The Miami Open begins this week:
“They come every spring. In a city that values appearance, they are taller, leaner, fitter than the rest of us. They spend their days outdoors. They don’t (for the most part) waste their night clubbing. They show up on time.
“They make a mockery of our much-vaunted diversity.”
- from "The Subtropical Open," from the June 2024 issue of The Miami Native: https://www.miaminativemag.com/articles/the-subtropical-open
My friend Don first came to Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break sometime in the ’60s. Now, living in Boca, his annual tradition is to come to the Elbo Room for a nostalgic beer. I joined him on Friday, and we stood on the second-floor balcony overlooking the traffic and the battalions of young people gathered on the beach
The clientele at the Elbo Room skewed much older. After we finished our beers, we took a stroll up A1A. The bars along the strip were packed exclusively with young men and women, one of whom wore a string bikini with a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. I began to feel very much out of place. But it was an entirely self-generated feeling; no one looked at me as if I didn’t belong because no one looked at me. More than out of place, I was invisible.
A writer friend of mine was recently approached by a blogger pitching him an Oktoberfest story as a guest post on his site. It would talk about the history and cultural significance of the celebration and, so to be suitable for all ages, it would not mention the consumption of beer.
That’s like writing about Wimbledon and not mentioning tennis.
Yesterday I went with my friend Ardy to CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches to watch the Houston Astros play the Washington Nationals. Spring training is the relaxing month (at least for the spectators) of a slow-paced game, so I was surprised by the sight of so many fans already in clothing announcing their affiliations. There were a lot of Astros caps and jerseys, worn by children as well as seniors (we were on the side with their dugout); the boy in front of us sported a jersey bearing Altuve’s name and number, while his father wore a Dodgers cap. I saw a man wearing a Phillies cap with a green P, indicating that his affections extended to the Eagles (and, of course, why wouldn’t they?).
Ardy and I, sitting at the top of Section 101, were about the only people in non-annotated clothing. Though Ardy wore a black cap with an hourglass on it, the logo of the Elderly Brothers – the name he and his brother coined for their recent tour through the South.
Last night I went on BritBox to watch the third episode of “Douglas Is Cancelled” and couldn’t find it anywhere. It was not there under “Continue Watching” – as it was a few nights ago – and it was not there under “Recently Added.” And I thought: Has “Douglas Is Cancelled” been cancelled?
Or, after yesterday’s post, have I been banned from it?
I’ve been looking forward to “Douglas Is Cancelled” (now on BritBox) since reading a glowing review of it in The Spectator last year. For one thing, nobody is killed in it, only cancelled. Plus, it seemed to address, as few shows do today, an important aspect of contemporary life. And to do it, as the review made clear, with great humor.
Watching the first episode, I occasionally laughed out loud. The writing is brilliant. (Husband to wife about their teenage daughter: “It’s like we’ve lost her to a cult.” Wife to husband: “We’ve lost her to a university, which is the same thing only you still have to do their laundry.”) But the characters seemed a little undeveloped, as if their sole purpose was to deliver great lines. The writing got in the way of the drama. I thought of "The White Lotus," where none of the characters utter witty lines but the show is full of understated humor and suspense.
Last night we watched the second episode, which was even more disappointing. The characters seemed to be caricatures, with fewer good lines and lot of exaggerated behavior. It’s still interesting, and better than a lot of things we stream, but not the modern classic I had hoped it would be.