Les Misbarack

When Les Miz meets the Obama campaign, words fail. I love this so.

John McCain: Reformed Maverick

Ian McShane voiceover + Marlon Brando comparisons = pure gold.

Poor Levi

All he wanted to do was knock moose-fur-lined boots with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's daughter -- after he's knocked her up, the frightened young man now finds himself in the icy death grip of Senator Grandpa Simpson. If this isn't a curse of future impotence, I don't know what is.

Project Runway meets On the Media

I happen to be a member of possibly one of the smallest demographics in the U.S.: those who are obsessed with both NPR's media analysis show On the Media and Bravo's Project Runway. As such, I nearly keeled over when listening this mashup of everyone's favorite design show as interpreted for dictator couture, entitled "Dress to Repress."

Michel Gondry's crib: "I built it out of my dreams"

Via Ezra Klein.

My interview with Jane Mayer, author of "The Dark Side"

Obligatory post, obligatory watching.



The book. A review. The author.

Men in Shorts: Still Not OK

Fellas, some words of wisdom: just because The New York Times says it's OK for you to wear shorts to work does NOT mean this is now socially acceptable. Take a look at exhibit A. Even I want to beat this guy up.

NPR's On the Media on China

One of the best written, most insightful, and underrated shows on NPR, On the Media produced a fantastic program last month centering on the new media landscape in China. Listen here to learn about the three Ts and one F of forbidden topics, the journalistic 'monkey dance,' and Chinese version of Ayn Rand (wolves, no architects).

'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' -- the movie

Please, please let this movie live up to the amazing book. We can't have another disastrously disappointing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory situation on our hands (seriously, Tim Burton, what were you thinking with those godawful Oompa-Loompas and the unnecessary Willy Wonka backstory?). Granted, this would not be a movie remake, but the point of besmirching a childhood classic still stands.

Can't decide which I like better

This song is catchy as all get-out, and both videos have something to offer: a bit of Sesame Street nostalgic regression in the former, and shiny, colorful choreography in the latter.

That void left by the ending of The Sopranos?

Temporarily filled by this painting by Furio:














Read more here.

Philip Johnson's Glass House video

Here's some excellent mid-century modern architecture porn, narrated by John Maeda.

"Look at that mug"

David Milch's commentary on the Deadwood DVDs has proven to be unexpectedly priceless, and I love what he says here when commenting on a scene featuring William Sanderson as the fantastically shady hotel owner E.B. Farnum:

"Look at that mug. You know, when you're a writer, you see faces like that... you feel like you're stealing your money... you don't have to do anything."

Band Name: The New Prague

I've done a Google, and it looks like no one has already snatched up my idea for a band name: The New Prague. Dibs!

Stuff White People Like at Google

I've pimped this Authors@Google video just about everywhere else now, so it's only fitting that I link to it here as well. Just swap out that other guy's name from this site and you'll start to get the idea of how great Christian Lander is. Also, he's huge in Asia.

List of Fictional Films from Seinfeld

My hat off to whoever took the time and effort (lovingly, I'm sure) to compile this important list of cultural knowledge. There's always a place in my heart for Rochelle, Rochelle, a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk, but Death Blow and Prognosis Negative figure prominently as well.

Junot Diaz on Colbert

A clip of Junot Diaz, author of the splendid The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, on Colbert, of all things. He's one of the nicest, funniest, humblest authors I've had the pleasure of meeting, and I hope more good things come his way.

Fugliest House & Coolest Apartment Complex in Palo Alto

Pity this Swiss chalet-looking monstrosity. I ran past it once while on a jog, but had to stop and marvel at its sheer hideousness. It leaves me speechless.















On the other end of the spectrum, behold the retro glory of the deliciously named Villa Capri Aire. How this gem has remained untouched, in its original splendor, while on prime University Avenue territory is both a mystery and a blessing.

For your reading pleasure

A passage from the increasingly delightful novel Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles. The italics below are mine, except in the last case.

"In any case, I found myself nearing manhood with scant instruction on living, so for lessons I turned to books, and in books of poetry—particularly those of Baudelaire, Keats, Neruda, Lorca, Yeats, the Beats—I discovered the life I thought I wanted: heart-fueled, reckless, close to the bone, earthly existence set to a rolling, overspilling boil. Let me say upfront that this is no way to read poetry. When Neruda writes about how great it would be "to go through the streets with a green knife letting out yells" until you die of the cold, he does not intend for you to take him literally. The dearth of green knives in your neighborhood cutlery emporium ought to be clue number one, but just you try explaining that to a vulnerable seventeen-year-old. Because I loved the way words & images bounced through my head when I read poetry, the way it impelled my life as nothing else did, revved it like a floored gas pedal, I began writing it."

How do people not know these things about John McCain?

Based on my highly unscientific, anecdotal evidence, there are boatloads of well-read, informed people who don't know these two things about John McCain.

1. McCain divorced his first wife, who was severely injured in a car accident and left four inches shorter, after he returned from Vietnam. See the first and last paragraphs in this section of Wikipedia.

2. After marrying a beer heiress 18 years his junior, McCain thought it would be cute to drop the c-bomb on her in public in 1992. This funny bit of YouTubery elaborates more on the incident.

Feel edified now? Good.

"Don't Be Afraid of Your Anger...

... I'll eat it with mustard and wine.
And the crumbs in your hair,
you should shampoo with care–
if it's tearless I'm sure it would say."
—Clem Snide

I couldn't tell you exactly what this means, but I like it nonetheless.

Let Me Count the Ways This House Kicks Ass

First, I want to unpack the coolness of this one image, namely:

• a hallway that's open to the sky
• a freaking terrarium on the freaking walls
• and water that flows down the rocks into the dining and common rooms

Then, look at the rest of the slideshow. Be prepared to want to gouge your eyes out in jealousy and/or wonderment. The front of the place is landscaped with edible plants, which is one step away from having wallpaper that tastes like snozzberries.

Banana News You Can Use

Dan Koeppel, banana evangelist (banangelist?), is giving us fair warning: enjoy your freakish, cloned fruit while you still can. He writes that the bananas we eat are the "fruit equivalent of a fast-food hamburger: efficient to produce, uniform in quality and universally affordable. But there’s a difference between a banana and a Big Mac: The banana is a living organism. It can get sick, and since bananas all come from the same gene pool, a virulent enough malady could wipe out the world’s commercial banana crop in a matter of years."

I always knew there was something strange about the fact that, ripeness factor aside, all bananas taste the same. Clones, people, clones.

This Episode of Law & Order Should've Been Mind-Blowing

Look at this cast: Jeff Garlin from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mo Rocca, Federico Castelluccio (Furio from The Sopranos), and Illeana Douglas. Despite these assets, it was mediocre at best. Final note: what's up with Chris Noth's Al Swearengen-like IMDb photo?

"Resplendent Turquoise Pantsuit"?

Listen here for perhaps the most bone-chilling phrase ever uttered on NPR.