I Saw It In The Times

Brandon Blackwell -- from Queens -- Aces British Quiz Shows

The backdrop looked familiar -- the Jamaica Ave., Elevated train -- The El.
It was the hub when I was a kid. 
In Sunday's NYT, there is a story about Brandon Blackwell, who broke into the British quiz shows, representing not Oxford, not Cambridge, but London's Imperial College. Great article by David Segal. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/business/uk-university-challenge-brandon-blackwell.html
I hope you can access the article.
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Great stuff in the NYT in recent days.
Wesley Morris wrote a literate and knowing article about the last show of "Curb Your Enthusiasm,"  12 years of aggression and bruised feelings.
I will admit, I never watched the show -- mainly because I had the feeling, "Wait, I know those people." I'm from New York, I know people in LA, I've had dealings with people in movies and journalism and just-plain-life. 
The only series I watched, obsessively, in the recent third of my life was "The Sopranos." I plotted my whole week around a TV set that carried it -- finding a motel on a reclaimed coal strip mine in Eastern Kentucky. I totally understand "Curb" fanatics.
Wesley Morris, one of the best writers at the NYT, explains why Larry David annoyed and entertained people with his intrusive stands with friends and strangers. 
I hope you can access this masterpiece.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/magazine/larry-david-curb-your-enthusiasm.html
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Finally, has anybody noticed the reappearances of stars from the NYT sports section before it was disappeared in favor of stuff from a sports website?
The stars have found places in the diaspora of former sports bylines, and  have been encouraged to write  wise and literate articles about sports, the kind readers used to expect: 

My Queens pal, Andrew Keh, has a piece in Sunday about soccer fans who congregate to a Brooklyn bar whenever their favorite team -- from Denmark -- is playing.
​https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/nyregion/akademisk-boldklub-new-york-owners.html

Billy Witz was assigned to write about the Caitlin Clark phenomenon at Iowa, 
​https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/us/march-madness-women-iowa-lsu.html

And Talya Minsberg, a versatile editor and byline in the lamented Sports section, now writes for the Well section -- so naturally she explained the physical and mental training that brought Clark and Iowa to the NCAA finals.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/well/live/caitlin-clark-iowa-training.html

​As we used to say when I was a reporter on the National staff half a century ago, I detect a trend.

May I quote Bruce Springsteen in his epic "Atlantic City:"​
Everything dies, baby, that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies some day comes back













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