Cross Town Thoughts
NBC’s Peter Pan Live! More like Walken Dead. Christopher’s zombie impression of Cyril Ritchard’s brilliant preening and prancing original Hook. Allison Williams’ creepy Pan surrounded by fabulously made-up rejects from Broadway chorus lines. Very gay and boring all at the same time. We could see the wires.
Tiger’s back on the course. Not Lily. A little rusty still. Spieth impressive. Florida looking good on a rainy cold day. Shrimp Fra Diavolo by the fire instead.
Unique Saturday late-night sushi summit at Nakazawa on quaint village Commerce Street. No wasabi shmears nor soy sauce here. Purist omakase only. Skipjack, mackerel, scallops, uni taste as if they’d just jumped out of the sea onto the simple chic plates. A quiet table at the back window enhanced the 20-piece folie. Rumored to have been enjoyed also by Pitt and Jolie.
Twin Peaks return? Laura Palmer said she’d see us in 25 years. It’s here. Ray Wise, Leland Palmer is currently playing a cult leader on Y&R soap. So, he’s available. Calling David Lynch. Can’t wait. Meanwhile, Homeland is back. Carrie escapes dreaded motherhood, off to Afghanistan as Brody’s baby clone Frannie stays back home. Sociopaths on both sides of the terrorist conflict.
Pats, Giants and Niners win. We’ll take what we can get. Don’t celebrate yet.
A tiger cub roared at Royal Liverpool. Rory ruled wire-to-wire. Sergio accepted well-earned accolades. Rickie lost the orange pants. Right direction. Solid round. Young guys stepping up and taking the shots. No hinking or dinking. Love it. Old Tiger finished British Open at the bottom of Hoylake.
I am probably the only one watching Ray Donovan last night to have recognized Ann-Margaret. Elvis the King’s former squeeze. Will she hook up with Mick? Gritty great episode.
Happy birthday shouts out tomorrow to a Prince and a Queen.
Episode 7 of MadMen7. Matt saved his best for last. Focus on the AdBiz. Ditch ancillary characters. Megan mercifully ends the charade. Pete consoles Don with the line of the night. “Marriage is a racket!” Don sheds his Dick (capital D), and returns to being fabulously Draper. Betty & the kids dismiss that phase. Peggy loses her surrogate son. Will her real kid with Pete show up again?
Nuclear Ad family is back. Don’s creative partnership with Peggy recaptures its heart and soul. Joan remains my favorite bottom line girl. So to speak. Roger takes advantage of bittersweet circumstances to enter the M&A era and keep Sterling Cooper intact. Under McCann Erickson. I thought Don would spin himself and a few others off. But, this works in the historical context even better.
As the Sixties ends with everyone gathered around their televisions to watch the first lunar landing in awe, song and dance man Bobby Morse takes us and Bert out in style. The Moon Belongs to Everyone. The Best Things in Life Are Free. See ya next year.
Mad Grads. Make up your minds, seniors at Smith. One of few remaining all-female colleges. Do you want to see women succeed? Break the glass ceiling? Become leaders on the global stage? Christine Lagarde would have been the perfect speaker at your graduation because she has accomplished all you pretend to desire. You could have learned so much from hearing her perspective. Would you rather a man lead the IMF, banks, businesses? Plus, there’s that free speech thing. They don’t teach that at Smith? You have a great Economics Department. Its professors all disagree with your protests. Good for them!
5/15: I so agreed with Tim Egan’s column, “The Commencement Bigots”. My comment was a NYTimes pick. As an alum of Mount Holyoke, the first and still all-women’s college, I was all the more disappointed in Smith students’ protest of Christine Lagarde, the first woman managing director of the IMF, as this year’s speaker. Women’s Liberal Arts Colleges were founded on the principles of open-mindedness and respect for all opinions. In all walks of life. Not exclusively but most especially those of highly accomplished women.
Taking a few days to recover from MadMen7 episode this week. Bad Betty is back. She was a bit nicer mother when she was fat. Don’s continued connection to Megan is confounding. Ménage à trois notwithstanding. His career strategy seems feckless. And where is Weiner going with the nipple-slashing cray cray storyline? Is it that the Ad World will ultimately turn everyone truly Mad?
Over at Thrones, Tyrion’s soliloquy rises to Shakespearean superlative. Dinklage tour de force. And the rest of it. Talk about madness. Delicious.
Adam Silver tarnished Don Sterling’s patina for life. A polished decision by the new Commissioner. NBA behaviors need further scrutiny on all levels.
MadMen7. Sterling Cooper Draper’s most businesslike and influential partner is none other than Joan. Shrewd and strategic. The guys are mired in emotion and game-playing. Peggy reacted unprofessionally as well. Don’s decision to accept demeaning conditions and slither back to Pryce’s old crypt is either pathetic or brilliant. Meanwhile, resentful mother Betty acts like a child and is cruel to her poor son Bobby. But, bad Betty is true to character.
Game of Thrones. Stark’s Valyrian steel passes from Jaime’s tainted grip to Brienne’s hand to avenge Ned’s death. Who is the boy king’s father? Khaleesi amasses more followers. Where are those dragons? White Walker baby…
1970’s literary departure. Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business. The first of his Deptford Trilogy. Pre-WW I through WW II, the evolution of small-town Canadians’ intertwined lives. Sullen narrative with prosaic nuggets.
MarchVanityFair. Rupert Murdoch’s ex-Wendi Deng story. Riveting. Scientology scion wife mystery. Intriguing. How does General Hospital get away with calling its resident nut house ‘Miscavige Hospital for the Criminally Insane’? Hilarious.
Downton finale. Already? SoapOpera digested. Mary has become insufferable as she commands her two suitors to spar for her hand. At least she didn’t spill the beans on Bates. An uneven season ends with royal romance, avenged violation, new baby on the landscape. The Levinson’s tour portends tremors to come. Hughes-Carson liaison doesn’t quite resonate. We wait for Barrow’s next move.
GOOD
FoxSports1- Reege Crowd Goes Wild
Game of Thrones– Red Wedding
Hotel Giraffe
Gramercy Tavern, Da Silvano
MadDad Photo Contest- Side Trek
Joey3Sticks- 50 Clambake
Book of Mormon, Motown
Fabritius’ Goldfinch at the Frick
BAD
Carnival (Ted) Cruz
Phippy wins British Open
Boston Marathon Djokers
Trayvon Martin jury
Carlos’ undangerous Weiner
Hi. It’s me again. The Halloween-hater. It is over yet? A month of spooky plots on every show. Even the news. Women trolloping around in low-cut getups. Men strutting superhero suits. This is scary. A different kind of horror. Little zombies, goblins, witches. Fine. I’ll give you KitKats and KandyKorn. On Thursday.
Orange pumpkins can stay in the fields or on farm trucks. None at my house. They’d clash with resolute pink roses in our October garden. 
First. Tiger no Woods. Keep them out of the bag. At least the driver. You never hit it well. Ok. Rarely. Irons. Fairways. At least you’ll have a shot at the green.
Second. Majors are few marquee events of the sport. Why no live television coverage for entire PGA Championship? GolfChannel. What do you cover? Oh. Golf. TNT starts when Tiger’s round is over today. Half the time, even on the weekend, we have to wait for the gap between cable and network broadcasts.
Yes, I am watching on pga.com. But, the online announcers are morons who talk about their children and everything but the game. Why did we get that big screen? To watch golf. I know. I need to get a life, but geez. If you can’t air the entirety of major tournaments, don’t contract for them.
Side Trek . NYC 