Don’t worry, the cynicism will return

Programming note:
Light posting over the holidays.  Also, abnormally wistful, sanguine stuff.  After the New Year, expect a return to godfuckingdammit what is the government DOING? Don’t worry, it’ll be back.

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Who we were who we are

Anna Goldberg died a month ago in her West Side co-op, a one-bedroom corner starring a raggedy pull-out couch and a balcony I threw Lego blocks from as a child.  It was a two minute walk from The Ballroom, where Filipe Lombardi brought tapas to America before his premature death, where my mother fell for [...]

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Inspiring holiday stuff

Gainesville State School is located 75 miles north of Dallas, next to a town of 15,000.  It was originally a girls’ school, but became co-ed in1974 and eventually all-male in 1988.  The school offers courses in agriculture, horticulture, welding, and business in addition to the standard high school curriculum.
Gainesville State is also a maximum-security youth [...]

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tropical fruit in war-torn areas brings more jersey-knit than expected

There are many things I love about Barcelona: the Sagrada Familia, their tastier-than-American McDs, the Catalan nationalist, the shopping. My god, the shopping. My little yankee heart did back flips at the sight of a topshop next door to my hotel and damn near exploded when I counted not one, not two, but four Zaras [...]

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Thomas Friedman <3 the 90s!

Readers of the Times could be mistaken for thinking it’s 1992.  What with Ross Perot back in action and a Bush leaving Washington, you can practically bust out the House of Pain.  Sir Thomas Friedman, bearer of the Mustache of Understanding and inspiration for the eponymous Friedman Unit (FU), takes this nonsense to its logical [...]

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Get money get jailed

The now-ubiquitous shoe-hero alleges a severe prison beating as the case reverberates through the Iraqi Parliament.  Meanwhile, the American media jerks itself off laughing about those ungrateful A-Rabs.  Either way, someone’s gettin’ paid.  The previously anonymous “Model 271,” a standard-issue black leather Oxford, is flying off the shelves of its Turkish maker.  Orders have skyrocketed [...]

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Santa’s red suit

For the very special Maoist in your life:
“Maoart paintings integrate with virtuosity real people’s faces into faithfully reproduced propaganda posters. Based on a photograph provided by you and a poster of your choice, an artist renders you as a socialist hero.”
Seriously, check it out.  For 200 bucks, you pick a model poster and send in [...]

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In defense of Susan Rice

A good friend of mine, who knows her stuff upsidedown and backwards, criticized the tone of the incoming U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on issues of poverty and humanitarian relief.  Her argument, including a link to Rice’s article, can be found here.  It’s worth reading, but I strongly disagree with it.  I was going to post [...]

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Meet Joseph Cao

For the National Republican Congressional Committee, Anh “Joseph” Cao was a diamond in a shitpile.  The 41-year old Vietnamese lawyer, (pronounced “Gow”), knocked off scandal-plagued Democratic incumbent William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson in a bright blue, majority black district.  Cao’s three point victory made him the first Vietnamese-American in Congress, and the NRCC immediately trumpeted his [...]

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Something lighter

What if the song actually described the video?

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