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Blinq

Archive: July, 2007

Tom Snyder

POSTED: Monday, July 30, 2007, 2:26 PM

Filed Under: Deaths

You loved him or you hated him. Maybe you even did a dead-on impersonation of him, collar out, cigarette waving, voice like a cartoon bear's?

But you watched The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder.

The former Philly noontime host - yes, Daily Sally has a brush with greatness - is dead at 71.

Daniel Rubin @ 2:26 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Herr Zappa

POSTED: Monday, July 30, 2007, 2:00 PM

Filed Under: Music

Reason No. Funf why I'd rather be back in Berlin:

German city names street after Frank Zappa.

Burnt Weenie Way?

Daniel Rubin @ 2:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Cheesesteak Futures

POSTED: Sunday, July 29, 2007, 3:44 PM

Filed Under: Food and Drink | Money

That most simple Philadelphia sammich is getting pricey.

Niall Ferguson, a Harvard professor from across the pond, writes in the Sunday Telegraph that he's having to dig deeper in his pockets to taste the Philadelphia cheesesteak.

The historian, in a piece on population growth and food production, notes:

Daniel Rubin @ 3:44 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Goodnight, Mr. Bunch

POSTED: Friday, July 27, 2007, 5:08 PM

Filed Under: Weblogs

It was great to see Will Bunch on national TV last night, affirming to hear Keith Olbermann describe the Daily News senior writer as author of a "superb online blog" and fascinating to hear Mr. Attytood poke holes in the connection between terror and cheese.

More curious was the revelation that in 1975, Olbermann was senior editor at the Hackley School newspaper in Tarrytown, N.Y. while Bunch was a cub reporter. At the end of his Countdown segment Olbermann ran a screen shot of an edition of that sheet in which both angry young men earned bylines.

Hackley School? Isn't that where Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren shoot some of their catalogues? Didn't Malcolm Forbes go there? George Hamilton? Next we'll learn Will lathers Grey Poupon on his pretzels.

Daniel Rubin @ 5:08 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Reasons to be Cheerful

POSTED: Friday, July 27, 2007, 11:01 AM

Filed Under: City Life

When you count yourself the sum of 11 counties, you can find lots to cheer about. The heart of the Phillies may have just broken, but Greater Philadelphia still can celebrate the region's latest rankings in Forbes, Money, US News & World Report and the Places Rated Almanac.

I'm still trying to figure out what's so hot about Horsham, having spent two years working in a faceless industrial park in that Athens of the norther suburbs.

Daniel Rubin @ 11:01 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Geeks of the Week

POSTED: Thursday, July 26, 2007, 6:19 AM

Filed Under: Music

Perez Hilton makes Blender's list of the 25 most powerful people in online music, so why would you want to click on?

Really, why read any music list that lauds the haircut formerly known as Mario Lavandeira? To get to the youngest man to make the cut - the Russian immigre named Alexander Volotkin, whose Hype Machine is a sort of pure heroin to those of us trying to do the right thing and resist downloading.

Guess who's the No. 1 Powergeek. Make that pOWERGEEK.

Daniel Rubin @ 6:19 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Cover Crunch

POSTED: Wednesday, July 25, 2007, 5:48 PM

Filed Under: Sports

Sheldon Brown, who graces the cover of the new Sports Illustrated, on what it was like to take down Reggie Bush during the playoff game against the Saints:

"It was like running through a cardboard box."

The Hit gets featured in a story on crushing tackles.

Daniel Rubin @ 5:48 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Whiskey On Ice

POSTED: Wednesday, July 25, 2007, 4:13 PM

Filed Under: Weblogs

Every few months I try to call up a dead link on my list of "favorites," hoping to be surprised by some activity in a shuttered Web site. I'll play Rbally, to see if the music blogger's gone back to posting great shows from rock's golden ages.

And I'll drop by the Whiskey Bar, to see if the blogger named Billmon's ended his long drought to again show the way out of our current political troubles.

I wish I could report Billmon's return. (Or Rbally's for that matter.) We have to settle for second best:

Daniel Rubin @ 4:13 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Beginning of the End?

POSTED: Monday, July 9, 2007, 8:48 AM

Filed Under: Poli Sci

I like the way Phawker noted this MAJOR DEVELOPMENT with 4:37 a.m. clarity:

"BREAKING: The War Just Ended With An Anonymous Source Trial Balloon Floated In The New York Times."

David Sanger reports that White House officials fear Republican support for the war has crumbled to the point the president must get the jump on critics and announce a pullback from Iraq's most dangerous quarters.

Daniel Rubin @ 8:48 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Back in The High Life

POSTED: Sunday, July 8, 2007, 11:20 AM

Filed Under: Weblogs

Clever, those kids at Philly.com. Restore Blinq to an honored spot on the Philly.com blogroll, and maybe they can get some more new tricks from this old hound. Not sure what I have to say, since my blog reading has been more avocational than vocational lately. That's no so bad, though. So, here's what's been on my screen.

Jon Pareles' blog in the New York Times, which I checked out mainly to learn the identity of the fawning, preening softboy with asymmetrical hair (AFI?) that I turned off so quickly during Bravo's breakfast, lunch and dinner with Live Earth. What I did see: A spirited Crowded House set from Sydney with some smart ad-libbing by Neil Finn; a dozen? gold-clad Chinese sirens playing a funked up Mozart's 40th on primitive strings; Al Gore's remedial clapping; Red Hot Chili Peppers,but mainly to figure out if that was Will Ferrell on drums. No, silly. He could nail down the beat.

Speaking of nailing it ... Inquirer editor David Sullivan continues advancing the cause of that thing that we do. Basically, he argues, there's a lot more fight left in newspapers, and we need to get great at that which we do best. Whether or not that continues to be distributed on fishwrap remains to be seen. He writes from the trenches:

Daniel Rubin @ 11:20 AM Permalink | Post a comment