. A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity equal to one nuclear decay per second. Japan pushes estimates of initial nuclear leak upward. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/06/0…
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 7, 2011 11:06 a.m. EDT
Re: “After Fukushima, a tour of the Shearon Harris nuclear power facility”
Please pardon the use of the royal "we." That was my editorial contribution, not the writer's.
Re: “After Fukushima, a tour of the Shearon Harris nuclear power facility”
"The Indy was invited, too, and we really couldn't say no. The opening credits of The Simpsons are the closest we've been to a nuclear power plant."
Actually, I went inside Shearon Harris in 2000 and I've written several times since then about the dangers posed by the waste pools, including this "What If" cover story in 2003: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/what-if/C…
Re: “After Fukushima, a tour of the Shearon Harris nuclear power facility”
Anti-nuclear decisions in Germany are driven mainly by short-term politics. Everybody wants to have cheap, reliable renewable energy, and everybody wants to increase conservation. But when the time actually comes to close those nuclear plants and there won't be enough cheap, reliable renewable energy and there won't be enough conservation, let's see if the Germans really turn off the plants and start browning out the country. I predict not.
Re: “Solas: Upscale dress required (unless you know somebody)”
Just went to Solas for the first time. I had an outstanding night seeing an iconic DJ representing the greatest of Florida breakbeats, DJ Icey. The atmosphere was great and there was no problem getting into the club with the attire I was wearing. khakis and a collared button top shirt. I did see quite a few people with jeans, most of the people there, and some with tennis shoes as well. While it was a very diverse crowd, it still had a slightly upscale feeling to it. The only issue I had was the difference in prices for the exact same drink from the bartenders. I'll definitely go back if there is a DJ I'm stoked to see perform live at a reasonable price, sorry Tiesto....$40 at the Longbranch is way too much.
Re: “A weekend at Topsail Island invokes Don DeLillo's White Noise”
And Proust bit into a cookie and remembered his past...there's a tradition for this sort of thing.
Re: “A weekend at Topsail Island invokes Don DeLillo's White Noise”
So, there was a fire in the woods by the base. And your fears and imagination got the best of you. OK then.
Re: “A weekend at Topsail Island invokes Don DeLillo's White Noise”
Brilliant writing, brilliant images, the strange latticed meshing of fiction and reality -- true, "this kind of thing happens so often that nobody [seems] to care anymore" but some of us still do! If "menace creates new vocabulary," I'd love to create a new dictionary of menace to help us translate the despair of our time. Thank you for writing this, I'm on the look out for the next unreliable menace and perhaps this time, I'll be more alert to name it, run from it, frame it, write its story in smoke. Much love. Amanda
Re: “How good are the simulcast operas in local multiplexes?”
Folks, there is an alternative where you can see the Met Opera Live in HD - here in downtown Southern Pines at the Sunrise Theater. It has 361 great seats, which are all reserved for the opera so there is no standing outside in line for an hour. They serve wine and beer, too. Southern Pines is charming, walkable with great shops and restaurants. The historic Sunrise is a non-profit supported by the community. Check it out.
Re: “How good are the simulcast operas in local multiplexes?”
We have attended all the Met HD performances to date. The price is certainly good, the performance is wonderful. You have to get there an hour early to get a good seat. We had a friend who attended the Met the same week he saw the same opera in HD. He said the HD was so much better because he could barely see anything from his Met balcony (Family Circle) seat whereas with HD you can practically see the stitches on the costumes. We have been to both Brier Creek and North Hills and see no difference. In NC people drive from Greenville and Wilmington to Raleigh for the Opera because it's only available in Raleigh (on 4 screens) and Charlotte.
Re: “Getting fired up to get rich at the RBC Center”
Colin Powell never was an accomplished statesman He's been a huckster and a pimp all his professional life.
Re: “Getting fired up to get rich at the RBC Center”
Be it on TV or stage or printed page, these are 'medicine shows' by charlatans fleecing the ignorant masses.
Re: “Getting fired up to get rich at the RBC Center”
Yes, my sentiments exactly. This is also the same mentality that causes the mathematically challenged to buy lottery tickets.
Re: “Playing filk and molesting Shakespeare at the ReConStruction sci-fi convention”
How's this for "inscrutable" and "hopelessly esoteric":
"So I come up to the dish with the sacks packed just hoping to avoid a twin killing. Their guy is throwing real high-octane gas so I'm hoping to get a blooper, a dork, a duck snort, anything but a "K". A bomb is out of the question. I'm looking for heat and he comes at me with the deuce. I'm fooled, but somehow manage to get my lumber on it and rip a pea to right. I'm thinking I just got me a base knock with a couple of ribbies, but their right fielder has a cannon and he guns me down at first. Major bummer." (from Baseball Slang: The Game has a Language All to Its Own)
Can we just stipulate that ANY sport or hobby has its own slang that's not going to make sense to those who have no interest in it, and that sf fans are no weirder than the Redskins' Hogettes?
Re: “In memoriam: Andy Griffith, 1926-2012”
Andy brought small-town humor and life into the homes of every American through their television screens. He’ll be missed after his long and full career of entertainment which still fills many households like my own family’s. I created a portrait of Andy and Don Knotts for my Cult of Personality series a few years back, which depicted entertainers who influenced my life in one capacity or another. I shared work of art today on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/07… Feel free to drop by and share your own memories of growing up with Mayberry.