Kobe Bryant at 34

Sunday night against the Hawks…. Now that’s longevity.

It’s Great to be Novak Djokovic

These days it’s great to be Novak Djokovic.  Undisputed number one tennis player in the world, winner of his last eighteen matches including today’s final in Dubai, seriously under discussion as a possible greatest of all time, king of Gangnam style dancing.  And now THIS…

Klavan’s Homelander Series is Back (CORRECTED)

A new installment in PJM’s Andrew Klavan’s prize-winning Homeland series of young adult thrillers - If We Survive - has just been published by Thomas Nelson. I read the first in the series - The Last Thing I Remember  - and, although I am several decades beyond “young adult,” enjoyed it immensely. The new one takes the series out of the country to Central America where the heroes are to build a new school for the poor and, not surprisingly, run into some revolutionaries.

Klavan’s novels would make great holiday gifts for the high schoolers on your list. Buried beneath the good fun of the mystery plots are some values they don’t often get from their teachers.

CORRECTION: I have been informed that If We Survive is a standalone novel for Young Adults, not part of the Homeland series – all the more reason to buy both.

The Djoker is Wild

Is men’s tennis the most amazing and competitive sport in the world today? Well, with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, now Andy Murray and soon a returning Rafa Nadal playing the game at levels never seen before many fans are beginning to think tennis is in a golden age beyond Sampras-Agassi, Laver-Rosewall or anything else. And this includes me who has been watching (and playing) tennis so long that I saw Gonzales and Laver play (no, not Tilden or Budge).

Nowadays, it’s not just the skills, but the incredible fitness of the players who duel each other at top speed for three-to-five hours. Compare that to the NBA where they might play fifty minutes in an overtime game – and that’s a team sport. These guys are on their own.

Want some evidence of the level? Take a look at this point in Sunday’s Shanghai Open final between Murray and Djokovic. Andy had outlasted Nole in a five-setter at the US Open (another near five-hour match) and seemed to be doing it again in Shanghai when this happened….

Through the legs and then a drop shot put away? Kobe and Lebron should try that one on for size. Djokovic came back to win this one after facing five match (actually championship) points. On to Paris and London. Next year’s tennis looks to be sensational.

Gangnam Djokovic

Novak Djokovic wins the China Open and then dances Gangnam-style with the ball girls. Is this the coolest athlete ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g55asBJ1u1w

Dull Speeches, Great Tennis

While people – a few anyway – were watching some pretty tedious political speeches Thursday evening, they missed some sensational tennis at the US Open. The quarter final between Novak Djokovic and Juan del Potro was a classic, particularly the second set when the six-foot-six inch Argentinian del Porto battled the Serbian world number two almost dead even until Djokovic, as he so often does, slipped through and won the tie breaker – and eventually the match. Both men were playing at their best, which is very good indeed, with several remarkable points going on for twenty or more strokes, leaving commentator John McEnroe (who should know) breathless.

Del Potro is returning to the form that won him the US Open in 2009 and Djokovic is playing at or near his 2011 level when he was virtually unbeatable. The Serbian – who at his best is almost otherworldly – seems destined to take his place in the Top Five all time pantheon of tennis players with Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, Rod Laver and, of course, Roger Federer. It’s interesting that three of these guys, assuming Nadal comes back from his knee injury, are currently active. This is an incredible time for men’s tennis, which is being played at a higher level than ever. The raw, non-stop athleticism of Nadal and Djokovic has never been seen before in tennis. And Andy Murray is no slouch either. He may be headed for a collision with Djokovic in the US Open final next week. Don’t miss it.

Roger’s Do-It-Yourself Bourbon and More

Some folks like to brew their own beer. Others like to ferment wine. To me those drinks are candy, as in the old line: “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.” These days I’m a hard liquor man, favoring martinis and Manhattans, both done just so.

Toward that end I’ve been doing my own safari across country in search of the best ingredients. When it comes to martinis, I favor Plymouth gin kept in the freezer with a quick splash of Noilly Prat vermouth (the straw-colored kind). Add to that a secret ingredient I discovered at a bar in Charleston: celery bitters. Sprinkle some in, depending on taste. Of course, it’s then all shaken, not stirred, Mr. Bond. And served as icy cold as possible, straight up with, in my case, two olives. Others prefer, as Robert Mitchum would famously say, “No vegetation.” That’s up to you.

On the Manhattan front, things are a bit more complicated. I was originally a Maker’s Mark man, but lately I’ve been gravitating to Buffalo Trace bourbon. But more of the bourbon in a minute. The other ingredients for an unforgettable (I’ll take…) Manhattan that Dorothy Parker never had (I know, I know – she preferred martinis) are Antica Formula dal 1786 Vermouth (incredible stuff, a little pricey but worth it – you don’t use too much) and Luxardo, an Italian liqueur made of maraschino cherries. Use two parts bourbon, one part of that fancy vermouth and maybe slightly less than 1 part Luxardo (depends on how sweet you like it). Again, use a shaker with ice and pour over another maraschino (or not – it’s fine without it). Kick back and listen to Bobby Short or some equally “Manhattan” sound.

Condoleezza Rice playing Schumann’s Fantasiestucke, Op. 73 with Cellist Kjell Stenberg

Amidst recent rumors that Condoleezza Rice may get Mitt Romney’s nod for the vice presidency, it’s worth acknowledging that Rice would be pretty much the most accomplished person in high elected office in our country in recent years, possibly ever. She is a Russian literature scholar, fluent in the language, and a classical pianist at a professional or near-professional level. (The thought of her debating Joe Biden has definite comic overtones.) Here she is playing Schumann’s Fantasiestucke, Op. 73 with cellist Kjell Stenberg just last May:

Cross-Posted from The Tatler

Who Is the Greatest Athlete of All Time?

Tiger Woods once called Roger Federer the greatest athlete in the world.

But that was several years ago, before Federer eased out of his friendship with the scandal-ridden Woods.

More importantly, it was also before Federer won his seventh Wimbledon today (tying Pete Sampras’ record), his seventeenth grand slam victory overall (already record-breaking), elevating him once more to number one in the tennis rankings, a position he has now held for 286 weeks and counting (again breaking Sampras’ record). All this at the age of thirty, almost thirty-one, when most tennis players are supposed to be heading out to the country club farm or learning how to do TV commentary à la Joh McEnroe (non pareil in the area).

The match he played today against the unfortunate Andy Murray was one of Federer’s best. Several shots and rallies, including one deft net approach curveball to win the second set, will be replayed by tennis aficionados into the future.

At the moment, Federer again looks unstoppable. Of course, that could change. He has terrific competition, some of the best in the history of the sport, from Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

But even if it does, what Federer has accomplished over his career, from the initial victory over the waning Sampras back at Wimbledon in 2001 until today, is quite remarkable. It’s easy to agree with Woods that since 2001 he has been the greatest athlete alive. There is, however, a yet greater claim to be made.

He is the greatest of all time — not just in tennis, but in all sports.

What? Greater than Michael Jordan and Rafer Johnson and whoever else you might want to put on the list? Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb? Jesse Owens? Roger Bannister? Pheidippides?

Well, we all know it’s impossible to assess the comparative greatness of athletes in different sports across different eras and that this is the ultimate in biased assertions (and, yes, I admit to pro-tennis bias — a sport I have been playing since the age of six and still play, three times a week, in my sixties), but I will try to make the case.

Why You Won’t Look at Spielberg’s Munich the Same Way Again

From the Times of Israel, via Der Spiegel:

The Palestinian terrorists who killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics were assisted by a German neo-Nazi, a German newsmagazine reported Sunday. The neo-Nazi, Willi Pohl, helped forge passports and ferried one of the Black September terror cell ringleaders around Germany in the weeks before the Olympic massacre.

Based on recently released files from Germany’s security service BfV, der Spiegel reported Sunday that Pohl had met with Saad Walli, an “Arab-looking man” who boasted of his contacts to the radical wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization, seven weeks before the massacre in September 1972. Saad Walli was the code name of Abu Daoud, one of the masterminds behind the attack.

The 2,000-page report, which the police of the city of Dortmund sent to the BfV and other national authorities, does not mention any efforts made by any of the contacted officials to apprehend Abu Daoud in the weeks prior to the massacre, the weekly reported.

In October 1972 Phol was arrested by the police and was found in possession of grenades, arms and ammunition. The weapons were thought to be held in keeping for Black September to be used in a retaliatory attack against German targets. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Pohl, who today makes a living writing crime novels and has “credibly distanced himself from terrorism,” according to Der Spiegel, helped Abu Daoud in several ways. He helped him forge passports and other documents and drove him “across the country, where he met with Palestinians in several cities,” the magazine quotes Pohl as saying.

I wonder what Steven Spielberg — auteur, with Tony Kushner, of the unconsciously (on Spielberg’s part anyway) anti-Israeli film Munich — must be thinking now that links with the Holocaust have been drawn. As one who has been known to write crime novels myself, the mystery for me is why Spielberg, after Schindler’s List, would make such a film, as if the Israeli vengeance were in any way morally equivalent to the horrendous racist mass murder. I think the answer is Kushner. I doubt Steven, not really a news maven, had any idea of the extent of the playwright’s anti-Zionist animus.

Now that the links between Neo-Nazis and Palestinian terrorists are made manifest, will the director have the courage to disavow his own film? If he really wants to do something for Israel, he should.

Cross-posted from PJ Tatler.

C’mon, baby, drive my “People’s Car”!

The car of the future hovers of Chengdu:

Meanwhile, that was now, this is then:

Nole v. Rafa: Best. Tennis. Ever.

I’ve been a tennis fan and player long enough to have watched the 43-year-old Pancho Gonzales defeat the 19-year-old Jimmy Connors in the Pacific Southwest tennis tournament held at the Los Angeles Tennis Club — the club where I now do fitful battle on weekends — back in 1971.

Okay, I admit it. I was already older than Connors then and had already seen a whole galaxy of great tennis players: Lew Hoad, Frank Sedgeman, Jack Kramer, Ken Rosewall, Tony Trabert, etc., etc.

But here’s the thing. Unlike a lot of fields of endeavor (movies, theatre, art, music, etc.), tennis is better now than ever. Two men, both with an argument to be the greatest of all time, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, are going to be battling it out for the French Open title at Roland Garros on Sunday. Don’t miss it.

These guys play a brand of tennis no one would have believed twenty years ago, with a fitness the best of the NBA can only dream of. The last time they met in the finals of a Grand Slam (Australia), it went on for over six hours, non-stop, no substitutions, no real breaks. Who knows what will happen Sunday — and there is so much on the line.

Djoker is out to win his fourth Grand Slam in a row, the first one to pull that off since Rod Laver in 1969; Rafa is out for a record-breaking 7th French Open victory.

Along the way Nole (as Djokovic is called) dispensed with Roger Federer — the man Tiger Woods called the best athlete in the world — in three quick sets, while Nadal blew away everyone, barely facing a break point and losing a scant 35 games in the whole tournament. Only Bjorn Borg had done better, but that was in the days of wood rackets.

Study: Eating Organic Makes You a Self-Righteous Jerk

From the Daily News:

Eating organic might make you a jerk, a new study suggests.

Researchers have found that people exposed to organic foods are more likely to exhibit judgmental attitudes.

“There’s a line of research showing that when people can pat themselves on the back for their moral behavior, they can become self-righteous,” study author Kendall Eskine, assistant professor of the department of psychological sciences at Loyola University in New Orleans, told NBC’s “Today” show.

For the study, published last week in the Journal of Social Psychological & Personality Science, Eskine and his team split 60 people into three groups.

 

Poliwood: With The Avengers Has Hollywood Rediscovered Patriotism?

Lionel Chetwynd and I have been taking a hiatus from Poliwood until recently. Perhaps we were getting tired of the sound of our own voices.

But that was then and this is now and we’re back with a revitalized and we hope (not to be confused with the Obama brand of the same word) a better show. It has a more rigid format – first television, then film and then… here’s the new, new part… an ending segment by Matt Atchity, Editor-in-Chief of Rotten Tomatoes. Matt’s a cool guy with a cool eye on what’s coming out in the cinema. He gets to see all the reviews early. (Hey, someone’s got to read them.)

Anyway, the second of the new shows is up now – The Avengers: Has Hollywood Rediscovered Patriotism?

You can see the YouTube above or check it out on PJTV here. Let us know what you think. Any improvements – we’re game. Also, suggestions on movies or television shows you would like us to discuss.

Cross-posted from Roger L. Simon’s blog.

World Peace Gets Seven Days

LA Laker Metta World Peace was given a seven day suspension by the NBA for whacking Oklahoma City’s James Harden in the head with his elbow at the Staples Center the other day, nearly decapitating Harden. With only one game of the NBA season left, this means WP will be out for the first six games of the playoffs.

Not just because PJ Media HQ is within spitting distance of the Lakers’ training facility, there are a fair number of Showtime fans in our company (the CEO and the COO – for two). But a rough poll of them today did not reveal a lot of sympathy (though perhaps a little sadness) for the one time Ron Artest. He may have gotten off easy with seven days.

VIDEO: PJTV Remembers the Late Dick Clark

Drinking Kirkland (UPDATED)

When I first started patronizing Costco, lo these many years ago, I stayed away from Kirkland products, figuring they were cheesy. No longer. It’s pretty obvious that many of them are name brands under the Kirkland label. Great deals.

Of course, there are mysteries. Is Kirkland Vodka Grey Goose in disguise at half the price? And now, more importantly what’s the “premium small batch Bourbon” they are flogging for eleven bucks? Knob Creek or, as the whiskey cognoscenti say, “KC” – or some lesser brand? A debate is taking place at Rowley’s Whiskey Forge (check the comments). I’ll crack our bottle in a few hours and let you know what I think.

UPDATE: Cocktail hour in the City of Angels and I toasted the sad end of Whitney Houston in a comparison test of the Kirkland Mystery Bourbon and Maker’s Mark, both over rocks. The Kirkland, at 51.5% alcohol, was definitely stronger and, if pressed, I would have to give my nod to the Maker’s Mark, which has been my bourbon-of-choice for some time. Nevertheless, I liked the Kirkland (probably some variant of Knob’s Creek) and, for the price, it’s not to be sneezed at. In fact, I’m about to pour a second round. Over to you, Steve.

Kodak is Closing Its Camera Business

Is this ever the end of an era? Steve’s Digicams writes:

Despite the company’s financial difficulties, and analyst recommendations to shut off nonessential parts of the business, this is a headline we didn’t think we’d ever be posting. Kodak – a name that’s been synonymous with cameras as far back as we can remember – is closing the doors on its camera business.

Instead of retail products, Kodak will be focusing on business solutions. You’ll still see Kodak photo kiosks and dry lab stations as well as camera accessories, batteries and printers. They’re also keeping film capture and photo paper in the lineup. Still cameras, digital picture frames and video cameras, on the other hand, are on the way out.

How many of us grew up with Kodak cameras in our hands? To the coming generation Instamatic will be nothing more than an iPhone app. Kodak, clueless for too many years, became an also-ran in the digital age. Thanks for the memories….

Djoker!!!

Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the greatest tennis player of all?

Well, it’s a matter of opinion, of course. But speaking as one who has been a tennis fanatic from about the age of seven (fan and player), who has seen most everyone live from Rod Laver and Pancho Gonzales onwards, I would have to say Novak Djokovic.

Living in LA and working normal business hours, and having had a tough week anyway, I went to sleep at about 12:30AM, even though I suspected the forthcoming Nadal-Djokovic final in the Australian Open that was about to start in Melbourne would be epic. Restless, I awakened an hour later, went upstairs to watch the two superstars already pummeling each other at the end of the first set, before falling asleep again after an hour or so.

When I finally awoke at 6:30, it was barely over. The two men men had been playing for five hours and fifty-three minutes, before Nola finally prevailed yet again. (For context, the longest previous major final was nearly an hour shorter.)

Talk about fitness. This is like running a couple of marathons while batting a ball back and forth at a hundred miles per hour.

Tiger Woods once called Roger Federer the greatest athlete in the world. Move over and make room for Novak Djokovic – and Rafa Nadal as well. It’s no surprise when these guys pull their shirts off at the end, they are ripped. People used to think of tennis as a namby-pamby gentlemen’s sport. Forget it. These guys could run rings around just about anybody in the NBA and have energy to spare.

A couple of other things about Djokovic. He seems to be a fabulous guy with a great sense of humor. Besides his unbelievable tennis, his winning persona has allowed him to do something else extraordinary – become the face of Serbia, erasing the evil visage of Slobodan Milosovic.

Doing It Without Jesus

The greatest athlete in America today is not Tebow. It’s oldest person ever to score three forty point games in a row in the history of the NBA. And he’s doing it – right now!

Is divorce the secret to old age?

Happy Hanukkah: Apple to Open R & D Center in Israel

Apple may be building the “coolest office building ever” at its headquarters in Cupertino CA, but for the first time ever it will be doing strategic planning and R & D outside California.

Sources inform “Globes” that Apple Inc. has decided to open a development center in Israel focusing on semiconductors. The decision was taken even before the company entered into talks to acquire Herzliya-based flash storage solutions provider Anobit Ltd..

Apple has hired Aharon Aharon, a veteran player in Israel’s high tech industry, to lead the new development center.
Although Apple is a global innovation leader, the company is a relatively small investor in R&D. The producer of the iPad and iPhone invested $2.4 billion in R&D in 2010, which was only 2% of its revenue, much less proportionately than other high-tech companies.

Apple’s deployment of R&D activities is in line with this policy and the company has only one technology development center, which is at company headquarters in Cupertino, California. All activities outside of company headquarters revolve around marketing, sales and support. Strategic development is carried out at home. The planned Israel center will therefore be the company’s first such center outside of its California headquarters.

But will they be working on the first flying automobile – the anxiously-awaited iCar?

Kobe is Back… for Hanukkah!

Adding to rumors that Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard may be joining the Lakers this season, Kobe has been getting ready for his possible new superstar partners…. at the Irvine Jewish Community Center.

Ferrari Graveyard: Video of 14-Luxury Car Crack-Up in Japan

Happened Sunday: An outing of luxury sports car enthusiasts in Japan ended in an expensive freeway pileup – smashing a stunning eight Ferraris, a Lamborghini and two Mercedes.

Litterbugs of the Academy Awards

In the umpteen years I have been a member of the Motion Picture Academy, the rules have changed regarding what studios are allowed to send voters during Oscar season. Way back when we would get glossy brochures hyping a movie, resembling a cross between the Christmas issue of Vogue and a surprise box from Bonwit Tellers. Bribes, basically. Now we are supposed to get virtually nothing but a DVD of the film itself.

But studios cheat. Today I received a plain manila envelope hiding a fancy package of glossy stills from The Tree of Life, a film that didn’t thrill me. But its studio (20th) is pushing it like crazy, in part because it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

This kind of mailing is no more than litter – and from filmmakers with supposedly “green” credentials. Go figure. I can’t imagine it sways a vote. And yet two of these babies arrived in our house because my wife is a member of the WGA. Four (!) DVDs of the movie had arrived previously. Anyone need any coasters? We’re recycling.