# 03 Jan 2005, 09:15PM: Cookies and Eggs:
The Egg/Cookie show went great last night. By the way, the staff at the Hotel Rex are fantastically helpful and the bar/lounge and restaurant within the hotel serve extremely good product. Y'all should come on down.
What in life is sweeter than the phrase: "OK, you were right!"?
Usually, when introducing the dishes at the focus of an episode of America's Test Kitchen, Christopher Kimball says that bad versions of those dishes are, say, "the end of civilization" (chocolate-chip cookies). For Greek or spinach salads he went with some lighter epithet. I wish he'd said, "But bad specialty salads take the Christ out of Christmas!" or "But when we eat bad specialty salads, the terrorists win!" or "But bad specialty salads lead to the rise of militant Islamofascism in previously moderate Muslim countries such as Turkey or Jordan!"
# 04 Jan 2005, 09:17AM: Dude: Somehow in my school library in elementary school I ran across a book arguing for drug decriminalization. The topic still consarns me. Some arguments for and against.
# 10 Jan 2005, 04:46PM: Quick Links:
"Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag Cake" always makes me cry.
Things That Don't Exist. The video is also cool.
# 12 Jan 2005, 02:18PM: More Links: I hadn't considered these ethical questions in sign-language whistleblowing. Also, laugh-out-loud Lockhorns criticism.
# 19 Jan 2005, 11:57AM: Together They Would Explode:
Will Franken's diary was on fire a while back - check out A RESPONSE TO H.L. MENCKEN'S INQUIRY: "WHY DID I DECIDE TO GO INTO COMEDY?" despite the Comic Sans typeface.
It is confirmation that other people are fed up misanthropes skulking through life with contempt for everything.
But it does seem a big rip-off, no? The ultimate sadness is not death. The ultimate sadness is that we are first born into a life where there is no escape from death.
Once I started to hear laughter, it got even better. Laughter became and still is confirmation that I am on the right track. Confirmation that I'm not simply some fed up misanthrope skulking through life with contempt for everything.
I'm planning on seeing Mr. Franken perform this weekend. But I also have to make room for Josh Kornbluth; I have read The Mathematics of Change and now I will have a chance to see it at The Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center. Come see them with me, people.
# 20 Jan 2005, 10:35AM: "What You'll Wish You'd Known":
Paul Graham's new essay speaks directly to me!
The only real difference between adults and high school kids is that adults realize they need to get things done, and high school kids don't. That realization hits most people around 23.
# 26 Jan 2005, 10:59AM: A Better World Is Possible: Abolition of slavery. If you're against this, I kind of want to know why. Anyway, Salon features a great interview about abolition with a historian who's married to Arlie Hochschild.
# 27 Jan 2005, 03:19PM: Cabdrivers Complaining About Ambition:
Like Riana, I have visited an Alton Brown speaking engagement on his current tour. I wish it had been more fun. I did find out that he only found out what he wanted to do with his life at the age of 34.
He can be kind of a jerk, and so were some of the other people who showed up way too early to grab front-row seats. I wonder whether non-jerks ever actually achieve things.
# 28 Jan 2005, 12:07PM: Mannequins:
I salvaged some mannequin parts when the Old Navy downtown was tossing them. I assume they came from Old Navy because the buttocks of the mannequin legs carry an Old Navy stamp. They're going to Joe's friends Morissa and Jamie sometime soon. Right now they guard my cube, wearing some spare clothes of mine. It is creepy to see a stamped plastic buttock, but also creepy to put my own pants on plastic flesh.
My next-cube-neighbor got a full head-torso-arms-limbs combo, lucky him. The mannequin in question has a "female" torso. I think his experience draping it with clothes was even creepier than mine.
# 28 Jan 2005, 10:19PM: Stet: This has been a fantastic month for hanging out with friends - and this weekend will only increase that wonderfulness - but the burnout at Salon just gets worse and worse for me. If you know of any part-time or contract copyediting gigs, consider sending them my way. I would enjoy a paid hobby doing something I can enjoy and do well.
# 29 Jan 2005, 04:27PM GMT+5:30: The Spam King's Gambit: Last night I couldn't sleep and I read Spam Kings by Brian McWilliams, a frequent Salon contributor. For a reader at my level of net savviness, McWilliams spins a great tale of the intimate battles among spammers, antispammers, and side-switchers. They taunt each other via instant message! A failed anti-Semite writes great ad copy for pills and plays under assumed names in chess tournaments! I wish I knew how it ended, but nonfiction doesn't wrap itself up in time for a book deadline.
# 30 Jan 2005, 11:28PM: Will Franken: Several friends turned out tonight for the Will Franken show at the Odeon. Neat-o for the friends and the material. I'm proselytizing the gospel of Franken more successfully than I ever evangelized Linux.
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