Jillian Rose

I’m a great uncle. (No, not great in that sense—though I am rather fabulous.) My niece Jenny’s firstborn. Entered the world ten days ago. Met her in person for the first time yesterday, and she’s absolutely gorgeous, as you can see. Soft, fine hair. Tiniest hands on earth. And a perfect, perfect face.

Obviously I’m so dizzy that I can no longer speak in complete sentences.

Here’s the lovely Jilly:

Proud great uncle (good Lord, look how gray my beard has gotten!):

And happy great grandma:

Sssssunday Sssssurealism

Leave it to Tin Pan Alley to turn centuries of ethnic and religious struggles into a catchy ditty. This song, though copyrighted by Jimmy Kennedy (lyrics) and Nat Simon (music), is a direct descendant of the humorous piece “Al-Bar the Bubul Emir” that was found in the pages of Captain Billy’s Whizbang, an early 20th century precursor to Mad Magazine.

Written in 1953, it was released the same year by the Canadian group The Four Lads, and covered by many others including the marvelous Bette Midler (where it originally came to my attention) and They Might Be Giants. The music bears an uncanny resemblance to Irving Berlin’s “Putting on the Ritz.”

Here, then, is “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”, the TMBG version, in two different music videos, both cartoons, which is why it strikes me as rather surreal:

Istanbul was Constantinople Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Now it’s Turkish delight on a moonlit night Every gal in Constantinople Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople So if you’ve a date in Constantinople She’ll be waiting in Istanbul Even old New York was once New Amsterdam Why they changed it I can’t say People just liked it better that way So take me back to Constantinople No, you can’t go back to Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works That’s nobody’s business but the Turks!

Just Sayin’

I know I badmouth Florida. A lot.

The endless heat, the exhausting humidity, the whitebread “culture,” etc. I’ve said that one of the few pleasures down here is the wildlife, especially the birds.

But the thunder that moments ago shook our house and rattled our windows reminded me what a sincere pleasure it is to live so close (relatively speaking) to Cape Canaveral.

I get to watch every NASA launch from my front yard. The shuttle rises above the trees in my neighbor’s yard, and curves to the northeast. Occasional night launches are particularly spectacular.

Just now, the returning shuttle created a lovely sonic boom. We turned on the TV and watched it land. Landings aren’t nearly as spectacular, but they are . . . satisfying, somehow.