Entries from October 2005 ↓

We knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept.

August Wilson, one of America’s greatest playwrights, died Saturday night in Seattle. The Pittsburgh-born Wilson was diagnosed with liver cancer in May and told he had only months to live. He was 60 years old.

A prolific writer who created memorable characters and colorful, highly descriptive dialogue, he authored a ten-play cycle which chronicled the African-American experience in America during each decade of the 20th Century, using his hometown as the setting. Almost all of them were ultimately produced on Broadway. The plays in the cycle include Jitney, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, King Hedley II, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf, his final production, for which he had been making revisions at the onset of his terminal illness.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has followed his illustrious career from the beginning and has a special section that may serve as the best research on his life anywhere.

Almost all of his plays are available in book form, as are other essays and books on the art of playwrighting he has written.

It may be time to change that expression now that Antonio Tarver has again defeated Roy Jones, Jr.

Tarver retained his IBO light heavyweight title Saturday night in Tampa, Florida with a unanimous 12-round decision over Jones, his second victory over his longtime rival in 16 months.

Tarver won the crown in May 2004 with a stunning second-round knockout of the former world champion in four weight classifications. He nearly dropped him again when he hurt Jones with a right hand in the 11th round, but couldn’t finish him off.

Jones entered hoping to rebound from the knockout losses to Tarver and Glen Johnson that raised questions about whether he was washed up and should retire. Tarver’s right in the 11th sent him reeling into the ropes, and the champion closed in to try to end the fight but appeared to tire.

Jones escaped from the ropes when Tarver swung wildly and missed, and finished the round even though he was blinking his eyes repeatedly, as if he was having difficulty seeing.

The judges scored the fight 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112 in favor of Tarver, who threw 620 punches to Jones’s 320. The champion landed 158, while Jones landed 85 — or about seven per round.

Tarver never felt he received the accolades he deserved after beating Jones in such convincing fashion in the second fight. Many felt he also won the first meeting in November 2003, adding fuel to the boxer’s argument that he wasn’t getting his just due.

I got my computer back Saturday from the repair shop. A new hard drive was installed and ALL MY DATA WAS RETRIEVED!!! I am sooo relieved.

That is only the second hard drive crash I’ve experienced in 15 years of computer ownership, with data retrieved both times, but I know I’ve been dodging a major bullet. So, do as I say, not as I do. Backup, backup, backup!

We’ll be investing in a storage device real soon.