Saturday Mornings

I love Saturday mornings (who doesn't?). Though it's tempting to sleep in, during recent Saturdays (excluding Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve) and today, found it enjoyable to wake up early, tune in to "Weekend Edition" on NPR, catch up on newspaper sections missed during the week (with three subscriptions, sometimes The Times, WSJ and AJC hard copies pile up) and enjoy the bright Atlanta sunrises that fill the Myrtle Street house apartment with light.

Today's NPR reports are mostly about election topics, but looking forward to "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" and the Tappit Bros. later in the broadcast. By evening I'll be enjoying Garrison Keillor and Saturday night's great jazz programming. Love it!

With the radio news in the background, I read a couple more chapters of Roger Ebert's excellent memoir "Life Itself" -- during the week the pages mostly highlighted Ebert's upbringing and travels (delightful to learn of his early book titled "The Perfect London Walk" which should come in handy at the London 2012 Olympic Games). Now finally getting to more of his early film critic days, nights and weekends. Good stuff from an author who already had three books on my bookshelf.

Catching up on some recent Olympic headlines, a few reactions came to mind ...

-- Olympic champion Kurt Angle will pursue a spot on the 2012 Olympic wrestling team, as reported in the New York Post. Angle won a gold at the 1995 World Freestyle Wresting Championships while I was interning with USA Wrestling (his victory in the Omni Coliseum was pretty cool, a preamble to his gold during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996). It would be so cool for Angle to make the 2012 Olympic team. As they say in Hollywood and perhaps in the showbiz side of professional wrestling, "Break a leg!" (not your neck again, Kurt).

-- After pulling a twice-in-Olympic-history "psych!" move on the International Olympic Committee -- winning the bid to host the 1976 Olympic Winter Games then cancelling -- Denver is now considering a new Olympic bid, according to NPR. Channeling "SNL - Weekend Update" anchor Seth Meyers, Denver's decision begs the question, "Really?" (I learned in the NPR blog post that the other city to win, then decline, the Games was Rome in 1908, but they gave the Games back to the IOC in response to a natural disaster rather than results of a local vote denying funds/support).

-- AFP reports on the U.K. release of new Olympic and Paralympic stamps for 2012 (perhaps the plainest Olympic postage stamps I've seen in 25 years as a philatelist).

-- Authorities investigating a stolen 1996 Atlanta Olympic torch (or perhaps the cyclist owner of said torch) drastically overestimated the value of the torch in various reports about the recovery of the torch at a North Carolina pawn shop. WSB-TV of Atlanta reported the accurate value of about $1,500, with help of Olympic memorabilia collector Craig Perlow, and glad to see the Asheville Citizen-News did some basic research on the correct value (unlike other outlets that picked up the AP story and took it at face value).

-- The swashbuckling swordsman who helped create great fencing fights as a 1952 Olympian and as consultant for the silver screen -- including famous scenes in "Star Wars" and "The Princess Bride" -- died at age 89 (Bob Anderson's obit, as reported in the LA Times and other outlets).

-- Forbes reports that London 2012's Olympic volunteers are not permitted to use social media while on duty. Again, thinking of "SNL Weekend Update" and the question, "Really?"

Happy New Year -- 2012 hold a great deal of promise, and (*bonus*) it's an Olympic year!

Photo via Associated Press photo by Alastair Grant

Garrison Keillor and the Olympics, part two

Per the previous post, Garrison Keillor took time to talk about Olympic Rings and Other Things at the Atlanta History Center. The video below is our follow up conversation during his autograph session. Enjoy!

And if Mr. Keillor is out there reading this, my follow up question is this: Did you ever meet any of the "Miracle On Ice" hockey players you heard on the radio so long ago (and thank you again for answering my other questions)?

Garrison Keillor and the Olympics, part one

Author, humorist, national radio/film personality and very cool gentleman/nice guy Garrison Keillor was in town last week showcasing his new book -- "Liberty: A Lake Wobegon Novel" -- to a packed house at the Atlanta History Center.

I'm three chapters into the text and it is quite good (a bit lighter than my favorite Keillor text, "Homegrown Democrat," which is outstanding!). "Liberty" is getting great reviews, too.

During the evening's audience Q&A, I seized the opportunity to ask Mr. Keillor about the extent to which his writing was ever inspired by Olympic feats.

Unfortunately, in front of the crowd he had not much to say about Olympians (see the video with this post). But after the Q&A session -- cornered while he signed four books -- he did open up and mention tuning in to the 1980 "Miracle On Ice" as an Olympic memory of note (check the second video, which I will display in a "part two" follow up post).

A native Minnesotan, Keillor did seem a bit surprised (also on video) to learn that Minneapolis/St. Paul was at one time a contendor for the 1996 Olympic bid, briefly competing against Atlanta to the the U.S. bid city (we all know how that turned out).

He did not mince words about the Land of 10,000 Lakes' chances -- guess we'll have to wait a few more decades before Olympic yachting can be raced on Lake Minnetonka!

Thanks go out to the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum for putting on a great evening event with Mr. Keillor.