Magic Jewball

Yesterday, when I was filming in Columbus Circle, the oddest thing happened. A homeless man who had been standing near me, somewhere in my peripheral vision, watched me frame my shot, wait till a couple of arm-wavey tourists got out of the way, and hit record before deciding to ask me for money. I mean, he literally stepped into my frame to ask me. If you have come to know me over the last few weeks, you already know I have some theories on this. I can’t disappoint you, here they are:

1. Wanted 15 minutes of fame as “Homeless Man #1” in my film. Will later demand union scale and perhaps a share of the profits.
2. Was gauging shininess of camera before deciding exactly how much change to ask for.
3. Sent by record company of band who wrote song that will be used in eventual finished film to demand the money up front.

In any event, I managed to give the “No way, not you, not today” shake of the head while still filming. Let’s hope the image stabilization kicked in!

But while we’re on the topic of homeless people, let me explain. I have my own homeless to support, right in my neighborhood. I can’t be giving to the people in Columbus Circle too! My favorite is the guy who sells the “Street News” newspaper and has this pitch: he looks right at you and says “YOU want to help the homeless!” Well, when you put it that way, I can’t really argue. You have my number. I never take the paper, though. Listen, I’ll give you money but I’m not recycling your rag too.

And now, a few follow-ups.

*Matisyahu.
It turns out that my favorite faux-reggae “artist” played my high school’s dinner dance fundraiser a few weeks ago. His wife is an alumna (a few years younger than me). Yet another reason I am pleased I was in Baltimore that weekend.

*Passover
Continues tonight on through Thursday. So no updates till Friday. I’ll be too busy eating raspberry jell rings and catching up on 5 days of newspapers.

*Meredith Vieira
I guess I misspelled her name. Don’t cry, I corrected it. Blogger.com is magic!

*Pat Kiernan/NY1
It seems I had a visitor from NY1 searching for blogs mentioning my favorite newscaster (How do I know? I looked in the Jewball, you see). Welcome! If you know Pat, please tell him that I have noticed that he also thinks Roger Clark is a doofus. The visible snarkiness is a turn-on, really.

If you are Pat, well, you rock my world, you badass Canadian. Don’t forget me when you start that “In the Blogs” segment. And try to get the parenting report lady into rehab, would you?