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February 26, 2007 - It was a very lesbionic Oscars. Also enjoyed by non-lesbians. Oscar™ and Les, Daniel and Rebecca, cohost Dan.
Earlier yesterday, I took a walk in the snow. This is Cardozo High, at 13th and Clifton. 
Check out these dudes on the bus.
That's all for now. February 25, 2007 - Snowing!
What's Italian For Ouch? Male Designers Pull Out a Trunkful Of Misogyny in Milan, wapost. "One has to ask this uncomfortable question: Do these designers actually like women? Or more specifically, do they respect them?" As Underblog says, "Suze Orman, proof that not all lesbians are sane." She's So Money, nytimes. From Marz, Computing award goes to female for first time, CNN. And now, an Allegedly True Story, from Marlz:
February 23, 2007 - Chester Appreciation Day.
Someday, if you've led a very blameless life, such as I have, you might receive in the mail a lovely batch of photos by your old girlfriend's new girlfriend, of "your" cat Chester. The girlfriend was Marci, and she and I found Chester in Chester, MT (pop. 875), in June of 1994 [ARTIFACT]. Chester, MT sits on "the High Line," Route 2, the northernmost East-West route in the U.S. That is real big sky country up there, and it is very beautiful, like Chester the cat, not so much like Chester the town.
Chester was the tiny runt in a litter of seven identical black and white tuxedos, all of whom were living outside a motel, and subsisting on milk put out by some young girls who appeared to live there. Upon seeing a kitten with a lame leg and weepy eyes who looked near to death, we naturally took her in, and she immediately began trying to eat everything in her range: popcorn kernels, dog tags, aluminum foil, and all of my french fries. When we brought her home to Olympia our friends suspected she was a) not long for this world, and b) retarded. However, Chester is alive and well, and is very smart. She can read, for example.
Please visit my room for many, many more pictures of Chester. And now, a forward from Suze. I definitely remember answering some math questions like this. Math Exam Answers Someone Has Collected |
2 Homos Plug: habitat for huge manateesHABITAT, we live this shit with DJ Dean and junebullet THIS SAT FEB 17 DJ Dean junebullet |
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Today on Heck's Kitchen....Friends' secret blogs REVEALED!
Dan's Blog and Jessica's blog, Marksbury. Make sure Before you die you see the dated satire.
And from Bob, via Ketil:
Ok, guys
This one is deeply tragic but also extremely funny. The guy on this clip
had his testicles involuntarily removed after of a major fuck up at a Dutch hospital. He and his wife then go on a Dutch talkshow to talk about the problems this have caused them. The audience is silent and serious but the talkshow host runs into serious problem when the castrated guy starts talking.
You really don't have to understand Dutch to get the problem.
Ketil
And from YoBimbo, Davey
& Son of Goliath
HI! Welcome to Day Two of my attempted trip home, more romantically known as Valentines Day. I'm sleep-deprived, in need of a toothbrush, and hoping to get out of Charlotte soon. I've been here 18 hours now, and I've seen the sights. From the airport bars that still allow smoking, to the little rocking chairs that I suppose are meant to invoke something Southern and hospitable, as opposed to airport reality, which is a cold, hard bed of indoor/outdoor carpet. Still, it's better here than in Denver, where United employs approximately one airline representative per 500 irate customers. If this next flight is cancelled (the fifth I've been booked on), I'm off to forage for a Bloody Mary.
February 12, 2007 - Days 0–3. Click banner for pictures.
February 9, 2007
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, XOCHITL! COACHITL! SHELLINGTON!
RIP Anna Nicole...
I'm with my dad and company in Crested Butte, Colorado. Our flights from Denver to Gunnison were cancelled, so everything got way delayed. I still haven't heard from my luggage. More beer now, more update later.
Skifence.
Gunnison Airport, Jules, airplane, without my luggage. Dad in rental
Subaru, unskiied upon mountains behind.
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I'm up in the loft with the twin beds. There is a slight East-West incline,
said the princess and the pea.
View south down our street. And a long red building in the alley. Fascinating, no?
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February 6, 2007 - Click for interview.
Subject: how girlfriends play videogames
From: SLyon
excerpt from a Slate article on the Superbowl ads:
"In an animated ad that at first looks to be footage from a Grand Theft Auto-style video game, a car swerves through a dicey-looking neighborhood and squeals to a stop. Out steps a badass dude in a leather jacket. He appears poised to rob a convenience store—but instead happily pays for his bottle of Coca-Cola. He then extinguishes a trash can fire, donates money to a homeless man, and helps an old lady in distress. The background song exhorts us to "give a little love," and the tag line reads: "The Coke side of life." I liked this ad a lot. It's clever, funny, and squarely in Coke's branding sweet spot: hip positivity. (Also, this is how my girlfriend actually plays Grand Theft Auto. Instead of shooting cops and beating up prostitutes, she just drives around and listens to the car's radio stations.)"
Best halftime show ever. Flickr photos by spcoon.
L. John Wertheim on Serena Williams, SI.
For all the cracks about her physique, Williams never fatigued, even when playing three-setters in sweltering heat. Nor was her movement lacking. "I'm definitely in better shape than I'm given credit for," she asserted. "[It's] just because I have large bosoms and a big ass...I was just in the locker room staring at my body, and I'm like, 'Am I really not fit?' I think if I were to not eat for two years, I still wouldn't be a size two. We're living in the Mary-Kate Olsen world. I'm just not built that way. I'm bootylicious, and that's how it's always going to be."
Bosoms, c/o SLyon.
Front page: Two Post reporters manage to write this entire story without mentioning the big lesbian elephant in the room. So don your read-between-the-lines gaydar specs, and see Bodies of Two Girls Discovered. Over in Style, a pretty lame piece about how sports gambling is a Guy Thing, but it does tell you the basics, in case you're interested: All Bets Are On: When It Comes to Super Bowl Wagers, Guys Know the Score. But bad news in the Business section, Crashing the Party: As Super Bowl Looms, FBI Eyes Online Wagering. Thanks again, Republicans.
February 2, 2007 - "This is 'Boulevard du Temple,' the first ever photograph of a person. The photo was taken by Louis Daguerre in late 1838 or early 1839. It is of a busy street, but because exposure time was over ten minutes, the city traffic was moving too much to appear. The exception is a man in the bottom left corner, who stood still getting his boots polished long enough to show."
Tune in Sunday for Superbowl Blogging (subject to sobriety) and Monday for an exciting interview (for sure).
February 1, 2007 - Deer Bomb: Edward sends this grisly missive from work. "At least 5 deer," says Ed. "Looked like they had exploded. Probably a sloppy hunter."
My evening began with a book reading about transgendered teenagers, and ended with a midnight snack.
Ingredients:
One can Nacho Cheese Twistaroni, by Chef Boyardee (Boiardi to family)
One package Boca fake ground beef
Crushed red pepper
Remove greasy dust grime from top of can. Open, pour contents into saucepan. Add liberal amount of crushed red pepper (for color and heat). Add veggie beef product. Make hot, eat in pan. Serves 1.
Queer kids and Italian cuisine bookended a marvelous evening at The Wonderland Ballroom, where my party was neither robbed nor stabbed. We were there for the occasion of The Balkanics, who feature my excellent codebotting partner Tzvety, her husband Bryndyn, and some other guys I don't know. You can tell they are great, because they made me dance (evidence here). I recommend you go see them, every last Wednesday of the month, at Wonderland.
January 31, 2007
I didn't win Debcentral's 30
& Nerdy contest (though I might have, had I broken out the Mullet
series). But I'd like to share a few things about this photo:
More after lunch.
January 29, 2007 - Anisha's in Thailand. "Night markets - they're all the rage in Chiang Mai."
Mailbag:
Tomorrow night at Politics & Prose, author Chris Beam, who chronicled her friendship with a transitioning LA teenager in Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T With Transgender Teenagers. From Washington City Paper, "Beam set off on a winding road, recording all of the failures and successes—Christina’s and her own—that accompanied their difficult relationship. In an oddly touching moment, Beam recalls Christina and her friends preparing for a night out clubbing, filling condoms with water to stuff into their bras. '[They] would soon transform into slinky nightclub women…but at that sink they looked like children at an open hydrant,'" esg.
Anisha is in Thailand. Thailand, according to this map, is a delicious and strangely shaped mass of land, conveniently located near all the best food [big map]. Burma, unfortunately, is a difficult place to visit and a human rights nightmare, but the rewards for going may include performing cats. If the junta keeps you out of Burma, I highly recommend you check out Mandalay in Silver Spring. Anisha reports from within an inversion: "I'm in the northern city of Chiang Mai; it's in a valley so all the pollution is trapped and hovers over the city like a halo symbolizing the primitiveness of modernity, but except for that, it's amazing. More to come soon..."
January
29, 2007 - RIP
Barbaro.
A few friends of mine attend the The University
of the District of Columbia. Why? Because it's there. "UDC is
the only public institution of higher education in the District of Columbia.
Chartered in 1974 from three other institutions of higher learning, this
Historically Black College/University maintains an open admissions policy,
and is the only urban land-grant institution in the nation." Go Firebirds!
udc is all about people blurting out the strangest things, apparent to them as relevant to the class discussion. in contemporary rhetoric:
during a discussion of why we're taking this class, "I'm here to learn more about the phenomenon of ESP. I believe I have psychic powers and I want to explore that."
during a discussion of the philosophical origins of ancient religions, "Is that why they always say to get yourself a Jewish lawyer?"
in world lit.:
during a discussion of comarative lit vs. cultural studies, "Feminists are ruining the study of Negro spirituals. They want to gender-neutralize everything."
There are others, but they require far-too much contextualization for a quick email. Also, never try to find a working toilet or plain bottled water at UDC. And what's up with the school mascot costume? our beloved Firebird is clearly a chicken costume, bought on extended lay-away. last night, a car jumped the curb and was driving around the pedestrian walkway/quad. sadly, no hackey-sackers were injured in this transaction. it's a different world, as denise huxtable would say, from where my undergrad experience came from.
January 28, 2007
- I read the Washington Post, because I don't live in New York.
Hello, sportsfans. Tonight your Maryland Terrapins take on UNC's Tarheels
and, what's that? You don't care? Oh. Well, check out this touching tale
of an NFL player who condescends to care about womens' games. In
the Tank for the Terps: Raiders Star Jordan Is No. 1 Fan of U-Md. Women's
Basketball. Take that, haters. I know, the Oakland Raiders are barely
an NFL team. But they were once important, back in 1989 when they made
Art Shell the league's first black head coach. Also in the Post, A
Sideline to History, by Art Shell.
Not
that you asked (though a blog without unsolicited opinions would be an
empty space), but one of my favorite popular science books is Shadows
of Forgotten Ancestors, by Carl Sagan and his wife, Ann Druyan. Now
Druyan has collected Sagan's lectures into a new book,THE
VARIETIES OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE: A Personal View of the Search for
God. From the Post's review, "Sagan is not harsh in his critiques
of religious thought; he is more perplexed by theology's narrow and unimaginative
vision...Sagan took his own spirituality seriously -- indeed, he defined
science as 'informed worship.' The closest he comes to articulating
his own view of God is to describe admiringly the philosophies of Spinoza
and Einstein, who basically considered God the sum total of all the laws
of physics."
Bongz says "demonic cat from ghana. coming soon to a multiplex near you. fecking sweet." Ghanian Film Posters. This Dazed Digital has some other cool stuff, too, like The People's Republic of Propaganda: Art in North Korea. And speaking of England, thank Mr. Random for this Panda salad.
When one asks oneself, "Should my website be Flash?" the answer should always be no. Unless you are whoever made Arcade Fire's site. And you can hear a song from their new album here. Credit: Ed.
Underblog says, "Is this what you were looking for?"
Brian says:
January 26, 2007 - (Part of) Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez, from Wiki.
me: yours is now one of only three phone numbers in the world
i know
only because i knew them before i had a cellphone
so weird, how many numbers we all used to have memorized
bob: this is why socrates hated the new technology of writing:
it destroys memory
me: i love it
that's perfect. how true.
bob: of course, this is related to us in plato's texts.
i love THAT more
me: what
bob: the built-in irony
me: oh, that
I can still tell you the phone number of my first boyfriend: 291-6332. I remember, when I first found his number, how it seemed like a acquiring a secret magic power. And I remember singing the number in my head, because memorizing it was like owning it which was like having a piece of the boy. So strange to me how all that is gone, like knowing the handwriting of your friends.
This has been the old lady report.
Sporting: Tonight at 9:30 on ESPN2: the super final matchup of the Australian Open, pitting one 81st-ranked Serena Williams, whose competitive will is nearly as massive as her butt, versus I Feel Pretty Maria Sharapova, the only other player with an equal hatred of losing. To be followed by....the U.S. Figure Skating Championships! If you'd like to join me, please find me on the couch.
Porning: In looking for a funny photo of Sharapova to post I just accidentally stumbled across what appeared to be a K-Fed/Britney blowjob video, already playing in the browser. Oy, shudder. I hope that never happens to my grandma.
By the way, here is the email I got this morning from Councilman Jim Graham, who proposed the stupid legislation to ban minors from clubs, with an unrelated illustration by James:
Thanks for your message. On Thursday (1-25-07), we held a seven hour roundtable on these issues.
We will be continuing our inquiry into the specific events of the night of the killing of Ms Ford, especially as they relate to the MPD and the alcohol regulatory agency. There are at present important, unanswered questions in that regard.
We are also now considering various ideas for inclusion in legislation. We need to establish (not strengthen, as none now exist!) rules on security, training, process for identifying underage persons, and other matters to govern nightclubs that admit minors for bands and other entertainment.
We will probably recommend a regulatory category, into which such all ages venues may choose to transfer.
In point of fact, all but a handful of DC nightclubs presently exclude minors as a matter of business policy. But it is possible—as demonstrated by the 1919 Club—for a nightclub under current law to simply begin offering teen parties. And there are few if any regulations pertaining to such parties.
We will also be considering establishing an age, below which no minor unless accompanied by apparent or guardian may be admitted. AT present there is no such age limit.
I am also concerned about the absence of law pertaining to a licensee’s ability to lease or rent the premises. We need standards and guidelines for that as well.
We can do all of this in a way where responsible music experiences will still be available, but with regulation….which, at present, does not exist.
We will have more developments soon. Thank you for your interest.
By the way, this form response is necessary due to the large number of emails and other messages I have received.
Bests, Councilmember Jim Graham
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January 25, 2007
The house is very still this morning, and outside it's quiet, too. Some
days it seems like everyone is home, and for a few weeks there were roofers
making noise across the alley, so the quiet is unusual. I was just listening
to the bunny drinking from his water bottle, and thinking about how many
people have told me they wouldn't like to work from home, and thinking
again that those people are crazy. My desk is at my window, which faces
out over the yard and alley and the cats who live there, and this morning
the big, fluffy, orange bully Bad Peanut Butter Sr. has been chasing off
Little Peanut Butter and The Grey One. I'm in my new Montana State sweatshirt
and my slippers, I've got my coffee, and I've just turned on the classical-once-more
WETA. Speaking of...
A bunch of whiners are whining about WETA switching back from news to the classical format it abandoned less than two years ago. You know, because you can't turn a dial in this town without having to listen to a bunch of talking heads, while there wasn't a single solitary classical station (with any sort of signal) before.
Nancy Pelosi's daughter Alexandra has made a documentary about the evangelical nutjob movement. Soldiers of the Cross, Tom Shales, wapost. And here's one sent by Marlz, Ted Haggard Says Evangelicals Have the 'Best Sex Life'. You remember Haggard, right? "Haggard resigned from the church in 2006, after a scandal linked him to drugs and a male prostitute. Haggard served as Pelosi's tour guide through the evangelical community. In the film, he proclaims that evangelicals have the best sex lives in the world." Ha ha. Barf.
Back to work. Here's our own All Star Alex Ovechkin in his Arlington basement, playing The Godfather. DC Sports Bog.
January 24, 2007 - Who are those douchebags watching the game from the club? Hey, it's us! Note the score.
In addition to the sports page, carryout menus, shampoo bottles, ingredient
lists, US Weekly, cat food cans and coasters, I also will occasionally
read a book. Here are a few I have read all or parts of in the past month
or so, poorly photographed more or less where they are in my room right
now.
 Perfect
Vegetablesby the editors of Cook's Illustrated Gift from: Santa Mom From Amazon: "Perfect Vegetables is the work of Cook's Illustrated magazine, a publication devoted to providing the 'best' American recipes. Like the magazine, from which its contents is largely drawn, the book offers super-tested recipes--as many as 18 tries for stuffed tomatoes, for example--for an A to Z vegetable range, artichokes to zucchini. The book also includes dozens of technique and equipment notes ('Stir-Fry Basics,' is one), plus a short section on vegetable soups. Vegetable entries begin with a detailed discussion that highlights the cooking methods for each that ensure best results. (Steaming, for example, gets the nod for artichokes, as it yields the 'deepest, most pronounced flavor.') Master recipes follow, such as that for steamed artichokes, plus formulas for tasty accompaniments. Techniques are beautifully illustrated with line drawings and photos." |
 Art
Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969by Dan Nadel Gift from: Xo An extremely cool collection of comics you've definitely never seen before. Like, "White Boy." And "Somebody's Stenographer." And "The Explorigator." Some of this art is REALLY wild, and most of the stuff this guy's collected are just scans of strips cut out of old newspaper. Which reminds me of a coffee table book I once had in mind to do... From Publishers Weekly: "Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969, by Dan Nadel. From Publishers Weekly, "There are lots of anthologies of the work of the past century's famous cartoonists, but Nadel has done a real service in putting together this collection of 29 marvelous nearly unknown comic strip and comic book artists. Many are reprinted from yellowing newsprint—in a few cases, like Walter Quermann's late-'30s newspaper strip Hickory Hollow Folks, from the only copies of their work still extant...Contemporary cartoonists—and their fans—have a lot to learn from the freewheeling, witty, try-anything-twice artistic attitude of the pieces Nadel's assembled." |
| A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America
on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson Gift from: Mom, I think. Or maybe
sister Mandy
From Amazon: "In A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson tackles what is, for him, an entirely new subject: the American wilderness. Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. If nothing else, A Walk in the Woods is proof positive that the journey is the destination. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Whether you plan to make a trip like this one yourself one day or only care to read about it, A Walk in the Woods is a great way to spend an afternoon." |
| Independence Day by B.A. Ecker Gift
from: esg
So, a hilariously terrible book, but the intended audience was this kid (although I have a suspicion this "customer review" is a plant). Great, March 15, 2002 |
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January 23, 2007
Now at DebCentral: 30
& Nerdy Contestants. Cast your vote. And check out Sherman's
timeline of nerdy.
Deb says, "Okay. So Brian and I have been playing this dumb guy's dumb movie trivia game for some time. He shows a screenshot, and you have to guess the film from which it comes. This latest round is all about musicals. So here it is: Like Anna Karina's Sweater. The alt clue is 'No final reel deus ex machina.' I have no clue. My friend Sam thought it might be Xanadu. I saw that film only once, and it was probably in 1984. Any thoughts?"
Bob says, "let THIS be my everyone's from somewhere entry. put together by lusher in his bathroom over a series of days during the xxxmas holiday. you'll forgive him if, at the end of the piece, he gets a bit heady."
Re: The superiority of Columbus Pizza/the inferiority of Brooklyn.
Chat with constance
constance: !!!!!
http://cmhgourmand.wordpress.com/2006/09/09/triangles-and-squares-columbus-pizza/
!!!!
me: omg
psh!!! snotty brooklyn comment
constance: i know. that was also a stupid brooklyn comment b/c brooklyn pizza is so messy
a little sauce on your brooklyn fingertips is not the same as folding your pizza and dropping sauce on your shoes
Can you tell I'm going back through all my flagged email right now?
Re: if the universe has any kind of guiding force, it's got to be perverse irony.
From Bob, "you will note that the first DC-reader entry in the post's holiday movie chat w movie editor jen chaney sounds a lot like someone you've been familiar with for many a xxxmas, my dear fake wife. also, the reader suggestion for the thin man series as great for holiday viewing that chaney mentions was quite astute, i thought. Holiday Movies Q&A with Jen Chaney, wapost.
"it's funny that i get posted to this discussion about holiday movies, a genre for which i've long held great disdain, and i couldn't get the hottt film critic whose name i can't remember to respond to my questions/concerns about horror movies at halloween, a genre to which i've dedicated most of my life. but it's the time of year to acknowledge that if the universe has any kind of guiding force, it's got to be perverse irony. merry."
Aww...Bob and Caryn, with Sen Byrd. "Robert Carlyle Byrd (born November 20, 1917) is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia and a member of the Democratic Party. Byrd has held the office since January 3, 1959, making him the longest-serving member of the Senate in history. He is also currently the longest-serving and oldest member of the United States Congress."
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January 22, 2007
Let's read the newspaper. A teenager is fatally shot at a nightclub, so
naturally the answer is to ban
minors from anywhere alcohol is served. Beware, Black Cat, 9:30
Club, and all venues which go out on a limb to give the jailbait something
to do.
Film: The notion that Earth-created humans should or could populate an extraterrestrial environment is supremely irritating to me, so it's nice that the handful of guys who have actually walked on non-Earth earth seem to feel the same. Reaching For the Moon At Sundance, wapost. "It is now a cliche to describe our planet as a watery blue marble in vast black space. But this is the image that consumes the astronauts at the ends of their lives. How small we are. How pretty. How delicate. Jim Lovell, commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, remembers how from space he could hide the Earth behind his thumb, and everything -- his life and family, all history, all civilization -- vanished. Bean of Apollo 12 says that 'since returning I've never complained about the weather, I'm glad there's weather.' Because the Earth is weather. And people. He remembers how lonely the moon felt, and back home he goes to a mall 'just to be around people.'"
Retraction: Speaking of the Cat and being around people and underestimating the value of local goodness, Friday night's Benjy Ferree/Meredith Bragg and the Terminals show was great. Meredith and company (Brian, Jonathan, and a guy I don't know named Dan) unveiled a couple nearly rockin new songs, and I didn't realize how much I liked Benjy and his band, because I'd only seen them at the crappy Ft. Reno show. I was also surprised to find I knew most of the songs, because I'd long ago downloaded them and forgotten. So, I was wrong, and now late to the bandwagon. Listen to Benjy's album here.
Sports:
The Pats/Colts game was as good as the Bears/Saints game was not, and
here's the storyline you'll be hearing all the fortnight -- two
black head coaches (and good friends) meet in the Superbowl. An
embarassment of black coaching riches! But the big thing in sports between
now and the annual Ad Bowl is the Australian Open, which will be broadcasting
the men's and women's quarterfinals tonight at 9, on ESPN2. Surviving
on the women's side is Maria (I Feel Pretty) Sharapova, and above-playing-weight
but winning anyway Serena Williams, who will be taking on 19-year old
Shahar Pe'er,
who, "recently joined the Israeli military, as military service is
mandatory in Israel. When not abroad participating in tennis tournaments,
she spends her mornings working as an administrative secretary for the
Israeli military and her afternoons practicing tennis."
And we still have Kim Clijsters, on the brink of retirement at age 23, versus her buddy, the suddenly gracious Martina Hingis, a salty old vet at 26, after Hingis dispatched Na Li, the first-ever Chinese player to make a Grand Slam round of 8. Also, a Czech teenager took care of defending champeen and headcase Amelie (the lesbian) Mauresmo.
Stuff is happening on the men's side, too. Like, Yankee dudemar Andy Roddick adjusting his jock, and lifting his shirt to reveal abs of not steel after every point. And Roger Federer looking pretty and always winning. And Marat Safin bitching constantly. Yay, tennis.
January 21, 2007 - Finally.
Class Project: Go to any site, clear the address bar, paste this
in and hit enter:
javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on';
void 0
You can now edit anything on the page. If you're feeling creative, send
your screenshots. Sweet script from digg.com,
care of the long lost Neil.
What I learned today at the supermarket: If you're a vegetarian or just an obsessive label-reader, you probably already knew that Grandma Utz Potato Chips are cooked in lard, but did you know that BAKED! LAY'S KC MASTERPIECE® BBQ Flavor Potato Crisps contain chicken fat?? There you are, thinking of sacrificing some fried deliciousness for the bland crunch of a baked chip, but no, you don't want to do that. Chicken fat.
Football: Football is awesome today. Too bad the Saints forgot how to play.
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January 19, 2007 - Another ephemera favorite, food packaging at The Imaginary World.
Money: One of the recipients of the Emerson House microloans has repaid us $4.25. Check out Lucia Riquero, proprietor of Cars Empaques in Ecuador. By the way, these loans were a house Christmas present from Anisha. Pretty cool, huh? You can see our whole portfolio here.
TV: If every episode of The OC had been like last night's, the show would never be cancelled. Too bad.
Music: Happenings Tonight.
1. black cat black cat...
From: MeredithDear fine upstanding citizens of this most hallowed nation of ours,
Isn't it time for a little rock?
We couldn't agree more...TONIGHT!
The Black Cat (Mainstage)
with Benjy Ferree and Greenland
9 pm, $10All the cool kids are doing it.
The rest of us are going too...-Meredith Bragg and the Terminal
2. Taking The P*ss, Friday (19th) @ the Marx Cafe
From: LesHappy New Year, Friends!
Come to Marx Cafe this Friday and hang out with us. Pop tunes from yours truly as usual.
Love,
Les
(The Pinstriped Rebel)From: The Kaiser
So perhaps we at last have a wintery weather setting for our night of guarded musical pop innocence that is Taking the Piss. Rain would be perhaps even more appropriate, since making his DJ debut with us this Friday will be DJ Umbrella. A sneaked look behind the curtain reveals - possibly - the frontman to local indie pop heroes The Antiques. But let's not further ruin the mystique - just know that he's bringing sad and drizzly sounds with him, which makes everyone happy.
WHERE: Marx Cafe, 3203 Mt. Pleasant St, NW
WHEN: Friday, January 19, 2007, from 10 pm to 3 amNO COVER
Religion: Flash ministry, from Deb D. 1, 2, 3, 4
Appreciation: Art Buchwald, RIP. Yes, that guy who wrote those puzzlingly boring columns has died. The fact that he made it should be an inspiration to us all. Also, happy birthday to everyone's favorite founding father, Mr. Benjamin Franklin.
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I hate movies. Girls [Forced to Go] Wild! at Junkiness. The other night I watched Primer, eschewing burdensome choice for my prefered, blameless, "whatever the housemates Nextflixed" method of entertainment selection. I spent half the duration of the film snarking at its pretentious nerdiness, and the other half saying, "Wait, what's going on?" because I'm a joy to watch movies with. The next day I read Wikipedia's helpful explanation of the story's multiple iterations of characters, time travel boxes, and nine separate timelines, and now I don't feel so bad about not getting it. Dave, on the other hand, understood most of it, meaning he's a near savant (or a near liar (according to some reviewer)).
Action Items:
Finding/Scanning Credit: Marlz' momz
January 17, 2007
Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be busybody prudes. After
Pinnacle, It's All Downhill From Here, Andrew Beyer, wapost. "For
years, some right-wing legislators had been pushing for an Internet gambling
ban. They maintained that children might get hold of their parents' credit
cards, log onto a Web site and gamble away the family's money. At the
end of each legislative term, Internet gambling legislation died the quiet
death that it deserved. But on the final night of the 2006 legislative
session, then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) agreed to insert
the Internet gambling measure into an unrelated bill, the Safe Port Act,
which dealt with homeland security and was a sure thing for passage. Presumably
this was an effort to appeal to the Republican 'base' just before the
November election. Members of the House-Senate Conference Committee never
even saw the bill's language. But overnight the new law changed the gambling
world."
The U.S. ban hasn't brought down every book yet, but it probably will. Thanks to those rugged individualists, the free market, small government, GOP cowboys.
CONTEST AT DEBCENTRAL: If you're qualified, please enter the 30 & Nerdy: Self-Morification through Staring at Old Bad Pictures Contest. Deadline to embarrass yourself is Friday.
LES SAYS, "I Miss Arrested Development & George Michael."
Impossible is the
Opposite of Possible - Michael Cera's
video resume.
An Adventure Email from My Intrepid Sister (can't get enough of Florida, continued...)
today hb and i went for a 6.5 hour paddle down the withlacoochie river. not as nice as my favorite itchetuknee (itch- uh- TUCK- knee), but just as fun to say. there were not many boats and no paddlers for some reason, so it was peaceful and lovely at first. then we got lost and i saw a gator the size of my car slip into the water near us as we discovered another dead end. i practiced being a nice girlfriend by NOT explaning the dinosaur like enormity of this gator until we had cleared out. it was so big, i wondered it it was not a gator, but one of the rare florida crocs that inhabit the florida keys and swamps. we also encountered a vulture's nesting ground, which entails about 200-300 vultures swarming over you and perched in a very macabre way in the trees all around you. they watch you as you make the turn, the river makes you go right by the nest and it was really freaking scary. and i even like those birds. hb and i decided this was the best possible time to talk about everything scary we've ever encountered in our lives or in film.
then, we got lost in one of the fingerlings (gators everywhere) and i had to dock at some big crazy redneck summer hunting community and ask for a phone to make a pathetic call for help to our guide. who, didn't pick up and we eventually found our way (meaning we were saved by a fisherman with GPS.)
anyway, here are my test results. do you get points for going back and rethinking and changing every answer? love you! jesse
ps. i'm convinced now it was an amercian croc.
Ed says, "This kitty was running around the project I did
this morning
I think someone dropped him on his head....
It was pretty hard getting a picture due to him running around like a
looney. mamma and sibling were hanging around too...but they weren't cross-eyed."
 |
 |
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January 16, 2007 Our Floridacentric hometown series continues with today's edition of Everyone's From Somewhere™, by the lovely and talented housemate Annie. Whoop!
Venice, Floridaby AnnieHello, reader. I’d like to introduce you to my hometown, Venice, Florida. Mostly, I’m here to boast because I’ve recently realized that Venice is awesome. And I’m about to count you the ways.
Venice, Florida is situated on the Gulf of Mexico. It is considered Southwest Florida, though the astute eye will notice that it’s actually more like Middlewest Florida.
Full of OldiesAccording to the 2000 census, the median age in Venice, Florida is 69 years, compared to a national average of 35.3 years. In fact, the Census tells us that Venice is home to the second oldest population of any American city! Evidence of Venice’s geriatric way of life is everywhere. Outdoor shuffleboard courts outnumber basketball and tennis courts by a margin of approximately 8 to 1.*
*not real numbers So what do the young folks do in Venice, Florida? Well, they work
in nursing homes, for starters. They also do drugs, or take up the
fruitless hobby of surfing the serene Gulf of Mexico (never a killer
wave, ever). If you were me, you hung out in a public park and dared
your friends to climb palm trees with no pants on. Or
run into a moving car Shark’s Tooth Capital of the WorldEat it, rest of the world! Venice, Florida is the Shark’s Tooth Capital of the World. What’s that? You want me to prove it? I can’t. Shockingly, very little data is collected on this important statistical measure. But people say it, and I believe them.
Hotbed of Terrorist ActivityWe’ve got oldies and we’ve got fish teeth. You know what else we’ve got? Al Quaeda! Three of the four 9/11 pilots learned to fly planes in Venice. It’s all laid out in this seemingly terrible book: Welcome to TerrorLand. I implore you to please judge it by its cover.
In sum, if you’re ever considering a visit to Venice, Florida
it probably means your great aunt died. So, go. If shuffleboard
and shark’s teeth aren’t your thing, there’s also
citrus, giant cockroaches and a beach notorious for anonymous, gay
sex. Pictures from my xmas visit home can be found here - end - |
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Thanks for arranging yourselves into this handy little table. Should you find yourself in need of it again, it's in the Archives Reserve Room filed under Self-Awareness Exercises.
Assorted backtalk from the hoi polloi:
Sally: "I took your little tests. I am an ESFJ/Guardian. Just like SALLY struthers and SALLY field. Coincidence? I think not."
Annie: "these tests made feel like george michael bluth at the eye doctor. 'number 2, no! number 3! wait, is number 1 still in the mix?'"
Bob: "see what i mean about testing badly? this thing clearly says i'm a douchebag."
Coach: "you should link to the mess up the mess myers
briggs song 
."
SLyon: "I have never gotten this one before. I either know myself a little better than I did before, or not as well..some of the profile descriptions are so funny. 'Male ISTJs often wear a moustache.' is that a fact? on the up side, i have chosen the perfect career."
Come on, put yourself in a box. Here's
one test, and here's
another. Send your results to me.
|
Extroverts |
Idealists (NF) |
Artisans (SP) |
Rationals (NT) |
Guardians (SJ) |
|
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|
ENTP |
|
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ENFJ SuSuBelle Suze M.
|
ESTP |
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ESTJ |
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Introverts |
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ISTP |
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ISFJ |
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ISFP |
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Photo by Edward: "Worst name ever."
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January 9, 2007 - Florida day.
:: EVERYBODY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE :: HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA EDITIONby Deb Schwartz!
Young liked circles, so he plopped circles down every which where he could. This annoyed the town's 6 automobile drivers. The new city was called Hollywood-by-the-Sea (to distinguish it from Hollywood, California, which is nowhere near the sea). It was a place wool-clad bathing beauties could frolic without fear of ever having to to reveal their naughty thighs. Real estate speculation exploded and development was at an all-time high. Until a great big hurricane hit in September of 1926. Then everything fell into the pooper. Young died penniless and broken hearted. People cursed his name when they had to drive around his dumb traffic circles. Then nothing very good happened in Hollywood for some time. From the 30s through the 60s, Havana, Cuba grew as a popular vacation spot for people with money. If one didn't have enough money to get to Havana, one went to Miami Beach. If one had even less money, one schlepped one's family to Hollywood, Florida. In 1969, Hollywood made a famous cameo in the last scene of the movie "Midnight Cowboy." It was the tacky beach-side town in which Jon Voight purchases a couple of festive aloha shirts before finding his stinky friend dead on the bus. The Schwartz family relocated to Hollywood from Manhattan, New
York City, in December of 1980. Everyone was depressed. Three family
members developed asthma. In August of 1981, 6 year old Adam Walsh
was abducted from the Hollywood Mall. After a nation-wide search,
the boy's severed head In 1990, the members of rap group 2 Live Crew were arrested for performing lewd lyrics from their album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" at a Hollywood club. After a two and a half year battle, they finally won in federal appeals court. This obscenities battle was one of the impetuses for parental warning on music albums, as well as for the much loved record "Banned in the USA", which featured such fun-loving hits as "Fuck MARTINEZ" (a song dedicated to then-Florida governor Bob Martinez). Some more bad stuff happened, but then the downtown area, which used to be quite seedy, was revitalized. Real estate values went up. In 2002, DebCentral and Mr. Deb were married in Hollywood, Florida. Heck's Kitchen attended the ceremony. In November of 2006 DebCentral's mom, MomCentral, was elected as the State Representative for Hollywood. Now the city's future looks bright. Wear shade. And sun screen. Because nobody likes a melanoma. |
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Tonight the mighty Buckeyes will defeat the lowly Gators, despite Deb's nifty masthead up there. Debcentral vs. Heck's Kitchen.
Last night on The L Word....Apple product plugs and in-script infomercials demonstrating the L Word's pet online project were occasionally interrupted by the strenuous pushing of characters through their inane story arcs. I feel like a sucker for linking to this, but please check out OurChart.com. There, you can track which fictional characters have had fake sex with which other fictional characters! And soon, our own community of friends will be able to chart our real life hookups online! Who wouldn't want to do that? What could possibly go wrong?
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January 7, 2007 - The year we lost winter. Below, grandma's kitten Suzy Q demonstrates the ignorance of youth.
I will type away my thudding headache.
Last night the consume show closed with a party at Flashpoint Gallery. There was a nice turn out, good art, some pornography, Fugazi guys playing, and Fugazi-generation's offspring playing out on the sidewalk. Afterwards my people went to Jack's, which used to be La Pigalle, famous (to me) for the Washington Post review headlined, At Least the Water is Cold. Jack's has nothing to do with Jack Daniels and is not a chain. I don't know who started that rumor. "The inspiration for the restaurant's name is a friend's tree-obsessed German shepherd named Jack. [Chef-owner] Kerschbaumer once saw the dog shaking a trunk '10 times his size' and admired his enthusiasm and tenacity, qualities he wants to emulate at Jack's." Ok. Anyway, Jack's debuted their dyke night, called, blandly, Kitty Cat Lounge, but we'll take any night in this city of one lesbian bar. One. Jack's drink specials were "L-Word inspired," because the vacuum that was lesbian pop culture is now full of the L Word. I recommend you not try the Carmen.
This morning the hot tub cover was open, there was a bottle of Guinness sitting on the edge, the towels had disappeared from the bathroom, and all my brother's clothes were in the living room. Encyclopedia Brown fingered the perp, but better Encyclopedia than the bald man at the bar last night, who invited my underrage brother "to party" at his place, where he had "some girls."
When I think of all the living and learning my brother has to do between his age, 17, and mine, 33, it makes my head hurt some more.
For badder or for worse, The L Word returns to us Sunday....
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January 5, 2007 - Bulldoze.
From: Edward
Subject: thug life
These are from an old house in Stevens City VA...out in the Shenandoah
valley. Stevens City is a tiny town known for its excellent wagon makers
in the 19th century. Like Detroit I guess...but wagons. The house dates
to around 1900 and was built by some people after their log cabin burned
down. The cabin was built by some dude after he got back from fighting
in the civil war. We're out there trying to figure out where the cabin
was. In a few weeks everything will be bulldozed.
Love
Ed
PS - a TI-83 is a fancy calculator
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January 4, 2007 - Rio Grande. Low road to Taos, New Mexico, ©1994 philg@mit.edu.
Today's edition of Everyone's from Somewhere™ is in the form of a nifty little photo essay by Sherman, who visited her childhood stomping grounds of Taos, NM over Christmas with Mr. Underblog.
Taos, NMby Shermanilla
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January 1, 2007 - "You sure about that?" - Miss Mess
Welcome back! Today we've got Miss Mess aka Marisa aka Sweet Action Skate Club aka taco:birthday cake reporting on her hometown, Buffalo, NY! Give it up.
Wingtown aka The Queen City aka Tough-a-lo
|
Hello from Snowmanland, where my family is a minority. My mom is taking a snowman census for me right now. "If I can count them, it's not enough," she says, and settles on a figure of about 150. "Too many!" says my stepdad. If we included tree ornaments and candles I'm certain that figure would double.
I had only one car emergency during my straight-through drive to Florida, which took 18 hours thanks to rain, accidents, and Virginia. Luckily the emergency was solved with Steering Fluid, which I luckily had with me, and which I luckily poured into the correct reservoir. Phone call with dad, Exxon station, north of Richmond:
Me: hi Dad. I have a car question.
Dad: hi honey. Okaaay.....
Me: I was driving along and there was this terrible THUNK, and then a WHHIIIIRRRRR! so I started pulling from the left lane over to the side, and my steering was really loose, so I got out and looked underneath and at my tires and everything looked ok, and now I'm at a gas station and I checked and my steering fluid is empty. Or it might be my transmission fluid.
Dad: transmission fluid is usually red.
Me: Yeah. It's empty, so I don't know if it was red in there. I don't have my car manual with me.
Dad: Hmm...
Me: Do you think I should dump this steering fluid into this thing? It's the one with the dipstck attached to the cap.
Dad: I can't really tell without looking at it. You could ask someone....or just chance it.
Me: I think I'd rather just chance it.
Dad: Ok. Good luck honey!
Some Florida Christmas photos, if you like:
This 20 pound horror gave traditional, English, Marzipan fruitcake a bad name. Made by AJ's aunt, who hopefully will never read this.
Sean graced us with his presence for the holidays.
The snowman fence skews a bit genocidal for me, somehow.
More tomorrow.
Heck's Kitchen's EVERYBODY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE series very super proudly presents.....
TAKOMA PARK, MARYLANDby RebongazTakoma means “high up near heaven,” and is synonymous with “totally nuclear-free zone.” Animal loving and tree hugging, a perfectly pleasant place to grow up, just Keep away from the Metro at night, cuz people get mugged and sometimes killed there. Go to the Open-air farmers’ market every weekend (Jenny hand-coded their website), where you’ll see Ms. and Ms. Fairman-Smith and other old lesbians grocery shopping. Azaleas bloom everywhere, and I once felt personally insulted when my best friend who lived in Silver Spring said she didn’t like them.
Pot, please. Anyone can vote in the municipals, even my mom who is technically an alien, for reals. Do you Remember browsing for hours in Chuck & Dave’s (they planned a never-realized café called Vera, after the grandchildren in the Beatles song)? Das Kapital affects even Takoma, eventually.
PS: here’s one of the first images that comes up when you image google “takoma park:”
perhaps it was growing up there that made me pretty gay for a fly girl (per The Offspring song). - RL |
Last night around 6pm the space shuttle was visible in the sky, and Edward was up on the roof taking pictures. Discovery detached yesterday from the International Space Station, drove about 48 miles, and stopped to inspect its heat shield in preparation for an unfiery return later this week. The shuttle is three or four days deep into space, and we can see it from the ground? Pretty cool. Ed's got the proof. Click the pics for enormous versions, particularly the last one, which is space + Emerson.
From: edward
Subject: space pics
here's the shuttle pics
they sort of turned out
these are all 15 second exposures...so the straight lines are the shuttle,
flying through space...or orbiting, or whatever
it's traveling from west to east (left to right looking north) in all
of these pics
0 - view to the west. shuttle is the faint line in the middle. those other
2 lines are airplanes or missles or something
1 - a few secons later, shuttle is the top streak, it got really bright
for a second...see in the middle?
2 - smooth sailing
3 - still going
4 - money shot...shuttle disappears into the horizon with emerson street
below
Introducing: Mackenzie, newest member of the Fox family (Ranger Ted and SSB).
Announcing: a rare opening in Randy House. Neat and professional gender queer vegans of color encouraged. Puppy not included. Details:
Reply
to: Coach
Room with private bathroom in N. Columbia Hts. / Petworth group house.
-$600/month + utilities (water, gas, electric, comcast); $250 deposit due at move-in
-Located at 14th and Randolph Streets NW., four blocks from Georgia Ave. Metro.
-Two-story attached house with finished basement apartment, front porch, front yard, back yard, off-street parking spaces in back, washer/dryer, wireless, digital cable, radiator heat, central AC, skylights in 2 bathrooms (3.5 bathrooms, total), and hardwood floors.
1.
Gilbert Arenas. From the Post, "Several players were asked about the
controversy surrounding former player Tim Hardaway's homophobic statements
about John Amaechi, a former player who recently revealed that he is gay.
Arenas had the following take: 'You are teammates, and teammates should
accept one another for who they are,' he said. 'That's how I look at it.'"
It's
not nearly as good (or ambitious) as 
The
very badly written story of a boy coming to terms with his homo-ness.
Published in 1983, Amazon categorizes it as "Reading level: Baby-Preschool."
Uses the word "love" approximately 17 times per page. Amount of
sex: zero. It certainly is good natured, though. And I did read
the whole entire thing. Will Todd still be Michael's best friend
once he learns of his true inclinations? What will happen on 
In
January of 1920, an enterprising young fellow named Joseph Young
arrived in South Florida to survey land that would be suitable for
the site of his "Dream City." This was made possible by "flamboyant
and dashing" [quote taken from a random website] politician Napoleon
Bonaparte Broward's successful campaign to drain the Florida Everglades.
Though some would call the Everglades a "river of grass", he dubbed
it "the fabulous muck." Of course, today we all know that what's
left of the Florida Everglades is just a big swampy bother. In February
1921, Young purchased (for about $175 an acre) what would soon become
present-day Hollywood.
was
found in a Vero Beach canal. Walsh's father later became the host
of America's Most Wanted as a direct result of the events. An indirect
result was that pop star Rick Springfield wrote and sang the 1982
hit "Don't Talk To Strangers." In about 1987, this picture
[bluepants at left] was taken. Everyone was depressed.
My
single favorite thing about Buffalo is about to go the way of the
8-track and zoobas. This independent record store is located inside
an old converted house in downtown Buffalo. I recently found out
that it was going out of business, so I ventured down for my last
visit. The last Clash cd’s were sold while I was there, and
the dude who’s been working there since I was about 13 years
old said, we may as well close up shop now. You can’t have
a record store and not have any Clash records. It’s hard to
believe that it really won’t be there next time I visit, and
I have to kind of say that I’m glad I came back this xmas,
even if it was only to go to Home of the Hits one last time. I don’t
think my friend Judy will be too pissed if I reveal that she got
a little choked up when we drove away. Going to Home of the Hits
for the first time was kind of a rite of passage for any kid who
was even remotely interested in music that wasn’t being playing
on Kiss 98.5. 
Ahhh,
Mighty Taco, the home of Mexican magic, the spice of life. What
more could you want? There are a few fledgling Taco Bells in Western
New York, but the competition is stiff here. Mighty Taco is bar
none the best Mexican fast food I’ve ever eaten. Unlike most
fast food joints, the kitchen is in plain sight so you watch your
food being prepared. MT has undergone some changes recently in order
to prepare it for branching out of the area, and personally, I think
those changes suck. I’ve heard that the new beef is terrible,
but what do I know from beef? MT used to have the World’s Best
chips & salsa – its own homemade recipe, and now they serve
little bags of Tostitos with sides of Tostitos salsa. It’s
nasty. They do still have, however, Loganberry – a local favorite
beverage that is sort of like “orange drink” only it’s
purple and delicious. But it’s not the “purple stuff’
in the back of the fridge in the Sunny-D commercial. It’s much,
much better. During my four day stay in Buffalo, I ate no fewer
than eight burritos. Once, some friends from out of town told me
that Mighty Taco would be reason enough to move to Buffalo. This
may be true, but it’s definitely not reason enough to stay.
Record
Theatre is also a locally owned record store, only not half as cool
as Home of the Hits. Record Theatre’s one notable quirk is
the yellow sticker book – collect enough green stamps (Wednesday
is double stamp day) to fill your book (I think you need 125) and
you get five dollars off your next purchase. This kind of thing
was absolutely addictive as a teenager, and I got my stamps &
a book when I visited this time.
>Other
quirks
