Something Rich and Strange

I regret to report that my neighborhood has taken a sudden downward turn with the news that our new neighbor, a block and a half away, is... Madonna. According to the New York Post, Ms. Ciccone has bought a big townhouse on East 81st Street between Lexington and Third Avenues.

I think I'll go round and -- while welcoming her to the neighborhood, of course -- ask her if she wouldn't mind keeping the music down.

And more songstress news! This time, Britney Spears: apparently she got a new tattoo, of the Japanese word or character for 'mysterious.' But she was bummed to discover afterwards that the tattoo more broadly can be translated as just plain 'strange.'

And now, in Pirate news: after the events in the Persian Gulf involving the U.S. Navy (score: one), and Somalian pirates (nil), the Washington Post published a slightly cautionary report with this line:

"The killing of the three pirates by the U.S. military could worsen the problem, military officials said. Statements made Monday by people who identified themselves as pirates seemed to bolster that view."

'People who identified themselves as pirates...'

I'm imagining a gravelly voice at the other end of the telephone line: "Aaaarrr! Yes, yes, that be true. I be a pirate. Shiver me timbers, I been sailin' the seven seas since... ah, since my Master of Fine Arts at Yale didn't automatically lead me toward a writing career..."