tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22178191523424767862024-03-14T05:16:41.187-04:00The Bonhomie PageFriendly Curios and Block Quotes A-Plentybonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.comBlogger188125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-77891106408176068492008-08-07T09:11:00.014-04:002008-08-10T01:59:51.219-04:00Good Night, and Good Luck.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-830.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v217/223/42/1525830/n1525830_36830720_6946.jpg"><br /><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://photos-830.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v217/223/42/1525830/n1525830_36830720_6946.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Kindhearted readers, I bear sad news. Earlier this week the highest of the higher-ups at my place of employment released a memorandum officially decreeing it against company policy for employees to maintain blogs such as this one (to be clear: blogs of the semi-anonymous, semi-personal, link-heavy, sometimes opinionated, current-events-driven, politically mouthy, and generally frivolous variety). In the days and hours since its distribution to all employees, the new policy has been republished on several industry sites and has been the subject of much internal and external discussion. Prior to this, blogging guidelines at my office had been vague at best; it seemed safe to assume that my particular brand of bonhomie was a low-risk recreational endeavor. Several months ago, however, the controversial(-ish) personal blog posts of one worker bee on my floor brought the issue to the fore. The perp was promptly fired, and ta-da: A new no-blog bottom line emerged. What I'm getting at is that in the interest of bread and butter, I've decided it's best to not attempt to <a href="http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/">have my cake and eat it too,</a> or something like that, <a href="http://www.wellnessletter.com/html/fw/fwNut03Carbs.html">so to speak</a>. Until circumstances change, I'm putting this menagerie of friendly curios to sleep. But in the meantime, fear not -- I'll be channeling the energies that once made their way onto this page into raucous emails to the likes of you, old-school pen-and paper diary entries, and a couple of creative projects I've been meaning to get around to for some time. (And, I suppose, my "day job.") At any rate, be well, do good work and keep in touch.bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-12701871423455952512008-08-04T01:13:00.008-04:002008-08-04T01:30:44.355-04:00Piano Tops, Flying Slippers, and Dymaxionmania<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/images/capture1119200411555_am.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/images/capture1119200411555_am.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>A few months ago, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/09/080609fa_fact_kolbert">Elizabeth Kolbert had a thoroughly enjoyable article about Buckminster Fuller in The New Yorker</a>. Here's a paragraph from that piece that highlights just why this fellow was a through-and-through eccentric genius:<div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">In addition to flying cars, he imagined mass-produced bathrooms that could be installed like refrigerators; underwater settlements that would be restocked by submarine; and floating communities that, along with all their inhabitants, would hover among the clouds. Most famously, he dreamed up the geodesic dome. “If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top . . . that comes along makes a fortuitous life preserver,” Fuller once wrote. “But this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think that we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday’s fortuitous contrivings.” Fuller may have spent his life inventing things, but he claimed that he was not particularly interested in inventions. He called himself a “comprehensive, anticipatory design scientist”—a “comprehensivist,” for short—and believed that his task was to innovate in such a way as to benefit the greatest number of people using the least amount of resources. “My objective was humanity’s comprehensive success in the universe” is how he once put it. “I could have ended up with a pair of flying slippers.”</span></blockquote></div><div>Though I wasn't able to mobilize myself to make it out to any of the <a href="http://www.bfi.org/our_programs/events/join_us_for_buckminster_fuller_celebrations_in_nyc_in_june">Buckminster Fuller Institute lectures/celebrations in June</a>, I finally did head to the Whitney this weekend to take a look at the <a href="http://www.whitney.org/www/buckminster_fuller/about.jsp">very cool Fuller exhibit</a> on display there. (If you can't make it to the museum, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/06/09/slideshow_080609_fuller?slide=1#showHeader">this slideshow</a> hits some of the highlighted photographs and sketches that were on display).<br /></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-53849838040027165972008-07-30T18:31:00.007-04:002008-08-04T01:12:54.979-04:00Go Obama!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-07/41233749.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-07/41233749.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div>Here's a bit of Hendrik Hertzberg's commentary on Barack Obama's "world tour" <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/08/04/080804taco_talk_hertzberg">in this week's New Yorker</a>: </div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Obama gained nothing in the polls during his nearly flawless, arguably triumphant grand tour. Still, after seven years during which, even among our closest allies, contempt for Bush bled into resentment of the country that returned him to office, one would have to be an awful grouch not to be gratified by the sight of a sea of delighted Europeans waving American flags instead of burning them and cheering an American politician instead of demonstrating against one.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br />Back home, one such grouch had ample reason to be grouchy. McCain’s luck last week was as bad as Obama’s was good. McCain rode in a golf cart with Bush senior; Obama rode in a helicopter with General David Petraeus. Obama was hailed by the German multitudes; McCain, his planned photo op at an offshore rig preëmpted by an oil spill and rained out by Hurricane Dolly, held a press gaggle in front of Schmidt’s Fudge Haus, in Columbus, Ohio. Obama got a big kiss (“Obama? C’est mon copain!”) from the new President of France, a dashing conservative with an exotic background and an unusual name; McCain stood athwart the cheese aisle of a supermarket, complaining.</span></div></blockquote><div></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-3648816774547830722008-07-28T23:41:00.011-04:002008-08-04T10:07:36.490-04:00The Apartment<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Apartment_60.jpg/200px-Apartment_60.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Apartment_60.jpg/200px-Apartment_60.jpg" border="0" /></a>Speaking of public spectacles, I made it out to see <span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic">The Apartment</span> at Bryant Park as part of HBO's Monday night movie screenings. It was excellent. If you haven't seen it before (and why wouldn't you have? it only came out 48 years ago), here's an excerpt from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C01EFD91638EF32A25755C1A9609C946191D6CF">the original New York Times review</a> to whet your appetite:<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><blockquote>YOU might not think a movie about a fellow who lends his rooms to the married executives of his office as a place for their secret love affairs would make a particularly funny or morally presentable show, especially when the young fellow uses the means to get advanced in his job.<br /><br />But under the clever supervision of Billy Wilder, who helped to write the script, then produced and directed "The Apartment," which opened at the Astor and the Plaza yesterday, the idea is run into a gleeful, tender and even sentimental film. And it is kept on the side of taste and humor by the grand performance of Jack Lemmon in the principal role.</blockquote></span><div>That's right. Taste and humor and one more elusive quality, ladies and gentlemen -- timelessness. What's great about <span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic">The Apartment</span> is that nearly 5 decades later, it retains just enough of the right cultural signposts to still resonate with an urban audience. The (mostly young, tipsy) Bryant Park crowd responded loudly when Jack Lemmon's Buddy Boy confessed what he paid for rent for his place in the Upper West Side. And Shirley MacLaine's sharpest lines (addressed to a lover) got a similar reaction. Apparently some things about 1960s New York are pretty much the same today -- like the desirability of prime real estate, the rituals of corporate culture, the hazards of dating, and the versatile wisdom of McLaine's final sweet words to Lemmon: "Shut up and deal." </div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-8453936186217603232008-07-25T20:06:00.007-04:002008-08-01T03:45:49.462-04:00Crowd Control<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.afropop.org/img/world_music/african_music/afropop/Summer_2007Ozomatli_3_crowd.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.afropop.org/img/world_music/african_music/afropop/Summer_2007Ozomatli_3_crowd.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>As a tourist to the city years ago, I remember peering out on New York from the World Trade Center. "There are six million people down there," my brother told me, so I took a good look at the little buildings and vehicles and trains below and tried to take in the millions of huddled masses spread across the five boroughs. Since moving to New York, that unnamed multitude (now 8 million strong) has remained a source of fascination for me. And after three years out and about in about in the city -- and plenty of hours on <a href="http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/Coverpage.dll/index">ACRIS</a> and <a href="http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/home.aspx">Social Explorer</a> -- there's still lots to wonder about, especially on sunny days when public spectacles bring out city-dwellers (and visitors) in droves. I'm talking about the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/nyregion/23about.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin"> free performances and movie nights</a> and of course the annual <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/nyregion/23about.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Times Square New Year's Eve celebrations </a>which fill public spaces with innumerable bodies. There's something great about the fact that city officials have trouble keeping count of city revelers in public spaces, the fact that no one knows exactly how many people and which people come out to partake in the collective celebrations. I hope to never see that never change in this city. bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-67548674078841869362008-07-23T23:07:00.027-04:002008-07-24T00:55:29.011-04:00On Reliable Sources<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v170/172/55/500017518/n500017518_528133_5769.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v170/172/55/500017518/n500017518_528133_5769.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>To round out the recent series of Wahoo-wa posts, I present to you this profile of <a href="http://aands.virginia.edu/x13731.xml">Washington Post "Reliable Sources" columnist Amy Argetsinger</a> which was recently published in UVa's Arts & Sciences magazine. Backstory: A few years ago when I was finishing college and trying to figure out what to do next, I scavenged the alumni career database and found Amy's contact info (at the time, she was working for The Washington Post out of the west coast). Over a series of emails and phone calls, Amy proceeded to give me some very candid and useful career advice like, "The frustrating thing about embarking on a journalism career out of college is that the hiring process is much more slapdash than what you see your classmates heading for the corporate or consulting jobs are going through." And, "The ugly truth is that I spent nearly a year living with my parents and waiting tables and substitute teaching before I got that first job." At any rate, Christina Tkacik's interview (<a href="http://www.the-declaration.com/index.php?issuedate=2008-03-13&showarticle=1918">which first appeared in The Dec</a>) brought me up to speed with Amy's thoughts on her new position as DC's gossip columnist extraordinaire. (Incidentally, Christina also gives <a href="http://jezebel.com/387183/modern-love-college-edition-the-most-depressing-ever-i-ask-my-sister-in-college">pretty savvy advice herself</a> --"The Mister Darcy Delusion" totally has the makings of a bestseller/feature-length film/TV series, no?)bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-15240733355499835342008-07-23T23:07:00.020-04:002008-07-24T00:43:13.389-04:00Miss Hoo?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/28_missmanhattan_lgl.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/28_missmanhattan_lgl.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Speaking of college compatriots, the other day my brother <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/07/21/miss_brooklyn_wins_miss_new_york.php">forwarded along news that Miss New York</a> is a UVa '07 grad (<a href="http://uvatoday.org/blog/?p=109">theater major</a>) and former <a href="http://www.miss-hhdfp.com/2007/2007pageant.htm">Miss Hampton-Newport News</a> who seems to have grown up <a href="http://www.dailypress.com/features/dp-life_missnewyork_0722jul22,0,3020681.story">in my neck of the woods (looks like we probably squared off on the field hockey or soccer field at one point)</a>. Also, she lives in Manhattan, but actually won her state pageant crown (tiara?) by way of a victory in the Miss Brooklyn competition a few months ago. At any rate, she's clearly a winner. Congrats Leigh-Taylor Smith! bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-2044113821620511852008-07-22T00:18:00.008-04:002008-07-24T00:53:31.860-04:00Go Obama!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.popgadget.net/images/gmail-contest.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.popgadget.net/images/gmail-contest.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />This afternoon Leah alerted me to this week's <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2008/07/28/080728ta_talk_bethea">Talk of the Town.</a> It showcases the GMail account of one of our college compatriots who opted to claim the address "barackobama@gmail.com" when he realized that all common permutations of his own name were unavailable. "From the beginning, I had no intention of manipulating anyone," Guru Raj tells The New Yorker. But then ...bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-18248459405459766652008-07-18T17:37:00.007-04:002008-07-19T12:46:30.144-04:00New Museum Block Party<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.newmuseum.org/assets/images/events/00000200/major.jpg?1214412592"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://www.newmuseum.org/assets/images/events/00000200/major.jpg?1214412592" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />This weekend <a href="http://thebonhomiepage.blogspot.com/2008/02/newest-hippest-museum-building-ever.html">The New Museum</a>, the Bowery Poetry Club, the LES Tenement Museum, Chinatown's YMCA, Bowery Whole Foods and others are throwing a <a href="http://www.newmuseum.org/events/199">free block party</a>. It's Saturday from noon til 7p. I hope they serve watermelon!bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-26679595437031883042008-07-17T16:10:00.007-04:002008-07-17T18:26:11.867-04:00Real Lemons, Real Sugar, and Ice<a href="http://800ceoread.com/blog/photos/lemon.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://800ceoread.com/blog/photos/lemon.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div><a href="http://800ceoread.com/blog/photos/lemon.jpg"></a>This week's <a href="http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/48504/">New York Magazine features a series of interviews with lemonade stand proprieters </a>on how to cope with the squeeze of rising lemon prices. A random slice of the cuteness (from 10-year-olds Elinor Weissberg and Oliver Goldberg-Lewis) below:<br /><div><br /><div><blockquote><p><em>How do you make the lemonade? </em></p><p>ELINOR: Real lemons, real sugar, and ice. </p><p><em>Do you sell anything else?</em> </p><p>ELINOR: We sometimes tell people’s fortunes. </p><p><em>What kinds of fortunes? </em></p><p>ELINOR: We usually pick bad ones. Like this woman walked up and we said, “You’re going to grow a beard.” </p><p><em>Where do you put the money?</em> </p><p>OLIVER: In a jar, but you have to hide it under the table. Otherwise, they will say, “Oh, you already have too much money! We’re not going to buy lemonade!” </p></blockquote></div></div></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-30986760860841195492008-07-16T12:40:00.011-04:002008-07-17T07:08:17.134-04:00Philharmonic in the Park<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_Ki-HcD4fr54mkZqua4earO3AH6sZNq974RjR4XIPBpNOuvyqxv-bcwGO4EQ2OC2kL9Qs1QPF3YebucJgLT2EpDCvb3YXofgneIpW9IRCNSJwxVsGCBsMs-8SuN1xjk50_z7zifM_D4/s1600-h/didi_oscar.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223938174213378066" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_Ki-HcD4fr54mkZqua4earO3AH6sZNq974RjR4XIPBpNOuvyqxv-bcwGO4EQ2OC2kL9Qs1QPF3YebucJgLT2EpDCvb3YXofgneIpW9IRCNSJwxVsGCBsMs-8SuN1xjk50_z7zifM_D4/s320/didi_oscar.JPG" border="0" /></a> Last night at Manhattan's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/arts/music/26park.html">biggest and baddest tailgate</a>, the New York Philharmonic in the Park, conversation turned to Didi and Oscar Schafer, the generous sponsors of the summer series whose names graced the cover of the concert program. How much does it take to sponsor such an event? According to the program, the Schafers contributed over $500,000 -- their exact gift, I confirmed today, was actually <a href="http://nyphil.org/about/parksSchafers.cfm">ten times more than that</a>. Curious about these philanthropists, I dredged up their 1964 New York Times engagement announcement (click to enlarge) this morning. For the extra nosey: The wedding announcements of the parents and children of these long-time New Yorkers can be found in Times archives too. Enjoy.bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-1236986816667412232008-07-15T16:00:00.007-04:002008-07-16T07:44:35.056-04:00What the Midnight Can Show Us<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.museum52.com/new_york/images/Julia_Goldman/Scraps-4b-2008-oil-on-canvas-26x20in-web.gif"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://www.museum52.com/new_york/images/Julia_Goldman/Scraps-4b-2008-oil-on-canvas-26x20in-web.gif" border="0" /></a><br />By happy coincidence, I ran into <a href="http://www.museum52.com/new_york/index2.php?page=artists&a=67">Julia</a> on the way home from work -- she said she'd just been scoping out <a href="http://museum52.com/new_york/index2.php">Museum 52</a> on Rivington between Orchard and Ludlow, where several of her paintings will be on display as part of the gallery's What the Midnight Can Show Us exhibit (running July 16 through August 13). Now I'm having <a href="http://www.yorkcounty.gov/ychc/virtour/onthehill.htm">flashbacks to the art classes </a>we took together as kids. Wild. In any case, I'm very much looking forward to the <a href="http://www.artcal.net/event/view/6/7529">exhibit's opening</a>!bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-85998107115765506222008-07-14T16:35:00.010-04:002008-07-14T18:44:27.579-04:00The 14th of July<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.costumepastimes.com/pages/cakes_more/bastille_cake_1994.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.costumepastimes.com/pages/cakes_more/bastille_cake_1994.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />From <a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/">McSweeney's</a> Bastille Day Party how-to by Jim Stallard: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">The final event is obvious: Let them eat cake! If you're ambitious, you can serve it dressed as Marie you-know-who. Just make sure each "peasant" gets a fair portion or you may find a barricade in your driveway! </span><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; ">Yeah, that's a guillotine cake. Happy Monday!</span></span></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-60809660703233902632008-07-11T17:56:00.008-04:002008-07-11T19:13:18.460-04:00Should We Talk About the Weather?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.ivillage.com/BS/products_shopping/recommends/sunglasses/BS_DitaSunglasses_366.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://i.ivillage.com/BS/products_shopping/recommends/sunglasses/BS_DitaSunglasses_366.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It's sunny out! <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/weather/">Have a great weekend</a>.bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-90419637277904954612008-07-10T16:59:00.009-04:002008-07-11T19:12:50.800-04:00Amigo! Amigo!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/Lame%20Duck%206.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/Lame%20Duck%206.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div>This man puts the lame in lame duck like no other. From today's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/science/earth/10notebook.html?ref=world">Times</a>: </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><blockquote>“Amigo! Amigo!” Mr. Bush called out cheerily in Spanish when he spotted the Italian prime minister. “How you doing, Silvio? Good to see you!”</blockquote></span> More from <a href="http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/an_annotated_map_of_the_wester.php">Matthew Yglesias</a> and <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/10/bush-addresses-the-italian-prime-minister-in-spanish-amigo-amigo/">ThinkProgress</a> via my brother.bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-174552749670376672008-07-09T10:27:00.001-04:002008-07-09T10:29:14.257-04:00Go Obama!<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2546673450_288d8cf8d0.jpg?v=0"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2546673450_288d8cf8d0.jpg?v=0" border="0" /></a> I don't know where my brother finds this stuff (<a href="http://popaganda.com/photos/2008boston/index.html">click here for more Abraham Obama</a>).<br /><div></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-31355871623020215452008-07-08T07:52:00.011-04:002008-07-08T09:11:57.066-04:00Eat More Beet<a href="http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/67/52/23045267.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/67/52/23045267.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div>Last week <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/for-beets-a-little-more-respect-please/">beets</a> made the Well's list of <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/the-11-best-foods-you-arent-eating/?em&ex=1215057600&en=358c886fa74b7e4d&ei=5087%0A">The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating</a>. Since I've recently been all about culinary experiments -- and I like beets -- I took it as a challenge and grabbed a bunch of them at the grocery store this week. But <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/health/nutrition/20well.html?ref=health">what to do </a>with them? For starters, I rooted through the fridge and assembled a salad (spinach, beets, oranges, tomatos, feta, walnuts), and since the only dressing in the fridge had coagulated beyond rescue, I added some mustard to a bastardized microwave version of <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/BALSAMIC-DRESSING-103572">this recipe</a> to make a honey mustard vinegarette. So far so good, but there are still 2 more beets in the fridge. <a href="http://eatlocalnc.com/?p=125">Beet palaya </a>is a simple classic, and the kind of dish that's hard to mess up. But if I had the time -- and one of these swish <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-BN5-Kanekichi-Turning-Benriner/dp/B00032RZUS">Benriner spiral vegetable slicers</a> -- I would totally attempt this tasty-looking <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/BEET-AND-FETA-TART-15291">Beet and Feta Tart</a>.</div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-23382227899072345552008-07-08T07:01:00.002-04:002008-07-08T07:19:04.241-04:00What the Heck<a href="http://z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/4/e/2/Medusa_by_Caravaggio.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/4/e/2/Medusa_by_Caravaggio.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://packphour.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/cute-medusa.jpg"></a><div><div><div>From Andrew Sullivan's blog comes this bit of news about a technology being developed by the military. According to <a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/07/the-microwave-s.html">Wired</a>:</div><div><em><blockquote><p><em>The project is known as MEDUSA – a contrived acronym for Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio. And it should not be confused with the </em><em>Long Range Acoustic Device</em><em> and similar gadgets which simply project sound. This one uses the so-called "microwave auditory effect": a beam of microwaves is turned into sound by the interaction with your head. Nobody else can hear it unless they are in the beam as well.</em> </p></em></blockquote></div></div></div></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-4699725784930128062008-07-07T22:30:00.008-04:002008-07-08T07:27:01.491-04:00Snail Mail<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.eco-artware.com/catalog/products/GE1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://www.eco-artware.com/catalog/products/GE1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I spotted <a href="http://www.eco-artware.com/catalog/GE1-map-stationery.php?c=desk">this map stationary</a> on Polly's lovely blog, <a href="http://poorcouture.net/">Poor Couture</a> (which, I should warn you, is full of all sorts of fun and eye-catching goodies). This envelope and letter paper set caught my eye because I totally had one just like it as a kid! In this era of GPS and email, it now strikes me as very <a href="http://www.ponyexpress.org/">quaint</a>.bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-72517843350475506392008-07-04T09:27:00.010-04:002008-07-04T09:59:49.117-04:00Happy Independence Day!<a href="http://www.uh.edu/~dsocs3/images/American_Flag_2.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.uh.edu/~dsocs3/images/American_Flag_2.jpg" border="0" /></a> Yesterday my brother emailed me the text of President Lyndon Johnson's remarks at the signing of the Hart Cellar Act, writing: "So, Dad was able to come to the US in 1969 as a result of the Hart-Cellar Act (also called the INS Act of 1965). It abolished the national-origin quotas that had previously existed. I came across President Lyndon Johnson's remarks at the signing of the bill in New York on October 3, 1965, and thought they were pretty good." I agree. Here are a few highlights of the remarks Johnson made on Liberty Island more than 40 years ago (the <a href="http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/Johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/651003.asp">full text of the speech can be found on the LBJ Library's website</a>):<br /><em><div><div><blockquote><p><em>Our beautiful America was built by a nation of strangers. From a hundred different places or more they have poured forth into an empty land, joining and blending in one mighty and irresistible tide. The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources--because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples. And from this experience, almost unique in the history of nations, has come America's attitude toward the rest of the world. We, because of what we are, feel safer and stronger in a world as varied as the people who make it up--a world where no country rules another and all countries can deal with the basic problems of human dignity and deal with those problems in their own way.</em></p><p><em>Now, under the monument which has welcomed so many to our shores, the American Nation returns to the finest of its traditions today. The days of unlimited immigration are past. But those who do come will come because of what they are, and not because of the land from which they sprung. When the earliest settlers poured into a wild continent there was no one to ask them where they came from. The only question was: Were they sturdy enough to make the journey, were they strong enough to clear the land, were they enduring enough to make a home for freedom, and were they brave enough to die for liberty if it became necessary to do so? </em></p><p><em>And so it has been through all the great and testing moments of American history.<br /></p></em></blockquote></em></div></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-43828244922857943732008-07-03T12:59:00.040-04:002008-07-04T09:23:12.600-04:00What You Looking At? NYT Style Edition<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/03/fashion/03row-500.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/03/fashion/03row-500.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div> </div><div> </div><div><em></em></div><div><em>Lan:</em> do you think this guy is Indian<br />or did they just spray tan a model and send him down the runway? </div><div>b/c he looks a little orangey to me </div><div><em>me:</em> he does look orangey</div><div>I vote whitey</div><div></div><div><em></em></div><div><em></em></div><div><em></em></div><div><em>Lan:</em> so odd<br />oh fashion</div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-40131326378608925062008-07-03T12:59:00.033-04:002008-07-04T09:18:27.908-04:00What You Looking At? Fox News Edition<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXRZQOZtloMKs2qzdaXkPO2W9Y1Lyql8ZapziHziVKsI3fQX7FvtOUmsSzZawA8WSrIYkUQyCrljEsJfVt1DSryBn4YHcrE22Gt1ifTL8aABqorKv5WDAeBEdo9GFpXSJZZg6VRjK7yo/s1600-h/fox-20080702-steinberg.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218853204282478274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXRZQOZtloMKs2qzdaXkPO2W9Y1Lyql8ZapziHziVKsI3fQX7FvtOUmsSzZawA8WSrIYkUQyCrljEsJfVt1DSryBn4YHcrE22Gt1ifTL8aABqorKv5WDAeBEdo9GFpXSJZZg6VRjK7yo/s200/fox-20080702-steinberg.jpg" border="0" /></a> True story: After New York Times reporter <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/arts/television/28rati.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">Jacques Steinberg reported that Fox News has been struggling to keep its ratings up</a>, <em>Fox and Friends</em> aired photos of Steinberg photoshopped to transform him into a yellow-toothed ogre. And then they touched up <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200807020002">his editor's mug shot too.</a> From Media Matters (via my brother):<em><br /><blockquote><p><em>Fox News gave no indication that the photos had been altered. After putting up the photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe, Fox & Friends also featured a photograph of Steinberg's face superimposed over that of a poodle, while Reddicliffe's face was superimposed over that of the man holding the poodle's leash.</em></p></blockquote></em>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-84147139718007943682008-07-03T12:59:00.031-04:002008-07-04T09:17:05.412-04:00What You Looking At? Scar Jo Edition<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiw1UeRorsyMij0SB9YtxH9Cjlt16gad9EzhcsLq50aR6m6nmlfPI5YUH98T3aEWN8i-07alNsGrVAJuvmC79HHwOlhi4LEaqev79UL3vl53IuqN8dzxtP4JH5eq_odCltLGohx45vNys/s1600-h/cosmo0702.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218839788901935522" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiw1UeRorsyMij0SB9YtxH9Cjlt16gad9EzhcsLq50aR6m6nmlfPI5YUH98T3aEWN8i-07alNsGrVAJuvmC79HHwOlhi4LEaqev79UL3vl53IuqN8dzxtP4JH5eq_odCltLGohx45vNys/s200/cosmo0702.jpg" border="0" /></a> True story: When I saw this cover, my first response was to feel bad about the modest but steady improvements to my figure that 6 months of good gym/food habits has bought. Because crickey, that waist-line is inhuman! Or ... <a href="http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2008/07/looking-like-actual-human-woman-boring.html">photoshopped</a>. Though I was hoping <a href="http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2008/07/looking-like-actual-human-woman-boring.html">this link</a> (via Jezebel) would provide even more concrete proof of photo tampering, the spread of non-glossy candids pretty much convinced me that Scar Jo is a real person who, you know, <a href="http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,1112975,00.html">likes to eat cheese sometimes.</a><br /><br /><div></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-29185316624365981202008-07-03T07:33:00.003-04:002008-07-03T07:41:58.564-04:00"Thirteen Hundred Rats"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/879/50018697.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/879/50018697.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />From <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/07/07/080707fi_fiction_boyle/">the T. C. Boyle story in this week's New Yorker</a>:<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">When he came back into the room, I thought at first that he’d slipped into some sort of garish jacket or cardigan, but then I saw, with a little jolt of surprise, that he was wearing a snake. Or, that is, a snake was draped over his shoulders, its extremities dangling beyond the length of his arms. “It’s a python,” he said. “Burmese. They get to be twenty-five feet long, though this one’s just a baby.”<blockquote></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">I must have said something, but I can’t really recall now what it was. I wasn’t a herpetophobe or anything like that. It was just that a snake wasn’t what we’d had in mind. Snakes didn’t play fetch, didn’t bound into the car panting their joy, didn’t speak when you held a rawhide bone just above shoulder level and twitched it invitingly. As far as I knew, they didn’t do much of anything, except exist. And bite.</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>“So what do you think?” he said. His voice lacked enthusiasm, as if he were trying to convince himself.<br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;">“Nice,” I said.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"></span></div>bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217819152342476786.post-66250768562717566592008-07-02T13:38:00.003-04:002008-07-02T13:42:46.085-04:00Have You Heard of Peter Pan?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tTY-Kuv8Ri0vSNhJiliVVJp6QzPn3AyWT7NqZywn8NGj0_zkyuLATSfBpaSowyOUrNuXREReg0yjGq4zn-vPfN7oYfyuxjG5nmKZhxzo3rFeem-GPqw3_sFyjG6dDSpQ91n9feCJ5aM/s1600-h/niemann10.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218472696565402018" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tTY-Kuv8Ri0vSNhJiliVVJp6QzPn3AyWT7NqZywn8NGj0_zkyuLATSfBpaSowyOUrNuXREReg0yjGq4zn-vPfN7oYfyuxjG5nmKZhxzo3rFeem-GPqw3_sFyjG6dDSpQ91n9feCJ5aM/s200/niemann10.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br />My brother pointed out <a href="http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/post-title/">this adorable blog post from Christoph Niemann</a> in the Times. Aww.bonhomie pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741703678585023406noreply@blogger.com0