Twenty-two hours in Balthazar. 

[Photo Credit: Raul Gutierrez]

“Seated Woman” by Richard Diebenkorn (1968)

Hello again, welcome back to Where & When; trying to keep your minds sharp and, well, distracted from the obvious.  It’s getting a bit chilly outside, so we’ll try to keep the gears burning and get you thinking hard about this newest challenge:

This one looks like it could be easy or tough.  The important thing is to search the whole picture for clues, which will make it really easy once you find one.  In fact, I hope I haven’t made it too easy.  Your job today is to find out where this was taken and give us a good idea when.  It doesn’t actually have to be exact, but if any clues give you an indication, you’ll get credit for being closest to it.  Bonus if you have an idea what this area looks like today. Send your answers to cixposse at gmail dot com; post on the thread to let me know you sent an answer and I’ll verify.

Do not click on the photo credit for your answer, but you are allowed to use the internet for research; if you find the same exact picture, detail your activities that brought you to it (show your math!) Guesses are okay, but more credit will be given to those who can show a path of progression to their answers.

A Big Ol’ Bundaberg for the first person with the right answers, and an Old Fashioned Killebrew for the rest.  I’ll be busy today, but I’ll check in whenever I can and post an answer at or after 4pm today (don’t be discouraged if you find you’ve run out of time; I tend to come in pretty late.)  Have fun!

[Photo Credit: Queens Gazette; courtesy of Newtown Historical Society & Q Gardens Gallery]

Nice group of Big Lebowski links over at the consistently rewarding movie site, Cinephilia and Beyond. Includes this picture of Steve Buscemi and John Turturro taken by Jeff Bridges (the guy in the middle is Bridges’ longtime stand-in). Ah, my Zelig moment. You’ll see in the background right near Buscemi’s head, a blurry figure wearing a Clippers jersey. That would be me.

Ha!

Memories Of You

[Photo Credit: Danielle Hughson]

The Sox are a win away from a trip to the Whirled Serious. Man, I’d love to see a Game 7 here but I think the Sox will do what the Cards did last night: take care of it.

Never mind those damn beards:

Let’s Go Tig-ers!

[Photo Credit: Joel Zimmer]

“I’d Rather Be With You”–Harlem Hamfats

[Photo Credit: Wai Lin Tse via MPD]

Kershaw and the Dodgers hope to live another day.

A trip to the Serious is on the line for the Cards. It says here that they find a way to win.

Never mind nuthin’:

Let’s Go Dod-gers!

[Picture By Toni Demuro via This isn’t Happiness]

What does Mario Batali eat after 10 hours of cooking?

The penne looks damn tasty no matter what time it is.

[Photo Credit: Marcus Nilsson for The New York Times]

Photograph by Rebecca Reeve via MPD. 

O.C.’s debut album, Word Life, was released on this day in 1994. It’s a good one.

ss

There are four new movies that have been well-reviewed and have got me excited to go the theater. They are Captain Phillips, Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, and All is Lost. Oscar time came early this year, huh?

Apparently not. The Wife says to me last night. “This is the worst playoffs ever.”

The games have been close, it’s been exciting. She just means the wrong teams keep winning.

The ALCS is going back to Boston. Only question is, which team will have a 3-2 lead?

We’re rooting for the Tigers but I think the Sox will win, which means zilch because I always think they’ll win. Worst case scenario. That’s how I operate. So that says the Sox win. (Then again if the Tigers win that just means I think the Sox’ll win the next two at home.)

Just file me under hopeless hater, Red Sox division, American League.

Ah, never mind the angst:

Let’s Go Tig-ers!

[Photo Via: This Isn’t Happiness]

It’s starting to hit me. That we won’t see Mo pitch again. Small pangs at random times, but it’s sinking in. His playing career is over.

In this article about Rivera over at Broken LeaguesI was impressed with the picture by PJ McQuade.

Stephen Rodrick profiles Robert Redford in Men’s Journal. Redford is supposed to be wonderful in the new movie, All is Lost:

It’s hard to watch “All Is Lost” and not focus on Redford’s mortality – or, hell, your own mortality. It’s the type of unvarnished role his advisers had been urging him to take for years, but he’d become encased in his own dilemma. He’d spent his entire career rebelling against just being another good-looking guy but only partially leaving his comfort zone. Every film Redford has been involved in for the past half-century has him playing a hero; it might be subverting the cliché – like in ‘The Candidate’ – but it’s still the hero. In ‘All Is Lost,’ Redford doesn’t play a hero; just an old man trying to survive.

Robert Redford turned 77 a few weeks before Telluride. He still carves turns on his own mountain, but it is now easier for J.C. Chandor to raise money for his next film than it is for Redford. In a grand irony, the actor’s next role is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the sequel to Captain America, the type of blockbuster that led Redford to flee Hollywood for Sundance.

“This is the new deal,” Redford explains. “This is the way the film business is going, with high-tech, high-budget, high things. So many parts of it were not recognizable to me. I thought it’d be interesting to have the experience.”

While he now claims he’s trying harder to stay in touch with his past, there is little evidence. I mention that I’d recently interviewed James Salter, a former Redford confidant who wrote ‘Downhill Racer.’ His face lights up. “I’ve read his new book twice. My daughter asked me who from my past I’d like to reconnect with, and I said ‘Salter.’ ” What is left unsaid is that he never called him.

Photograph by Tim Walker via MPD.

Welcome back for another round of Where & When, the geography detective game that’s keeping your brain warm for the impending Hot Stove season. Or at least that’s the intention; the more you play this, the more exercise your mind gets and hey, the smarter you become! Plus, you get to brag to your buddies that you know something about the city that they probably don’t; if nothing else, it cuts down your chances of getting mugged >;)

Speaking of challenges, here is the latest:

This place was within the five boroughs until recently. It had been around for quite a long time, and unfortunately it was in this condition for a considerably long time as well.  If you know what the name of this building is and where it’s located, then tell us also when it was built, when it first opened for business and when it was closed for good. Bonus if you find a picture of when it was pristine and intact.

Send your best guesses to cixposse at gmail dot com.  Alert me on the thread that you’ve sent in your guess and I will verify; as per rules of the game, do not click on the photo credit to find the answer. You’re welcome to discuss any aspects of the challenge, including your tracking methods or knowledge of the general area, without giving away the answer (so be discreet if you can).  Above competition, this is also a general place to discuss what you know or learned, so feel free to discuss either.  I’ll try to get back with the answer in the evening around six EST.

A Sea Dog for you if you can find all the answers requested first, and a Jones for those who follow.  Don’t burst a vessel over this, since I’m asking for a lot of specific info it might take some time to track it all down.  Take your time and have fun!

[Photo Credit: Nathan Kensinger ]

Jam it on the One.

The Wife and I stopped in to a charming new Belgian spot on the Upper East Side last weekend. They serve special little meringues. The Wife took a picture. Spot is worth dropping in on for a treat if you’re in that neighborhood.