Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Candy Man



I remember this candy store, and his brother Joey who I met there when he was working the counter. Aww. Great little clip from The Hollywood Reporter from Oscar time.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Skate softly and carry a big stick



I saw this photo of Matthew McConaughey (loving that he's not only barefoot, but a goofy), and wondered what this skateboarding "aid" was all about. I thought he may have rigged up a stand-up paddle with wheels, but what for? Balance? Is he that lame of a skateboarder? This didn't seem likely, given that he's a decent surfer and stand-up paddler. So I Googled down the rabbit hole and found out that it is a real product.



Behold the $150 "ultimate land paddle." Turns out, it doesn't have wheels. They are round stationary rubber thingies that grip the pavement.



You use this paddle to mimic the motion of stand-up paddling on your longboard. But you can also use the stick for balance. It's endorsed by Buttons Kaluhiokalani, which is a pretty heavy plug, but it still is kinda like a crutch for old-man riders. I don't think younger kids are going to use it that much. But I, being old, totally would.

Stand-up Paddle Magazine did a review of the Kahuna Big Stick here. The editor says:

I was honestly surprised how identical the stroke felt compared to a stand up paddle surf stroke. I thought it would be different, however, it wasn’t. Although I was only using the equipment for no more than half an hour, the stroke pattern and the muscle groups used felt the same as those used on a stand up paddle surfboard. The Big Stick seems to be a great way to train and stay in shape for stand up paddle surfing when the waves are down or when you just can’t make it to the ocean.


Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Giant rooftop penis



After watching a documentary about Google Earth, 18 year-old Rory McInnes of Berkshire, England painted this giant sixty-foot penis on the roof of his parents 2 million-dollar house. For the past year he kept it secret, but a helicopter pilot noticed it recently and swooped down lower so his passengers could take pictures.

The Herald Sun reports that Rory's dad "confronted his four children, finding his answers when he reached Rory over the phone in Brazil. Part-way through gap-year travels, Rory could not hold back his laughter as he confessed: 'Oh, so you've found it then.' ''

His mom's reaction was the best. She said, "We don't want any more children, so the idea of sleeping under a giant fertility symbol is rather worrying.''

Monday, March 23, 2009

2009 Burton U.S. Open



This Finnish kid Peetu Piiroinen is the new world champion. What an amazing run. This video is from yesterday at Stratton Mountain in Vermont, the final stop on the worldwide snowboard tour. The U.S. Open is held every year at Stratton, the best place to ride on the East Coast. Woo!

Poor Shaun White has been bumped to seventh in the world. Aww.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Death in Queens




I took this from the Brooklyn Queens Expressway at the Kosciuszko Bridge. There's an expression that says you go to Brooklyn to get married and go to Queens to die. Brooklyn has a lot of churches, and Queens has a lot of cemeteries. Twenty nine, to be exact. And five million people are buried in them.

This one, Calvary Cemetery, is the biggest cemetery I've ever seen. It's managed by Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Wikipedia says that in the mid-1800s, half the people being buried there were the "Irish poor" under seven years old, due to a cholera epedimic in New York. There are now three million people buried at Calvary Cemetery. They're going to have to turn to cremation pretty soon if they want to fit anyone else in here.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Michelle Obama's organic garden




"Almost the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, 'whether they like it or not,' Mrs. Obama said laughing." ~ New York Times

Did you know that one-third of Amercian kids (ages 2-19) are obese? That is scary -- and completely avoidable.

I think it's so cool that Michelle Obama is going to plant a big organic garden on the South Lawn. For only two hundred dollars in startup costs that include the seedlings and mulch, the garden will be a tad bit bigger than fifty feet long by fifty feet wide. It will include an impressive variety of food including herbs, veggies, and berries. There will be five varieties of lettuce, sugar snap peas, spinach, broccoli, radishes, rhubarb, shallots, onions, tomatillos, hot peppers, chard, shell peas, carrots, kale, and collards. Then there's the mint, cilanro, sorrel, thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, chammomile, garlic chives, anise hyssop, and Thai basil. Oh and don't forget the bee hives for honey.

The Times reports,

Mrs. Obama, who said that she never had a vegetable garden before, said the idea
for it came from her experiences as a working mother trying to feed her
daughters, Malia and Sasha, a good diet. Eating out three times a week, ordering a pizza, having a sandwich for dinner took it’s toll. The children’s pediatrician told her she needed to be thinking about nutrition.

“He raised a flag for us,” she said, and within months the children lost weight.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Sexy People



Tears. From crying. From laughing so hard. Maybe you will cry too. Go see Sexy People for yourself.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

"Shipping Up to Boston"

Oh yeah, Happy Saint Patrick's. Harr ti tarr. Here's the Dropkick Murphys live from their European tour last summer.





I'm a sailor peg
And I lost my leg
Climbing up the top sails
I lost my leg!

I'm shipping up to Boston ... wayy-yooo!
I'm shipping up to Boston ... wayyyyyy-yo!
I'm shipping up to Boston ... wayy-yooo!
I'm shipping off ... to find my wooden leg!

Penis extenders actually work?!




Weirdest news of the month: researchers at the hospital at the University of Turin in Italy have proven that penis extenders work! They tested one stretcher in particular, the Andropenis Enlarger. I can barely type that without laughing. It sounds like alien porn cartoon character. Andropenis! Ha.

Anyway, guys found that it lengthened by 2 centimeters. No such luck with the girth, though. Here's the extended story from Science Daily. Get it? Extended? Ha.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones



I was watching a Foo Fighters concert this morning on Palladia, the Viacom-owned high definition concert channel. The show was filmed last June at Wembley Arena in London. For an encore, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones joined them on stage for "Rock and Roll." How did I miss this news for nine whole months? Amazing. Luckily, Dave Grohl gave up the mic to the always-smiling-and-happiest-drummer-in-rock-and-roll, Taylor Hawkins. And come to find out, Mr. Adorable's got some pretty good pipes. If you ever saw the video of Dave doing his best Robert Plant impersonation, you'll know why it's probably best he sticks to drums for Led Zep covers. If not, watch it below. It's hilarious.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Jim Kramer on The Daily Show

Unless you're living in a pop-cultureless cave devoid of all media, you've probably heard of the battle going on between Jon Stewart and Jim Kramer of CNBC's "Mad Money." Jon threw a pie at the financial network, and although the pie was aimed more at Rick Santelli for calling foreclosed homeowners "losers," Jim Kramer responded. Back and forth, back and forth, and finally last night was the big showdown on The Daily Show. But it was not the circus I was expecting.

Wow. I was impressed by both Jon and Jim. Jon probed with hard-hitting, extremely relevant questions but did it in a way that was to the point, not over-the-top. Although he did lecture Jim, he could have made an ass out of his guest but he took the higher road, which was very gracious. Jim answered without bullshitting and was a lot classier than I was expecting. He didn't pull out any ridiculous business-major finance speak to make Jon look ignorant, nor did he try to back-pedal his way out of culpability. Kudos to both, and hopefully an (eleventh) Emmy for Jon.





Thursday, March 12, 2009

You can now major in stem cells at Harvard



"Today, with the executive order I am about to sign, we will bring the change that so many scientists and researchers, doctors and innovators, patients and loved ones have hoped for, and fought for, these past eight years: We will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell research."
~ President Obama, March 9

Christopher Reeve would want to jump for joy. Just one day after President Obama lifted Bush's asinine, religious-based ban on the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, Harvard's undergrad college, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced that FAS had late Tuesday voted to approve a new concentration (Harvard-speak for "major"). The new Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology (whose website is so new it's actually still blank) will be available through the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology which was formed in 2007. FAS reports:
One of the first of its kind in the nation, the new program will be available this fall to students starting with current freshman, the Class of 2012. The concentration will focus on human development, disease, and aging, and will provide “hands on” science education from the first semester.
According to the department's website,
The department's subject area is the study of the development, maintenance and repair of vertebrate tissues. How organisms, including humans, develop from a fertilized egg, maintain tissues in the adult body and repair dysfunctional or damaged tissue is a broad subject to be addressed using the approaches of developmental biology, regenerative medicine and aspects of tissue engineering. Emphasis will be placed on using these aspects of biology to inform the understanding of human diseases.
This is pretty exciting news, thanks to Obama! As he said regarding this issue, "medical miracles do not happen simply by accident."

For a more in-depth discussion about stem cell research, CBS has a nice little summary here.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

April Vanity Fair's "The Pretty Young Things"



Of course I had to immediately scoop up the new Vanity Fair. Love these guys! But even better than the cover . . .



. . . is this photo. Paul Rudd's expression is sublime, as are Jonah Hill's panty lines. The whole composition is so funny, but on the other hand I was like, "Whaaaaah?"

Oh, yeah, I remember!



Online at V.F. is this caption for Annie Leibovitz's parody of her own photo via the four funnymen:
JONAH HILL, PAUL RUDD, SETH ROGEN, and JASON SEGEL,
The Pretty Young Things
After appearing in Knocked Up and/or The 40-Year-Old Virgin, this quartet can now be considered summa cum laude graduates of the Judd Apatow school of comedy. Unlike so many comedy stars of the last two decades, they—and the other funny people depicted on the following pages—seem at their best when they work not as soloists but as part of a tightly knit ensemble. Say good-bye to the laughter of alienation and hello to a brand of comedy that fosters a feeling of community. Rather than dominate a crowd, they conspire with the people in the audience. Their strength lies in their charm. Even Rogen. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz (in tribute to her own March 2006 cover shot) on Stage 28 at Paramount Pictures Studio Lot, Los Angeles.




And we can't forget Russel Brand!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Cape Cod Animal Hospital burns down

Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times

Last night, there was a gas explosion at the Cape Cod Animal Hospital which is only a few miles away. Before it became an inferno, I used to work there as a vet assistant and in the boarding kennel feeding the doggies, grooming them, and slipping their meds into little treats, so this awful news story was especially sad to see.

Each morning I'd pull up on my bike and the sound of the stones crunching in the driveway under my tires would send the dogs into a barking frenzy. Not that they were excited to see me, per se. It was the fact that crunching stones + her = breakfast! You've never heard anything quite as cacophonous as thirty dogs barking at once in a concrete echo chamber known as a kennel. It was almost as painfully loud as standing in front of a Marshall Stack at a rock show must be.

Thankfully, the hospital's owner Dr. Scott Munson lives on the property. The Cape Cod Times reports,
He and a neighbor Ken Lacasse ran to the building and around to the back, where they used a cinder block to break down the door. Once inside the very smoky building, they rushed to open the cages with about a dozen dogs inside.

"All of the animals were very afraid," he said. "You're just in automatic mode, just trying to get the animals out. ... Just get them out, even if they run away."


Amazingly, only two cats perished, and one doggie is still on the loose. Hopefully they'll find him before he becomes coyote food. The story has spread to news services nationwide, but there's a slide show of nineteen photos here at the Cape Cod Times. It's eerie seeing all those cages empty. I used to love working here.

Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times

I hope Dr. Munson can rebuild soon.

If you want to donate money to the hospital, a fund has been set up at Bank North in the name of Cape Cod Animal Hospital Fire Fund. Their number is (508) 428-5700.

Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times

Sunday, March 8, 2009

New England Clam Chowder, from ocean to bowl



This is my my Dad (on the right) with his friend Harvey. These two old salts go shellfishing all the time here on Old Cape Cod. Saturday was quahog day. They belong to the Barnstable Association for Recreational Shellfishing, a non-profit that advocates for good water quality and shellfish propagation in town.



Yes, I realize the sexiness factor is probably more than you can bear. Surprisingly, even though the ocean temp was only 36 degrees, I became hot in these waders. Clamming is a damn good workout!





So what do you do with all these happy little mollusks? You make clam chowder. I followed the official recipe from Legal Sea Food's cookbook for their famous New England Clam Chowder and it came out amazing.



Legal's, as they're known, is a Boston restaurant chain that offers the best seafood dining in the city. They have locations in ten states now.



Whether it's littlenecks, clams, or quahogs, they open up after about seven minutes. Quickly remove them from the pot once they've opened because this is when they are tender. Like calamari, mollusks get tough when overcooked. Don't cook them beforehand and make the chowder the next day, or freeze them once they've cooked. This too will make them gross and chewy.





The Legal Sea Foods recipe calls for two ounces of "salt pork." I didn't even know what this was. It kind of looks like bacon and is sold in one-pound packs.



You render it for the liquid fat, in which you fry the diced onions. Cook until clear, 5-7 minutes, and then add your clam broth and some fish stock along with the cubed potatoes.





This is what it looks like right before you add cream and the chopped clams. Between the harvesting and the cooking, producing clam chowder is a lot of work, and now I know why this stuff sells for $48 a gallon, and $17 a quart.Add Image


But it's worth it! A most delicious chowder. Don't forget the oyster crackers. If you want to try the recipe, it's online here.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Mickey Rourke's bitchin sneakers



I saw this picture of Mickey Rourke carrying his new travel companion, Jaws. Cuter than the dog are his slip-ons. What are those? At first I thought they were Vans, but after a little digging down the Google rabbit hole, I found out they are two hundred-dollar Dolce & Gabbanas. Nice couture kicks!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Let's name the new NASA nodule after Stephen Colbert



Stephen Colbert announced on last night's Report that he wants everyone to help convince NASA to name their latest baby after him. NASA's website declares:
NASA wants your opinion in naming the International Space Station’s Node 3 – a connecting module and its cupola – before the two segments travel to space and are installed on the orbiting laboratory. The name should reflect the spirit of exploration and cooperation embodied by the space station, and follow in the tradition set by Node 1- Unity- and Node 2- Harmony.
They have four different (lame) names from which to pick, but they also have a "write in your own" category.

Nation, go vote! You have until March 20th. Here's the website. And you may want use another browser if you usually use Firefox, as it doesn't seem to work.

And lo and behold, guess what's the top pick so far?

Top 10 Suggestions
COLBERT
XENU
BUDDY
TRANQUILITY
SYNERGY
VISION
VISTA
HORIZON
HOPE
ENTERPRISE

Poor Melinda, Bill won't let her have an iPhone.



The new Vogue has an interview called "Gates of Heaven" with Melinda Gates. I found it somewhat amusing, but kind of shitty on Bill's part, that he won't allow her or the kids - Jennifer, 13, Rory, 10 and Phoebe, 7 - to enjoy Apple products. I guess she won't be downloading the new U2 album No Line on the Horizon released today from iTunes, either.
“There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household,” Gates tells me. “But iPods and iPhones are two things we don’t get for our kids.” Harsh, perhaps, but understandable. After all, it’s hard to walk around tethered to merchandise made by your father’s most famous competitor. Still, Gates acknowledges the inevitable lure of forbidden fruit. “Every now and then I look at my friends and say, ‘Ooh, I wouldn’t mind having that iPhone.’”

Monday, March 2, 2009

Newt as profiled by Matt Bai in the NYT Magazine



Below is my favorite excerpt from yesterday's New York Times Magazine piece on the Republicans' great white hope. It's an interesting profile piece worth reading, written by Matt Bai. You can read the article in its entirety here.
Interviewing Gingrich, as I did on three occasions recently, is like stopping by the office of your thesis adviser when your thesis adviser has better things to do with his time. Polite but impatient, Gingrich answers most questions pedagogically, with impromptu seminars on history or social theory. It seems important to him that you know how much he knows — which, truth be told, is quite a lot.

There are moments when this routine can verge on the absurd, like something out of a Ricky Gervais sketch. At one point, I asked Gingrich, now a healthful-looking 65, about his sudden exit from Congress in 1998. “First of all, in the Toynbeean sense, I believe in departure and return,” he told me.

“In the what sense?” I asked.

“Arnold Toynbee,” he replied matter-of-factly, as if no one would walk into his office without having read “Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England.” “I believe in the sense that, you know, De Gaulle had to go to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises for 11 years.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Departure and return. And someone once said to me, if you don’t leave, you can’t come back, because you’ve never left.”

I was still trying to process this nugget when the slouching Gingrich, now onto a point about steel plants closing, jolted upright. “The 1913 Girl Scouts manual!” he said, or at least that’s what it sounded like. “Which I should get a copy of.” He punched a button on his phone and dialed his assistant.

“Yes, sir?”

“Can you get me about four copies of the 1913 Girl Scouts manual, ‘How Girls Can Help Their Country’?” Gingrich asked. There was a long pause on the other end.

“O.K.”

“I think it’s on Amazon,” Gingrich said helpfully. He leaned back and proceeded to explain to me that the Girl Scouts manual contained a recommendation that every girl learn to perform two jobs, just in case one of them went away. What we needed, apparently, were more steelworkers who belonged to the Girl Scouts.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Bill Maher and America's favorite "giant bib"



Thank God Bill Maher has returned from hiatus, and that there are people like him (not to mention Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart) reminding us of what's truly important.

Did you know that decades after what's been described as an oil-dependence emergency, America has developed zero alternative-energy vehicles but has marketed the ShamWow!, the Flowbee, the BeDazzler, Crocs, sweat pants that say "Juicy" across the derriere, botox, Ginsu knives, Pinkberry, Dane Cook and the George Foreman grill?

In World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress agreed: It's crisis time, and they ordered Detroit to switch over and only make tanks and planes. And they did. Detroit got out of the car business altogether—on purpose, not the way they're doing it now. We haven't gotten it through our thick skulls: Party time is over. No more stretch Humvee with a hot tub. No more space tourism. No more cloning the cat. No more ordering the thing from TV that cuts onions with a vacuum.

We're worse than Michael Jackson. It's been 25 years since we had a hit and we still think we can live at the ranch. But the booze cruise has hit the iceberg. In fact, at the Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday, I felt like I was on the Titanic—everyone in their tuxedos and gowns sipping champagne . . . . not to mention Kate Winslet was standing right there —even as the ship had hit the iceberg.

There's one big difference, which is that, even though we have definitely hit the iceberg, it doesn't have to sink us. But we have to get serious. The engines have stopped, the boilers have exploded, the compartments are flooding. This is not a drill, this is the real thing. This is the moment, that moment where we all must steel our resolve, reach through our blankets' sleeves, grab our farting phones, and send off a mighty Twitter saying, "We have to get involved and learn how to do things and make things again!"