Because you have not heard enough about Will Smith, Chris Rock, and the Oscars, I lead with that subject in my Impromptus today. I also discuss Raif Badawi, the Saudi former political prisoner (what a relief to say “former”), and Madeleine K. Albright, the late secretary of state. (I discuss them separately, I should point out.) There are the usual mixings-in of music, language, photos, etc.

Mail now? Recently, I was discussing Tucson, that funnily spelled town. I published a little mail on the subject. Here now is a note from National Review’s Dominic Pino:

A reader talked to you about the names of Polish towns, with hard-to-fathom pronunciations. I feel this way about names of towns around New York City that East Coast people pronounce with ease: “Ronkonkoma,” “Metuchen,” “Massapequa,” “Chappaqua” . . . But then I remember that I have no problem whatsoever with names in my native Wisconsin: “Oconomowoc,” “Ashwaubenon,” “Manitowoc,” “Mukwonago” . . . It really just comes down to what you’re familiar with.
I had a funny incident when driving with some friends past the town of Random Lake, Wis. I had never thought much of the name, but my out-of-state friends burst out laughing when they saw it on a highway sign. “It’s like it’s just some random lake!” they said. Never thought of that, but it actually is a pretty funny name.

I heard from Andrew Johnson, a.k.a. A.J., an erstwhile colleague of ours. The Subject line of his e-mail read, “NBA player pulls a Kevin Williamson.” Glance at the story:

Following the loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, Jusuf Nurkic of the Portland Trail Blazers confronted a fan, which resulted in Nurkic tossing the fan’s phone into the stands. Subsequently, the NBA has levied a $40,000 fine against Nurkic for the interaction . . .

Whoa, $40K is a lot — though maybe not for an NBA player. When Kevin Williamson was a theater critic in New York, he relieved the woman seating next to him of her cellphone, so as to afford her a better night at the theater. For his account, go here.

A reader writes,

Dear Mr. Nordlinger,
For no good reason last evening I was searching YouTube for an old clip of Charles Trenet singing his cute and funny hit, “Boum.” I happened on this video of the Susie Parr Trio (never heard of Susie Parr, or the trio, before yesterday). Apparently, they are from Kalamazoo, or somewhere close in West Michigan. Anyway, I thought you could use 2½ minutes of joie de vivre about now.

What a thoughtful correspondent. And, yes, Susie Parr is delicious. For the original Trenet — go here.

And thank you to one and all. Again, today’s Impromptus is here.