December 2008
51 posts
My Best of 2008 Photo Set on Flickr →
Yeah… I’m one of those people.
The Op-Chart: 2008 in Questions →
From the New York Times: “Time has no divisions to mark its passage,” Thomas Mann observed. “There is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.” And it is only we mortals who publish quizzes. Below are 118 questions, and a fiendish election table, on the...
The United States of Tara is Online →
I haven’t watched it yet. I loathe Diablo Cody, but love Toni Collette. I’m waiting for a better, more open state of mind to watch this.
“I’m eighty-six years old now, and I don’t usually get surprised by...”
– Jakuchu Setouchi - novelist, Buddhist nun
BTW
I am one of those assholes with a BlackBerry now.
It’s hard enough to use your head in a situation that speaks to your heart. Add homosexuality to the equation and it’s 5,000 times harder, since (at least in my experience) self-acceptance means conditioning yourself to a life of trusting your heart above all things. You can wrap yourself up in philosophizing about nature versus nurture or the implications of not being inclined to...
Low B's Smooth Holiday Mix →
Doin’ it well for the holidays. Have a good one, guys.
Ladies: Can we please stop writing this article?... →
Esp. this part. Barf.
NEW GIRL POWER
Icons: Beth Ditto, Cheryl Cole, Zadie Smith, Vivienne Westwood, Martha Lane Fox
Outfits: Lipstick, heels,1950s dresses — think Dita Von Teese meets the Bloomsbury set — or girlie grunge (look to Courtney Love circa 1990)
Agenda: The right to do what the hell you like, however you like, in heels — if you like
Actions: Reclaim the Night marches, subscribing...
Rick Warren: Point & Counterpoint
bijan:
Like many progressives, I’ve been sick about Obama’s decision to have Rick Warren invocation at the inauguration.
It feels like a slap in face, kick in the teeth, takes the wind out of our sails….well, you pick the metaphor.
My immediate reaction was in sync with Michelle Goldbergs article in the Guardian, A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing:
If nothing else, Rick Warren is a miracle worker in...
More on D. Boon
Technically, D. Boon died at 4 a.m. on Dec. 23, 1985.
The whole thing makes me emotional because Mike Watt was simply crushed after losing his soul mate, his best friend since he was 13. They were two geeks who helped create a movement that would make a bunch of other freaks feel like they weren’t alone. And played damn good music too. After D. Boon died, Mike Watt thought about never...
BTW, I like the Jokers of the Scene remix of Day... →
Just sayin’.
Ron Howard confirms Arrested Development movie →
Lauren Graham returns to primetime →
Yesssss.
Obama's Internet Adventure: What's This... →
fredamoon:
by the talented Gillian Reagan
Aw! ::blushes::
My favorite John →
feelingsaregross:
Please read my Q & A with the awesome John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. Nicest guy ever.
Ha, this is funny:
D: Are you pissed that Rolling Stone only gave Flood two stars back when it came out in 1990? JF: I was cleaning out a closet the other day and I found a box of press material that a publicist sent to me, which contained copies of all the tear sheets of all...
“I used to worry that my TiVo thought I was gay — doesn’t everyone enjoy a little...”
– David Carr (via innonate)
This is from Carr’s recent column, which opens with this: “With unemployment figures beginning to resemble a mushroom cloud and the Fed running out of card tricks, I told a friend we were going to spend the weekend at my house making hard choices — scrutinizing...
foodtimeline.org →
I think I would like to make “culinary research” my full time job. I love this stuff.
Ever wonder what foods the Vikings ate when they set off to explore the new world? How Thomas Jefferson made his ice cream? What the pioneers cooked along the Oregon Trail? Who invented the potato chip…and why? Welcome to the Food Timeline! Food history presents a fascinating buffet of...
A normal subway ride.
katieschenk:
I got on the 1 train at 42nd street and fell in love with the guy four feet away from me. By the time we reached 72nd I had him profiled and his life story laid out. At 96th street I was imagining him getting out with me, picking up a Christmas tree on the way home and spending the evening decorating and giggling while listening to Bing Crosby. When I got out at 137th street we...
The Origin of 'Yes We Can'
From Mark Warren’s article in Esquire about Obama’s 27-year-old speechwriter Jon Favreau (the other one, not the Swingers/Iron Man one):
On the night of the New Hampshire primary in January, a young man of twenty-six stood at the back of the crowd in the Nashua High gym and watched his boss deliver a speech conceding defeat to Hillary Clinton in the day’s election. And even...
Obama's Bringin' ScienceBack →
Well, he should anyway, according to Olivia Judson of the New York Times.
The distortion and suppression of science is dangerous, and not just because it means that public money gets wasted on programs, like abstinence-only sex “education” schemes, that do not work. It is dangerous because it is an assault on science itself, a method of thought and inquiry on which our modern civilization is...
Also
I miss my family.
Outside Agitator: Naomi Klein and the new new left →
Larissa MacFarquhar in the New Yorker.
“It’s worth thinking about what the right has been doing for the past thirty-five years as a counter-revolution that has been waged against our victories.” The New Deal is usually told as a history of F.D.R., she said, but we don’t talk enough about the pressure from below. Neighborhoods organized, and when their evicted neighbors’ furniture was put on the...
Watchperpetua:
Question: Were the Vivian Girls deliberately attempting to seem incredibly dumb, annoying and condescending in this video? They collectively remind me of Claire Fisher near the end of Six Feet Under, when she’s regressing big-time and being this totally obnoxious snob. Via Maura, who is correct about their inability to write a decent melody. Which makes this clip pretty ironic, right?...
