Apologies about lack of blogging lately. I've been too busy doing this:
And again if you enjoy what you read here, you can find even more of my bloggin' at Sundance Channel's blog Sunfiltered.
Neatorama rounds up some of the darker incidents from past post-Thanksgiving Black Friday sales, including this shootout at Toys R Us.
Last year was definitely a bad year for Black Friday shoppers. On the same day, but a different coast, two men were shot and killed after an argument at a Toys “R” Us in Palm Desert, California. The women they were with were arguing – even coming to blows, according to the Huffington Post – and the fight escalated when the men discovered that they belonged to rival gangs. They ended up shooting only each other – no other injuries were reported.
"Whats For School Lunch" is a blog focusing on school lunches from around the world, although the majority of the submissions seem to be from either the States or South Korea. Majority of the lunches from the US could be described by the word "vomit."
Korea
Brooklyn, NY
Chile
With all the controversy of late regarding Thierry Henry's handball that assisted in a goal which helped France gain a seat in the next World Cup at the expense of Ireland, I'm reminded of Diego Maradona, a soccer legend with an infamous handball goal against England. Here are some of his quotes referencing that incident.
ON HIS HANDBALL GOAL AGAINST ENGLAND IN 1986 At the time I called it the Hand of God. Bollocks was it the Hand of God, it was the Hand of Diego (2004)
ON JULIA ROBERTS I would do anything to see her come across the Croisette. I would cut off my hand – even the hand with which I scored against England (2008)
ON PUNCHING IN THE WINDOW OF A PHOTOGRAPHER'S CAR I did it with the Hand of Reason (2000)
Started earlier this year in April, one photographer is posting a snapshot a day for 365 days depicting the daily activities of lowly Star Wars storm troopers.
A day of fun at the beach.
Googling just like the rest of us.
Intergalactic warfare can't be avoided.
[Via]
One of the gifts in this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog is the "Algonquin Round Table Experience" which is a private dinner party for the buyer and their guest with the following distinguished VIPs.
Christopher Buckley Roz Chast Delia Ephron Nora Ephron Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Malcolm Gladwell Adam Gopnik Lewis H. Lapham John Lithgow Anna Deavere Smith George Stephanopoulos Ali Wentworth
This can be all yours for just $200,000 guilt free, because Neiman Marcus is donating the proceeds from this sale to a book charity.
My ideal table of 12 would be, in no particular order: Richard Dawkins, Haruki Murakami, Bill Clinton, Jared Diamond, Andrew Sullivan, Anthony Bourdain, Chris Rock, Bill Simmons, Assata Shakur, George W. Bush, Kristin Kreuk, and Salman Rushdie.
A recent study by researchers from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History found that the tuna offered at many sushi restaurants ain't exactly tuna. They ordered 68 samples of tuna sushi from 31 restaurants in Manhattan and Denver, Colorado. The result:
Nineteen restaurant establishments were unable to clarify or misrepresented what species they sold. Five out of nine samples sold as a variant of “white tuna” were not albacore (T. alalunga), but escolar (Lepidocybium flavorunneum), a gempylid species banned for sale in Italy and Japan due to health concerns. Nineteen samples were northern bluefin tuna (T. thynnus) or the critically endangered southern bluefin tuna (T. maccoyii), though nine restaurants that sold these species did not state these species on their menus.
Ah, tuna, the mystery meat of sushi.
O, and in case you're wondering consuming escolar can result in "...stomach cramps, loose bowel movements, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, and vomiting."
[Via]
One of Sarah Palin's clones got loose and confronted her maker at a book signing last week in Noblesville, IN.
The crossword in the latest issue of New York Magazine had clues whose solutions were medicine related puns. I love puns, ergo I've been really enjoying this crossword puzzle. Here are the ones I've been able to answer.
- Pandemic caused by a colorful hat? BLUE BONNET PLAGUE.
- Old Roman's convulsions? JULIUS SEIZURE.
- Where sick campers are treated? IN TENTS OF CARE.
- Ailment in Camelot? ARTHURITIS.
[polldaddy poll=2294692]
Installation by Martin Creed in Vancouver's Chinatown neighborhood.
[Via]
A couple burnt out lights on the sign of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, NYC produced this bit of unintended comedy.
Coolio (remember him?) went from gangsta's paradise to the chef's kitchen. He's got a brand new cookbook "Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price" that aims to introduce a new cuisine, what he calls "Ghetto Cuisine."
$10.88 here.
Toki Woki's mesmerizing "scroll clock." [Thanks Ro!]
Via New York Magazine's latest featuring their 2009 gift giving guide, including this list of terrible gifts:
- “A Christmas ornament dated five years ago. It said, like, ‘Merry Christmas 1997,’ and it was 2002.” — Marty Allen, 31, artist
- “My mom gave me a blue thong one year. I was 14!" — Amy Trainor
- “My wife got a grandfather clock for ‘us.’ I don’t like anything that puts me on a schedule.” — Barry Cutright, 53, dentist
- “A knitted bikini bottom made out of green yarn—from my boyfriend’s friend.” — Jessica Cole, 26
- “A ‘grow-a-frog kit’ with tadpoles that were dead.” — Lucinda Ballard, 23, communications assistant
What's the worst you've ever received?
Apropos a similar topic yesterday during lunch, I'm reminded of this clip of an Italian singer performing a song that is meant to mimic how English spoken by Americans sound like to foreigners.