good talk

About 30 years ago they tried Drive-In Churches in Florida thinking that they could get large numbers of people to attend through this relaxed atmosphere. It didn't work out because people would be out there drinking beer, ha, ha. In 1997 Jonathan M. Levin, who taught English at Taft High School, an inner-city school in the South Bronx, was beaten, tortured and murdered by a former student whom he had befriended. Jonathan M. Levin was the son of Gerald M. Levin who was the CEO of Time-Warner. Jonathan M. Levin lived a very modest life residing in a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side abstaining from the trappings of his father's great wealth. The "31" year old Levin was known to be a peach of a fellow often taking his disadvantaged students on outings to baseball games and other wholesome activities. Levin wasn't, you know, he just wanted his students to be happy, he didn't want anything from them. One of his former students, Corey Arthur, sent Levin a message that he needed to see him, upon gaining entrance to Levin's apartment he and an accomplice proceeded to beat and then torture him for an ATM Card and the PIN number, they then made a withdrawal, returned and shot Levin to death. No more bleeding-heart Jewboy. Corey Arthur was sentenced to 25 years to Life with his accomplice being acquited because the police didn't get his confession properly. About 15 years ago in Phoenix a Church-Lady brought bags of groceries to a needy family who were so moved by her compassion that the husband raped and murdered her with his wife assisting him. At last report the husband was on Death Row with his wife trying her best to serve a long prison sentence. There's 5 to 10 million Moslems depending on who does the counting living in the United States currently. After 9-11 it was noticed that there was no outcry by the Moslems living here against what had happened to the World Trade Center Buildings and the poor unfortunates within them. Rationality would lead us to believe that they must have thought something about it. There was an Old Lady who came upon a starving, sick Snake laying on the ground. Moved by his woeful condition the Old Lady picked up the Snake and brought him inside her house where she nursed him back to health. Everything was going well but then one day the Snake suddenly struck at her and bit her. The Old Lady gasped, "Why did you do that after I've been so good to you?" The Snake replied, "You knew I was a Snake when you took me in."

good talk

I need to get away for awhile to restore the blush to my cheeks after being forced to associate with people like you. Punta del Este is probably more east than north of Montevideo. From Montevideo I flew to Lima, Peru and then journeyed until I flew out of Caracas and back to the States. You have the Entirety of this Trip from almost 2 years ago and my Trip from Last Year, I hope you enjoyed my recollections. I saw "the Wrestler," and thought Mickey Rourke was real good in it, I've always liked his movies though he's been sort of inactive in recent years. Another gritty performance of his from twenty years ago was "Barfly," based on the life of writer Charles Bukowski. On Bukowski's tombstone is the Epitaph "Don't Try," a phrase so cryptic that nobody knows what it means. Don't try to dig me up? Glenn "Jeep" Davis died recently at the age of "74." Originally from West Virginia like a lot of the people in and around Akron, Jeep Davis went to Barberton High School in an Akron Suburb where he starred in Track. Widely recruited he chose Ohio State and in 1956 he won the Olympic Gold Medal in the 400 Meter Hurdles in Melbourne and repeated his Gold Medal Performance in the 400 Meter Hurdles at the 1960 Rome Olympics as well as adding a Gold Medal as a member of the winning 4 x 400 Meter Relay. In 1958 Jeep Davis won the Sullivan Award as the best amateur athlete in the country. Although Jeep Davis never played football for Ohio State he went out for the Detroit Lions and played wide receiver for them for 2 years. I stayed at the Kappa Sigma house at Ohio State one summer which was Jeep Davis' fraternity. In their basement they had pictures of their many star athletes, his was the only one to which they attached the appellation,"Champion." On September 9, 1972 Russia played the United States to decide the Olympic Gold Medal in Basketball at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Playing like Men Possessed the Russians gave the Americans their only close game but seemed to have fallen short and losing 50-49 in this Olympic Sport where the U.S. had won every game that it had ever played. Missing their last shot seemed to have doomed the Russians' effort but on a technicality the clock was reset and the Russians were given another chance which also, ha, ha, failed. On yet another technicality the Russians were given yet a third chance at victory and this time succeeded with their Star Center Alexander Belov, only 6'7" and "20" years old, catching the inbounds pass while sandwiched in between 2 big Americans and laying the ball in to give the U.S.S.R. the Victory. This was the best play that I've ever seen in Basketball. Protesting the Outcome as being rigged and that the Russians received 2 more chances than they deserved the Americans refused to accept the Silver Medals that they were entitled to for finishing 2nd and these Medals today are still waiting in some Vault for the American Basketball Players should they ever want them. Basketball is often unfair and in my Family the attitude was that of my older brother, Bob, who said, "They should have known that if they let it get close that something like this would happen," we basically shrugged our shoulders. An Olympic Silver Medal is quite good in and of itself. Oh, Alexander Belov isn't gloating over the Olympic Gold Medal that the Russians "took" from the Poor-Sport Americans, he died from Cancer when he was "26."

good talk

I was just calling around making plans for my next trip, I'm stressed out and this is how I deal with it, it's all your fault that I feel this way. You people don't need to do this, you're tough, you can take it. In the current issue of "Ring" they're talking about Chris Arreola who is the best of the current American Heavyweights. Almost "28" he's not in the Top 10 but was Number 10 recently, a Mexican-American who's from Riverside, Ca. An undefeated banger with a very high knockout percentage Arreola's weight fluctuates wildly and right now he's sort of porky, as "Ring" put it ".....The hopes of a Nation resting on a Pile of Blubber....." We can only wish that things turn out well in this regard. My brother Bob's birthday is February 16 and they're even making it a National Holiday this year, bet he'll like that. For his 50th Birthday I sent him a Card that had a gal in Black Leather with lash in hand saying "I Whipped Up Something for Your Birthday." It's something you'd send to your brother but not your Old Man. From Buenos Aires I went to Montevideo, Uruguay by 2-hour fast boat, so fast that the 2 old people sitting in front of me both barfed, I felt fine. Like Buenos Aires I hadn't been there in 17 years. I then went by bus 120 miles north to Punta del Este, the only world class beach in South America, why I don't know, as long as it's not polluted you've seen one beach you'v seen them all. I swam there 17 years ago but it was too cold at this time of the year, early April, I just walked around, I walked and walked. My idea of the heighth of pleasure is to walk miles and miles through some famous Big City and seeing their sights, I like that better than walking around in the Sticks but I like that too. And it's always good to look out at the Ocean and to smell the Salt Air. All these things are really good. I spent the night at Punta del Este and then took the bus back to Montevideo where about the entire population of Uruguay lives, it's a City-State. And a very nice one with lots of nice little museums such as the Gaucho Museum and the Currency (Money) and some nice Art Museums and beautiful Churches and the aforementioned beautiful Cathedral where I saw a guy go the entire length of the middle aisle from the back to the front on his knees. Must have been some Great Sinner. In 1939 the English caught the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee" off the coast of Uruguay and forced it to flee into the harbor of Montevideo. The captain seeing escape as impossible scuttled his ship, the crew made it safely to land while the Captain went down with his Ship wrapping himself in the Flag of the old Weimar Republic (and not the Nazi Flag) and then shooting himself in the head. It seems like the Germans always have to make some huge production out of dying.

good talk

James Harrison who did so well for the Steelers this past season and in the Superbowl is from Akron and is so is LeBron James, ha, both like me born and raised there. Old, broken-down Akron, they make few if any rubber products in the Rubber City these days, for about fifty years Akron's population was around 300 thousand but as of 2007 it was 208,000. And I'm suprised that they have that many people, when I left the Akron area 30 years ago due to little economic opportunity people were leaving Ohio like Rats deserting a Sinking Ship. Place was cold as heck during the Winter, too. But still they've cranked out these great athletes (tough times make tough people?). I'm gonna go see "the Wrestler" today at the Palms, bet that's good. A good movie from 20 years ago with Mickey Rourke was "Johnny Handsome." When Mickey Rourke became a professional boxer 15 years ago he seemed to go into a funk actingwise, quite possibly he's out of it, good. Everybody is getting down on Michael Phelps for smoking loco weed, right after his break-out Olympics 4 years ago he had a D.U.I., there's no perfect people. Phelps is about the greatest competitor you're ever going to see, most would have faded under the pressure of the expectations from this past Olympics and his out-touching that one guy where for sure it looked like he had lost is beyond words. Phelps is a good Kraut like me and I don't want anybody getting down on him, got it? After getting in from Ushuaia I was able to explore Buenos Aires a lot better than I had time for previously. I got a nice, big hotel room downtown over Easter Weekend for $17, those cheap prices that we like so good. I went to a really great Art Museum, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, I liked it a lot. I went to the Museo Evita which is devoted to the life of Eva Peron. A famous actress in Argentine Movies she married Juan Peron, the President of Argentina, and became known for championing the destitute and Women's Rights. A beautiful woman, she died from Uturine Cancer at the age of "33," on July 26, 1952, strangely the same day that my younger brother, Tom, was born. A Right of Passage for tourists is to go to her family crypt at Cementerio de la Recoleta and of course I did this, she was born Maria Eva Duarte and she's there with other family members. The Bife Loma is reputed to be the best steak in the world, from cows nourished on the Pampas grass. I went to the Confiteria Ideal, a hundred year old Tango palace, it has 2 big floors and looks just the way that you would hope it would. The Tango was spawned in the 1890's in the Brothels in and around Buenos Aires, regarded as too sensual for Polite Society it gained Popularity in Paris in the 1920's. During the daytime they have Tango Lessons at the Confiteria Ideal while at night the Upstairs and Downstairs dance floors are packed with people doing the Tango. A lot of tourists hang around Buenos Aires just for this. My Tango Lesson lasted two and a half hours, it was in a group of about 30 and I hopefully learned a little bit. I myself am going to have to hang around Buenos Aires some for this purpose. I see where James J. Kilpatrick at the age of "88" has retired his popular column of English Usage, I would begin reading his feature article every Sunday thinking that by the time I had finished I could have well learned something.

good talk

In 732 Charlemagne's grandfather, also Charles, defeated the Moslems at the Battle of Tours in northern France driving the Moslems back into Spain and saving the rest of Christian Europe from the Moslem Conquest, this gained him the sobriquet of Charles Martel, Charles the Hammer. Like most people I've always enjoyed the Superbowl, I've watched them all. For the past 2 or 3 years there have been no Superbowl Parties in Las Vegas where you pay an admission and you get all kinds of food and beverage and can win prizes, the NFL (killjoys) put a stop to this. Previously every casino had a Superbowl Party but the only one that I ever went to was the one at the casino on Flamingo and Paradise which has had a number of names, most recently the "Key Largo." And their Superbowl Party was free and they gave out better prizes than at a lot of the ones that charged $20 to get in. Unfortunately the Key Largo became defunct 4 years ago last month, it was a great townies casino where you could get a mixed drink for a dollar and beer for less than that, it was a real friendly layed-back place that did a high volume of business. Why it went out of business is beyond me, the building with the casino and the hotel hasn't been torn down, the huge parking lot is unused, so? By making a little money off a large number of people they made a good profit so why close it down. Probably somebody had the idea that they were going to raze the site and build something great there and the idea fell through. The Key Largo's party could have continued on as they didn't charge anything to attend. I used to go their restaurant all the time as they had good specials for a cheap cost. They had a special of a half-pound hamburger with lots of fries for $2, ha, ha, I used to get two of these after I worked out, it'd cost me $4.30 plus a $2 tip for a total of $6.30 and it was high-quality food, how bad is that? And they'd have DJ's in there giving away prizes constantly throughout the Superbowl. I remember once the big prizes were 3 colored plaques autographed by big name NFL players and these things looked really great. I remember one of the players was Randy Moss. This one guy who had won one was walking away with his prize when some other guy leapt up and said, "Can I see that?" The winner snarled, "You can look at it but you can't touch it!" Ha, ha, I couldn't help but think that this guy was being rather piggy, he had only owned it for 10 seconds and he had gotten all possessive. Another time I was there for the Superbowl and I was sitting at this table with a big, heavy guy originally from Cleveland who a lot of people seemed to know, they called him "Big John." Unfortunately by the end of the game John had lost $10,000. At halftime John brought me a large orange drink and we had just met so that was quite nice. During the second half John was talking to some Familiar who was so drunk that he spilled his drink on John's bare arm, John let loose with a stream of invective which included "...You big dummie..." while this guy ran off to get a bar rag which he used to wipe off John's arm. The Key Largo had a certain ambience which made you glad you were there and I miss it.

good talk

Yesterday I had my teeth cleaned, a Scrapejob. Jan is my dental hygienist and she is really good, before I went in my teeth felt fine as always but afterwards they felt wonderful. Jan is the only one who has ever made me feel that way. About 4 years ago my appointment with Jan was cancelled as she had gone off to this island in the South Pacific on a 2-year contract with some company, the second time that she had done this. Jan had told me about this place before she left, she said that after she got off work Monday through Friday she'd either scuba dive or snorkel and of course do this on weekend. I don't know why Jan's contracts are in 2-year increments or what they do for a dental hygienist when she's not there. I wouldn't want to do this to such a large extent but I think that a lot of people would at least to get out of the ratrace. The dentists have the same opinion of Jan as I do and maybe her good reputation helps her to get this, probably so. While she's still here I'm fortunate to have Jan before she goes yet again to her South Sea Island Paradise. Whether it's Jan or somebody else I get my teeth cleaned every 6 months, I haven't had a cavity in over 9 years, it wasn't always this way. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I flew to Ushuaia from Buenos Aires at the beginning of April 2 years ago. I said that I don't make hotel reservations but I bought the 3 nights at the 4 Star Hotel to make sure that I didn't have to sleep on the sidewalk, Ushuaia is very popular. Ushuaia is 1470 miles from Buenos Aires and is the southernmost town in the world. It's on Tierra del Fuego (named by Magellan the Land of Fire, he had seen Indians' bonfires) and is bordered by the Beagle Channel and is only 600 miles from Antartica. Patagonia is the southernmost part of South America and is shared by both Argentina and Chile. To get to Ushuaia I flew on Aerolineas Argentinas which is about the worse airline I've been on and I've been on a few. Aerolineas Argentinas has a terrible reputation within Argentina as oftentimes tourists coming to Ushuaia to leave on Antartic Cruises arrive 8 hours late and miss their Cruise Ship (bet they were happy). My flight was only an hour late probably because it was the offseason. I was met at the airport and taken to my hotel, Tierra del Fuego, it was new and nice. And they threw in a real good buffet breakfast, you get fooded up for the day and then you don't have to think about it until the evening. My first day I just catted about to see what was going on in this town of 64,000, it was kind of cold and windy but not too much and I enjoyed walking around. The next day I hiked up to their little glacier, the Glacier Martial, took the ski lift back, I had never been to a glacier before. The day after that I went on a 5 hour Penguin Tour out 50 miles to Hammer Island to see the last of the penguins before they migrated, this cost $50. And yes, there were about fifty people on the boat. You don't get off the boat to see the 54 penguins you just ogle these guys who are standing there on the shore as though they had been waiting for you. The Penguins were both Magellanic and Gentoo Penguins and of course everybody was excited and taking their pictures, to be in the presence of Penguins in the Wild was very exciting, cute little fellows and that's putting it mildly. Everybody loves Penguins. On the way back they showed us a movie, "the March of the Penguins." There's no nightlife in Ushuaia, you just watch TV and then go to sleep, save your strength for the following day. The next day I took a tour of the National Park which was part of the Package Deal, everything in the Ushuaia region is the southermost in the World, the southernmost road which I have a picture of me standing at the end of, the southernmost lake, the southernmost forest, the southernmost anything you can think of. My last night, Cecilia, who worked for the company who handled my package deal called me at 10:15 P.M. to tell me to be ready to be picked up at the hotel at 7 P.M. the next evening to fly back to Buenos Aires. She woke me up and I already knew this, I said thanks dear. I couldn't get back to sleep until 12:30 A.M. My last day I toured their old prison from which there had been no way to escape, they had made it into a museum showing all these things about Ushuaia, it was very interesting and there were a lot of people there. Being in Ushuaia had been a wonderful experience.

good talk

Last night Shane Mosley stopped Antonio Margarito in a one-sided contest at the Staples Center is L.A. This was a big upset as Margarito was anointed as one of the best fighters out there after stopping Miguel Cotto at the MGM in Las Vegas where I was in attendance last July 26. Mosley is actually sort of semi-washed up and I offer that the reason he was so successful was due to the huge number of flush on the face punches that Margarito absorbed from Cotto. I personally saw the hard-punching Cotto bang Margarito over a hundred times to the face seemingly with no effect, at that time (Cotto's Revenge?). Margarito has been a professional boxer since he was "15" and now he's "30," he has a lot of mileage on his body. About 10 years ago Tim Couch was the first player taken in the NFL Draft and by the Cleveland Browns but after 5 years of playing behind that bad offensive line his body was so torn down that the Browns cut him and he couldn't make any other team even as a third-string quarterback. About the same thing happened to David Carr more recently, he was the first player taken in the NFL Draft, by the Houston Texans and after 5 years his own body was so torn down that the Texans cut him although he did make another team as a back-up quarterback. The human body can take only so much abuse and then it's shot, that's you, me or anybody else. With the athletes I find it sad to see. From Mendoza, Argentina I took a Cama (luxury) bus for the 700 mile trip to Buenos Aires which I hadn't been to for 17 years. This took about 13 hours and they served us a good supper with wine and a good breakfast enroute (7 P.M. to 8 A.M.). And we even played tic tac toe for a bottle of fine wine, ha, ha, with everybody applauding the lucky winner ( I once played a chicken and got a draw, hey that's better than most did against this guy). They have a lot of fine buses in South America and for not much money. Once we got close to Buenos Aires due to the extremely bad traffic it took 2 hours just to get to the centrally located bus station. Once there I took a taxi to Florida Street, the main drag downtown, to a travel agency that I had read about that seemed good (Marshall Loeb who writes a business column in newspapers recently called Buenos Aires "the Paris of South America" and rightly so). This thing didn't open until 10 A.M., I think none of them do. Once there the nice gal sold me a package deal for 3 nights in Ushuaia with my plane leaving at 7 A.M. the next morning, it sounded good to me and it was good. In the meantime I wanted to go to a Tango dinner and show that night, there's many and as she said that she had been to them all I asked her which she had liked best and she said, "La Ventana." So I catted about until that evening as is my wont and saw the Cathedral which is San Martin's final resting place and other interesting stuff. I had agreed to be picked up at this 5 Star Hotel off of Florida Street at 7 P.M. and around 6 P.M. I was in one of their Men's Rooms and I was washing up and brushing my teeth, one of their employees came in and saw me and called the cops on me. Hey, they could tell that I was a foreign tourist and just making some ablutions so what's the big deal? Anyway I thought that I should get out of there, the cops were walking in as I was walking out. Good grief. So I walked down the street and came back around 7 P.M. and was picked up for the Tango Show. People, this is something that you should do in your lifetime, it was so fabulous. They took a picture with this young chick, a tango dancer, with her leg draped across me, ha, ha, I sent it to my brother in Cleveland. They had me sit down across from another guy who was by himself, we were to share this bottle of fine wine but he didn't drink so by the end of the evening I had finished it by myself. That steak dinner was so delicious and the waiters were so great, if you touched a napkin to your lips they'd instantly bring you another one. The Tango Show started at 10 P.M. and went until Midnight, those dancers were so talented and great, it was something to behold. The entire schmerz cost $70, it was a night I'll never forget. They dropped me off on Florida Street around l A.M. and it was totally deserted but perfectly safe, no miscreants prowling about or anything like that and I caught a taxi to their Domestic Airport .