From the vaults: Aileen

aileen at the piano, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Got this one professionally scanned for some prints I'm making for Aileen, who's getting married next weekend. FYI, if you ever need to get an old negative scanned at a hi resolution for printing, look around for a photo lab that offers a "drum scan." I've used it on all my re-scans with good results.

Whoa, Nellie

Don Nelson's revenge continues. This has to be the craziest series -- at least the most unexpected -- I can remember. The one thing I don't get, though, is why all the analysts keep piling on Dirk Nowitzki. Yes, he's the probable MVP this year, but everyone knows he's not going to take over a game by putting it on the floor and shooting crazy fade-aways like Kobe or T-Mac -- or, hell, like Baron Davis.

Check out all the missed shots by Dirk's teammates in this sequence when the Mavs went from being in control to on their heels:



On at least three of those bricks Dirk made the right play and set up his teammates for wide open looks. Normally, Stack knocks down those shots. Devean George is just worthless. Later mistakes by Mavs not named Dirk cost them more than anything he did. And at the end of the night, no one seemed to noticed Dirk's gaudy line — 23 and 15, with 4 steals — despite the Warriors keying their entire defense to stopping him. It was far from a perfect game, but that line fits the formula the Mavs used all year. What's different is that all of his formerly reliable role players suddenly seem rattled.

The one other thing that none of the talking heads have looked ahead to is how Golden State, if it pulls this thing off, would match up against either Houston or Utah, two incredibly slow and plodding teams. If the Warriors bring this same energy, shooting, and defense to the next round ... I don't think the Rockets or Jazz have a flying chance. Can you imagine the damage Baron Davis and crew would do to the Rockets guards? Like everything in Houston, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

An open letter

Dear The Couple Sitting on the Couch Four Feet from Me,

The coffee shop is not the place to snuggle and smooch slowly, gently, slurpily and generally disgust me.

Sincerely,
Matthew C. Wright

I could not be happier with this picture

whirling dervishes 3 crop, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

From a performance by the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi. Shot for Austinist.

Makes an exceptional desktop.

My Sunday wasn't nearly so dramatic

dramatic, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Watched basketball, edited photos. If the Spurs hadn't layed so terribly, it would've been a great day.

In Chicago

It's 4 p.m., and Tyrus Thomas just rejected — and I mean swatted — two straight Miami shots, then beat a complaining Antoine Walker down the court for an alley-oop dunk that brought the house down. I'm going to guess that Eddy Curry wouldn't be likely to pull that off. By the way, with New York's pick, Chicago's could land Corey Brewer, who I would draft 3rd if I were a GM. Nice trade, Isiah.

I'm talking about playoffs

Looks like playoff predictions from the untidy masses are all the rage this season. Benavides and I had a pretty long discussion about this at Spider House. I'm not sure the waitress knew what to make of us, sitting there not discussing philosophy.

To the goods.

East
— Detroit over Orlando in 5.
— Cleveland over Washington in 4.
— Toronto over New Jersey in 6.
— Chicago over Miami in 7.

The one thing I've noticed about the majority of East predictions is that people seem to be picking out of habit when it comes to New Jersey and Miami. Toronto, who never plays on national TV, is a big unknown. New Jersey's a playoff regular. That seems to be the extent of analysis most experts are using. There's no consideration of the regular season, when New Jersey stunk.

The same is true of most people picking Miami. The Heat were a shitty champion last year, and they're even worse now. But all anyone wants to talk about is Wade's return, ignoring just how terrible Miami's team is.

Actually, the NJ-Toronto game is on right now. The Raps look tight, the refs have been hosing them — especially those two cheap ones on Bosh in the first half — and I really can't stand New Jersey. Just a really unlikeable team, although I can't put my finger on why exactly. Probably Vince Carter's smarmy ass. The Nets are actually playing way better with him (2-12 FGs) on the bench. Nice contract push, chump. I still think the Raps get it together and win the series. Everything, minus Carter, is going right for New Jersey this game.

West

— Dallas over Golden State in 6.
— Phoenix over L.A. in 5. (I'll give Kobe one game in L.A., but only one.)
— San Antonio over Denver in 5.
— Houston over Utah in 7, although this series is a total toss-up.

Picking the later rounds is damn near impossible. In the West, it's because the top three are so good. In the East, it's because of blanket mediocrity. If I had to choose between my second-round picks, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, or Chicago, you got me.

Besides the Spurs, I'm going to do my best to watch the entire Dallas-Golden State series. I can't wait for the Warriors to take one of the first two in Dallas, then watch the DFW media go into a collective spazz, as they try to out-overreact each other. For now, go Raps!

Passing time

ruby's cig break, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

What can you say?

Being part of the media gives me the creeps during tragedies. True, many people do a lot of good, dogged, necessary work in gathering information people want or need to see. But the siege-like atmosphere after the fact, with continuous live coverage via satellite truck, is excessive, tasteless, and pointless.

But then there are the poets. News agencies gather information and hope for an emotional response. Poets, like Nikki Giovanni above, simply turn words into emotion. It almost goes without saying that the literal meaning doesn't matter as much as striking the right tone, which her short performance seemed to do. If you saw the well-meaning drone of the previous speakers, as I did at work, my meaning would probably be clearer. But I'll stop there since the only thing left to say about the tragedy itself is to offer condolences.

One general thought, though. At some point during the TV coverage, the talking heads started speculating about how yesterday's events should shape gun control policy. The answer is: it shouldn't. Policy regulates society. It is a set of rules put in place to govern large groups of people who are assumed to be rational actors. It is not intended to account for a crazy person, who, almost by definition, is not part of that society. You simply cannot prevent something so patently irrational with a piece of legislation. And in focusing on trying to prevent "the next (insert horrible event here)," it seems inevitable that the focus would fall away from enacting laws that are effective across the greatest swath of society. It just seems obvious that laws should be geared toward people who will take into account the costs, punitive or societal, of their actions, not someone so clearly deranged. (Leslie, feel free to jump in here and correct me if I'm wrong.)

It is, however, a good time to evaluate crisis response plans and the like. For example, as a painful intellectual exercise, consider this link, via Tommy. That's one of the more disgusting examples of how a mind can panic that I've seen.

UPDATE: In comments, Amy asks, "what are your thoughts on NBC's airing of the video?"

I didn't see it, but in general, I think it's appropriate. There's a significant public interest in seeing the video and perhaps understanding the killer better — even if it's only to the extent that people realize he was completely, utterly insane. What matters is what the news agency does after it's adequately satisfied that public interest. It's a blurry line, but there's definitely a point at which coverage goes from informative to exploitative.

Cake Face

cake face, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Found in a search for the word "cake" on my stream, looking for something totally different. Had forgotten I ever took this picture. This one of my grandmother and great aunt is also good.

UPDATE: It occurs to me that I should note, yes, I'm actively trying not to think about what happened in Virginia today.

From the SF MOMA

SFMOMA graffiti, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Er, the bathroom stall that is. They don't let you take actual pictures of 99 percent of the art in the place. For that I had to go to the can.

Seen at the capitol today

what grandpa did this weekend, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

In other old folks news, I also saw Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, the former head of the National Security Agency, at Mi Madre's about an hour before taking this picture. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find out what the one-time keeper of all our nation's secrets preferred, crispy or guisada. He went to sit on the other side of the restaurant. (That's the same guy I interviewed for the Post months ago.) It was probably the highlight of my month.

Classic coffee shop

clementine, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Been spending a lot of time at Clementine lately. It's changed a bit since this shot was taken, though, back in Feb. 2006.

This old thing?

flower stem, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Well, I've only been meaning to edit and post this photo for a year and a half now.

Some sunset

some sunset, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

No particular reason.

Bump and grind in the post

bump and grind in the post, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

The long NBA season is finally winding down, and with it my excuses to post this ol' beaut', which became probably the best mousepad ever to be printed for another friend's birthday. Long had it made specially for Dave a while back. Definitely one of Hancock's finest hours.

Gone to San Antonio

chester's, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Be back fatter.

Hey, check it out, I use collections now

faces of dean, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Find 'em here.