Sunday reading

Got to spend the afternoon with Joel and Stephanie, and Millie. The Packers won. The Colts didn't. Took a really nice nap. And got the yard ready for the winter...

Here's some of the good reads that caught my eyes during the last week ...

Politics ...
a Are we Colbert's punch line?
a Bush the Embracer: Interpreting the Presidential Hug
a From the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld . . .

More about the California wildfires ...
a On Shaky Ground in California
a In the Line of Fire
a New developments mask wild land's deadly threat

TV, music, entertainment & art ...
a Hulu.com, NBC and Fox video site, looks promising in beta
a Schulz: The Good and The Grief
a The year’s best music
a Spears Calls World 'Cruel' in Interview
a A museum's secrets
a 'Bean' to get a companion: The 'Popsicle'
a Adults Revisit Their Teenage Traumas and Dramas to Create Compelling Performance Art

Sports ...
a Handicapping the contenders for A-Rod's services
a What's Wrong With Sports Illustrated

Life & stuff ...
a Driver in crash that killed horses could face additional charges ... A tragic and dramatic ordeal that happened down the road from us last weekend. Some of the surviving horses are now being put up for adoption. There's also a slideshow of photos here.
a Chimp who knew sign language dies

P.S. ... Kates is talking on the phone with a friend and we were just reminiscing about the wonderful National Anthem performances of John Williams and James Taylor during the World Series ...

In case you missed them ...

Barack, Brian & Feist on SNL!

... So Kates and I just finished watching tonight's SNL ...

Nice.

I'd heard a few weeks ago that tonight's episode was featuring Brian Williams as host and Feist as the musical guest. Considering I'm a media guy who's a big fan of Brian Williams and the NBC News, and Feist has been a fixture in my iPod playing as of late, I was pretty giddy about this episode ...

Williams' best skit, by far, was his first one, playing a New York City firefighter on the "Bronx Beat," a talk show featuring Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph as two Bronx housewives, Betty and Jodi. (Bronx Beat also is one of the few recurring SNL skits I look for each week ... ). For the skit, Williams donned a mustache and played a dashing, but slow fireman giving safety tips, complete with a pretty decent Bronx accent ...

I also really enjoyed the "Riley's Way" sketch featuring Williams as the high school principal of a CW teen soap ("You can go to Hell, you can lose ten pounds, and you're gay," he told the three actors playing the teens. To see and hear those lines spoken straight-faced out of Williams' mouth made it 10 times funnier.) And Kristin Wiig's antics saved the otherwise dull Publishers Clearing House skit ...

Williams' opening monologue also had us laughing out loud, especially when he started it by asking the question all of us had been wondering since it was announced the network news anchor would be hosting SNL: "Now, is this really a good idea?" ... Williams answered the question by admitting he's often seen as a stiff (I've never viewed him that way, but whatever ...) who's always in anchorman mode. And then Williams really did switch into anchorman mode, doing the rest of the monologue in a news format, reading bullet points as arguments that he really could be spontaneous and loose, complete with graphics over his left shoulder. HA-larious!

If you've followed Williams, it's no secret the guy's got a great sense of humor. He was hilarious in his stint on SNL's Weekend Update last season and I think he's made good showings on his late night TV tours, most notably The Daily Show ... Sure, tonight's Saturday Night Live wasn't the best ever -- I blame it on the writing -- but it was entertaining enough. If Williams wanted to prove to America he's not just a rigid news anchor, he's accomplished that ...

As for Feist's performance, she showed up well, too. To no one's surprise, she played 1-2-3-4 for her first number (though it wasn't near as good as the Letterman performance ...). For her second number, she and the band did a pretty good "I Feel It All." (Earlier this week, MSN broadcast a Feist concert. Good stuff. Check it out here.)

Really though, I gotta say my favorite part/skit of tonight's SNL just might have been Barack Obama's surprise appearance at Hillary Clinton's Halloween costume party. Very funny! ...

Good reads ... (updated 11/05)
a Live From New York, It’s Not Quite the News!
a Laughs for Brian Williams Hosting 'SNL'
a Brian Williams, Showing That An Anchor Can Be Light
a Nightly News Meets Saturday Night
a Obama takes the stage on 'Saturday Night Live'
a Obama's shots go on, a surprise for Clinton on 'SNL'
a Brian Williams' post at The Daily Nightly ( ... and his pre-show post)

ALSO: 'SNL': The 15 Best Music Skits

Answering phones at 'The Office'!

... So I was doing some work and waiting for Kates to arrive home tonight when, at about 8:06 p.m., my phone rings. I looked at the caller ID and saw it was my good friend Sara ...

"OH MY GOD! ADAM CRAIG IS ON THE OFFICE!" she screams into the phone.

Adam was a good high school friend of ours with whom we'd spent many, many, many days and nights terrorizing the school halls, the theater stage and the city streets, not to mention the Perkins restaurant ...

The last couple years he's started to make a little name for himself in showbiz (we had a HOLY CRAP! moment last year as well when we spotted him on The O.C. ... ), and a couple weeks ago he sent us a note announcing he'd just taped for an episode of 'The Office,' though he wasn't sure when it was airing ...

I guess tonight was the night. And Sara called to alert me, screaming and laughing through the phone. "I'D KNOW MY '96 HOMECOMING DATE ANYWHERE!" she screams. Ah, good times.

When Kates arrived home a short time later, I was eager as ever to turn on the DVR and watch the show. And sure enough, there was Adam in the opening scene, playing Rolando the secretary and delivering a phone call to Karen ...

Nice.

Here's a link to the video on NBC.com and select the episode "Branch Wars" ... There's also a deleted scene here.

And he's got this on YouTube ...

Playing catchup...

So the Red Sox won the World Series Sunday night ...

What can you say? Sure I was rooting for the Rockies -- they were the sentimental favorite. But, don't get me wrong, I've been a Red Sox fan for awhile now, too. They're darn good (as the analysts said afterward, get ready world, this is going to be the team to beat for years to come. No more curses in Boston...), and they pretty much knocked the purple mountain majesty out of the Rockies ...

* * *

Thank you Jacoby Ellsbury. For my free taco, that is ... In case you missed it, and I know many of you did, Ellsbury, the lovable Red Sox rookie stole second base in Game 2. Even if you were paying moderate attention to that game, it was easy to miss. It wasn't at all a significant point in the game, and Ellsbury swiped it without even drawing a throw ... But, hey, it was enough for Taco Bell to offer everyone in the country a free taco between the hours of 2 and 5 p.m. on Tuesday ...

So, on Tuesday, at about 2:15, I took a jaunt to a local Taco Bell for my free taco ... Going in, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would the parking lot be packed!? Would the drive-thru be a dozen cars deep? Would I have to fear being trampled?

Turns out, my car was one of two in the parking lot. I went inside the store and waited as another couple placed their order; clearly they had no knowledge of the free taco. Then, the cashier asked them, "Would you like your free taco?" The man looked at his companion, shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. The woman -- she declined the free taco.

My turn. I stepped to the register. Ordered a taco supreme for my cohort Laura, soft taco for myself and a Mountain Dew to go with it. And then I added "And yes, I want my free taco."

The cheery cashier replied, "Ok, I was waiting to see how you were going to order and then I was going to ask."

"Yep. I'm a big baseball fan, so I know all about it."

The cheery cashier then went on to tell me all about her and her boyfriend cheering and getting excited about Monday night's Packers game. Sure, it was a great game, but how she thought that had anything to do with the Worlds Series, a stolen base and free tacos, I'm not so sure ...

I took my free taco back to work and noted it was the best free taco I'd ever tasted ...

I should have gone for more. It didn't occur to me until afterward, when I got this e-mail from my friend Matt, that I could have hit up every Taco Bell in the city for a free taco and no one would have known ...

I outsmarted Taco Bell. I just pulled up to the drive-thru and said “I’d like my free taco.” And she said, “Would you like something to drink with that?” Me again: “Nope, just the free taco.” And then I peeled out of there! Woo Hoo!

Actually, I don’t think I really outsmarted Taco Bell. But I did enjoy my tasty free taco. And I really wanted to drive back through again.

Dang. I could have done my run at 2, and again on my way home just before 5. Next year.

* * *

So Joe Torre's going to manage the Dodgers!? Nice ... I'm happy, thrilled really. But it's a well-known fact Torre didn't exactly have a stellar managerial record before arriving at Yankee Stadium. Now we'll get to see what he's really made of ...

And the Tigers got Edgar Renteria!? Also nice. Now they just need Craig Counsell, Moises Alou and Jeff Conine and they'll really be the '97 Marlins reincarnated. They've already got Dombrowski, Leyland and Sheffield ... Too bad Livan Hernandez and Kevin Brown are washed up.

And Alex Rodriguez is opting out of his contract. I still can't blame him ... Even then, I'm still debating in my head whether I'd want him on my team ... It's always interesting with A-Rod.

More good reads ...
a Schilling: 'Realistic chance' I won't be back ... That sucks. I'll be really sorry to see Schilling leave Boston ... But what's this!? He's interested in coming to Milwaukee!? Oh, tell me more!!
a Papelbon a hit on Letterman ... I watched this last night. Good stuff. Is it just me, or does anyone else think Papelbon's just a little bit nuts?
a 2007: 'A great year for baseball' ... I second that. My highlights: Verlander's no-hitter. The Red Sox four straight home runs. Sammy Sosa's 600th. Barry Bonds 756th -- sigh. And of course the Brewers and the pennant races, not to mention my two games in one day. Oh, and the whole 'winter ball' experience ...

* * *

How about that Packers game on Monday night!?!

It was a snoozefest until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. For the better part of the contest, the game was only background noise as I worked on other things; I paid more attention to Deanna Favre's interview with Kornheiser and the gang in the broadcast booth then I did during other play in the first three quarters ...

Then Kates joined me and we took a seat to see the Broncos scramble and kick the tying field goal in the final five seconds. How amazing -- and comical -- was that replay of the players running on/off the field and hastily getting in position for that kick!?

Seeing the end of regulation, Kates announced she had to go to bed and went upstairs, while I remained in front of the TV, determined to stay it out ... No sooner had Kates gotten up the stairs, Brett Favre was airing it up to Greg Jennings, who pulled it in and ran it in for the winning score ... I bolted up the stairs and was running down our hallway, hands in the air -- like Favre running down field to meet his teammates -- shouting the details to Kates as I turned on our bedroom TV so we could catch the replays together ...

Ah, Brett Favre.

I don't know what Mike McCarthy told him before the season, but the guy is throwing better this season than he has in years. I take back everything I said a couple years ago about Favre and retirement ...


* * *

I spent Monday in Chicago. (Woo hoo!) Saw the new "Maps" exhibit at the Field Museum ...

Kinda fascinating.

When my cohort Liz pitched the idea of me tagging along with her and one of my editors to review the exhibit, I wasn't that excited. I mean, c'mon, how exciting can maps really be?

The exhibit is comprised of more than 100 significant and rare maps, spanning hundreds of years from those carved on stone tablets to today's computerized images ... (The Trib has a great online interactive...)

The highlights in my eyes included a map from the 1930s of London's underground rail system, a significant map because the rail system's simple, rectangular design became the template for other large city systems ...

Another gem was a colorful heart-shaped globe, that was more a beautiful piece of art than a usable map. Still, it was made more captivating in that the shapes, sizes and proximity of the continents remained exact even with the distortion of the globe ...

We saw a road map of the United States in the 1930s. What made this one so fascinating was that the map had been used during one family's series of vacations. With no interstate highways, the map was colored with red and blue lines tracing routes they took to various destinations, including the year of the vacation route ...

There was a map used to draw the boundaries of the new United States after the Revolutionary War, a map on which the negotiators had outlined the U.S. boundaries in red and gave it to England's King George III ...

There was Charles Lindbergh's flight map. Maps drawn by Abraham Lincoln and Leonardo da Vinci ...

But the one that had us all talking during our train ride back: An Inuit's pencil sketch, done in the 1800s, of a series of islands he'd drawn based on what he observed while kayaking. And next to that pencil drawing, a recent satellite image of the same islands; the pencil drawing was astonishingly accurate ...

* * *

Some of the radio stations started playing Christmas music yesterday. On Nov. 1.

Fa la la la blah!