The New World Trade Center: More than halfway there!

(One World Trade Center, near left, taken in late January, 2011)

Well, it took forever to cease the squabbling and combative negotiations and finally get this thing going, but the main building that will replace the destroyed World Trade Center Twin Towers has now reached the 56th floor (of an eventual 105 floors).  It is now known as "One World Trade Center," as the Port Authority rather quietly "retired" the initial name of the building, which was "The Freedom Tower".  It will be (symbolically) 1776 feet tall and will be the tallest building in the U.S.

From the looks of the architectural drawings, it should be quite a grand building--and a fitting replacement for the iconic Twin Towers. It's hard to believe that this fall will mark the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, isn't it?

DYJSWIS Recommends: Greatest New York Post Headlines of All Time!

I have a confession to make:  If I could choose any single job that I think would be a daily world of hilarity, I think I would choose to be a headline writer for the New York Post!  The Post, for those of you who may not be aware, is NYC's most lurid tabloid, and they have a long-standing tradition of creating shocking, sometimes clever, often BRILLIANT headlines that concisely re-cap the most notable stories of the day.  I read the Post every single day and several years ago started ripping and saving some of the most amusing ones.  I went through that file recently and thought I'd share a few of the more memorable ones:

For some reason, this particular headline (from 1983) has gone down in tabloid history as the greatest lurid headline, ever. 



This was a good one!  When Paris Hilton was released from jail (again), the Post commemorated it thusly (below).



"A source" told the Post that Martha Stewart was smuggling spices into her prison cell (when she was serving her sentence for tax evasion:



Here's one of my personal favorites:  The headline refers to a phony plastic surgeon who was giving "silicone" injections into women's derrieres, with very unpleasant results--and then took it on the lam:



This one's just tacky (we're talking about the Carradine story).



When the Republican National Convention was held in New York, the Post ran this story about some Texas delegates who paid a visit to Brooklyn:



In the "kinda disrespectful" category, when Yasser Arafat died, the Post ran the following front page story on his widow:



The writers pulled out all their guns on this story, about some "working girls" on Long Island, who were apparently using their hotdog cart as a front for their prostitution ring.  I envision the writers jumping up and down and dancing around the room when this story broke!



The Post ran this follow-up story on Joran van der Sloot, the Dutch student suspected of killing American tourist, Natalee Holloway in Aruba:



When O.J. Simpson was convicted of kidnapping and holding several people hostage in Las Vegas in 2008, the Post finally found some justice, at last.  They concisely put it like this:



"HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR" is the title of a bound compendium of the New York Post's greatest headlines, compiled by the editors of the Post. (you can get it, in fact, on Amazon, for under 4 bucks, too!  Well worth it! 

 
http://www.amazon.com/Headless-Body-Topless-Bar-Headlines/dp/B001JJBP1Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296663192&sr=1-1 )

Groundhog Day....I think we know the answer....

As one of the most brutal winters in history rages on, Mr. Groundhog will be offering up his valued opinion today...that is, if they can chisel a hole to get his ass outta the ground!  Well, officially, the first day of Spring is now 46 days away, and counting.  Keep an eye on them spring flowers!

If they were still alive...

...today would be the birthday of:

Swedish operatic tenor, Jussi Björling, would have celebrated his 100th birthday today.  Some consider him the all-time greatest tenor.  Here he is, performing "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot:





TV sex symbol, Farrah Fawcett, would have been 64.

Greatly influential Irish novelist/poet, James Joyce (Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake), 129.

The name may not be familiar, but the face certainly was: S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, MGM supporting character actor of the 1940's, would be 129 (and he's the only film actor to date known as "Cuddles").

Burton Lane, American composer (Finian's Rainbow, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever), 99

And also welcome at the party:



The still very-much alive gossip legend Liz Smith, 88, and stage legend, Elaine Stritch, 86 at their dual birthday party in 2010.

"Thank you...I'm flattered, but..."

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak just announced that he will not be running for re-election.  I hope this means he will be going away and I won't be seeing his face in the news every day, for my own personal reasons.  It was one of the most bizarre events I've ever experienced, and nearly 10 years later, it still unsettles me.

It was September 13th, 2001...two days after the events of 9/11.  I was working at Citibank in Long Island City at the time.  LIC is now built up with many tall buildings, but at that time, the Citibank Building was the only tower for miles.  We had a clear view out our windows directly across the East River to Manhattan to witness the 2nd plane crash into Tower #1 of the World Trade Center.  A shocking, horrifying and unforgettable day.  The office was closed the next day, but we returned to work two days later.  I was standing in front of the building, taking a break with my friend, Vickie.  There was a very visible security presence that day.  We noticed one of the security guards, a Middle-Eastern gentleman, peering at me with great intensity.  We were unnerved to begin with, but this added to the feeling of unease.  Finally, he moved closer to us and said, "Excuse me, sir, but I must ask you:  Are you a member of the family of the president of my country?  Hosni Mubarak?"  Being of Irish/Polish descent (I call it "Bi-Polish"), I responded, "Uh, no, not that I know of...".  "You have the same face, the same nose, the same features as the president of my country....I am sorry to bother you".  And he walked away.  Vickie and I looked at each other with one of those "did that really just happen?" looks.  I said to her, "What a perfect day to discover that I suddenly look Middle-Eastern!"  I didn't really have any idea of what Hosni Mubarak looked like, so I ran up to my office to Google a picture of him....OUCH!!  Now that was a day-darkener.

So now that he is on the news every day, I keep rushing to the mirror, asking myself whether I really look like Hosni Mubarak....I DON'T!!  (do I?)

Crybaby Bad Sportsman Hangs It Up...

No big surprise here, but lousy sportsman, Sal Alosi--the NY Jets trainer who tripped a Miami Dolphins player in full view of, oh maybe, 10 million people--has tendered his resignation.  Alosi, who had been on "indefinite suspension," said that "I feel it's best for my family and me to look for a fresh start."  Well never mind about you and your family....for the rest of the world, it would have been a better time for you to seek a "fresh start" immediately after committing this stupid, cowardly act.  Perhaps the all-time lowpoint for bad sportsmanship in America, wouldn't you say?  The second-place lowpoint was, perhaps, his insincere, crybaby apologia afterwards.  Waa, waa, waaaa....you can go away now.

"Classics" that are lost on me....

Well, it happened again:  TCM showed Citizen Kane and I sat down, determined to watch it through to the end to try to figure out what it is that I've been missing.  You see, I've viewed it several times, including in college, as well as in a movie palace setting (rebuking assertions that one has to see it in a theatre to appreciate it).  I feel that I should somehow apologize for my boorishness; my utter lack of civility, when I state that I just don't get it!  I mean, I follow the plot and all, and do appreciate the muliple role hat-trick performed by Orson Welles, but for some reason, the whole film is strangely inaccessable and uninvolving to me.  I really hoped today would be the day that I saw the light, but after about an hour, I started thinking of other things I'd rather be doing.  Just because they're "classics," are we required to agree that they're  "fascinating"?  Guess I'll just wait to see what TCM has on after this...let's see...oh, great...a series of Shakespeare films.  I hate all Shakespeare films, too....

If they were still alive...

today would be the birthday of:





(Bust of Victor Herbert near Central Park Mall, NYC)

Irish-born operetta composer (Naughty Marietta, Babes in Toyland) Victor Herbert would be 152

Herman Hupfeld, who wrote, "As Time Goes By", 117.

Great Irish-born film director John Ford (Stagecoach, Grapes of Wrath), 117.


"The King of Hollywood," Clark Gable would be 110.


The Incomparable Hildegarde elegant society pianist/singer, would be 105.   (Above, performing in 1933)


Italian opera diva (and chief rival of Maria Callas) Renata Tebaldi, 89.