so happy the end is near, for i was near the end....

NYTimes 3* tonight and it was my #1 dis(h)apointment for 2003,
service the pits, i cant even say how much i am unhappy with the food....

diet begin's at the end of a 66 lunch, sunday 9/28....

SFA Wards Soon....
has anyone ever seen careful? steve, you must see this. we caught part of it the other night and unfortunately weren't able to finish watching, but i'm hoping it comes on again. from imdb:

Best described as a combination of "The Wizard of Oz" and "Eraserhead," "Careful" is a wacked-out tale of repression and unnatural desires, set in an alpine village where no one can speak too loudly for fear of starting an avalanche. Hilarious and sinister, "Careful" is also one of the most visually arresting films I've ever seen, with impossibly rosy-cheeked characters inhabiting a hallucinatory dream world of intentionally fake sets and intense easter-egg pastels. Watching it you will feel like you've stepped into the middle of a Ricola ad gone horribly, horribly wrong.
failure...
I saw the new Richard Sera installation at Gagosian Gallery yesterday. This probably sounds like hyperbole, but it is the greatest thing I have ever seen. I'd love to check it out again if anyone wants to go.

Here's the Gagosian Gallery site. Annoying use of flash makes it impossible for me to link directly to the Sera page, but if you click on Artists / Exhibitions and then Current you can then select Serra. Up through October 25th. 555 West 24th Street.
360 in redhook
excelent to see the recent minority opinion posts by bj. (and the responses)
Bao Noodles on 391 2nd Ave was fantastic, tried 12 dishes inc a free fresh shrimp dish, all very authentic, all clean, best Viet food NYC has ever had IMHO....3*.....cold has won but strangly its not effecting my taste, just my energy....
flugtag?
this is supposed to me my last week pre diet. tonight at Kai was super again, the crew left with huge smiles, i fought the cold till the end, but I bet it wins tommorow.....action packed week may have to be cut back....

"'Right now, the question has to be asked, does American film have even a remote bearing on the amazing and troubling realities of American life?' says Thomson. ' Is there someone out there who could make an ambitious and extraordinary film about the end of the American empire? I think that someone is either Paul Thomas Anderson or Quentin Tarantino. Thomas Anderson hinted at that epic scope with Magnolia, but so far Tarantino has only been epic in style. He certainly has that [Howard] Hawksian ability to tie narratives together, no question. I really think he could make the big film we all want him to, but, in order to do that, he would have to apply his sensibility and his extraordinary narrative command to truly serious social subject matter.' "
Cross posted from artifax page: Baghdad journal.
MB found this: Baghdad journal.
Some exploit. Norton flagged two emails in my inbox this morning. One from "MS Corporation Internet Security Division" Subject "Critical Security Upgrade" (complete with virus-bearing attachment), the second a "bounce-back" from Microsoft Email Server. The bounce-back is a spoof which doesn't actually come from the Beast of Redmond, but piques the recipient's curiosity just enough to open another virus-bearing attachment. (same or different?)

Didn't open the attachments, don't yetr know what the virus(es) is/are, but quite a clever one-two punch for those who do open them.
remember me?
the gift of giving.
Should we have a political page, or are these posts okay here?
Could this work with Israel and Palestine? I really don't know. Probably the hard parts are too hidden under the "get some really smart people to work out the details" part of the proposal. And of course I don't like the sound of how much the U.S. would have to (militarily?) force this on both sides. But frankly I haven't heard any other plans that even seem worth considering. So could this work? Bypassing Sharon and Arafat and taking it right to the people seems like genius. What am I missing?
Mark, I found the California Governor candidate for you: Georgy Russell. I think she can get out the vote. Or at least 50% of it.
Rant time again.

Does Tom Friedman annoy other people as much as he does me? It's like he's always right, no matter how many times he changes his opinion. Saw him on Charlie Rose a few days ago. He was blasting the Bush administration for how things are going in Iraq. True enough. But he also feels compelled to explain how he wasn't wrong for being in support of the war initally, because if the administration had just done things correctly it would have worked out.

This is completely ridiculous logic.

It should have been obvious that this administration would not do things correctly. And everyone who was for the war (for arguably sound reasons, even if I don't agree with them) was wrong for the same reason. Not because the war was absolutely wrong (although I think it was - but again this is arguable,) but because it was so clear that Bush and company would screw it up. Not predicting this obvious and horrendous outcome was a serious error, and I can't see how any reasonably honest person can say different.

You thought Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld had a good plan for helping the Iraqi people? Time to admit you were wrong Tom.
so la cote basque is closing next year. i've never eaten there. worth a trip just to see how the old school did it?
Notes from Amsterdam.

Ak47 at the Green house (adjacent to the Grand hotel) is a very worthwhile acquisition.

Fish restaurant adjacent to the Rai called Viasaandescheide (or something similar) quite worthy. Had the grilled seabream.

I was cheezed off at the wifi company doing service at the Rai. Flakey service. Very limited area of coverage. But they say I won Sony Clie Peg-ux50 in their daily drawing. All is forgiven.

Flashmob incident: Not a FlashMob(tm), but a something related. A group of highschool(?) girls assembled around the obelisk in Dam Square, posted a banner marked "a. a. '03-'04" and heartily sang. They weren't organized in the sense of having rehersed, but they were organized in the sense of being enthused. They sang in a vaguely northern European tongue, but I can't say if it was Dutch.
#12 at wd~50 was almost all new, two tasters of item's to come both fish both full on yummy, had the new lamb for the 2nd time and the new squab yah baby!!, 4 new desserts....so after 5 to 6 months open, still plenty to eat even for a frequent eater, rock on wylie, sam and team.....
gothamist recounts favorite moments from 10 years of conan o'brien.

myself and one other "at large" denizen of the tree also alit upon this isle 10 years ago this week with little more than a plastic container half-filled with change and a dream (or two). im still waiting to awaken from the dream filled with change, but as plastic containers go, it hasnt been half bad.

Then understood-everything was explained : I had discovered the crowning error of the city, its Pandora's box. Full of vaunting pride the New Yorker had climbed here and seen with dismay what he had never suspected, that the city was not the endless succession of canyons that he had supposed but that it had limits -- from the tallest structure he saw for the first time that it faded out into the country on all sides, into an expanse of green and blue that alone was limitless. And with the awful realization that New York was a city after all and not a universe, the whole shining edifice that he had reared in his imagination came crashing to the ground.
ate some NJ food this weekend, very nice hoggie's and a tasty cheese steak sandwich, a place called Smittie's (sp?) had some tasty fry slaw etc the motto on the cute server girls shit read "You cant lick out clam's".....