September 2008
25 posts
Lil Wayne Blogging for ESPN →
“I don’t watch nothing but sports—no movies, no news, no television shows—so I thought this would be fun.”Who knew Weezy is a Lakers fan?
What Up With My Money? →
The NYT answers the big questions.
Ask the City Room: NY on the Cheap →
The NYT’s excellent City Room blog is fielding reader questions about how to live cheaply in New York. The answers will come from Ethan Wolff, a writer for Frommer’s, Black Book and New York.
Metro Approves Late-night Red Line →
Target date is early to mid-November; next step is to secure funding. (Previously.)
Doy-ers! →
Manny, Torre and the gang clinch the NL West title.
Jacket Copy on Chuck Klosterman →
My man George has highlights from Klosterman’s recent Night Owl reading.
WatchDowntown L.A. as it appears in Rockstar’s upcoming Midnight Club video game. Not bad. Via Curbed.
Talk to the Newsroom: Bruce Weber →
I’m a big fan of the NYT’s Talk to the Newsroom series. Up this week: obit writer Bruce Weber.
“The general outlook of the obituary department is that our articles are about lives that have been lived, not deaths that have occurred. The idea is to appreciate the character of the subject to the degree that that’s possible, usually based on what we know that person has accomplished...
Re: The Cultural Significance of Babar
Our elephant friend is the talk of the town.
NYT article
NYT slide show
TNY slide show
TNY podcast
There’s an article in The New Yorker this week, but I don’t think it’s online at the moment.
Late-night Metro Service on the Table →
The City Council is asking the Metro board to consider extending service on the Red Line (and presumably the Purple Line?) till 3 a.m. during the holiday season. Holler!
Considering David Foster Wallace →
Michael Silverblatt, host of KCRW’s Bookworm, discusses DFW on a special installment of Politics of Culture. He’s joined by writer and literary critic Anthony Miller. The page also links to previous Wallace interviews on Bookworm.
ver•bi•age
n. [Fr < OFr verbier, to speak, chatter < verbe: see VERB] 1 an excess of words beyond those needed to express concisely what is meant; wordiness
[from Webster’s New World, Fourth Edition]
Boat Time →
How come nobody told me Steve Lopez was trying to get rid of a boat?
We're Fucked →
An intelligence forecast being prepared for the next president on future global risks envisions a steady decline in U.S. dominance in the coming decades, as the world is reshaped by globalization, battered by climate change, and destabilized by regional upheavals over shortages of food, water and energy.Don’t worry, it’s not just the U.S.; apparently, we’re all in trouble.
I Saw Goats on My Lunch Break →
A city agency is employing a herd of goats to clear a hill of brush next to Angels Flight on Bunker Hill. Worth a look if you’re in the neighborhood. Note: You don’t get to pet ’em.
Ruhlman's Revenge* →
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Tony Bourdain, BMOC. UPDATE: Bourdain responds:
Vengeance will be mine, Ruhlman. I have employed a most excellent and reputable firm of Venetian detectives who assure me that the photos of you—at the Kajagoogoo concert, 1986, will soon be in my hands.They tell me as well that that infommercial you made with Suzanne Sommers? Copies STILL exist.More over on...
Press Play →
TNY on laptops in music.
“Better a few words say a lot than the other way round.”
– IRB
Two Lines for Subway to the Sea? →
“We thought people would say they want a Wilshire line or we want a Santa Monica [Boulevard] line,” said Jody Litvak, a spokeswoman for the Metro Westside Extension study. “We were surprised they wanted both.”Why would it be surprising that people want options? The thing with public transit is, the usability increases exponentially (to a point) the more places the routes...
L.A. Movies: Top 25 of the Last 25 →
As LAO points out, the “last 25” stipulation rules out Chinatown and Blade Runner, and the arbitrary rules allowed only one film per director (so no Long Goodbye). Anyway, good stuff.
The NYT on Underground Restaurants →
Because it’s damn difficult to open a real restaurant:
“The passionate enthusiasts who have opened dozens of unlicensed restaurants in apartments and other private spaces in recent years do not generally aspire to become traditional restaurateurs, with overhead and investors and the health department—aka The Man—telling them what to do. They are not in it for the money or for Buddha...