captain creepy
Greenspan's economics Ph.D possibly BS?
florent, the beloved Meatpacking District hangout set to close this summer after almost twenty three years in business, will at least be going out in style, according to Frank Bruni, who spoke with owner Florent Morellet yesterday. The bistro's long goodbye will last five weeks, with each week dedicated to one of the Kubler-Ross stages of grief. Week One, starting Monday, May 26, will be Denial, with the remaining four weeks themed as Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
Each theme week will have special dishes, decor and performances by familiar faces like burlesque star Dirty Martini, all leading up to a big sad send-off on June 29th, Gay Pride Day. The Post also mentions a writing contest in which entrants would share their favorite Florent memory, with the winner getting a free dinner on the last night. Morellet tells Bruni:
So many of our customers are either at the stage of Anger or Denial. Some are just in a state of shock. We’re going to gather together to go through those stages and celebrate those stages, and end with a bang, and with irony, which we’ve always done.
The quirky French bistro – housed in an old diner that was a speakeasy in the ‘20s and a favorite greasy spoon for longshoremen and meatpackers in the ‘50s – has become even more cherished in recent years as a corrective to the fratastic Bridge and Tunnel scene dominating the neighborhood. The closure is caused by the increasingly repetitive groove in New York’s broken record: obscene real estate prices. Once Morellet vacates, the lease will jump from $6,000 to $50,000 per month; odds are the new tenant won’t be operating an idiosyncratic bistro.
Each theme week will have special dishes, decor and performances by familiar faces like burlesque star Dirty Martini, all leading up to a big sad send-off on June 29th, Gay Pride Day. The Post also mentions a writing contest in which entrants would share their favorite Florent memory, with the winner getting a free dinner on the last night. Morellet tells Bruni:
So many of our customers are either at the stage of Anger or Denial. Some are just in a state of shock. We’re going to gather together to go through those stages and celebrate those stages, and end with a bang, and with irony, which we’ve always done.
The quirky French bistro – housed in an old diner that was a speakeasy in the ‘20s and a favorite greasy spoon for longshoremen and meatpackers in the ‘50s – has become even more cherished in recent years as a corrective to the fratastic Bridge and Tunnel scene dominating the neighborhood. The closure is caused by the increasingly repetitive groove in New York’s broken record: obscene real estate prices. Once Morellet vacates, the lease will jump from $6,000 to $50,000 per month; odds are the new tenant won’t be operating an idiosyncratic bistro.
Signed up for ZipCar on Monday night and rented a car (a Mini) for a couple hours yesterday. Very slick operation. Almost no friction. Seriously couldn't be easier. I really wonder about what percentage of cars / customers / transactions give them problems? Seems like a potential nightmare for them, but I hope it's not and I hope they make it. Highly recommended. I pay $50 a year, plus a $25 one time sign up fee. Then I can reserve cars at a specific location, for a specific number of hours, and it starts around $8/hour. I think the mini was $11. Gas, parking, and tolls included.
I might have posted this before, but in case not: rotating hypercube animated gif.
Newshoggers have a new address. Even though Dave had them in the sidebar already I just recently found them (note to self: check out Dave's links more thoroughly.) Can we update that one? They seem to have some really good Iraq insight.
fallen off my movie notes. thought The Ballad of Jack and Rose was worth a mention. not a great film but some quality acting as always from daniel day lewis, whose wife wrote and directed the film, and up and comer, camilla belle. and what indie film would be worth its salt without katherine keener?
Grant Achatz and Heston Blumenth interviewed about their new cookbooks:
As chefs of two of the world’s most influential, risk-taking restaurants, Grant Achatz and Heston Blumenthal are often compared to one another. Now, it turns out, Achatz’s Alinea Book and Blumenthal’s Big Fat Duck Cookbook are scheduled for release within a week of each other this fall—and they have taken very similar approaches to translating their cuisines into print. Gourmet’s Christy Harrison spoke with the chefs about the writing process, the audiences they hope to reach with their books, and their feelings about the term “molecular gastronomy.”
lesser known classic of the french new wave cleo from 5 to 7 on ifc twice today.
PG&E to announce biggest solar-power deals in its history
Mojave desert, motorized mirrors, steam turbine.
Mojave desert, motorized mirrors, steam turbine.
Hydrogen highway stuck in slow lane
Despite governor's backing, program for fueling stations makes little progress
Despite governor's backing, program for fueling stations makes little progress
Still kicking, Still Mad
eat drink man woman on indipplex now
Wow. Wait for it to load and then move your mouse around. Cool and freaky all in one. I think this might be climbing up the far side of the uncanny valley. CGI porn is going to be huge I think (link has nothing to do with porn of course.)
Bill James on 60 minutes tonight.
Josh has some thoughts on a WaPo interview with Clinton. She appears to be saying she will stay in until the convention where she'll fight to try to seat Florida and Michigan. The conventional wisdom is that this drawn out democratic primary hurts the dems. But suddenly I'm not so sure.
My one horse race belief that hasn't changed throughout this entire show is that Clinton's negatives, while obviously quite high, are still under reported. A lot of people really hate her. It doesn't exactly make sense, but anecdotally this is what I have found. And it's why I've always been against nominating her (in a year when otherwise republican turnout might be quite low.)
But maybe her staying in the race actually helps Obama. Especially if it's real nasty and comes down to spilling some blood on the convention floor. Obviously this will dominate the news. And my new feeling is that all the Clinton haters out there will be drawn, like magic, into empathizing with Obama. This is going to be a lot of independent swing voters and center leaning republicans. They want to see Clinton go down. If they need to vote for McCain to do it, they will. But if Obama can do it, especially after a long fight in which it looks like she might actually pull it out, then he'll be the hero. And he really will have beaten her in a final way since I don't think she's viable in 2012 or 2016 if she really drags the party through this all the way to the convention. She's rolling the dice very big, burning all her bridges, and if she fails then it's over. I could even imagine her losing her Senate seat (okay, probably not.)
You can probably tell I haven't thought this through so much yet, but what do you think? Is Clinton hatred really that strong? Can a long fight with Obama actually rally people to his side rather than tear the party apart? The more outrageous, nasty, and underhanded her campaign appears to be, the better for Obama? He'll be the one who killed the wicked witch.
Again, note, I don't think *I* have Clinton Derangement Syndrome. I like all of her domestic policies. I'm just saying I think CDS is real, and can move a lot of votes one way or the other.
Or to say it all the other way: if Obama had won NH and just swept to the nomination, I think he'd inherit a lot of the anti-dem feelings that are out there. But since these anti-dem feelings have their strongest manifestation as anti-Clinton feelings, by engaging in a long bloody struggle and beating her Obama actually becomes a hero to these anti-dem forces and picks up a lot of middle ground votes that might otherwise have gone to McCain.
My one horse race belief that hasn't changed throughout this entire show is that Clinton's negatives, while obviously quite high, are still under reported. A lot of people really hate her. It doesn't exactly make sense, but anecdotally this is what I have found. And it's why I've always been against nominating her (in a year when otherwise republican turnout might be quite low.)
But maybe her staying in the race actually helps Obama. Especially if it's real nasty and comes down to spilling some blood on the convention floor. Obviously this will dominate the news. And my new feeling is that all the Clinton haters out there will be drawn, like magic, into empathizing with Obama. This is going to be a lot of independent swing voters and center leaning republicans. They want to see Clinton go down. If they need to vote for McCain to do it, they will. But if Obama can do it, especially after a long fight in which it looks like she might actually pull it out, then he'll be the hero. And he really will have beaten her in a final way since I don't think she's viable in 2012 or 2016 if she really drags the party through this all the way to the convention. She's rolling the dice very big, burning all her bridges, and if she fails then it's over. I could even imagine her losing her Senate seat (okay, probably not.)
You can probably tell I haven't thought this through so much yet, but what do you think? Is Clinton hatred really that strong? Can a long fight with Obama actually rally people to his side rather than tear the party apart? The more outrageous, nasty, and underhanded her campaign appears to be, the better for Obama? He'll be the one who killed the wicked witch.
Again, note, I don't think *I* have Clinton Derangement Syndrome. I like all of her domestic policies. I'm just saying I think CDS is real, and can move a lot of votes one way or the other.
Or to say it all the other way: if Obama had won NH and just swept to the nomination, I think he'd inherit a lot of the anti-dem feelings that are out there. But since these anti-dem feelings have their strongest manifestation as anti-Clinton feelings, by engaging in a long bloody struggle and beating her Obama actually becomes a hero to these anti-dem forces and picks up a lot of middle ground votes that might otherwise have gone to McCain.
I don't know for sure, but this sounds like an authentic blog from Baghdad detailing the fighting there for the last few days.
Alex was predicting this sort of meeting of the minds along time ago:
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia — head of one of the most oppressive regimes in the world — has said that atheism is a “frightening phenomenon that must be vanquished”. He made the threat during a speech in which he called for dialogue between all monotheistic religions.
"I ask representatives of all the monotheistic religions to meet with their brothers in faith," Abdullah told delegates to a seminar on "Dialogue Among Civilizations between Japan and the Islamic World," according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). “If God wills it, we will then meet with our brothers from other religions, including those of the Torah and the Gospel... to come up with ways to safeguard humanity," he added.
A simple explanation for something I've wondered about:
Why, some wonder, is the U.S. closer to the Iran-backed ISCI and Badr Brigades than it is with the Sadrites? Why does this make sense? Two Baghdad political veterans have ruefully pointed out to Abu Muqawama that while Sadr has more popular support, the ISCI crowd have something more valuable: they speak English. One former State Department veteran with whom Abu Muqawama spoke a few months ago pointed out that former Iraq honcho Meghan O'Sullivan was particularly vulnerable to falling under the sway of those politicians who didn't just speak in that confusing gutteral language where they write from right to left in co-joined letters. Ergo: they speak English, so they must be our friends! Hoo-ray, democracy!
what a great idea. drawers in stairs.
Bush: Iraq is returning to normal.
Oh thank God, finally, Mission Accomplished.
Excellent work Mr. President.
What a whack job. He is clearly determined to stick rusty nails in our psyches to the very end.
Oh thank God, finally, Mission Accomplished.
Excellent work Mr. President.
What a whack job. He is clearly determined to stick rusty nails in our psyches to the very end.
