Roger Green: a librarian's life, deconstructed.
I just heard that James Doohan had died. I met him once, at a FantaCon. I’ll have to write about that sometime, right, ADD?
Today is the 36th anniversary of the moonwalk, somehow an appropriate day for Star Trek’s Chief Engineer, Montgomery Scott, to head off for that real final frontier.
Alice Green is running as the Green Party candidate for mayor of Albany, NY. I’m quite pleased, even though we’re not related.
For those of you from out-of-town, a very quick, very light primer in Albany politics. Remember the Democratic machine of Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago? (I mean the elder Mayor Richard Daley; his son is the mayor now.
Well, Albany’s kinda like that. The last time a Republican was elected mayor was around the time Prohibition STARTED.
Like Chicago, this city was run by a powerful machine. For instance, one man, Erastus Corning, was mayor for over 40 years. And for most of that time, he wasn’t even the most powerful guy in the city. That would have been Dan O’Connell, the Democratic Party chair. I shan’t bore you with tales of the corrupting effect of one-party politics.
Erastus died in a Boston hospital in 1982 was replaced by a guy named Thomas Whalen, who seemed to try to make moderate changes in the system.
Then in 1993 came Jerry Jennings, who ran as an “outsider” and won. But soon he became the ultimate insider, and was challenged in the Democratic primary by a state assemblyman named Jack McEneny in 1997. Jerry beat Jack, and being the vindictive sort that he was, Jerry made sure that someone ran in the primary for the Assembly seat against Jack the next year. (Jack prevailed.)
In 2001, NO ONE ran against Jerry in the primary, and in this city, the primary IS the race.
In 2005, two guys with little name recognition are running against Jerry in the primary, and they haven’t a prayer. The Republican challenger is perennial candidate Joe Sullivan (think Harold Stassen.)
Now, Alice Green, long-time activist in issues of law and justice and a very familiar figure in these parts, comes out as a minor party challenger. It’s EXTREMELY unlikely that she will win either, but her entry will almost certainly mean that there will be a real campaign put forth by the incumbent, perhaps even with debates in the fall, and in THIS city, that’s progress.
For information on all the races, go here
In my mind’s eye, when I think of a Batman cover, it’s not the 1960’s Go Go Checks, Bam/Pow cheesy Batman. Nor is it even the fine Frank Miller Dark Knight. It’s the clean, expressive work of Jim Aparo, who died early yesterday. You can see a couple of his covers here and here (July 19) and doubtlessly, many other places.
Of course he worked on a lot more than the Caped Crusader, and my friend, intrepid reporter Fred Hembeck (July 19), who broke the story to much of the comic book world, can tell you more.
My condolences to the Aparo family.
What’s the point of having a blog if you can’t agitate occasionally?
The e-mail I got today read: “I know you have been sent several action alerts on this topic, but this one is probably the most important to which to respond. This is the beginning of the end for reform of the USA PATRIOT Act and it is vital that you let Congress hear your voice. Please act on this alert as soon as you can. Thanks.”
I happen to think that the so-called USA PATRIOT Act is pretty vile, and one of my Senators is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, so I’ll need to contact him tomorrow.
So if you’re interested in the topic, go here.
Forgot to mention the game we went to Friday between the Albany Conquest and the Green Bay Blizzard.
After the first quarter, it was Conquest 35, Blizzard 21.
At the half, it was Blizzard 55, Conquest 54.
After the third quarter, it was Conquest 75, Blizzard 62.
After the fourth quarter, it was Conquest 82, Blizzard 82.
Almost five and a half minutes into the overtime period, it was finally over: Conquest 88, Blizzard 82.
It was, according to the paper, “the highest-scoring game in arenafootball2’s six-year history.”
We went home at the half.
Unbeknownst to me, Carol had told the babysitter that we’d be home by 9:30, and since it WAS her birthday, who was I to argue?
Weird things about this particular game. Green Bay scored two touchdowns when THEY kicked off. One kick hits this bizarre metal part of the backing net and the ball careens into the field where the Blizzard player just runs it in.
The first 29 minutes of play took about 75 minutes, which I thought was reasonable. The clock doesn’t stop even after the touchdown, only after the point after. The only other times that the clock stopped were on penalties.
But the last minute of the half took 15 minutes! The clock stopped for incomplete passes, first downs, just about everything, including the three touchdowns scored (2 by GB).
I’d go again next season (that was the last home game this year), but I think Carol would prefer that I go with someone else. ANYONE else. But she was a good sport about it.
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And speaking of last, we watched the final episode of The Scholar, which we really enjoyed. The executive producer of the show, who appeared briefly in last night’s segment, is writer/actor/Tut expert Steve Martin.
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Oh, and this is my 100th post. E-mail me cake.