Culinary side effects

Celeb chef Anthony Bourdain says the economic downturn may be good for the restaurant business:

There is going to be an apocalyptic shakeout. On the plus side, the bullsh** will be the first to go. (Nation's Restaurant News via The Big Money)

If the recession leads to a purge of derivative, sub-par tapas bars and Belgian beer-and-frites places, maybe it will all be worth it.

Purple people power for DC voting rights?

So, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has sent some apologetic packets of swag to all the Purple Ticket people who were blocked from attending Obama's swearing in. (Politico)

I love this comment someone left on the "Survivors of the Purple Tunnel" Facebook page:

Just received my packet. I will compose a collage with my Metro smart card, purple ticket, inauguration photo and a picture from our Day of Service at the Marvin Gaye Park. Recent good news for DC is that debate will resume to give the District a voting House member. Our experience at the Purple Gate may not be atypical for DC residents whose city has suffered too many years from lack of voting representation and influence in Congress. Maybe the Purple Gate group can help make that finally happen. [emphasis mine]

Damn right! Living in DC is like living one's entire life inside the Purple Tunnel of Death, every single day, until we get fair representation in Congress. Powerless and trapped, we never get to participate in the big event, even though we have tickets. The ticket which every eligible American citizen is granted upon birth or naturalization. The ticket to democracy. Sniff. This is great; I could keep riffing on this one for a while.

Here come the zombies and/or global pandemic

Scientists Make HIV Strain That Can Infect Monkeys
Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Scientists have created a strain of the human AIDS virus able to infect and multiply in monkeys in a step toward testing future vaccines in monkeys before trying them in people, according to a new study.

Dude. While I fully support the search for an AIDS vaccine, I have definitely seen enough movies to know how this story ends.

I hate it when that happens

My small but helpful trust fund lost 40 percent all at once, and then another 20 percent, leaving me, practically speaking, destitute. I suddenly needed something more than an Internet writing job (Internet writers need trust funds) at the exact moment when there were no jobs.

...is how Victoria Floethe opens an article about Monaco in Slate today. The article: pretty interesting, actually. The angle for connecting with the audience: not so great.

Hell of a job, Jindal

Wow. I would ask who picked Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to deliver the Republican rebuttal to the President's speech last night. But the real questions are, who wrote the speech, and who prepped this guy?

Jindal's speaking style reminds me of nothing so much as a member of the Jeopardy Clue Crew narrating a Video Daily Double.

And this passage--unbelievable. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

"Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us.

Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina -- we have our doubts."

R.I.P., Zippy: 1999-2009

Yes, it is true--I am now carless.

My last few moments with Zippy, my beloved 1999 Civic.

Dear Zippy,

Today I sold you to a car dealer named Moses. Because of the large amount of work required to get you into saleable shape, you weren't worth that much money. But that's ok, because you were always more valuable to money than me. You have done so many things for me--and the environmental movement. Think about it. In your ten years of loyal service, you have:

o made countless 12-hour nonstop drives between Johnson City and Princeton.
o traveled across the continental U.S.--twice--to take me to and from organizing assignments.
o scouted all the best turfs in Little Rock, Arkansas.
o driven hundreds of CMDs worth of canvassers around Little Rock, Nashville, and even DC.
o trolled across the eastern Oregon desert and, once, coasted 50 miles from Bend on a completely empty gas tank.
o carried groceries, kittens, books, IKEA furniture strapped to your roof, and all my worldly possessions to and from new and old homes.

But it wasn't all hard work. You've also:

o made a million trips to the Quaker Bridge movie theater with my college buddies.
o climbed halfway up Mt. Hood.
o swooped through the Badlands.
o made many beautiful trips around Shenandoah NP.
o cruised the East Coast, from Cape Cod to Atlanta.

It's nothing personal, Zippy. You've been broken into and harassed too many times here in Mt. Pleasant. The recent attempted hotwiring was just the last straw. I don't drive you enough to give you good exercise. You'll be better off with someone else, someone who shares a similar appreciation for your incredible turning radius and solid gas mileage, but can offer you a safe, good home.

So Zippy, Godspeed. I hope you end up in greener pastures.

Love,
Your owner,
Waage

Hate

You know, I don't believe in hell. But if I did, I'd say that these folks may be in for a bit of a surprise when they kick the bucket.

Why NYT fashion writer Guy Trebay always lights up my day

Oh, Guy Trebay, thank God for you. I'm not sure anyone else shares my appreciation for your work, or at least not in the same way. But kudos.

This passage in your Fashion Diary today is unparalleled.

Can we agree that most Twitter posts are about little beyond the fact of their own occurrence? Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that something existential is afoot? [Guy: I do not think it is!--ed.] Is the sum of human knowledge much advanced by learning, instant by instant, that Marc Jacobs is having his hair dyed black, that Marc Jacobs is eating a McDonald's burger and drinking a Diet Coke, that the beautiful Patti Smith look-alike model Jamie Bochert just got engaged, that the handsome and heavily-inked hairdresser Lorenzo Martone is not Marc Jacobs's boyfriend?