Sunday Funnies & So Much More

As always, click to enlarge. For more, see Non Sequitur, Tom the Dancing Bug, Tom Toles, Zippy the Pinhead, Jack Ohman, Doonesbury, and Tony Auth. 

Avery Johnson: From the New Orleans projects to the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame. While on his, Avery hit and NBA-title winning jump shot and became one of two players under six feet tall to play in over a thousand NBA games. The Little General also acquired one of the NBA's all-time great nicknames...

Slumdog Millionaire. D: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan. Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Freida Pinto. Directors Boyle and Tandan aim for Charles Dickens and hit Horatio Alger. When you strip away the vivid colors and occasionally impressive set piece, you're left with boy meets girl/boy loses girl/boy almost gets girl back/boy loses girl again/boy gets girl back once and for all. This is all wrapped in the sheen of a rags-to-riches story in which slumdog Jamal (Patel) successfully navigates the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" because the questions each coincide with traumatic events in his life. (A slumdog is an orphan of the slums of India's cities.) The characters' motives range from the implausible to the unclear, and -- despite the film's length -- the supporting roles are woefully underdeveloped. A more interesting film would have dealt with Jamal's brother Salim, whose responsibilities as the surviving oldest member of the family render him conflicted and resentful of Jamal while tiptoeing through a moral minefield. Nice performance by Khan, who deserved last year's Best Supporting Actor recognition for his superb work in The Namesake...

The most recent first line was, of course, from Charles' Dickens Great Expectations, one of the first great coming-of-age novels. Great Expectations occupies a permanent place on Citizen K.'s list of books you should read before you die...

The Portland (Oregon) Jazz Festival kicks off this coming Friday with Terence Blanchard and Gonzalo Rubalcaba leading a performance of God's Will, Blanchard's jazz suite about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath...

Come to think of it, the San Antonio Spurs best players have all had great nicknames, from George "Iceman" Gervin to David "The Admiral" Robinson to Tim "The Big Fundamental" Duncan. George Gervin was also the subject of one of the best sports posters ever:

Sunday Gospel Hour: I've enjoyed digging up gospel videos, so look for this to become at least a semi-regular feature. Once again, here's Glen David Andrews, this time leading choir, band, congregation, and anyone in hearing distance of New Orleans' Zion Hill Baptist Church in "I'll Fly Away."

Snowball

Con El Permiso De Bola, Francisco Cespedes with Gonzalo Rubalcaba

A couple strolls down the streets of Havana in the early morning hours. Sounds wafting from a nearby club cause them to pause and listen. Drawing closer, they peer into a open door to see four men gathered around a piano producing some of the loveliest sounds they've ever heard in their lives. Unaware that they have an audience, the quartet nestles deep into the music of a revered predecessor. Occasionally, a colleague joins them to contribute on trumpet or guitar or violin. But mostly it's the four -- a singer, a virtuoso pianist, a bassist, and a drummer -- speaking to and inspiring each other through the music.

Bola de Nieves (The Snowball, nee Ignacio Villa) has been described as Cuba's Fats Waller, Nat "King" Cole, and Frank Sinatra all rolled into one. Creating a CD of his music requires supreme talent and understanding of his style and contribution. I can't claim to be an expert on Nieves, but I know great music when I hear it, and I hear it on this CD.  

Franciso Cespedes, a former physician, approaches every song as an act of making love, not reverence. As a result, he gets to the essence of the material without without coming across as a imitator. Cespedes' warm, breathy baritone seems perfect for songs that he caresses with the attention of a man reunited with his one true love. Rubalcaba eschews pyrotechnics and instead plays piano as if he were F. Scott Fitzgerald writing The Great Gatsby: Each note, each phrase receives precisely the right stress, tone, and rhythm. He plays precisely what is needed for every song; each performance is a perfectly polished gem beautiful for its restraint. Ignacio Berroa's melodic drumming combines with Carlos del Puerto's lush bass to form an ideal rhythm section. Highly recommended.