By Steve Rhodes
1. This weekend on Sound Opinions: The best albums of 2009 according to Kot and DeRo. (You can find DeRo’s picks here.)
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Kot’s best shows of 2009.
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DeRo’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Holiday Gift Guide.
2. Frozen Meter Fact And Fiction: I think my take is a little smarter than that of the Tribune editorial page, thanks to The Parking Ticket Geek.
3. “Former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman was the only candidate to say the reprimand Burris received from the Senate Ethics Committee was insufficient,” the Tribune reports.
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“State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said Burris should not have accepted the appointment. The first-time officeholder also contended he’s best suited to take on a culture of corruption in Illinois politics.”
Better suited than a former federal prosecutor and city inspector general?
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Of course, the best-suited to take on corruption in Illinois politics is someone who isn’t running for federal office.
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“Hoffman tried to play off those fears when he jabbed Giannoulias and Cheryle Jackson, the former president of the Chicago Urban League and ex-spokeswoman for Blagojevich.
“‘I think it’s critical that we have from the Democratic side of affairs . . . a nominee who just takes the corruption issue off the table and has no connection whatsoever to Blagojevich, to Rezko, to any of these problem players,’ he said.
“Giannoulias’ family bank made loans to Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko, a convicted fundraiser and top Blagojevich adviser.”
4. Dear Pentagon: Pot is the answer. In Cate Plys’s Open Letter.
5. Fast Eddie may still do time. Despite how much Brian Urlacher likes him.
6. Kiss Shows Beer Can Be Sold at Web Concerts, Too.
7. Stroger’s Not Last!
8. “[E]very Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor is a potential land mine,” Rich Miller writes.
9. “Kane has never ducked questions about his incident but has said ‘probably only the three people in that cab will know what happened’,” the Sun-Times reports.
Huh? In what way is Kane not that ducking questions about the incident, then?
“The specifics of that confrontation, which also included Kane’s cousin, were never completely clear.”
Because, um, he’s ducked questions about it?
“At the same time Kane was going through his ordeal . . . ”
Because it was his ordeal, not that of the cabbie he allegedly had some role in beating up.
“‘[T]he media beat me up pretty good [in Buffalo],’ said Kane, who noted that some members of the Buffalo media have since apologized.”
Uh, really?
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No, but really, Patrick, I’m a reporter so I gotta ask, what the hell happened in that cab?
Or maybe I don’t.
10. “At its heart, Invictus is a story about self-determination, a subject that resonates through Eastwood’s career, from Dirty Harry asking various criminals ‘You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?’ to Bronco Billy’s answer to Miss Lilly’s question about whether he’s for real, ‘I’m who I want to be,’ to Maggie Fitzgerald being given the right to choose to live or die in Million Dollar Baby.”
– Our very own Marilyn Ferdinand at Ferdy on Films
11. Boston Terrier Christmas Tree.
12. “Memo to Jim Hendry: To paraphrase Mike McDermott in Rounders: If you can’t spot the sucker in the first four days of trying to trade Milton Bradley at the winter meetings, then you are the sucker.”
– Steve Rosenbloom
13. “Marion is a bunch of right-wing FOX-TV watchers,” Bloodshot Records’ Joe Swank tells our very own Matt Harness. “Carbondale was the island of hope.”
14. “Obama’s decision to have an unmanned bomber plane accept the Peace Prize raised eyebrows in diplomatic circles, as well as concerns about whether the plane was accurate enough for such a delicate mission,” Andy Borowitz writes.
15. “Chet Coppock picked his best and worst Chicago sportscasters over the past 25 years,” our very own George Ofman notes in Dis and Dat, Dem and Dose. “I didn’t check but did Chet put himself on both lists?”
16. I’ve never known any man who thought the troughs at Wrigley were charming.
17. Tribune baseball writer includes Mlbtraderumors.com in his list of those who benefitted at baseball’s winter meetings. “How did reporters cover these meetings before Twitter and sites like this?” he writes.
You mean aggregators and Twitter can actually be valuable tools for newspaper reporters? Imagine that.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: One and all.
Posted on December 11, 2009