Yikes!

Blogging Elsewhere

It's been a while since I've posted much here.

But Ben posted my entire analysis of last night's ep of Top Chef over on his blog.

So you can read it there.

quarterlife or 1/4life

I watched quarterlife on NBC the other night (actually, I downloaded it to my iPod and watched it at the gym... but now that the writers are getting paid for that, I figure it's pretty much the same thing).

I didn't hate it, and I didn't love it either. It was fine, I guess. I think it has some potential.

I was stumbling through IMDB this morning, and I came across this. It's a listing for a show called ¼life. Same writers, director, producers, creators. Just a different show, that apparently didn't air. The cast is different, but the general plot is the same (and the names of some of the characters are the same).

One difference: the show took place in Chicago. The new version of quarterlife now takes place in LA. I don't have a problem with shows being set in LA. I live in LA, I was born in LA, I grew up in LA. I like recognizing places I know (like in the pilot of quarterlife, when the characters filmed a TV commercial at the Toyota/Scion dealership where I took Dan to buy his car). At the same time, I think people are kind of sick of shows about the lives of 20-somethings in Los Angeles. Chicago would have made the show a lot more interesting.Joel Grishaver

Beer in a Cone

I'm in Austin, Texas right now. They have an ice cream place called Amy's that's pretty top-notch.

So in addition to having some top-notch BBQ while I was here (Iron Works and Salt Lick), I partook in some ice cream.

Guiness-flavored ice cream.

Like the beer. The sign even warned that it has alcohol.

And it just may be the tastiest ice cream I've ever had. It smelled like Guiness and tasted like Guiness. All that was missing was the frothy head. It was a little sweet, but the flavor combination (beer and sweet cream, I presume) totally worked.Joel Grishaver

The Presses Are Rolling

This is a picture of the printing press at my office. It's a press that prints books. If I was better at taking pictures with my blackberry, you'd be able to see that right now, the press is printing my book.

It's called God: Jewish Choices for Struggling with the Ultimate. It's a book on theology for teenagers. I edited it and wrote all the educational pieces. A group of 17 other people wrote the rest of it.

And it will be out in a matter of days.

I Hated "No Country For Old Men"

It's getting lots of Oscar buzz and all that, but I hated it.

I saw it several weeks ago, and at the time I didn't quite have the words to describe what I didn't like about it.

Jonathan Rosenbaum is a movie critic, so he gets paid to be able to articulate what he doesn't like about movies. So he has the words to describe what's crappy about it. Basically, it's a narrative that doesn't really go anywhere. The story has no natural trajectory. And it has no redeeming message, either. Just lots of gratuitous violence.

Is it well acted and beautifully shot? Sure. But it's kind of hard to sit through a movie for a couple of hours and walk out totally unmoved, unchanged, and without anything real to show for your two hours.

So, no, it's not a good movie.

you know you're gonna hear somthing good when...

...someone starts a sentence with, "Speaking of Yo-Yo Ma..."

Procession

I'm fascinated by funeral processions.

I don't mean the processional of people leaving a funeral chapel.

I mean the procession of cars on city streets or highways, following a hearse, accompanied by cops.

There's something that draws me to these slow-speed chases down the streets of LA. Dozens of cars and cops (usually on motorcycles) following a dead body riding in the back of a ridiculous looking car. Hearses aren't really limos, and they aren't station wagons or pick-up trucks. They're like El Caminos for dead people.

Hebrew Word of the Day

A few weeks ago, a NY Times article about the Annapolis conference contained this gem:

The long buildup to Annapolis, together with Ms. Rice's many trips to the region, have given birth to a new verb in Israeli government circles: ''lecondel,'' meaning, to come and go for meetings that produce few results. The word is based on Ms. Rice's first name.

I love Hebrew.

Bass-Ackwards Environmentalism?

Tonight they lit the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. The press is making a big deal about the fact that this year it's a "green" tree that is less environmentally wasteful. It uses less electricity to light, and its powered by solar panels, and the tree's wood won't be wasted. As the AP reports:

Organizers are planning to recycle the tree by using it as lumber for Habitat For Humanity projects in New York, the Gulf Coast, India and Brazil.

No word on the amount of fossil fuel required to ship lumber from a giant Christmas tree from New York to India and Brazil.

Zionist Ideology at Panda Express

We brought in Chinese food from Panda Express today for lunch.

As I was finishing my meal, I opened my fortune cookie and found the above fortune inside.

Theodor Herzl isn't dead. He's secretly working for Panda Express, writing fortunes for their fortune cookies.

[Cross posted to TAPBB.}

jetblue rocks

I'm sitting on a plane about to take off, and I'm watching the Bears game. This is awesome. Of course, it would be more awesome if the Bears didn't suck. But it's still awesome.

Nice Airport, Disgusting Passengers

I'm sitting here in the JetBlue terminal at the Long Beach airport, waiting for my flight to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

(I'm usually a pretty loyal American Airlines customer, but JetBlue was way cheaper this time, so here I am.)

It's a very nice airport. Parking was a breeze. Checking bags and getting through security was a breeze. We even got exit-row seats on the plane. And they have free wireless internet access on the plane. Note to other airlines: Offering your passengers free access -- instead of crappy $5/second through t-Mobile NotSpot or something like that -- is a great way to keep people pretty damn happy. It's not like providing free internet is that big of a cost in the greater scheme of airline economics. And there can't be that many people who actually pony up the $900 for eleven minutes of checking their email.

So the airport experience has been pretty good thus far, with one exception: the guy sitting next to me. Now, I would get up, except for that I'm sitting here with Sara and Mike and Erin, who are all perfectly happy to be sitting right here. Also, I have a very comfortable seat on a couch next to an outlet (in the back of the room at Gate 3, if you're familiar).

Sitting on my left (he can't read my screen because his bag is between us) is this very disgusting man. I was first introduced to him when I came back from the bathroom. I had left my bag on my seat (Mike is sitting on the other side of me and could watch my stuff), and when I came back, this other guy had sat down next to my seat, spreading his giant computer bag and his big leather jacket and his plug running right across my seat. This one guy -- who isn't obese or anything -- was taking up almost four seats of prime terminal real estate next to a big bank of electric outlets.

He just kind of looks at me as I look down at my bag. Finally, I say, "Would you mind moving your stuff so I can sit back down." He makes this look like I've just asked him shove a hot coal up his own ass.

I finally sit down, plug my own laptop in, and begin reading the news online and browsing through my email.

The entire time, this ass hole is sitting next to me burping loudly. Then he starts coughing all over the place, not covering his mouth. Then he starts farting. Far be it from me to criticize a person for having loud or profuse bodily noises. The problem is that this guy is sitting in a public terminal in an airport, in close proximity to many people. This has been a very disgusting last twenty minutes.

Southwest Chicken Salad

This is my recipe for a chopped, Southwest-inspired salad. I've been making it for awhile, but I finally think I've tweaked it to the point where I can share it. I served it on Saturday at Dan's birthday, and people seemed to like it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 limes, zested and juiced
• 2 cups lite mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch cilantro, loosely chopped (optional)
• 1 chipotle pepper, minced (optional)
• 1 tablespoon adobo sauce, (optional)
• 1 can beer, something cheap and light-colored
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

Start by making the marinade/dressing. In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, lime zest, lime juice, cayenne, cumin, ground coriander, pepper, salt, chipotle and adobo sauce. Whisk until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil while whisking.

Take half the marinade/dressing and put it in its own bowl. Add the raw chicken and coat with the sauce. If you have time, refrigerate over night. (Reserve the rest of the dressing in a raw-chicken-free zone. It will eventually be the dressing on the salad.)

In a skillet, brown the chicken on each side over medium heat. Then, add the can of beer and any remaining marinade from the chicken's bowl. Cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes (or until the chicken is cooked through).

Remove the chicken from the skillet. When its cool enough to handle, chop or tear the breasts into small chunks.

Combine the chopped chicken, corn, black beans, chopped green pepper, chopped red pepper, and the chopped red onion in a large serving bowl. Pour on the remaining marinade/dressing (the half that didn't come into contact with the raw chicken) and mix well.

I've served this salad over Spanish-style rice (that's how Rena likes it), with tortilla chips to scoop (that's how Uri likes it), or on its own.

For a vegetarian option, leave the chicken out.

crackberry

Many many people have asked if I have an iPhone or if I have plans to get one. The truth is that I'd love to have an iPhone, but at the moment I'm very happy with my new Blackberry Curve that my work gave me.

First, I have no complaints about the keyboard, which has tactile feedback. Second, it works on T-Mobile's 3G network. Third, when I'm connected to a WiFi network, the phone uses VOIP to place calls.

And the Blackberry works fine for posting to my blog. And yeah... it was a lot cheaper than an iPhone.

Take that, iPhone.

A Refreshing Voice on the Peace Process

I don't know Rabbi Yosef Kanfesky, the rabbi of B'nai David Judea (just down the street from me), but he's pretty well respected by Jews of all denominations in this town. From what I hear, members of his congregation think he's just the bees knees.

So I was pretty fascinated by his article in this week's Jewish Journal, entitled, "An Orthodox rabbi's plea: consider a divided Jerusalem." He writes:

To be sure, I would be horrified and sick if the worst-case division-of-Jerusalem scenario were to materialize. The possibility that the Kotel, the Jewish Quarter or the Temple Mount would return to their former states of Arab sovereignty is unfathomable to me, and I suspect to nearly everyone inside the Israeli government. At the same time though, to insist that the government not talk about Jerusalem at all (including the possibility, for example, of Palestinian sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods) is to insist that Israel come to the negotiating table telling a dishonest story -- a story in which our side has made no mistakes and no miscalculations, a story in which there is no moral ambiguity in the way we have chosen to rule the people we conquered, a story in which we don't owe anything to anyone. Cries of protest, in particular from organizations that oppose Israel's relinquishing anything at all between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, and which have never offered any alternative solutions to the ones they are protesting against, are rooted in the refusal to read history honestly. And I -- for one -- cannot lend my support to that.

Wow.

Less Ryan. More Kevin.

Slate has an article today on "What's wrong with The Office and how to fix it." I don't agree with a good number of the author's assertions, but he makes some points worthy of response:

1. "...the first few episodes of the show's fourth season have been slack and unsteady..."

   This may be true of last week's episode, in which the launch party ridiculousness went on and on and on. But I think the season premiere was tightly written, well-paced, and perfectly performed. Period. The epsode in-between was okay. Not the best Office ep ever, but totally funny and very watchable.

2. PB & J are a disappointment for those of us who saw the couple as a worthy successor to Ross and Rachel, NBC's will-they-or-won't-they couple of yore. But their relationship is also a bad sign for the show. Jim and Pam's thwarted love gave The Office a narrative arc that transcended the episode-to-episode hijinks of the other Dunderheads. Pam and Jim provided emotional ballast for a show that has always been in danger of keeling over into the absurd. Now, especially with these first episodes running to the hour, the show feels adrift and, at times, pointless.

   This is ludicrous. I've actually been thinking that the writers have managed to deal with the Pam-Jim storyline in a way that doesn't mess up what makes their relationship great.

   Furthermore, let's not forget something: The silly flirting that made the first three seasons good had to stop. Viewers had been pushed right to the end of their suspension of disbelief. At a certain point, Pam and Jim had to get together, for two reasons. First, it was clear that they were teetering on the brink, and a couple can't do that for long before taking action. Any loner and it would have felt like the writers were stringing along the flirtation just to keep that dramatic/nervous/comic energy going. Second, Pam and Jim are the only cool and relatively normal people at The Dund. I mean that they are people that the viewer can actually personally relate to, as opposed to the exaggerated caricatures of everyone else. Viewers relate to the obnoxious, egotistical boss who tries to hard, but no one has a boss as obnoxious and self-centered as Michael. The same goes for Dwight, Angela, Kevin, Kelly, Creed, etc. When you have an environment like that, the two normal people -- that is, the two people who aren't caricatures -- are gonna eventually be together. (It occurs to me that Oscar is also pretty normal. It's just that Pam's not his type, and I don't think he's Jim's.)

3. One bright spot lies in the emerging love triangle between Dwight, Angela, and Andy.

   I don't know that I'd call this a "bright spot" yet. So far, its had one insanely funny moment ("Take a Chance on Me," accompanied by the phones), but the rest of this plot line has been mostly very creepy. I think my "ick" factor may come into play here.

4. A newly bestubbled, technobabbling Ryan is hogging screen time, and it's ruining the show.

   I agree 100%. Less Ryan. More Kevin.

Tonight is the last "supersized" Office, and then we return to half-hour episodes. We'll see if this guy is right soon enough.

Parading Through the Streets of New Orleans

Sara and I went to New Orleans last weekend for Ben and Amanda's wedding. Ben and Amanda used to be my roommates.

Usually, when you go to a wedding, there are a few people there that you know, mostly because they know the bride and/or groom the same way you do. This wedding was no different. Amanda and I went to school together, so a good group of our classmates were there. What made this wedding weird was that I used to live with Ben and Amanda, who had frequent houseguests from all over the country (though mostly from the South). So there were lots of people at the wedding who had slept on my couch on one occasion or another. It was a very surreal experience... all these people coming up to me and saying, "Hey! You used to live with them, right? Remember me?" (There was also the friend of Amanda's who came up to me and was like, "Do you know who I am?", and I had no idea because she had straightened her hair, and I had always remembered her as Amanda's curly-haired friend.)

The highlight of the wedding -- besides all the delicious New Orleans food I at over the course of the weekend -- was the parade that we were in. Apparently, it's some sort of New Orleans custom to have parades in honor of weddings and funerals. So when the wedding and the reception were over, all the guests gathered outside the hotel to meet a brass band and a police escort (!) who led us through the French Quarter. We basically sang and danced and talked and drank the whole way. (I even had my beer refilled by some lady with a pitcher standing outside a bar.) People on the streets cheered for us (well, really for Ben and Amanda), and we waved these white handkerchiefs in the air. It was very very cool. Ben and Amanda led the parade, holding umbrellas (this is apparently part of the tradition).

So that's how I got to be in my first parade.

Also, I love suspenders. They keep your pants up, which is kind of important when you're in a parade.