Balcony Closed

With the official end of the television program he began with Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert reflects:

"I was surprised how depressed I felt all day on July 21, when Richard and I announced we were leaving the "Ebert and Roeper" program. To be sure, our departures were voluntary. We hadn't been fired. And because of my health troubles, I hadn't appeared on the show for two years. But I advised on co-hosts, suggested movies, stayed in close communication with Don DuPree, our beloved producer-director. The show remained in my life. Now, after 33 years, it was gone--taken in a "new direction." And I was fully realizing what a large empty space it left behind."

continued

I Hate Glass

Butcher shop, Paris

Bath Spa

Train Station
Bath, England

Montmartre

I recently returned from a trip to London and Paris... fifteen hundred photographs... and even a few keepers... although, it hasn't taken long to realize I'm not the first to find this scene picturesque (cf. Rue Norvins).

3 Fingers...

James Surowiecki writes on oil prices and the ensuing congressional blame game:

"When bad things happen, it’s always nice to have a scapegoat. So, with Americans furious about soaring oil prices, Congress has gone in search of someone to blame. There are a number of usual suspects to choose from, depending on your politics—OPEC, greedy oil companies, lily-livered environmentalists opposed to oil drilling—but now Congress has seized on another set of villains: commodity speculators."

continued

Paris

Metro station,
Midnight.
White tile walls.
Black metal rails.

The sheltered waiting:
Patient.
Quiet.
Tired.

A donkey's bray,
Loud and surreal:
"Hee-yorrr! Hey-orrr!
Hee-honk! Hee-honk!"

Jittering eyes,
Twisting brows.
Shaking heads.
Shrugs.

A rooster's crow,
Impossible:
"Rawka-rok! Rawka-rok!
Erka-erka-rawka-roo!"

Puck discovered,
George Foreman's twin,
Across the tracks,
Sitting alone.

A chicken clucks.
He snickers,
Privately,
But contagiously.

A horse's whinny.
A chorus of laughter.
We all applaud
Before the train sweeps us away.

Rue Lepic

Rue Lepic, Montmartre, Paris