Kudos to Jerry Seinfeld, who stood up to to a reporter who asked about the lack of diversity on his current show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. It is the same nonsense that was leveled at the comedian's classic sitcom. Here's some of what he had to say, culled from an article in the New York Post: “People think it’s the Census or something. I mean, this has gotta represent the actual pie chart of America? Who cares? Funny is the world that I live in. You’re funny, I’m interested. You’re not funny, I’m not interested. And I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that. To me, it’s anti-comedy. It’s more about PC nonsense than ‘Are you making us laugh or not?’”
Also in the Post: Shaun Livingston signed as a free agent with the Brooklyn Nets this past summer. He got off to a fast start, demonstrating unique versatility playing three positions. He then fell into a slump and began over-thinking his problems. The team's operations manager, Matt Riccardi, gave him a copy of Herman Hesse's classic novel, Siddhartha, the story of a man's quest for enlightenment. Livingston has since turned his game around and attributes it to the book. He says: “...But it kind of just helps on the court, I think. Mentally it kind of stabilizes you. You’re like, ‘All right. Nothing else matters. This is just a game,’ and you take all the pressure out of it. What I went through [with the injury] was kind of real life. … This is a game. Now, we get paid to do it, people’s jobs are on the line, you understand that. … I understand the professional part of it, the business part of it. But I get more out of it by thinking about it as a game and something you have fun with.” What should he read next? How about Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull?
In my post Super Bowl blog I praised the performance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers during the halftime show. It has now been reported that the the music track was pre-recorded, the vocal live. Although I was disappointed to hear this, I know the band's musicians are talented. They have played hundreds of concerts, perhaps thousands. Handlers claim there wasn't time to properly set up for their one song. RHCP have millions of fans. I find the band to be one of the most disappointing of all time, clearly talented but creators of very few notable tracks. Of course, this may simply reflect the fact that their rise coincided with my decreased interest in their kind of music.
About five years ago I invested a large chunk of an IRA in a CD, believing the stock market was headed for a long dry spell. That proved a mistake, as I would have earned so much more had I put it all into the mutual fund of dividend paying stocks I chose a year or so later. Now the money, plus its paltry return, is again available for investment. And the quandary has begun: what to do, what to do? I've put ten percent in a commodities fund, and have been gun shy with the rest. The stock market is in the midst of a correction. The Fed, at least for the time being, has stopped the Quantitative Easing that led to the rally to historic highs. Unless it resumes the strategy, which is probably an enormous long term mistake, I'll stay on the sidelines, drawing less than one-percent interest, until the correction reaches 20%. It may sound like I know what I'm doing, but I don't. I doubt many advisers do. The old adage remains true: No risk, no reward. Right now I'm risk averse or, as we say in Brooklyn: "No balls."
It's been raining in Brooklyn since at least six AM. There's a good melt happening. Unfortunately, there's so much snow around it is unlikely enough will disappear to make the book shop feasible. And it's doubtful many cars will be moved in the area of my nook, as the alternate side regulations have been suspended. Today I filled time redeeming recyclables, cleaning off the car and shoveling an exit for it, and proofing the final chapter of my rock n roll epic, Rising Star. With more snow forecast for the weekend, the end of the hiatus is nowhere in sight.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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