stock for the gillette company soared on the exchange today at the prospect of an almost clean shaven afghanistan. their new ad campaign plastered on hastily assembled billboards amidst the rubble of kabul extols the virutes of 'gillette: the new face of freedom'. but dont confuse that with lancomes 'le nouveau visage de la liberté' campaign for women. the french beauty multinational have set up make-up booths in mazir e sharif to instruct the afghani women in the art and ritual of face painting. no more blaming the taliban for being dateless on a friday night, ladies!

birds cleared of all wrongdoing in airbus crash. incarcerated rebel flock leaders released from detention. bald eagles breathe easier. audobon society sues over defamation of character for birds everywhere.

america needs this kind of commitment to its olympic sports.

is this picture really necessary?

"If you put your ear to the ground, you can hear the lake draining," said geologist Amy Clifton of the Nordic Volcanological Institute in Reykjavk, Iceland. "It sounds like water going down the sink."

will harry potter melt the titanic or can george lucas make a movie that we all want to see? and what do the sci-fiers make of this spielberg project? i have a feeling this soundtrack will outsell the movie. maybe the movie was made just to push the cd.

20th Century Fox has set the U.S. release of "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" for Thursday, May 16 -- "one day earlier than expected" (Variety).

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" will open this weekend "on an historic 7,000-plus screens" (Variety).

The Northern Alliance takes Kabul; the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are pinned down in the mountains and effectively neutralized; democracy is restored; Bush was right, the left was wrong; forget the Saudis, forget Palestine; let's put 9/11 behind us and get back to Britney.

"Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote" say the Bush lackies at the NYT. The headline could just as easily have read "Overvotes Put Bush Election in Doubt," but the status quo must be maintained at all costs.

Hollywood helps out with the war effort

O.K., what's the deal? The little I know about art history I've learned from the very well informed people here. Alex, in particular has been quite a good teacher. And I know I learned all about the use of the "camera obscura" by many of the great painting masters (most notably Vermeer?) This was presented to me as a well known fact. But now I keep reading everywhere (here, here, here, here - links from here) that David Hockney has a new book out where he supposedly floats this "new" and "controversial" theory.

Is it really new? Does Hockney have any claim to this idea? Or is this just a rehashed controversy being trotted out to drive book sales?

Sure, I guess watching birds in Central Park can teach you a thing or two, and make for a fine afternoon, but to the geek birder the need for a wind tunnel is pretty clear.

Ken Kesey died today. He was 66.

Peter, I can see your house from here

Let's Roll

does anyone have the address of sarah's opening? i forgot the invite and need to be there by 6...
thanks.

There's been controversy about high tech security devices at 26 Federal Plaza which go unused, or, like the $30,000.00 x-ray machine, get used as coffee holders. My favorite device is decidedly low-tech. It's a convex mirror with wheels on the back, attached to a pole with a flashlight on it, and used to check the underside of vehicles. The only thing lower-tech is the sniffing dog, but we have yet to build a device with that level of sensitivity to odors. Maybe we should use owls for night vision.

The Invisible Library is a collection of books that only appear in other books. Within the library's catalog you will find imaginary books, pseudobiblia, artifictions, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, and all manner of books unwritten, unread, unpublished, and unfound.

Islamic Hip-Hop vs Islamaphobia
(from 1997)

NUKE POP

This isn't rocket science: better not leave that wacky string in the car (I thought it was called 'silly string' - is that an east coast thing?) (via robotwisdom)

Too Close to Call Jeffrey Toobin

Finally saw final fantasy. Cheesy love story mixed in with a so so new age spiritual story. But the graphics are really fun, and the technology depicted is awesome. Very glad I saw it, but if you don't like futuristic information technology gadgets, don't bother...

Well, unless you're really into hair.

Also saw The Gospel according to Philip K. Dick which, despite the very interesting subject, seemed pretty hackish to me. The cartoon interludes are unbearable. I guess hearing Robert Anton Wilson makes it worth it, but just barely. Only for die hard Dick fans, and even they will be disappointed.

Sarah MacFadden (who may be lurking hereabouts) has jewelry on display with Tiffany Peay, opening this Friday. But can she take advantage of publicity for the upcoming Tolkien movie by making magic rings?

Bill, maybe it's none of my business, but I really think you should get this straightened out right away. She seems like a nice girl (if a little on the obsessive side.)

Three of us had dinner at Papillon last night (Hudson & W. 11th.) Probaby it deserves more of a write up then I am going to give it. They've been open about 2 weeks and have not been reviewed yet that I know of. This is the chef from the much hyped but ill fated Atlas (Central Park South) which closed earlier in the year. Evidently the chef went back to Europe, but now is back again in NYC at this much smaller location.

The place gave me a weird feeling at first. You have to enter through the bar next door (which looks like just another bar on Hudson, but is actually part of the restaurant.) Then you go through the back into the actual restaurant. Not a problem, really, but there's something about the layout I don't like. In any case, our waiter was very good, and she quickly turned my intuition from doubtful to hopeful.

The menu is short. Either a two or three course prix fixe (where the third course is either cheese or dessert) for $35 and $45 resepctively. We had a thai spiced pumpkin soup (with a martini glass on the side filled with some crazy pumpkin sorbet concoction,) frog leg salad with some sort of (Atlas signature) foam all over it, and the best item, a langoustine tartar with a crustacean foam and an anchovie (it worked.) We drank a nice Meursault. Other apps included a fois-gras, a mushroom dish, and I think one thing I can't remember. Everything was small (or, not overly large) and well presented. Definitely get the langoustine.

For the main course we had a chicken dish, a stripped bass, and pig cheeks. Pig cheeks got the thumbs up although I didn't indulge. Very rich like the short ribs at 71CFF. The chicken was reportedly cooked to perfection, as was my stripped bass. The bass is all I can comment on really, and it was done well, over a puree of jerusalem artichokes. A big pile of bitter greens on the side was a great touch. Very nice.

And then dessert. Get dessert. Get five. By far the best part of the meal. Three chocolate dishes which the waiter explains with the actual percent of cacao involved. Something called "Wylie's Margarita" which is another one of those crazy foam concoctions involving limes and salt served in a martini glass. It's named after 71CFF chef Wylie who I guess gave them some sort of special lime juice to use (I don't think he knows his name is on the menu though.) If you can wrangle a few words with the pastry chef maybe you can get sent the little sampler we closed with which contained some small cookies and a bunch of strange tasting sugary cubes which completely blew my mind. Oh yeah, and the toasted sugar coated macademia nuts weren't too bad either. Did I mention dessert was the best part?

Anyway, aside from the weird room (which I can't even say why I think it's weird) Papillon is looking good. Very empty last night, so you might want to go soon (before the reviews come.) At $45 it's a pretty good deal for the level of food you get. The wine list seemed small to me, and I had trouble locating a red to start with, but we had a decent rioja with the mains. My guess is they need some help in that area, but I'll have to wait for the more learned opinions on matters of the vine.

Afterwards we walked into the White Horse Tavern where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death, learned of the Yankees loss, and sat for awhile discussing WWIII. The table next to us kept going for the juke box, playing Frank Sinatra over and over: "Start spreadin' the news..." It seemed like everyone thought the Yankees had done well enough. I think the same goes for Papillon.