The Bryant Park Project is a blog, radio show , podcast and ongoing discussion of the news.
May 13, 2008
Filed under: Luncheonette , Sports
For your lunchtime viewing pleasure, a moving meditation on right time/right place :
Baseball's unassisted triple play -- when a lone fielder is responsible for three outs on a single pitch -- is a rare and freakish feat.
Last night, Cleveland Indians second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera turned the 14th unassisted triple play in the history of the major leagues. Facing the Toronto Blue Jays, Cabrera dove for a liner by Lyle Overbay for out number one. Toronto had runners on second and third, and both had taken off with the pitch. Cabrera stepped on second base to get the lead runner, Kevin Mench, who'd already reached third. He then tagged the following guy, Marco Scuataro, who'd just crossed second.
Check the video -- it's three outs in a blink.
Bonus: ESPN breaks it down .
-- Laura Conaway
12:10 PM ET
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05-13-2008
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Filed under: Links From the Show , Video
-- Win Rosenfeld
9:43 AM ET
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05-13-2008
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Filed under: Video
"A Walk to Beautiful" is the true story of five Ethiopian women who suffer from fistula, a devastating childbirth injury and their journey to find new hope for better lives. Instead of living in a culture that ostracizes them for the disability, they make the long difficult trip to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.
Filmmaker Mary Olive Smith was on the BPP this morning & she brought a clip from this award-winning film:
-- Win Rosenfeld
9:01 AM ET
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05-13-2008
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Filed under: Stuff We Love
My Japanese is rusty. Can somebody tell me what is going on here? I'm also interested in your wild theories.
-- Ian Chillag
8:54 AM ET
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05-13-2008
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Filed under: News
Before the big earthquake stopped Monday in China, people were getting the news out on Twitter . In posts no longer than 140 characters, they've been finding the news, describing what they see, reckoning with how it all feels.
"Just got a telephone call from my friends telling me that they expecting an other big one in the next half an hour," Trusip wrote on Monday.
Twitter pals @marilynm , @robpatrob and @acarvin have followed the tweeting from China closely.
With thanks to them, three recommendations for people to follow : @trusip , @dedlam and @chengdoo .
Also: @dedlam on his big day NPR reports from the scene The BPP on Twitter
-- Laura Conaway
8:27 AM ET
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05-13-2008
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Filed under: City Living , Video
From Elsa Butler:
For those of us who grew up with the American pastime of baseball, cricket can be a confusing game. For immigrants from places like Guyana, the Caribbean islands, India and Pakistan, cricket is a way of life. "I was born in India, I've been playing for a long time," says Sohom Datta, a senior at Stuyvesant High School who helped start his school's cricket team.
But when families move to the United States, kids end up playing American sports like basketball and football in school.
"My favorite quote about that is that when Indian kids come to Britain, they're still cricket crazy. When they go to America, they forget about cricket," says Datta. "That stuck with me."
That is quickly changing. The New York Department of Education introduced cricket into the public school system and the response was tremendous. It's only the first season, but the varsity league is already in full swing. Teams signed up from Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens.
As in baseball, there are bats and balls, but no bases to be found. Instead, the batters run back and forth between "stumps." The pitchers are called "bowlers." They try to knock little wooden "bails" off the "wickets" -- three wooden sticks stuck in the ground.
Several kids in the league have never played before, but they say they're having blast learning an unconventional sport.
-- Laura Conaway
7:43 AM ET
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05-13-2008
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Filed under: Music , Video
Today's show took another listen to Jason Mraz , who came to the BPP studios awhile back to play some tunes . Here's his performance of a track from his first album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come :
-- Laura Conaway
7:19 AM ET
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05-13-2008
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Filed under: Links From the Show
LeBron James took a bear-hug foul from Paul Pierce in the Cavaliers-Celtics game Monday night, right under the basket and in full view of James' mama. Gloria James let Pierce know he should use his words instead, and then showed him how. LeBron James used his words, too, telling his mother to stay out of it.Ramble .
LeBron James scolds mom during Cavs-Celtics game / Old gas pumps can't handle ever-rising prices / Apple Says IPhone Is Sold Out at Its Internet Store / Wrinkles could be key to buying cigarettes in Japan
-- Laura Conaway
7:03 AM ET
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05-13-2008
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May 12, 2008
Filed under: Maternity Leave
Alison's bundle o' boy at 3 hours
Isaac Stewart Wolff turns one!
One week old, that is......
What a difference a week makes. This morning my son and I ( so funny to write that) went to the pediatrician, where he was described as "one of the strongest infants" the doctor has ever seen.
Regular readers know about 11 days ago I had a really tough time with the first two trips to the hospital, but the third was the charm. We were given the superstar treatment -- literally, since we were assigned the same fancy labor room as used by Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael J. Fox/Tracey Pollan and Bowie and Iman -- and after 11 hours of labor and one C section, 8 pounds and 6 ounces of cuteness came into the world.
As I've blogged, Ike was over a week late but we think we know why. In my family a lot of us were born on holidays. My birthday is July 4th, my sister is New Years Day, my niece July 4th, my paternal grandfather Halloween, my maternal grandfather New Years Day, my paternal grandmother was born on the first day of summer and my mother is Thanksgiving (11/25).
So we think he was holding out for a holiday and don't you know...his cumpleaños is Cinco de Mayo.
More maternity leave blog posts on the way...but right now....a dirty diaper needs changing.....
-- Alison Stewart
4:10 PM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: The Best Song In The World Today
You will be assimilated.
-- Win Rosenfeld
3:46 PM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: TV
BJ Novak as Ryan Howard
NBC
Today we spoke with BJ Novak , co-star, writer, and producer from The Office , which many of us (read: me) consider the best show on network television. (30 Rock may be blatantly funnier, but The Office is overall better.)
Mike Pesca, himself a big booster of the show, spent about 40 minutes talking to Mr. Novak, covering some of the real nitty gritty of the show's production. In the end we cut it down to 14 minutes, with a bunch of clips from The Office mixed in. We tried to make a segment that would appeal to hardcore fans of the show as well as newbies. (Here's that segment .)
But we've also decided to make the raw, uncut version of the interview available here, for all you Office-obsessed fans out there. This version doesn't have the perfect mix, it doesn't have the sound clips of the show dropped in, and it might even contain--gasp!--a stutter or two. But it probably has as much insight into the show as anything you've heard or read. So grab some popcorn and enjoy:
-- Dan Pashman
2:59 PM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: What I Made for Dinner
I honestly haven't cooked at all for weeks and weeks and weeks. A combo of being busy with work plus decent weather outside means that by the time my kid and I come in from playing in the park, it's too late to make a decent meal.
So yesterday, I finally made something. Yes, I know it was mother's day and technically my husband should have cooked, but he did offer and I said I would handle it while he took the dog to the dog park.
Here's what I made (basically ripping off a recipe my husband invented for us a few months ago):
Continue reading "Tortellini with Lemon Juice and Oil, 05.11.08" »
-- Tricia McKinney
1:51 PM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: News
Rescuers try to free a boy from the collapsed Juyuan middle school. Click for slideshow.
XINHUA/AFP/Getty Images
The death toll in China has topped 8,500 today after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in Sichuan province.
NPR correspondent Melissa Block was in the middle of an interview when the shaking started. She continued out into the street, rolling tape of the scene around her. It's scary, and it sounds it.
An early major report is here . The group is continuing to cover the story on its blog .
-- Laura Conaway
1:18 PM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: Luncheonette , Sound Off
For lunch today, an open thread. I'll start:
Some guys just do not understand certain things about life as a girl/woman .
Take the guy who shot this video over the summer in Prince Edward Island. The line for the women's restroom is out the door and into the parking lot. The line for the men's room is not. Having had maybe enough of that age-old scenario, the girlwomenpeople start queuing up for the opposite sex's loo.
Our camerman: "A new low! A new low!"
Dude, wait on lines like I've waited on lines and then editorialize. Or talk to Kathryn Anthony, an architecture professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who told us today about so-called potty parity laws .
Bonus: Potty parity haunts St. Louis arena
-- Laura Conaway
12:37 PM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: Links From the Show , Video
-- Win Rosenfeld
12:21 PM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: Sound Off
On our show today , psychiatrist David Scasta told us about his plans for a panel called "Homosexuality and Therapy: the Religious Dimension."
Scasta, who calls himself a quiet gay activist, says he wanted to address the needs of gay and bisexual patients whose religious beliefs might prompt them to seek some kind of "cure" for their sexual orientation. Scheduled for last week's American Psychiatric Association convention, the forum was to include V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, and conservative Christians who consider homosexuality a sin.
But after infuriated gay activists complained, Scasta called off his own panel.
"If you literally believe in a literal hell where you are going to burn and fry and be in excruciating pain not just for a moment but for eternity because you're a gay person," Scasta asks, "then how do you go to psychotherapy in which somebody like me would be telling you that to have a happy life, in this life, you need to learn to accept who you are?"
Scasta hoped for a discussion that might begin to bridge the gap between sides with very different opinions on a core issue. Personally, I'm just hoping to hear what you have to say, in the comments.
-- Laura Conaway
7:46 AM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: Links From the Show
Makers of the Tanka Bar say its combination of bison meat and cranberries marks a return to the healthy diet of Native Americans before Europeans showed up with cane sugar and shortening. Native American Natural Foods tested the bar among kids on a reservation, who call it "buffalo candy."Ramble .
Native company returns to roots with energy bar made of buffalo meat and cranberry / Teenagers to take embarrassing ailments to Second Life doctors / Office romance gets contractual / Girl wins track team title by herself
-- Laura Conaway
7:41 AM ET
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05-12-2008
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Filed under: Music , Video
The Baby Soda Jazz Band made a furious last-minute run over the weekend, but they couldn't catch Balla Tounkara. The koura player from Mali has won the Bryant Park Project's first ever audience poll for subway buskers.
Tounkara was one of 50 musical acts to audition for New York City's Music Underground program. Every year, the subway system gives 20 performers coveted spots throughout its network of stations.
When voting ended this morning at 6 o'clock, we'd had 6141 ballots cast. I'll drop a screenshot of the results after the jump.
Now we're off to find Tounkara so we can have him in to play for the BPP.
Continue reading "On the Victory Train: Balla Tounkara" »
-- Laura Conaway
7:03 AM ET
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05-12-2008
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