I guess that everything is better wherever you are

The war on fat has just crossed a major red line. The Los Angeles City Council has passed an ordinance prohibiting construction of new fast-food restaurants in a 32-square-mile area inhabited by 500,000 low-income people. We’re not talking anymore about preaching diet and exercise, disclosing calorie counts, or restricting sodas in schools. We’re talking about [...]

can it be the casanova speech therapy that heavily puts the flavor right where it should be?

“Ever sift sand through a screen?” she asked. The tangential slash of her question shocked his mind into a higher awareness. – Frank Herbert, Dune I had about four minutes to go, three blocks from my front door, when the girl in the blue T-shirt and worn clipboard spotted me. “Hi?” she asked, dropping her [...]

president gas is up for president

Time to talk politics. First, hitting up the Opposition Party, Radley Balko has a few questions for Barack Obama: In your autobiography, you admit to using marijuana and cocaine in high school and college. Yet you largely support the federal drug war — a change from several years ago when you said you’d be open [...]

nat turner with the sickle, pitchfork and machete

Could someone with more street cred than I explain the appeal of Lil’ Wayne? He has the most mediocre flow of any mainstream rapper I’ve heard in months, combined with the voice of the pimple-faced teenager from The Simpsons. Compress Lil’ John by 80% and hit him in the face with a plugged-in iron and [...]

yeah, flipmode; flipmode the greatest

I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum for the first time this Sunday, taking Rachel V. as a birthday present. My impressions: the first floor felt a little cluttered, though the courtyard looked pristine. The second and third floors looked stately and impressive. The curators have labeled almost none of the pieces, leaving the audience [...]

all of her lovers, they talk of her notes and the flowers that they never sent

Overstuffed media blow. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: I unwittingly joined the Oprah Book Club by picking up this one up used. A fantastically nuanced portrait of the immense loneliness a person can feel even in the heart of civilization. The fact that McCullers wrote this at age 23 will astound me, and probably [...]

am I coming through? am I coming through?

Though you have to scan in to enter the fitness center near my office, you can walk right out the back with no trouble. The back door communicates directly to my office, so I always slip out that way. A big sign on the door reads Caution Emergency Exit Alarm Will Sound, but it never [...]

if I had a million dollars

A random sampling of The Joy of Tech tells me it’s not very funny, but this comic specifically made me laugh aloud: (Also: sorry for getting a Barenaked Ladies song stuck in your head. I don’t normally forgive that behavior in others, and I understand if you don’t forgive me)

my heart is like an open highway

If you already have a list of potential Christmas presents for me, note down the following: An Unbreakable Umbrella: The security entourage of the President of the Philippines carries these. The Unbreakable Umbrella can support the weight of a full-grown man and acts as a fully functioning umbrella. It will pass through any metal detector [...]

groovy, groovy, jazzy, funky

Having talked about The Dark Knight at length, I will now talk about all the trailers I saw before The Dark Knight. The Spirit: Holy hell, this looks like the worst movie ever. It takes a real piece of work like Frank Miller to look at the 40-year history of Will Eisner’s most celebrated character [...]