What are you waiting for? The Ringling Brothers Circus is in town, and the best seats in the house (not the most expensive ones, but the best) are a big $24 apiece.
We just got back from the Friday matinee, and there was nobody there. It's a very mellow scene. They've Disney-fied it a bit. They're bending over backward to assure you that they're being good to the animal performers. They don't even call themselves a "circus" much. And they even throw a few bones (if you'll pardon the expression) at trying to make it somewhat educational.
Plus, it's great to be in the Rose Garden without that creepy Blazer feel all over the place. All in all, a great deal.
Your PC neighbors can stay home and watch their soybeans sprout.
Hmmm..is that my only choice...the circus or the soybean? If I go to the circus I'm not PC and if I grow soybeans and actually watch them grow I am PC. Life can be so simple sometimes.
My wife and I took our twin boys to the circus today. It was their first time and we all had a great time. The hyperkinetic atmosphere is the perfect entertainment for a couple of 12 year old boys just as it has always been for over 200 years and for that reason alone I think we should preserve it. There is a certain antique cornball charm to it that I would hate to see vanish from the Earth but I could tell from the thin audience that it seems to be a dieing tradition. There were even fewer people w/ megaphones and signs protesting the circus and of course practicing another antique cornball tradition called free speech. All in all a good day.
Ringling is a constant target for animal rights activists for good reason. Their (Feld's) lawyers just got sanctioned $51,305 for misconduct and interference in PETA's lawsuit against Kenneth Feld (chair/CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling and Barnum&Bailey).
PETA's has a website detailing their side of the circus argument at www.circuses.com. There are videos showing what Ringling really does, as well as a Fact Sheet detailing USDA actions under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and other Ringling actions.
Not that anyone's still reading this, but an update from a L&C law grad...
"i just went to the bossest hearing on a motion to compel discovery. plaintiff: some usual coalition of animal groups, i think peta is headlining. defendant: ringling bros/feld entertainment. main problem: ringling not providing requested discovery or a privilege log. best example: ringling provided "medical history summaries" but not the actual files for the elephants, as was requested. "but we didn't know the files existed" said the attorney for ringling. "we just found them in one of our vet's home office." the argument fell flat because it was revealed by plaintiff's counsel that the vet was the head vet for the circus elephants, and the circus obviously knew to query him and get his records. also brought into court and determined by the judge to be "misleading, at the very best" was an advertisement for the circus proclaiming their commitment to elephant conservation and featuring baby elephants, 3 of whom are now dead (hence the misleading nature of the ad). also, the judge said "crap." more than once. and said that if he found out that the circus had purposely withheld nonprivileged information, he would give new meaning to monetary santions. and threatened to incarcerate the ceo of the circus for the same reason."
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (12)
Soybeans!! Is that what the grow-light is for?
Posted by Al | September 9, 2005 8:38 PM
Oh yeah, and a full, live orchestra, no less.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 9, 2005 9:00 PM
Hmmm..is that my only choice...the circus or the soybean? If I go to the circus I'm not PC and if I grow soybeans and actually watch them grow I am PC. Life can be so simple sometimes.
Posted by jack danger | September 9, 2005 10:00 PM
See that? And here you thought it was mysterious.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 9, 2005 10:03 PM
If you haven't already, check out a hockey game in the Rose Garden. The place looks great, the sport is awesome and it's a lot of fun.
Unless you go to a seattle game, those can be hella bloody and stoopid.
Posted by Mark Maxcy | September 10, 2005 10:06 AM
Yes, do go to a hockey game instead. It tends to kill fewer elephants.
Posted by Chris | September 10, 2005 11:43 AM
Huh?
Posted by RAH | September 10, 2005 4:14 PM
Um er... I think you're in the wrong thread.
Posted by RAH | September 11, 2005 4:44 PM
My wife and I took our twin boys to the circus today. It was their first time and we all had a great time. The hyperkinetic atmosphere is the perfect entertainment for a couple of 12 year old boys just as it has always been for over 200 years and for that reason alone I think we should preserve it. There is a certain antique cornball charm to it that I would hate to see vanish from the Earth but I could tell from the thin audience that it seems to be a dieing tradition. There were even fewer people w/ megaphones and signs protesting the circus and of course practicing another antique cornball tradition called free speech. All in all a good day.
Posted by Tom | September 11, 2005 8:09 PM
Ringling is a constant target for animal rights activists for good reason. Their (Feld's) lawyers just got sanctioned $51,305 for misconduct and interference in PETA's lawsuit against Kenneth Feld (chair/CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling and Barnum&Bailey).
PETA's has a website detailing their side of the circus argument at www.circuses.com. There are videos showing what Ringling really does, as well as a Fact Sheet detailing USDA actions under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and other Ringling actions.
Posted by Chris Coyle | September 12, 2005 11:45 AM
I believe that Ringling actually hired someone to go under cover at PETA and try to influence/reveal legal strategy.
Plus, those baby elephants they put in their print ads? Dead.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--circusspylawsuit0831aug31,0,6015865.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia
http://www.ktvu.com/video/3711771/detail.html#
Posted by Chris Len | September 12, 2005 4:40 PM
Not that anyone's still reading this, but an update from a L&C law grad...
"i just went to the bossest hearing on a motion to compel discovery. plaintiff: some usual coalition of animal groups, i think peta is headlining. defendant: ringling bros/feld entertainment. main problem: ringling not providing requested discovery or a privilege log. best example: ringling provided "medical history summaries" but not the actual files for the elephants, as was requested. "but we didn't know the files existed" said the attorney for ringling. "we just found them in one of our vet's home office." the argument fell flat because it was revealed by plaintiff's counsel that the vet was the head vet for the circus elephants, and the circus obviously knew to query him and get his records. also brought into court and determined by the judge to be "misleading, at the very best" was an advertisement for the circus proclaiming their commitment to elephant conservation and featuring baby elephants, 3 of whom are now dead (hence the misleading nature of the ad). also, the judge said "crap." more than once. and said that if he found out that the circus had purposely withheld nonprivileged information, he would give new meaning to monetary santions. and threatened to incarcerate the ceo of the circus for the same reason."
Posted by Chris Len | September 16, 2005 2:53 PM