The View from the Hermitage, Day 57

I cut two articles out of this morning's Washington Post. Sally Jenkins wrote about three coaches who knew what messages to send and when to send them. The article began

The right call can swing a game sometimes, but it happens a lot less than you think. The right word, however — that’s infinitely more powerful. The ability to say the right thing at the right time, to lift a team out of a deficit or reach a player who is drowning in insecurity, to restore, rescue even, that’s real coaching. Real leading. 

You can read the rest of it here. It's worth reading. 

The other article was from the Couch Slouch, Norman Chad. "Pandemic is reminding us we don't need more sports in our lives--we need less" Humor is good at a time like this, and the Couch Slouch provides. Reading this column reminded me that flipping through channels one day not too long ago, I encountered the world dodgeball championships on ESPN. Dodgeball. Like in the movie. No, I did not watch it once I saw enough to ascertain that it was for real. 

True leadership. Something we need these days. Humo(u)r. We also need that.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 22

My email inbox this morning contained a message from Amazon.com reminding me of all the things I can get for free using Amazon Prime. I don't need more books to read, and I can listen to just about any music I want, but it occurred to me that a movie might be a good way to pass some evening time, so I clicked that list.

As I scrolled through the various movie genres, it hit me that I was actively not looking at any comedies. And when I thought about it, I actually felt repulsed by the idea of watching a comedy. I would have thought that the dire situation in which we find ourselves, especially this week which they say could be the worst, would lend itself to something laughable. After all, I have no problem laughing with the husband and/or older son about life situations or, in the case of the husband, a funny Facebook post or cartoon. I laugh at Tom Toles's editorial cartoon in The Washington Post, but that laugh is tempered by the immediate realization that what is funny is what should not be happening. A movie-length comedy is more laughter than I can take right now.

So many things that should be funny just aren't any longer. 

Someone Has a Sense of Humo(u)r

Yesterday's "Style and Arts" section of The Washington Post contained a page that was one-fourth photo of Daniel Craig from the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, and three-fourths ads. The caption below the photo? Priceless! Here it is, with bold and italics done as in the original: "Here's Daniel Craig in the new Bond movie, opening Friday. We don't have any real reason for running this photo except, jeez, look at this guy." Thanks, some anonymous Post editor. I needed that!