St. Patrick’s Day Eve

I’m hoping for the best for (and from) the soon-new governor of NYS – tomorrow’s not only St. Patrick’s Day, it’s also Governor-Designate David Paterson’s inauguration.

Yesterday was the Ides of March. I did think about Julius Caesar, ever so briefly, since he was the one who didn’t watch out on the Ides of March.

The NY Times on “Victorian Flatbush” – I have to say: there are beautiful houses in Brooklyn. I’d hate to see them overshadowed by the co-ops (which can’t possibly do that well when we’re about to be (already?) in a recession).

Changes in the neighborhood of the Gowanus – hmm, fears of gentrification in Brooklyn.

Interesting NY Times article on a black Jewish congregation in Chicago.

Getting excited about the HBO “John Adams” miniseries. Why network tv or PBS or the rest of cable tv didn’t get into this – well, not for me to say, but at least I’ve HBO temporarily, so I’ll check it out. Laura Linney as Abigail Adams (NY Times did an amusing little Q&A with Linney).

There’s also Time’s James Poniewozik’s review on the John Adam’s miniseries, discussing how some elements of American politics haven’t changed (hope vs. pragmatism – sound familiar?).

I never did quite finished reading David McCullough’s John Adams bio, on which the miniseries is based. I might still pull it off one of these days; the size of the book is quite something.

I’ve no article to link to an article about the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament (a.k.a. “March Madness”), but let me say this: Cornell v. Stanford as a round 1 game? This isn’t looking too good for the Ivy League champ; but so that goes. Anyway, get your brackets ready, folks!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!