P042909CK-0021, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream. From a Flickr commenter: I really appreciate the behind-the-scenes pictures. We hardly ever see photos of the White House staffers who keep things going – the butlers, secretaries, floor-polishers. Work is dignified and everybody who does work has dignity. Publishing these photos means the White House … Continue reading Official White House Flickr
“Lee sources his perfectly clear, superdense, supercold two-inch-by-two-inch cubes from a Queens ice-carving studio, where they’re whittled down from 300-pound blocks. They cost Lee a dollar a cube, and if your drink comes on the rocks, they’ll cost you the same.” [New York magazine] Continue reading I am going to open an ‘ice-carving studio’
Restaurateur and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio has introduced several new gimmicks at Craft in recent months. First, in November 2008, it was Tom Tuesday Dinners, in which, as one wag pointed out, (and I’m paraphrasing) “It’s gotten to the point that it’s news when a chef actually cooks at his own restaurant now.” In January, he announced Damon: Frugal Friday, partnering with his executive chef, Damon Wise, in offering an all-$10 menu. The latest bit to come down the pike (in early February) is Halfsteak, which Ed Levine pronounced “half good” on Serious Eats New York (Tom Colicchio’s Halfsteak Is Half Good).
Now that Colicchio has set the precedent and I’ve set the stage for you, I am pleased to announce my own clandestine restaurant concepts (I’m also capitalizing on the “secret dining” trend). Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… Continue reading “My new restaurant-in-restaurant concepts”
I was robbed. My New Yorker Caption Contest photo was far superior to any of these. As C. says, “You should do a write-in vote. Yours was way better and incorporated a bunch of New Yorkers’ (the people, not the magazine) favorite things: Jewish people who eat Chinese food on holidays.” My caption was, “Do … Continue reading ‘New Yorker’ caption contest: I was robbed
Looks like the Chia Obama Chia Pets are shipping. I received an email this morning from drugstore.com that mine had gone out. Not more than an hour later, UPS showed up with my Determined Pose Chia Obama. It’s blurry, but the gold band in the second photo here says “Full growth in 1 to 2 … Continue reading Chia Obama Now Shipping
The production was pretty cool. With video projections and what not. The militaristic set—I think the Times described it as “equal parts abbatoir, hospital, and dungeon”—reminded me a lot of the Stargate planet Kelowna and the Stargate Atlantis civilization of the Genai—both militaristic people using technology and design reminiscent of the ’40s. Everything happened on … Continue reading On Seeing ‘MacBeth’ with Patrick Stewart
While in Milwaukee this weekend, C. and I somehow got on the subject of Milwaukee bands—and how we couldn’t think of any. I just hit up the Wikipedia Musical Groups from Wisconsin list. Here are the ones from Milwaukee that I’d heard of prior to scanning that list: The BoDeans: Officially from Waukesha, but played … Continue reading Bands from Milwaukee
[via Sullivan] Continue reading T-mobile dance at Liverpool Street Station
When: February 21 to March 21 Where: Max Lang Gallery, 229 Tenth Avenue, New York NY 10011 (b/n 23rd and 24th; map) Justin forwarded this exhibit info to me. Looks interesting. From the wankery art-speak press release: The artists in this unique exhibition are documenting and navigating this historic moment with open eyes and bold … Continue reading Art: ‘China Now, The Edge of Desire’
I can relate all too well with this tweet by Jason Kottke. Being first is always nice, but it is equally nice to get some sleep, to actually go out and do things IRL, and to not worry about ephemeral crap that no one will care about 24 hours from now—or indeed two hours from … Continue reading F1rst!
“Hey, you never responded to my friend request on Going.” Hey, that’s because I don’t know you, and I don’t want to join yet another social-networking site. Also, that’s a really passive-aggressive follow-up email. I didn’t respond to the request to join weeks ago. What makes you think I want another reminder? STFU, Going. This … Continue reading Going.com has the most obnoxious join-up email
[via @effedparkslope] Continue reading 100 days, 100 songs, 100 locations, 100 dances
This kinda makes me sad. Brownstoner says that “Serious Eats checked in on the place …” when in fact it was Slice that did the checkin’ in. I know that Slice is now a part of Serious Eats, but it still sort of hurts seeing your baby get sat on by a big ol’ elephant. … Continue reading Slice losing mindshare?
And I’ll quote from a great essay on Twitter that I just read today [my emphasis]: “But Rands, I need to follow this person, but they won’t shut up.” There’s a legitimate complaint here. I’m certain there’s a sensible feature request based on this complaint, like “Please don’t show me tweets contain RT or @” … Continue reading Leave, follow, or get out of the way
The Computer Store, originally uploaded by jschumacher Continue reading ‘The Computer Store’
I love that Flickr user Hitachi GST favorited this photo. Do you know what happened to this hard drive? IT FAILED. Less than a year after I installed it. Then guess what? I ordered a new Hitachi hard drive for my MacBook. That one failed, too. I then ordered a TOSHIBA HD to replace the … Continue reading Hitachi Travelstar 2.5-inch hard drive FAIL
I’m not picking on Gothamist, because this isn’t really their fault, but the standard password-recovery system that Movable Type (G’mist’s blogging app—and ours at Serious Eats) uses to send you your lost cypher is a bit logic-challenged. In order to get my password, I have to remember my username and some secret recovery phrase I … Continue reading Crazy password-recovery system
Dennis Brown’s “Things in Life” is one of my favorite songs ever. It came up on the iTunes today and I figured I’d blog about it. I first heard it in Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, where a bar owner plays it on his jukebox. As much as WKW gets props for his visual style … Continue reading Dennis Brown, ‘Things in Life’
This bad Russian food styling item on Serious Eats was probably my favorite weird-ass thing on the site all day. I only wish more people would have been into it. I mean, look at it. WTF?!? Continue reading Bad Russian food styling
I just saw blog impresario Lockhart Steele tweet about the New York All Media Bowling League. Seems like it’s back on after a long hiatus.
But I would like to point your attention to the original New York Media Bowling League, aka NYMBL (pronounced nimble).
I’ve stupidly failed to keep archives of all my hatchback.net site designs, but above is a screenshot from archive.org of a May 2002 iteration of what once served as my personal site.
The original NYMBL predated the All Media Bowling League by a good four years. At the height of its powers, NYMBL boasted six member teams—Martha Stewart Living, Jane magazine (RIP), Bon Appétit, Blender, Us Weekly, and YM (RIP). Continue reading “The original New York Media Bowling League”