Fri, 27 Feb 2009
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Thu, 26 Feb 2009
Here comes the Rain
| Rain is moving in, and NWS is talking about multiple inches, with associated wind/hail/tornados and such. Man, do we need it (the rain, that is). |
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| Blogspotting: Not everyone was happy about Milk's Oscar success. |
Wed, 25 Feb 2009
Foodie challenge: a $30 week.
A group of local foodies have set forth on a quest, to survive a week with a $30 food budget. You can follow the fun at these sites:
Notes: First, this challenge is actually more difficult than it might seem, particularly when the participants commit real cookery. Second, I don't believe anyone is leveraging a garden (those make a $30 target absurdly easy). Third, since at least two of these people have access to the Dekalb Farmer's Market, real peanut butter is involved. |
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| Blogspotting: Grayson ties together some loose ends (and some very good links) about crime and the city (as an aside...I wonder if someone is plotting the case #'s on Google Maps or similar app). |
Tue, 24 Feb 2009
Losing My Damn Mind, That's What I'm Doing.
This may come as a shock to those who know me, but today, I actually bought a couch. It needs cleaning, (probably) a cover, and a pillow or two, but $120 (incl. tax and delivery) was a superior deal.
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Mon, 23 Feb 2009
Short Results
| I wonder if the Academy gives a miniature statue for the short-film winners. In either case, Pieces of Love and Toyland won this years' awards. It also seems that half of Friday's lineups were filler, to bring the screenings to feature length. Oh, well. |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| The State Quarter series is at an end, after a 10-year run. Which one was your favorite? |
Sun, 22 Feb 2009
My Short-length Film Oscar Picks for 2009
After watching the candidates (save Lavatory - Lovestory, as I was late to the show) Le Maison en Petits Cubes (Pieces of Love, Vol. 1) (animated)
and The Pig (live action) were my favorites. I think Varmints and Manon on the Asphalt are winners, however.
Quite frankly, watching all the animated shorts lined up together simply proves the U.S. is still far, far behind. Varmints had some of the best CGI I've ever seen. |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Favorite Spam dish: sandwich, with rice, casserole, omelet? |
A Duty-Free Intermezzo?
A recent visit to Cafe Intermezzo yielded interesting news: they have not one, but TWO new locations in the works: A third store near Emory, and a sponsored deal in Hartsfield-Jackson's Concourse B. I shudder to mention the 'F' word, but an in-terminal location practically requires partnership to cover the overhead/clearances of dealing with an airport. In either case, it's good news for the cafe and its many fans. If I can park at the Emory location at all, I'll probably move in or something.
In other coffee news, as pointed out on The Blissful Glutton, Aurora Coffee now carries pastries from Holeman and Finch. I tend to hang out at the Va-Hi location during the week, so I'll definitely have to hit the pastry rack on my next visit. |
Fri, 20 Feb 2009
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On with the Shorts!
| As it turns out, the local movie house is showing a compilation of the Oscar-nominated short films tonight. Animation at 7:20, Live-action at 9:30. |
Thu, 19 Feb 2009
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Wed, 18 Feb 2009
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| The reproductive habits of a certain species of parasitic wasp have been found to resemble our virus-based gene therapies. |
Tue, 17 Feb 2009
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| Sports Bulletin: The Thrashers have opened their west coast road trip with 14 goals (3 shorthanders) and 4 points in 2 nights, including a shootout win which just wrapped up. Maybe they just needed some beach time. |
The other shoes are dropping.
Now that the Bush Babies are out of office, some measure of accounting has begun of just how many billions of dollars were embezzeled through Iraq (vs. our domestic embezzeling operations).
At some point, folks will realize the true nature of parallel government which ran Washington for eight years. Our taliban, a faction which views the separation of church and state as a conceit, extracted tithings from our GDP as part of their model of government. And still, millions of people not only support these clowns, but identify with them. It's beyond disgraceful. |
Mon, 16 Feb 2009
Stop the Presses
Georgia DOT Overhaul
Political Insider has the news that Perdue/Cagle/Richardson DOT overhaul has gone public. Frankly, if those three combined to produce anything that wasn't jury-rigged to ensure failure, I'd be shocked. The several billion "stimulus" dollars up for grabs have absolutely nothing to do with this reorg. Self-serving money quote, from Sen. Williams (R-Lyons):"I'm not anxious to proceed without some support by the Democrats. And frankly, You can ask any Democrat in the metro area. You've had your board members, you've had that influence, and you even had the power some years ago. How did that improve transit in Atlanta? The answer, is hasn't." |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Harold Ford Jr. for Commerce Secretary? If this guy is nominated, and clears confirmation, I'll eat my hat. I can't remember if he's from Memphis or Nashville, but IIRC, Mr. Ford carries the kind of baggage which would be cleared during vetting or confirmation. |
What's in a Sunday drink?
Young Republicans and Democrats are gathering to support Sunday package sales.
My big question is: what impact, if any, such a law would have on the restaurant scene? This seems like a silly question, but Sunday alcohol is a highly contrived market around here. Specifically, in Atlanta metro counties, a bar/pub/restaurant is allowed to serve on Sunday, if its alcohol sales match some percentage of food sales (the ratio varies by county/city), for the trailing (n)-month period.
The astute reader will note that such rules artificially inflate the menu prices, to ensure said ratio is met. In other words, our blue laws place a burden on any pub customer (particularly those who don't drink), just to allow drinking on Sunday.
Without the captive Sunday alcohol market to chase, I expect some pubs will simply choose to close on Sunday, and drop their menu prices in a bid to gain a share of traffic. In this tight market, such a shift would dent Sunday drink sales, by way of shifting the dining market to the cheaper options. |
Sun, 15 Feb 2009
Happy (belated) Valentine's Day
...from the line(!) at the Majestic. :) |
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Mon, 09 Feb 2009
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Truth to Power: AM Edition
| Clark Howard has called out Georgia Power, and caught them red-handed: corruption, indeed. |
Sun, 08 Feb 2009
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| I HAZ SPRINGTIEM! THANK JOO CEELING KAT! |
The Sun is Shining: CRS Reports are Now Public
From the 'learn something new every day' department: I didn't realize the Congressional Research Service was exempt from FOIA. That places today's Wikileaks score in the epic range.
The release represents the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices.
Not quite as interesting as the content, but interesting nonetheless, is that the collection also tracks Congress' adoption of electronic copy and sourcing before, during, and after the Internet boom. The collection starts with 2 reports in 1990, and ~2100 reports in 2008. |
Thu, 05 Feb 2009
Godzilla Attacks!
I did, in fact, catch Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-out Attack on a Saturday matinee. While I didn't expect to be the only person in the theater, I really didn't expect to find a full house of kids and parents, and a pre-movie stage show (which I skipped to find breakfast).
I think I was the only childless customer there, and that means I was the only adult customer in attendance who bothered to check IMDB and learn this would be a 'real' Godzilla, who is all out of bubblegum. I'll post a full movie review later (or not, since I still can't find my Godzilla '54 writeup). Suffice to say, I laughed out loud at the prospect of parents having to explain "duck and cover".
The movie itself was obviously rushed, and is clumsy with CGI; given a better treatment (and a R rating), this concepts would make a great movie. Perhaps this movie would be one for the (traditional) animators to render. |
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I CAN HAZ SPRINGTIEM NOW PLZ?!?
Good Grief. |
Tue, 03 Feb 2009
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Mon, 02 Feb 2009
A Meltdown at Idiocracy
Christian Bale says what we'd really like to tell that special moron in our way. Apparently, production crew isn't supposed to wander around the set while film is rolling. Who knew? :) |
Tag Cloud Beat Poetry #1
Smelly assholes were blood orange, also roast beef
all dressed in blue.
Love them.
No nekkid twister, and then she tried eyes;
Banana banned from disney apples.
Boy, i'm tellin' you, conqueror of rats:
4th amendment rape bacon cured me of the kosher baking johnson,
Big blackberry bacon bear, phail and spead your legs...
did you fuck it?
(1/27/09) |
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