Photo from Nnamdi's very low key birthday party (although it's messed up that they put the birthday boy on the bottom right corner of the group photo).
Tomorrow I’m going to leave New York for good. It’s a bad town unless you’re on top of it.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise
Adam Platt's lengthy gastro-peregrination of places to dine and wine in New York City in 2009 where "the city’s hottest new dining neighborhood isn’t Nolita, or Fort Greene, or even Tribeca; it’s that perennial culinary wasteland, the Upper West Side." He also includes this restaurant in my neighborhood:
All sorts of high-end barnyard creations also adorn the menu at Bussaco, on Union Street in Park Slope, but if you’re wise, you’ll conclude your ramble through the gastronomic wilds of Brooklyn with one or two of the restaurant’s deceptively artful desserts. The seasonally changing treats have included platters of fresh-baked chocolate-chip and peanut-butter cookies and an elevated version of crème caramel touched with maple. But the dish my confection-starved food friends in Brooklyn can’t stop nattering about is the densely creamy, icy-smooth panna cotta, which is served with wedges of grapefruit or roasted strawberries and decorated with a dusting of vanilla beans.
Anyone wanna go?
This $57 dog is a bit more affordable than the real thing.
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This advertisement for his and hers grooming kits is probably a bit too aggressive for most offices, so I've tagged this entry with a not-safe-for-work (NSFW) warning. You've been warned. View after the jump.
Relatedly: The economic downturn has led some women to cut back on their salon visits. [Insert obvious joke here about President Bush.]
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Our favorite pre-digital instagratification camera will be no more after Dec 31, 2008, after which Polaroid will discontinue production of additional film. Stock up while you can!
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I know it sounds totally geeky, but this cloth physics simulation is darn neat. I don't understand much of what's going on, but I do know that a lot of math is involved.
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While reading the New York Times 15th annual Lives They Lived issue of their magazine I came across this suave scene from their tribute to song writer Lew Spence.
Spence himself had a girlfriend, the actress Phyllis Kirk, whom he met after gazing at her across a restaurant. Summoning the nerve, he approached and told her, “You’re beautiful.” She replied, “Sit down.”
"Sit down." I love that line.
It's been a good year for my humble blog and I thank everyone who visited this on a frequent or infrequent basis. Also a hat tip to my favorite bloggers, as well as those of you who sent me interesting links and tips.
Without further adieu, here are the 2008 stats for this blog that may or may not be of interest to you.
- 243,569 visits (compared to 66,676 in 2007).
- August was the peak month with 40,088 visits.
- August 25 was the busiest day with 4,379 visits.
The top 10 most viewed entries:
- I'm falling away with you, but I want a Sprite first.
- Man with world's largest face tumor has a "successful" surgery.
- Model Jessica Michibata triggers intrablog warfare.
- Sarah Palin in bikini and holding a rifle.
- Cuban tae kwon do athlete banned for life after kicking ref.
- Billy Ripken's f*ck face baseball card.
- 2 girls 1 cup: The phenomenon dumping across the nation.
- Ruined photos!
- Cute Overload: Life puppy cam.
- National go topless day (NSFW).
Top 10 most popular search terms:
- jessica michibata.
- i'm falling away with you
- puppy cam
- mrod
- sarah palin passport
- 2grils1cup
- palin in bikini
- cuban tae kwon do
- harold and kumar
- final jeopardy questions
My bullshit radar is going off on whether this commercial is legit or not (I really hope it is) but either way it had me rolling laughing. We may have a contender to the throne currently owned by Flea Market Montgomery. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gb9v4LI4o&fmt=18]
LOL @ "The fact of the matter is, I'm pretty drunk right now."
Soccer. Football. Futbol. Whatever it's called I think we can all agree that this video is something wonderful and even spectacular, although the music was questionable. It was better I think when I watched it the fourth time around without sound.
Evelien Lohbeck's animated "Noteboek" is a witty short (with a few "how the heck did she do that?" moments) that won best film at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2008. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP-reW1eLYE&fmt=18]
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Some highlight events and people from MRod's life in 2008.
DJ Earworm mashes all the top 25 hits of 2008 according to Billboard into this pretty listenable remix, a musical zeitgiest of oh-eight. Click here to watch his mash-up of 2007. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLaZ-8IMtt0&fmt=18]
Tracklist after the jump.
Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain - Low Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love Alicia Keys - No One Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major - Lollipop Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic - Apologize Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown - No Air Sara Bareilles - Love Song Usher Featuring Young Jeezy - Love in This Club Chris Brown - With You Chris Brown - Forever Ray J & Yung Berg - Sexy Can I Rihanna - Take a Bow Coldplay - Viva La Vida Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl T.I. - Whatever You Like Rihanna - Disturbia Rihanna - Don't Stop the Music Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Sunshine Chris Brown Featuring T-Pain - Kiss Kiss Ne-Yo - Closer Colbie Caillat - Bubbly Mariah Carey - Touch My Body Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes Pink - So What Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
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Samuel Huntington, 81, died recently on December 24, 2008. His seminal thesis "The Clash of Civilizations?" was one of the more memorable reads (along with Fukuyama's "End of History" that typically bookends Huntington) I encountered in college. Read the full text of Clash of Civilizations here.
Some interesting facts from this year's holiday shopping season over at Amazon.com where 72.9 items per second were ordered for a total of 6.3 million items.
- One of our most remote shipments was Take Along Thomas & Friends toys, delivered to Unalaska, Alaska.
- Amazon.com sold enough "Breaking Dawn" books that stacked end to end they would reach the summit of Mt. Everest eight times.
- The weight of all GPS devices sold from Black Friday through December equals the combined weight of 151 Mini Coopers.
- Amazon sold enough Casio G-Shock watches to outfit every Kanye West fan attending the 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour concert at Madison Square Garden, N.Y.
- The last One-Day Prime order placed on Dec. 23 in time for Christmas delivery contained a "Dora the Explorer" micro-shell helmet, and was delivered to Sherman Oaks, California on Dec. 24.
- The last Same-Day Prime order placed at 7:25 a.m. on Dec. 24 in time for Christmas delivery contained a Pinzon 400-thread-count, 100 percent Egyptian Cotton Hemstitch full sheet set, and was delivered at 6:12 p.m. to Las Vegas, Nevada on Dec. 24.
Now whether Amazon turned a profit during this period is another question.
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Japanese business people relieve their stress at the "venting place" where people can smash dishes and plates. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDREuBAnf7M&fmt=18]
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