Sooners Bite the Dust

24-14.

Dang.

Looks like I'll have to pay off a bet.

The good news? At least Texas'll stop whining.

Congrats to the 'Gators. They played well and deserved to win.

Oklahoma Makes Another Lileks Appearance

Lileks continues his run of restaurant postcards and this time he's focusing on the interiors. The Glass House on the Will Rogers Turnpike gets another mention and clicking through will get you to a link to Lileks' first shout-out of the place. (It's a McDonald's now.)

Behold its former glory:

A New Hollywood Conservative Blog

In case you haven't heard about it, Big Hollywood is a new conservative blog about, well, Hollywood. It's Andrew Breitbart's attempt to get conservatives more involved in the popular culture. I've become a recent fan of the Editor-in-Chief's old blog, Dirty Harry's Place, and his movie reviews. Check it out. You may not agree with everything there but you'll find it interesting.

Stanley Fish'10 Best American Movies

I can't argue with any of these:

The Best Years of Our Lives

Sunset Blvd

Double Indemnity

Shane

Red River

Raging Bull

Vertigo

Groundhog Day

Meet Me in St. Louis

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Click through to get Fish' comments and defense of his choices. My only quibble? Not enough John Wayne moves!

My list might differ, as would yours, on any given day. But I don't think you could go wrong with any of these.

Blogging Stats

I'm up to 792 visitors now and they're coming from all over. This map gives you a better idea of where they're coming from than if I just listed the places. (Sorry I can't embed the image. Haven't figured out how to post a screen grab just yet.) The European and Asian visitors are a puzzle but the South Florida visitors are well known. (Hi, John!) As well as the Oklahoma City visitors. (Hello to me!)

The most popular entry point? This one. I have no idea why but it seems to bring readers in so I'm glad for it. This was most popular for a while but since Winehouse has been out of the news it's been bumped down to third. Still, why are people looking for Emily Winehouse and not Amy? Beats me.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, whoever your are and wherever your from. I'm grateful for the kindness of your visit.

What if I can’t pay my taxes?

The IRS offers some guidance for when you can't pay your taxes. But I'm not seeing anything new here:

Don’t panic. If you cannot pay the full amount of taxes you owe by the April deadline, you should still file your return by the deadline and pay as much as you can to avoid penalties and interest. You also should contact the IRS to discuss your payment options at 1-800-829-1040. The agency may be able to provide some relief such as a short-term extension to pay, an installment agreement or an offer in compromise. In some cases, the agency may be able to waive penalties. However, the agency is unable to waive interest charges which accrue on unpaid tax bills. For more information, see The Collection Process and Tax Payment Options. The Form 1040 Instructions also provide guidance on filing and paying your taxes

Same as it's always been. If you can't pay then prove it. We'll see how lenient they are and if the message gets to the front line.

Otherwise, I'm more impressed with their tips for choosing a tax professional to prepare your tax return:

Be cautious of tax preparers who claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers.

Avoid preparers who base their fee on a percentage of the refund.

Use a reputable tax professional who signs the tax return and provides a copy.

Consider whether the individual or firm will be around to answer questions about the preparation of the tax return months, or even years, after the return has been filed.

Check the person’s credentials. Only attorneys, certified public accountants (CPAs) and enrolled agents can represent taxpayers before the IRS in all matters, including audits, collection and appeals. Other return preparers may only represent taxpayers for audits of returns they actually prepared.

Find out if the preparer is affiliated with a professional organization that provides its members with continuing education and resources and holds them to a code of ethics.

Ask friends and family whether they know anyone who has used the tax professional and whether they were satisfied with the service they received.

Our firm meets those criteria, and more!

Cuba allows access to Hemingway papers

Great news for rabid Hemingway fans like me:

Cuba on Monday began accepting requests for electronic access to more than 3,000 documents from Ernest Hemingway's home on the island, including the unpublished epilogue of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and coded messages the author sent when using his yacht to hunt for German submarines during World War II.

Unedited manuscripts, a screenplay for the "The Old Man and the Sea," letters to the Nobel Laureate and insurance policies are among other papers at Finca Vigia, the hillside hideaway on the eastern outskirts of Havana where Hemingway lived from 1939 until 1960.

The 3,197 documents were scanned and organized electronically as part of a 2002 agreement between Cuban national heritage authorities and the New York-based Social Science Research Council, which also provided acid-free boxes and other storage materials to better protect the originals, said Ada Rosa Alfonso, director of the museum at Finca Vigia.

A quibble: you'd think that a company like Google would step in and help make the papers accessible online.

I'm not sure there'd be anything new here - the Hemingway trove has pretty much been mined - but it's good news the papers are being made available.

Blogging With Firefox

I'm trying out the ScribFire add-on through Firefox. Let's see how it looks.

Update - Looks just fine. Let's give it a whirl.

Sunset

If I'm going to post photographs, I'm going to have to post photographs of sunsets, aren't I? Yes! And blurry ones, too:

Clara and I were speeding home on the highway, which accounts for the blur. But it was beautiful and I had my phone camera and so, well, why not?

I'm going to have to start carrying around a camera like Rick Lee if I'm going to keep doing this.

Sorry For The Light Posting

What with the holidays and all. Some sort of normal routine to resume shortly. I hope.