Archive for 'The Offical Record' Category
RESTAURANT REVIEW: JING FONG * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
10 May 2003Jing Fong at 20 Elizabeth Street is my new favorite Dim Sum place in New York. The variety is astounding, every single thing is incredibly delicious, and it is very reasonably priced. My only complaint is that it’s one of those deals where they stick you at a big round table with a bunch of […]
RESTAURANT REVIEW: SERENDIPITY 3 * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
10 May 2003Andy M. brought me here two weeks ago, and a week later, I brought my family. The desserts here are fantastic, and reasonably priced considering how huge they are (you have to share). They have regular food here, too, but most people seem to come just for dessert. I find the $5 minimum to be […]
MOVIE REVIEW: OWNING MAHOWNY (2003) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
10 May 2003Owning Mahowny, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman was a little slow, but it was very compelling. It was about a bank manager who cleverly steals money from his bank to finance his gambling addiction. It really captured how compelling gambling can be. A big theme of the movie is the contrast between the huge fortunes of […]
THEATER REVIEW: BILL MAHER, VICTORY BEGINS AT HOME (2003) * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
10 May 2003I found this show to be much, much funnier than his TV show. My favorite joke from the show was this: You know who I really feel sorry for? Whores. Because, if you’re a whore, what do you wear now so that people will know that you’re a prostitute? At the end, he asked people […]
LAST WEEKEND.
10 May 2003May parent’s and my brother and my prospective sister-in-law all stayed with me last weekend. Here’s what we did. On Thursday, we went to a great Indian restaurant that I forget the name of. Then we went to Dylan’s Candy Bar, which is an incredible two story candy store with unbelievable selections of every kind […]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
3 May 2003My birthday was Friday, May 2. I am now 32 years old. My parents, brother, and sister-in-law-to-be are in town staying with me, visiting for my birthday. We went to the statue of Liberty (which I’d never been to before) and the South Street Sea Port. We saw Bill Maher’s new one-man Broadway show “Victory […]
ENTERPRISING.
1 May 2003Last night’s episode of Enterprise (the new UPN prequel to the Star Trek series) was, by far, the best yet. It had an intelligent, layered, thought-provoking story, raising questions that have no easy answers, and finishing with a powerful ending. Just as importantly, it elegantly addressed my three biggest complaints about the show: that Captain […]
NOT COOL, DUDE.
29 April 2003Sean S. directs us to cool-2b-real.com, a Web site that is brought to us by Cattlemen’s Beef Board, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Circle 1 Network (a company that “specializes in marketing to kids and tweens”), and KidsCom (“for kids ages 8 to 15”). You can go to the site, and “keep it real,” by voting […]
BOOK REVIEW: DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY (REVISED 2003) * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
27 April 2003Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis was recently revised to include the Clinton scandals, the 2000 election, and the events of September 11, 2001. The book is a fabulous, enjoyable discussion of history that brings it alive and makes it as […]
DON’T USE A CONDOM. UM, UNLESS YOU HAVE SEX.
23 April 2003I was thinking, it seems like a lot of the religious and conservative groups that won’t urge people to use condoms when they have non-marital sex, say that this is because they believe it to be an endorsement of non-marital sex. I wonder whether someone could put it this way: when I say that if […]
MOVIE REVIEW: BULLETPROOF MONK (2003) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
20 April 2003I was disarmed by the charm of this thrilling action movie. It is witty, intelligent, funny, and sexy, with plenty of great action scenes and delightful special effects. I’m left with a few questions about the plot that don’t feel satisfactorily addressed, but that is a flaw that is easily overlooked.
NOTES FROM ONE OF THOSE LAZY TTS NUTS.
19 April 2003I’m the “one of those lazy TTS nuts” referred to by Dav C. fascinating the author of this blog article. TTS stands for text-to-speech, and in this case, it refers to my preference to have a computer voice read an article to me on my MP3 player, instead of sitting in front of the computer […]
REALITY BITES.
19 April 2003I’ve got an idea for a reality show: “The Oncologist.” Every week you have someone come to the oncologist with some sort of tumor. Sometimes it’s nothing. Sometimes you can treat it with radiology or chemotherapy. And sometimes it’s untreatable cancer. But every time, the drama is real, not manufactures by some arbitrary rules. You […]
FREEDOM WHINE.
18 April 2003I saw this politician on TV who I didn’t recognize the other day, complaining about the French again for their opposition to the war. Mangling the cliche, he said “If it weren’t for us, they’d all be speaking French.” Of course, he meant to say that if it weren’t for us, they’d all be speaking […]
I’M BEGGING YOU.
18 April 2003I have been noticing more and more, the misuse of the phrase “begging the question” or “that begs the question” to mean “that raises the question,” as in, “I understand that you were on an airplane recently. That begs the question: how was your trip?” This is an incorrect usage of the phrase. “Begging the […]
MOVIE REVIEW: A MIGHTY WIND (2003) * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
17 April 2003I am so loathe to give out two four star ratings in a row, since I think they should be very rare, so let me point out that you’d have to go back to February for another four star restaurant review from me, and back to September of last year for another four star movie […]
RESTAURANT REVIEW: LESPINASSE * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
17 April 2003Andy M., Sophie W., and I went to Lespinasse last weekend, because this restaurant, one of the most highly regarded in New York, is about to close next week, so we thought we’d give it a try. The food was exquisite, and the service was excellent. But it really was over-priced, and not worth its […]
I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME.
12 April 2003It’ll be a week tonight since we’ve switched to Daylight Saving Time, and I’m still not right. I hate DST so much! PLEASE, go to standardtime.com, which I helped create, and sign the petition there to end changing the clocks twice a year.
MOVIE REVIEW: ANGER MANAGEMENT (2003) * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
12 April 2003The main things you need to know to enjoy this movie starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson are that 1) this is an Adam Sandler movie, not a Jack Nicholson movie or some kind of art movie; and 2) The ending is very unsatisfying and doesn’t make sense. Armed with that foreknowledge, you might enjoy […]
THE OFFICIAL THE OFFICIAL RECORD.
11 April 2003Wow, after only a week and a half of having this name, if you look up “the official record” on Google, this blog is number two out of “about 79,500,” after the Official Reports of the Scottish Parliament. Okay, my blog entries are getting way too self-referential this week.
THOUGHTS ON THE EVE OF THE APOCALYPSE.
10 April 2003Hey, thanks to the blog Thoughts on the Eve of the Apocalypse for linking to my recent media bias article.
MY SMOKING BAN RANT.
9 April 2003I posted my recent Blog article criticizing Penn & Teller’s Smoking Ban episode on the Penn & Teller Message Board at Sho.Com, and started a 25 post thread.
WELL, FAIR IS FAIR.
8 April 2003FAIR (Freedom and Accuracy in Reporting), an organization I respect very much, featured my media bias article, which unfavorably compares Fox News to Al Jazeera, on FAIR’s Media Watch page, so I thought I’d return the favor. Definitely check out FAIR, and their frequent, insightful updates about the conservative, pro-corporate bias of the US media.
AL JAZEERA IS VERY BIASED. BUT NOT AS BIASED AS THE U.S. MEDIA.
8 April 2003Al Jazeera’s English language site displays an obvious pro-Arab and pro-Iraqi bias. But it is not nearly as strong as the bias displayed by most American media, such as, say, the absurdly right-wing Fox News Channel. Al Jazeera doesn’t just make stuff up or only tell one side of the story or (unlike the U.S. […]
SEIZING THE MIDDLE GROUND IN THE ABORTION DEBATE.
4 April 2003Everybody always talks about how even many people who consider themselves to be pro-life will make exceptions in the case of rape, incest, or threat to the health of the mother. But I really think, on account of modern technology, we ought to add to that list an exception that most pro-lifers would be willing […]