No, that is not the title of the sequel to the hit film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It refers to the artistic controversy over the recent addition of a statue of a young girl staring down the famous charging bull statue on Wall Street.
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70-year old Kathrine Switzer ran and completed the Boston Marathon yesterday. Nowadays it is not unusual for women and older people to achieve such things but this is significant because 50 years ago, Switzer became the first woman to run in this race and what happened when she did so makes for an astonishing story that I wrote about two years ago and you can listen to her tell her story now in this video clip.
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The city of Cleveland has many desirable features. But these tend to be overshadowed by the many macabre criminal stories that have become associated with it that have garnered national and international attention. There were the so-called headless torso serial killings involving at least twelve victims back in the 1930s. Elliot Ness, who later became famous as an FBI investigator was police chief at the time. Then there was the Sam Sheppard case in 1954 that was reportedly the basis of the hit TV series and film The Fugitive.
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The racist image of Chief Wahoo that adorns all kinds of merchandise for the Cleveland Indians has long been a flashpoint for controversy. Despite the protests against it, the team has kept it on, citing that hoary old excuse of ‘tradition’ when the likely reason is that many fans love it and are willing to find excuses, however weak, for keeping it on, and the team owners don’t want to offend them. The fact that the Indians went to the championship finals last year has brought more national attention to the image, and the reviews were not good.
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Pretty much everyone is now aware of the incident in which airline security personnel forcibly ejected a 69-year year old passenger off a United Airlines flight after he refused to accept their cash offer to give up his seat to allow airline personnel to travel on that flight. The videos of the bloodied passenger being dragged off the plane have gone viral big-time. (If you are one of the few people who are not aware of this and have not seen the videos, see my earlier post.)
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The behavior of United Airlines in assaulting a passenger who refused to be kicked off a flight to accommodate United employees was disgusting. Instead of increasing the incentives to take another flight, they resorted to beating up the man and carrying him off the plane. Astonishingly, the man appeared on the plane again later looking bloody, dazed, and confused.
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Much of the time, synchronized swimmers are under water and upside down. So what happens if you film them underwater and then invert the film? You get a strangely weird result.
This video of a woman at a fast food restaurant who got enraged when she saw another couple exchanging a kiss has to be seen to be believed. As she started her tirade, the male member of the kissing couple recorded what happened next and then later gave his version of what led up to the altercation.
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It is interesting the kinds of challenges that people set for themselves. Via Pepe Jimenez, here is a video of someone in London getting off the underground train at one station, running to the next station, and getting on to the same train again. I am not sure what it proved, that he is a fast runner or that the trains are slow, but it is an impressive feat and fun to watch.
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In an interesting article on the practice of tipping, Aaron Stern described the origins of the practice.
Tipping dates all the way back to the eighteenth century, when patrons would give a few coins to their waiter/struggling scrimshaw artist “to insure promptness.” It’s worth noting that the concept of “promptness” back then was quite different from what it is now. In 1760, if your server took more than twenty minutes to bring your food, you were within your legal rights to “wallop him smartly on his person with a blackjack or billy club.” Whereas today you really need to be waiting for at least a goddam hour before you can administer a wallop in good conscience.