It is bright, very cold and windy in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World.
It was only 22º @ 8:30am, but it has “warmed” up to 30º @ 1:30pm.
I am not complaining because this time last year Manhattan was still recovering from the “Christmas blizzard” and most of the outer-boroughs were still without power.
So ... let’s get going with Billi Pod’s report cards on yesterday’s entertainment doubleheader ... starting with ...
HAPPY HOUR by Ethan Coen==>C-<==one of the most unfunny so-called comedies that I have ever seen.
Why? Well ... “mix two ounces of misanthropy, one ounce of anomie and a jigger of acrid humor. Add two splashes of bitters and serve with a twist of tedium. That’s the nightly special — three for the price of one — at ‘Happy Hour,’ a wearying evening of short plays by Ethan Coen."
Actually, I cannot claim credit for the above because it is a verbatim copy of the opening paragraph by one of the New York Times’ theater critics.
Not a good beginning for the doubleheader ... but ... then for the evening there was ...
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA @ Avery Fisher Hall==>A<==mezzo-soprano Anne Sofia von Otter was absolutely sublime. The works by Haydn and Ravel were beautiful.
The sold-out audience was really into this concert and it was just what Billi Pod needed.
As I write this posting I haven’t an entertainment event scheduled for the evening. This is one of the slowest times of the year for my ticket services and I have no reason to believe anything of interest is going to show up ... so ...
Maybe I will get around to finally seeing either THE TOWER HEIST with Ben Stiller or THE SITTER with Jonah Hill ... we will see ...
Yesterday The Gray Lady aka The New York Times really got caught in a pr blunder. What am I talking about you are no doubt breathlessly asking? Well ... here it goes ...
At 1:06pm yesterday I received an email from The Times advising me that my home delivery subscription had been canceled. It contained a reinstatement offer. WTF thought I, this can’t be right. I was on my way to my matinee show so I waited till I got back to PHC to try to figure out what was going on.
I called the number listed in the email but kept getting a busy signal, which wasn’t a surprise. I kept trying ... still busy.
As I was watching the 5:00pm news there was an item that the email was a “mistake.” WTF??
Well, to make a long story somewhat shorter ... the paper sent out 8.6 million emails begging people not to cancel their subscriptions and to renew. Then, when the problem was called to their attention, management initially blamed spammers, stating that the emails had not been sent by the NYT.
Only later did The Times admit that the email had indeed been sent by them and that it was only intended for approximately 300 former customers.
As you might expect the other local papers have had a ball ....
On the front page of The New York Post ...
BAD TIMES - Caught in lie over 8.6 million ‘spams’
and then on page 5 ...
TIMES THEY ARE A-LYIN - E-gaffe & spam ‘coverup’
On page 8 of The Daily News ...
Times sez egads over mistakenly sent email
What about The Gray Lady? Well, on the lower right corner of the front page, in very small print, is a notice directing the reader to an article buried in the Business Section, with the title ...
Mistakenly, Times Sends Mass E-Mail.
Midway in the article the Times assumes responsibility. They had also sent out a corrective email late yesterday afternoon.
Ah, yes ... only in NYC folks, only in NYC.
BREAKING NEWS==>have just made the final plans for my trip down to Polk County aka PFC (standing for Polk F**king County) for the birth of my great-granddaughter.
Briefly - on Thursday, Jan. 5th, will fly down to Tampa, arriving in the afternoon, rent a car and dive over to Bartow, where I will be staying at The Holiday Inn Express. Will return to NYC on Wednesday, Jan. 11th.
In closing==>when I ran across this photograph I was reminded that Half Ass U will be playing Notre Tame at The Chumps Sports Bowl in Orlando, FL, at the Lake Howell High School Stadium, @ 5:30pm today. I can hardly wait. Be still my beating heart!! Go ‘Holes.
GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!!
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
ALEX-127
No comments:
Post a Comment