FAREWELL TO MR. FURLEY

I won't claim he was some sort of comic genius, and I'm not even all that fond of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, but for Barney Fife alone, Don Knotts had no precedent, and no true successor in the goofy, gawky, comic-relief-second-banana department (though Michael "Kramer" Richards came close on SEINFELD). Instead of the outlandishly awful outfits they made him wear on THREE'S COMPANY, remember his comic timing and refreshing total lack of irony, the latter summed up in this memorable exchange from GHOST WORLD, where Enid turns in a portrait assignment for her remedial art class:

Roberta: Who is this, Enid?

Enid: It's supposed to be Don Knotts.

Roberta: And what was your reason for choosing him as your subject?

Enid: I dunno... I just like Don Knotts.

PASSAGEWAYS

Three pictures from the Centre St. parking lot in Brookline. The rather curious orange plaque at the bottom has been there as long as I can remember.

GOOD THINGS COME IN FOURS

I've seen and heard some amazing stuff lately, like Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, a starkly unique, misunderstood thriller than ruined the man's career but proved way ahead-of-its-time: it's now fascinating both as a record of postwar, pre-swingin' London and as a key (albeit creepy) influence on American auteurs of the following decades (most notably Scorsese).

However, I admit, I'm too lazy to post a more-substantial-than-that film or music review at the moment, so I swiped the following from kottke.org. And, I added a new category (vague hint: it's not the last one).

Four jobs I've had:

1. Ice Cream Scooper at Baskin Robbins
2. Busboy for chain buffet restaurant
3. Sales Associate for auto parts and supply store (!)
4. Desk Receptionist for graduate student housing

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Mulholland Drive
3. Vertigo
4. Harold and Maude

Four albums I can listen to over and over:

1. Ivy, Apartment Life
2. Saint Etienne, Tales From Turnpike House
3. Kate Bush, Aerial
4. Brian Eno, Before and After Science

Four places I've lived:

1. Milwaukee, WI (South Side)
2. Lower Allston, MA
3. Watertown, MA
4. Jamaica Plain, MA

Four TV shows I love:

1. Arrested Development
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Six Feet Under
4. Wonderfalls

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows that I've never watched a single minute of:

1. 24
2. Prison Break
3. Alias
4. House

Four places I've vacationed:

1. Minocqua, WI
2. San Diego, CA
3. Toronto, ON
4. Savannah, GA

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Just about any flavor of ice cream
2. Chili (meat or vegetarian)
3. Cinnamon-sugar breakfast muffins
4. Jambalaya

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Lileks.com
2. IMDb.com
3. Slate.com
4. Weather.com

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Biking the Minuteman Trail
2. The Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee
3. Sunset Cliffs in San Diego
4. Rummaging through any used CD store