As Serious As Your Life

Say hey. It finally looks like winter around these parts. We got a nasty storm Friday, featuring whiteout conditions at times, gale-force winds, and even some thunder and lightning. Here on the coast, we only got about six inches or so because for part of the day it rained, but go a couple of miles inland to a town like Danvers and they had about 16 inches of the white stuff. I went for a run in the morning when it had just started and I had a tough time seeing because the stuff was blowing right in my eyes; plus I almost fell on my butt a few times on icy patches. As per usual, it was the first storm of the year so everyone drove like total idiots. I saw a lot of accidents and cars stuck in the snow. Fortunately, Deb and the girls were home all day because school was cancelled. The weekend was much nicer, still chilly but not bad at all. I took the girls in the backyard today to play in the snow; Lily thought it tasted pretty good.

Hey man, nice shot:

• I was saddened at the news yesterday that legendary comedian Richard Pryor had died of a heart attack at the age of 65. Not shocked, since the guy's been pretty sick for quite a while now after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the '80s. My first memories of Pryor were from seeing him in movies like Stir Crazy and Silver Streak, which offered funny but sanitized versions of his wild comic persona. It was only later when I saw some of his concert movies on HBO that I really got a taste of what he was really like, and holy crap, was he a funny bastard. Moreso in the '70s, he was one of the first (if not THE first) comedian to really get in America's face about racism. He had an edge and anger to his comedy that was both funny and shocking. About '83 or so, my dad brought home a borrowed videotape (we had just purchased our first VCR) of stuff taped off HBO, including Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip and we watched it together. It was pretty uncomfortable for me, because even though I thought the movie was hilarious, I felt weird watching it with my dad. Especially since I had never sworn in front of my parents, even though I had been dropping f-bombs on the playground since I was in second grade (my little brother busted me a few times, but he never told my parents, even though he certainly threatened to on many occasions). I had just bought Eddie Murphy's Comedian cassette, but only listened to it on headphones because it was ridiculously profane (and side-splittingly funny--I knew most of the routines before I ever heard the tape because my buddies at school would recite them daily). So I was no stranger to blue comedy, but I learned that Eddie Murphy was only following in Pryor's footsteps. Richard Pryor's work is best judged by his standup routines, which bear out the fact that he was a genius.
• Here's something you don't see every day: Man who plays dumbass crook on The Sopranos gets shot after playing dumbass crook in real life.
• As cool as the Wikipedia is, I've always wondered what could keep bogus information from getting in. Apparently, judging from incidents like this, the answer is nothing.
• I was heartened to see the Blue Jays making waves this offseason by signing the top free agent closer (Baltimore's B.J. Ryan) and starter (Florida's A.J. Burnett) and trading for some more offense in Milwaukee's Lyle Overbay. GM J.P. Ricciardi was finally given some money to spend by ownership and apparently, he's going for it. Some are saying they overpaid, but I for one am glad to see them finally getting some big names. Will they pass the Yankees and Red Sox? Who knows, but it's nice to see them trying.