Well, maybe not always, but there certainly was one in this true Sandy storm story.

Friend told me about friend of his whose house was badly damaged by flooding in Storm. House completely water logged.  Local authorities somehow arranged for equipment to be set up at the house to accelerate drying.  So to the rescue comes a crew with big power blowers hooked up to generators and all was going well...   until there was a short in the wiring that sparked a blaze that spread and burned (or burnt?) down the entire house.  A week later, the twice cursed homeowner wins 2 million in NY lottery.

And while on topic of Silver Linings...new David O. Russell movie, Silver Linings Playbook get a thumbs up from the Drifter.  Flirting With Disaster, Three Kings, I (Heart) Huckabees, and now this one makes a pretty impressive career quartet. 

Total receipts for the value of a single day's trade on the block average $400 million. There are 2,600 independent businesses located in the district, nearly all of them dealing in diamonds or jewelry. Most are located in booths at one of the 25 "exchanges" in the district. Many deals are finalized by a simple, traditional blessing (mazel und brucha) and handshake.  Wikipedia.

I've walked this stretch of West 47th St.  practically every day for the last ten years, and though called a district it's really just one block long. And every time I take that short stroll, I see or hear something that makes my imagination run wild. 

  Even if you know nothing about the world that the hustling, bustling people there inhabit, there is a palpable sense of the secrecy, tribalism, urgency, and cut-throat deal-making that powers the pump of a world-wide gusher of glitter.  I've seen men shouting and arguing with each other from opposite sides of the street, I've seen others pushing, shoving and even come to blows.  I've been accosted by street hustlers, some clearly in desperate need of switching to herbal tea and/or getting on some strong anti-anxiety medication.  And what you can see on the street and through the doors and windows of the businesses that line it merely hints at what is happening out of public view and presumably out of sight of the law.  It's like a modern metropolitan Jewish Dodge City behind steel, stone and glass.  I understand that this book is the definitive "Big Picture" account, and I already know a little about the South Africa/mining/evil empire history but not much about the marketplace--so maybe I'll read it and return later to report on what I've learned.  Meantime, I'll keep strolling down the street on my way home  hoping to stumble upon more evocative drama, or maybe a mislaid allotrope of carbon.

Still following the Knicks and still toying with Triolets

Measure for Measure on a hard wood floor

Much ado in pursuit of a fine winter’s tale

No more comedy of errors for the loyal hardcore

Measure for Measure on a hard wood floor

Tyson, Kidd, meshing, Novak going air-mail

Felton, J.R. and Melo learning less can be more

Measure for measure on a hard wood floor

Much Ado in pursuit of a fine winter’s tale

I've been working on a speech for someone who is getting (actually, he's only accepting on behalf of an organization)  an industry award. Considering that I have a hard time acknowledging the purpose or value of any kind of award (other than a pay raise), I usually try to make quick work of this speechwriting chore and go searching to steal whatever I can to get it off my desk.  Here's some of what I found that I liked--and therefore will probably not be approved for (re) use.

I don't deserve this award.  But I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.

Jack Benny

People with honorary awards are looked upon with disfavor.  I mean, would you let an Honorary mechanic fix your car?"

Neil Simon

And this, which I think stands as a pretty good argument for making the case that comedy is basically just laying bare the truth.