basel/miami

chance

Total lunar eclipse on Thursday night. If it's clear, we'll have a good view from north eastern U.S.

adam gopnik was not impressed by Matrix: Reloaded.

summer of sequels

one of a series of pictures of dylan looking oh so happy to pose for pictures at a party at sundance for Masked and Anonymous, the movie in which he co-stars.



the movie's website

"CINEMANIA is the highly-anticipated documentary about the culture of intense cinephilia in New York City that reveals the impassioned world of five wildly obsessed movie buffs. They spend their waking hours in darkened theaters, and now, these full-time audience members step from their seats onto the big screen in this entertaining new documentary which celebrates their obsessions - from the grandiosity of their aesthetic dreams to the austerity of their domestic realities. In Cinemania, the Silver Screen's biggest fans become the true stars. This is the story of their lives, their memories, their unbending habits and the films they love."

i loved the book and tonight pbs has the first of two parts of the movie.

2003 James Beard Award winners announced.

Super Happy Fun looks like a good place to buy hard to find films on DVD. Like Skidoo, which Steve told me about but I've never seen available before. Browsing seems a bit difficult, but try your luck with the search box. (via memepool)

Operation Strangelove:

On May 14, put on a screening of "Dr. Strangelove" - in your living room, at the local theater, on campus, on your laptop, anywhere you can - and say no to unilateral invasions, to endangering our troops for the sake of oil, to flouting international law and the world community in the name of empire. Follow the film with discussions, forums, debates. Keep talking. Keep acting. Let's give new meaning to the old Strategic Air Command motto, "Peace Is Our Profession."

Bush, Blair nominated for Nobel prize for Iraq war

OSLO, May 8 (Reuters) A Norwegian parliamentarian nominated U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize today, praising them for winning the war in Iraq.

''Sometimes it's necessary to use a small and effective war to prevent a much more dangerous war in the future,'' Jan Simonsen, a right-wing independent in Norway's parliament, told Reuters.

You can send a letter of support for the nomination of George W. Bush and Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize to the Norwegian Nobel Institute at postmaster@nobel.no

or by international post at:

The Norwegian Nobel Institute
Drammensveien 19,
NO-0255 OSLO
Norway

my letter was not exactly one of support.

John Horgan makes the case for therapeutic (and other) uses of psychedelics. Kind of surprising fare for the stuffy Slate.

Wasn't someone (Bruno?) wondering if google had any misspellings of a word that returned more hits than the correct spelling? I can't find the original question. But anyway, along with some other interesting misspelling info, this post finds such a case: the incorrect "transexual" (2860k results) is the more common than the correct spelling of "transsexual" (1660k results.)

Congratulations to Ruth Root for the nice review in today's New York Times.

The suppressed story of the broadcast feed from the carrier Abraham Lincoln being altered in real time earlier this week during the President's bravura visit. ;-)

NYMag Readers Poll Winner Best Meatballs is one of my 4* Dishes for 2003 also:

Best Meatballs
Il Gattopardo
33 West 54th Street
212-246-0412

It used to be that the humble Italian-American meatball never went anywhere without its constant companion, spaghetti. Recently, though, thanks to the surge in popularity of a more authentic southern-Italian cooking—or perhaps because of creative differences with its former pasta partner—meatballs have gone solo, assuming leading roles in restaurants from the Rocco DiSpirito–revamped Tuscan to Frank DeCarlo’s Peasant spinoff, Ápizz. Our award, however, goes to the unimpeachably authentic Neapolitan version at Il Gattopardo. Made from veal and beef and wrapped in an almost translucent Savoy-cabbage leaf that seals in the juices and makes for cute little bundles that resemble Shanghai dumplings, they’re much lighter than their Americanized cousins, airiness being the mark of a good meatball. Salerno-born chef Vito Gnazzo serves them three to an order as an appetizer on a bed of baby greens with a fragrant thyme-white-wine sauce—one bite and you’ll never think of them as spaghetti’s sidekick again.

Our buddy and fellow blogger (oh yeah, and he imports wine or something) Joe Dresner is getting a little attention. Word is this article will be picked up by a major media outlet.

seafood watch: choice for healthy oceans

M E L V I N S
Anton Kern Gallery, New York
Who? The Melvins.
What? Album covers designed by artist-fans of the band, commissioned by a curator-fan of the band.
Where? At the gallery of Anton Kern, an art-dealer-fan of the band.
When ? May 15th through June 21st.
Opening: Thursday May 15th 6-8pm

Artists: Santiago Alandra, Matthew Brannon, Steve DiBenedetto, Jason Fox, Amy Gartrell, Torben Giehler, Wayne Gonzales, Cameron Jamie, Jutta Koether, Tim Lokiec, Justin Lowe, Cameron Martin, Adam McEwen, Dave Muller, Mackie Osborne, Steven Parrino, Lisa Ruyter, Michelle Segre, David Silver, Fred Tomaselli, John Tremblay, BanksViolette, Kelley Walker, Claude Wampler.

Curator: Bob Nickas

Please note that the Melvins will be playing at Irving Plaza on May 22 and 23, and the Fantomas-Melvins Big Band will play there on May 21.

The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am-6 pm. For more information contact Fernanda or Michael at 212 367-9663 or info@antonkerngallery.com

faith popcorn - we got your trends

"Day Tripper" is a multiple city project that maps out accessible sources of mind-altering experiences found in the everyday environment.

In my little Syria project, there are many stories that get a rise out of me, but sometimes there's one that just seems surreal.

Thought this was sort of interesting: newspaper circulation numbers. I can't believe the Daily News is bigger than the Post.

Best. Name. Ever.

Booklyn.

Booklyn's mission is to promote artist books as an art form and an educational resource, to provide the general public and educational institutions with services and programming involving contemporary artist books, and to assist artists in exhibiting, distributing and publishing artist books.

Their news page is here.