Sunday, May 23, 2010

LOCATED: We've had a request from sconstant that there be some Open Thread today for folks who don't give a whit about The Most Important Television Episode Of The Decade and wish to discuss other topics. The Island tells me that's okay; just make sure someone posts a comment at least once every 108 minutes, or else terrible things may happen.

36 comments:

  1. Meghan7:52 AM

    Wait, there's something happening tonight?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I am driving back from Boston but that better not be an event. Otherwise, nothing going on tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. gretchen8:52 AM

    I am going out of the house to have drinks with friends!  (Ever since the arrival of the baby, this is a big event.  I assume that's what we're talking about?)

    ReplyDelete
  4. sconstant9:08 AM

    Martin Gardner died yesterday. 

    A rare person - stood at the intersection of math, magic and skepticism, and was a good writer with a lovely sense of humor to boot, which helped him when explaining things, which is pretty much what he did non-stop. He's responsible for close readings of Lewis Carroll's works and for lots of interesting math games and puzzles which he either invented or investigated and then patiently explained.  An incredibly nice guy by all accounts.  And that Escher print you had on your wall in college?  He pretty much singlehandedly brought Escher to the American consciousness.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fortunately, my conference doesn't start in earnest till tomorrow (though I'll pick up all the registration materials and such today), so I can spend the evening watching Lost.  Any suggestions for decent things to see/do/eat in Boston?  I'm staying right on the Public Garden and wandered through the Garden and Common a bit last night, and the conference is over by the Seaport, so suggestions in those areas are particularly welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. sconstant9:50 AM

    <pre>Don't say that word.
    [What word?]
    I cannot tell, suffice to say is one of the words the thread cannot hear.

    Just so we're clear, the word is LOST.

    Ah! Now I said LOST! And now I said it again! Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!
    </pre>

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm working tonight, like I do every Sunday night.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Michele10:35 AM

    I hope to be in the afterglow of a Chicago Blackhawks sweep of the Sharks.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lakers-Suns on TNT...

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's been a decade (wow) since I lived in Boston, but if you're heading to the conference location to pick up your materials, and want an authentic Boston dinner, one good bet would be to head over to the North End for Italian food.  I don't have a particular recommendation, but it's hard to go wrong if you just wander around and find someplace that looks good.  And then go to Mike's Pastry (http://www.mikespastry.com/) for some cannoli or other Italian treats.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'll be pretending tomorrow isn't Monday. Same as I do every Sunday night. Well, except next Sunday - three-day weekend! Woot!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Stevie11:00 AM

    I was at a conference in Boston in January. I went to an amazing bar/restaurant called Drink - basically, you tell them what you like and they come up with a cocktail suggestion for you. I went with the dark and stormy, made with homemade ginger beer, and it was a revelation. They also have incredibly delicious bar snacks. It was not far from the convention center, the new one, which is why I was there (and I don't think too far from Seaport).

    ReplyDelete
  13. Simpsons season finale tonight, which I may or may not watch.  But I definitely won't be watching the-show-that-shall-not-be-named. 

    ReplyDelete
  14. sconstant12:06 PM

    Ok, fine, since no one else admitted it, I will - between innings of the NYY/NYM game, I will be flipping back to the Celebrity Apprentice live finale.  I don't get it, actually, isn't Bret Michaels in the hospital?  I admit (with pride) to not following this carefully, so maybe it's not live-live, but some variation that them television people have come up with.

    Since no one will be reading this second paragraph after a first one focused on Celebrity Apprentice, can I admit to thinking of Extreme's Hole Hearted immediately upon hearing of Michaels' recent medical issues?  I can't be the only one; still, I feel somewhat bad about it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. bill.1:26 PM

    How about some new music?

    Carolina Chocolate Drops, Hit Em Up Style
    Joan Armatrading, This Charming Life

    ReplyDelete
  16. StvMg1:46 PM

    Former MLB pitcher Jose Lima died of a massive heart attack. He was just 37. He was wildly inconsistent from year to year, but he sure was a lot of fun to watch.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Andrea2:47 PM

    Many years ago we were able to get tickets for a Shakespeare production at Central Park.  Seems everyone else was home watching Richard Hatch win the first Survivor. 

    ReplyDelete
  18. I like Giacomos in the North End and then Cafe Vittoria for people watching.

    ReplyDelete
  19. There's a rant coming about cities (I'm looking at you, Chicago and Boston) that decide to redevelop their major convention center in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (same issue applied to Berlin, but that wasn't a redevelopment thing, but a Cold War issue).

    ReplyDelete
  20. Renee6:19 PM

    I don't watch Celebrity Apprentice but your second paragraph made me laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  21. gtv20006:23 PM

    Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  22. sconstant6:35 PM

    Loved the version of Hit 'Em Up Style - heard the band on Fresh Air recently and had them on my very porous mental list of "look this up" - thanks for the pointer.

    The Joan Armatrading isn't streaming well for me, I'll look for it another way (she says as she puts that on her very porous mental list...)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Stevie7:47 PM

    Oh, preach it. I work for a company that puts on two huge conferences every year, and the difference between working a convention that's walking distance to hotels/restaurants/other people and one where you're stuck taking pricy cab rides is huge.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Heather K7:48 PM

    Dude, I am sorry (for Chicago), it is abysmally located but at least a cheap cab ride to downtown.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Heather K7:49 PM

    I am going to try to go to sleep early after a very busy first summer weekend in Chicago that involved boating, theatre, and lots of time outside in the sun.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Well, there are some hotels and restaurants near the Boston Convention Center, and the Convention Center offers a free shuttle to a few more restaurant groups, but the core of Boston is pretty much inaccessible even on the longish lunch breaks.  The conference is also offering shuttles to official conference hotels, but they're somewhat irregular, and I'm not staying at an "official" hotel (oddly, boss insisted that we all stay at a MORE EXPENSIVE hotel than the conference hotel I was originally booked into), so much walking.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I'm pretty sure it was a plan that failed when everything tanked recently.  It helped DC and San Diego.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Linda8:30 AM

    I admit to watching.  And enjoying the Brett win.  Holly, frankly, just bugged me.  Everybody got money and everybody is a winner!  Kind of a copo out, but understandable since there was really no way to fire the guy who came back from death so she was screwed.  Don't know why I like it.  But I do. 

    Also watched Yankees/Mets.  Yankee fan.  So that wasn't as pleasant.

    ReplyDelete
  29. RandomRanter9:46 AM

    Late to the party, but I watched "Holmes on Holmes" (after catching up on the Sharks/Hawks - man I am a jinx, warning Hawks, I'm picking you next.) - and found it resolved all my questions and was quite satisfying.

    Also, I understand that Nashville suffers from a similar edge of town placement for it's convention center.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Weirdly big fan now of HGTV.  I do not own a home nor am I thinking of buying one but those shows are crazy satisfying.

    ReplyDelete
  31. RandomRanter2:55 PM

    KR - Me too.  I'm a renter, but some of these shows just fascinate me.

    ReplyDelete
  32. sconstant3:46 PM

    I buffered it on my DVR and fast forward through until Brett hobbled in.  We were trying to play "spot the medical team" but since they did not seem to be anywhere within a five-foot perimiter of the "boardroom" desk, we assumed that they were under it, ready to spring out with a moments notice.  A combination of his pallor, a badly tied bandana (seriously, man, we assume you're bald now.  it's kinda like a comb-over, in that (1) you're not hiding anything, and (2) you'd look better without it), and the bad lighting made him look kinda warmed over. 

    There was one guy in the audience who had fixed his hair to go straight up from his forehead.  I'd hate to have gotten tickets to the exciting Celebrity finale and then find out I was sitting behind him.

    ReplyDelete
  33. sconstant3:51 PM

    And thanks to the INTRTWIT, I now know: the guy in the crowd was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bello_Nock

    ReplyDelete
  34. bill.9:31 PM

    try it from here.

    ReplyDelete
  35. spacewoman12:06 AM

    Hey, how did you know I had an Escher print on my wall in college? The one of the hand drawing the hand drawing the hand.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Jim Bell9:38 AM

    Maybe that's what was behind the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, or Linda Ronstadt, or Farrah.

    ReplyDelete