MittelMitte

Stan 3, originally uploaded by luzer™.

[book review to follow]
Shots i took recently of Stan Alpert, author of The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival, for an upcoming AJL Issue. These shots are at 5th Ave and 10th St, the location where Stan was kidnapped.

no post-processing, yet.
please vote on your favorite.

From Publishers Weekly
In this tartly written memoir recalling his 1998 kidnapping, Alpert, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, describes his abduction and release, and the subsequent trial of the kidnappers, with an impressive amount of detail and only the occasional note of self-congratulation for how he handled the ordeal. On the night before his 38th birthday, Alpert was forced at gunpoint into a car near his Greenwich Village apartment, blindfolded, made to relinquish his ATM and PIN, and driven to Brooklyn, where he was kept in an apartment full of oddly personable, gun-wielding youths and teenage prostitutes. In between violent threats, the criminals solicited legal advice concerning past crimes and offered him pot and sexual favors in honor of his birthday. After 25 hours, they handed their hostage $20 cab money and left him in Prospect Park. Though the second part of the account, detailing the mechanics of the arrests and sentencing of the perpetrators, along with Alpert's return to normalcy, is relatively dry and slow, Alpert delivers an honest, vivid chronicle of the suspenseful event itself in the memoir's first half. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1) He's the best player in the NBA this season. Period. (see 4 x 50+ pt games in a row, best in 50 years)
2) He should have won it last season (see 81 pts in one game, and Martin Scorsese winning later in life, best in 50 years)
3) The only reason he didn't win it 2 seasons ago was because David Stern was trying to clean up the league's image (required suits, silly NBA Cares ads), and didn't want Kobe, coming off some serious sexual-assault allegations, to represent the league.
4) He has the best selling jersey in the US & in China. Better than Yao. The Fans have spoken.
5) Kobe is always named the most difficult player to guard, by other NBA players. (link?)
6) It's an award for the most valuable player. Not the MVPOAGT (MVP on a Great Team). If it were, they should change the plaque on the trophy. I mean, should Kobe truly get punished cause Kwame has hands made of cinder block, while Diaw is a point-center? Or that Mihm, Odom, and Pretty-Boy Walton have been injured most of the season, while Amare is playing the best ball of his life? (not to mention Air-head Rado's latest stupidity)
7) It's an award for the most valuable (i.e. best) player. Not the PWTWSTMIHL (player who's team would suck the most if he left), (as some TNT analysts have claimed). If if were, Lebron should win. Or Eddie Curry?
8) Cause __insert_other_player_here__ doesn't deserve it. Mashburn said so. So did Chris Webber. He was happy to point out,

• Dirk doesn't play Defense.


• Nash doesn't play Defense. (see poll)


• LeBron doesn't "check" Kobe. (play Defense)

additionally:

• Nash is a defensive liability.


• If Nash were MVP, it would stand to reason that ason Kidd the 2nd best player in the league.


• Dirk is not clutch.

To summarize, let the haters hate. But, in the end, who would you rather want on your team in the 4th quarter of a playoff game? On both ends of the court? Exactly. Let you vote count.

ps. nash is a rat

Labels: kobe bryant, MVP, nba, rats, sneakers

Labels: cameras, law n Order, rats, techonology

Labels: dane cook, rat

I always knew he looked like a real politician. But, do you think McCoy will get the nod?
from WP
Actor Fred Thompson Considers 2008 Run
By HOPE YENThe Associated PressSunday, March 11, 2007; 11:17 PM
WASHINGTON -- Not enough "star" power for Fred Thompson in a GOP presidential field that includes some of his friends? Whatever the case, the actor and former Tennessee senator is considering getting into the 2008 race.
Thompson, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's drama "Law n Order," said Sunday, "I'm giving some thought to it, going to leave the door open" and decide in the coming months. "It's not really a reflection on the current field at all," he said.

"I'm just going to wait and see what happens," Thompson added. "I wanted to see how my colleagues who are on the campaign trail do now, what they say, what they emphasize, what they're addressing, and how successful they are in doing that, and whether or not they can carry the ball in next November."
Thompson, 64, said he was pondering a run after former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker and other Tennessee Republicans began drumming up support for his possible GOP candidacy, citing his conservative credentials.
"I think people are somewhat disillusioned. I think a lot of people are cynical out there. I think they're looking for something different. ... and I think that they're going to be open to different things," he said.
"It will be interesting to me as I listen to people and learn and watch what's going on and what's the reaction, and the poll numbers and so forth, as to whether or not my instinct on that is right."
On the issues, Thompson said he:
_Is "pro-life," and believes federal judges should overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision as "bad law and bad medical science."
_Opposes gay marriage, but would let states decide whether to allow civil unions. "Marriage is between a man and a woman, and I don't believe judges ought to come along and change that."
_Opposes gun control, and praised last week's 2-1 federal appeals decision overturning a long-standing handgun ban. "The court basically said the Constitution means what it says, and I agree with that."
_Supports President Bush's decision to increase troops in Iraq. "Wars are full of mistakes. You rectify things. I think we're doing that now," he said. "Why would we not take any chance, even though there's certainly no guarantees, to not be run out of that place? I mean, we've got to take that opportunity and give it a chance to work."
_Would pardon former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice now, rather than waiting until all his appeals are exhausted. Thompson is a fundraiser for Libby's defense.
Thompson said he was not setting a deadline to make a decision and believes he won't be at a disadvantage if he waited until summer. "The lay of the land will be different in a few months than it is today, one way or the other."
He added, "One advantage you have in not ... having this as lifelong ambition is that if it turns out that your calculation is wrong, it's not the end of the world."
Thompson, the minority counsel in the Watergate investigation, was elected to the Senate in 1994 to fill the unexpired term of Vice President Al Gore. He was chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and left the Senate in 2003 to resume his acting career.
Thompson has acted in films such as "The Hunt for Red October," "Cape Fear," and "In the Line of Fire."
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, who is pursuing the Democratic nomination for president, said Thompson was as qualified as anyone "to credibly throw his hat in the ring." Added Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.: "I think he makes a great president in the movies and he might make a great one in real life."
Thompson was interviewed on "Fox News Sunday"; Biden and Graham spoke on CNN's "Late Edition."

Labels: law n Order, politics