A beautiful building, coming and going

The reaction to my lunchtime walk iPhone 4 photo tour through downtown Syracuse last week convinced me that you folks like a taste of what these blocks hold. This is the University Building, as in, built back in the early 1900s by Syracuse University. Now its 10 floors are used by numerous companies. Including the…

‘Sex Tape’ becomes an early candidate for stinker of the year

I never thought I’d go to a movie with the title “Sex Tape” and think it was totally unsexy. I never thought I’d see the day when Jason Segal would write the screenplay for a movie that would have him star beside Cameron Diaz and come up with a script that delivers zero chemistry between…

Welcome to Woofstock, a day of peaceful barking, loving face-licking and musical tail-wagging

Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle survived the Woofstock Festival Saturday afternoon. She mingled with mutts, listened to music, let two women wearing veterinarian scrubs scratch her head, ate only half a cup of ice cream and never had to roll through a mud puddle. The dog days of late July were pretty good in this…

This time Good Neighbor Tim’s got the butterfly

By mid-July, I’d hoped to be able to proudly show you the purple blossoms on my most mature of butterfly bushes in the backyard garden of my dear wife Karen and I at our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Yes, I can, but not in the striking manner in years past. Here’s…

An electrifying round at Rogues Roost

Of course I had to get one more weekday round of golf in before the new job started. It came at a pretty course in Madison County by the name of Rogues Roost East. It’s built around towers that carry power lines that cross a handful of holes. On several greens, in fact, when you…

Universal wants their monsters to match

The folks at Universal know they have a lot of cha-ching in their monster movie closet. So they’re making a move they hope will make the most of it. Put on the job are the folks who’ve already tuned some cash register music with “Transformers” and “Fast and Furious.” First up with by “The Mummy,”…

Dinner with Daryl at Captain John’s

A week ago, my dear wife Karen and I took that short drive east for another exciting chapter of our Dinner with Daryl series. Not that barbecue in the backyard I’ve been rooting for since my wonderful stepson moved into his nice new house this winter. He’s yet to get a grill, and I know…

A good time on the rolling hills

My posts Saturday and Sunday about the M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest concentrated on the music. Big time, big fun for the 32nd edition of the free-admission event. For my weekly community blog for Syracuse public media site waer.org, I commented about how the return this summer to the rolling hills of Onondaga Community College brought…

3 fountains and a lunch from home in 60 minutes

So how much can you accomplish in a 60-minute lunch break in downtown Syracuse? You can sit on a bench and eat the lunch you packed, a ham-and-cheese sandwich and a baggie of baby carrots chased with a can of Arnold Palmer Zero, and thrill at how chilled your brand new Igloo lunch bag kept…

I was rooting for Dan to help make magic with Gretta’s songs

When Gretta, Dan, Violet and the rest of the band were really cranking on Gretta’s song up there on a New York City roof in the middle of the movie “Begin Again,” I knew I loved this film. I neighbor opened up a window and shouted at them to shut that loud music up. Three…