U-shaped bays

According to the Times, Prime Burger on 51st St. will close:

 Though the family plans to salvage as many fixtures as it can, Mr. DiMiceli said he despaired of being able to rescue and reconstruct the built-in, one-person booths. In this highly unusual — if not downright eccentric — serving arrangement, customers sit in small U-shaped bays behind individual table tops that pivot shut to enclose them, almost as if they were buckled into an old amusement park ride. (The thrill lies in the calorie count.)

 The problem is that these booths may have been too well installed to allow removal. “We’d like to take the seats,” Mr. DiMiceli said, “but the guys I talked to said that taking them apart would probably destroy them.” 

 I went to Prime Burger only once or twice, back in the last century, but it left an impression. Indeed, the one-person booth aspect was imported into the novel (Chinese Whispers) I was working on (c. 2000). Eventually I cut the primary reference to the seating scheme, but here it is:

They sat across from each other. In more crowded circumstances, the tavern’s curious furniture permitted shoulder-to-shoulder arrangements. Along one wall were booth-like configurations that in fact contained seating for six, in a U-formation, two wooden seats per side. Each seat was separated by a brief raised stand, upon which an assortment of condiments reposed. But there was no central table as such. Instead, individual serving trays, also of wood, secured at one end with a pivot, swung into action. Each tray clicked into place to secure the diner. The overall effect was agreeably infantilizing.

I was told there'd be cake

Sparky Lyle, closer -New York Yankees He was famous for sneaking into the Yankees clubhouse whenever a player would have a cake delivered, pulling down his pants, and leaving an impression of his bare butt on the cake. He stopped this because he was worried that teammates would start leaving pins or needles in the cake. He was known to be a huge prankster and was also extremely superstitious. As I mentioned earlier, Lyle was the first closer to have entrance music. Song: "Pomp and Circumstance" composed by Sir Edward Elgar. From MLB At-Bat/Entrance/Warm-Up/Music. (Via Jane)

I've probably posted this before

“It occurred to him to begin writing a novel, but his brain was almost at a standstill and it would be a mistake to make a false start.” —Anthony Powell, AFTERNOON MEN

Word up

From the archives (Weds., March 15, 2006):

Word up

"The word is tenacity."
—Unelaborated remark by NBC Olympics commentator during figure skater Emily Hughes's long program, February 2006

Birds as spies

A migratory bird has caused alarm in a village in south-eastern Turkey after locals mistook it for an Israeli spy.

Villagers' suspicions were aroused when the bird, a common European bee-eater, was found dead in a field with a metal ring around its leg stamped "Israel".

They called the police after deciding its nostrils were unusually large and may have carried a microchip fitted by Israeli intelligence for spying.

It was taken to government experts for examination and declared safe.

—BBC (via Jane)

Telemachoboros

—You horrid old man, stop provoking me! 
—Youth reproaches old age with reproaching it its youth. It reminds me of a snake biting its tail. 
 —Louis Aragon, "The Adventures of Telemachus" 



 (Via Damion Searls)

Students of Dublinski

Reading at Shrine, 4/23/12.


(Photo: Arlo Ogg)

Weekend Ouroboros: Mary-Kim Arnold Edition

Back at the beginning, in the early years of M. and me - before we imagined it would be possible to have a life together - he would say of us: the end built into the beginning, a snake devouring its own tail. 

Later, I told him: but you misread the symbol. It means eternity. It means life. Rebirth. 

It is the same, of course - cyclical. We are always beginning and ending. It matters, I think, where you choose to look at it. 

—Mary-Kim Arnold, "This Chill"