antimeria a complete impediment to understanding

Five for Friday, Sept 5.

5 September 2008 in culture, links, pop, reading, style

• “Soldiers’ Suicide Rate On Pace to Set Record“, WaPost. The suicide rate among active-duty soldiers is expected to climb above the 19.5/100,000 high-water mark set during Vietnam. More on the military’s problems in this Mother Jones piece.
• “Last Call, Bohemia,” Vanity Fair. The (eloquently-made) case against development in NYC’s West Village.
• “Hate Party,” Douglas Rushkoff. The Republican Party’s ongoing war against the underclasses. Related: Sarah Palin’s book-burning background (halfway down).
• “Target to Open Designer-Focused Stores in New York,” NYTimes. Target sets up temporary “bodegas” for Fashion Week.
• “A designer with bags of talent,” the Observer. (Yet another) profile of reformed fashion-superstar Marc Jacobs.

Tagged culture, links, pop, reading, style. Comment on this

After a bad day…

4 September 2008 in food, restaurants

A while back, I read a New York Times article that said, in part,

In Los Angeles and New York City, Korean barbecue has become an urbanite comfort food on a level with dim sum and falafel.

Having never lived in either place, I can’t tell you if that’s true, but it did get me thinking on comfort food in general. As a Korean adoptee raised in the Midwest, I ended up with a pretty weird hodgepodge of favorite foods, so your tastes will probably overlap with something on this list. And if you’re in Baltimore, double-bonus: I’m including my favorite places in the city. [Read more →]

Tagged food, restaurants. 2 comments

Real life conversations, partially-heard edition.

3 September 2008 in humor, tangents

Man 1: You know what?
Man 2: [unintelligible]
Man 1: You know what?
Man 2: [unintelligible]
Man 1: You know what?
Man 2: [unintelligible]
Man 1: You know what?
Man 2: [unintelligible]
Man 1: You know what?
Man 2: [unintelligible]
Man 1: You know what?
Man 2: [unintelligible]
[beat]
Man 1: You know what?
Man 2: What?
Man 1: [unintelligble]
Man 2: What?
Man 1: [unintelligible]
Man 2: You know what?
Man 1: [unintelligible]
Man 2: [unintelligible]

Tagged humor, tangents. 1 comment

Sliced bread vs. filaments vs. penicillin.

2 September 2008 in tangents

The lights in my house don’t work, but thanks to a fortuitously retarded circuit layout, my TV, computer and sound system still do.

Sub-tangent: electric light is pretty useful.

Tagged tangents. Comment on this

The week just got more interesting.

2 September 2008 in sports

Joe Flacco, first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens, will start his NFL career against the Cincinnatti Bengals. Flacco’s the only healthy quarterback on the roster–Troy Smith is still calling in sick, and Kyle Boller is both injured and terrible. Football Outsiders has a good breakdown of Flacco’s preseason finale against Atlanta here–in short, he sells the play-action well (a major plus this year), but makes bad decisions and can’t always escape pressure. Good thing he gets to warm up against the Bengals, who have a front seven that would embarrass my Division III alma mater.

Tagged Bmore, football, NFL, sports. Comment on this