January 2012
2 posts
As New York goes, so goes Patrick? →
My dad sent me the recent WSJ story, “New York Baby Names: Parents Stick With Jayden, Isabella.” Dad’s sole comment? “Only 75 Patricks.” Yes, it was more bad news for babies named Patrick. My first…
On New Year's Eve, here's to the little things →
I saw this sign at the gas station the other day and loved it. The sign was small but perfect. This last year for me, while there were a couple leaps, was about the small things. About balance, about…
December 2011
3 posts
Farewell to my favorite old piece of furniture →
Yes, it is a season of great change in the Cooper household. New TV, new stand, new phone (post to come), and a new desk chair. The new chair arrived months ago, but the old chair has been slow in…
A rose without any words would sound as sweet →
Someone has probably already used that title to headline a review of Synetic Theater’s wordless production of Romeo and Juliet. But Google tells me no one has yet, so I’m going to strike while the…
My failed attempt to name five favorite things... →
Started to make a list, but then the list gave away everything. What I realized was that I just wanted to show the YouTube video to people who hadn’t seen it yet. So, yes, here we are, listless but…
November 2011
14 posts
The Amazing Live Eco-Sphere →
Somehow I ended up on the catalog list for Viva Terra, “inspired green giving.” Inside the mailing this season, I found the “Living Ecosphere.” Surrounded on the page by silver ornaments and gold…
If the Internet counts, one for Best Music Writing... →
How do you cover a famous musician’s Alzheimer’s-affected final shows? No Depression does it beautifully with this recent piece. A tingle shot through me. His delivery was perfect, if too low in the…
Stripped down voices →
I’ve mentioned the Cover Lay Down blog here in the past. If you’re still not yet reading, two recent posts compel me again to tell you to start. One came Friday – brief, just one song. “I know we…
Any given Sunday, we suffer →
Last time I updated you on my fantasy football league, about a month ago, my team, Imaginary Touchdown, was on top of the world/league: Since then, the tide was turned. I haven’t worked the…
Best content from Veterans Day weekend →
I tweeted this, but I want to add it here as well: Life’s “50 Photos that Brought the War Home.” The photo gallery leaves you thinking on the process of a photo gaining wide cultural meaning or…
On a pretty fall day, we try shotguns →
A month and a half ago, friend Andrew, new acquaintance Lori and I were sitting in a bar near work, talking about the great outdoors and our group-coupon adventures. We were actually dining at the…
High and low beauty: lobster rolls →
A lowly sea creature lofted to culinary heights, a lowly vegetable that gets a fancy name, a drink made of common ingredients in a shapely, light-catching glass. Sitting at the Tacklebox bar with…
Where I put my vote this year →
Right there between wage and moxie, baby. Because it’s 2011. I can confirm Arlington turnout was light. But democracy was in full effect.
Pix: Jeff and Mollie get married (part two, the... →
All right, enough with the dude mischief and pretending to play musical instruments. Time to tie that knot and have a party. Jeff and Mollie got their lines right. Not one of the wedding party,…
Weak violet heights →
My favorite magazine has been on a warmer streak this fall, it feels like. Take the October 17 issue. In the back of the book, literary critic James Wood assembles one of the best paragraphs of the…
For my brother, on his birthday →
Rob took this photo for me a long time ago, and it has sat around ever since. For his birthday today, I salute him and his accompanying note: “Fyi, the cheddar flavor creates a perfect cross between…
Happy retirement, Mac McGarry →
The Post brings news Mac McGarry is retiring after 50 years as host of It’s Academic. I was never on the TV show (too slow in mind, thumb or both?) but had Gonzaga friends who appeared, our senior…
Following up: Date Lab people are pretty cool →
My bracket intervention for Date Lab got good conversations going this summer. Three in particular, extending into this fall, showed the cool of Date Lab people. Been meaning to blog the…
Weeks later, this story remains a must-read →
One of my favorite reads early this fall was Peter Hessler’s “Dr. Don: The life of a small-town druggist” in The New Yorker. I posted a link on Facebook but didn’t mention anything here. Then I kept…
October 2011
27 posts
Halloween dinner →
Goat cheese and butternut squash ravioli, in a basil and pesto sauce. With roasted Brussels sprouts (not brussel sprouts, apparently) and a salad of beets, arugula and feta. With challah bread, real…
Shakespeare! The horse goes all the way down →
Was fortunate to hear new Folger Library chief Michael Witmore give a great talk Wednesday night, “Data-Mining Shakespeare.” Among other research, he’s collaborated with fellow profs in using the…
One more shot of/from the pumpkin cannon →
Going through the leftover photos, realized you could see the pumpkin (and smoke trail) in this shot. Welcome to the House of Pain, pumpkin.
Amazing maize maze adventure, you say? →
Belvedere Plantation, somewhere outside Fredericksburg, VA. A corn maze in the shape of a rocket. Good news: You get to carry a flag. Bad news: You have to carry a flag. Good luck to all! Going in…
Nice day for a Strahota wedding →
Headed to wedding prep shortly. If you know Jeff, this song works great. The other night, I was struggling with what to say at Jeff and Mollie’s rehearsal dinner. Jonny was speaking too, and he and I…
This is how you know it's for real →
Jeff’s wedding is near, very near — groomsman tux on my closet door, rehearsal dinner tomorrow night (or, at this late hour, tonight) — so I enjoyed this recent New Yorker passage (abstract) I ran…
Sun's coming to get me →
Howlin’ at the moon, I hope it shines on you Pull it off the ground, just an inch or two Maybe you stay up late. Maybe you wake up early. At certain points in your life, when you’re awake, time seems…
Oh, to write a CMS advice column →
A friend wrote recently with a problem. “Like many ladies,” she began, “I’ve always had a soft spot for a man with an accent. Do you know what will cure that? Spending an hour on the phone with the…
October sunrise →
Even a caveman would be impressed →
Yesterday afternoon, I went to my car in the garage, and it wouldn’t unlock. The alarm system wouldn’t disarm. When I opened the Accord manually, the remote wouldn’t turn off the alarm. Wee-ooo,…
Jonathan Katz as centerfold →
Great to see classmate and friend Jonathan Katz as cover photo and (classy) centerfold in the new issue of the Medill alumni magazine. If you haven’t been following along, Katz won the 2011 Medill…
A good way →
In a great mood last night, can’t sleep. Finally pass out around two. Wake at seven, half an hour before the alarm. Series of meetings on future projects. Full rewrite on a proposal. Chasing daily…
This kind of rain →
This kind of rain, the variety that comes and goes, it makes you want to race. As gray as the sky stays, as awkward as crowds of umbrellas make the subway, as many puddles as you step into as dusk…
La fée verte →
A colleague and I were talking yesterday afternoon about absinthe. I was explaining how the liquor, near mythological but oh so real, put a glow on everything. As cool as that effect was, what I had…
Underrated: The TV writing process →
When you love a TV show, you love the making of that TV show — the writing process, the creative forces, the influences, the way scene slips to screen. Just like August’s Slate analysis of one of…
Sometimes you need to see it written out →
No Depression has a started a series where readers ask questions of famed musical people. Lots of pubs take questions from readers, but ND curates with greatness. This exchange with T Bone Burnett,…
Jeff's bachelor party: Away we go →
Friend Jeff, whom I met at the picnic before the start of kindergarten, back when Chevy Chase Playground’s most beloved attraction was a massive, tipping, iron-and-steel, sun-broiling, grounded ball…
Someone should do a playlist… →
… of best songs to play when you wake up before the weekend sun. If you haven’t heard Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s Here We Rest, it’s worth your time and your Sunday morning. Codeine’s one of my…
Robert Pinsky at the Folger, distinctly →
First hearing him read some thirteen years ago, at a youth conference in Wyoming, the thing about Robert Pinsky’s poetry that shook me up was the way he spoke. He enunciated like no one I’d ever…
What do you do with a Steve Jobs show now? →
It was cool this week to have Mike Daisey, rock-star monologist, link to my blog post about his Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs show. Was also curious to read the stories, also linked off his blog,…
Blue as the sky →
Sunrise view from my bed this morning: What’s playing: The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. (Spotify.) What’s playing, in particular: two songs from it. A GQ story examines how the new album came to…
Oh, the ledes beautiful women give us →
From the recent T Magazine profile of a supermodel: “I don’t need a swing in my room, I need a bloody minibar,” says the model Lara Stone, distending her world-famous lower lip and disparaging with a…
A family gathering is always a good, loud time →
(Video from mpiccorossi who may or may not have also been at #ona11.) Before the night drops too far back in time, it must be said the Marah show at Jammin Java a couple weeks ago was a fun, fun…
Six poems catching me off guard →
Kay Ryan has the continual power to leave me blank on a subway ride. Not speechless — because who but tourists talk with strangers on the subway — but blank for the moment, unable to offer any…
Sitting still for a spell →
(The good mood of the above video also adequately expresses last week. Play it. Watch it. Dance around the room to it. You’ll be happier for it.) Life’s in the middle of an unusual run right now. My…
The laughter of Wes Lindamood →
My buddy Wes has one of the best laughs at NPR. He has a good time laughing, and it shows. Fortunately for the Internet, #ona11 student newsroom coverage captures Wes in great mid-laugh (0:46), and…
'The world is a little better when…' →
A few years ago, to end the day, I always needed to find the right line. Either writing here or reading something somewhere, a tiny realization would arrive. Who knew what ground it would cover —…
September 2011
16 posts
A Wilco missing link →
In my Wilco concert take on Monday, I mentioned the new Whole Love was possibly the optimistic flip side of the dark Ghost Is Born. A bonus track from the new one’s deluxe edition makes the point…
I love when fantasy football breaks with reality →
Last weekend for me:
#ONA11 thanks the almost mayor of Birmingham →
So, as you know, four years ago, a lawyer named Patrick Cooper ran for mayor of Birmingham, Ala. Fascinated by the man taking my No. 1 Google rank, I followed the race in city blogs and reported on…
And it's a good book, too →
Friend and colleague Javaun was having a problem at home. I looked on my bookshelf, found a book to loan and was able to help him work on his problem. Javaun — rightfully — “Why do you even have…