We’re starting a new department here at Owl Chatter we’re calling “No Sh*t, Sherlock.”
The first entrant is this hysterical headline from yesterday’s NYT, which I promise I did not make up. “Conservative Justices’ Rulings Increasingly Favor Rich, Economists Say.”
The second is the title of economist Eduardo Porter’s blog post: “The U.S. Has Lost Its Credibility.”
Ya think?
Monday’s puzzle included the great film TAXI DRIVER. Commenter Pablo noted that he thought De Niro’s iconic “You talkin’ to me?” might have been an ad lib. No one picked up on it, but I replied today:
My exhaustive research (you know, a minute or two online), reveals that it mostly was ad lib. Scorsese directed him generally to talk to himself in the mirror, and De Niro took it from there.
BTW, De Niro’s classic line should not be confused with my teenage daughter’s from around the same time: “I’m not talking to you, Dad. You’re an idiot.”
Pablo responded thanking me. I appreciate the courtesy.
If you, like me, look at a jar of pickles and see pickles, you should note the passing last month of artist Janet Fish, at the age of 87, at her home in Wells, VT. She studied art at Yale under de Kooning and Pollock, but resisted the pull of abstract art in favor of still lifes. She was drawn to the play of light upon objects, fruits and vegetables on a table near a window at first, and then plastic-wrapped food and bottles of various liquids — Windex, vinegar, salad dressing, jelly, honey, liquor. As Michael Rosenwald put it in Fish’s obit in the Times, she transformed jars of pickles, bottles of vodka and bowls of fruit into vessels of dazzling light and unassuming beauty.
Her dad was an art historian and her mom a sculptor. She considered no other career. “It was never in my head that I wasn’t going to be an artist,” she said.
Self-portrait of Fish.
Janet is survived by her husband, the artist Charles Parness, who paints self-portraits exclusively, and two siblings.
Here’s Charles. Rest in peace, Janet.
At 31D today, “Bottom line?” was HEM.
The missed field goal that cost Baltimore the game and a playoff spot Sunday night (wide right, Tyler Loop) had a domino effect. John Harbaugh, long-time Ravens coach, was fired. Hard to imagine that occurring if the birds had a playoff game to attend to this week. But you never know. There’s some talk he “lost” the locker room and relations with QB Lamar Jackson were queasy. We love John. Among other things, his bro is Jim Harbaugh who led our Wolverines to the national title in 2023. The brothers faced off in Super Bowl 47 when Jim was with SF. John’s Ravens won. We were rooting for John because Jim seemed like a lunatic and John like a mensch. But as soon as Jim took over at UMich we loved him: he was our lunatic.
We predict John will wind up as head coach of the Jints, with a boatload of money and a long-term deal. He won’t even consider the Jets: Who in his right mind would?
Here’s John, in happier times.
See you next time!
The Wellington Files 