November 2008
“If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then these kinds of Halloween get-ups...”
– Gawker, assessing the “sad mechanicals” category of costume.
“the Build Up”
Kings of Convenience...
Watchsynchronized talking points from the three presidential debates. outstanding. (via everywhere.)
October 2008
“I felt a genuine gayness from Sean Penn”
– Hollywood Elsewhere, reviewing Milk. (via vulture). Quote of the Week. I’m pretty sure that line will be right on top of the poster and full-page advertisements for this one.
“mockritariat”
– Tom Kuntz coined in a post about a post about what happens if Obama wins. [nyt] How quickly we forget that the Daily Show was funny(ier) during the end of the Clinton years.
“Photography, in other words, is an inherently compromised art...”
– A.O. Scott, in a 1999 essay about Richard Avedon [slate]
dodgeball backup plan →
So, I guess we are doing this now? I’m not in love with the service, but the iPhone app is nice and it works nicely with SMS codes; so let me know if you need a BrightKite invitation. Unsurprisingly, you can find my lightly-utilized account at brightkite.com/people/joshc
ground game in the sky →
Last week, maybe, for the first time in I don’t know how long I surprised myself and felt optimistic about the election. This was mostly in the context of thinking about when to go to election night parties (probably the Stranger’s at the Showbox) and worrying that if it didn’t start until six (it now starts at 4) then the election might be over before the party started.
Then,...
to the Corcoran, and step on it. →
Seeing the Avedon exhibition before leaving DC. The entire collection (“Portraits of Power” [corcoran]) is just overwhelmingly awe-inducing — a few of the images might even fulfill the beautiful, great, and kind trifecta. Of them all, though, the little corner with Vietnam correspondents Gloria Emerson and Denis Cameron (backstory [ajb].)next to a poet/teacher Wendy Wilder...
runners →
watching a high-heeled sprint on 17th & Q NW near DuPont Circle in Washington DC
WatchWALNUTs’s cateyed bride gets the Onion treatment : Cindy McCain Claims She’s ‘Just Like Any Other Female Human’ : ”she talked about … herding livestock with her mind.” [onn, consistently funnier fake news than the daily show, via salon]
another sunny day →
On Thursday we went to Artemis, a newish outpost on the Northwestern reaches of Capitol Hill with cleverly-named cocktails that I couldn’t stop ordering. One, called “the Presbyterian” was a whiskey ginger except made with freshly crushed ginger, making it spicy and oddly chunky. Another had Aviator gin and thus referenced Amelia Earhart. Unsurprisingly I woke up on Friday with...
“The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the...”
– excerpt from the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. [wikipedia] Luckily, simulations suggest that this year, an electoral tie is very unlikely (0.4%). [fivethirtyeight]
“The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever...”
– says a guy who, um, gets paid to be a part of that bilgy flood. The crux of Paul Boutin’s [wired via fimoculous] argument is that you can’t get famous anymore with a personal weblog, so why not do your personal expressionizing in a setting where at least you won’t get flamed....
kings of leon →
the usual Kings of Leon narrative is that they’re wildly more popular in the UK and less adored in these United States. If the devotion on display at the Paramount was any indication, their fortunes have changed or the overseas fanbase is just unbearable.
“fancy kids straight out of college decide, “Let’s move to Northern Virginia to...”
– Jim Newell, explaining the real origins of fake Virginia. [Wonkette] I love Wonkette during election season.
weekly updating: debate, movie, parties →
In the last week I squeezed into a bar, under a giant television, accompanied by cheap drinks, spanish fries, and a neighborhood of politically obsessed debate watchers to see that final faceoff between Obama and Skeletor as moderated by feisty relationship counselor Bob Schieffer. I went home fairly early to watch the talking heads dissect the proceedings, grunts, smiles, and plumbers before...
“You Swan, Go On”
Mount Eerie with...
early and often →
King County sent out its absentee ballots this week. Mine arrived tonight.
WatchI think I heard a first draft of a concession speech in there. (via Slate, McCain and Obama at the Al Smith Dinner last night [nyt]. They’re actually very funny and you might even maybe hints at the first draft of a concession speech.)
Catbird Political Infographic, 10/16/08
catbird:
I don’t think this is strictly true. Obama might get Colorado and North Carolina and McCain might take Azerbaijan, Albania, or Yemen.
“What a lot of sanitation activists are saying is that we have to make people...”
– Rose George, talking shit. [salon]
“It was bad. I saw girls out there crying. Literally crying!”
– Erika Christensen, describing the scene outside the Diesel Anniversary party. [vulture]
yes, i'm complaining that the decrepit neighbor... →
Two years later and my upstairs neighbor seems to have returned after a prolonged absence. His asthmatic dog is gone, but it now sounds like he’s dragging furniture around the floors at all hours.
“But it’s hard to resist the urge to pick a particular kind of animal as...”
– Christine Kenneally, appraising the current crop of English language books about the English language. [slate].
someone in stockholm doesn't like the president... →
Paul Krugman wins the extra Nobel for Economics. [nyt]
weekend digest →
On Friday we went to the Buck, the latest of the Olive Way revival, to have drinks and play with plastic cowboys. It’s a lot less cluttered and crowded than their other places, but is definitely part of the Bleu Bistro family. Later, the Redwood was packed smelling like a woodsy cabin on account of their heating system.
Saturday, I checked out part of the Bigfoot Conference, had coffee at...
“I miss the old American public that was too busy shopping to worry about the...”
– None of this is remotely OK. It makes the economic collase less horrifying in comparison though. wait… what???
(via thisisareallybadidea) (via maura)
“Slow Show”
the National —...