This was a defining question for many years. By nature, I’m a Stones person. But I also love the Beatles. And I’m too grown to pick one over the other. They’re both great for very different reasons.
Tuesday
August 4, 2026
Since 2002
Sundazed Soul Bids Phil Hughes a Fond Farewell
A report from the Star Tribune has Phil Hughes signing a 3-year deal with the Twins. His oven stuffer roaster having popped in New York I wish him well in Minnie. Always seemed like a good guy.
As a farewell here’s a Sunday Morning Clean-Up record.
[Photo Credit: Samantha Cohn]
Long Weekend
Shopping? Nah, fergit that. Time to cool out, do some reading, watch a movie, hang with family, chill with friends, or just by yourself.
[Photo Credit: Jesse Vaughan]
American Master
Rest in peace, Saul Leiter, dead at 89. A beautiful artist.
“There are certain people who like to be in the swing of things, but I think I’ve been out of the loop a lot of the time. When Bonnard died, one critic accused him of not participating in the great adventures of Modernism. And Matisse wrote a letter in which he defended Bonnard, saying that when he saw the Bonnards in the Phillips collection, he told Mr. Phillips, ‘Bonnard was the strongest of us all.’
I’m not like those photographers who went up to the top of the mountain and hung over and took a picture that everyone said was impossible and then went home and printed it and sold 4,000 copies of it and then went on and on with one great achievement after another.
Max Kozloff said to me one day, ‘You’re not really a photographer. You do photography, but you do it for your own purposes – your purposes are not the same as others’. I’m not quite sure what he meant, but I like that. I like the way he put it.”
Taster’s Cherce
Saveur gives Fingerling Potatoes with Bacon and 29 other super simple Thanksgiving sides.
[Photo Credit: Vanessa Rees]
Masculine Feminine
Head on over to Esquire and get some relationship advice from a 98-year old woman:
According to statistics, more and more women are the ones asking for the divorces these days. Very different from your generation.
Right, the world today is completely different because the women are successful. A lot of women are more successful than their husbands. And that’s not necessarily good for marriage. It’s wonderful for women, of course, but if they become more successful than their husbands, it can be bad because then the man loses respect for himself. And then the husband becomes the pussycat—and that’s no good. That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong. I’ve been wrong plenty of times in my life.
Do you think the men are more like women these days?
I think so. I think men are much more interested in the way they look. Much more. I think they dress differently than they used to. They go to the gym. Now, the women have to keep up with them!
Would you like to be a young woman in today’s world?
Oh yeah. Because I feel like I could keep up with any man. I’m not being conceited—don’t misunderstand me. But I understand men. I do. My father, he always said to me, “If I was married to a woman like you, I’d own the world.” He used to tell me that. I was the favorite, and I knew it. I could have had anything I wanted. I don’t tell that to my brothers and sisters because I don’t want to hurt their feelings.
Requiem for a Welterweight
I’m late on this but in case you missed it do yourself a favor and check out Brin-Jonathan Butler’s portrait of Manny Pacquiao for SB Nation Longform:
After eight frustrating years, four controversial fights, 42 contentiously scored rounds, with over 500 punches landed from more than 1,800 thrown, after two grueling hours of opportunity under the spotlight, on Dec. 8, 2012, Juan Manuel Marquez finally landed the punch of a lifetime against Manny Pacquiao. It happened with just one second left in the sixth round of their mythic saga. Pacquiao charged forward to land one final blow before the bell, and instead added his own momentum to Marquez’s immaculately-timed, coup de grace right-hand, which landed flush against Pacquiao’s jaw. On TV, when the punch landed, Pacquiao’s back was to the camera. The reverberations of the impact were only detectable through the sudden jolt of Pacquiao’s wet hair on the back of his head.
But isn’t this a staple of wrestling, meant to fool? Since the punch itself had landed with such comic book emphasis, the traction of the unfolding human drama, along with reality, became unhinged and, for an instant, suspended. In confusion and disbelief, many people watching around me in a New York bar laughed in horror. As Charlie Chaplin famously pointed out, from a distance, a man slipping on a banana peel or stumbling down a manhole is funny. It’s something altogether different up close. And since Pacquiao had fallen face-first and remained motionless, almost fastened to the canvas, there were no cues.
Been Caught Stealing
I’m with the Beasties on this one. Yeah, the Goldiebox commercial is admirable in spirit but they’ve got the nerve to rip off music for their own purpose and then hide behind their politics.
Cool product, and at this point, they’ve accomplished their mission because the video has gone viral, but still: they get the Gas Face.
New York Minute
How do you react when someone sleeps on your shoulder? I generally won’t have it but I suppose it depends on my mood and the person who falls asleep on my shoulder.
Upscaled
Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York looks at the changes in the meat packing district.
"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver
--Earl Weaver