Reader's Notes - What's Your Superpower?

The magical 'Dial 'H' for Hero," er, dial.

I came across one of those great Wikipedia entries the other day -- a labor of love, clearly. If you've ever needed a carefully constructed canonical list of superpowers, sorted by type and with concise descriptions, you'll enjoy this page.  If I had to pick a superpower that I might actually possess, it would be echolocation -- which is kind of lame.

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Reader's Notes - Adrian Beltre Facts

As a Red Sox fan, I've had the pleasure of following the Sox on TV or radio and reading Gordon Edes real-time tweets from wherever he may be, at the ballpark or watching NESN.  On Thursday night, over the course of the game versus the Blue Jays, a wave of tweets concerning just how tough Adrian Beltre is -- along the line of the "Chuck Norris Facts" of a few years back.  No doubt there's some copying from one meme to the other, but here are some of my favorites.

• They wanted to name a street after Beltre. He said no. Nobody crosses Adrian Beltre.
• Beltre doesn’t get caught looking. He allows baseballs to live.
• When Jays wanted to open roof, they asked Beltre to hit popup in batting practice.
• Adrian Beltre hasn't made 15 errors, the official scorers have.
• When Brian Bosworth was flattened by Bo Jackson, he said, "I'm just thankful it wasn't Beltre."
• Adrian Beltre has never hit into a fielder's choice. The choice is up to him.
• When Adrian Beltre does a postgame interviews, he asks the questions.
• Sly Stallone offered Adrian Beltre the lead in "The Expendables." He declined, saying he prefers tough-guy movies.
• Adrian Beltre used to bench-press Ichiro before Mariners games.
• The last time Adrian Beltre took BP, Tony Hayward resigned as CEO.
• Adrian Beltre can touch MC Hammer.

Rob Bradford at WEEI wrote a story last month about how Beltre got so tough, and he collected another list of  Adrian Beltre facts -- sorry for the repeats. Enjoy, but don't laugh too hard.  Beltre will hear you.

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Review of Blues Vignette by Gwilym Simcock on eJazz News

Up now on eJazzNews is my review of UK pianist and composer Gwilym Simcock's new release Blues Vignette.  Although in the past, I've been a bit of a stuffy purist about what defines jazz or blues -- in the manner of Stanley Crouch -- I've heard so much multi-tradition music over the past few years, I've changed my mind.  Sometimes -- in fact, most of the time -- good music is just good music, aesthetics and categories be damned.  As to Simcock, he is a gifted musician who has very intentionally and gracefully blended jazz and classical music on a number of levels.  The more I listen to Blues Vignette, the more impressed I am.

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Reader's Notes - Miami Book Fair 2010

On Connie Ogle's Between the Covers we find a concise rundown on the bigger name authors slated for this fall's Miami Book Fair: Jonathan Franzen, Ann Beattie, Pat Conroy, Nora Ephron, and E.O. Wilson, to name a few.


The festival's official website is up and running -- check it out!


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Reader's Notes - DeLillo Interview

An interview with one of my favorite writers, Don DeLillo, appeared in The Guardian this past Sunday.  More talkative than in the past, DeLillo is notably open about his process and even reveals some personal details.  His latest book, a slim novel in a recent string on slim ones, is Point Omega.


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Reader's Notes - Comics are good for you

Saturday morning Watchmen, anyone?

Over the transom today came two excellent articles extolling the unique virtues of comics: one from Greg Burgas at Comics Book Resources, and another from none other than the Canadian Council on Learning.  Does this mean we can read Watchmen in English class now?


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