Art, Dan & More

RIP consummate character actor Art LaFleur, 78, who succumbed to Parkinson’s. Born in Gary, Indiana, he was a businessman working in Chicago when he decided to move to L.A., intending to become a screenwriter. Instead, he gave acting a shot and proved a natural. There are 169 titles under his name at IMDb. He will probably be remembered most for his turn in Fields of Dreams (1989), in which he played Chick Gandil, first baseman, ringleader of the infamous Black Sox scandal. He did receive writing credit, with two others, for one film, Shiloh Falls (2007), a western in which he played a sheriff. Well done, sir.

So you wanna be a coach? The University of Florida has fired Dan Mullen, whose record in nine years at the helm is 34–15, 2–1 in bowl games. He was unable to lift the Gators back to national prominence. Perhaps the school has lost its penchant for recruiting criminals who happen to be good players.

Interesting headline from newsmax.com: “Portland Riots, Kenosha Stays Peaceful After Acquittal.” How predictable has the reaction to the Rittenhouse verdict been? An actor from The Mandalorian says it was murder. I hope firebrand ex-castmate Gina Carano responds to that. One of the Kardashians, silent about the Astroworld tragedy, has commented. Where is the unity promised by Quid Pro Joe?

Business as has become usual in California, headline from foxnews.com: “California Nordstrom ransacked by 80 looters in ski masks with crowbars and weapons: Witness.” Hey, if each took less than a grand’s worth of stuff, it’s okay, as the state’s logic goes.

Nice to see good triumph, headline from FN: “9-year-old Florida girl protects mom from suspected robber with barrage of punches: ‘Right in the face’.” Here she is receiving an award from cops:

It was mostly YA stuff that sold on this beautiful day at the floating book shop. My thanks to the kid with a heart of gold, who bought Small Person with Wings by Ellen Booraem, Duck Dreams: City Boy to Farmer Boy by Elizabeth Segel and Anni Matsick, B.U.G (Big Ugly Guy) by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple, and Winds of Mars by Gerald M. Kilby; and to the mom who treated her daughters to Click Here to Start by Denis Markell, and three other titles; and to the gentleman who purchased a book on Buddhism.

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